It's been awhile since I've posted. I apologize.

I want to discuss lighting. For many photographers, lighting can be intimidating. I understand this because I remember when I started it was something that scared the crap out of me.

I'm self-taught and over the years, I've made so many mistakes in all that I've ever done. But, it's a part of growing and learning.

I started with a Pentax K-1000 and crappy, scratched up lens. It had no real metering other than "match needle." So, put the needle in the middle between the plus + and minus - symbols and you're good to go.

HAH! That was a laugh.

I didn't know anything about metering, 18% Gray, Average scene, blah, blah, blah.

All my work sucked!

It was either over or underexposed, but hey, I was putting that needle right in the middle. Right where it was supposed to be.

I know you're probably thinking that I'm talking about metering, rather than lighting.

The reason I set off like this is that I want you to know that I really didn't know anything, let alone lighting and for me, if I got that damn needle in the middle, then all the lighting would fall right into place.

Easy-Peasy!

But, after I took the lens cap off that intimidation I had about lighting, it all began to make sense.

I began to realize how it affected my metering. The shadows and highlights and everything in between.

But, there was one thing that I never realized that I was doing that really helped me.

You see, I am a huge fan of the old Hollywood Black and White Classic films (Remember this point, because it will come up in a lot of what I share with you).

I have always been mesmerized about these movies and little did I realize, that the way they used lighting had such a huge impact on what I was feeling.

Feeling? WTH?

Lighting creates a feeling. It has everything to do with your photo and its success.

I often look at magazines and books. I surf the net and participate in all the social media sites.

As I look at the photos, so much of what I see may be a good photo, but for me, it dies because the lighting is so standard.

It's pretty lighting. Even. Clean and oh so boring. So, so boring.

There are so many photographers who want to make their photos perfect. Technically perfect so they use all sorts of reflectors, scrims, gobo, and all the other terminology and tools they have read about. They over light their shots.

Then there are those who try so hard to create shadows and stuff that they totally never capture the shot because they are trying like crazy to create a style and look. They miss the boat because they never really look at the way the lighting and shadows behave. They just believe that they can put a ton of shadows in and that they shot becomes so sexy that you'll just GASP!

But, then I come across photographers who totally understand both (light and shadow) and their work just makes you take a step back. It makes you feel something.

What I have learned is that I look all around me. I see the way light falls and plays on things. It could be any sort of light, both indoors and outdoors. I look at the way it behaves. That it can be manipulated and moved to what I want it to do.

A few years ago, I started shooting with just one light. I challenged myself. I figured if I had the skills to be a professional, then I had better know how to use just one light for anything I created.

I use flash outdoors. One light. I control it all.

Yet, I see so many photos out there where the photographer has made that outdoor so perfect, that, again, it bores me.

Pretty pictures. No feeling. All posed.

Wherever I go, I look. I feel. I look at the way light behaves. I may be shooting, but I learn something new everyday.

On set, I pop the flash once to feel it. To feel and see where it's going and how it's going to behave.

When I place my subject, I have them move in relation to where the light will be. I never really have to mess with my light because I know what it will do and I know enough about my camera and equipment that I can make that light do what I want.

I'm sure I'll have some photographers who will read what I have said and turn all technical telling this and that.

But, I know what I want and what I can do.

I don't have to rely on formulas and stuff. I feel the light. I know what it will do and how it will react to what I do with it.

After a while, I realized that what I create is about feeling and not about being perfect. I create what I want and do it with ease.

I had a friend of mine visit me at my studio recently.

We began to talk about equipment, specifically lighting modifiers.

I've seen so many photographers buy and use these beautiful light modifiers, HUGE parabolic umbrellas, soft-lighters, etc.

I then took a simple bowl reflector and placed it on my light. It was harsh, but in a minute, I showed him I could create the same look that we both had been seeing created with outrageously expensive light modifiers.

Don't get me wrong. I am not trashing equipment manufacturers and I love what they provide.

But, far too often, we rely way too much on equipment without ever understanding that it's not the equipment that creates the image, but the person shooting.

So, I suggest you learn and understand the basics much more than you may already do.

Once you understand it and can use it without much thought. you can do anything.

I promise that you can.

I have done this myself and what you see in my work, is a result of what I have learned and know.

At the end of my last blog post, I said that I would discuss lighting.

