Photo Challenge Week 6: Paparazzi

Ron Galella has absolutely made an impact in the paparazzi world. His images are raw. He usually shoots in film with on camera flash. His work is mostly done in black and white. My favorite photos by him are the ones where his subjects are running away, putting their hand out, or just avoiding him all together. These are my favorite because the photo allows me to look deeper. I look for what catches my eye, and also look for the story.

I decided to mimic Ron Galella style. I set my camera to black and white. I also put a Canon 580 Flash on to my camera. I then told my best friend, Kimberly McClure, to model for me. I asked her to wear something that looks high class. She wore a pea coat, a nice blouse, slacks, and heels. Even though Kimberly is not a famous celebrity, her wardrobe and appearance is. I made sure that her wardrobe was different tones because I was shooting in black and white. After wardrobe was discussed, I paired her up with my dog, Zoey. Zoey did not need much direction.

When we were ready to start shooting, I gave Kimberly her direction. I just told her to walk down the sidewalk and block your face with the umbrella. I also told her to pretend I was the annoying paparazzo, trying to get a photo. Then Ironically, I got the shot!

EOC Week 6: Ron Galella

Ron Galella is a paparazzo photographer with a great reputation. “[He] is clearly willing to take great risks to get the perfect shot. As a result, he has endured two highly publicized court battles with Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, a broken jaw at the hands of Marlon Brando, and a serious beating by Richard Burton’s bodyguards before being jailed in Cuernavaca, Mexico.” (http://www.rongalella.com/about-ron.html). I personally do not like his photography methods. I feel as if he is a stalker with a camera at hand. He invades people’s lives and shares his photos with the whole world. If I was the subject of his photos, I also would be very upset. Ron Galella constantly in my face with a camera is not a way I would like to live my life.

On the other hand, the subjects that he is shooting are famous people; famous people who should know that they are, and will always be in the public eye. Also, (even though I do not like this type of work) Ron Galella has made a name for him.

Ron's body of work exhibited at museums and galleries throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in both New York and San Francisco, the Tate Modern in London, and the Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography in Berlin. Ron's passion for photojournalism has also given rise to many highly acclaimed books including Disco Years (PowerHouse, 2009), which was honored as Best Photography Book of 2006 by The New York Times, and Smash His Camera, a documentary of his life and career by Oscar-winning director, Leon Gast (When We Were Kings, 1996), which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festivaland received the Grand Jury Award for Directing in the U.S. Documentary category. (http://www.rongalella.com/about-ron.html)

The work that I have seen by Ron Galella is a fine art feel to them. His photos are not of celebrities coming out of the car with no panties on, it is more than that. My favorite one is of Jackie O riding her bike with her son, or the one with the woman walking into a building with an umbrella covering her face. Even though these celebrities try to hide their face or try to avoid him, their characteristics show through the photos.

As I reflect on what I have just blogged, I realize that I am on both sides of liking/disliking Ron Galella. To clarify, I respect Ron Galella on doing what he is passionate for. If being a paparazzo keeps him smiling and enjoying life, the so be it. However for me, I could not see myself doing what he does for a career.

Photo Challenge Week 5: Paint with Light

This week’s photo challenge is paint with light. I have never successfully painted with light before. So this time around, I wanted to do my best.

I was thinking of trying this photo challenge by myself. However, I felt that maybe that way would be more difficult. So, I asked my brother to, Kevin Alberto, to assist me. My brother owns these gloves with lights on the fingertips. Kevin waved his hands around which eventually would create shapes from the lights.

The next thing I did was the set up. Kevin and I went to the garage because the garage is the darkest room in the house. I grabbed a tripod for my camera. The reason for the tripod is because the shutter speed is going to be a long one, and I did not want my camera to shake during the shoot.

After I set the tripod and camera up, I set my settings. I used the ISO of 100, and for the shutter speed, I tried 1.6 seconds all the way to 10 seconds. I found the 5 seconds worked the best. The f-stop was at 5.0 because I did not want to see the background.

Then, I just told Kevin to have fun with it. The photos that are up above are my favorites. The first one has that eerie look to it; as if it’s a spirit or a ghost. The other two, the heart and the peace sign, are also my favorite because of how crisp the lines are and the meaning behind those symbols.

EOC Week 5: Copyright Process for Photographers

“Copyright infringement is not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when” (Harrington John, Best Business Practices for Photographers, pg 321).  People steal images and it may be yours.  It is so easy to get access to photos (especially if it is on the web already, so being prepared for the ‘unexpected’ is very crucial to photographers.  After taking a photograph, you are establishing the point of creation, which also means you have the ownership once the photograph is taken.  However, to make it official you must but the little c with the circle, your name, and the date.  For example, © COPYRIGHT 2011 KRISTINE ALBERTO, is the format I use to copyright my photographs.  There are many programs that have a section to embed the copyright information into your metadata.  Another way to make it official is to create a narrative about the photograph.  I did not know about this way until recently, and all that is needed is a small paragraph.  And in this small narrative paragraph it should include information about when you did the photograph, who modeled in the photograph, who was involved with the photograph, where the photograph was taken, the who, what, when, where, and how; and also all the other little details about the photograph.  By doing this, it proves that you are the owner of this photograph and that you created it.  

