Elizabeth

Deena

Shot with a beautiful young lady named Deena today.

More Natural Light...

Each of these 3 images were shot using natural light as it spilled into my studio from a large window (I was sitting out side in a light rain, shooting through the open window).

More Tiffany with natural light

Tiffany and natural light

Tiffany walked into the studio for an afternoon of shooting. We shot both natural light images as well as using strobes, I’m liking natural light images recently.

Asleigh Diptych

Recent test with a local model. I love working in black and white as there is so much more attitude and mystery. The color version of these images are good but the B&W's are great.

kendavie.com

A cloudy day

Her name's Gabrielle Dakessian, she's a model actress. She called me one day and asked if we could create some images. So she drove from her house in LA to my studio in Orange County on a cloudy summer's day.

This image was created using ambient light only as it reflected off of my neighbor's wall and into my studio via a large window. I added a photoflex white reflector to camera right to add a catchlight to her eyes.

kendavie.com

What is the Difference Between Shooting for Free and Shooting for Me?

What is the Difference Between Shooting for Free and Shooting for Me?

Van

Speedotron Beauty Dish...

I shot this image of my friend AMG back in April as part of a lighting test. For some reason I just don't get this reflector or how to use it well with the Speedo 102 head. Some people say cover the translucent central disc with an opaque material; some people say place a mirror in front of the translucent central disc to reflect light back into the reflector. I only seem to get hot spots or hot rings depending upon which mod I make to the dish. Has anybody developed a modification for this reflector or found the sweet spot? BTW, mine has a glossy white interior.

Knowing your gear..!

People often ask me how I do this, how I do that and why ? It comes down to feeling. Feeling the moment, feeling the location, having a connection with your model and knowing your equipment. On this day I took a new (to me) camera body outdoors for the first time. I usually wouldn't take new, untested bodies out on a job but I had a feeling that the D700 would perform at least as well as my previous equipment. I'm glad to say that the results we're not only acceptable but far superior to that of the older body. Image sharpness and detail is much higher even when shooting with the sun at the subject's back.

I shouldn't have used a new body on a job without having first tested it. Thank heaven everything worked out well or I'd be reshooting the images at my cost.

And then she's was gone...

Victoria

A week or so ago a young lady sent me a message suggesting we collaborate on a shoot. She has an interesting look so I write her saying "sure, let's do this tomorrow night". 24 hours later she arrives on time at my door after having made a 40 mile drive in Los Angeles rush hour traffic and is ready to shoot. I rarely if ever expect much out of a trade shoot with a model that hasn't been signed to an agency but there's always a chance that one is going to break the standard by being energetic, motivated, ready and willing to give it all for the creative process. Last week I shot a young lady by the name of Victoria. She's half Asian, half Français, born in Germany, raised in Poland and speaks 5 languages. Last but not least this young amateur model actually knows how to model. We shot for 3 hours and I don't believe she repeated a single pose.

Speedotron Beauty Dish...

Does anybody actually use one of these? I bought one as I've been using Speedotron strobes since I started creating images back in 1990. Granted my background is in tech, food and automotive photography but should this thing be this hard to use... I don't get it; this thing creates the hot spots (actually hot rings of light due to the dish's shape). This thing is supposed to be a replica of the Mola 22" dish but I'll tell you what, if the Mola dish works like this you can keep it and the Speedo in the same place; the garbage. I cannot remember when I've been more disappointed in or frustrated by a tool for my trade. I honestly feel that I get better results when using a simple Westcott satin white umbrella. I'll shoot some images and post them so that you can view the hot spots/rings produced by this reflector.