Checking out some new styles

As part of my business, I have always offered boudoir type photography. I have always been interested in pinup and surreal fantasy shoots as well. Over the past few months I have been studying the work of Joel Grimes, Dave Hill, and a few others. I have started experimenting with combinations of their lighting and processes and have been very pleased with the results. In 2011, we'll be adding the fantasy shoots to our photographic servcies menu.

This photo was shot un the studio against white seamless. The rest of the backdrop was all created in Photoshop. The painterly effect of the model was all a process of hours of work in Photoshop as well. I am sure as time goes on, we'll add more and more backdrops and further perfect our own style and process in this newly discovered style.

If you are interested in booking a shoot with us, please go to our website and visit the contact page.

Until next time,
Nick

Aviation Nation 2010

This year was my first visit to Nellis AFB since the 2001 Airshow season. At that time, the show was actually held outside of town at the Jean, NV airport. I have to say, it was a pleasure to get back to Nellis and a real treat to see some of the old favorites along side new aircraft such as the F-22.

I hope I am never tasked with picking a favorite moment of the day! The F4 was a show stealer with the high speed passes and low altitude maneuvers. It also brought a tear to my eye to see that old B Model Huey doing its part in the S&R reenactment.

As far as gear goes, I took the new 7D with me and I fell in love! The autofocus takes some work getting it where you need it to be. I used it primarily with the 100-400 f4/5-5.6 that I rented from The Lens Depot. I'd be safe saying I had about a 75% success rate with in focus shots. While I am not terribly pleased with that figure, I'll take the blame for just learning the new camera system. The 40D and 24-70 2.8L performed flawlessly as awlays.

I'll have the new shots posted on my website within a week or so! Hopefully I'll have prints available for sale in time for Christmas.

Working the Holga

Red Rock Canyon from the eye of a Holga

The photo here was shot with a fine little Holga!
I purchased the Holga about 6 months ago and let the thing set on the shelf for a while. Finally, on the urging of a friend I purchased some 120 Kodak  Portra VC160 film. All I can really say is that I have fallen in love with this combination! The Portra renders some of the most vivid colors I could imagine. The Holga, with all of its little quirks is just an absolute fun little camera! It is well known for its odd vignetting, light leaks, strange focus and Depth Of  Field among other things.

 I have now started taking it on my hikes and the 6 year old is trying to take it away from me. It does make a great kids camera, by the way. Just don't forget to take the damn lens cap off!

For those of you unfamilliar with the Holga, there is a a wonderful website at Square Frog. These guys have all the details on the Holga line. The simple little camera started its fame in Hong Kong in the very early 80's. It is a simple plastic "toy" with no real control other than minimal focusing and a bright/dim aperture control that really serves no purpose. The Holga has reached a cult like status among photographers from every genre. Even Steve Diet Goedde shoots with one occasionally! It has certainly earned a permanent spot among the other tools in my camera bag.

$35 and you can be shooting one this week. Have a look on Amazon and eBay.

Until next time!

New found love and some slight changes in direction.

It has been a while since I had time to post on here. Between trying to get a new line of work for the studio, and spending some quality time with the family, it has not left much blog time.

I've started making Sunday my outing day with my 6 year old grand daughter., Sophia. We have been hiking all over Redrock and the surrounding area. We pick a different trail system each week. That is her taking a break in Fossill Canyon. We hiked several miles and did some rock climbing to several hundred feet above the canyon floor.

It has proven to be very beneficial to me in many ways. For one, I am starting to notice a huge difference in my leg strength and physical stamina. That's a plus or a 40 year old. Secondly, I have found that these hikes provide views and locations for photography that many will never see. I've always been more of a studio photographer, but am starting to see this as a new way to add to my portfolio as well as stopping to enjoy what mother nature has to offer.

I'm going to be adding a Vegas Hikes portfolio on my website within the next few weeks with the availability to purchase metallic prints.

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM Lens Review

  I could sum this up in one word and leave it that, but I don't think that would be fair to those that read this review. The one word I could use would be "abysmal". First off, I shoot with a Canon 40D. I did my research and found mixed reviews from shooters of all brands of cameras with this lens. I am a tried and true fan of all that Canon makes, but have also had great luck with another Sigma lens. The 28-300mm that I had was a wonderful all purpose lens. Unfortunately, this was not the case with this one.

I purchased the lens from Calumet, through Amazon. As soon as I took it out of the package, I put it on the 40D and made a few test shots in the studio. Like many, I used a print page shot at a 45 degree angle to the lens. At 5.6 there was nothing focused in the shot. Every part of the image was soft. I stepped the aperture down to f11 and f22 and used one speedotron strobe in a softbox to light the book page. Again, not a single focused point in the image. Even though I was already greatly disappointed and discouraged, I decided to do some outside shots with it to see how it performed.

As you can see in the photo, there is not a sharply focused part of the image. I was using single point AF with it placed on the eyes. Aperture was f8, 1/125 at ISO 200. Fill flash was used as well. To add to that, the bokeh at any aperture was horrendous. At wide open, f2.8, the bokeh looked like broken glass or giant pixelation.

Luckily, Amazon accepted my return of the lens and I purchased the Canon L glass replacement. My honest opinion is that I would not suggest this lens to anyone. This had to be the most horrid piece of glass I have ever had on my camera. Many reviewers state that it has taken them several returns to Sigma to get one of these lenses that worked properly. As a professional photographer, I did not have the time to waste on returns and repair. If you are serious about shooting quality photos with a Canon product, then stick with Canon lenses.

Hiking with the 6 year old.

