Speed Post...(complete randomness)

So I thought I would take a little of my work from my website and post it on my blog while my site is down. It is total random collection of my work, but I think it also shows a bit of diversity. So I am just gonna throw them up there for all to see.



So this is the wonderfully talented Jenn Wong. She was in need of some new head shots and a mutual friend put us together. We had a lot of fun for those couple of hours.



This is oddly enough also another Jen that I got to work with. My wife wanted some pictures for her makeup portfolio, so we thought up a simple little comcept and let the shutter fly.



The last model picture here already made an appearance on my blog, but I feel like it needed to be included in this randomness. How I got the job and the day of shooting, were themselves, very random things as well. I see shot like this from time to time in magazines. A model in motion with only one very subtle part of the model is blurred.



The next couple of pics are from my still life photos. The one above was just recently submitted to the IPA (International Photography Awards). I don't know when the notifications will be sent but I can't wait to hear how I did.



The carrots was part of a food series I did. I really liked how everything has a natural feel to it. The wood background, the hemp twine wrapped around them, and I really like how I was able to get carrots that looked so good. I ate very well after this series was done.



I will end this blog post with a picture from a series I did on parks in Pennsylvania. I enjoy this one because the man is framed by the trees within the frame of my camera. Frame within a frame.

Make sure you check me out on Twitter and also keep checking back to www.adammurrayphoto.blogspot.com Thanks, and enjoy the weekend!

Two "Pretty Wild" Lessons Learned (Part 2)

Okay here it is, part 2 of the "Pretty Wild" Lessons Learned. So in part 1 I was talking about communication. I was mainly talking about communicating with your talent so that you can build a connection with them. No matter how brief your time may be with the talent, if you don't bridge the gap in between the "Hello" and the "Good-bye," your results may not be as good as they could have been if everyone was comfortable with one another. And let me remind you, the communication is not only to make the talent feel better, but it will help you relax and your results will be noticeable.

So in part 2 I think another great lesson I learned was to be prepared. Be ready for sudden change in the situation and to deal with it the best you can. And the best way to stay on your toes, is to ask as many questions as necessary to your client. And make sure that you listen and understand what they need as well.

So when I was called into do the photo shoot with Tess Taylor and Alexis Neiers, I was told some pretty basic stuff. The girls were going to meet with a lingerie company, Biatta Intimates, try some outfits on, and I was there to capture the girls in their outfits. So let me break this down for you. My helpers/advisors (Maria Carmel, Robert Dahey) and I arrived at the designated call time. The girls arrived a bit later. So in the mean time we did some handshaking and meet all the people we would be dealing with for this shoot (see, even though they weren't the talent, communication from all sides is very valuable). So after meeting a number of people from the crew I went and spoke with the person in charge, and asked her what she was expecting from me. She told me what kind of work they were looking for, some ideas they had and I told her what I thought would and wouldn't work. I made sure I knew how many looks there were so I could have a variety of locations and not have to repeat any. I even made sure to ask what kind and color the outfits would be so that they would be complimented by their surroundings. So once we were on the same page about that we had a bit of time to kill because the girls had to arrive and then they had a number of scenes they needed to shoot in order to build up to the photo shoot.

So right away my team and I sprang into action. We walked all over the small studio and figured out where we would want to shoot. We found a number of locations. Some outside and some inside, mostly the latter. I think we managed to find enough location so that we had more then there were outfits, just so we had some room to play with. In the end that really helped us because by the time we got to shoot the girls we had pretty much lost all of out natural light and all the outside location we had weren't going to work anymore. So we ended up having just as many location as we did outfits. Now had I just been making up location as we were done with one look going onto the other, I would have found myself with even less time then I had for each look with the girls. One of the last prep things we did was one of the most important ones of all, our lighting. My team and I made sure that we had a basic understanding of our lighting look, so that in each location we basically knew how strong or weak we wanted the lighting to be. So when the girls were camera ready, we knew the outfits, the location for each one and the lighting.

So you can see how being prepared really helped us out and it made the crew happy too because I knew my locations and could tell them right away what would be next so they could get their stuff ready. By talking to the people in charge, seeing what they expect of you and using your time wisely we saved ourselves a lot of headache.

