Sam Comer Photography

I could publish a posing guide from this shoot

Only one other time have I photographed a model that was so fast and comfortable and easy at posing as Shae. At first, I was concerned that our one hour and a half or so shooting window would limit how many images we could get. By the end, I had shot nearly 700 images! One pose right into the next. I found myself giving her actual direction very very rarely. Usually she was one step ahead of me.

Not only were we able to get 700 images, but she was able to get in more than a half dozen outfit changes. The bad thing is, I now have to sift through 700 images. The good news is, they’re all so good and should require so little editing that it won’t be difficult to get some quality photographs at the end of the day.

Heather and Chris – September 5, 2009

I mention on the weddings page of my website that, while I have done the big, fancy (AKA “expensive”) weddings, I generally prefer to shoot the smaller, less traditional type. This past Saturday was certainly an example of that. Heather and Chris had a nice little wedding at their home just north of Knoxville with a small gathering of guests and no attendants. Everything was very casual. The reception was held in the Gilligan’s Island-themed garage decorated with Star Wars memorabilia – including a life-sized Yoda guarding the cake.

The most important part is, aside from the casual nature of the event (or perhaps because of it), I got some really nice pictures of the couple. Here are a few samples.

Great shoot today

I had a great shoot today with a model from modelmayhem.com.  Below are some samples of those images. We shot in my home studio and then took a trip out to Mead’s Quarry in South Knoxville to do some more shots out there.

All in all, I think I made nearly 500 images. Now the fun begins – how do I filter through all those to come up with a handful of great images? That’s the problem, I guess, when a shoot goes really well – you shoot and shoot and shoot. Then there’s hell to pay when it’s time to edit. (Not that I mind looking through all these images of a rather amazing looking model.)

Some of these will be up on my website soon. Next shoot? Looks like it’s going to be deep under ground! Fun stuff.

Photo clichés

I was going to write a blog about photo cliches, but in doing some research to find some good examples, I found a million blogs about photo clichés. How cliché!

So, suffice it to say, I avoid them. Sure, in my early days, I’ve done the model with a gun; the model on the train tracks; the model in a cheerleader outfit; the sunset silhouette, the bumble bee on the flower, etc. I think it’s necessary early on in any artist’s career to emulate what others have done.

In addition to photography, I am a musician. When I took jazz piano many years ago, it was a common exercise to study those who had come before and learn their solos, note for note. Not just play them, but transcribe them. It’s a great exercise to get an idea of just how it’s done – what’s the thought process going on by the player and how do different scales work within different chords ands chord progressions.

However, when it’s time to get out on stage to play for real, it’s generally not the best idea to play that Coltraine solo note for note, like someone just aping what’s been done. You have to develop your own style. Sure, elements of what you’ve learned to copy will be a part of your style, but it’s the mark of competence and skill to effectively hide the source.

Perhaps the best way to do that is to study several different styles and incorporate what you like about each of those into your own – turn them upside down, sideways, backwards and inside out until it’s unique to you. In Steven Spielberg’s earlier films, you can see elements of Hitchcock, Ford, Capra, and many, many others. Now his own style influences up and coming filmmakers who wish to emulate him.

There. I’ve done it. The cliché blog about clichés.

Update to the update

I updated the way my web galleries work. I think they’re a lot smoother than the old way. Unfortunately, the version of the site building software I have made those galleries not viewable in certain versions of certain web browser. Aarg!

After much flustration and searching about, I was able to find an update to make them work. So  http://www.samcomerphotos.com is now up with some new images and some new pages.

Classic Hollywood in Still

Last night, I made a visit to the Knoxville Museum of Art to A. Check out the Alive After Five for the first time in a long time (Jenna and the Joneses … Good show) and B. to see their new exhibit, “Made in Hollywood: Images from the Jon Kobal Foundation.” Still photographs from Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1950s are displayed. Some are classic portraits where the stars would go to the studio and sit for a session and others are on-the-set images taken while the movies were being filmed. Silent film stars Gloria Swanson, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin, on up to The Marx Brothers, James Cagney, Audrey Hepburn, Rock Hudson, and on and on.

Several different photographers are featured, and the point of the show is not so much, “Check out the Hollywood stars!” but more, “Here is some amazing work by some of the best photographers in their day, many of whom were responsible for launching and/or saving the careers of many of their subjects.”

It’s interesting how the quality on some of these is sort of … lacking. A handful were simply blurry/out of focus, which is particularly odd for them being still images of a still subject. But those were in the 20s when photos didn’t necessarily have to be good, they just had to be photos.

There were more than a few, however, that were just stunning. In some ways, I don’t think some of these techniques can be duplicted today. Or, if they could, likely wouldn’t because many photographers just won’t take the time to make the effort, nor (more importantly) will clients pay for the extra effort.

The exhibit has definitely inspired me to take some time to make some images like some of the ones I saw. I have a model or two that I just may have to get into the studio and make some Hollywood magic happen.

Long-awaited update

Tonight I updated my website. There are some new photos of models I’ve photographed here in Knoxville, as well as some new wedding photos. I’ve added some pricing information to make things a little more concrete. It’s been a long time coming, though it’s not drastically different from how it was before. But now that I’m blogging and shooting more, I will be making updates to the site more frequently. Everything should be working and linking the way it’s supposed to, but I’ll be checking back with it over the next couple of days to see if it needs to be tweaked any.

I’ve shot so many things in my career, from high school reunion photos to commercial photos for advertising to little leagues to running races to magazine spreads to you name it. If I haven’t done it, I’ll figure out how. If I can’t do that … well, I’ve been around long enough that I know a lot of other photographers in Knoxville who could probably pull it off.

Check it out. If you have any suggestions or critiques, please let me know. I’m definitely more a photographer than web designer, so it’s iWeb on the Mac to the rescue!

Gotta match?

Off and on, for a few years here and there, I played around with meeting people on various online dating sites. While I never met the love of my life on there, I have met some really good friends. Definitely worth the experience!

But one thing I noticed is the number of really unflatteirng photos people put up on their profiles. I mean, if you really want to show what you look like, you really shouldn’t have pictures of yourself waaaaay over there where you can barely be seen, or blurry pics of you at a party, a dark and grainy pic from a webcam, or … wow, people actually do this … a scan of your driver’s license photo!

Wouldn’t you rather have a good, casual photo that really looks like, well … YOU?

What I’m offering is a small, inexpensive package to get just that. How about a good headshot, a 3/4 shot, and a full body pose for $35? That may seem really inexpensive, but this is not a full-on studio type shoot. It’s very casual. It’s you looking like you. It’s me meeting you in a place designated by you (within a 15 mile radius of downtown Knoxville) where we spend, oh, a half hour or so doing very simple, nice, high quality photos that are all yours after the shoot.

As soon as the shoot is done, we’ll view the images together and pick the best of each pose. It’s that simple.

It may be that you later decide that the images are so wonderful that you’d like to have prints. I will post them online in a personalized, password-protected web gallery so that they may be viewed and purchased.

While I can’t guarantee my photos will get you the love of your life, I can guarantee they will be of the utmost quality. You’ll certainly stand out from the rest of your “competition” with their ID scans and blurry party pics.

Give me a holler at samcomer@samcomerphotos.com, and let’s show you off!