Millie - a saxy blast from the past.

[tonymp]

As one who plays sax, I must say that is pretty bad. Her fingers are close enough to fool, but JEEZ...the MOUTHPIECE!!!! OY Ve!!!

Now, I think the photos are very good. I also looked at your gallery and you have some amazing photographs. Your landscape composition is top notch (not to mention the pretty ladies...).

Thanks very much for the kind comments - now you may be right about the sax BUT, are you sure your eyes ok? LOL

I've never been any good at landscapes, in fact I'm worse at landscapes than knowing which end of a sax is which and which way round it should be LOL! Now if it was a Fender Strat, I've had one since the beginning of the 70's ( it's still in my loft but has only been out a handful of times in 20 or more years).

To be honest, I only shoot landscapes when I want something to go on one of my walls - I seem to be ok at it then but I just wish I could 'see' the shot like so many good landscape shooters do. I suppose that comes from shooting only people since I started - I can take a very ordinary girl and turn her into something resembling a model yet, get me away from people and I'm pretty much lost LOL.

The old saying of 'it's horses for courses' always springs to mind for me!
Thanks again...
Tony

 

[Christie Photo]

I notice you use MF & LF gear do you still shoot mostly film? I thought I was one of the last!!!

You may well be. My last film job was well over three years ago... 4x5 trans. I carried the film camera and twenty rolls of film with me as backup until the film experation date.

I do mostly product/advertising work and am too far from a lab to have continued much longer with film. It was an overnight to the lab, another back to me. Then after editing, another overnight to the lab for high res scans and yet another back to me. All in all about 5 working days and $60 in shipping on top of film and processing. I had to go digital.

I do the ocassional wedding. It was costing me about a dollar every time I tripped the shutter.

I do miss film sometimes. I don't miss the darkroom even a little bit. I did my own black and white.

I do have a portrait background, and often do the same as you... just chat a bit, watching my subject relax and move. When I see something good, I make the refinements and shoot.

– Pete

 

[tonymp]

You may well be. My last film job was well over three years ago... 4x5 trans. I carried the film camera and twenty rolls of film with me as backup until the film experation date.

I do mostly product/advertising work and am too far from a lab to have continued much longer with film. It was an overnight to the lab, another back to me. Then after editing, another overnight to the lab for high res scans and yet another back to me. All in all about 5 working days and $60 in shipping on top of film and processing. I had to go digital.

I do the ocassional wedding. It was costing me about a dollar every time I tripped the shutter.

I do miss film sometimes. I don't miss the darkroom even a little bit. I did my own black and white.

I do have a portrait background, and often do the same as you... just chat a bit, watching my subject relax and move. When I see something good, I make the refinements and shoot.

– Pete

So I am one of the last ones! -
As for cost, I know just what you mean, which is why I even try to shoot 6 x 4.5 rather than 6 x 7 - it all adds up!
I reckon I must shoot about 85% mono overall so, that keeps everything down and I've started using a D200 for some of the smaller colour work which helps too.
I have actually been using digital for over 5 years now, but only as polaroids - now that has saved me a packet! I started with an old KM 7i alongside my Bronicas and later moved on to an A2 and then more recently a D200 - I shoot WYSIWYG and it works fine. Most of the shots on my little site were shot with the 7i or A2 and they have been ideal for polaroids & internet use.
I don't mind shooting film, in fact I love it as I am much more adept in a darkroom than on a computer but, I will be going fully digital FX within the next maybe 12 months. Maybe D700's/D3's or the equivalent by then.

The biggest problem I have with digital is that I still shoot everything in 'film mode'! I treat every shot as though it was being shot on film - everything done in the camera - waste not/want not and all in manual!!! Aperture or shutter priority is like a modern invention for me - I still use my Gossens for everything but the odd grab pr test shots.
1Gig of RAW files is about the same as 4 rolls @ 6x4.5 for me and that's alot of shots for a single portrait sitting LOL.
The one thing that I still feel digital can't beat is on mono prints ( apart from spotting the odd dust traces of course) - I can produce up to a 30 x 20 far cheaper and to my mind, better quality done in a darkroom than on a desktop - but even that difference is diminishing these days. The commonest mono enlargements after 10 x 8's I do are 16 x 12 and 20 x 16.
For what I shoot, generally, film still works best for me and doesn't restrict me - with the additional benefits of digital, I cover the awkward stuff so, I suppose I have the best of both.
Tony

 

[NateS]

I am also a Jazz Sax player for many, many years and I must say, when I first looked at these I literally laughed out loud because of the upside down mouthpiece (obviously not your fault really if you don't play or know about the sax).....that said, I see that you're more interested in the lighting so I went back and looked at them "for real".

Funny stuff aside, the colored lights are nice but I personally don't care for the red lighting on her hair and the hot spots bother me a little too...specifically the forehead on the second shot. Other than that they are great and I definitely prefer the "action" shots over a static pose (assuming she would set up the saxophone right and hold it right of course).