I just remembered another episode from the 'Photo Fairies' files
I was commissioned to shoot Stephen Clark who holds the Guinness World Record for the Fastest Pumpkin carving
We photographed him on a Pumpkin farm in New York state
Once again it took an age getting all of the pumpkins into position and sorting the lighting out
We placed a strobe in each pumpkin head(as we simply did not have enough strobes we locked the camera down and did this in layers) lighting Stephen with an Elinchrom Ranger inside an Elinchrom Octor mounted on a boom, with two more Rangers shooting a loooooooong way back giving good cross lighting into the sea of pumpkins,triggered by Pocket Wizards
Shot at dusk so I could underexpose the ambient by just over a stop
On a Canon 1ds with 24 to 70 mm L series lens at 160TH sec F9
So where is the 'happy accident'?
Look closely to the right of the image and you will see it.
A cat crept into the shot (Not black, but you can't have everything!)
The client was not very keen on it but it is my favorite shot
12 comments:
to be honest the "faces" look like they were painted in PS and not like there were flashes in them!? no offense... i'm just wondering if i misunderstood your description. (english is not my first language).
i enjoy reading your blog btw. cheers.
How do you balance what the client wants and what you think is best? Is the client always right, or do you have to stand your ground sometimes?
In an ideal world, the client's vision would match yours perfectly, but that is seldom the case. I want to keep my clients happy, but have a hard time sitting on my hands when I think something should be done differently sometimes.
I love the little cat poking up. Kinda like a "where's Waldo?" theme to it.
Hi Aschi
Thank you for the comments. The pumpkins are indeed all carved by Stephen. The Mona Lisa has to be seen to be believed!
Cheers
Drew
Hi Matt
'How do you balance what the client wants and what you think is best?' A VERY good question
Not being a tease, but I will be covering this in the future....
It is about winning hearts and minds though, doing their 'safe shot' asap and then moving on. Trying to 'save' the client from themselves is never easy
Thank you for your comments
Cheers
Drew
Hi Matt
'How do you balance what the client wants and what you think is best?' A VERY good question
Not being a tease, but I will be covering this in the future....
It is about winning hearts and minds though, doing their 'safe shot' asap and then moving on. Trying to 'save' the client from themselves is never easy
Thank you for your comments
Cheers
Drew
I just love the cat!
I have looked at this pic a tousand times and the cat just 'kills' me.
Funny as!
What do you mean "didn't have enough strobes"??? THere's only a couple hundred pumpkins there! LOL Great work here!
That cat makes this photo one of the best of this or any other year. Phenomenal!
The cat is a great addition! I guess as long as the client is paying for the service they will always to some extent dictate how the final image looks. I'm sure every client is different though and some are happy to leave the creative direction to the photographer and others tend to be a little (or a lot) more involved. Getting the safe-shot in the bag but then being able to show how you can potentially make it better is the hallmark of a true professional.
Great work Drew.
i love that cat.
That cat just makes it for me, That Mona Lisa is awesome.
It looks like a simple shot but the headache it must have caused was worth it.
I posted your details regarding the Nelson work you did to a couple of Royal Navy Photographers.
Next time you work with the Navy they would appreciate if they could see you doing a shoot.
Because they were very excited about it.
Have a good break
Rich
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