Paul Michael Kane's FACES

June 17th, 2010

2010-06-17T05:44:00.000-07:00

This is Mia . . . one of Peyton's friends from Day Care. As you can tell, the camera just loves her . . . she's an adorable little girl and my computer is full of pictures of her and Peyton and all her other little friends playing, learning and growing up!

This is the kind of photography I love . . . the ones that make memories. To be clear, I've hung out of the back of moving cars to shoot. Stood on cliffs no wider than my shoe size to get the shot . . . but in all of that, I find myself really enjoying recording the lives and events of my daughter and her friends the most . . . could be that Father's Day is just around the corner and has me feeling all sentimental and all . . . =]

June 16th, 2010

2010-06-17T05:38:00.000-07:00

Meet Mr. Mike, director of my daughter's Day Care. Mike is exactly the sort of guy you can feel comfortable supervising your children . . . he's a big bear of a guy and while you'd think that'd make the kids feel quite intimidated, it has just the opposite effect . . . They love him!

Mike and the wonderful staff of the school presided over another graduation ceremony today . . . Peyton had graduated last year, but as I've known many of these kids since they were babies, I was happy to photograph the event. Despite the fact that Peyton wasn't in the ceremony, I still found myself getting a little choked up . . . a preview, I am sure, for Friday, when Peyton graduates Kindergarten!

June 15th, 2010

2010-06-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

Meet Michael, my first senior portrait model . . . I really enjoy shooting senior portraits. Unlike shooting weddings or other high-stress events, shooting seniors is fun and you can get a lot more experimental with seniors cause they are more willing to try new things during a shoot.

One of the important things to do during a senior portrait session is to somehow incorporate what defined their high school career. Along with being a gifted musical performer during his high school years, Michael also had tremendous talent on the football field. I really enjoy this shot as he looks reflective and relaxed.

June 12th, 2010

2010-06-14T06:02:00.000-07:00

Meet Nina . . . I've worked and photographed Nina and the LTDchix (www.ltdchix.com) for a number of years now and their entrepreneurial spirit knows no bounds. Their Living the Dream Tee-shirts have appeared on ABC News and Jon and Kate + Eight! And now, Nina is going for the gold with an audition for her very own talk show!

Oprah and reality TV super producer Mark Burnett (Survivor & The Apprentice) are joining forces in search of the next big TV star. You can find Nina's audition video here and be sure to give her your vote.

June 11th, 2010

2010-06-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

This guy was rocking the sax for Marcia Ball - a well known blues signer headlining the Crawfish Festival. I used to play sax in high school and this guy just looked like he was working it real hard! Look at the veins bulging in his forehead . . . I get like that sometimes, but only when I am mad . . . you wouldn't like me when I'm mad. (Incredible Hulk reference, anyone?)

Last of my shots from the Crawfish Festival . . . looking forward to the weekend. I have a small show to do where I'll be set up to sell books and prints, but more importantly, I'll be there to photograph the people. Should be a great weekend!

June 10th, 2010

2010-06-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

Summer Rae McLaughlan is a 15-year-old, singer-songwriter. Her musical stylings range from pop, folk sound to country. She has been writing songs and playing the guitar since the age of 9 and she finds it liberating, expressive, and a fun way to be creative. Summer loves everything about music and she hopes that her audience can develop a passion for it as well when she performs.

Peyton adored her and I could tell that she instantly connected with the singer on some level . . . to be that young again and find that trust in a total stranger.

June 9th, 2010

2010-06-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

Meet Ron Albanese, or as he is better known - Polka Dot - the King of Kidde Rock and Roll. We stumbled across Ron at the Crawfish Festival. He'a a school teacher by day and a musician on nights and weekends. His enthusiasm for entertaining children is infectious and had Peyton dancing for an hour!

What was really funny - during his act, he asked all the parents to visit his table and pick up a small card with a web site address on it. The site features a place where you can vote for Polka Dot and have him open for a world famous band - the band? KISS . . . it just seemed a very odd mix, but what the heck, I voted! You can vote too!

June 8th, 2010

2010-06-08T05:12:00.000-07:00

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

~ Victor Hugo

Music is a huge part of what I do . . . only very little is there no music to accompany my work in the office/studio. Even when I am teaching, I like to add a bit of soft jazz or a particular soundtrack to the curriculum. It's an integral part of my creative process and something I love to shoot.

The rest of this week's images will feature some performers captured at this past weekend's Crawfish Festival. This is the trumpet player for the Iguanas. Their fusion of Jazz and Reggae was amazing a fun to listen to. They reminded me of The Police and Chicago in the very same song!

June 7th, 2010

2010-06-07T05:51:00.000-07:00

This week's blog entries will feature shots I took a the 21st Annual Crawfish Festival held at the Sussex County Fair Grounds. There were a ton of things to shoot while in attendance, but my goal for this trip was to photograph the many bands performing during the festival - that said, today's image is of one of the actual crawfish crew . . .

I wasn't able to catch this gentleman's names as he was in a constant state of movement - you see, he was in charge of the huge pots boiling up the crawfish . . . He'd be at one end, filling up the giant steamer . . . then at the other, emptying out a similar pot. His face was beat red, but you could just tell, he was enjoying the heck out of the day!

June 4th, 2010

2010-06-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

Given the choice between soft portraits and hard, gritty, edgy portraits . . . I'd go with the grungy portrait any day. Something very edgy, unexpected that comes from this sort of shoot. Aaron is an athlete/model and offers a lot of experience to a shoot. A totally nice guy who can flip a switch and bring a lot of attitude to the shot.

Lit from behind with some sunlight and from the side by a pair of SB900s, the combination of lighting sources certainly gave me the effect I was hoping for!

June 3rd, 2010

2010-06-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

Weddings . . . I don't shoot too many weddings throughout the year. But when I do, I love shooting the photo journalistic style with some touches of artwork thrown in. I usually forgo the standard poses and almost try and get lost in the event so that the wedding party hardly notices me.

And one of my favorite things to do when shooting a wedding is processing in soft black and whites. I tend to err on the side of over exposing brides a bit to get that softer look to them - also, shooting wide open helps. A great 70-200mm lens at 2.8 gives you nice soft background, yet sharpens the details where you want them.

June 2nd, 2010

2010-06-02T04:39:00.000-07:00

Meet Bill Baker . . . Bill is a journalist and long time friend was in town last week to attend Book Expo at the Javits Center in NYC. Bill and I have worked together on a number of projects - and his newest work can be seen this August in Icons: The Art of Jim Lee.

Bill's passion of the literary art form known as Comics and/or Graphic Novels is very apparent in his work. He has interviewed such industry heavy hitters as Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore. He's had a steady column of work called Baker's Dozen for more years than I can recall . . . Check him out at billbakerpresents.com.

June 1st, 2010

2010-06-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

Today's FACES entry features my niece, Amber, who turns 13 today! I can hardly believe it - seems like just yesterday, we were all gathered at the hospital anxiously awaiting for her birth. Today, she's a teenager! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMBER!!

Having family around to photograph is a great way to hone some of your skills as a photographer . . . having family around that is willing to jump around and goof off for the camera is extra special!

Today also marks the first month anniversary for my FACES blog. Check out the link below for a video recap of the May's images!

PMK's FACES - Month One

May 28th, 2010

2010-05-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-25T05:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-24T05:24:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-19T05:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-12T06:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-07T05:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-06T05:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-05T05:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-03T05:38:00.000-07:00

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.