To Blog or Not to Blog....

I've ignored this blog for over a year and I've recently come across an article in one of my fave photography mags on the importance of blogging for a photographer. In fact he insists that blogging is a must for a photographer. That line really caught my eye because I didn't really understand the importance of blogging, but perhaps because I always ran out of things to blog about or didn't have the time or energy to keep it up to date. People don't care what you had for breakfast this morning, or what you did over the weekend. That's what I thought blogging was all about - just writing about everyday stuff happening in your life. But as a photographer, your blog should showcase your recent work, and maybe with a little description on how it was captured or the post-production work involved in achieving the final image. Your blog should serve as an extension of your website (another sore subject since my website is still under construction). At least that's what I intend to do with this blog. I hope!

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A lot has happened over the course of a year and a half since my last post, and I'm happy to say that I've come along way with my photography (totally subjective, I know). I learn from doing and experimenting and look forward to shoots. Ever since joining the site Model Mayhem, I've been collaborating with models, makeup artists, hairstylists and stylists. It's given me a chance to help up-and-coming models, agency models or even the hobbyists (or so they claim). I now long for being published and that may be happening sooner than later - more to come on that later, so stay tuned!

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Yesterday I had a scheduled shoot for a corporate headshot, which was scheduled for this Thursday. Lilibeth texts me early Sunday morning asking me if the shoot is on since it was raining... I responded that we're a go since I'll be shooting indoors. I loaded up my car with my gear... complete with a backdrop, which she suggested I bring just in case we don't find an ideal backdrop at her home. I already had a plan in mind on how I was going to capture this headshot. I wanted it to be simple and give it that natural, relaxed look. So simple that I used a single SB-800 flash off-camera shooting through an umbrella about four feet off the subject's right, triggered by another SB-800 flash set to Master. I used the 70-200mm lens at f/3.2 to blur the background. I don't recall the white balance setting, but was quite pleased with the warm color temperature I was getting.

Not much else on the technical aspect of this shoot. I was prepared for a three-light setup with reflectors, barn door light modifiers,... but for that day I went for the simple one-light setup with the ambient light. Lilibeth was happy and so was I. Thank you Lilibeth for the home-made Ensaymadas which my family truly enjoyed this morning for breakfast!