Living Statues 2013

Once again we are here with the Rehovot Annual Living Statues Festival.

This took place last month, but I took my time editing the photos. There's just a lot of other stuff going on, and even though I have lots of good ideas for photography, I very much doubt if I would have the time to go through with them in the near future.

This year the festival moved to a new location, at the "Founder's park" which was lit up with chains of fluorescent lights, and several large glowing globes. All making nice background for the statues.

It was kinda crowded, even though it was the last day (out of three), but I still managed to find a few good angles. I made a first round with a long lens and tripod (hard to manage around the people) and then switched to flash and wide angle. As always, the real pleasing images were mostly the ones taken with my macro lens.

Fashion Shoot 3: Evening Gowns

This week is the last part of the photo shoot I did last month. Last time I wrote much about how having one-on-one time with the models, and how it improves the quality of photos (and the overall experience for everyone, I think). This week I decided to show work I did with one model, after all the formal sessions were done. 

It was already dusk by the time we got to shoot with Alona, and the pressure for getting shots from the one overlook where you could see the sunset was really getting uncomfortable. After a few minutes I took a step back and waited for a chance to shoot. The light was going out but at least I would have some time to think and work. 

I had not brought a tripod, and only had one flash with no modifiers (beyond the built-in dome), so I could only do so much, but despite getting less than technically-perfect shots, I got interesting light and good poses (the choice of model also helps a lot here!), and that is all that matters. 

Fashion Shoot 2: Classical Gals

This week we have some more photos from the fashion shoot I went to. The previous part we had three lovely models. Today we have four models, classy gals shot on different backgrounds and with, hopefully, some interesting poses.

Most of these images were taken when we had broken into groups and got each model for a few minutes. Then we could hold up reflectors, pose our model and get some more serious work done. Having that extra few minutes of  "one on one" (though three on one is more like it) makes all the difference. One exception is for Julia, featured below, which I just grabbed (even before she had got her make up done) and posed under some interesting light. But more on that later...

For the most part I used my portrait lens (i.e. the 105 macro) but there are a couple of exceptions.

Fashion Shoot 1: Girl with the Flower Tattoo

Here is a post from a fashion shoot I did a couple of weeks ago. What? only two weeks? but it took you 2.5 months to edit the photos from New York!

Yes, well, it seems that working on my thesis full time actually makes me more efficient in editing photos.

Like in previous collaboration shoots I came thinking I would be focused and think long and hard over each frame... and like both of these shoots, I got in the rush of multiple photographers all snapping away at the models... and if you manage to catch a good pose you better shoot and hope for the best.

As always, the best shots came from a few minutes here and there stolen with some of the girls, between shoots and after it was all done.

Today we are focusing on three models, and a couple of tricks I tried to play with to mix things up a little.

NYC: Coney Island Mermaids

Finally the moment has come: the last post on my visit to New York... after three months of editing a trip of two and a half weeks.

All in all a good statistic.

So my last day in the city I made a trip down to Coney Island, where there is an amusement park and also a yearly parade.

Even though a lot of the participants were indeed dressed as mermaids, there were quite a lot of random costumes as well.

So... as commonly happens in any trip where memory cards are filled and formatted again, I had lost 80% of the pictures from this day due to a copying mishap. But some of the images were still on the memory card (yes you can recover formatted cards) and a few were on my laptop (also formatted since). A lesson learned about checking the picture numbers of each folder before deleting anything... and back to the parade...

NYC: Empire State Building

After my stay at Columbus Ohio, I came back through New York on my way home. So I had the chance to see a few more landmarks, and with the sunny weather expected for the weekend I thought now would be a good time to visit the Empire State Building.

I started the day fairly early and got lots of great shots of the city from above. Then I moved on for another visit to Times Square (in daytime) and did some more street photography downtown.

Friday morning had another surprise for me at times square, but more on that later.

So, enjoy the view.

Ohio State

So, here's the real object of my trip. Ohio State University at Columbus Ohio.
I came here for two weeks for a collaboration meeting and some one-on-one time with the students here. So, yeah, I was doing physics for two weeks, and only a little partying photography on the side.

Although I did compress a lot of time spent and a couple of things outside of school that I got to photograph. All that and more, after the jump.

NYC: Staten Island Ferry + bonus

My last day in New York was a long one indeed. The first thing on my plan for the day was the Staten Island ferry. The ride takes about an hour, passes next to the Statue of Liberty (which was obviously on my todo list) and best of all: it is free-no-charge.

