Tuesday, March 25, 2008

SoFoBoMoExpresso

Well the new black for Sofobomo blog posts is saying what you are going to do. Makes sense, better than starting early I suppose. So here's my latest idea, hot off the presses of my drive to work this morning. All along I've been planning on shooting portraits. It's what I mostly do after all, all these recent landscape and GPS posts aside. So portraits. That's it. Well, I decided that I needed something to push me just a shade further. I'd thought about questions to ask, or other ways to expand on the interaction. Looking at my square sample book I was struck by the space down the side of a normal rectangular 3:2 ratio image. Room for three more smaller pictures to make everything square again. I've noticed on occasion that I don't take enough pictures of a person, particularly if I ask them cold if I can take a picture. One, maybe two, then off. So I'm planning on pushing just a slight bit further with my SoFoMoBo plan. I'm going for Expressions. Photo expressions. More than one, hopefully four in total. A central image, then three additional contrasts along the side. There's a school of thought that might think that all I need to do is find 9 people then - I'll have 36 pictures and have reached the 35 requirement for SoFoBoMo. But really, I think it is 35 pages, rather than 35 images. I'll see how that goes. 140 images, or 35 - maybe somewhere between those extremes. Layout could go in several directions. All 4 squared away on one square page. One full bleed and three accompanying on the facing page. Other permutations. That's to be fleshed out when I have some source material. For now though, I have an idea that pushes me along a path I've already been traveling along, but takes it a hopefully easy notch further. Equipment is always the same. Canon 1DMkII, Canon EF 85mm f1.8 lens. Shot somewhere around f2-f2.8 or so. Handheld. Big CF card. Keep it simple.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooooo you're so being creative! I'm considering starting a photography blog. Going through my LiveJournal photography posts tonight in search of a specific one has really shown me I have plenty to write about when it comes to photography.

Your idea on multiple expressions also brings to mind the strobist post about Spitzer. Nice thinking.

Since people tend to smile for a shot, why not take additional photos with expressions that may be more interesting than just a smile?

I bet this type of exercise would make you a pro at guiding a model to give you a great expression during a photoshoot.

Sweet. No theme out of me yet. I should dig one out of myself.

Unknown said...

Hi Julia,

You know I'd read that post about Platon earlier that day but never really connected it to what I decided to do. It was no doubt floating around in my head somewhere and connected with some other ideas, to spew forth as this somewhat finished idea.