ModestGeniusXL

Top Captures of 2011 : #7

At this spot lies another example of why I want to do more events.  Doing so provides an opportunity to capture shots that are near impossible to recreate in a studio.  The atmosphere, the vibe, the whole aesthetic is something that you can only get on location.  It's exactly what I was able to get in this photo.  But I'm getting a little ahead of myself as usual.  Let me backtrack a bit to give some history on how this picture came to be.

We have this function here in the city known as Say What! Poetry.  It takes place every Thursday night at a little nook bar called House of Bricks.  Poets from around the city (or even those visiting) get the opportunity to step up to the mic to recite their favorite pieces of work.  Or in some cases where the poet is known to the audience it may be the crowd's favorite piece from that poet.  No different than any other poetry slam you may have seen.

I'm not sure how long Say What! has been going on now.  I know it's been a while because it seems like I've been seeing the posts for it each week for quite a while.  And yet in all that time it never dawned on me to attend one night to see about getting photos.  It just so happened that "Love Jones" came on again one night which is when the inspiration came to me.  Seeing Darius on stage had me thinking that it would be funky to get some images of poets doing their thing on stage.  Wait...we have that right here in Des Moines!  So it was on.

I contacted my friend Leonard who puts the event on to see if he would be cool with it.  It's not often that I would do a TFP for an event, but I made an exception in this case.  It was really for my benefit anyway so I was okay with making that exception.  Leonard was good with it as well.  I also wanted to make sure the poets would sign off.  Didn't want to have their game thrown off by my occasional flash.  He said it wouldn't be a problem so we were good.

It turned out that I captured at least half a dozen images from that evening that were just absolutely phenomenal.  I am not even exaggerating.  I would move positions so I would get the poets from different angles in different lights.  Each one was even more amazing then the next.  The combination of the lighting in there with angles at which I was hitting them was giving me just what I wanted and then some.  There were three different images from that night up for consideration on this countdown.  It was so tough to narrow down that I almost broke my rule and put two in.

Ultimately I went with this one because of all the different aspects it has in just one image.  It's as if you're seeing the poetess from the perspective of the audience.  Complete with another audience member in front of you also entranced by her words (ed. note: the back of the person's head you see is Leonard).  Once again the black and white sets it off to give the simplistic feel that should coincide with poetry.  To remind us that sometimes words are enough.  And sometimes a picture to match those words is the icing on the cake...

Top Captures of 2011 : #8

I can't take credit for all of the ideas that you see in my photos.  Some of them are inspired by other work I see where I envision putting my own twist on it.  That was the case with the latest themed shoot I did.  I came across a photo of several of Hollywood's celebrated Black actresses all together in one room.  All of them dressed in black.  There was no name for the photo but what immediately came to my mind was "Black is Beautiful".  That's when it hit me that I wanted to do a similar shoot with the subjects being professional local Black women in Des Moines.

I immediately knew that something like that would be difficult to pull off for a couple of different reasons.  The first and most difficult part would be scheduling.  I would have to get a date and time where at least a dozen different women would all be available.  Do you know how difficult it is to get a date for even a few different folks to agree on?  And in order for the picture to come off the way I wanted it had to be at least a dozen women in the photo.  I figured it would be near impossible.

The other thing that I anticipated being an issue was the potential personality conflicts.  I didn't want to get individuals together that didn't like one another.  Things like that come thru in group photos.  And it's not like I know everybody in the city (in spite of how many folks think that Des Moines is indeed that small).  Yet I still wanted it to be a diverse group so it wasn't as if I was just taking a group photo of a bunch of friends.  I just about gave up on the idea when Kara came thru.

If you've been following the countdown, you may remember Kara as the 'model' in top capture #13.  I told her about the idea.  She said she would probably be able to get a group of women together who would be game for it.  As many as 16 total.  She would just need some time to make it happen to make sure all the schedules could mesh.  That was perfectly fine with me.  So a little over a month later and with a few last minute additions from my contact list the "Black is Beautiful" shoot finally came to fruition.

I'm not going to lie...that shoot was a challenge.  Just as I thought it would be.  It was the first time I was taking on something that monumental where there were so many different subjects to photograph.  My biggest concern was lighting.  I would have only my basic light set-up available to use which was a far cry away from the high-caliber set-up that I often use in the IKONIX strobelit studio.  Add that to the fact that we had to get off to a late start since the session ahead of us ran long. 

