The Body In Color and B/W
I've always been a big admirer of classics like Helmut Newtons nudes in black and white and I prefer looking at the body in tones of grey but I have found a new interest in older color nudes or those nudes shot on film with their often rich and warm tones
I've always been a big admirer of classics like Helmut Newtons nudes in black and white and I prefer looking at the body in tones of grey but I have found a new interest in older color nudes or those nudes shot on film with their often rich and warm tones. Even newer photographers like Dubnitskiy are really inspiring when it comes to color nudes. The tones, feel and actually feeling from his models is great. Anyway, I thought it about time I give it a try and I'm really pleased with the results. While black and white will always be my preferred choice for this genre of photos I find working in color refreshing for now. I'm concentrating more on colors in my street photography these days and decided to shoot mostly color for a nude shoot I did.
The end results are worlds apart for me but just as interesting. I need to put a lot more effort into the upcoming color shoots and maybe more inspiration and research is required. Hit me up with links to any photographers old or new that you admire whom are shooting great color nudes.
It's time I updated my nudes portfolio so I can see a couple of these making the final cut.
Have a groovy weekend everyone
Chad
Sometimes it's what you don't see that is the most enjoyable.
Curves And Shadows
No it's not related to a photoshop technique. This is a shoot I did where I decided to try to achieve a completely different feeling to what I normally have my photos when shooting a nude.
No it's not related to a photoshop technique. This is a shoot I did where I decided to try to achieve a completely different feeling to what I normally have my photos when shooting a nude. Some silhouette, some bodyscape and different body positions. Personally I feel some shots are a lot more sensual, even sexual than what I normally do but with far less seen if that makes sense. all of this achieved just by using body language. The curve of the lower back, the submissive hand posture or even the angle of the head. The model was great to work with as she is an artist and very expressive so achieving the results took very little time.
Anyway I let you decide. Have a great week and I hope this makes your Monday slightly less Monday.
Chad
Shanghai Street Photography
One thing for me that is great about shooting street is that I know I won't have to do any major retouching so the editing goes really fast once I have decided on what color or black and white feel I want.
Adding to my street photography portfolio. These were shot over a long period and recently retouched. One thing for me that is great about shooting street is that I know I won't have to do any major retouching so the editing goes really fast once I have decided on what color or black and white feel I want. I do however still always shoot in raw just in case my white balance is off or on the rare occasion I feel a photo is really good but needs some sort of serious photoshop work.
Getting In Close With Nudes (NSFW)
A friend of mine who is also a photographer was recently looking at my work and made an interesting observation about my nudes portfolio. He noted that I tend to shoot the entire body and never come in close for tight shots. After listening to this I had another look at my work and he is correct in this.
A friend of mine who is also a photographer was recently looking at my work and made an interesting observation about my nudes portfolio. He noted that I tend to shoot the entire body and never come in close for tight shots. After listening to this I had another look at my work and he is correct in this. I never gave it much thought before but after thinking about it I realized my reasons for doing this. I always felt that when shooting nudes, the entire body is necessary to tell a story or show or evoke an emotion. However after doing a quick crop of one of my photos he showed this to be untrue. In fact the cropped version was much more powerful to me.
So, as a result of this I have been scouring my archives of all my nude shoots looking for any close or tight shots that I might have taken before but just decided weren't any good. I have discovered a few photos which I will post below.
After looking at these photos I came to another realization as to how much more control I have over my lighting than before and in my opinion how this has greatly improved my photography.
Shooting close or tight shots will also force me to think of the body in a completely direct way to what I am used to and this will hopefully make for some interesting photos. Maybe less emotion and more sculpture like is an approach I should try. The soft curve of the lower back, the strained neck as the head is twisted, a knee, an elbow? I am not sure at this point but look forward to trying.
Hope you are having a great weekend.
Chad
Shanghai Street Photography B/W
Just a quick post before I head off to do other things. Here are a few shots that have been marinading for a while. Shot around Shanghai they show 1 side of life here. Never a dull moment on the streets, all you have to do is look out for them.
Just a quick post before I head off to do other things. Here are a few shots that have been marinading for a while. Shot around Shanghai they show 1 side of life here. Never a dull moment on the streets, all you have to do is look out for them.
Have a great week, and for those here who worked yesterday, congratulations, Monday is over and you only have 4 more days until the weekend.
I will start to post more of my street photography on my Flickr account so you can find these and more shots there. Same username, Chadwickimages.
Shanghai Streets In Colour
The Weather these days in Shanghai is trying to become semi decent an I thought it was a great excuse to go out and shoot some street again seeing as it has been a while since I've done it. Unfortunately I didn't get one decent shot, somedays it happens. It could be wrong place at the wrong time but in a city as vast as Shanghai I think it's more realistic to say that I just wasn't on my game and I wasn't looking at the city and the people through the right eyes.