I need to get more exercise like everyone else in America. We live in the beautiful desert Southwest and there is so much to explore and I regret ignoring so much of it over the years. This past weekend, I decided to get out and about and brought my six year old grand daughter along.

We packed up the Yashica 124 and headed for a small hump in the desert called Lone Mountain. It's only about 600ft to the top and the climb is fairly uneventful. I guess that is if you are in great shape! Most of our hike was spent with Sophia running 200ft ahead of me yelling back for me to catch up! Wow! I'd love to be 6 again! Or at least have that energy.

We stopped and shot 12 frames of B&W landscape shots along the way. We just developed them yesterday and will be posting those in a future blog post. It was a good time and a good primer for future trips to the desert. Next weekend, we're headed to Calico Basin near Red Rock Canyon.

The view of the valley from up there is beautiful! I love my home in Las Vegas and I love getting to see it from different angles.

Get out there and enjoy your summer!

Had time to read a book this week!

I've started getting more serious about the boudoir aspect of my work and along with that realized that I am truly inspired by shooting with women over 30. All that being said, I started searching Amazon for some helpful books and came across Jerry D's "Extreme Makeover Technicques" book.

Since I started shooting digital, all I have heard has been arguments about the amount of post processing, especially in beauty and glamour work. Jerry D lays it right out there and shows plenty of examples of just exactly what paying clients are looking for. When shooting boudoir it IS all about the fantasy and illusion. It IS about the client being able to be someone else for that photo session. Jerry's step by step and case by case explanations on his process as we well as the pscychology of his subjects makes this one of the top books on the subject in my opinion.

I'd like to say a very big "thanks" to Jerry for authoring a very helpful book! His methodology and his business principles are solid, and if emulated, can add to your recipe for success.

See more of Jerry D at his website here.

Until next time!
Nick

I always seem to have my camera with me.

My daughter had a bad day and wanted to get out for a bit. Luckily my wife was in the mood to watch the kids so we decided to head to Fremont Street. (In Las Vegas for those of you not from here) Like always, I grabbed the camera bag and we went on our way.

We enjoyed walking and listening to the bands that were braving the 40 mph winds to entertain the crowd. We weren't the only fools to be found out in the cold! After spending an hour sitting at Starbucks and watching the light show on the canopy, we headed back to the car. My daughter, always the model, stopped here and there for a few poses. Out of all the shots of the night, this candid shot along the wlakway at the Plaza is my fav. I love the nostalgic feel to it and it just really captured her.

These are the kinds of photos that memories are made of! Keep your camera handy and remember that you don't have to plan every single shot to come away with one that you love.

Until next time....

Film! The hottest debate among photographers today!

To shoot film or not? Is it art? Is it worth it? You can go to any photography website on the internet and there will be at least 5 discussions (very heated in some cases) debating the validity of film use today. I think it is all about personal choice. I can't debate the difference in exposure lattitudes in film vs digital. It makes my head hurt to think of it! I can say that I enjoy, and shoot mostly digital, but there is nothing like the magic of the darkroom.

When working with film, I shoot mainly B&W on Kodak T-Max 400. I develop my own film, and make my own prints. I could not imagine having some off site lab handle my precious film! I shoot both 35mm and 6X6 medium format.

Developing your own film is so simple that even a caveman could do it! (and sell you car insurance at the same time.) It takes about an hour to do up two or three rolls of film. There are a million youtube videos showing you how so I am not going to bore you with the details here.

The common thread that I do hear among "analog photographers" is that shooting film forces you to slow down and think out your shot. It forces you to take those extra seconds to check exposure and check focus. With the digital SLR it is so simple to get into the "spray and pray" mode, I feel we lose touch with the craft somewhat. That isn't to say that when we shoot in the studio that we don't have our hands full with technical aspects such as lighting ratios, white balance, etc. It is just that when you only have 36 shots on that roll as opposed to several hundred on the card you tend to calculate a little harder.

Have fun and enjoy what you do! Feel free to share some of your art with me via my email address. I'd love to feature it here on the blog.

Nick
(also I'd love to credit the photographer on Model Mayhem for posting the awesome shot of the film canisters. If only his post hadn't disappeared!)

My Kind Of Photos

Going back to my opening blog post, I wanted to clarify what "my kind" of photography really is. In the photgraphy/modeling world it has 100 labels. "Alt", "Fetish", "Edgey","goth", "Pinup", whatever. Who wouldn't enjoy a day of shooting beautiful models no matter what category it falls under?

Most of the women I shoot with are housewives, office workers,etc. They are women that you would never expect to see in a pair of thigh high boots or slinky min-skirt. I love working with these models and letting them have that fantasy of becoming someone else even if it is just for a few hours. Rolando Gomez speaks along these lines in his free photo book, Photographic Therapy. Many women find our photo sessions to very therapeutic and love the feedback that they get when they share the shots from a fantasy photo session.

So there you have it! This is a glimpse into what I do. In the future, I want to start shooting more boudoir and nude sessions. I also have some plans on shooting some fetish shots in the pool this summer.I have problems getting side tracked with my second love, and that is the beauty of the desert. I'll have to work hard at combining those in the near future!

Nick

Jnicholasphotography.com

Why photography and why now?

Why in my late thirty's to early 40's would I start persuing photography again? Because I am in love with it!  I have been lucky enough to have a job that pays more than most photographers make and with that job, have enough days off to persue this as a second "career". It has taken me this long to get to that point! I started in my pre-teens and had a camera in my hand on and off my entire life. Now, I can chase my dream. My kind of photography! More about "my" kind of photography to come soon!