{ Image Blog by Marc Orbito }
{ Image Blog by Marc Orbito }
Models: Chynna and Stef
Hair/Makeup/Styling: Stefanie Fauvor
Special thanks to Glen McDowell and Scott Davis for their wealth of knowledge!
(The final part of my San Francisco series)
The architecture of San Franciso has always fascinated me; its topography, density and spacing is quite unique and and the buildings themselves offer quite a variety of modern and classic. San Francisco is quite the character. I aboslutely love the Victorian facades of the homes and the eccentricity of Chintatown. The Golden Gate Bridge is awe inspiring as is the Palace of Fine arts, which I was surprised to find, was located the middle of a residential area; it is a jaw-dropping spectacle. Walking beside the columns and under the archways, I took a moment take digest it all - I wasn't in Europe or the Medeterranian, but on U.S. soil, and on the West coast, no doubt.
I shot most of these with my trusty 24-105L f4 "walkabout" on my 5D Mark II. The fisheye photos are courtesy of a 15mm. I used a graduated neutral density filter, which underexposed the skies by 2 stops and pulled the details in the clouds out (excitedly) afterwards with Lightroom 4. (This was the first set of pics I edited in LR4, so I may have gotten a little excited and overtweaked them.)
I think I hit a fairly good amount of locations in one day. My shoot setup did not include a tripod, which could have resulted in more stylized shots and perhaps less photos, but I stand by my semi-documentarian style choice. :)
(part 2 of 3 in my San Francisco series)
Street photography is very much like fishing. You pick a time and place, prep your gear, head out there, and just hope you are keen and lucky enough catch something...
I shoot the streets when I'm in need of a photographic rejuvination. I enjoy commercial work, but it can sometimes be strict in its creative opportunities. Rendered images or pre-conceived shoots of people or models often stimulate the "groins" of the Facebook generation more than anything - it's wonderful at drawing fans and exciting bunches of people, but sometimes it hides truth and honesty and throws viewers brains out of the window. I needed a change of pace.
When I first started, I shot the streets because I had nothing else. I did it to learn. I did it for the pure love of photography. Often times I have to remind myself: life and humanity have much to offer. And there is great thrill in what the unknown or unscripted provide - situations that are unparalleled in its beauty and far more wonderous that anything I could ever plan or set up. To shoot the street is to feel life's pulse. It is to feel MY pulse.
Unlike part 1 ("Alcatraz"), people living is very much the theme here. Where that post was almost entirely desolate, in this second series of images, I try to fill the frame with people...
(part 1 of 3 in my San Francisco series)
Last Sunday, I took the first ferry out to Alcatraz. Why? Because I'm a cheap bastard and wanted to save a few bucks. But, thinking as photographer, I also wanted to beat the crowds - it would make more sense to shoot the former prison in a state of desolation and solitude and I thought the clouds over the bay would make for more drama. And besides that, the prison itself was my subject - not the people (as it would be later that morning at the Taylor Street restaurants at the Wharf) I wasn't entirely successful at keeping people out of my shots (the first ferry was already bursting at the seams) but I think there is enough "space" in these shots for meditation. Enjoy!
The learning never ends. I'm never satisfied with my photos and upon looking back at past work, I always seem to focus on what needs to be improved. That often gives me and excuse to go shopping. I ended up picking up more lights and have been reading up on how to produce more "commercial-like" looks.
Photo processing and vintage looks have their place, but in this shoot with Leah, I really wanted to keep the colors accurate and vibrant and keep the sky and background detail from being lost. To do that, I would have to properly expose both the background and subject.For these shots, I used an Apollo Wescott 28" softbox mounted on an Alien Bee B800 (camera left) with as fill for a 3pm sun (camera right, top corner) at +3 and a round silver reflector camera right.
I also wanted to keep the short depth of field that my viewers are familiar with. I rented a Sing-Ray variable neutral density filter from the folks at Hawaii Photo Rental, to limit light so I could still shoot wide open at f1.4 at 35mm, which I used in the shot above at about -4. I quickly removed it after seeing how soft it made the shot.
I stopped down to f9 in the next shot (as well as the first shot above). The background isn't as blurred out as I'd like, which gives me an excuse to go shop for a different ND filter. I probably add my circular polarizer in the mix next time for bluer skies. Overall, I'm quite happy with the results!
Now that the kids are older, we decided to participate in the 2012 Great Aloha Run. My wife is an active member of the Moms in Hawai'i internet community and they put a group together every year and we figured we'd join in on the fun. The kids didn't do too bad - there were a few points where I had to pick them up and put them on my shoulders so we could continue because the tears started streaming, but we finished. Perhaps the most rewarding part of the day was congratulating them on a job well done and applaudung their perserverance - life lessons that I am hoping they can take with them. We'll work on bettering our finish times next year, and the year after that. For now, enjoy the photos!
Howdy! My name is Marc Orbito. I'm a general photographer in the state of Hawaii who enjoys photographing people!
I'm also a father, husband, Apple geekboy, writer, Disney junkie, Miami Heat basketball fan and washed-out cinephile.
I invite you to look around. Hopefully you'll like what you see and and maybe even hire me!
Contact me for rates at marc @ orbito.net
