Steve-Z.com

Hi. Steve here. I have a ton of new photos and posts to publish from my latest adventures. But first things first. I gotta change the name of this website! This is a blog of personal photos and adventures, and as a result it is a steadily morphing entity. As I evolve as a human and as a photographer, the look and feel of the site needs to change with me.

“The Dark Side” was a name that I impulsively came up with a couple years ago one late night when I was changing both of my blogs to my new ProPhoto WordPress blog template (great template, there is a discount coupon at the bottom of the page!).  My professional websites took over an all-white theme, and I thought it would be fun to have my personal site reflect the opposite of that. So I just started calling the two, the Light Side, and the Dark Side. It was never really a well thought out plan, I will admit. One was white, one was black. One was professional work, one was personal work. It was really supposed to be temporary, but, I’m pretty busy with all the tons of things to do with this photo biz, so I just never got around to changing it, mostly because I never really thought of anything else to call it.

What is the purpose of this site anyway? Do I really need it? Does it really matter?

To me, it does. I love photography. I’m passionate about it, and addicted to it. I love taking photos when I’m on my adventures. Sometimes the photos are just travel snaps. But once in a while I get a really cool shot, the kind that I’d like to hang on the wall of my house. So I feel the need to put them out there and share them with the world, rather than have them live a cold and lonely life on a computer hard drive. I want them to see the light of day. I’d like to set up a cart where they could be purchased . . . but that’s a whole nutha project.

I need a new title that is more representative to the photography work that I publish here. In all reality, there isn’t much that is Dark about my photography. I’m more interested in beauty than sadness. I do have a quirky sense of humor, no doubt. I love what I do and I do have some pretty cool adventures where I have a lot of fun. The Dark Side had some people thinking that they were going to see horror movie stuff or something! So I need a title that is smart and clever, and possibly hints that this is a photo blog featuring photos from my travel, biking and snowboarding, and other random photos I take in my free time. There is also occasionally some technical and educational info for photographers, although I don’t seem to manage to find the time to publish a quarter of the articles that I think of in my mind. How do I sum all of that up in a title? How do I sum up 39 years of me in a couple words?

Until I come up with a cool new title . . . I’m just going to have a clean white sheet of paper.  The Great Title-less Blog! I just couldn’t stand the old look any more and had to change it immediately! I made a Facebook comment about changing the name; in a dream world someone will come up with a clever name for me! I’m not counting on that though. My best ideas usually come from an unexpected moment of clarity, and will just pop into my head when the time is right. As for now, I’m going to throw out the idea that I’m ready for the new name to come to me.

As for the photo . . . It’s just a funny self portrait that I took on my recent trip to Washington State. My chin is all distorted and enormous due to the distortion of my Nikon 14-24mm lens. I love to take beautiful pictures. But I also like taking funny and somewhat distorted pictures as well!

If you actually read all of this, thanks. I hope you keep coming back for years to come, as this blog will still be around, although the format may completely different. Evolution is like that.  Cheers, Steve Z.

I have lots of difficultly buying a product that just works. It seems like when I purchase something, there is only a 50% chance that I will be able to have it work, function, or look like it is supposed to on the first try.  There doesn’t seem to be quality of products any more. We live in a disposable society, where products are actually designed to fail so that you will be forced to buy a new one in a few years.  Additionally, many are just scurrying about with their tails between their legs hiding from The Recession. Consumers are searching for a cheaper and cheaper deal all the time without thinking about where the costs are being cut.

Photography is a luxury expense. As a result, many photo pros running top notch businesses are feeling the crunch of the economic downturn.  No one really understands why it costs so much to run a photography business these days.  I don’t blame them one bit.  I really didn’t have a very good idea when I started doing this either!  There are so many hidden costs that it never ceases to amaze me. And as long as I continue, more and more costs keep surfacing.  My latest is it’s going to cost $1000 just to adjust and calibrate my cameras and half of my lenses.  How much would the already expensive equipment have to cost for the quality to be perfect, so that I didn’t have to make these adjustments and repairs? Sure, I could just deal with my cameras the way they are, but I’m committed to having perfectly calibrated cameras so that my images are perfectly sharp.

