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I just updated my portfolio. I am in the process of overhauling my shooting style. My work seems so steril when I look at it lately. I am having trouble seeing what I need for a breakthrough. Ideas? Oct 17 05 10:38 am Link Sterile? WTF are you talking about Man? You've got a ton of flare and awesome/brilliant images. Don't forget that you'll always be your worst critique. Get an experienced agent or manager to work with you on your direction. And before you jump off the artistic self loathing bridge of despair, can I have your camera?.. jk  Oct 17 05 10:48 am Link I can't see it, but I feel your pain.  Oct 17 05 10:56 am Link Hey Rob, Christina Raw is my fav. For inspiration i like looking at www.calypsodesigaldi.com or try constraining yourself somehow and be creative within those bounds, for example using a fixed 100mm lens and using b&w film. Just a thought, but your work is awesome. Phil Oct 17 05 10:57 am Link Hello, You've got some great stuff, but what I see is very similiar "posing" and models in alot of your images. Somewhat alternative model with neutral to slightly smiling expression (not all, but just many). My thought is that if your not looking to completely change your style (why, it looks great), then maybe just tweak it by going bigger....more rnge of expressions and bigger "movement" in the models. More exagerated, more extreme perspective....... just my thoughts, for what-ever it's worth... Oct 17 05 11:14 am Link Come to TN and work with me. I'll give you more ideas than you could possibly know what to do with.  In all seriousness, I do love your work and I think you are being a bit too self critical. Oct 17 05 11:31 am Link philsajonesen wrote: That site just made for a very happy crew today. I have a great hotel to shoot in today. That site just made everything click! Oct 17 05 12:14 pm Link ebarb wrote: I want to work with themes more. Get more editorial. I think it has to be done like you say. A still image has to have the movement of the whole scene in one pose. I hear you loud and clear. Oct 17 05 12:21 pm Link RobHowardStudios wrote: What are you basing your assessment on? # of MM Comments? Oct 17 05 12:22 pm Link Rob I dont know if you relize this or not but it stands out to me in your photos. You do alot of natural light shoots and to me it looks like you use the natural lighting as much as you can. I would say to take a look thur some of your best work and see if this is relevent in most of your work. Maybe this is what is bothering you or getting to you? If you predominately do natural lighting then try some studio time where you can control the lighting situation and create yourself images you cannot get or are next to impossible to get using natural light. By natural light i mean outdoor shots in this case. Maybe a change like that will give you a different interpretation of your work? EDIT: Some really good photos by the way. Oct 17 05 12:41 pm Link *sigh* Rob, you're classic, man. Your work is great. What wall? Sterile? So you won't have any kids, but that has nothing to do with your work ;-0. Oct 17 05 12:46 pm Link "Lensology's" got you down, eh? I got to use my 50 for the first time in ages this past Sunday--what a cool lens: it may be old to you but out of neglect it suddenly feels brand new to me. Rob: you're obviously movin' and shakin' with the gear. The message I got from your portfolio (from an editor's perspective) is "all over the map" -- snaps to studio, bodies to exterior juxtapositions. I would agree with the fellow who suggested imposing some restrictions in the way of what you're shooting and how to create more challenge, but I would twist that some to add this: 1. Propose to yourself several mid-range project commitments, i.e., set or series concepts you can't get through inside of a day or week or month but have to work with--and live with--for three or four months. Then within the next ten days, choose one of your own proposals for development and get to work on it. 2. Great artists demand great subjects. Let us all be humble, but if you're going to go to the bother of working on something completely new for three or four months (let's set the minimum delivery between 16 and 32 16x20 panels), you might want to make it worth your while by making it about something of aesthetic, cultural, or political significance, preferably all three at once. I'll be happy to work ideas with you privately if you think that would help. 3. Script, sketch, or storyboard the project you choose for yourself. Avoid dulling the experience by overdoing the planning, but as you move from the development of technique, which you have in abundance, to the development of message, which might be your "wall", the creative illustrator in you will rise to the occasion, and you'll find more things to put in your pictures than you have heretofore imagined. This is an old course for me: when an artist has a well developed general technique, interest in the content of his work comes to the foreground. What an old teacher wants to do (that would be me, lol) is marry ability to a mission, preferably one that transforms the artist and his culture together. It's not so easily done, but it is done and pretty much every day somewhere in the arts. Oct 18 05 08:32 am Link commart wrote: The entire post was excellent Commart. Oct 18 05 11:07 am Link Rob, I've actively been trying to break my style for a few years. The only thing that seems to make a dent is in writing it down and consciously attempting to do things that I rarely do. I stopped gels for awhile, shooting farther away from the model, defocusing the model, group shots, and breaking the image up with framing devices. I still haven't gotten to the next phase, but I'm starting to get a feel for where it's going to wind up. I have no idea how much longer it's going to take to get there then how long to the next. What I have mentioned before is I like the naturalism of your shots. You seem to connect with your subjects and their environment without pretense. Maybe you could try something opposite of that as an experiment? Like watch The Lady From Shanghai and examine the forced lighting patterns. Different elements to break up the light, etc. I don't know exactly how to solve it, but if you're not still learning and exploring, you become a technician and not an artist. Oct 18 05 11:27 am Link Well... I went out with every