Now you would think that having gone thru all that that the photo I would have selected would have been the group shot of all the ladies together, right?  Well it just so happened that my other idea was to do shoots within the shoots.  To break the ladies down into smaller groups, but to have them come up with their own idea for their sub-groups.  That's when Cassandra, Brandie, Liz, Ebony, Samantha and Lonnie came up with this one.  I was feeling it instantly.  Even in smaller doses Black is still Beautiful...

Top Captures of 2011 : #9

There are some of my gigs that I get to work simply because I'm getting my hustle on.  I will see a flier or an ad some place of an event coming up then I contact the folks putting it on to see if I can do the photos.  Or at least I try to contact them.  I don't always get a response.  That's how I missed out on doing the Snoop Dogg concert when he came to town.  That wasn't the case with this event though.

I guess the Midwest Hair Battle has been going on for at least a few years now.  I just happened to see a flier for it one time when I was in Clippernomics.  I saw that the cat putting it on was a barber at the place I used to get my hair cut:  Platinum Kuts.  I reached out to him to see if he would be interested in having a photog for the event.  Sure enough he was.  It was a win-win situation.  I would get that additional event exposure I was looking for and he would get to have his event memorialized by the one and only XL-Images.

The entire thing was a learning experience for me in more ways than one.  The first being that I went into it with a blank 8MB memory card thinking that would be enough.  I had no idea it was going to be as long as it was.  With me shooting in RAW format, I burned thru that 8MB card pretty quick. I fortunately had a 4MB in my bag.  Used that one too.  It was right up to the end of the show and I was scrambling to delete bad shots I didn't need to make room for new ones.  It was then that I knew I needed to be equipped with a grip of memory cards whenever I'm shooting.  Just in case because you just never know.  Ever since then I don't go to a gig with less than 5 blank memory cards.

Another thing I learned was that event like this it would be very helpful if you are able to attend a practice and/or a walk-through beforehand.  That way you know what shots you are looking for when the actual thing starts to go down.  I'm not sure if they even had one for this event, but I sure could have used it.  As many great shots as I did get there were others I would have liked to have.

I knew the minute that I saw this performance that it would produce some of the best shots of the night.  Sheila's crew went with a Lion King theme that was on point from beginning to end with the costumes, hair designs and even stage show.  The lighting definitely worked in their favor the way it helped really accentuate the African Serengeti theme they were trying to emulate.  But more importantly, it came out even better when I captured the image from just the right angle.  If I were ever to blow up some of my images into prints large enough to hang on walls then this one would be first on the list...

 

 

 

 

Top Captures of 2011 : #10

So we have finally made it to the top 10.  I have exactly four days left to finish these off.  That means I will have to be doubling up on some days.  Maybe even more than that if I want the #1 selection to get a day all to itself like it deserves.  Until then, what you're about to enjoy is the final 10 captures that have been the culmination of a year of hard work come to fruition.

It all starts with this image that comes courtesy of a family shoot I had.  Lizzy and Salah were blessed with a baby boy earlier this year:  Salah Jr.  I would occasionally run into the both of them at different nightlife events around the city.  They would both mention that they wanted to get with me for a family shoot.  The difficulty was finding a time that would work since Liz owns her own beauty salon.  You know those hairstylist keep crazy hours.  That's compounded even more when they own their spot.

We were finally able to find a time that worked for all of us.  Nevermind that it took place during the same time as the International World Food Fair that was going on downtown.  That wouldn't have been that big of a deal if I wasn't using the IKONIX studio in East Village that was located right in the heart of where the food thingy was being held.  It just made it difficult to find a place to park.  Even harder for Salah and Liz to find the studio.  But everything worked out and it ended up being worth the wait.

It was not my first family shoot by far.  However, it was my first one with a baby.  Lil man wasn't even a year old yet.  I had my work cut out for me.  I worked up a bigger sweat than usual trying to get him to smile.  Or sometimes to even get him to look in the direction of the camera.  But when he finally did he produced some MONEY shots.  Lil dude had his own pic up for consideration.  It JUST missed the countdown.  It would have been perfect because it was the only baby pic I would have had in the countdown.  Ultimately, I decided to go with this one instead. Sorry Salah Jr., but the only families with more than one family picture in the countdown is mine.

