photography – Riveted

Reflection Totems

Laura Domela — Sun, 11 Sep 2016 00:56:36 +0000

I took a bunch of these shoreline reflection photos at Klewnuggit Bay and at Farrant Island Lagoon, both anchorages off of Grenville Channel in BC. I call ’em “Reflection Totems.” They might be a little bit much all together (they’re quite detailed) but probably only one at time will fit on your computer screen.

What I Do When I’m Home

Laura Domela — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 18:42:32 +0000

One of the things I can't take with me when we're traveling is my Portland photography studio, so when we're back home for a few weeks this usually means scheduling photo shoots. I do have a compact, portable setup for doing location work, but nothing beats my nice big studio space for ease of use.

Just for something different, I thought I'd share a few photos from a couple of recent studio shoots!

This is my incredibly talented friend Storm Large (yes, that's her real name). She is an amazing singer, and you can learn more about her here and listen to her here (scroll down and watch/listen to her version of "I've Got You Under My Skin" … it's SO GOOD!) I've been shooting her publicity photos for over ten years now, but we still manage to come up with new things in the studio each time.

(Storm's hair by Tuesday Teal.)

There are several more shots of Storm on my web portfolio here if you want to see more.

These next few are of Lily and Maya. They're both super-talented young ladies and we did an all-out editorial model photo shoot last month…for fun mainly, but also to add some different looks to their portfolios.

Hair by Tuesday Teal. Makeup by Lydia Anderson

Anyway, just thought I'd share a little of my professional home life with you guys. We'll be heading back to the boat this weekend, so more on that front in the very near future!

Travel Camera Upgrade

Laura Domela — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 14:06:26 +0000

Since 2007 I've been using a Nikon D300 with an 18-200mm VR lens as my travel camera. I've got a D700 in my studio with a variety of fixed lenses, and I love that camera, but something like the D300 with one good, versatile lens seems perfect for travel…no changing lenses, and quick on the draw. Lately though, I've been noticing that the images from my Fuji x100s are way better images than the ones coming from my D300. (The Fuji is wonderful for general travel, but it has a fixed lens so it isn't ideal for capturing whales in the distance or sea lions tearing apart a salmon 200 yards away).

We decided that a new camera was pretty high on the list of upgrades/things to get before going up the Inside Passage to Alaska in May. So, meet the new travel camera:

I went with a Nikon D7100 and an 18-300mm VR lens (100 more mms than my previous lens!!). I'll be selling my D300 and 18-200 VR lens now (that's the rule, camera in, camera out).

So far, I'm very impressed with my new setup. Can't wait to try it out on some sea life!

Filet-O-Fish® and Portrait Photography

Laura Domela — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 03:17:38 +0000

Yesterday on our way to pick up some groceries in Port Townsend, we walked past a McDonald’s. In the window was a large poster advertising the Filet-O-Fish® sandwich, two bucks on Fridays. Admittedly, I’m not the target demographic for McDonald's (at all), but I was mesmerized by this photograph.

I said to Kevin “Could that food look ANY more processed!? The plastic bun, the machine-cut square of fish, the crayon-orange cheese, the marshmallow tartar sauce with perfectly placed pickle bits….”

“You know It took a photographer, a huge team of food stylists and art directors (and likely an enormous budget) to make that Filet-O-Fish® photo happen.”

As an advertisement, this felt like a total fail. I couldn’t imagine a Filet-O-Fish® looking any less appetizing than it did on this poster in the window of its maker. I assumed that the photography/money/art/food styling team would have instead aimed for creating an image depicting…well, something more appealing, organic, delicious, and less processed, plastic, precise.

On the other hand, as an editorial photo (or art!), this photograph of the Filet-O-Fish® sandwich was PERFECT. The factory-fabricated Filet-O-Fish® in this photo looks exactly like what it is. The photographer had somehow managed to even amplify the synthetic reality of the Filet-O-Fish®. You can almost picture the factory workers in white bunny suits extruding perfectly square fish filets from gleaming stainless steel industrial machinery.

It’s like when I take a portrait of a cool character with an interesting vibe and I’m able to show a heap of his personality in my zillionth of a second shutter click and subsequent print. This Filet-O-Fish® photograph oozes its processed personality perfectly.

