Guerilla Glam?

Thanks for all the comments and private emails re my last update. Some great advice and words of encouragement included in them! One reader, Willt, suggests, "As long as others are throwing their advice into the ring, I'll do the same: Chop your list to a single item, and then do at least one positive thing toward its completion each day."

Good advice, Willt, I think that's exactly what I'm going to do. To that end, I'm focusing most of my energies towards the production of the DVD.

Quite some time ago, I asked people (here and on various photo-forums) to input what they'd like to see in such a DVD. The majority of them wanted me to keep it focused on stuff they can accomplish without needing too much in terms of higher-end lighting and grip gear. A big chunk of my target audience doesn't have a lot of gear, leastwise lighting and grip gear, yet they still want to make great pics. I want to show them how to do that. I want the DVD to focus on, what I call, a "guerilla-glam" approach. In fact, I'm thinking I might title the DVD, "Pretty Girl Shooter: Guerilla Glam."

The obvious way to go with this DVD, and one that I've considered, is to simply demonstrate various lighting techniques in various environments. But I'd like to make the DVD less predictable in terms of it being a purely how-to-take-great-pics piece. I'm thinking it might be slightly weighted towards a documentary-style approach that includes the "how-to" stuff but in a less obvious way. After all, I want it to be entertaining as well as informative. I don't want it to be simply a series of demonstrations that I expect people to mimic. There's already plenty of that stuff available on DVD and on the web.

I also want to do some things that are different and less-seen in programs like this. One of the things I'm considering, for instance, is somehow rigging a very small (video) camera that attaches to my back and looks over my shoulder, recording some of my hand, a bit of the camera and lens and, of course and most importantly, the model. An "over-the-shoulder-cam" if you will.

Recently, photographer and PGS blog reader, Kenn Ellis, generously sent me DVDs of a BBC series called, "The Genius of Photography." He also included a documentary about photojournalist, James Nachtwey, called "War Photographer." Thanks again, Kenn!

In the Nachtwey doc, a micro-cam was used, one that looks over Nachtwey's shoulder, revealing what was in front of the photographer (along with his hand and camera) as he clicked away. This is an extremely effective (video) camera angle to cross-cut with the primary action. For sure, the over-the-shoulder "action" we'll be shooting in this DVD won't be as intensely dramatic as much of the imagery captured by the war photographer's micro-cam, but it should be visually effective (and instructive) nonetheless. Sure, I could simply hand-hold a video camera and, with a graphical overlay simulating what I'm seeing, make like the viewer is also looking through my dSLR's viewfinder. And I might do some of that as well. But I think the over-the-shoulder-cam is a more interesting and effective camera angle. Hopefully, I can pull it off.

The DVD, of course, will include plenty on lighting and posing and all that sort of stuff and with ample demonstrations. It will also include gear explanations and how to use the gear to its maximum effectiveness. Some of it, very simple gear like foamcore, C47s (clothespins), gaffer's tape, gels, and stuff like that.

I don't want the DVD to come off too academic, too "talking head-ish," or too classroom-like in its approach. I also want to focus on things like the interaction between the shooter and model, the shooter and the MUA and others, and the importance of gaining rapport with all involved... especially, the model! I also want to get into those peoples' heads, learning how they approach their crafts and what they expect from the photographer.

The pic at the top is a behind-the-scenes image of a Tera Patrick shoot from some time ago. Hmm... still had long hair and a pony tail when that pic was snapped. Image by Leesa J. I'm hoping to get Tera to appear in the DVD.