The Weather these days in Shanghai is trying to become semi decent an I thought it was a great excuse to go out and shoot some street again seeing as it has been a while since I've done it. Unfortunately I didn't get one decent shot, somedays it happens. It could be wrong place at the wrong time but in a city as vast as Shanghai I think it's more realistic to say that I just wasn't on my game and I wasn't looking at the city and the people through the right eyes.
Anyway it just serves as more reason for me to get my ass out there more often and improve. I'm going to try to make it a regular thing and after looking at the results of my last session in the street using flash I've decided that I quite like the resulting motion blur so I will continue the same style for a while and see what sort of body of work I can create.
Here are a few shots that I forgot about from my last time shooting in the streets. If there are any street photography shooters here in Shanghai that follow this blog and are keen to shoot together then let me know. I'm keen to shoot with new people and discuss ideas.
Have a great weekend.
The Face Of Work.
The Face Of No Work. Don't Worry Man I Feel You.
Eye Contact.
No Eye Contact.
And Finally Spiderman.
Krabi Thailand
Beautiful and friendly Thailand. Every time I go to Thailand I enjoy it more and more. The people are always super friendly and respectful, always willing to help in anyway they can. Now trying to find something interesting and authentic to shoot becomes a little tricky when you find yourself in a tourist spot like Krabi but with the help of a great tour guide I managed to get away from the usual more well known places.
Beautiful and friendly Thailand. Every time I go to Thailand I enjoy it more and more. The people are always super friendly and respectful, always willing to help in anyway they can. Now trying to find something interesting and authentic to shoot becomes a little tricky when you find yourself in a tourist spot like Krabi but with the help of a great tour guide I managed to get away from the usual more well known places.
Although this trip wasn't purely for photography I did manage to get a few great shots as well as trying my hand at shooting 35mm film which I have been wanting to do for a long time. Shooting film alongside digital proved to be a challenge for me because the way you go about shooting each format is completely different. I found with digital I am used to shooting a lot more photos per scene but with film I really had to slow down and think about my shots. The other benefit of shooting digital is that I got instant feedback how the photo looked and obviously the same is not possible when using film. This can be frustrating but at the same time exciting. The one thing I will change for the next trip is that I will have to choose beforehand which medium to shoot, digital or film as both at the same time had me feeling like I was doing half a job for each. Next time I would like to focus on just one. Like that I will work with both the advantages and limitations and I think this will help me improve. One the the really frustrating things I found shooting with film is that I am so used to changing the ISO on the fly to achieve the look I want that I didn't give much thought to what happens when I shoot film until I have to shoot in the daytime as well as night. Digital has really made it so easy and convenient that we are spoilt for choice. With film I had to make a decision beforehand about what film speed I would use and live with whatever restrictions came with that decision. For example I was shooting Ilford HP5 Plus 400 which was great for the days but I had to make sure that before the night I had finished the roll of film and had a new one ready pushed to 1600 so that I could get that bit extra shutter speed that I needed in dark night scenes. I'm not sure how old film shooters got around this, the only thing I can think of is that they carried 2 cameras around with them with different speed films in each. Anyway, I have a long way to go on my film adventure but the bug has already bitten me.
Thanks for reading and have a great week.
Dancers Project
Just in time for your commute home. Well done you did it, Monday is finished!!! I hope this post makes your day just a little bit more interesting.
Just in time for your commute home. Well done you did it, Monday is finished!!! I hope this post makes your day just a little bit more interesting.
It's been a while since I posted so I thought I would update you on what I've been up to. I've been shooting lots for my ongoing Dancers Project. This is a long term project dedicated amongst other things, grace, beauty and energy of dancers. The project is evolving in some ways and thus I feel it could go on for a while until I am satisfied that it is complete. I think this is normal because the more time I spend with dancers the better I understand what being a dancer is all about, the more I want to show the pain, dedication and very personal need for self excellence that each dancer seems to bring to each movement and pose. Also the longer I work on this project, the more ideas and different angles I discover that I feel add to it in some way. Finally it's also important to me to bring a little of each dancers stage personality into the photo. The project has also changed in that what started off as a purely black and white idea now will be a mix of color and black and white photos. This came about after just talking to the dancers about what they do and how they see themselves.
There are so many different styles of dancing that I have not yet discovered or explored. For the moment the idea is to show as many as possible. If you are a dancer and would like to collaborate with me then feel free to contact me.
3 Summit, Lin'An
Another great place in China. The mountains are beautiful and peaceful, a far cry from the masses that inhabit the cities and towns in China. The only sounds you hear in the mist at the top of the mountain are the bells around the necks of cows.
Another great place in China. The mountains are beautiful and peaceful, a far cry from the masses that inhabit the cities and towns in China. The only sounds you hear in the mist at the top of the mountain are the bells around the necks of cows.
Down in the village the locals are friendly and welcoming. Children stare with curiosity and intrigue at any foreign face and a few badly pronounced words of Chinese gets you an explosion of laughter.