But, as I sat down to write about how I learned how to light. I happened to check My Facebook Page

Several pages popped up in my feed of other dance photographers and their work. I spent a few minutes checking out the work and the work is really beautiful and it is work that I do admire.

As I was looking at the work, my mind began to wander. As I sat there looking at the dancers in the photos, a thought came to mind.

The photographers who've created this work are using professional dancers. Dancers who are well known in their art; dancers who'd you'd recognize in a second.

As I looked at the work, I went back to the work I create and there is one huge, marked difference in my work, versus theirs.

These talented photographers are using top, working professional dancers in their photos. Dancers with major dance companies, working with world class choreographers.

So, what does that say for the work I create.

Quite a bit actually.

Though I do work with professional dancers, 98% of my work is created with dancers who are not professional.

They are students, either in university or college programs, younger dancers who are at local studios, and in some cases, even those who have never had any form of training.

Yes, many of those I work with do go on to become professional dancers, but when I work with them, they are still in school or auditioning to get into a dance program.

What I'm most proud of, is that I feel I am able to create images that rival anything being created by other photographers who are working with professionals.

I'd stack up my work against anything out there.

This isn't a slam of other photographers by stretch of the imagination.

It's that I am proud of this fact.

What I want from my work is for it to have feeling. To elicit some form of emotion in the viewer.

It breaks my heart when I look at work, especially dance, and the photo is technically perfect, but there is no life in either the dancer or photo.

I look at the photos and see that they are technically perfect in every way. Lighting, poses, technique, etc. and the photographer has not done justice to their subject.

For me, the photos just die. They don't move me. They don't make me look at the photo and want to know more about the dancer.

For me, they lack feeling and emotion.

You see, when I work with dancers, at any level, I see and I feel their passion. I feel their excitement and their nervousness about themselves; whether they are good enough, if they have all the tools necessary to pursue their first love.

I see the excitement when they look at the image they just created. Seeing how they really look and it's the most wonderful feeling for them.

I see their confidence grow during the session.

Yet, when I look at other dance photography, it just feels different. The work seems different. It's just technical to me and I'm not inspired.

I love everyone I work with and never stop what I am doing, but there will come a day where I have am able to work with the professional dancers these other photographers work with.

When that time comes, you'll feel the difference in what I am able to create.

You'll see that difference.

I look forward to being able to have that opportunity and I pray it comes soon.

February 8, 2016

I’ve been shooting for awhile and as I look back at my career, I think back about the experiences I’ve had.

I think about the work I create and about the many influences that have shaped who I have become. I have had people that have come into my life, some who are still in my life, and those that are no longer. 

I look back at my growing up and how experiences back then have formed my feelings and thought processes in how I create.

Then, there are the movies, books and magazines that have left their indelible mark on my work.

I grew up being a geeky kid, always reading, watching movies, loving school. 

But, I was a short, overweight little boy and I was teased mercilessly by friends and family. I loved playing pickup games either in football or baseball, and I was active, but I was still the short, fat kid,

 Movies, books and school were my escape from being made fun of or ridiculed because I was different.

Movies and books became my fortresses of solitude. They allowed me to live in a world where I was someone important, where I mattered and I lived in that world within my imagination.

I insulated myself from all that pain I felt and I turned into somewhat of an introvert. 

I was good at school and as I turned into an adult, I found that the imagination I had developed over the years, gave me a distinct and powerful advantage when I became part of the corporate world.

When I left all of that behind 20 years ago to start my career in photography, my imagination became the driving force behind my work.

Adding to this, the emotions and feelings I had never allowed myself to feel, let alone experience have become the underlying soul of my work.

My work is simple, because feelings and emotions are simple. 

They aren’t complicated. There are no caveats, bells or whistles to feelings. 

If they are true, then what you see and feel in my work needs no explanation and I shouldn't have to spoon feed as to what you see.

I don’t ever set out to create an image that is complicated. I’m not a robot. I’m not a machine where I have to create photos that all look alike or like anyone else. 

I do not want my work to be technically perfect, but lack any life. You've seen them. You have seen so much of this that after a while, you become desensitized to what is good and what is mediocre. 

I never set out to impress anyone with my work, even my subject. I don’t think about creating some set for my assignment in my studio, or going to a location where that location becomes the image itself.