I hope you found these last two post beneficial. Trail and error has been a friend of mine for quite some time. On a different note, I really wanna wrap this post up with a huge thank you. Thanks to everyone involved with the production. You were all wonderful to be around and it was a pleasure to work with you all. But the biggest thanks would have to go to my peeps Maria and Robert. Check out their work, it is so amazing!! I could not have done this without you two, thanks again!!!

Adam

Two "Pretty Wild" Lessons Learned (Part 1)

So a few months ago I got to work on the pilot episode of E! Network's newest show "Pretty Wild." It was a whole bunch of lessons learned in one night of shooting. Being pretty green in the fashion photo world I was a bit nervous. But luckily I had some amazing help on the shoot with me. Two of my highly talented friends that are quite successful in the biz, Maria Carmel and Robert Dahey. I definitely utilized them as much as I could, and given that it was reality television and we waited for about 3 hours till they were ready for us. So during that time my team and I were looking at every nook and cranny to see what furniture or areas we wanted to shoot in. That worked out well for everyone because when it came time for me to shoot we knew exactly where we needed to be. So once all that was said and done my first lesson was learned, communication with the talent unbelievably important. In my head before the shoot I was thinking I didn't wanna screw up, I wanted the pictures to be stellar and this shoot could have a lot of potential for my career. But none of those things are really possible if I couldn't make the models comfortable. After working and watching some great photographers do there thing, I think it is safe to say that you have to find your own way to this promise land. No one can tell you how you are going to best work with your talent. It is something personal you have to figure out. the more you shoot, the easier it will be to find that. Also it was great to work with two of the stars of the show, Tess Taylor and Alexis Neiers. These girls did a great job!! Again shooting in these conditions was kinda hard. Everyone had their own schedule to meet and I wanted to get the best photos I could, but I didn't get very much time with the girls per look. So that is why you really need to find your way to connect with the talent because you never know how much time you may have with them. Even if it is a quick little comment that puts a smile on their face. That will most likely make them feel comfortable, cause who doesn't like to laugh??!? And then both of you can move past the awkward phase and get to making some cool photos. So as far as the pictures go, I think we definitely got what the show was looking for. Here are some of the pics from the shoot. Oh and I have to give some more ups to my girl Maria Carmel for helping me out with the post work. So part 1 of the "Pretty Wild" shoot is to really hone your skills at connecting with the talent. In a few days we will continue with part 2.

www.twitter.com/adam_murray1023

www.mariacarmelphotography.com

www.robertdaheyphotography.com

Damn it...

I still need to get better at blogging. The picture posted in the previous post has nothing to do with the idea I am currently working on. Its just a good pic with a relevant message for today. As the project comes together I will be posting some out takes, nothing that will end up in the book. For the first number of posts, depending on how often I actually post, there won't be many pictures. But stay tuned because just the adventure of me blogging is reason enough (as soon as I learn how to do it effectively).

New project...

So I have been in LA for a little over a year now and have had a number of experiences. For the purpose of this blog I will keep it confined to my photography experiences. I have meet some great people and helped some great photographers. I even got to do my first paid gig for an up and coming clothing line which could lead to more things. But all in all it has been going very slow. I am not in a hurry but I feel as if I am already behind and I am catching up. I have had a tough year in a number of ways, but I think I have seen a bright light somewhere in the tunnel. It may not be the end of it, but at least its a light. I have tons of ideas for projects. 30 years of never having an artistic outlet, coupled with some acquired maturity has led me to create a number of concepts. But after living in LA for this time I have found out that there a number of formalities that I need to be concerned with. With my ideas the biggest road block I have found is the inability to get equipment. But through perseverance and meeting good people I am working my way to taking care of that problem.

But over the past few days I have really struck gold. I feel such a calling to my new project to the point where it is all I can think of and I even feel the call of it inside myself. It is going to be a portrait book that will bring together some of the greatest individuals in the world today. Right now my goals are very ambitious, but I have learned to really see my ideas as concepts. Concepts that need to achieved through lots of planning, thinking and hard work. But I don't think if I will know how to quit this idea. So make sure yo stay tuned to the blog to check on the progression of my idea. Tell your family and friends to tune in as well.