I decided if I were the photographer, I’d be super proud of getting it “just right.”

As a professional portrait photographer, my philosophy centers on connecting with my subjects by creating a comfortable, casual environment where they feel open and at ease. I want to listen to their stories and study their mannerisms. I’d rather focus in on capturing a person’s unique characteristics than take a “pretty” or “flattering” photo that has no personality.

A few years ago I was hired to create a portrait of the (now defrocked) pastor/leader of the Mars Hill Church for the cover of a magazine. We were invited by his PR guy to attend (and photograph) his hour-long sermon before photographing him in the “green room” of his Bellevue, Washington megachurch. The original plan had been to set up in the green room during his first sermon, and then meet for his portrait quickly between his two sermons (my preference, since I was not so keen on the whole megachurch thing), so this was a bit of a departure.

His sermon began (picture spotlights and giant TV screens and a rock band opening act) and we found him to be a very engaging and charismatic speaker, but he preached values that I find highly offensive (misogyny, bigotry, and intolerance), and hearing him encourage this way of thinking so eloquently and persuasively to a stadium full of mostly young people was very disturbing.

After the sermon we set up in his green room and I felt pretty nervous as we waited for him to arrive. I find it so important to connect with the subjects I photograph, but I felt less than enthusiastic about trying to connect with this one. Turns out he was not a “connect with you” kind of guy anyway, at least not for the 15 minutes I spent with him. He was detached, dismissive, and not engaged at all (perhaps because I was a woman). There were about 20 people in the smallish room (including his whole family) and it was far too crowded and lively for me to do much but try to get the best “surface” shot of him as fast as I could (and by "surface" I mean "good photograph of this guy, but without having the normal photographer/subject rapport that I usually can cultivate during a shoot").

Back in the studio as I was editing down the work, there was one photo that stood out to me. It might not have been the most flattering portrait of him, but it felt by far the most honest. It accurately represented how he “felt” to me in person. He had a bit of a smirk. He was making was eye contact, but there didn’t seem to be any real connection with the viewer. His expression felt kinda like a shrug. This shot was definitely my favorite and felt the most genuine to me, so I submitted it to the magazine’s art director along with the other shots I thought were probably more flattering.

Guess which photo the magazine put on the cover? The Filet-O-Fish®!

Flying the Hexacopter at South Beach

Laura Domela — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:04:07 +0000

Kevin got some nice footage of the campground here at South Beach from the hexacopter yesterday. (That's our neighbor Mike on the goggles…Hi Mike!)

My Portable Photo Studio for the Airstream

Laura Domela — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:53:05 +0000

I thought I'd show you what I use as my lightweight photo gear when we're on the road. It's so nice not to have to lug around my heavy DSLR and a bag full of lenses. This is my setup:

(This stuff is on the top of our regular sized picnic table right now….the Lastolite blue carrying bag is not quite the depth? of the table, for size reference.)

I've got my Fuji x100s (16MP, 35mm fixed lens), a Lastolite collapsable background (white, folds up and collapses into that blue zipper bag) that expands to 5ft x 6ft and can easily be leaned up against the side of the trailer if I want a solid background, and a Tamrac light stand bag. In the smaller outer pocket of the bag I keep these:

Two Pocket Wizard Plus X transceivers and one YongNuo YN560-II speedlight (affectionately known as the Kung Pao strobe…learned about this one from David Hobby/Strobist…it's cheap, it's manual, and fast recycling). One Pocket Wizard goes in the hot shoe of my x100s and one connects to the speedlight with that curly cord there. The speedlight and its Pocket Wizard then get attached to the platform bracket on top of this Bogen telescoping monopod (which also has an umbrella adapter on it). The umbrella slips into its spot on the adapter and the speedlight lights the subject through it (softening the light). The speedlight is triggered by the Pocket Wizard on my x100s when I press the shutter. Super portable, huh?

So far, I'm extremely happy with the results I'm getting from this little kit!

I Know, We’re Boring When We’re Home

Laura Domela — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:54:36 +0000

We've been super busy since we got home (the one not on wheels) just before the holidays. We had a houseful of people until a week or so ago, and now business is crankin!

I just spent a few days revamping my photography portfolio site in case anyone is interested and wants to see what I've been working on.

