Copyright Infringement hits home

Well, the copyright bug hit me today.  What originally seemed like a bit of harmless promotion on this blog turned into a little tiff.  I received an email that a photo I had listed on this blog was posted without permission, and that it would be overlooked this time because of the good nature of the post (pending some corrections).

As someone who has had a photo reproduced and published without permission (UCSD Guardian paper), I understand that it can be aggravating.  Also, as a young photographer, I realize that I am not above or below any rules in the business, and may suffer consequences for anything posted on this site.  

So…boys and girls, don’t steal pictures for any sort of purpose, even if it is only to show your friends just how spectacular the other guy takes pictures.

NEW WEBSITE!

I’ve scrutinized my website design since the inception of 2005’s Red Letter Images version 1.0.  Well, I think I finally got it! I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in the past few weeks redesigning the site (mostly in the wee late hours of the night), and with the exception of a few slow-loading images (working on it!) the site really fits my bill.

Check it out, let me know what you all think!

Best,

S.

PS. keep an eye out for Portland-Headshots.com! Should be up by August!

The Green Wall - FINALLY!

Since moving to Boston last year, I’ve been wanting to take some fashion-esque portraits in a certain train station entrance. Well, with 2 days left in Boston, I finally did it! The model, the assistant, the location, the equipment…everything fell perfectly into place. And with the only hitch being to legitimize our existence to a security officer, we came out perfectly unscathed.

This was a pretty simple lighting setup, just a single speedlite set on manual into a white umbrella reflector, with a 42″ reflector disk for contrast control. I killed the existing nasty fluorescent light with a fast shutter speed and low ISO setting.

i’ll post some other edits soon!

thanks for reading as always

- Scott

Catch Up!

So, in a quick ditch effort to post some photos from the past few weeks, I’m here.  Some topics covered:

-manual flash
-gel flash and mixed lighting conditions
-the wonderful world of Pocket Wizards
-shooting doughboy pools and “cheap” hotels

1)Recent Addition to Project: Inanimate 

2)Pocket Wizard MAGIC! 
-2 flashes, one orange gel, one blue gel
-one bare energy efficient bulb
-3 pocket wizards and gaffers tape

3)Hotel Room + wannabe David Hill look (high passing + sharpening + masking)

4)Zip Car + Dunkin Donuts Parking Lot + Manual Wireless Flash (no pocket wizardry)

5) Recent trip to Los Angeles to visit quite possibly the best model I’ve ever worked with. And his puppy.
-smog
-doughboy pool
-pbr
-pitbull
-glendale traffic
-a forest fire in pasadena

I’m starting to play with CS3 some more.  I’ve typically been pretty opposed to overly photoshopping anything beyond a little exposure and some sharpening, but I’m definitely seeing the advantages in a commercial market for digital manipulations/illustrations.

From the past few weeks I’ve been doing my best at developing some skills with flash and mixed lighting, scrambling to get images together for my book.  I leave for the west coast (Los Angeles) in 2 weeks, and still have three more pictures to make before departing.  It will be a crunch, but as a preview…

1) A car chase (zipcar included, ladder needed)
2) A wetlands portrait (tall reeds and a difficult model)
3) Cycling portrait (extensive flash rigging and danger)

Please leave some comments. If the crop seems off on these images, it is because WordPress is cramming my rectangles on the right hand side. Always under construction!

-Scott

Saturday Night Adventure: Boston Industrial

Since moving to Boston, I’ve been dying for some adventures into the dark, smelling, abandoned corners of this city.  Finally, EUREKA! I found a door without an alarm or a knob.  Tucked in a nice little corner of town.  

An hour of shooting as the sun went down yielded some fantastic scenes. I shot a roll of 120 and some digital, but all in all I tried to take in the place in hopes of revisiting it for some location portraits. I shouldn’t go into too much detail, but let’s say I pushed my luck and walked into the wrong room. So, shooting was cut a little short and I ended up running down the road, tripod in hand with my camera still attached.

I don’t know what it is about photographers, but we seem to be attracted to urban decay.

Here are a few samples:

All photos copyright 2008 Scott G Toepfer.  

Best- Scott

TableTop Bounce (Single TTL)

So, I figured I would dabble in some tabletop product work.  Using a single TTL flash, fill card and light form panel, these are pretty simple lighting setups.  Another flash would’ve been useful to provide more rim lighting and/or background lighting, but all in all i think it went pretty well for my first try at products.

you won’t find any of this in my website, sgtoepfer.com, but I’ll keep it in mind as a personal project.

Go through old photos…

I recommend that everyone go through their old stock. I am amazed when I go through pictures from old shoots and find gems that I initially passed over. This usually happens when I am cleaning out my hard drives, but I think everyone (myself included) should spend some more time looking through your old work. Old work can definitely give you some context to your photographs, and provide you with a knowledge of how far you have com along since that particular shoot.

For example:

I found this one just last week, and I am definitely excited about this photograph. I don’t care if that sounds pretentious and self-serving, I love the picture. I just happen to have taken it as well. I totally forgot about this photograph until now, and I’m excited to have it included with my photography.

I would love to hear some feedback from you all!

-s

Long Live Polaroid…

So, those of you who know me know I love one film above all others…polaroid 667. The film is amazing! Some recent polaroid purchases include:

-Polaroid 600se camera
-10 single 667 packs
-6 double 667 packs

I am set for a while. If you know anybody who doesn’t want their packfilm…let me know and I will be happy to compensate them for it.

Some recent scans will be here soon…but these should suffice for the moment (taken 8/2007):

-s.

On Photo School

Having attended photo school and taken photo classes, I do have a gripe.  Too many people rely on the process of being in “school” and pass off being proactive in their approach to photography as a career.  In school you are shooting hundreds of images every couple days, and why not start a website “early,” or have postcards and business cards made to hand out?

 Marketing is one of the most important aspects to being a professional photographer, so why not take some chances and make some rookie mistakes before the stakes get higher?  Let’s face it… just because you graduated from a photo school doesn’t mean that you are completely prepared to start day 1 as a living-making pro.  We all need to be proactive in the approach, and why wait for somebody to tell you to do it. 

If we all waited for somebody to tell us when to do something… I don’t even want to think about it.  

That said, I’m having some books made, some portfolios. And, my first round of promotional mailings will be printed this week.  Very exciting times in the Allston studio/cube. The UPS Delivery man knows my eager face all too well these days.

-s.

 

Shoot with the Michael Craig Band

I got the chance to shoot with a group from the Los Angeles area named the Michael Craig Band. A great bunch of guys trying to make it in the music biz, I told them good luck.For the shoot i decided to take the guys out to Walden Pond in Concord, MA. I picked them up in the early afternoon to grab some good shadows in the woods. We ended up taking pictures right near Thoreau’s foundation in a small clearing in the trees. I worked up a few ideas with my assistant for the day, Jon Lee, and we did our best to work with the ever changing shadows. Gobos, multiple speedlites, refectors, outfits, and 34degrees without the wind.I shot a few different poses in the woods: a couple group shots, some single full lengths, and the kicker…I wanted to shoot the band while they were standing on the bank…with me chest deep in the water! The water is in the 30s degree range, and there was a small spot where it was still frozen. Without the help of a 6mm Ripcurl wetsuit and some 5mm booties, I would surely be missing some critical anatomic function.The final cuts can be seen at sgtoepfer[dot]comHere are a few that didn’t make the cut:I have a good post coming up about the comfort of “photography school” coming up soon, hopefully it will be full of useful information.-scott g toepfer