Just kept wriggling round in my brain, the idea of doing a shoot via FaceTime, and then I found myself chatting with Sally, an old friend from across the pond, and it hit me, LIKE A LIGHTNING BOLT, that this would be a great person to shoot! Haven't seen her in the flesh in 11 years! What a great excuse...and I did need an excuse, because I...well, I'll tell it true, I hate video chatting. Weird and off-tempo and awkward, no sir, don't like it.

But ah, now there's a reason, a motivation, fuel for the conversation itself.

And, of course, it went great! We caught up, we gossiped, we had a fine ol' time...and then I uploaded the shots.

See, I pointed my 5D at the computer, took shots of the FaceTime window...and it Almost worked out. Was Almost sharp enough...but not quite.

Took half a day of fiddling and futzing to realize I had to lean in, had to utilize the mediocre quality.

So I made it worse. And in doing so, made it better.

NOW I JUST GOTTA DO SOME MORE.

Tags:   3.13.20 Sally Reynolds via FaceTime portrait

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It'd be best to just post this image sans context...but where's the fun in that?

I did realize, after this shoot, I'd been making a fatal error with these FaceTime photos: I'd been having the models use the selfie camera...which, it's a good camera, iPhones, very sharp folks, over there!

But not nearly as sharp as the regular camera. So that'll be next. Today, in fact!

But this shot was not taken today, it was taken last (checks calendar) Friday! Had Suzii head out to a park near her place, frolic while I took pictures.

Turns out moiré can be your friend, if you let it! WHO KNEW!

Tags:   4.17.20 Suzii Hele FaceTime portrait

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Realized early, I can only do these FaceTime shoots with folks I've already worked with. Requires a lot of trust, on both sides of the camera...but more than that, I just don't have my complete arsenal at the ready. It's harder to be funny through FaceTime!

It's harder to direct, harder to come up with angles when I can't just move the camera around and see them immediately.

I'm relying on my subjects more than I normally would, and that means they have to already believe I'm a good photographer, they have to already understand my process, my flow.

Like Dominique, who mentioned it right off the bat. She was reticent to do a FaceTime shoot, but we'd already shot together twice, so she felt comfortable with me.

Which, oofa, such a compliment! Such a goal! Such a shoot!

Tags:   4.22.20 Dominique Reshae via FaceTime portrait

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Not really Back, but had a thought I felt was worth working out by writing it all down...

When I started photographing people who were beyond my circle of friends, I sought out people with an interesting look, people with character in their appearances. People who were attractive, but in a way that was, hopefully, not as cookie-cutter as I'd see in magazines.

And almost all those people, in the beginning, were white. Race wasn't something I thought about, when looking for subjects.

It was years before I realized this was typical of internet portraiture, at the time, and that it was something I needed to correct.

I've spent the last few years being far more active in photographing people from all kinds of backgrounds, though I could do more. It's difficult, breaking out of old patterns, but it's always worthwhile.

Different races, different body types, different genders. Even if it's unconscious, it's creatively limiting, and it also contributes to a particular systemic bigotry.

If you look back at your work, and all your subjects look the same...might be time to broaden your horizons.

Tags:   4.22.20 Dominique Reshae via FaceTime portrait

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While I didn't continue doing FaceTime shoots after that first batch, it was useful! Felt like the methadone of photo shoots, but still stretched my muscles a bit, tried out some angles/ideas I never would have, otherwise...like this one!

Fun was had, and the lesson? Even when it's not what you want, it's often worth trying anyway.

Whenever a subject suggests a certain shot while we're working together, I give it a go. Maybe they're seeing something I can't, maybe it won't work...but there's no harm in trying. If nothing else, you and your subject worked together, and if it really works out, you get a shot like this!

Tags:   4.22.20 Dominique Reshae via FaceTime portrait

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