I’m going to start posting more photos and outtakes from shoots I do. I’ve been a bad blogger for awhile now, mainly because I’m not happy with how this one functions. I’m working on a new one. When that happens these posts will be way more frequent.
For now, here’s a hip-hop artist I just shot last week. He goes by the moniker Pretty Rich. I didn’t have a lot of time with him, but here’s some of what we captured in the 90 minutes or so we did have.
Not everyone knows that my Wife Samantha is also a photographer. She shoots families and lifestyle photography in a way that very few do. She captures people in their natural environments being their most real selves.
I really respect and admire her talent and I’d love for you to check out her work and see for yourself.
WestLight Studios is moving to Franklin!!!! That’s right, after 18 months our lease is up at the current location and we need to be out this Saturday.
The studio is re-opening in a new location right behind The Factory in Franklin. The space is the exact same size as we have now, but laid out differently.
So for all of you who’ve never been to one of the infamous WestLight Nashville parties this is your LAST CHANCE to join in the fun that goes on at one.
THIS FRIDAY, July 13 from 8:00 – Whenever….
We’ll have the usual ping pong, darts, merriment, mayhem and lot’s of good people.
BYOBeer,Liquor,Soda, whatever you drink. We’ll have some light snacks.
Hope to see everyone out!!! If you can read this you’re invited. Feel free to invite others or bring a friend.
Directions and a map are here:
http://www.visualreserve.com/studio/map.html
I’ve always wanted a way to show more photos from shoots I do than what I put on my site. So I’m going overboard and will start showing entire shoots in one minute-ish videos.
This is the first one; only a half-day shoot, I did for the hip-hop artist Pro. I’m going to improve the quality of the videos, but for now this is the beta test.
Let me know what you think and if you’d like to see more.
Instagram self-portrait in N.C.
About 4 months ago I did the “Pay-What-You-Want Workshop at my studio in Nashville. One of the first things I talked about was “what makes a good photographer verses a great photographer. There are countless things that could have been talked about to differentiate the two. But I chose one area and used Instagram as an example for it.
I began by saying how blown away I am by a lot of people’s photos on Instagram, even from people who would never consider themselves photographers. There is a lot of impressive work populating my feed and Im not just referring to cool filters and effects on lame photos. I’m talking about really solid photos in terms of composition, lighting, color, etc.
Then I mentioned how one day as I sat there looking at someone’s photo that I wished I had taken, something came to my mind. What is was was this: It’s really not that hard to be walking down the street and be struck by some beautiful scene, incredible moment or photogenic person. A lot of “good” photographers can do that and even some who’ve never picked up a camera. Part of photography will always be luck and that’s what a good part of shooting from the hip is. I get lucky moments sometimes and I thank God for it.
What is hard to do, and what separates the ameteur from the professional is the ability to re-create that luck on demand. What I mean is anyone can stop and see a perfect moment and snap it using their phone or camera, but how many people can snap a great moment on a specific day, time and location with all the pressure, job specifics and clients needs in mind.
Commercial shoots can be stressful because you aren’t shooting whatever you want for yourself, but rather you’re shooting what they’ve told you to shoot. And part of your job is to please a paying client to help their brand or product make $$$.
So I gave a challenge to the workshop attendees. I put them in groups and told them to go out into the streets and shoot for an hour and come back and I would critique their images. BUT to make it more like what a professional commercial photo shoot is, I gave them certain restrictions on how they could shoot it. They each had to include certain angles, props, movement, etc. And I told them to shoot as if they were shooting for a clothing company. Which meant they had to have a certain focus on the clothes their fellow subjects were wearing.
It was a great exercise and for some a challenge, for others not as much. Some attendees said they had never really had to think so much about what and how they were shooting before. It went beyond “oooh, that’s pretty…click”
So if you rock Instagram and have hopes of being a full-time professional photographer, think about this. Practice not just shooting whatever you feel like, but give yourself, or better yet, have others give you parameters and restrictions on how and what you shoot. If nothing else it’s a great exercise in creative thinking.
I’ve been on Instagram for awhile now. I’ve been using it to post some of the randomness of my life. But in the last week or so I’ve got semi-addicted to creating “art” using photos and apps from my iPhone.
