Ghostified

So, for one of my 30-Day, month of January photo challenges, I was supposed to do a "faceless self portrait." I went on a multiple hour photo spree that evolved from things replacing my face, to me using a ND filter to long-exposure blur my face, to using that, plus light manipulation, to create multiple me's. I have also been noticing that I have developed a very grungy style when I use my make-shift studio equipment. Im fond of it for the most part. I think its because I am still transitioning between Lightroom 3 to Lightroom 4, plus Im using VSCO here and there. Needless to say, I had a blast, and here are my favorites from my photo escapade.

 

Test Dummy

I live in a little sunny town, in a little blue house, in a little messy room. In this messy little room is a messy little Parisa who loves photography, portraiture to be precise. That messy little room is where most of the magic happens. Granted, it is no studio, by far, but I make it work. I have light stands, umbrellas, a tripod, and my camera with a handy-dandy Speed-light. Sadly, I dont have models on demand, just hanging around in my room, however lovely and pleasant that may sound. So, in lieu of this recession of models lounging in my abode, I take it upon myself to test creative ideas, lighting, equipment, etc. I am my own test dummy to say the least. This can be a difficult task due to the fact that a human arm is only so long or that getting the focus adjusted correctly before setting the shutter timer is a pain, and not always accurate. I wish I had a helper monkey that could be behind the camera (If only my cat, Shakespeare could be of use in that area). Despite these difficulties, I manage to get a few good shots every once in a while. In the past year, here are some of my favorites:

Rainy Day Photoshoot

This past Sunday before Christmas I had a shoot scheduled for a brother-sister session. The shoot was like a Christmas present for their parents; they would print and frame their favorite shots and wrap them for Christmas. I was super excited to do this, I mean, what a great idea! After having on and off rain all weekend, and a 60% chance of rain forecast, we assumed that Sunday would just be an on and off sprinkle. Alas, it was quite the opposite. Sunday was a non-stop downpour. Despite the weather, the show had to go on due to the last-minute urgency. We planned on Memorial Park in Cupertino for our shoot because there is a very scenic gazebo that we could shoot under. Another bump in the road was a broken traffic light on our way and immense traffic that blocked nearly everything. We changed location to Ortega Park in Sunnyvale which has a gazebo, albeit less attractive. Still, it is shelter. As we were shooting, it started to matter less if the rain got us. So by the end of the shoot we had dripping hair and damp clothes. The whole thing was thoroughly enjoyable and incredibly sweet. These are a few of my favorite shots from the day: