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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I have had numerous discussions with photographers and models I respect about the pros and cons of ink. No, not the kind that your client uses to write you a check but the kind that some models have.  Not the cute-little-butterfly-somewhere-no-one-can-see-it ink but the kind that grabs your eye and refuses to let go. The kind of ink that forces people to pass judgement.

And people do pass judgement quickly and completely. The model is either a whore or a hero. There seems to be little middle ground. My personal philosophy is to wait on judgement until I meet and talk with the person. I refuse to see a stain on the skin as a stain on the soul. Whether or not I see the art in a Death’s Head Skull is beyond the point. What person resides inside that skin?

Meet Moxy. Yes, she has ink and yes, she is a Suicide Girl.  This young woman is very intelligent, artistic, well read and inked.  A conversation with her via phone or email is a joy. She is a photographer and a model.

As I hope you can tell from this shot she has a great personality and a very quick wit.

So, are you able to see past the ink to the beauty and innocence inside? After the jump there are more shots of Moxy taken in the ‘glam’ style more often associated with Playboy than Suicide Girls. Also there is an artistic B&W ala Fluffytek that contains nudity so check with your parents before going further.

Regardless of which way your opinion is leaning, please take a second before clicking on the link to really look at the pic above. Her face has elements of a little girl but she has such personality in that smirk and intelligence in her eyes.  Like all women, she is a dichotomy.

A woman with ink.

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The magazine cover you see below is my first national magazine cover.

I’m pretty sure the shooters at National Geographic, Time and Newsweek will sleep pretty well tonight after seeing it. Still, I’m pretty happy that a publisher in Philadelphia researched Fresno photographers online and asked me to shoot for them.

The shoot was a little problematic. Steve, the subject was very willing to help any way he could but the problem was environment. I didn’t want to shoot the typical ‘guy behind his desk’ shot and there was nothing but white walls and office cubicles in the building except for the warehouse. That’s where I set up and shot the cover.  Upon seeing this shot, a friend of mine asked if cardboard was really the only backdrop I could find. The answer is not just yes, but hell yes. I walked through that building four times looking for anything that would make for a more interesting or elegant background.  Steve is so low key that there’s not even a sign on the building. It was cardboard or a pure white wall, which would have given the shot a California Department of Motor Vehicles ennui.

As the wise JimmyD would say ‘ whatta ya gonna do?’.  I agree Jimmy, I worked with what I had.

The title of this facinating post is ‘An Up and Down Day’. If a national cover was the up, what was the down you ask?

Not fifteen minutes after going online and seeing the cover shot I got an email from Imagine Magazine thanking me for my services and informing me that they are ‘on hiatus’ until the economy turns around. I admit to being disappointed at this news. I really enjoyed the assignments and interacting with the people I shot. I also like working with the staff at Imagine. I guess we’re all hoping for the same thing – some sign that this whole economy is starting to turn around so we can all have faith in the future.

Business-wise, I’m not to the point of mowing lawns to make extra money yet but things are slower than even the first two months of 2009.  I have promised myself that I will not waste my time waiting for a reason to shoot, I am going to point the camera inward and see what art I can create. I am going to experiment and play and make a thousand mistakes away from prying eyes so when opportunity does knock again, I will be ready.

I never got into photography for the money, but now is the time to see if I have the soul of an artist, or if I am just another wanna-be with a camera.

One of my favorite jazz tunes is ‘You Are Too Beautiful’. The opening lyric starts like this:

You are too beautiful for words alone,

and I am a fool for beauty…

I’ve been called worse names than ‘fool’ before. I just hope now to earn the title.