So I wanted to have some sort of chance to take the shuttle before it got crowded, so I got there pretty early. It was still pretty much full. I also discovered that you need to wait around an hour for the ferry on the way back. While there, I started to notice something weird was going on that day... but more on that later...

NYC: Central Park

 Central Park. I think more than anything this was the most impressive site in NYC. I find it hard to comprehend how the architects of New York could have imagined how important it would be to save such a large part of the city for this purpose.

The park is enormous. It's really gigantic, and you can get lost walking its trails. Some parts of it are well traveled and see countless visitors every day, other parts are distant and out of the way and mysterious. All around it, like a wall, are tall buildings to remind you that this piece of real-estate is among the most expensive in the world. Still, the city of New York, with its costly skyscrapers and bustling businesses, does not creep into the area of the park. The welfare of the citizens outweighs the economical pressure. As I've said: truly amazing.

NYC: Downtown and Union Square

After taking a stroll through Brooklyn bridge park, I had come back to downtown Manhattan. The day was looking like it would clear up, and I still had many hours to go.

So street photography. Again. Quite a bit of architectural shots, too.

The shot on the left is city hall (I think). It was quite impressive.

I had walked north up to union square (about thirty blocks). There it was like paradise for finding interesting looking people to photograph.

But more on that below...

NYC: Across the Water

The third day of my NYC trip started with surprisingly good weather. I was still riding the jetlag, getting up at 5:00 in the morning (which felt more like noon because of the time differences). This, of course, is photography magic-hour. The streets are empty, the temperatures are still cool, and most importantly, the light is amazing.

I decided to head off by foot from my hostel in Bowery to the Manhattan bridge. I thought I could make a short trip in Brooklyn (the park near the bridge) and if weather wasn't good move on to the neighborhoods instead of landscapes.

Turns out the weather cleared up, and I had the time to see Brooklyn bridge park, and walk back again into Manhattan before 9:00.

NYC: Grand Central

The first thing you notice when going into New York's Grand Central station is how enormous it all is. Enormous and actually a lot darker than you'd think. I had no tripod. I had been unprepared.

I actually had really high expectations from this location. Like Times Square, I thought I would manage to get something different from what is probably one of the most iconic photo spots in the universe.

I didn't have a tripod and I didn't have enough time to make something outstanding, but that just leaves me wanting to come back for another go. I still got some nice, decent shots out of what was starting out as a fairly bad day for photography.

NYC: Day One

It's been a while...

Flying to the US for a work (or study) related trip, naturally I took a few days in New York City to photograph the attractions, the streets, and the architecture. Naturally I got some new lenses while I was there.

Three weeks over there, and as it usually goes: I take pictures on a trip for X days and then edit them for 2.5 X days after that. I have finally come to my senses and decided to upload some photos even before I finished editing the whole enchilada.

Below: several images and a few words regarding my first, oh-so-busy day in NYC...

Arachnophobia

It is spider season in Weizmann institute. All the shrubs on the side of the roads are spotted with patches of spiderwebs.

Naturally I got a tripod and a macro lens one day.

This shot of one not-so-shy spider (most of them ran away when I got this close - making me think how important working distance is for macro work) is actually a composite of two images with slightly different focus plane. At these distances it was impossible to get everything in focus without compromising sharpness.

So instead of compromising, I prefer compositing.

Below are some more shots of different spiders along the way.

Africa

Following my tradition of misleading post-names aimed at trolling any readers who aren't paying attention: here are a few images from my LAST TRIP TO AFRICA.

Well, now that this nonsense is out of the way, here are a few images that try to convey an actual safari in Africa. Well, not really. The cover to the left looks a lot more wild than the original image, with some Ramat Gan buildings removed in photoshop...


Thanks goes out to Eli Shalev which got us the 'behind the scenes' safari...

Timna & Eilat

 I don't always take my tripod on trips with my friends, but when I do, I make sure to take some nightshots.

Going to the desert near Eilat sounded like an awesome opportunity to shoot star trails. The clear air, the cloudless weather, and there are no city lights close enough to outshine the stars. There was, unfortunately, another light source I hadn't considered... The moon was full and it was up that night, which lights up the desert like the sun when you try to take long exposures. 

The desert does have some interesting colors on a full moon night, but I can't say it was worth carrying the tripod in my pack all that time. 

Anyway, some images from the trip and from Eilat, after the jump...

Vampire Diaries

Well, actually they are fruit bats, not vampires.

I had been on the way home from work one evening when I noticed these critters flying around a tree. Some of the branches were down as low as eye level.

