Last spring I met up with Ellen at her place for a casual portrait shoot. It had been some time since I had photographed her. She had told me that she access to the roof top of her apartment and as sketchy as it felt getting out the window, it was completely worth it. The sun started going down so we went back inside to this patio where we would wrap up the evening. I can’t wait to meet up with Ellen again sometime in 2024 to have our annual hangout/photoshoot!
Lily Yasuda
Lily is a friend I first met when she was a manager for a local artist grant company, then got to meet a bit more through some mutuals. A few weeks ago she made an announcement that she was going to be leaving Boise and I asked if it would be possible to take her portrait one last time.
We met downtown Boise around golden hour and we just went light hunting for some spots to have some nice soft lighting but also play with some more harsh lighting. I’ve been enjoying the idea of playing in more harsh light because in photography, especially with portraits soft lighting is key. However at times that can get boring. Knowing that I would be putting Lily into some really high key sun, I’ve always wanted to have a diffusion filter to play with. Luckily the filters came in the mail hours before meeting up, but I used a 1/4 strength Neewer diffusion filter this entire shoot. Now if you have no idea what the hell a diffusion filter is, the main idea behind it is to diffuse highlights. Essentially, soften that harsh lighting. Digital photography has a real crisp edge and when things are sharp it’s very easy to notice. I didn’t want my digital photos to be so sharp, so this softens things and kinda gives a “dreamy” or “film” look.
I enjoyed getting out and taking Lily’s portrait. She is off to Chicago in a few months so I was happy she had time to meet up for a bit and be creative with me! Best of luck with your future plans Lily!
Downtown With Katie
I’ve honestly been terrible at updating all my work on this. Its unfortunate that I give Instagram more love than my actual website. At least here I can show whatever I want and also get to show bigger images rather than those tiny little image tiles haha.
Anyways, this was a shoot I did with Katie a few summers ago. She was a roommate of one of my friends and I had seen them create some fun portrait work together so I asked if she’d be interested in working together and she happily agreed to meet up and shoot. One thing I remember about this shoot with Katie, it was so ‘effin hot. We tried to hide in the shade as much as possible because it was when Boise was being hit with its usual 1 week of pure hell heat.
One of the main ideas I wanted with this shoot was to play with some color theory and focus on using Katies hair color and pant color to compliment or contrast our locations backgrounds. I started neutral with the white wall, moving to the orange and then finishing the shoot in this alley with an awesome blue wall.
Enjoy :D
Cassidy
Before I left on my Christmas trip to Florida, I met up with Cassidy to do just an impromptu shoot. We’ve talked so many times about going out and creating but we always were so busy, the bad part about being responsible adults. Anyways, I felt as if I was neglecting my Rolleiflex and havent shot with it much lately so I brought that amazing medium format camera out and it is always enjoyable to work with that system. The reverse glass and waist level finder is a nice little challenge to shake up the usual prism, viewfinder the Pentax 67 or digital camera can do.
The weather was great and I was very happy for a sunny day. We met up at my favorite coffee shop in downtown Boise (District Coffee House) and we just went for a walk. I had spotted a few locations I had though this is gonna be super sweet. I was really looking for some direct sunlight, then use contrast light with hard shadows and highlights and then just flattering bounced light. I felt I hit all three on my checklist. I shot some digital, however Im happy with all but 2 frames that were a mistake on my part with exposure.
I know my professor would never see this, but I still always think to myself a huge thank you to Dr. Ponsford for passing this gorgeous camera on to me.