So while I’ll still have some randomness from my life, including more behind the scenes shots from my shoots, I am going to ramp up the fine art element. So follow me and check out some of the creations I make entirely on my iPhone. My username is davidbean.
The two images below are the two latest pieces I’ve done.
First of all, I’ve been so busy the last year that blogging has taken a back seat. In January I did a workshop was never announced on here. It was called The Pay-What-You-Want-Workshop. It has now come and gone, but I want to make sure it was documented here.
It was a huge success for all involved. The premise was simple, an educational day of photography and business knowledge where you paid what you wanted to attend. On top of that 25% of all the money went to the amazing non-profit Got Your Back Movement. Please read about what they do on the workshop page.
Long story short; the attendees paid what they wanted to come and in turn helped fund an education for kids in need in Haiti and Kenya.
The workshop was January 21 and 22 and both days sold out pretty quickly. It was such an honor to hear from some of the people who came that said they have always wanted to attend a workshop like this, but could never afford it. Some people could barely do the plane fare and hotel with not much left for the actual workshop. I was seriously humbled to be able to offer an education like this to so many.
Here’s a couple blog posts about it from 3 people that came. HERE, HERE and HERE.
—We’ve changed the date from April 30 to April 29—
This week I opened the doors to my new studio, WestLight Studios. It’s a gorgeous space in Downtown Nashville with 5,600 square feet of shooting space. The photo above shows the outside. I have the whole bottom floor of the building. Next week I will update my web site with photos of the new studio and take down the ones of the old one.
More details to come, but in the meantime I want to announce a studio opening party Friday, April 29 at 7:00. Anyone reading this is invited to come out and celebrate the new space. This is not just for photographers, ALL are invited.
Bring your own drinks and we’ll have some light snacks, good music and a great vibe.
The address is 162 Rosa L Parks Blvd, Nashville 37203 On some map apps that address will take you somewhere else. I’ve yet to figure out why. Google Maps has it correct here.
So here are basic directions:
– Take Broadway to 8th Avenue
– The street is 8th Avenue to the south and it’s called Rosa L Parks to the north
– Head north on Rosa L Parks Blvd.
– Just past the first traffic light you will see the building on the right hand side
– The building has a giant painted ad for The Standard on the side of it
There are only 9 parking spaces for the studio and I’m sure me and a few others will fill them up. So parking is only $6 in the surrounding lots. Carpool if needed.
Thanks and we hope to see you there!!!
THE FOLLOWING WAS AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE that went over extremely well.
I’ve had a good run being a photographer. I’ve shot and worked with some amazing people, but an opportunity had arisen over the last year that has finally come to fruition. About a year ago I was contacted by a creative at an agency that handles all the talent/models for Abercrombie & Fitch. I drove up to Ohio at A&F’s request to meet with their team.
What they told me I wasn’t allowed to talk about until this week. They sat me down and told me that they were starting a new division of A&F aimed at an “older” crowd. Basically, they said they were starting a new store for 30-45 year olds. It would be the same A&F vibe but with slightly more sophisticated, but still edgy style.
A guy there named Charles proceeded to tell me that I had been referred to him by an art director I had shot for about 2 years ago in Florida. In a nut shell, they have been scouting for 30-45 year old models and I was on their short list of potential ones. I was approached over a year ago and have been biting my nails about this the whole time. This is the reason that I started weight lifting around that time. I have gained over 20 pounds of muscle and they feel I’ve arrived at my target goals just in time to do the first campaign this summer in Mexico.
So, to keep this short, as of this week I’m going to lay down the photography career I’ve built up for the last 5-6 years and do full-time modeling for this new A&F division. I say full-time, but It’s really a part-time thing that pays better than doing photography full-time.
I’ll get to travel more and go places my photography has never taken me. So stay tuned for more details!!! Oh, and April fools.
As promised, here is another video fresh out of the editing room. Goalrilla is a great brand with amazing products. I shot this for Goalrilla and Daniel Burton Dean. I used one camera for everything, the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon lenses.
The goal was to show how extremely versatile the Trainer is across multiple sports.
The shoot took place over 3 nights at two locations. Due to the operating hours at one location, we shot two of the nights from 8:30 PM until 5:30 AM.
LightAndCommerce.com