I make sure that with I always get a shot of just the parents together with any family shoot I do.  I got the traditional poses with these two as well.  However, I wanted to make sure to get the two of them having a moment also.  One of those pictures were you can tell the two are really into each other.  I especially liked that pose with Liz and Salah more than any other couple.  The reason being that I had seen those two out a lot together but never seen them as cozy as they were in my picture.  I was feeling like I captured an extremely rare moment yet it looked so natural as though it happens all the time.  Out of all the silhouette captures I've done there were very few more priceless than this one.

Top Captures of 2011 : #11

I had been thinking for the longest time that I wanted to do a theme shoot.  Not just something simple like a couple in love so it's a "loving couple" shoot.  I was thinking something to coincide with a "holiday".  So as the year was getting long in the tooth and we were approaching October I immediately knew what I wanted to do.  A Halloween-Fall themed shoot would be perfect.  It could be a combination of folks in fall gear and folks in costume.  It was perfect.

I would have thought that folks would have jumped at the opportunity to do a shoot like this.  How many times do you see folks showing off pictures of themselves in their Halloween costumes?  Well I was giving them the chance to get a pic like that professionally done.  I put the offer out there and sat back waiting for the responses to come flooding in.  Nothing.  Well...no serious inquiries anyway.  There were the standard "Sounds fun...I'll get back to you" responses from folks that never follow through.  But no one that was really down.

Except for Summer.

She could not have been more gung ho about the idea.  So much so that she started brainstorming for additional ideas.  She was lobbing new concepts at me just about every other day.  Each one better than the next.  There are few people that I can count on to come thru for a concept shoot with both ideas AND deliver in front of the camera.  Summer is one of the main ones.  More importantly, she's money every single time.

Again, Summer was a 'model' that had quite a few good shots to pick from for consideration for the countdown.  Not just from this shoot either.  For someone who doesn't do this professionally she's a natural in front of the camera.  I could go on but we can't be having her getting too big-headed.  Suffice to say that it's good to know when I'm trying to go for a certain type of stylized look in a shoot that I can count on her among the folks who would be willing to step up.

As I tried to narrow down my favorite look from this shoot I continued to run into the same problems.  There were too many captures from the vampire shoot that I was really feelin'.  That's when I came up with the ingenious idea of just combining my favorites into a themed collage.  I had been on a Photoshop binge lately so I figured I might as well keep it up.  So the image may be completely contrary to the current holiday spirit that is still faintly in the air...when you get a good capture it's the gift that keeps giving all year long...

Top Captures of 2011 : #12

The face my look familiar to some of you that have been to my website.  For those of you who still don't know it for some reason, it's www.XL-Images.net.  When you go there, sit on the main page for a while.   Enjoy the animation that goes thru some of my favorite images.  You will notice more than a couple that look familiar.  You will also see this young lady showing up.  But you will also see it was a different image.

So you would think with Ayla (the 'model' here) having her picture in the main animation that I would have went the safe route and chosen that one for the countdown, right?  True, Ayla is one of the individuals that had more than one different picture up for consideration for the countdown.  However, the thing is with her that she will have so many great photos in just one shoot that it would be a struggle narrowing them down.  Therefore, you can imagine how hard it was when she had more than one shoot to choose from.

This particular one came about as we were starting to get our fall colors here in Iowa.  That's one of the good thing about being in state that is renown for getting all four seasons.  Sure we get sick of the cold on those long winter nights, but when autumn hits we get some of the most incredible colors that nature can provide.  It is a photographer's dream.  Still not too cold out so you you don't have to deal with the miserable bitterness while providing the perfect backdrop that you can't accurately reproduce in any studio.

I would end up doing quite a few shoots outside with the fall leaves.  Many people wanted the same shot:  leaves coming down around them.  Either throwing them in the air or watching them fall.  I started noticing that other photogs seemed to either have the same requests in their outdoor shoots or the same idea.  So I wanted to catch something a little different.