The real lesson here, is that quality is just plain expensive.  Just take this photo of this screw for example. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but there are no true threads, just metal rings!  When did it become difficult to buy something with screws that actually had functioning threads?  There were screws like this in two  sofa tables that I bought to display my albums in the studio.  I really don’t have the funds to buy them from Design Within Reach, so I bought some cheap bolt together ones from Target online.  The first ones showed up with brush marks and hand prints under the clear coat on the wood.  Then the second set showed up with non-functioning screws.  Luckily I had screws from the first set, so I could put the tables together.  So while I got a cheaper deal, I still had to waste a bunch of time assembling, disassembling, calling, reshipping, etc.

What is the cost of the cheap tables?  The margins are so tight that they are trying to remove fractions of pennies out of the cost of the tables, and the screws.  Should I always just buy designer tables so that they will (hopefully) work the first time? Should I support local merchants in the way that I hope to have my business supported? My accounting spreadsheet doesn’t really support buying top of the line studio furnishings in a business where I’m always being undercut by photographers who are willing to sell out their digital files for nothing.
Despite the sliding trend of photo studio profitability, I am working towards reaching the higher end of the market where quality is respected.  I am seeking the clients that will recognize the top quality of the product that I offer.  While some people in the world will continue to be content to display their Wal-Mart  prints with bad skin tones proudly on their Target sofa tables with hand prints and screwed up screws, I pledge to offer services that represent, support, and exude Quality. The perfectionist in me will only be satisfied offering a premium product at a premium price.

Happy Spring! On the 2010 vernal equinox we witnessed the debut of a new playa on the international male snowpermodel circuit. Sir Frostilicious has the crystalline structure to dominate the cuthroat snowway fashion scene for the foreseeable future. His bone chilling trademark look is known in Milan as “Icy Steel”. I am so fortunate to have been selected to photograph this controversial modeling session which features full frontal nudity. You will be able to see the full shoot in the centerfold of next month’s ‘Snowdude’ magazine.

Atmosphere in Boulder hosted a fashion show a little while back.  I was there.  I took some photos.  It was awesome.  You can see more pictures on the Facebook Gallery Page.

Last Friday there was a cool little fashion show at the prAna store on Pearl Street in Boulder.  There was free beer from Oskar Blues, appetizers from The Rio Grande mexian restaurant, vodka from Leopold Brothers mixed with Izze, styling by Urban Pearl Salon, and tunes by DJ Red Lion.  There were lots of pretty people as well, so I snapped some photos.  You can the full set on my Facebook page HERE and have a big ol’ tagging party.  :>)

And now for something completely different but exactly the same thing.  The last shots I posted super colorful and posed, while these shots are close up and arty.  I like these better.

As promised, I’m digging out some unedited content from the archives.  Back by popular demand, pictures of girls.  Hopefully soon to be followed by pictures of bikes.  It sure is nice outside.  I have 2 distinctly different flavors of photos, so I’ll break them into two different posts.  Which do you get first?  Arty and moody, or colorful and glammy?  Ok colorful and glammy it is.  Glammy, not to be confused with clammy.

It has come to my attention that there are still people who read my blog despite the fact that I haven’t been updating it with cool photos of mountain bikes and cute girls very much lately.  I’ve been soooo busy with September weddings, things have gotten away from me a bit.  And it’s hard to post fun stuff when you aren’t doing fun stuff.  Not that weddings aren’t fun, but those images go on the other blog.  But, I realize that it is not an excuse for leaving such an exceptionally un-Steve-Z post at the top of the blog for so long.  I have a plan in the works to further specialize my websites, in the future the corporate stuff is going to show up elsewhere.  In the meantime, I’ve dug up some photos of Julie that I haven’t posted yet.  And even better I have more swimsuit shots of her that I took way back in January on the beach that I have been saving for a rainy day.  I’m thinking it will probably be pouring on Tuesday.

My friends at Green Guru Gear/Ecologic Designs hosted a smokin’ fashion show and a rippin’ party to celebrate the expansion of their facilities in eco-friendly Boulder, CO. You may recall that last summer I headed out the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show with these guys in their vegetable oil powered Sport Utility Ambulance.

