Photographer's Comment: Just wondering what you think. PS work consists of curves adj, Lucis Arts Plaid 3 filter, selective colorization, and a little bit of motion blur. I started using senior spokesmodels last year for a cheap advertising alternative, they get some free images, in return they spread the word to their friends about me. I LOVE this Alley!

Tags: senior portrait street alley urban

Viewer Comments:

By clwhitney (2008-03-14 05:30:31 ): Carl-your work with seniors continues to grow. I like your creative blur here, as well as the colors and lighting. You search for and find interesting locations to convey personality in your models, definitely breaking the mold of "senior portraits".

By leachy (2008-03-09 15:35:11 ): hey carl. what can i say that has not already been said? you have taken a lot of time, thought and effort to create an evocative image here. bloody marvelous!!!

By twadams (2008-03-09 02:31:21 ): Fantastic image. Great mood and comp.

By NowYesNow (2008-03-08 20:38:17 ): Thanks for the appreciative kind note. I don't presume to be any kind of last word on anything, even though I have my opinions and impressions, of course. ;-) I get the Idea of the matrix thing, and might have seen it first, had he been in darker colors for this photo, and for the effect Mo gets, of his "beaming in", I guess I expect that effect to resemble more closely what Star Trek did with it, instead of the sideways blur. Another option might be the "diffused glow" filter in Photoshop, on just the character, maybe taking his lower half down a couple of stops, graduated, as if his lower half hadn't finished arriving? That would make a nice entry for your thread on Photoshop techniques, too. ;-) I comPLETEly agree with your practice of getting to know the seniors before beginning to photograph them. That should help you give them a memorable portrait to suit them, and leave them with the experience of someone caring about them, too... rare enough, these days.

By smokeydawg (2008-03-08 16:11:05 ): Thanks Mo, appreciate that! :)

By mo (2008-03-08 15:40:13 ): Carl- my very first reaction to this was that it was VERY Martrix- as if he just blurred into existence in the alley... that is THE thing that draws me to it. i also totally got the idea of the young man and the alley being deceptive in their dark overtones- so, for this viewer at least, your intention was fully conveyed!

By smokeydawg (2008-03-08 03:29:36 ): Hey Wayne. Love your critiques, you cover not just the technical but go into your interpretations of the images also, and that is really useful in judging the success of any image. I learn from not just your critiques on my images but others you've critiqued also. I don't always agree, but hey that's art. :) This one well I didn't quite get what I wanted to across, both the alley and him are suppose to be intimidating to the casual passer by, but that looks can be deceiving as both are really harmless. That was my thought process along with He's also like I say more or less a walking "billboard" for my business and one of the things I'm trying to promote to Seniors is I bring out their personality, One of his favorite movies is "The Matrix" so that's the sunglasses, and he's also into drama classes. I like to get to know a few basics about these kids before I photograph them. Anyway that's probably more then you wanted to know! :) I mainly wanted to say thanks for including the details, most helpful indeed, and will apply it the next time out.

By NowYesNow (2008-03-07 18:38:07 ): ooops.. lost the last few lines, but... now I've forgotten what they were, except for the point that if the model's character were afraid of the alley vibe, you might have him reacting to the alley, instead of presenting to the camera. If he's the menace, himself, then he might be somehow more "at home" with the alley.. body language would show that. Finally, though, if this were a fashion shoot, the clothiers might have a problem with the crotch area, I think, too, even in this era of more conceptual fashion ads.

By NowYesNow (2008-03-07 09:21:03 ): Has your spokesmodel had any ideas sparked by seeing this image? I'm wondering what, more active, he might be inspired to do, based on the mood you've created, and the title you've given it. Your detail choices, as described by you in the comments, shows you're examining every detail you can notice in creating the shot. You've made the alley yours, probably due to your adoption of it.. LOL. Loving a place certainly works to your advantage, as it does with most subjects/locations. I've found it takes one beyond the simple naming of things, and into the essences of them... which, in turn, leads to loving and exploring it much more deeply than the casual viewer will understand, though I believe they will Feel it. On further re-examining this image, I am feeling split... between the character of your beloved alley, and wondering about the person. I suspect the dark glasses, shaved head, are possibly consistent with the warmly lit alley, but his expression and physicality don't seem to match anything specific about it. The alley's character, though, has been well served, in your sensitivity and color treatment of it. It strikes me that your addition of the blur to his figure may be from your desire to have him play a stronger role, here, and without a clearer idea for him, it was difficult to develop it while on location, there?... something like that... maybe difficult to evoke something you Did know you wanted from him? Anyway.. you have two characters, here.. the alley and the model, and there could either be more focus on one, with the other as an element, or there could be some development of how they work together for something bigger or more targeted. I can't tell, here, whether you're saying we might be afraid of the guy? the location? or if maybe your title's "fear" may be referring to a state the model is in, due to the vibe of the alley? If the alley is the fearsome thing, then your model might be half-hidden and mysterious, or he might be a blur

By karmal (2008-03-07 08:20:23 ): Yes, modern street fashion photo. It could be on the pages of GQ or Esquire. I love the mood of tension set by the simple and nice color palette and by the dynamic composition. Carlos

By lynnrider (2008-03-07 02:33:30 ): What a great idea using spokemodels! This is just terrific - what a change from the days of the "black drape!" I have to tell you that the PS tech terms are like Greek to me:) but I really like this - and it is a wonderful alley!

By smokeydawg (2008-03-07 02:06:45 ): Thanks for the kind words Katia. I used no flash on this only the light from the alley. The whiter area behind him shows how daylight was coming into this alley. (it's a covered alley) Anyway I had him step foward just enough to where the light was "skimming" him. The motion blur was done in ps as an afterthought. But if I would have done any blur in camera it would have been at a slower shutter speed wo flash also. Hope that answers your question.

By mo (2008-03-07 01:44:21 ): Carl, this is so good! love it!

By DougWilkening (2008-03-07 01:12:29 ): Something different for you, and quite good. I wouldn't change a thing.

By sonoranhawk (2008-03-06 22:23:00 ): Really cool, Carl. I especially like the motion effect. I'll have to experiment with that. The lighting is great, perfectly captures the essence of what an alley looks like at night with light from a distant source.

By ktapio (2008-03-06 18:37:34 ): Correction meant to writ The composition sorry.

By ktapio (2008-03-06 18:08:33 ): Fantastic image. The compassion and the light is so great. Carl I tried to read the data for the shot could not figure out if your flash was in use? If so is that better in catching the motion? And what was the lens? Thanks as usual you are great help. katia

By Jim915 (2008-03-06 17:41:23 ): This is excellent Carl. You're sure getting some great ideas for this one location. That is very hard to do because of the danger of everything beginning to look the same. I like the everything about the image. The plane of the wall and the single light work as terrific compositional counter balances to the strength and weight of the guy. As for the marketing, you have a really great idea. How better to capture a group of potential clients than getting members of the group to tell others about you. This is especially true of teens because of their tremendous social network. Have you thought of advertising on FaceBook or one of the other social networking sites? Get a videocam and record a session or two of your shoots. I bet you'd get teens flocking to you for portraits like this.

By johnwillems (2008-03-06 17:03:24 ): Wonderfull image. Very great captured. Beautifull colours and I do like the special mood with the man on the right-side. Great work. From John.

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