Continuing to indulge my Comic Con habit, I went to a smaller show in Concord yesterday. Many fewer cosplayers, but as always, the ones who were there were happy to pose. Also as always, the lighting was pretty bad: there's not much of it, and it casts unflattering shadows. I can improve it in post, [...]
It's easier to photograph people at events than elsewhere, and it's especially easy at Comic Con, where many people are dressed in costume and are happy to pose. I went to San Francisco Comic Con (held in Oakland) on Friday, stationed myself in front of a black curtain to use as a background, and asked [...]
I won't keep you in suspense: The good news is that Carnaval is a spectacular photo op. Everybody's in a good mood, all the people wearing elaborate and very colorful costumes are happy to pose for photos, and it was a warm, sunny day. (I guess that last one is good news for the scantily [...]
I did a poor job of planning for taking photos at this year's Bay to Breakers. I didn't have a plan for the kinds of photos I wanted, or at least no plan beyond my standard one of taking street portraits. I hadn't scoped out locations or come up with an approach to get a [...]
Cinco de Mayo isn't a major holiday in Mexico, and turns out it wasn't in San Francisco, either. I went to the "celebration" there, but it was really more of a small street fair with the usual vendors of cell phone services, chiropractic care, Scientology and the like. So I left and ended up walking [...]
I went to a workshop on night photography last Friday night. I don't use flash much (apparently, I've got a lot of company in that) so this was a chance to learn more about how to shoot movement at night with a flash. We mostly photographed a group of skateboarders. They were happy to perform [...]
I was back in Oakland last Saturday evening walking around looking for interesting people to photograph. The end-of-day light helped a lot. I got three portraits I find acceptable and one very good one. I talked to this man for a while before asking him to stand in front of this black wall. This A's [...]
Photo educators and workshop leaders frequently exhort newbies to venture out with their cameras because one never knows what one might come across—like Norton I, Emperor of San Francisco and Protector of Mexico. I was in SF on Sunday, haunting the Embarcadero looking for images, and had just taken a forgettable shot of something or [...]
There weren't a lot of people out and about in downtown Oakland today because everyone was at Super Bowl parties. So maybe the street people stood out even more. Here are two I talked to and photographed. I could see this man's tattoos under his unbuttoned shirt and started talking to him about them. He [...]
Last Sunday was my seventh time going to the track to shoot spectators. People have been very willing to pose and I've enjoyed the experience. The track now takes a break for a couple of weeks and I'll wait to hear back from my client about what he'd like to do with the photos [...]