Behind the Scenes: A Documentary Film Shoot in Cape Cod

May 12, 2017

Under director Vanessa Vartabedian a small documentary film crew steadily unpacked cameras from the trunk of a Volkswagen. It was a chilly day in December in Wellfleet, MA and also my first time traveling to Cape Cod. After purchasing my postcard, I'm pleasantly surprised to notice a friendliness in the cashier's small talk, something I thought could only be found in my small hometown in the Midwest. While both places are seeped richly and deeply in landscape the Cape has an incredibly special golden afternoon sea light that I've never seen in the midwest or at my home in Boston. Vanessa shared that this distinguished light is her favorite part of her "second home". I smiled and began my experience to witness the Cape through two unique lenses: Vanessa's film passion and a man named Chuck.

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Chuck, Vanessa's first interviewee, adorns a massive white beard and is an oyster-er, boat builder and lives in fantastically designed yurts. I've never been in a yurt and they are unassumingly super spacious inside. Chuck has dedicated different yurts to a sauna, kitchen, bedroom, and, the grand daddy of them all, one yurt to home his entire library and there's still space for his sewing projects inside. While we filmed in this giant ballroom of a yurt Chuck snipped away at sailing fabric and cheerfully told us the weaving of his dream to live on a boat full time someday. That'll surely come true.

Chuck also works as a DJ at a local radio station, WOMR (Provincetown, MA) and while filming in the radio studio I listened carefully to his voice on air. I was entertained as I heard him read a Christmas story from a book while sliding buttons to add dramatic sound effects to his listeners. During the interview sessions Vanessa showed her unique skill set of listening whole-heartedly to every word spoken. She is experienced with this type of attention from her passion project "The Mosquito Story Slam", a live event where storytellers have 5-minutes to tell a true story based on a theme. Stories also seem to be Chuck's expertise; with an open heart Chuck told the film crew of loving family moments, future aspirations and shared how to honor his version of "the true meaning of life". Hung on the front entrance of his kitchen yurt is a small, green banner with a Dalai Lama quote printed on it. Much like Chuck's charisma, these words are shared to welcome anyone who takes the time to read them.

“We are visitors on this planet. We are here for one hundred years at the very most. During that period we must try to do something good, something useful, with our lives. if you contribute to other people's happiness, you will find the true meaning of life.” - Dalai Lama

Take Good Pictures in Bad Lighting (flash-free on the iPhone)

June 5, 2016

Shooting in low light can be a scary, scary thing. Most of us prefer nice sunny days, our viewing screens filled with as much natural light as possible. But there are times when this simply isn't the reality. There's no windows. It's 10pm at night. You're at a concert and have to work quickly to make the shots as hot as possible. Yes, these situations can be tricky but here is some advice so you can focus on your subject vs the lighting hurdles.

Grab your phone because it’s time to try these tips!

1. Adjust your exposure in Camera Mode

Tap the iPhone camera screen on the dark areas to boost up your exposure of the image. It’ll brighten things up! Like a DSLR camera adjusting its settings, the more light will be exposed to the sensor, allowing you the most light into your camera as possible.

2. Add more lighting

How many photographers does it take to move a light bulb? ONE AND IT'S YOU. Grab a lamp nearby and light like you had a studio of lamps! No one will see that library-style desk lamp that you're awkwardly holding three inches away from your subject, just out of frame. Get weird! You can always send me some behind the scenes photos of your wildest lighting, I'd love to see how creative you can get!

3. Shoot somewhere brighter

If you are shooting indoors with low light and it's during the daytime, take the subject outside or pull some of those still life's to a picnic table outdoors. Move somewhere where there is more light. If you are in the center of a dark room during day time try your setups next to a window and let light flood over your subject all pretty-like.

4. Smooth with a filter

I use the VSCOcam app and love their editing features. You can adjust your “clarity” if the image looks a bit too grainy. Also, feel free to sharpen things or change to black and white in VSCOcam. Black and white photography has a long lineage of being grainy and offering wonderful contrast for low-lit situations.

5. If it can wait, then wait

What is this, a candlelit dinner date? No, it's a photograph! Can it wait until morning or tomorrow afternoon for you to shoot the perfect iPhone image? If it can, go ahead and wait. Your audience will be here when you’re ready.

