May 28th, 2010

Those of you who have followed me for any length of time should need no introduction to Matt Busch. Matt and I go way back and have been collaborators on everything from web sites to Star Wars posters! I spent a weekend out at Matt's doing a photo shoot at his amazing home, which features a home theater, arcade, sauna, recording studio, art studio and many other wonderful surprises!

I really dig this shot of Matt, rocking the remote control of his home theater. Many know of Matt as an artist, but his talents far exceed those expectations. He's a musician, film maker, teacher and even actor! He is very much the epitome of a creative professional and I am very proud to call him one of my best friends ever!

May 27th, 2010

Meet Nathalia, another model I've had the pleasure of shooting. What struck me about Nathalia is the natural beauty she brought to the shoot. In an age of flawlessness through Photoshop and retouching, she was near perfect right out of the camera!

Lit from above with a tri-reflector just out of camera view below her face, she knew just how to give me the shot I was looking for! One of the benefits of working with professional models is you can concentrate on getting the correct exposures and making sure everything is in focus while she takes care of the composition. 

May 26th, 2010

Music has always been a source of inspiration for me . . . I listen to it as I create and I love to shoot anyone making great music. You'll find that a lot throughout this blog, me shooting musicians as they ply their trade.

This was shot in Washington Square Park during a photo walk of NYC. The walk turned out to be a bit dull for my tastes and I ventured off on my own, getting lost in the streets of NYC on a beautiful day and captured quite a bit of stuff!

May 25th, 2010

Today's post features a portrait of my sister, Erin, from this past fall . . . It's a simple shot, done impromptu as I was photographing our kids playing in the front yard as the sun set, but it's one of my favorite pictures of her.

She is one of the strongest people I know - having been thrown a massive curve ball early in life, one that would leave many devastated, Erin thrives and remains in such positive spirits. Her smile and laugh are just so infectious. She doesn't simply smile with her lips, but her eyes as well.

May 24th, 2010

This is Neysa, which is Greek for purity. She and her husband (of Italian descent) own a small pizzeria in Paterson, New Jersey. We met over the weekend while shooting the Paterson Great Falls and when we broke for lunch, nearly all 10 of us crammed into the pizzeria and grabbed a slice!

She was a gracious host with a very thick accent . . . she took all our orders, not once writing down what was asked for and nailed it perfectly. On the small television in the front of the pizza place, an old spaghetti western played while her hubby sat back and watched. It was a great afternoon spent with like minded photographers and some really good pizza.

May 21st, 2010

Meet Jillian . . . one of my favorite models to shoot. She can do demure and fun all in the span on a single second. Similar to the previous shot, this is done with nothing but natural light and a bounce board to fill in some of the shadows.

The nerve-wracking thing about shooting with professional models is keeping everything professional - things always go wrong on a shoot. It could be the lighting, the camera - or yes - even the photographer! The trick is to keep cool about everything and have back ups for any eventuality!

May 20th, 2010

Meet Valarie, professional athlete and model . . . She's a very expressive person and when I shot her, I knew I'd be taking a much more natural approach the photo shoot.

With all the gizmos and gadgets afforded to today's photographers, sometimes the best technique is sitting your subject down in front of a nice big window and working with natural lighting. 

May 19th, 2010

Here is my first ever professional model shoot. Meet Kristin. Upon meeting Kristin for the first time during a Joe McNally lighting workshop, she quickly dispelled any notion of every model as a diva. She was very down to earth and was more than willing to lend her own professionalism to the shoot.

What was amazing in working with Kristin was how she'd transform herself each time the flash went off. Every shot offered a different peek into her fun personality. As you can imagine, it wasn't hard to take a good picture of Kristin.

May 18th, 2010

Meet Sifu Loretta Wollering . . . Sifu is a the term Tai Chi students call their instructor. I don't think I've ever met a more centered person than Loretta. Just to be around her has a calming effect on you. She glides about the studio floor instructing with a soft, but commanding voice.

This was perhaps the most serene photo shoot I've ever done. I shot near 300 pictures of the studio and students in action. After the class, she had everyone sit on the floor and meditate. With the low lighting and me with no tripod, I turned up my ISO, giving the image a nice, grainy look. 

May 17th, 2010

I posted this up on my Facebook site this weekend and couldn't resist making it my portrait for today. The one rule I set for myself when I developed this Portrait-a-Day blog was that I wouldn't repeat the subject - I may just break that rule for my daughter, Peyton.

I love to capture Peyton when she's in a playful mood. She's grown up with a camera around and knows how to have fun with it. I can't take a bad picture of her. This was shot outside on a beautiful Saturday morning. She was getting ready for gymnastics and had a colorful outfit on, but I thought the black and white better suited the portrait.

May 14th, 2010

Tomorrow, I will celebrate 11 years of marriage to the most caring, giving - not to mention most beautiful - woman in the world. She is my muse and my reason for simply being. She is my wife . . .

This portrait is a bit more processed than usual . . . created as a way of showing the boundaries of what is possible with programs like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. I am inspired a lot by some of the movies I see - this image and the processing utilized was inspired by the Underworld series of films. I turned my sweet and kind wife into a vampire/vixen . . . the class was a huge hit and the image served as my desktop wall paper for more than a few months . . . =]

May 13th, 2010

I love shooting different cultures . . . this portrait was shot during a Native American festival. They embrace color like no other culture I've ever seen.

In some of tribes, such as the Sioux, young girls were also encouraged to learn to ride, hunt and fight. Though fighting was mostly left to the boys and men, there had been cases of women fighting alongside them, especially when the existence of the tribe was threatened. makes me wonder exactly what she's hiding under those feathers - something tells me it's that elusive Mona Lisa smile . . . 