intention of breaking the mold and breathing new life into my body of work. It took about 50 exposures before I clicked that 50 back in. I tried some new lighting. But, it still feels the same somehow. I just saw commart and megafunks replies. I am starting to see it less like a wall, and more like a gate. I feel evolution though. It's just sticky and awkward. I put a couple from the shoot the other day in my book. It's the Magda and Kelli shots. We shot about 15 or so looks in a 12 hour day. I'll add more as I can get to them, then do my art pass and try to build the editorial I was trying for. I'd love all of your input as they come in. I'll make a new post for a critique on the editorial when I get it together. Oct 20 05 03:28 pm Link Rob, The only thing I notice is that the backgrounds tend to fight with your figures. They are of equal importance in the image. I personally feel that you should either thin out the background )get rid of the clutter and simplify it) or puch the person more into the scene. Right now I most of you images I feel the background and person are 50/50. Maybe put some more forefground nto the image to look through or past to get to the figure and the action like the old Noit films by Alton. The only other thing is composition. Even if you are going more repotage in your work I would suggest thinking more on the composition. I feel this ties into the background/person relationship. Just remember these are my opinions and they are only as valueable as you want them to be. I wish you luck breaking your ceiling. For me I looked at other photogrpahers I respected who are doing well and asked myself what their iamges had that mine didn't. That gave me the list of "hurdles" to overcome. Just my 2 cents. Spend if you want... Oct 20 05 03:40 pm Link Worth repeating: I am starting to see it less like a wall, and more like a gate Oct 20 05 08:22 pm Link RobHowardStudios wrote: Don't overhaul your style man. Add to it! Add some new angles, perhaps some different lighting (how is beyond me) and you can keep rockin' like you have been Oct 20 05 08:24 pm Link Envy wrote: Oh Envy... Secondly, I shouldn't have to point to the top of the page for you. Critique and critical are pretty damn similar words. Oct 21 05 11:23 am Link commart wrote: I would very much appreciate the help with direction and "storyboarding." I'm all ears. Oct 21 05 11:36 am Link The Photo Chick wrote: My son is the only thing I love more than art. I love my photos. I am just trying to push it to another level. Oct 21 05 11:45 am Link megafunk wrote: OH... THE FUCKING ANGST!!!! megafunk wrote: The next punker freakoid hotties to cross my path are getting the photoshoot of their life. I will be going to seek them out. San Diego actually has punkers again! I will have colored fucking shadow puppets on the wall. I'll show ya megafunk! I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!!! Just give me a couple weeks. Oct 21 05 11:50 am Link House of Indulgence wrote: The 50 / 50 background subject thing is a choice. I got started in fashion by incorporating the indian guy into my landscapes. I really feel that connection. I keep overlooking the forground. I think you hit the nail on the head there. 50 /50 just muddys up both. I'll start balancing them better. Oct 21 05 12:01 pm Link I threw together a really simple webpage of the shoot day. I am about half done choosing shots. I have 8 sets up... I'll have another 6 or 7 when I get to those images. The page is at http://www.robhowardstudios.com/kelmag/magdakelli.htm . If you click on a picture, you get the set. NOTHING there is finished. I will add to and tweak for a couple of more weeks between projects. Hopefully in a few weeks that webpage will look more like a series of editorials than a hodge podge of thrown together images. Enjoy. Oct 22 05 02:29 pm Link Yup, do this: Go buy a Yashicamat or fish out your old 35mm equipment, 2-3 rolls of TriX for med format, or 1 roll or 36 for 35mm either way, 36 frames max. Then, get your LEAST favorite model, go out and shoot. Only only 1 frame on 1 topic. Work slow. Ya, I know how it sounds, but think about it. Oct 22 05 02:41 pm Link jsphoto wrote: I have been looking for a reason to bust out the RB67. I have some 5 year old slide film that has been out of the fridge the whole time, and some fresh B&W film. If you want to shoot slow... shoot the RB... CHhhhhhhhhherchunk! You even have to wind the damn thing twice. Funny thing about that camera... 10 out of 10 shots... GOLDEN! Probably because it costs about $2 everytime you press the shutter release. Oct 22 05 03:12 pm Link as mentioned i am not seeing it either, an imaginative varied body of work, but i feel your pain also. Oct 22 05 03:21 pm Link I think I just found a big chunk of the wall. I shot this stuff a week ago. I've had to squeeze all the editing into my "spare" time. I finally dragged 11 sets out of the shoot. I'm already sick of the shoot, and I haven't "Photoshopped" anything yet. I am having real trouble pulling an editorial from it. And, did I mention that I am tired of looking at it? So... How do I keep from being left with a bunch of half tied together shots that each have some merit, but don't really amount to anything? Here is pretty much what I am left with now. http://www.robhowardstudios.com/kelmag/magdakelli.htm Anyone got advice for clearing this hurdle? Rob Oct 24 05 06:32 pm Link I think you take very nice photographs. Sometimes we can be too hard on ourselves. You, however, seem to be searching for something; when that happens, it doesn't matter how good our work is because we just need change. With that in mind, here is my suggestion. Work with an actor instead of a model. I think you have the fashion thing down, but sometimes that lacks life in the photo. As an actor looking at your work, I see people who are just in the photos without life, involvement, or purpose. The few photos where the people don't look blase/burgeois, they look a little too posed. Try taking more images that tell a story all by themselves. Maybe that's what you need so your photos don't feel stilted to you. If none of what I'm saying strikes a chord in you, please feel free to disregard. I wish you the best of luck in getting past your "writer's" block. ~Kitt Oct 24 05 08:43 pm Link Naaa...your stuff is great...you are just in an "artists funk" right now. You will be out of it soon enough.. Oct 25 05 12:39 pm Link |