6. Embrace it

The truth is, I LOVE the drama of low light. If you only have one source of light at your disposal, try some new things! Photograph at a striking angle. Change your position. Try the photo with different subjects in the light and out of the light. Explore silhouettes. Now is your chance to be expressive! Shoot within your comfort zone but don't be afraid of challenging yourself with low light. I dare ya.

[Special thanks to The Kevin Hayden Band for allowing Dakota Lenox Photography to shoot their group shots and behind the scenes of their show.]

Learning From A Photography Workshop

April 10, 2016

This California workshop was originally an excuse to flee from a cold Boston winter.

There were seven of us, in the middle of Carmel, CA, sitting in a circle on a plush white leather couch of an airBnB house. When the afternoon sunlight sliced in, the whole place reminded me of a 70’s Hollywood film set. We’re a group of photographers, a group of strangers, here for "Theory the Workshop." We came here to learn about vital photo skills: technical development, working with models for styled shoots, marketing and editing hurdles, but most importantly, to uncover some truths about our work.

The instructors for this course were Abi, of Abi Q Photography (Oakland, CA) and Brooke, owner of BlushbyB Photography (Salt Lake City, UT). Their portfolio work is primarily wedding photography, but looking deeper, their portrait work exceeds any commercial level and enters a realm of art. To me, Brooke’s work reads like a music staff, and we found out at the workshop that music inspires so much of her deeply emotional work. Abi is passionate about social justice, opening up discussion in her Instagram with the important changes she would like to see in the world.

I found the workshop by first admiring their work online and questioning why it seemed more honest and raw than other photographers I was following. Their work has a wisdom and I wanted some of 'dat.

I swirled my first glass of red wine, lounging on the white shaggy rug of this retro home. I sometimes overcompensate for social discomfort by physically going overboard (I.E. rolling around on the floor). Abi opened with her ice breaker question, something we should be asking ourselves as photographers more than anything else. It's difficult to answer and continued to be for the remainder of the workshop.

"Why are you here?"

In my sixth year in business with photography, I was facing some obstacles around this time. The largest was the not-so-fun but entirely true concept of "the dead season". It was cold outside and the winter was rolling on. No one, including myself (who's a complete ham for the camera) are thinking about portraits. Our skin is dry and barely sun-kissed, there's no excitement for updated wardrobes or really the need to leave the house at all. Like most of my clients, I'd rather be In my living room, burritoed under fleece blankets watching Netflix. But being self employed, I push myself to find things that keep me on top of business during this time: new marketing tips, potential spring deals, updating my website, and YES a warm weather workshop.

There was a hot tub outside on the porch at the house. I stared longingly at it as I rolled around on the rug. I'm a soaker-by-nature gal and even this small pleasure would be my rejuvenation: being outside with the West Coast sun on my forehead. But before basking in this perfect situation, like all things, you had to earn that luxury.

Abi and Brooke dove into the work unapologetically, displaying a whirlwind of slideshows, technical settings, brain-buzzing Q&A's, and taking us to different locations to shadow them on shoots. We got the chance to photograph each other, but the catch was Abi and Brooke would be breathing down our necks. They critiqued our direction and peered over our digital camera screens to offer composition tips and what they would have done differently. Both instructors were inviting but pushy, a perfect blend of professional boot-camp coach and a friend who cares about your success.

It was rigorous. My brain started to go into overdrive, for fear that too much information was coming at me.

It took patience and creative openness to continue the stamina of this workshop to the end. I'm a note taker, so I scribbled as much as possible, hoping that all the information would stick. My favorite part was the one-on-one critique session that took place on a balcony overlooking some majestic mountains. Oh boo, life is horrible. Abi and Brooke gave their impressions of my Instagram feed (which is so fun, please DM me if you want your own read!). They noticed little things about my subconscious photo making decisions that flooded me with joy: like my obsession with color, and that it's acceptable to have oddball photo projects, just hashtag it with #myweirdbrain.

After returning home it took me a week or two to process any of it. But once I did, my intuition took control and I found myself re-ignited and utilizing so much of what was learned at "Theory the Workshop."

Keywords when shooting with models? Got it. Editing tips for Lightroom? Yay, they're still there! Pushing composition and working with difficult lighting situations? Honey, please. It's second nature now. It's like the lessons were instilled in my brain, ready to come out when I needed to use them.

No one is born with technical perfection and the foresight to know what exactly your voice is. The road to finding our own voice is difficult, but there is plenty we can do to learn and nourish our creativity. Dare to ask the questions. Find your tribe and go to them. It will always lead you somewhere breathtaking.