On Location Shoot: Comunidad's Summer Internship Program

This past August, I shot photos for Comunidad, a non-profit that brings visibility to Latinos of Vashon Island, WA and further, led by their youth and community.

They were trying out a new Summer internship program for their youth and it was my job to catch moments for their keeping. It lasted about a month and ended with a Summer market of crafts their youth had made, and local Latino merchants.

I was hired as an event photographer, these events were not the ones I was used to. Usually, I’m wading through hot crowds, avoiding flying fists, crowd surfers, and trying to get through a mosh pit without my camera slipping from my hands.

This was a lot more…intimate. I was half expecting the youth to be more rowdy? Rambunctious? I realized I had to recalibrate my senses to something more calm, I’m used to moments exploding at me. Shooting youth that were shy, self-aware, and realized that they weren’t “camera ready” had it’s challenges.

I remember what it’s like to be a teenager, hair in my face, moody, and just wanting to hangout with my friends. I never had a photographer point his camera at me then though. My acne covered face would been behind hidden behind a hoody, afraid of the consequences of a photo being caught forever, not knowing where, or who is going to see it! Sheesh!

I quickly learned that standing far away with a long lens helped them feel, a bit at ease (maybe?). My 85mm f1.8 was my choice lens for this job. It’s sharp lens, nice separation, smooth bokeh made everything look so nice. I also had a 24-105 f4, which was my second go to.

The first part of the program was outside. I realized that clouds would come and go quickly, and the light would change frequently. The dynamic range was challenging at times. Also choosing the correct white balance was also a time consuming task in post-processing. Ultimately I chose high-key photos, and adjusted to a warm white balance to emphasize the Summer feel and make skin-tones pop.

I wasn’t sure how to act on this job, should I interact with the youth and get them to pose, or stay back to catch the organic action? I ended up keeping my distance. I asked them to pose once and it looked just like that…posed. Sometimes I forget I’m in my mid-thirties and I am seen as “old” (boo).

With age comes wisdom, I was on the sidelines and noticed some of the leaders there didn’t really have a sense of artistic design (that sounds so snobby, ick!). I chimed in and offered some advice, they were surprisingly receptive and decided to go with it.

Over the month, I ended up becoming apart of their meeting sessions, listening and chiming in at times. At Comunidad, they really do think of their community, youth, and are willing to take risks if they feel it’s worth it. I felt their values and really saw the results.

I’m surprised (but also not) at how quickly the youth learned. There was a fashion class, the fashion teacher showed them a technique once, helped them a little bit, and they were off, cutting fabric, sewing, and making choices that made sense for their clothes.

In another class offered, DJing, everyone ended up spinning something good and they picked it up so quickly. It went over my head, I’ll tell ya what! Maybe I have forgotten what it’s like to be a teenager!

Nonetheless, I left feeling like I had contributed to a special moment in time.

My final photo job was their Market event, which they called, “Mercado”. The day before I had edited a backdrop video for them featuring some stock footage and still photos, which were animated for the video. There was a HUGE screen which it was featured on!

“WOW! I didn’t know it was going to be used for that” I said.

That video was made in 6 hours, under a lot of pressure, I’m kind of glad I didn’t know what it was going to be used for, I might of freaked out under that pressure. I was proud to see my photography and video/editing skills being used for something bigger than me.

How far I’ve come in the past 4 years.

Because of school, I have already shot for an outdoor market haha, so I had a good idea of how to approach this event shoot. I enjoyed seeing all the people having fun, laughing, and hearing expression of excitement as parents, or loved ones, would see their children on the big screen. Seeing the youth sell products they made in class, or in their spare time, putting their skills to use made me see the impact Comunidad had on their community on Vashon Island. People came up to the stage and thanked them for giving them the chance to start a business, which is now thriving.

How cool is that?! Pretty cool to me.

As with most photography jobs, I left with a smile on my face, feeling grateful for the fact that I would not have gone here without photography. Gotten to know some really resourceful, and kind people.

The Venture Continues!

-James

Shooting a luxury home for real-estate photography and video

What’s it really like to be in a five million dollar home?! How good of a photographer do you have to be to shoot a million-dollar home? Is your gear good enough?

In this industry, it’s all about who you know, for me this was my first time shooting a home like this, or doing this type of photography in general. I was lucky enough to work with a real-estate photographer named Erik Sven, he’s a Seattle based photographer who’s been in the game for seven years! He was kind enough to take me on a random job with him and it just so happened to be in a luxury home.