This shot started off with that concept in mind.  However, it came about because we noticed as we arrived at the location that the leaves were falling naturally.  There was a slight breeze wafting thru that was creating a very slight shower of leaves.  That would have been a perfect picture.  But of course it stopped doing that once I was ready start shooting.  So I had to recreate it but tossing some leaves myself.

I did get some great shots of the leaves slowly cascading.  Ayla was the consummate pro as she always had just the right expression for each snap of the shutter.  But this unposed one was the best.  The leaves had stopped falling and that one lone leaf got caught on her hoodie.  I noticed I had the picture perfect moment as I caught her looking at the straggler that didn't want to come down.  It was added bonus that the eyes also got the catch-light just right.  Ayla killed it yet again...

 

The Year in Film

I thought I was going to forego my other top lists since the photo countdown was much more time consuming. I especially thought that this list in particular wouldn't get done.  However, I found a little nook of time then also realized that I saw more great movies this year than I originally recalled.  So many that I once again decided to go with an awkward number.  So here are my selections for the top 11 flicks of 2011.  As usual, you can click on the movie title to go to the original review...

 

11.  I Spit on Your Grave
As far as revenge films go in 2011 you will be hard-pressed to find one better than this.  I always make it a point to include at least one horror film on my movie countdowns and this could not have been a better choice.  I defy any man to watch this movie and NOT be horrified by the punishment the "heroine" puts those guys through.  And the thing about it is they deserve every single bit they get and then some.  If you have a weak stomach this one is NOT for you.  

10.  Night Catches Us
I try to make it a point to see at least one Black movie during Black History Month.  Even though my militant days are long behind me I figure it's the least I could do.  It's been harder to do in recent years because they just don't make them as much as they used to.  Thanks Hollywood.  Anyway, this one would have been a great choice for any time of the year.  It's yet another reminder why Anthony Mackie is one of my favorite all-time underrated actors.

9.  Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Michael Bay seriously redeemed himself with this one.  I STILL contend that the second "Transformers" movie left much to be desired.  So much so that I almost contemplated waiting for dvd for this one.  Almost.   Then I came to my senses.  I mean afterall it is the Transformers we're talking about.  Just like that, my faith was restored in the Transformers franchise.  But Mike...please...find a way to work in the Dinobots and/or Omega Supreme?  Okay...I'm sounding like a total geek right about now.

8.  The Help
As I stated earlier, my time of being a militant is long behind me.  Maybe that's why I don't take exception with this movie as much as other folks seem to.  I fully understand that there was this time in our history that was horrible and full of stereotypes that we would like to look past today.  But I always say it's important to know our past so we can better understand the future.  Plus, I was really feeling the acting.  I didn't know Emma Stone had this performance in her.  Was this enough for me to want to read the book?  Well it wasn't THAT good.

7.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes
James Franco had a pretty good year being in this one and "127 Hours" which was another contender for this list.  But this movie was really about the apes.  A bigger "Planet of the Apes" fan than myself corrected me when I incorrectly presumed this was an original.  I didn't realize the original "Apes" movies from the 70s had an installment where they also explained how the apes came to power.  I may eventually watch it but I seriously doubt it can be as good as this version.   

6.  Buried
It has to be one of the hardest things to do to make a movie where the majority of it is confined to one location.  Now put that one location in a little coffin-sized box and see how much more difficult it becomes.  Plus the fact that the actor asked to pull it off such a drama Ryan Reynolds.  Even with all of that supposedly working against it, "Buried" blew away much of the competition.  Easily one of the best thrillers I have seen in a while.

5.  Captain America: The First Avenger
I still think it was unnecessary for them to include "The First Avenger" in the title.  It gives the impression this was a sequel since so many sequels do that now.  Of course we know he was the first Avenger.  Okay...us Marvel nerds do, but it still wasn't needed.  That wasn't their only broken taboo.  They also took an inordinate amount of time in setting up the history behind Captain America.  Yet it worked extremely well in this instance.  The entire thing had me looking forward to next year's "Avengers" flick even more.

4.  Cedar Rapids
I will concede that maybe I enjoyed this movie a little more than most people would have since I spent so much time in actual Cedar Rapids.  It also helps that I'm a big fan of Ed Helms' work.  He was perfect in this role of a small town schmoe who looks at a trip to some place like Cedar Rapids as a journey to the big city.   It was more than just the CR connection.  It was also the whole storyline about an insurance convention.  They could not have been more spot on with the personalities they gave those insurance folks.  A little too close to home on a couple of them, but that's what made it so good.

