Lynn Barr's Amazing Choreography

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of photographing the amazing choreography of Lynn Barr and her fantastic dance troupe. Lynn had put together a series of pieces around the theme of walls, which she called (in Italian) "Muri" Walls. She has an outstanding capacity put forth ideas in gestural, iconic, condensed form combining dance and theater, featuring both dance pieces and spoken skits. One of the elements that makes her work so appealing to me as a photographer is her use of stationery lighting, rather than spotlights that follow her dancers. Her lighting creates a more sculptural effect, as the dancers are illuminated from the side and rear, in addition to the front. She also uses unconventional techniques, such as dancing with flashlights (subject: torture), blue backlit screens, and emphasizing the huge shadows behind the dancers. Check out her work at www.lynnbarr.com.

Mermaid Parade, Coney Island, June 19, 2010

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THE MERMAID PARADE in Coney Island on the Saturday closest to the start of summer, is a grand festival of joy in the body, in the sun, in friendship and good feeling. It draws crush crowds along the main drag of Coney Island from 2 to 4:30 pm, and ends up with most of the crowd moving up to the boardwalk and beach. There's a ribbon cutting ceremony featuring the celebrity king of the parade, who was Lou Reed this year, officially opening the summer season.
But the outstanding draw of the parade is the imagination of the home-made costumes (or lack thereof) by the marchers. All manner of sea creature is represented, with a definite tilt towards mermaids in all their sexiness, including a reliable cohort of pirates. There's always a political edge to the parade, which in years past has favored the preservation of Coney Island as a wide open playground. This year, however, the issue was much more serious: the BP oil spill. A number of people besmirched their costumes with oil-looking stains, and many carried signs reproaching BP for its arrogant carelessness.
Here's a selection of photos from the parade. You can find a more complete selection at www.printroom.com/pro/joelsimpsonphoto, where you can also order prints. And my collection from last year (when it rained) is still up.

After Dark, Minneapolis—Photo Super-Seminar

I just returned from After Dark, a fabulous three-day photographic event in Minneapolis, run by master photographer Dave Junion, from Wausau, Wisconsin (the first photo). Junion assembles 30 photographic experts, the mentors, and attracted 200 participants, all professional photographers, for three days of intensive learning, shooting, and discussing, using tons of high-end equipment supplied by Larsen lighting and Canon—which lends its cameras and lenses. The whole thing takes place at the Hyatt, Minneapolis, which offers 38,000 square feet in two humongous halls, one for seminars and seated demonstrations, the other containing nine complete photo studios for hands-on work. The participants are encouraged to practice what they learn on their own, and can even borrow equipment to take outside "after dark," using the streets, parks and alleyways of Minneapolis as the setting. There was a lot of emphasis placed on outdoor portraits with various types of lighting, above all off-camera flash, which was especially useful in photographing high school seniors and engagement couples. Other topics included pet and maternity photography, high-end weddings, boudoir photography, creating realistic-looking environments (like a beach) in the studio, children, families, posing, sales, and social media marketing.
The outstanding quality of the event was the accessibility of the mentors. Everyone was extremely friendly and approachable and seemed as though they couldn't do enough to help. It was wonderful having access to such productive and successful minds in this field. I came away inspired, feeling I had learned things that would save me enormous amounts of time and effort, but also that I could repeat the whole thing and learn an entirely different body of knowledge. There's much more than any one person can take in. Many participants attend more than one of them.
I may end up helping Dave to bring the program to New York. He's already done it in Miami, Nashville and Austin and plans them for Portland, Oregon, September 12-15 and New Orleans, November 7-10. For further information go to afterdarkedu.com.

More on the BBG's Tulips

Since I can only show five images at a time, here is the real meat of the tulip glories. Both sides of the flower bed was lined with photographers, speaking a wide range of languages. Note the searing beauty of the tiger tulips in their death throes.

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens: NYC's Horticultural Gem

I try to make it over the to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens in early spring before the leaves grow larger than the cherry blossoms. In years past the last week in April was plenty of time—even up until May 1. But a visit this past Saturday turned out to be about a week late! After a magnificent entrance, with wisteria in full bloom on the trellis paths perfuming the air, passing the spectrum of pansies, and looking over the lilac grove, I discovered that the cherry blossoms over the Japanese pond were all but gone, and the leaves on the other cherry trees were already quite large. The petals were snowing down. The magnolias were also finished and the daffodils were practically all gone. The tulips, however, the pride of the gardens, were in full bloom for the most part, which is breathtaking. Only the tiger tulips, those with the rough edges, were nearing their end, but they are at their most spectacular at this moment, with petals splayed and shapes contorted into floral death agonies, a riot of form.
The visit was certainly satisfying, but we had missed the peak. Spring had come at least two weeks earlier than two years ago—a very rapid change indeed.

PHOTO-TIP: Photographing in direct sunlight

When you take your camera out on a sunny day in the country (or wherever), have you ever noticed that pictures of people tend to turn out to be disappointing? People are squinting into the sun and shadows cast by noses and under eyes are too deep. Professional photographers know that direct sunlight is the least flattering light source for people. A small light source like the sun casts harsh shadows, and its intensity makes people squint. Cloudy days are much more flattering, and we try to recreate those conditions with big soft boxes in our studios. Yet there are still ways to make the best of sunny days.

1. Get into some shade. This may be the easiest, if shade is available. The the sky is your light source, which is much softer. Just be aware that your photos may have a bluish cast to them from the sky. This will be even more true after the sun goes down, when the only light around is very very blue. Sometimes a reflector will help here—and this can be anything: a piece of newspaper, someone holding a towel, anything bright.

2. Bring your subjects near a source of reflected light—such as a building, a bright rock, anything painted in a light color, or even a bush of bright colored flowers, like forsythia. Then photograph them with this light and their faces away from the sun. This is a trick I learned from New Hampshire photographer Steve Bedell. He says he doesn't use reflectors when he uses this method.

3. Finally, if all else fails, photograph your subjects against the sun, with someone's head blocking the sun. Be sure to expose for the face and not the surrounding sky. This may require you to get into exposure compensation and add as much as two stops to your exposure. All point-and-shoots have exposure compensation, but you usually have to get there through the menu. Read your manual and find out how to do it. It can be very valuable and has many applications. You'll completely blow out the sky, which will turn up white, even if it's blue, but you'll get a relaxed, non-squinting face. The accompanying example combines #s 2 and 3, and the light source was a forsythia bush in Central Park.

Putnam Manor Dinner Dance

After an especially wet winter, my neighborhood association, the Putnam Manor Civic Association, held its annual dinner dance at the gorgeous Solar do Minho Portuguese restaurant in Roselle Park, April 17, 2010. I was the official photographer, but also a neighbor. What a fun group! The people who didn't mind looking silly clearly had the most fun, and the food was delicious. It started off with a Portuguese paella, some fried seafood cakes and calamari, salad or soup, then several main courses, including a chicken français, and a wonderfully tender beef in a cream sauce. Desert was flan/creme caramel in two forms: as a ring mold, and as exquisite short dough cups. One needed self-control to keep from eating five of them. Leo de Oca and I provided photo/video evocations of the beauties of our neighborhood, Leo with a sensitive spring tour, and mine was a four-season account that featured an ice storm, a large hawk in my back yard, the Christmas decorations in the snow, and this exuberant early spring. We had a great live band during dinner and a skilled DJ on his laptop for the dancing. Here's a dynamic slide show that attempts to capture the spirit of the evening.