Models, models, models...

I've decided to share this opinion with you. Since most of the people who read my blog are photographers or models, I think you'll find this post interesting. And also different from my previous posts, much more philosophical.
I don't have the time, nor the energy to translate this in english, but most of you, my dear readers, are slovenian anyway. This is the quote from the post I wrote on slo-foto.net on 22nd october 2006. And I still think the same way, my opinion about this matter is hard as concrete - now supported also by many commercial projects that we've had.

Quote:
Velikokrat se pogovarjamo o tem, kolko določena stvar, element ali člen fotografije vpliva na končni rezultat. Naprimer, koliko vpliva model s svojim znanjem in videzom na fotografijo in naprimer koliko fotograf s svojim znanjem, originalnostjo itd vpliva na to kakšen bo končen rezultat. Mnenja o razmerjih so zelo različna, od mnenj, da je vse na fotografu, do mnenj da je razmerje nekje 50/50, do naprimer pred kratkim v intervjuju časopisa Delo prebranemu odgovoru na ravno to vprašanje, ki je bilo zastavljeno Alešu Bravničarju, ki je rekel, da 70% fotografije naredi model. Sam dejansko menim, da je razmerje nekje 50/50. Ampak menim pa tudi, da z razvojem fotografa, torej s tem ko se nek fotograf izboljšuje, pridobiva na praksi in temu kaj dejansko hoče, raste tudi potreba po kvaliteti modela. Tako kot ne moreš dati na 1Ds mkII Canona EF 28-90, tako ne more nek odličen fotograf delati z brezveznim modelom (ok, to je že skrajni primer). Sem pa dejansko pri sebi opazil, da je res da pač s slabim modelom (čeprav lahko zelo dobro izgleda na videz), ne moreš narediti nekih presežkov (na lastnem nivoju, jasno). Ravno zadnje čase, sem imel dve taki punci. Obe sta bili lepi, a kaj ko ji 3x pokažeš neko pozo in je ne zadane. Ali ko ji razlagaš sproti kaj naj spremeni in ne zna oz iz nekega meni neznanega razloga noče (pa brez skrbi nisem zahteval nič takšnega, je šlo le za portret in nič kaj izzivalnega itd). S takimi se enostavno ne da delati kot je treba. Ker sem pa do zdaj že pofotografiral toliko deklet, da te razlike opazim in vidim, da to dejansko vpliva. Enkrat sem imel recimo tudi eno punco, ki je fotomodel, le na poizkusnem sešnu, kjer sem preveril če je primerna za portretno delavnico, ki smo jo imeli. Je bilo podobno, imela je super reference (fotomodel, bila je že na parih naslovnicah), ampak punca, kot prvo ni zgledala nič posebnega (prvi vtis vsakega, tukaj se ne da pomagati, sploh če pričakuješ nek fotomodel), potem je bila pa vsa anemična, brez energije, nič ni izžarevala itd. Skratka mrtva, kot bi fotografiral lutko. In totalno nezainteresirana že v tiste pol ure (sploh ne vem zakaj je potem prišla, no ja, najbrž zaradi zaslužka, kaj pa). Jasno sem ji povedal, da ni primerna za delavnico. Za kaj drugega bi najbrž bila, za delavnico, kjer se najdejo tako začetniki, kot taki, ki sicer imajo nekaj oz veliko znanja v fotografiji, nimajo pa izkušenj pri delu z modeli, za njih pa ne bi bila primerna, ker je tam potrebna tudi določena mera samoiniciativnosti, da zna sama kaj odpozirati, ker tisti pač nimajo idej, točno kaj bi recimo z modelom naredili. Za izkušene, pa pomojem v večini primerov tudi ne bi bila, razen če ima kdo željo fotografirati "ledeno kraljico". In dejansko, dober model potem vsem vrstam fotografov olajša delo, naprimer tudi kakšnemu začetniku, uspe z njo uspeti prav dobre fotografije. Sem opazil na naših delavnicah. In tudi pri sebi, še recimo pred dobrim letom, ko sem se sam udeležil dveh delavnic. Recimo poletno akt delavnico, ki je bila v Abitantih, kjer je bil model za akt odličen in mi kar izdatno olajšal delo, ker sem pač takrat prvič fotografiral akt, sicer sem imel par idej, ampak seveda premalo, s tem da kaj pozabiš, ko si kar malo nervozen, ko prvič nekaj takega fotkaš, zraven te pa še toliko ljudi gleda.
Torej da potegnem črto; sam mislim, da model igra prav tako vlogo kot fotograf, treba je vzpostaviti pravi odnos, lahko skoraj rečemo simbiozo, da se ve kaj kdo hoče in da vse skupaj poteka v prijetnem in sproščenem ozračju, da je komunikacija uspešna in da vsak zna opraviti svoj del. Sicer rezultati nikakor ne morejo biti optimalni in tudi pravega užitka ni pri delu. S tem ne mislim, na to da si morata brati misli (čeprav se mi je to že s kakšno, s katero sva večkrat fotkala, zgodilo). Ne. Velikokrat tudi s temi dobrimi modeli, pride do nesporazuma in naredi nekaj tretjega, kar pa ni nujno slabše, lahko je enako dobro ali celo boljše (rezultat na fotki zaradi poze, mimike...). Torej pomembna sta oba, kot sem nekoč slišal en izraz: fotografija je kot ples.

