DCHU redux
These opportunities don’t come too often, but when they do, I remind myself to savor it. It’s these moments, when I’m in front of the camera rather than behind it, that define me as a photographer.
Chef Gusteau from Ratatouille proclaimed, “Anyone can cook.” By extension, I firmly hold that anyone can shoot. The far more difficult task, though, is how well one can teach and that was the subject of this shoot.
The concept of this shoot was inspired by an idea Jessica had and her fascination with steampunk fashion. I’ll admit, I was rather naive when she mentioned the type of shoot she wanted to do. After a bit of research, I realized.... I have absolutely nothing in my wardrobe that is remotely steampunk. Mentally sorting through my closet, I whipped together anything with a semblance of being anachronistic, ordered a pair of aviator goggles (if you look closely, you’ll know where they’re from) and set off on the shoot.
Learning the technical aspects of shooting with an SLR are very accessible. There are a plethora of resources that can teach you how to use your camera. However, resources to teach you how to harness your creative vision is a bit more lacking. In teaching Jessica how I go about a photoshoot, I wanted to highlight the fundamentals that make great photos: varied lighting, varied perspectives, varied poses. The sun was varying the lighting, Jessica was varying the perspectives and I was varying my poses. What you see is an amalgamation of those efforts.
They say that you really have a firm grasp on a subject when you’re able to teach it to another person. Not perfect in execution but I satisfactorily managed to get my points across. I said six months ago that this year was going to be the evolution of DCHU. Well, this is me, evolving.
*This is a big thanks to Jessica for being such a wonderful photographer, someone I get the privilege of seeing grow as an artist each and every day. It’s nice being photographed for once :)
Location: Cerritos railroad tracks and library
Gear: Canon XSi, 50 1.4
DCHU Photography