Green Guru makes groovy cool products out of all kinds of stuff that we normally throw away. Bike tubes, fabric from Coke bottles, climbing rope, and lots and lots of vinyl billboards. The bag you see above, the runway, the backdrop, and even the outfit you see below once clogged up the landscape with marketing slogans trying to make us buy stuff. Personally I’d rather have ladies acting as billboards trying to make me buy stuff.

The finale featured a contortionist wearing an outfit made from recycled inner tubes. Can you figure out how she has gotten her leg up there? Yeah, me neither!

I volunteered to take some photos for the Boulder International Film Festival’s KidsFringe Teen Fashion Show. Uncharacteristically for Boulder, we got rained out of our outdoor location at the Bandshell. So we had to move indoors at the last minute to Zing Salon. This wasn’t the ideal backdrop, but we made due with the small space.

I’m hoping that the kids will help me network my way into some senior portrait photo sessions. I want to do more really creative and fun photo shoots. I think that there is a big market in Boulder for high end portrait sessions where kids get really custom and artistic photos that will really make them stand out in the yearbook. I see so many senior pictures where the pro photographer takes them out and stands them next to that same tree on campus and takes a portrait. How boring! Boulder is the perfect place to find some seniors who want to do some really fun shots.

OK so I did another modeling photo shoot. I’ve been working on improving my lighting and I’ve been interested in combine mountain scenery nature shots with a fashion style of lighting. I was able to get Arianna to model for me at the last minute one morning when I awoke to great clouds (again). She did such a great job; I think she’s super photogenic. I used an assistant and 1 softbox for all these shots. I don’t have too much else to say so just enjoy the gallery!

More images after the page break!!!! (more…)

I’m imagining that I’m sitting on the beach, squishing the warm sand in between my toes. Mmmmmmmm.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Welcome to Part 2 of the Crystal Fashion Shoot. Chronicalogically this was Part 1, but never mind that! Crystal needed a photo to run in her local La Junta newspaper in an ad for Cinco de Mayo festivities. I could have taken one good shoot and have been finished . . . but that wouldn’t be my style. I have a way of going overboard when it comes to getting “1 more good shot . . . ” Things are busy busy these days, so I’m not going to jabber on, and I’ll leave you to the gallery.

There are a couple more after the break . . . (more…)

I have been on the lookout for interesting locations to shoot in Boulder.  I keep whining that Boulder doesn’t have much interesting architecture to shoot in front of.  It seems that everywhere you turn there are more brick buildings.  I was determined to find somewhere urban and edgy to shoot downtown.  In the end, I would up being somewhat foiled by the monotany, and I shot in front of bricks.  Again.  Oh well, I brought out the Strobist gear to add some hard light to give an edgy feel to some of the shots.

I was able to find a narrow alley that looked somewhat city-like. The whole scene was pretty funny, as we were getting quite a few inquizative looks from Boulderites.  People are used to seeing engagement and wedding shoots, but this fashion stuff is pretty radical for 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon in The Republic.

Check out some more  photos after the page break . . . (more…)

Here is Part 2 of the Steve and Bobbie studio experience. If you missed the story, Part 1 is HERE. I’m going to keep this one short since it’s midnight, I’m off to Europe in the morning, and I haven’t started packing. Stay tuned for European adventures!!!

In the past I haven’t taken my fashion photography very seriously. I’ve done a few shoots here and there to practice my lighting, and to have a little fun. Then I did those swimsuit shoots when I was down in Florida. Once again, those were mostly to practice in some different shooting conditions than I normally get in Colorado. Now it seems that I’m getting some recognition for my efforts, and I’ve started to get paying requests for my work.

I thought that the only purpose has been to improve my portraiture, and maybe work on some fashion bridal type shoots. I’ve been a bit reluctant to invest too much time into an area of the business where there are tons of guys who will do this stuff for free.

Personally, I find that shooting and editing these photos are no fun at all. No, I won’t do any more. Stop twisting my arm. Ow, ow, ow, quit it!

Welllllllllllll . . . mmmmm . . . OK. Maybe just one or two more bikini shoots. But only because I need the money. I don’t enjoy it at all.  Wherefore art thou cubicle?

