Sometimes you bump into a model who has so many looks that you swear that you’re not shooting the same girl anymore. Meet Kaulin. From sweet to sexy to fine art, this girl can do it all.

Natural beauty, natural grace and a significant intelligence to make the whole package easy to work with and easier to shoot.

My buddy Rick was at the shoot, and his comment was shooting Kaulin was like ’shooting models in a barrel’.  I interpret that to mean Kaulin’s grace makes direction a second thought.

I confess that here in the Central part of California, I see a lot of wannabe models, lots of girls that buy the magazines but don’t know much beyond that.  Kaulin was natural, relaxed and graceful from the first frame to the very last (and there were LOTS of frames).

From cure to coquette, Kaulin impressed me.

We’ll be shooting again, if she’s not a Cover Girl by then! Thanks Miss K, let’s play in the studio real soon.

And tell Katie I said hi!

This shot was taken by Rick at SoShootMe.com. And don’t you know he wishes that we could have traded places! Sorry, buddy! Someone has to run the light meter! Hehehehe!

This may be the best picture I didn’t take. It may not win a Pulitzer or fill a magazine cover but its precious to Ryke’s Mom and Dad. You see, on Saturday I held my first ever ‘Camera Class’ for friends and co-workers, and Ryke’s Mom attended.

The class was borne of two nagging questions I was asking myself:

Do I really know my stuff well enough to teach it and…

Can I explain to people how simple the basics really are?

In other words, could I get people past the technical to the meaningful in a short period of time?

The picture you see of Ryke above really lifted my heart. This was taken by Ryke’s Mom the day after taking my class. I think I’m on to something!

I’m still waiting to see what the other students shot but I am optimistic that my ’see-saw’ approach really creates picture-makers and not picture-takers.

For the record, I am the person on the right of the above shot and no, that’s not a paid model in the chair. That’s Ryke’s Mom! He’s got very good genes, I would not be surprised if I end up shooting him for a cover in the not-so-distant future.

I just can’t express how happy I am that someone ‘got it’ and now their life (and scrapbooks) will be filled with images that are both memorable and high quality.

Want to attend the next class? Drop me a line at bob@marcottephotography.com. I’ll teach you everything I showed Ryke’s Mom but you’ll have to get your own perfect little man to shoot, Ryke’s taken!

Thanks to Rick at SoShootMe for assisting and for taking the classroom shots. His gallery can be seen here.

PS, here’s another student shot!

Way to go, Jill!

I just recently received a phone call from my local paper, The Fresno Bee. The reporter said that he had FOUR assignments over the course of two days and was wondering if I was available for any of them. I didn’t hestitate, I said…

“‘I’ll take them all.”

After four knee surgeries I can’t say that I jumped for joy, but I did trip over the dog while smiling. We all have to do our little parts to keep the world a happy place don’t we?

And speaking of happy places, I found mine in the middle of a high school football field shooting a high school track meet.  I was impressed by how fast some kids ran and how far another group ran, but the group that really caught my eye were the pole vaulters. They’re like watching fearless poetry in motion. They glide down the track and launch themselves into a graceful ballet with gravity.

It was also a technically difficult shoot to pull off with the harsh afternoon sun burning out everything, but if you’re interested, I’ll tell you how I decided to solve the problem after the jump. (Get it, jump? It’s a joke…)

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Ninety percent of the models I work with are a joy.

This picture is dedicated to the other 10%.

If you’re not going to show up to a shoot, don’t get upset when I don’t call you for another session.

If I provide you a dozen processed web-ready & print-ready shots from the 400+ shots from a TFP shoot, please don’t expect 388 more web-ready, print-ready shots. By Monday.

And if you’ve just recently been hospitalized but still show up for the shoot I admire your strength, however, the only look you’re capable of is ‘illness’.  I’m a photographer, not a plastic surgeon.  I’m only willing to do a finite number of hours in post processing.  I’d prefer to invest that much time into a new shoot with you.

Common courtesy and common sense seem not to cross the minds of some women with uncommon beauty.

‘Nuff said.

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Update - I just added a video link to the end of this post! Enjoy!

I had the opportunity to spend a day in one of my favorite places on earth - Monterey, California. Not only is it scenic (as is the whole California coast) but it has a charm about it that is not pretentious. The people are warm, the food is great and the Aquarium is INCREDIBLE!

My buddy Rick and I took out the cameras (Canon 5D and 5D2) and just shot up the town over 24 hours.

There’s not really much of a story to tell except that I got to try out lots of the new features on the 5D2 and that I had a really crazy idea - what would a picture look like if you shot a fish using a fish eye lens?

You can see for yourself after the jump…

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I was pleasantly surprised this week by a phone call from the local paper. They wanted to give me not one but three assignments. And oh yeah, they’re all for the same night. Tomorrow night.

I thought it over for about a nanosecond and took the assignment. I really like this kind of work. I like the people, I like the places I get to go and most of all I like the lighting challenges because if there’s one thing consistent about location work, it’s the inconsistent lighting conditions.

This post is really aimed at those shooters who don’t get to do this kind of work very often.  Many times the ‘candid’ shot you see in publication was considered long and hard before the shutter was fired.

The shoots were last night and this morning I did my post processing. I’m happy to report that the processing didn’t take all that long because I got what I wanted in the camera most of the time. I’m not mentioning that to brag, its just sometime I intentionally take a shot that’s under exposed knowing that I can work with it later in RAW.  It allows me to get a little artsy while not spending a lot of time on location with the subject.

The first shoot was a Casino Night at a Sons of Italy hall a few towns away.  I’m not going to spend too much time showing you the results of this shoot because it was pretty easy. It was held in a big hall with typical florescent lighting. I also don’t want to show too many faces since many of the members are in Witness Protection. OK, I’m kidding! I love Italians, I was raised by Italians (honest) but I still ain’t showing no faces, if you gets my drift.

The next stop was a restaurant that featured live jazz and a bar that was jumping. The lighting and ambiance got more challenging very quickly.

More after the jump…

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Spring - the season of eternal hope, the time when a man’s thoughts turn to love, the season made famous in poetry and song…

Here at StudioMarcotte, we are always endevouring to bring you the facts, and just the facts, but sometimes those facts unearth the dark, seedy unbelly of our culture. Yes, all major cities are plagued by seasonal gangs this time of year that seem to just ’spring’ up. I know, it’s ugly, but the story must be told. The story of…

The BAD BUNNY GANG!

Yes, this is the story of good bunnies gone bad. These bunnies if left unchecked will wreak havoc on your Easter decorations with unspeakable violence.

Be brave, dear reader. After the jump is more photographic evidence of this plague on society, caught in the act of complete carnage but the message must be spread about the Bad Bunny Gang!

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