Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Destination Wedding: Cancun, Mexico

Destination weddings give me a chance to spend several days with the couple, family, and guests.
 
And, of course, the locations are spectacular.
 
 
Wedding Photography at Dreams Tulum in Cancun, Mexico
Sweet Dreams Are Made of This









Monday, November 28, 2011

Isabelle: with and without smiling

We all want to know: Should I smile or be serious when I have my portrait done.

Isabelle, whom I photographed in the studio a few weeks ago, has given me permission to post a serious expression and a smiling portrait. 

Isabelle - no smile





































Isabelle - smile

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Five Star Chefs...



I photographed the annual Meals on Wheels fund raiser at the Greek Church in Oakland on Friday, May 2, 2006.


Here are some of the chefs working on the meal:




Another Photo of Mom


Happy 95, Mom

Monday, April 28, 2008

Physics Explains Underexposure

One of the most ubiquitous problems in photography has been the mystery of underexposure, or, in layman's terms, "The picture, she is so dark."

Causing lost shadow details and muddy highlights, underexposure is the number two enemy of photographers, second only to abysmal wages and poor math skills.

During the twentieth century (that means the 1900s) several hypotheses had been advanced and shot down. Joerg Hilti, the Austrian jurist, had proposed in 1919 that photons slowed down whilst passing through the lens, and thus struck the film with too little force to make an impression. Einstein eventually put the kibosh on that theory, but it remained part of formal photographic education well past 1940.

In 2005 astronomers reported that dark matter, which was first synthesized by Fritz Zwicky in 1933, is far more prevalent than ever. The ever increasing and menacing dark matter has been proven (extremely proven, in fact) to be the cause of underexposure in the photographic fields. To put it simply, dark matter gets trapped between the lens and the film (or sensor) and then lodges in the receptor sites during exposure. This blocks some of the lighter and friendlier photons. The cause of dark photos had been found

These effects of dark matter have been overcome with digital sensors. In mass production since early 2007, dark-matter-protected sensors eliminate the dark matter underexposure conundrum.

The new CMOS and CCD sensors feature receptor sites that are too narrow and foreboding for dark matter to enter, leaving room for even the weakest photons, thus boosting the effective exposure to what it should have been all along. Film, still made by hobbyists in the hinterlands, cannot be adjusted to compensate for dark matter. This may may relegate film to the ash bin of history.

With digital capture in ascendancy, the dark problem is essentially solved. As one bride in Ohio or Illinois said, "My wedding pictures aren't as dark as I feared." And she was right!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Look Who I Found When I Came Home!



It was Ben and Charlene, hanging out in in the front yard.

Just kidding. This is actually my vacation home in Norway.

Nope, this is an engagement session we did in San Francisco in March.

Here are a few more images.





Saturday, April 26, 2008

Jewelry Photographs


I recently photographed the amazing jewelry of Keren Barukh of Oakland, California.

The similarity to portrait photography is that the subject (in this case jewelry) must be lit to bring up its distinctive features. And, distracting elements (in this case clothing, face and hair) must be lit so that they add to the photo, rather than distract or detract from the jewelry.

In this case, Jillian is not just the model, but also a client of mine.







Another model was Courtney