Thursday, May 24, 2012

Cafe Canadiano | In Studio

A current client has left his 350 Single with me for a week to get some portraits done as he contemplates the next part of his project bike. I had spent a lot of time with the frame from this vintage Ducati and it was cool to rebuild (yes I am a custom fabricator in my other life) so much of the frame. Great to see he has come this far with the engine, it looks great.

As I write this I'm trying to think of something profound or insightful but its just not coming to me. What I am thinking about is how long it took for me to set this shot up. You see when you shoot something specular (an object that is reflective enough that the light source will show up on it in brightness and shape) as this and to the point that some parts are actually mirrored, you have a considerable problem. On one hand the object will not present its shape unless you can use a large and properly placed light source to reflect on it (look at car ads in magazines, glass etc...). And the second issue, when shooting a mirrored surface, you don't want everything near the photographer showing up in that surface. Move the case forward, back, just a little to the left. Boom the SB up top and move back so the "350" logo appears with some shape. Then tape the seamless down, just the right length, inches now. Now build a tent for the foreground so that my studio doesn't show up. And last but not least, shoot from directly in front of the brass badge in the case so that I can hide my reflection behind it. Everything you see is done in camera. This is how I like to work, take care of problems before you dump the card to the drive. Besides, I'm not that great at photoshop. I did clone a small piece propping up the engine below and some dust that's it.

Now as I look back, is this profound? Not really. But some guy in the city has spent two years (so far) and who knows how much money to get this vintage engine back to it's original glory. Is this passion? I think so. And I don't care who the client is, if someone is this passionate about a personal project then so am I. And at the very least it gives me the desire to create some magic. I am passionate about passionate people, it's what my work is truly about.