I went home and came back a few days later at the same hour (around 8 pm) with a light tripod with a flash on top, and my 105 lens (this is my longest lens unfortunately...)

The bats weren't so far away and I popped a few hundred images until my flash ran out of batteries.

enjoy!

TANKS

 A couple of weeks ago I told you I went on a road trip... well at the end of that trip were some steel monsters. Even though I don't personally care for them, tanks make for good images. I was smart enough to bring my new light-weight tripod and so I have several nightshots to show today.

After over a month of sharing people photos I am coming back to my usual comfort zone with inanimate objects...

Tilt

Tilt shift photography is used to make landscapes look like miniatures.

This is my take on the subject...

Make sure you open these up to full screen, some of the panoramas here need a large resolution to see any of the details.

Plane of focus, depth of field, bla bla... anyway: enjoy the pics...

Winter Shoot part V: Winterlight

This week we are coming to the end of last month's photo shoot, with the lovely Alexandra Sohin. Not only is she quite stunning, but also knows her way in front of a camera. This makes things very easy when taking pictures, but it also makes it hard because you end up with tons of good images and some very hard decisions to make. 

Finally I have managed to select the best, and edit still quite a few images. Indeed I have been saving the best for last in this set of posts. Enjoy! 

Model: Alexandra 

Make up: Rotem Shalev 

Organizers: Oleg Luft, Chen Rachel Smadja, and Sshimrit Israel. 

Winter Shoot part IV: Double Trouble

Today we have twice the fun! a double decker sandwich of modeliscious images. It was pretty hard to narrow down around 150 images to just these 20, which is, in itself, quite a lot. But considering we have two models for you today, we can make it work (hopefully with less talking and more picture presenting). 

Models: The beautiful Sarit Elisha and Yarden Shoval

Make up for Sarit: Lemlem Mesfn. 

Make up for  Yarden: Sarit Elisha

Organizers: Oleg Luft, Chen Rachel Smadja, and Sshimrit Israel. 

Winter Shoot part III: January Blues

I know what you're all thinking. What else have I got to say about this? Well, not much to say really, but lots of pics for you. 

This is Or, and once again I had enough material to give her her own stage. Since I got to work with her for a few minutes at different times during the photoshoot I got several different lighting conditions which help mix it up. Not so much the consistent look as far as editing goes, but a few of the now familiar 'winter blues' color themed photos are in the mix (at some point it became too hard to flash out the sun with my SB600 so I moved to natural colors). 

Model: Or Jacob

MUA: Lemlem Mesfn

Organizers: Oleg Luft, Chen Rachel Smadja, and Sshimrit Israel. 

Winter Shoot, part II: Electric

As promised, part II of the winter photoshoot. This time I have some more cool pictures... As in - cooled down white balance and flash gelled orange to compensate. 

This is Tal, our model for today. It takes an aweful lot of confidence to be a model, it seems to me. Especially a male model. You have to look confident. Anyway, some blue 'winter atmosphere 'shots after the jump, as well as some natural color ones. Also (in case you were worried) some guest appearances by female models, and a bonus: a short break down of the editing process for one of the images from the shoot. 

Organizers: Oleg Luft, Chen Rachel Smadja, and Sshimrit Israel. 

Model: Tal Nissim

Winter Shoot, part I: Porcelain

Exciting new photos, by the hundreds! Last week I went on another photoshoot organized by a photography facebook group. This time the theme was 'winter', and the fashion was indeed fitting for the occasion.

I had come to this shoot with a few new techniques I wanted to try (a taste of which, after the jump). I also intended to take less photos and put more effort into getting a few good ones instead of the bulk I usually get. That didn't really work, particularly since other photographers were constantly mixing it up and I could only barely keep up...

Like last time I want to give some of the models from the photoshoot their own space, and so I will upload a collection for each individual model, with a theme or at least a partially consistent feel.

This week I have the pleasure of presenting Alina, which is both beautiful and talented as a model. Personally, I think they have made an amazing job with hair and makeup, but judge for yourselves.

Thanks to the organizers: Oleg Luft, Chen Rachel Smadja, and Sshimrit Israel. 

Model: Alina (Avigail) Lavin

MUA: Dikla Cohen 

Road Trip

It were a crazy couple of weeks. Lots of work to be done (I actually need to do some research at some point) as well as finishing up with the wintershoot took so much effort from me.

I happened to be travelling by buses a few weeks ago and just now I had the time to edit these images. Hopefully in a week or two I will be through with the backlog of images and be ready for new projects...