Monthly Archives: May 2012

Photo Tip #2: Play with Color

The world is your palate. As the photographer, you have a choice how you want to portray the world, what you want people to see about it, and what you want people to feel about it.

When you enter the field (i.e. walk out the door with your camera in hand) set the intention to capture color. Look for natural brilliant hues. Pay attention to buildings in order to spot a vibrant background, set up a shot, wait for someone colorful to walk by, then ask to use them as your subject. Setting an intention is the best way to stay focused (intentional pun) and train the eye to see the world as art.

Even the most barren landscapes can be colorful. This picture, for example, I took at the salt beds in northern Argentina: a white wasteland in the middle of the desert. I spotted this salt carver wearing a blue shirt, however, and invited him to pose in front of the blue car. Then, I crouched down and photographed him at an upward angle to capture the blue sky.

Tip: Are you taking a lot of photos that come out over exposed or with a gray/milky-looking quality? Consider purchasing a polarizing filter. Reasonably priced and easy to use, polarizing filters can be twisted onto the camera’s lens in order to cancel out excess light in the same way sunglasses do for your eyes. It reduces reflection and darkens the sky.

Observe the work of your favorite photographers and notice how they capture color. Steve McCurry’s India collection is a prime example.

To learn more, take my photography class in the streets of New York City. Sign up here.

Photo Tip #1: Work with the Light

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Leading up to my June photography class in New York City, I’ll be giving you some occasional quick and easy tips that will make al the difference in your photos.

It’s the golden afternoon hour. Two hours before the sunsets, the atmosphere not only glows with warm light but also casts appealing shadows, which adds intense contrast to photos. Position your subject with half of their face or body toward the light. This creates what we call fast fall off, when the light transitions dramatically from white to black. Here, for example, the model’s face becomes the main focal point because the intense light highlights his facial features and leaves everything else in dark shadow. It also creates a sharp, masculine appeal.

If you are photographing a woman in the same lighting, consider using a light diffuser to create a softer look with the same highlights.

To sign up for my class, click here.

A Day at Caja de Muerto Island, Puerto Rico

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Off the southern coast of Puerto Rico, morning fog enshrouds an uninhabited island paradise with an eerie, swashbuckling past: Caja de Muerto, or Coffin Island. Once a pirates dwelling place, how did this present-day nature reserve gain such a morbid moniker? Locals allege a ghostly story that occurred during Puerto Rico’s age of piracy.

According to legend, Portuguese pirate Jose Almeida inhabited Coffin Island where he mourned the loss of his Basque wife. After she was killed by a stray bullet, he buried her in a glass coffin in a cave with the rest of his treasures. Years later, after his execution at El Morro in San Juan, the treasure and coffin disappeared. Today, the island remains a natural reserve where travelers can hike to the cave, kayak around the island, and snorkel along its pristine beaches.

With crystal blue waters and white sands, you’d never guess such a luminous place would bear such a dark past. Celebrate the island’s natural beauty by clicking here to get a preview.

OFF! to an Interesting Start in Buenos Aires

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I wrote the following story during my time living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I read it again today and cracked up, so I thought I would repost it. Enjoy …

“Get OFF!,” I insistently shouted at her. I was not, as it may seem, instructing my friend Stephanie to leave me alone, but rather, insisting that she buy bug repellent. She was once again scratching away at the mountain-sized mosquito bites between her fingers and toes, behind her knees, under her chin, and in every other spot possible.

Late one night, amongst the stagnant, moist summer air in Buenos Aires, she and I were sitting on her bed debating the pros and cons of OFF!. “As offal as my bug bites itch, I just find the smell of repellent offensive,” she said, and therefore, she refused to use it. I, however, wasn’t sure what was worse, the pungent preventative measures or the uncomfortable consequences. In any case, I knew she wouldn’t get OFF! easily, despite my remonstrances, especially since she already was having an OFF! day.