3.  Horrible Bosses
If there was ever a year that was the year of comedies this would be it.  For a while there I thought that the only good movies I would see during the summer would be comedies.  Fortunately that wasn't the case but if it had been then "Horrible Bosses" would have been in good company.  It was solely because of this movie that I started watching "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".  I wanted to see if Charlie Day was as funny in the show as he was in the movie.  He definitely was.  And just like that I have another sitcom added into the rotation along with a new favorite comedy movie.

2.  Bridesmaids
I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard that I was nearly crying.  It may have been the first time I saw "The Hangover".  So I guess it was only fitting that the next movie to make me do the same was essentially the female version of a similar plot.  I always knew that Kristin Wii would do awesome in a starring role.  She proved it and then some.  The surprise for me was newcomer Melissa McCarthy.  I would say some of the funniest scenes in the movie were her.  However, the entire movie was so hilarious from beginning to end that it would be too hard to pick out which scene was the funniest.

1.  Catfish
This movie could not have been more appropriate in this day and age when so many people live their lives online.  As a matter of fact, for anyone that even remotely considers striking up a romantic relationship with someone you met online then I strongly encourage you watch "Catfish".  I finally found an indie film that was worthy of being at the top of the list for best film of the year.  And this faux documentary was so far ahead of the competition that I knew the moment I first saw it clear back in February that the bar had been set out of reach.  I almost wished that director Ariel Schulman would have done only this one in 2011 instead of also "Paranormal Activity 3".  Then I wouldn't have a sullied image of his directorial skills.  Fortunately, "Catfish" was so good that he gets a pass.  But he better not sign on for a "Paranormal Activity 4".

 

 

 

 

 

Top Captures of 2011 : #13

I thought maybe I had already done a picture with this particular 'model' earlier in the countdown.  Then I remembered that Kara was one of the folks who has a few different pics up for consideration.  I made a deal with myself that I would try to keep it as fair as possible and make sure that no one person had more than one photo in the countdown.  It was tough to do but I was able to stick to it.  This particular one was the photo that made the cut for Kara.

I think just about everyone I know from near and far has heard of the Bridges of Madison County.  Folks may not have seen the movie and/or read the book (I had done neither), but they at least knew of the bridges themselves.  Personally, I was a little surprised when they first got national attention.  Only because I had lived in Norwalk for so long which was right next to Madison County and had no idea those bridges even existed.  But one day when I was searching for new locations, those spots suddenly came to mind.

There were a couple of surprising things I discovered when trying to use the Bridges.  The first was that I had no idea they were so far out.  I'm not even talking about from Ames.  I mean just from Des Moines.  Once I was in the city my GPS was telling me they were still 45 minutes away.  Really?  I don't recall Winterset being that far from Des Moines.  That couldn't be right, could it?  Apparently so.

The distance thing reminds me that I have to give props to Kara for even agreeing to do the TFP shoot.  We had never worked together before.  She honestly didn't even know me that well at all.  All she knew was that I had worked with her soror Venise who apparently had kind things to say.  So Kara trusted me enough to meet me out in the middle of nowhere for this shoot on a day when a person had to travel thru crappy weather (downpouring rain) to get out there.  I thought if ever the conditions were ripe for a no show it would be this particular time.  She came through with no problem though.

I also didn't realize there were so many of those bridges.  I thought there were maybe two or three.  There are five in total.  So that created a problem as to which bridge I wanted to use.  I had to google them online and choose the one whose look caught my eye the most.  I honestly can't even remember the name of this one, but what I do clearly recall was it was one that was predominantly featured in the movie.  I even stood in the exact same spot where Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep stood.  Yeah...it wasn't that big of a deal to me either.

As for the shot itself, what I originally wanted to capture was Kara slowly walking towards me from the darkness into the light.  I wanted to see what type of different images I would capture in the different shades of light as she got closer with each step.  It turned out that the further away she was where you could just see the silhouette the better it was.  At least for me.  This one sent a little chill up my spine.  It reminded me of an old-fashioned scary movie.  You already had the old bridge and here was the shadowy figure emerging from the darkness.  I knew immediately that it was a keeper...

