Light fall off

Years ago I heard Robert Farber say if he could only choice one background to work with he would choice a white. He explained how one could turn the white background into a black background by using light fall off. At the time it went way over my head not understand light but it has always suck wit me.

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to play with light fall off in my home. Here is what came of my playing.

The image I set out for, worked.

A few images before I worked them and converted them to B&W to show the light fall off in the background. Mr. Miles is Spiderman here ;) I think I could power up the lights a bit more and take care of the rail and windows.

My background shot with natural light.

Forgive my crude drawing but this was my set up.

Young Love, Behind the Image

Young Love, Behind the Image

On PFN to my surprise I won the weekly submission contest “what defines you“ with my signature image on my blog. I thought I would share the story behind this image. This image was take Nov of 2002 atop a building in NYC on a trip at changed my life. Without getting into too many details, this trip defined me as the person I am today.






I was hire by Gary Dana of the Long Island Cabrera to shoot the annual winter dinner show, I was not paid but I received a paid trip to NYC for six days. Mr. Dana was a gracious host. I am not sure if he ever know how that week changed my life.

I was in a bad marriage at the time, events during this trip showed me things were not going to change but only get worse. Personally my world was falling apart around me. I meet up with a few other outstanding photographers while in NYC . Four of us walked the city shooting, sharing our dreams. Phil Hidden hosted a shootout with a few paid models in a studio on the west side. It was during this shoot I captured the image I now call young love that welcomes you to my blog.

Many people do not even notice the young man in the upper right hand corner, the man who put the sparkle in the young ladies eye. Metaphorically the man is my future the young lady is my life. Comparable to a young couple in love, unknowing what the next day will bring, greeting the dawn with great hopes.

This image was the birth of my life as I know it now. Wide eyed from NYC I looking into the future unknowing what was going to happen, plus new found confidence from the trip I trudged ahead in my life. Unidentified dreams lay ahead of me, a pat I am not too sure of it’s end. A plethora of ideas and a camera in hand to my new day I go.

On the technical side of this image, I don't remember much. Shot on Polapan film with an EOS 1.