The entrance was stunning, a double door greeted you as they swing open to reveal a large foyer with a baby piano in the middle, with a view to a garden and mini water fall. As I knocked on various things in the home to check to see all the material was all real (it was), I didn’t even know where to start. Erik started grabbing his camera equipment, me too. We were actually there to shoot video of the home, as it was an additional cost Erik could tac on to this project.

We started a bit late discussing the approach of what to shoot in the foyer, it was so big and beautiful, we tried a few things and we settled on a shot going up the stairs leading to the chandelier. The picture above is one of my ideas, I ended up trying it as a photo too.

I’m obviously starting out in this industry, I happen to reach out to Erik through Instagram. I was lucky enough that he was so open to collaborating. Architecture photography is where Erik is heading and I already had some pictures of that up on my website and instagram as well. As for the skills to edit photo in Real-estate, you just need a wide-angle lens, tripod and to good ol’ Photoshop. All these photos have been layered, four simple photos shot in four different stops of light make an HDR photo. Pretty basic, right?

For me at least, I love the shooting Canon and using their L-series (luxury line), I need my lenses for a variety of situations, so the L-line is best for me. Another case for using high-end equipment, is it’s a bit less editing, the contrast, sharpness, vivid colors are great in the L-line. this all adds up when you have to deliver 20 or more, HRD photos.

Lastly, the technical skill it takes to shoot a home like this is really where the meat of skill you is. The dynamic range, changing light, and balancing the natural and artificial lights takes some quick thinking.

When it comes to video, I would say a steady hand, catching clever movements for BTS (social media ammo), and an eye for detail(s) is key. You’ll need to be able to glance at a room and know where to put your camera to get the shot. sometimes the clouds move and change your exposure in seconds, if you’re in auto-mode fine, but is it million-dollar quality? I think not (personally), manual mode gets the best quality light and color.

What type of video do I take in a luxury home? Erik shot on some automated rails to get a slow pan from left-to-right, some were up and down or at an angle. We would slow these down in post and add some music as a walk-though video. These give clients a pleasant experience as if they were there.

Overall, it’s an art in itself, but not too complicated.

-James

The 2 Year Mission

One year ago I was sweating as my finger hovered over the “pay now” button to purchase this website.

“Over two-hundred dollars down the drain!” I thought, as I felt the life seeping out from the top of my head to the very bottom of my feet. Clicking though various welcome images and how-to’s, I felt very alone but also, an optimistic step in the right direction.

“The start of phase one has begun” I said as I diabolically squinted my eyes like a cartoon villain. When would I ever get to say that again and mean it?! Probably never…but I do like a crafty plan.

This was only the beginning of what I would discover to be the missing piece of my life. I gave myself two years to “make this photography thing real”. I had tried photography before with a Pentax K-1000, ahem, a FILM camera. Then again with a Canon Rebel T3i, remnants of an old business I was co-founder of. I failed miserably at photography twice.

But I still had an itch!

I took a picture on my phone of three trees and a mountain behind them, it was beautiful. It moved me so much, I pulled my funds together and bought a Canon Rebel SL2 in October of 2018, I didn’t touch it for two months. Knowing I can be a bit flaky on some projects, I had to go all in. On December 31st 2018, I bought this website and devised this simple two year plan:

Taken on the Virgin Lake Trail in WA during a nearby forest fire, Aug ‘17

Year One
-Teach myself how to operate the camera, learn exposure, and about lenses.

-Learn how to use Lightroom.

-Take pictures of everything.

-Have fun!

Knowing myself, I usually get bored six months in, I would then revamp the website to sell my paintings, and I can use the camera to post detailed pictures. However if this did go right, I’d need a back up plan, ya know, just in case.

Year Two

-Pick a focus and learn how to make money from my photos.

-Build a business model.

-Hold the Moon hostage, become a millionaire (sounds fun to me).

I’ve found myself at year two, more inspired then ever to stick with this photography thing for the rest of my life, but also wondering who to get the money from when I takeover of the Moon.

I’ve upgraded to a full-frame Canon mirrorless EOS RP during my usual six month quitting point (quitting crop sensor counts I suppose). I also have two pro lenses, 70-200 and 17-40, both F4. Yippy skippy!

In the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle, November ‘19

Thousands of pictures later, I’ve decided to give travel photography a shot, I love landscapes, I’m an active person and since living in the city, I crave nature and adventure. Plus it’s what brought me to photography for the third and final time.

I’ve started this journal to reference my past, for future clients to get to know me a bit more, and work on my writing skills. I will also be starting a vlog in the near future, to sharpen my video editing skills.

It’s scary to be here, I don’t know where I’m going but I feel like this is the start to something. However one year ago, I was thinking the same thing, but I looked to a piece of paper that I wrote to myself in a bad spot in life:

It Will Be A Success Because I Will Make It A Success.