Photo Challenge Week 4: Wedding Photography

I have never shot a wedding, as of yet. I am going to shoot my first wedding February 19, 2011! I am really excited for this because one it is my old high school friend’s wedding, and two because I am going to do my first wedding! I have done some research and found that a lot of wedding photographers do macro shots of the wedding accessories; for example, the take macro shots of the wedding cakes, rings, invitations, centerpieces, and so much more. Therefore, with this assignment I decided to think of it as a practice run. I went to my mother’s room and searched through her jewelry. Since both my parents have lost their rings constantly, and buy new ones (granted they get it from the pawn shop or at Avon) I had a few to choose from. My dad only had a gold ring, and my mother had a silver ring with lots of diamond (or should I say rhinestones!). Then I went into my prop closet and found some fake flowers to put in the background, and in my room I found my bible that my grandmother gave me. I composed this shot in various ways. I found it difficult to showcase both rings properly. The rings kept on falling, the flowers were just too big, and the word ‘Holy Bible’ was not lining up right. Then finally I found a great composition, and just kept on shooting with my macro lens. I felt like I was shooting a product shot. In actuality, I was. I was representing and/or selling the love between two people. I felt that I needed to make the photograph to pop more. Therefore I went into Photoshop to play with the colors and cropped it into a square. I lost the 'Holy Bible', however I feel that the 'Holy Bible' wasn't too important to this shot. The importance to this shot is the rings. The bond between the newly weds. I feel that I have successfully accomplished the photo challenge! I did a great job for my practice run/assignment!

BOC Week 5: Competitive Analysis

I searched through Google for 'Las Vegas Portrait Photographers' When I look for the four websites to analize, I looked how they designed their website and what photographs or on there.  The reason is because the website and what photos they chose to put on the Internet is a representation of who they are personally and as a business.   

The photography website that I enjoyed the most was

Kelsey Anderson Photography http://www.kelseyandersonphotography.com/index.html#/home/).  Once I clicked on her link, it directed me to the home page; very clean and organized.  The white background really made me focus on her photographs.  The links to her galleries, contact, investment, blog, and such were easy to find.  The design of her page is simple and provided that 'down to earth' feeling to it.  What I also love about her site is that she included a Kelsey link.  She talked about her likes and her personal life.  I definitely felt like I had a really good representation of her through her website.  I also loved her photos.  It's a style that I would love to shoot my portraits.  I like how she separated them from senior portraits, love, and boudoir; very clean.  I liked how the people look 'real' (like the liquefy tool is nonexistent); I feel if it's a portrait there should be minimal post work.  She is obviously talented with using the overexposed or the sun glare effect.   

The other three I found are three strong photography businesses in Las Vegas.  However, they have some weaknesses. 

Red Rock Studios (http://www.redrockstudioslv.com/) has some great photographs.  The wedding photographs are beautiful.  However, the website was a little confusing.  I had to click on the portraits link to find the pricings.  I believe that every link should be on the homepage to be more convenient and user friendly.  Also, the toggles for the photographs to each link are different.  And the portraits link is the only one that has music.  I learned that consistency is very important to a site, and this link lacks that. 

TNG Photo (http://www.tngphoto.com/), has some great work.  He has a photo with 15 plus people in it, which is a hard thing to do.  To light 15 plus people and provide a good quality photo, is a difficult task; and he accomplished it very well.  However, his site is more of a glamour site.  TNG Photography lacks the pricing; if there is one I could not find it.  I only found a link to contact him.  I also feel that shooting different ethnicity is important.  He only has presented photographs of Caucasian families.  There is nothing wrong about that, however showing that you shoot different ethnicities might market yourself a bit more.  Also, shooting different skin colors means different lighting schemes.  Overall his website is good, but does not show that he is well rounded.  

Wayne Wallace Photography (http://waynewallace.com/photoblog/) was some good photographs.  However, I feel that he could have put more of his work on his site.  On each category there is only four photographs.  I feel like he needs more photographs to showcase himself.  Also, I could not find any pricing.  Therefore his site is more of a glamour site, than a business site. 

EOC Week 4: Writing a Contract

Writing a contract for your client(s) is an important step before you do an assignment. It will protect you and set everything in stone. It also can generate revenues for you. However, each contract may be different. A contract for an editorial client can be different for an event job. If a client comes to me and asks me to shoot a birthday party for them and is also willing to pay me $500, a contract is in need. Some of the factors I would include in this contract are the signatures and circumstances if there is a change to the job.


According to Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington, all contracts must have my signature and the client’s signature. The reason of signatures is due to protection for the client and me.  A contract is to put everything on paper; so nothing is a surprise or someone else claiming they are pulling a fast one.  Therefore the placing of the signatures is very important; “the assigning client’s signature appears on the bottom of page two of our contract and above the signature are all of the terms and conditions”.  Therefore, if a client says ‘I do not remember this on the client’, you can show your signed contract and say ‘you signed at the bottom indicating you have read the contract’.  Signatures are a very important detail to have in a contract.

Another element I would include would be an agreement for the circumstances if there is a change to the job.  The client in this situation wants me to shoot a birthday party. If the clients want me to photograph more than a party it would cost more.  If the clients wants more prints than he agreed upon would cost more.  If the party goes longer than what is on my contract, then I can charge more.  However the only way I can charge more like this is because of the contract.  The contract should be in precise detail.  That way the client cannot attempt to pull a fast one, and I have a better chance to earn extra money.