Laura Domela Photography

There's a blog attached to it now too, which I'm going to make a good effort to update fairly often.

Feel free to comment or let me know if you find anything amiss. I'm still working on it!

We're planning another road trip to Southern California in late February or early March after we finish up a whole lot of photo shoots in the studio and a bunch of business travel. (Kevin's going to Singapore!)

Can't wait to be back on the road!

People Are Not Always What You Expect

Laura Domela — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:01:44 +0000

This is not really Airstream-related at all, but it’s an event I was just reminded of while reading this awesome story by Joel Runyon and I thought I’d share it.

Here’s some setup/background: I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico taking a photography workshop with Max Vadukul (photographer) and Jodi Peckman (Creative Director at Rolling Stone) called something like “The Collaborative Portrait” about photographers working with art directors. Before this workshop, I’d actually never heard of Max Vadukul (but I’d certainly seen his images.)

My art degree is in painting and before that I’d dabbled in photography on my own (built my own darkroom in the garage, learned things by trial and error, etc.) but it never really clicked with me until after art school when I started photographing people.

When I decided to get serious about photography, I thought I could use a little education and this was the second (amazing) workshop I took in Santa Fe (the first was with Platon).

Originally I’d started out making abstract photos…in the style of my paintings, really. Studies in texture and color and compsition. I took lots of aerials from our airplane, macro photos of peeling paint, and just general line and shape studies. They were kinda cool, but people were way more interesting to me all of a sudden.

Anyway, the workshop ended and I hopped in my rental car and drove the hour or so to the airport in Albuquerque to catch my plane back to Portland. I turned in the rental car and boarded the shuttle bus that would take me to my gate. I was the only one on the bus and for a few minutes it was just me and the shuttle bus driver: a middle-aged regular-looking, kinda frumpy balding guy with khakis and scuffed shoes and a light blue short-sleeved shirt driving an airport shuttle bus.

Shuttle bus driver: Welcome aboard. You here on business or pleasure?

Me: A little of both. I just finished a workshop in Santa Fe.

Shuttle bus driver: Oh yeah? You’re a photographer then. What was the workshop?

The city of Santa Fe automatically equals photography?

Me: It was called “The Collaborative Portrait” with Max Vadukul and Jodi Peckman.

Shuttle bus driver: Max Vadukul…yeah I saw some of his work in Interview Magazine recently. And Rolling Stone…cool! So what kind of photography do you do?

How did this guy know (a) who Max Vadukul was and (b) that he shot for Interview Magazine?

Me: Well, I started as a painter, and only recently have started photographing people…portraiture, bands, stuff like that.

Shuttle bus driver: Are you finding that your painting background informs your photography?

Me (surprised, since I’d been thinking about this exact subject recently): Yes, actually, it really does.

Shuttle bus driver: Do you take any other kinds of photographs?

Me: I do some abstracts, and aerials.

Shuttle bus driver: Nice. Do you fly? Do you have your own plane?

Me: Yes, my husband and I are both pilots and we have a small plane.

Shuttle bus driver: What kind of plane is it?

Me: It’s a Cirrus. SR-22 Turbo.

Shuttle bus driver: Oh, nice. Do you have the Garmin or the Avidyne stack in that?

Here’s where it really crossed the line for me. It’s like this guy was in my head. Holy hell. How did he know all those separate things that were connected in my life? How did he know which questions to ask? It was super cool and super weird and I loved him.

Me: Um…..we have….the….Avidyne stack….

WTF??? How did he know there were two options for the avionics in this plane? The plane no one who asks “What kind of plane do you guys have?” has ever heard of.

More people boarded the bus and he dropped us all at the airport and I wished him goodbye and a nice day and thanked him for the ride. And everything.

Airstream Photo Studio (Stub Stewart)

Laura Domela — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:42:24 +0000

We busted out the portable photo studio yesterday for some photo fun. Thought I'd show you a few of the portraits we made. (I really need to do this more often.)

Airstream Photo Studio (Bodega Bay, CA)

Laura Domela — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 14:09:00 +0000

We did some portraits today in the Airstream photo studio of new friends Dave and Kelly. They camped out next to us here at Porto Bodega Marina.