It’s simple. I let myself go and don't think about anything else other than letting myself create without overthinking. I let my feelings shape and create the image. I let myself feel the person I'm working with with. 

I pay close attention to everything around me. 

My photos aren’t meant to be perfect or a testament to my skills. If I am true to what I create, then all of that is secondary. It just happens and you, as the viewer will respond to what you feel, not what you see.

I’m a student of the past masters and I’m not in their league by any stretch of the imagination. But, what I see nowadays, as I have over the years, so many photos lack life. 

They are perfect technically, but lack feeling. They don’t say anything to me. They may be good photos, but they don't excite me.

Then, I see work that is so overworked in photoshop that it too, that it says nothing about the photographer other than they are a resume of the photographer’s photoshop skills.

It’s so easy to buy a camera, take a photo, look at the camera’s LCD and make adjustments until they feel they got a good shot. 

Damn, I’ve even heard of people (dance photographers) who use the "burst mode" of their camera and capture anywhere from 15-60 images in a single press of the shutter. They then go back and select what they think is the best image of that burst.

This sucks. In my opinion, and my opinion only, these people are NOT photographers. They're not and if they have to resort to doing this, they don't understand dance or movement. This doesn't require imagination.

Fashion photos are no longer fashion photos. They are just overdone, lifeless images. 

I have do idea what photo editors are looking at. They seemed to have moved away from what was once true art in fashion and dance.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not painting the entire industry with a broad brush. There are still many master photographers out there. Photographers who create work that makes a true statement.

But, then, there are so many photographers in our industry and communities who believe they are masters. That their work is so bad-ass that they try to make everyone believe it. 

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this is the way I feel. I will always gravitate to today's and yesterday's true and honest masters of our craft. They are out there and we all know who they are when we see their work.

They don't rely on gimmicks or cutesy photos. They have preserved what photography should be and is.

I’m not trashing anyone’s work, but it just doesn’t speak to me. 

I find that people will flock to this type of work and I often wonder why.

Photography for me is a way to capture beautiful images filled with life, feeling and emotion.

It’s about heart.

~Ed

NEXT UP: Lighting

It's Tuesday, February 2nd and I feel good. Since I had surgery to repair a deviated septum, I've been able to breathe normally. I have slept through the night which I haven't been able to do for such a long time.

I heel human!

But, you didn't come to visit my blog to have me tell you about my deviated septum. You came here to learn a little more about how I think, work and create.

What I write here are just my thoughts and mine alone. These are my personal thoughts about how I see things. It's not critique of anyone or any photography work that I see either in magazines or on the web.

I'm self taught. If you want to read a bit about how I started in the business, check out my website. There are two panels, A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME and A LITTLE MORE ABOUT ME. Those pages will tell you how I started.

I'm self taught.

I don't have any formal training in photography. I've never taken a class. I came from the corporate world where I was extremely successful and I knew what I was doing. But, here, in photography, I didn't know anything. I came in with a skeptical eye, but admiring a lot of the work of the masters like Richard Alvedon, Helmut Newton, Horst P. Horst,  Clarence Bull, and so on. I loved the feeling they created. I loved the black and white work I saw.

It made sense because I have always loved classic movies. I loved how they handled the ideas and subject matter. I loved that they have me use my imagination, be it romance, suspense, or violence. They didn't need to show me everything. They let my imagination take over.

Of course, they were bound by stiff rules on what they could and couldn't show. But, that was great.

Today, I have to watch someone being murdered in full color, or the actors having full on sex. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude, but I don't need to be spoon fed anything.

So, when it comes to photos.  I take the same tact.

There is too much "IN YOUR FACE" type of work.  So much work is just pretty blah. There is no life. There really is no imagination.

iPhones now dominate the photo world with full on Ad Campaigns and wedding photography being done on them.

Is there anything wrong with that. No. But, we've become to desensitized to what we see. There really is no imagination.

It seems that so many buy a camera, capture a few good shots of friends or family and all of a sudden they turn it into a business. They never understand the business and they go to a few snake oil seminar events to learn the latest and greatest fad or technique. SECRETS of the PROS.

This is all gunk. It's just a way to make money I'm sorry.