May 12th, 2010

Meet Liam . . . Liam and his mom are long time family friends and are always willing to let me take their pictures. As I mentioned before, photographing your friends is a great way to not only have a whole lot of fun, but also to hone your craft.

I usually find with kids around Liam's age that it'll take a few pictures to get them comfortable in front of the camera. Not so with Liam - he hammed it up from the start and I've got more than a few blackmail shots for later in his life . . . =]

May 11th, 2010

I met "Snaps" on a trip to Savannah this past weekend. It's amazing to me that such a great little city has a thriving music and arts community. You can't go a block without some sort of amazing art gallery or some very talented musicians welcoming you.

"Snaps" is a homeless person who carries around a guitar with no strings. He'll show up along with other street performers and provide percussion by beating out different rhythms on his string-less guitar. The man knew his percussion as he was making that guitar make noise I've never heard come from a stringed (or non-stringed, as it were) instrument before. I snapped this while "Snaps" was performing a solo.

May 10th, 2010

I'd like you to meet Ezekiel . . . Ezekiel is a saxophone player who I had the pleasure of photographing on River Street in Savannah over the weekend. You could hear is soulful playing from blocks away. When I asked if I could photograph his playing, he looked me over with his one good eye - gazed from me to my gear and said "Since you shoot Nikon, you go right ahead - just so you know, if you had Canon hanging there, I'd've said no." And with that, gave me an infectious laugh and proceeded to play.

I snapped away while he played on . . . after he finished, I began asking about his story. Ezikiel is a Viet Nam vet who - believe it or not - was a photographer during the war. He shot Black and White Polaroid. It wasn't clear to me if he lost the use of his right eye in the war, but he was very positive about it, saying - All I need is one good one. Profound and enlightening . . . Part of the reason I started this FACES blog is to not only hone my portraiture, but to meet new and interesting people. Very glad I had the chance to Meet Ezikiel and hear his music.

May 7th, 2010

Children are always a great subject to photograph. I've learned - after having one of my own - to take their pictures fast and to not make a huge production out of the actual picture taking.

Children tend to ham it up for the camera. I can always tell when the kids are false smiling - they are conditioned, from the very moment of their birth, to smile for the camera. I like to ease them into a photo shoot with a nice long lens, closing in way on their face. This little one is my daughter's best friends little sister over for a play date. Her smile is absolutely infectious . . . 

May 6th, 2010

As I mentioned yesterday, I love to photograph people I know . . . so when our friend Claudia wanted some shots done, I knew we'd have a blast.

Claudia has a very old Hollywood beauty and I wanted to accentuate that with some classic lighting techniques. We shot this in a make shift studio with a black backdrop set up in my living room. Lit with two Nikon Speedlights fired remotely from a Nikon SU800. The benefit of photographing your friends - as opposed to professional models - is the leeway they give you to experiment and tweak your set up. You don't have to get it right the first time . . . but adjust here and there until you get the effect you are looking for.

May 5th, 2010

One of my favorite things to do as a photographer is to shoot my friends - sounds terrible doesn't it? Shoot my friends . . . that aside, photographing friends is a great way to experiment with shooting style and processing techniques.

This is my buddy Derek - a fellow photographer - and good friend. I captured this while he and I were in New York City a couple weeks ago. Derek's passion for photography equals my own and he's a heck of a shooter. You can see some of his stuff here! This was processed using Adobe Lightroom 3.2 beta and then finished off in Adobe Photoshop. I wanted to give his image an grungy, monotone look given how close I shot in on his face - almost feels like I could make a movie poster out of this!

May 4th, 2010

One of my goals with this blog is to make as many new friends as I can. In an era of 'facebook friends' and internet anonymity, making a real connection with people is sometimes lost . . . . I met C. K. Chu in Bryant Park, where he and his students were demonstrating Tai Chi in the open space behind the New York Public Library. C. K. was born in Hong Kong where, at the age of twelve, he began his martial arts training.

He has taught Tai Chi for over 30 years and has demonstrated both Tai Chi and Nei Kung on network and cable TV. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in Physics, which he has taught at Queens College (C.U.N.Y.), New York Institute of Technology, and at Brooklyn Technical High School. In 1995, he retired from the field of physics to devote his teaching exclusively to the internal arts. His background in science enables him to correctly apply the principles of Tai Chi, and to explain them in Western scientific and philosophical terms.
Master Chu is the author of the books Tai Chi Chuan Principles and Practice, The Book of Nei Kung, Chu Meditation and Eternal Spring Chi Kung, and the instructional videos Chu Nei Kung and Chu Tai Chi.

May 3rd, 2010

Welcome to the Paul Michael Kane's FACES. This portrait-a-day blog is a follow up to my year long photo challenge from last year.  While the last photo blog had no set theme, this new one will feature nothing but portraits. For the next year, I'll be posting new portraits every day (Monday - Friday) and challenging myself to hone what I consider my weakest skill - shooting the perfect portrait. 

The biggest struggle in putting this new blog together was coming up with the very first portrait. Then I thought what better subject for my first FACES entry than my own mother. 

My mom is what I like to call a creative dynamo - if I am being funny about it, I call her a cross between Martha Stewart and MacGyver! Growing up, I can remember her always looking for something that was ordinary and turning it into something that was extraordinary. There was the time she had us drag up a floating piece of driftwood out of a lake. She turned that into our coffee table. Then there was the Christmas Tree made entirely of pine cones. She is also an amazing cake decorator - having made both mine and my brother's wedding cakes. She's a gifted crafter, painter, sculptor . . . the list goes on. Her vision has helped me in my photographic endeavors to seek out what could be considered ordinary snap shots and turn them into extraordinary images.