But First
Before I get to the natural light, I was pretty proud to make this image for retiring Colonel Tonya Ehlert. Thank you for your 30 years of service!
Natural Light Photographs
Natural light has several qualites. For example there is hard light and soft light and maybe a little in between. Light can be warm or cool depending on the temperature measured in kelvins from 1,000-10,000. (The studio light that I used to make the above photo of Col. Ehlert measures 5450 k.) Additionally, Albert Einstein would have told you that light falls off at the inverse of the square root. I use that knowledge all the time but it’s difficult to explain, thus the link. If you figure this out, you will take better and more interesting photos.
Here is a slide show of several natural light photos. Only one of these images was taken in hard light. Can you find it?
The String Cheese Incident
Patty and I were in Denver in July 2015 and decided to see a concert at Red Rocks Ampitheater. Up to that point I’d never heard of The String Cheese Incident, but they’ve been around since 1993. I would describe them as a Grateful Dead style jam band. It was a wonderful concert on a beautiful night in a state that had recently legalized recreational marijuana and it took us quite a while to find our rental car at the end of the evening. In my defence, this venue is in the foothills, there are 3 or 4 parking lots, and many people like me just park on the side of the narrow winding mountainous road of which there are a couple to choose from. And lest I forget to mention it, it’s f’n dark. Needless to say, we have some fond memories from that night.
Now you know where I stole the title for last week’s blog, The Shoestring Incident.
If you ever have a chance, Red Rocks is a beautiful venue to see a concert.
Winding It Up
I’ve been privileged to make some really beautiful portraits lately. Most of my clients are looking for something more than a canned picture. Our work ususally begins with a conversation to determine intent, then we go from there. Here’s a link to some of my recent work. I’m available for projects and ready when you are to make something memorable.
Your friend,
Mike
Ps. Thanks for dropping by.
Pss. For Sale: One pair of barely used white shoe strings 54 inches long. $1.00 OBO
Red Rocks is so neat! Well that’s what I’ve heard. I’ve never had the chance to go.
When you finally get there, take good notes on where you parked your car.
I’ll take the strings;). I would love to have been at that concert!
Sold to the highest bidder!
Red rocks are on my bucket list for sure
For several years in the early 1980s, I had a studio that was half a floor in the old Globe Democrat building at 712 North Tucker. One wall was solid 7 feet high, North facing windows. The quality of the light was amazing. Color shots needed a Wratten 81B filter, and I found skin tones looked best with Fujichrome 50, so exposure times could run a few seconds. Not a problem for a still life, but 8×10 film for a cover was hard on some models. We moved out after about 3 years because the weekly murder at the Shell station across the street got to be just too much.
The thing I love about you Preston is you’ve been around… Thanks for dropping by.
The entry way to that building is pretty amazing.
The Globe building has a huge, underground garage, with elevators. so it was rare we’d go in the front door. But it was nice for visiting clients. There was a crazy large freight elevator that opened just opposite my studio doors that was convenient. On several occasions, we’b use it to push a sports car into the studio. Tony Taylor’s Cosmopolitan Models had an office two floors down.