Enako je kar se tiče opreme. Oprema ni pomembna. Bullshit! S tem niti slučajno ne mislim reči, da oprema naredi fotografijo, a dajmo na stvar pogledati realno. Dobre športne fotografije ne moreš posneti s slabo opremo, kompakti odpadejo, enako poceni DSLRi in poceni oprema. Potrebuješ hiter AF in hitre objektive (pa tudi hiter rafal z velikim bufferjem marsikdaj). Makra ne moreš posneti, brez makro objektiva in dobrega portreta z recimo kompaktom (razen kakšne low key variante). Seveda je pa nujno potreben dober fotograf za fotoaparatom. Z idejo, vizijo, tehničnim znanjem, občutkom itd. Ampak eno brez drugega v mnogih zvrsteh fotografije ne gre. In z boljšim orodjem se lažje dela, kajne (vsaj do določene mere).

Straight outta my mailbox

Into my scanner. Fresh Ona, I can still smell the ink:).



You can se the complete session with Mina here: http://peterbernik.blogspot.com/2007/02/1st-photosession-with-mina.html.

Victoria Beckham jeans commercial

I've shot promo photos for Victoria Beckham Jeans back in February. They needed a life-size pasteboard puppet of this girl topless (shot from behind) and a photo for the posters. I'm not sure which one they chose (since I haven't been in the mall since it has been printed), so I'm showing you the one that is most interesting out of uninteresting (as usual when catalogue style photos are needed) commercial photos.

Session with Rosario Dawson

Not! I'm just fuckin' with you:). But she sure looks like her, at least to me.



And another one from Tromostovje, the second part of the session (she doesn't remind me of Rosario on this one though). Fashion style lighting, I like the background on this one, colours and nice bokeh. I don't like this photo particularly, especially her facial expression is not what I wanted, but I explained why this part of the session was unsuccessful in the previous post. I'm showing it to you, because it differs from the others.

Session con chica latina

Yes!!! I've finally made it. I had a session with a latina. Not just a latino looking girl. She's the real thing, she's partly Colombian. It was our first session, we rushed a bit, since we didn't have as much time as we planned, but I'm satisfied with the results. We planned to have 3 parts of the session. The warm up part, with choosing the best styling, the urban part in the center of Ljubljana and the playground part. We shot the first part as planned, for the second we made some photos, but we cut it short since some intrusive people ran into us (started taking photos with their cell-phones) and everyone was watching, so she wasn't relaxed. I'd need a whole team to make this part work, besides the assistant a body guard. We could make the third part as we planned, because there was so much people on the playground, there was a line for every slide, swing etc . So we shot the 3rd part on the stairs near the playground.




She reminds me of Rosario Dawson.

I don't have any photos to post:(

It's been a week without posting. I didn't post anything, because I didn't want to bore you with uninteresting stuff, I haven't photographed anyone/anything interesting (who cares about table top photos etc). I was going to have a session today, but it was postponed, so I'm shooting with Tanja on monday.
Now that the weather is getting better, I'm also going to shoot more, so there'll be more photos to post. Outside. And the girls won't be dressed that much anymore:). Yeah! I'm starting to miss sessions that are taken outside, since I mostly work in the studio lately. Ok, I'll still do some of the nude sessions in the studio and I have to practise anyway. Because there's no time for practise, when you're working and absolutely no time for experiments (from which you can learn some interesting things).

Kiev

I went to Kiev yesterday, for a one day trip. Not really a trip, since I was working, I had to take photographs of the people who were invited (mostly managers and a politician). We took off at 7.15 (the first time). We had to return because we had some technical problems, came back to Brnik and re-depart at around 10h. Because of that we missed the press conference and cut our lunch short (although we had more than enough time). After that we took a 20 min strawl on Lavra, got on the bus and drove to the airport.

Here are a few captured moments, most of them are taken through the (broken) windshield, so don't expect technical perfection (windows were dirty and as usual when shooting through the glass, I had problems with reflections and loss of sharpness - and I'd break the cheap kit lens if I had leaned it on the window, while the bus was driving).



One of the churches in Lavra


Fuck the traffic signs!:)



Ukranian Police patrol car. I must say ukranian officers do a great job directing the traffic (unlike Slovenian, which are mostly just interested in giving tickets for speeding etc, but do nothing to prevent traffic jams).

Car dealers even get their signs on traffic signs (it's logical, that's probably the only thing people give attention to).

The outcome of a "misunderstanding". Don't mess with Ukranian truckers. Respect the rule of the stronger.

Lada by Ferrari:). This one really sucks technically, but I had to show it to you.