We all have OFF! days here in Buenos Aires, times when we leave our apartments and discover 10 minutes too late that we should have used the spray (it also is available in lotion form, may I just add). Perhaps OFF! body odor works the same as garlic breath. If you stink, and I stink, then we all stink together.

For as badly as I itched in that moment, I wanted to OFF! myself completely, in both senses of the term. So, I grabbed the can and started spraying. I made sure to coat my whole body in deet simply because I didn’t want to get OFF! on the wrong foot. Stephanie gave in finally and did the same.

Afterward, we felt pretty well OFF!, even though Stephanie still itched like crazy and some new red bumps were starting to reveal themselves on my arms. At least, after all the repellent I had applied, I knew for sure that those Argentinean mosquitos would recognize that my blood was OFF! limits. That was, until, I saw a tiny black creature buzzing toward me in preparation to land on my knee. There is nothing quite worse than the shrill sound of a mosquito in flight.

“Hey!” I cried. “Bug OFF!” And I raised the can in the air, armed and ready to defend myself. As everyone — including me — should know, DEET cannot actually be used to kill mosquitos. In the moment, I figured it would serve as a good distraction. But, for this exact reason, the mosquito only smirked at me, tied a small napkin around his neck, and then pulled a miniature knife and fork out of wings. All bets were OFF!. No vicious little vermin was going to get a break from my adherent defenses, especially a hungry mosquito. I leaped to my feet almost as fast as Chuck Norris, and filled the room with a cloud of deet, wishing that in fact Chuck Norris had been there to give me a hand. Stephanie and I coughed, but he would have survived the toxic air because Chuck Norris doesn’t breathe, he holds air hostage.

“Knock it OFF! already,” Stephanie shouted at me as she hid behind her bedsheet. But I wasn’t about to call OFF! the fight just yet. Where did this mosquito think he could get OFF! threatening me in that manor, sizing up my skin as an afternoon snack? (And yes, I said afternoon, because 8:30 p.m. still is early in Argentina) While I continued to run around the room, I wasn’t quite sure anymore who was chasing whom.

I could hear him behind me, but I jumped over Stephanie’s chair, knocking it over, and sped passed her armoire in order to cut him OFF! “You’re mine now,” I shouted, ready to take him down with my bare hands! But I was cornered, and he was coming right at me! I shut my eyes, and cowered behind my own arms, awaiting my fait when…..

“SMACK ….. BBZZZZZZZZZZ …….SPLAT!!!” Apparently our mosquito friend had bitten OFF! more than he could chew, and for that reason, payed with his life. Stephanie had snuck up behind him with a fly swatter.

“Thanks,” I sighed with relief.

“You’re welcome,” she smiled and nodded confidently. She extended a hand to help me up, and then we were OFF! and running to enjoy the nightlife.

How to Live Your Life in Color

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Embrace child-like wonder.

Be in awe of everything: how cheap bread is in Bushwick, Brooklyn; how tall trees the trees grow in Northern California; how brilliantly colored the walls are in Puerto Rico.

Embrace immaturity as the power of youth. Go to a black light party and paint your face in glow-in-the-dark paints. Ride UTVs through the jungle after rain and stop to smear your friend’s face in mud. Do karaoke and be the worst singer in the room. Start a spontaneous dance party.

If your shoes are made for running the land, swim them through the water. Jump in puddles. Walk in the rain without an umbrella.

Don’t miss out on a festival because you’re worried about your hair. Perhaps after La Tomatina in Spain — the world’s biggest food fight — it will wreek of tomatoes for days. Perhaps after Holi in India, it will be dyed blue for weeks. There’s nothing a little patience wont undo because the circumstances of your life, sometimes, are not permanent. Years from now, frustrations will be looked back upon as endearing experiences.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do … So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

Photo by: Tracey Greenstein

If certain circumstances of your life become permanent, breathe. Then get creative in the way you consider the situation. Trust that you. are. loved. You are loved. Love the story of your life; create it.

Age is a state of mind. It’s never too late. You’re never too old. Begin NOW.