I hear about so many photographers who rely on the camera to do the work for them. In dance, they burst shoot a ton of shots and then select what they think is the best one. Some will just ask a model or dancer to move while they shoot. Then there are those people who will ask the model or dancer to hold a pose for whatever length of time; to move that finger over 1 centimeter.

Who is going to look at a photo and say, "that photo sucks because that finger is off by 1 centimeter.

Then, I see a lot of photos where it's obvious the photographer doesn't understand lighting, be it ambient, flash or the combination of both.

To top it off, I see a lot work that is exactly the same as everyone else. Same pose, same lighting, same everything and to me, it's just a copy of a copy of a copy.

Think back to Anne Geddes. Amazing and wonderful baby photographer. She did something no one had ever done before and she is fantastic. But, now there is a cottage industry to copy her work and sell props that she uses. What a shame that people can't create photos that speak to their creativity.

Same thing goes with portraiture. Every family member wearing the same thing.

Boudoir photos where it's all about being cheesy, never understand the woman they are working with, or what women really think about being sexy.

Nude photos where there is nothing left to the imagination and there is nothing artistic about the photo.

Senior pics where the kids are sitting on swings and stuff. I got a feeling high school seniors are a bit more sophisticated than that.

In dance.....powder shots, train tracks, beaches....all the same. None of it, in my opinion saying anything about the dancer. The photos lifeless, but technically good. Dancers on pointe on concrete or cobblestones.

Dancers jumping in classrooms and coffee shops. Dancers in construction yards.

They make for cute shots, but really don't speak of the passion and life of a dancer. You may disagree, and that's fine. This is my opinion. But, I work with dancers. I see and feel their passion. I don't have them pose or hold a shot.

This is just me.

But, take a look around. Use your eyes to look at the photo and don't accept things because that's the way they have been done.

Don't accept the fact that you can't get what you want. You can.

...and PLEASE TAKE THIS TO HEART WHEN I SAY IT.....

People don't know the difference between what they are getting and what they deserve.

I hope I have shared some of how I see the world of photography. If you have any questions, please contact me.

~Ed

It's been a productive day. I've started working more on my Facebook page as well as working hard on bringing back my Facebook Fan Page.

It's all been good and I'm excited at everything that's been going on today.

Tomorrow, I have a shoot with Stephanie. I've worked with Stephanie a number of times and we will be trying some new things tomorrow. What those are, I have no idea. HAHA

You see, I never have ideas when I go into any photoshoot. I've found over the years that when I do that, I start to have these mental blocks. It all becomes way too structured and that isn't the way I do.

The way I work is more fluid and I don't spend much time thinking about what I'm going to do. I feel it as soon as I pick up the camera. That's when all the ideas start flooding my imagination.

I don't worry about anything during a shoot because it happens automatically.

I do everything by feeling everything around me, I hate to describe it like this, but I feel the force. "George Lucas will probably punch me in the head knowing I said this."

As I continue to post, I'll describe all of it to you. At the moment, just "feel" what I am sharing with you.

Until next time....

Ed

You may be wondering where my posts prior to 2016 are. 

Well, there aren't any. I have to be honest. I was rather lazy before today. I figured my site, www.edflores.com would be enough. That, along with my Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter profiles or pages would be enough to increase my visibility.

Well, it's not! Dang!

But, more than that, I just have a lot that I want to share about a variety of topics. Most of it being photography and things that I think about. 

Some of it may be informational, and I'll try to be each time I write. But, some of it will be observations I have made about things.

You may or may not agree with me and that's fine.

I welcome all suggestions and critiques or just comments, about anything. So, please don't ever feel you can't share your thoughts with me.

I love talking and communicating with people whether I work with them or not. You see, I'm not a know-it-all or will I ever claim to be.

I am just a person who happens to be a photographer. But, a photographer who truly loves what I do.

In my blog posts, I'll introduce myself further and you'll get to know who I am and what I'm about.

I'll tell you about my work, my subjects. How I go about doing things in my work and so on.

I'll share as much as I can with you.

So, this being my first blog post gets my feet wet so to speak.

I ask you to become part of my family of friends by subscribing to my blog.

Until my next post, check out my website: 

www.edflores.com

or follow me on my Facebook Fan Page:

https://www.facebook.com/edfloresdancephotography

or Twitter

EdFlores

Let me know what you think,

~Ed