There are a few more after the break . . .
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One of my photographer friends who I share my studio space with is Bobbie Turner. He has a picture of himself attached to the bottom of his email signature that I really didn’t like. Since I’m not one to hold back, I told him that he needed a new one! And actually I needed some of myself as well, so we planned a day in the studio to play with lighting and to each get pictures of ourselves for our own promotion.

You can check out Bobbie’s website and blog by clicking the links.

Bobbie’s cool, he used to race BMX back in the 80′s like me hee-ha!!! As a result, he has hit his head many times just like me.

We couldn’t be serious for too long in there. We were coming up with wild lighting scenarios and busting out some moves. Listing to Kid Rock does these things to you, honest. Look for the sequel to this post with my inverted aerial maneuvers coming soon!

No, I’m not back in some warm tropical locale, I’m just pretending. I still have a lot of the photos that I took on my trip to Florida yet to edit. I’m intentionally spacing out the warm weather photos. Like Homer would say, “Mmmmmmm, bikinis.” Or something like that.

I did this shoot right after watching an informational seminar on shooting in bright sunlight. Bright sun can be challenging to shoot in because it is going to create blown out highlights and dark shadows. A camera cannot record the full range of light and shadows that we can see with our eyes. So the trick to shooting out in bright sun is to plan where you want the light to blow out in the photos.

Well, yeah, you could always go under a tree in the shade somewhere. But I’ve found that pure shade can lead to photos that are kindof boring and flat.

I found that bright sun can really produce dramatic effects in your photos. I find these images intriguing where I intentionally blew out parts of the photos. Some of the other photos that I took where everything was exposed properly seem boring in comparison!

When you see Sports Illustrated type model shoots, the images are shot at the perfect light time of day, or there is a gaggle of assistants holding light blocking screens or auxiliary lighting. Sure I could have done that here, but when you are shooting weddings you don’t always get the chance to shoot when the light is perfect. A great photographer can produce solid images in any kind of light.

Another thing that I learned in some of the seminars is that I really liked a lot of the images that were blatantly (to me) manipulated in Photoshop. So I went a little crazier than normal on these photos with the color tweaking. But no, I didn’t  Photoshop her eyes to be different colors in the above photo.  That’s just how the picture came out.  We’ll see how I like my editing style three months from now. In the past when I’ve picked a strong editing style I’ve found myself changing my mind on what I like later.

More images after the page break . . . (more…)

I’m still catching up with all of the photo shoots that I did while I was down in Florida. I’m almost through with 2007, can I get a ‘Hell Yeah’? These pictures were taken at Fort Desoto which is at the very southern tip of the St. Petersburg peninsula. This day was so damn cold. It was 45 degrees and windy. Rachel was so cold that she had to go back to the car for a while and warm up. I was OK with it, because goosebumps aren’t fun to Photoshop! Luckily there were these cool old cement pieces of fort left poking out of the sand. We did a lot of shooting hiding behind them, using them as wind breaks.

I found one thing out for sure when I was in Tampa, there is not a shortage of girls who have aspiring modeling careers. A single Craigslist ad resulted in over a dozen responses. So it worked out really well for me. I was on ‘vacation’, I had free time, and my usual strong desire to practice practice practice. And what better way to practice than taking pictures of beautiful women? I knew you’d see my point.

The purpose of today’s exercise was to see what kind of images I could get without any auxiliary lighting or reflectors. My last Strobist flash style sunset beach shoot that I did gave me some great results. I was confident that I could do the exact same thing again, but how fun would that be? I’m only really enjoying myself when I’m risking failure. Is that really true? I don’t know, I’m just making stuff up to fill in the gaps between these photos.  Anyway, I wanted to work on my shooting in pure bright sunlight.

My main goal was to create some arty black and white images, as opposed to another Sports Illustrated style swimsuit shoot. I took a lot of weird pictures. I’m not sure if I like them yet. I will post them later after I take care of more important things first. In the meantime, Rachel was anxious for some pictures for booking some gigs, so I edited these ones, which are a bit more conventional. They are still pretty contrast-y though. I probably will use a reflector next time.