Top Captures of 2011 : #14

Yes, I purposely positioned this photo so that it would appear in the countdown right on this special day.  It truly was no coincidence.  I originally was going to just let the photo ride by itself at this spot with no description to coincide with it.  Let the picture really speak for itself more or less.  But then something came to me that made me realize this would be the perfect opportunity to share with folks who may not be informed.

Everyone is quick to say "Merry Christmas" today and I will gladly pile on with mine.  However, you definitely won't see me incorrectly adding the "Happy Birthday Jesus" that some folks are also throwing in.  I can't remember how old I was when it first dawned on me that December 25th could not have been Jesus's birth day.  It was probably in some history class when they talked about calendars. They didn't  record months and days back then as we know it today so how do we know that He was born on 12/25/00?  Simple...we don't.  Long story short, any amateur historian knows that the date was chosen to coincide with the winter solstice.  I won't even go into the history of how it was adopted from the Romans to coincide with some of their customs.

I could go on and on about the all of the other fallacies that have cheapened Christmas like the mistletoe, wreaths, the trees and such but it would be pointless.  So maybe Jesus was actually born sometime in August or September (some even putting it at April).  He Himself didn't commemorate His own birthday and since we really don't know the actual date, why not have it be this time of year?  It gives you something to look forward to after a rough 359 days.  Besides, doing it in September would leave three lame duck months.  The bottom line is Jesus IS the reason for the season.

Now that I got all that off my chest, I might as well speak on the photo since I'm here.  I wanted to do some type of Christmas shoot that was a little bit out of the ordinary.  Sure, with all of the folks that I know that are more than willing to pose for pics I could have done something more traditional.  Maybe a family around a Christmas tree opening presents.  Or Santa with some "naughty" elves.  Everyone would have seen those coming though so I went this route instead.

The 'model' here is Cabo.  Her owner is a good friend of mine that graciously volunteered her services.  As you can see, Cabo herself may not have been fully on board with the same amount of gratitude.  However, she is really amazing with the plethora of tricks she can do.  Which is why she was the perfect model for a picture like this.  I don't many dogs that would sit still that long to tolerate a photo in Santa gear.  Bravo to Cabo for making this picture work.  Even if she really didn't want to...

Top Captures of 2011 : #15

This photo right here is a reminder of why I made a conscious effort to get away from club shoots.  With the exception of First Fridays, of course, which will always be in my repertoire.  I wanted to get clientele that are more corporate.  More diverse.  The type of photos that you would find in business magazines.  The problem I was having was how to market to that crowd.  You know how they say it takes money to make money?  Well it takes shoots like that to get shoots like that.  That's where Jason came in.

Jason Neifert and I go all the way back to Norwalk High School.  One of several friends from my Norwalk days that I still connect with on a fairly regular basis.  I had the pleasure of being in the epic Norwalk Band (yes...I called our high school band "epic") with him.  But more importantly, we were part of a championship winning lip sync group with our buddy Mike Petterson.  But enough of the trip down memory lane.

Jason contacted me about doing a shoot for his law firm.  Photos that he could start using in ads to further promote the firm.  It was a win-win situation.  I was finally getting the chance to get those corporate shots I wanted.  He was able to get professional pictures from a first-rate photographer to use to advertise his firm.  Not to mention that I was able to work with a friend that I had known for over a quarter of a century now.  So I guess that would technially make it a win-win-win situation.

The goal was to do something more than just a group photo of the entire staff.  We also wanted to get shots of all of them doing the work they normally do during the course of a regular business day.  That's more difficult than what it sounds.  Have you ever tried acting normal while someone is sitting there with a camera snapping away?  About the only way to get a natural picture with that type of setting is when they're not paying attention.  That's how this one came about.

We had just arrived at the office (I had my friend and fellow photog Byron Jones assisting me on this shoot) and were still scoping out what types of shots and angles to use.  Jason excused himself for a minute while he took a phone call.  That's when I seized the opportunity to get what would end up being my favorite capture of the entire shoot.  I purposely framed it like that so it could tell a couple of different stories.  It's Jason at the grindstone while you can see a brief history of his accomplishments.  Not too bad at all for my first company shoot...