Welcome to Michael’s Blog!

I need to point out, that having a great model makes all the difference. I have worked with Annie on several projects, and I cannot stress how nice it is to work with her. Totally professional, punctual, prepared and totally wants to get the shots as much as I do. Hard to find in a model, especially on a laid back place like Maui.

Continuing on from yesterdays story, after failing miserably on the backlight fill using an Ikelite Water Housing, I was feeling really frustrated. Sometimes this happens when I try experimental stuff, nothing works out and I start getting upset.

When I shot weddings I had this magic ratio of 3:1, meaning that 75% of my shots were all the "safe" shots that I knew I could get every single time, and 25% were the risky, artistic shots that may not work out for whatever reason. I cannot stress how important it is, no matter what you are doing, even purely experiment wise, to always take the time to get the safe shots.

This is especially true if you ever find yourself in a shooting situation where nothing is working; go back to the basics, things you know and do well.

Here we were on a beautiful early morning with no one around. We had absolutely killer directional sunlight (it was just before 7am), beautiful location, awesome model…ya, why the heck not?!?! I put the Ikelite housing rig down, grabbed my Canon 5Diii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS L II and went to work. Started with Annie on her board using the directional sunlight and even walked out into the water up to my waist, just holding the 5Diii.

(This image below is interesting because it violates a major rule of portraiture: No one wants to see an armpit. As we can see, there are exceptions).

Then we moved to shore, Annie and I would find a specific location on the beach we liked, agreed on a pose, and just moved Annie through a basic motion, like going from laying to kneeling, or from left to right, with many subtle changes in her arms, head and body. I was pretty happy with the results on this part of the shoot. We have some 600+ images that are just fantastic, but these posted are my favorites:

I know what you guys are thinking, "How does one manage to work under such conditions?"

To this I can only say that I am willing to struggle, endure and overcome for the betterment of the photography community. Its a tough, tough job...but someone has to do it.