On Taking Pretty Pictures

Well, it took a few days to sort through all my photographs from this past weekend. If you weren't paying attention in my earlier post, I had the opportunity to shoot a bunch of models and actors for IMT Agency this past weekend. We gathered around 9am near Will Rogers Beach Park, and then the beach for a knock-down, drag-out photo shoot. There were 7 photographers including yours truly, and about 15 models throughout the day. It was a lot of fun, and more than a little stressful for me since I do most of my "better" photography indoors in controlled light. This was done outdoors, with bright sun. I tried to minimize the sun bu shooting in shade and directing the light with reflectors, but this was new territory for me, and a good challenge. It was also interesting since we shot a variety of people, in no particular order, with varying skin-tone so there are constant adjustments to the camera to get a well exposed picture. Things got even more challenging as the day went on and the sun got higher in the sky. Most photographers agree that the mid-day sun is the worst light for shooting in, but that's exactly what we had.

Overall though, I'm very pleased with most of the photos I took. The slideshow above is by no means all the pictures I took - just a selection to highlight the day.

Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments section.

--Rex Hoss

These are a few of my favorite things

 
Well, I'm quite excited tonight because tomorrow I get to do a photo shoot of probably about 20 modeles who are part of a modeling agency. So I've been preparing myself for the shoot tonight. None the least of which means I've had to gather a few of my favorite things for the photo shoot. Now the picture is a little unsettling for me because in the two plus years since I've had a DSLR, I've apparently gathered quite a bit of photography equipment. That's the unsettling thing! How can something so simple as photography, "require" so much gear? AND, when did I get all this stuff? Actually that's only part of my equipment - serveral lenses and smaller items are already packed away in the carrying cases. Also, I'm borrowing a friends camera as a backup, in case something happens to mine. Can't miss that shot ya know!

At any rate, I'm really honored to be a part of this photo shoot. It's going to be at the beach, with beautiful people to photograph - what's not to like! I'll post some photos once I've finished the shoot. Also, this photo qualifies for my photo-a-day posting, which, if you're following closely - I've missed a day or two already - but then I warned you I might. More tomorrow!

-- Rex Hoss

McCain vs. Himself

I'm still reveling in the fact that the "race" between her, and Obama is FINALLY over, and I'm glad so say the right man was won! So today I came across a video from the YouTube exposing the REAL dark side of the race for the Oval Office. Check it out and ask yourself - Is this the guy I want running the country (into the ground)???

A Picture A Day Keeps the...

 
I was discussing Nikon cameras with a good friend of mine who recently joined the family by getting a Nkon D40. We were discussing ways to keep photography interesting and one of the ways we'd heard was something about taking a photograph a day. Some people have done this by taking a self-portrait for a year or more and chronicaling themselves. I thought that's interesting, but I like the idea of just taking a picture of whatever interests me each day. SO - I've decided to dive into it! Now before you get all excited thinking I'm going to blog and post each and every day - I may turn it into a picture-a-week, but I'm going to at least try to post every day. Or, at least when I have interesting pictures to post. So todays picture is in honor of Voting Day (hope you all got out and voted!!!). This picture is a friend of mine who works the polls each and every election. Damn I admire his dedication! He'd wanted me to take a picture of his staff because they'd been visited by a school class who was very appreciative of the polling staff and even wrote the polling staff individual letters thanking them for showing them how to vote and letting them see a real polling place in action.

-- By Rex Hoss

Just some thoughts

 
Well, it seems my efforts to blog more consistently have fallen all apart. But I suppose that's ok. I was playing with my camera last night - experimenting with a new background and some lighting techinques I mostly learned on Strobist.com. I'm only posting this one picture, and while perhaps not what some pro's might call a PRO picture, I'm quite happy with it. Doing self portraits is always a challenge because it's hard to set the lighting and exposure and then be the model too. My dilemma is that I like both sides of the lens. But I found a cool trick on my Nikon D80 which allows me to display the photograph just taken on a TV monitor, instead of the little screen on the back of the camera. This allows me to see the results of the shot immediately, without having to get up and run to the camera to see how things look. It made it much easier to adjust things as I was playing last night.

In other news, Notes from the New World is progressing and I think will start filming in June. I'm excited about that. This is the longest film I've been involved with which hasn't actually done any filming yet. So it will be nice to get rolling with that. I've just been doing a lot of behinds the scenes photography for the director, and unfortunately, because of legal restriction, I'm not sure if I should be posting those pictures on MY blog, though I'd enjoy doing it and need to find out if I can. There are now several photographs I've taken for the movie. Mostly headshots for the website. However, I did get a fun challenge because part oft he storyline of the movie requires a photograph of one of the actresses who's playing a call girl. The picture they were using was just her headshot and they needed a much different kind of picture for the movie - so, I got to do a photo shoot with Amanda (the actress) and we got some very fun pictures. So the photograph I took, will be featured as a prop in the movie. That's pretty cool.

That's it for now!

--Rex Hoss

Drop Bush - Not Bombs

A searing commentary on his legacy. Worth the watch, and I couldn't have said it better.

Acting Fantastically Wicked

I was going to start by saying that I'm probably one of the last people in LA to see the Smash Musical Wicked, but judging by their packed house last night and apparently no end in sight for selling tickets (after recently celebrating their 1 year anniversary in LA), There are tons of people who still haven't seen the magic, or are going multiple times. Yes, I FINALLY got to see Wicked last night and what an amazing, delightful, stunning, (can I think of anymore positive prose to pontificate with?), show!!! As an actor myself, I'm amazed at the amount of work, both on, and off-stage which goes into a production like this. The actors were all superb, Laura Woyasz played Glinda, and Caissie Levy played Elphaba, and both were magical and mesmerizing in their performances! The rest of the cast was incredible as well with a special nod to Jo Anne Worley as Madame Morrible!

On first entering the Pantages Theater you are struck by the intricate stage which only gets more incredible as the show progresses. For those who don't already know, is the story of how the witches of OZ came to be. It's a well though out story which intersects nicely with The Wizard of Oz, which this story spins-off from.

I can't recommend it enough, and now I know why several people I know have gone over, and over, to see this show. It's rekindled my acting bug and got me thinking about doing another stage show. My work on "Notes from the New World" is coming along. The movie is still in preproduction and we're nearing shooting which I believe will start sometime in June. More details to follow in another post - so stay tuned.

In the mean time - go see Wicked - you'll indeed be enthralled!