The Right Kind of Light

Spring is here to stay, and so is wedding season. I've chosen to do just several weddings per year, but to exert care and planning for each. And because of that, I thoroughly enjoy every one I do. Staying creative with every successive wedding is key, and I could not do so without the team of photographers I converse with almost every day over email. Shooting next to guys like Minnow Park, Edmond H Lee, and Tim Kang has been indispensible in developing my own photographic approach and technique.

Meet the LOWEL ID-LIGHT, a cute little 100W dimmable tungsten halogen lamp which uses an Osram H1 bulb, which you might commonly find in any european automobile. I picked this up last week at Adorama along with a portable Bescor battery. Boom. Instant on-location modelling lamp, which wedding photographers have been using for ages to throw just enough light on a subject in a dark reception hall for you to forgo the strobe for a moment, swap on a prime lens, and shoot away. That's right. Take your camera off your bracket, pocket the speedlight, and drop your second body. Time to get creative and lightweight. (Note: you'll need an assistant to follow you with the lamp, sorry, not so lightweight for him/her)

I love shooting with natural/available light. It is my natural style, even though I've been experimenting lately with dusk photography and lots of speedlights on stands. However, not all moments call for hot-flashing strobes, especially with certain special moments during a wedding. With the ID-LIGHT, I'm able to cast a balanced amount of warm tungsten light in real-time without shocking the pants off a subject, especially if you're going in close to capture some journalistic situations. Just a little bit of light on a subject goes a long way, because it allows me to burn in any ambient light to accentuate the surroundings of an otherwise dark environment. Ever try to shoot a photo of your friend in a dark room with a flash? Your first few tries will probably yield white faces in black caves. Turn off the flash, up the ISO, and you'll probably get something better, but you're also inviting increased graininess and motion blur. With a modelling lamp (or any speedlight/strobe with careful attention to exposure), you can dial in the right kind of light to bring your subject to the same ambient level as the rest of the space. Shoot it. You'll get a balanced shot right out of the camera.

Here are some shots straight off my camera of my first use of the LOWEL ID-LIGHT this past weekend at a wonderful wedding. Props to my second photographer, Justin Ong, for having the guns to hold the lamp up high and track my movements as I captured their first dance together. Congratulations Aditei & Elizabeth!

BLOC PARTY

When I'm road raging, there's no other music that can really accompany my momentary world view than Bloc Party. The group is a time-capsule of sorts, reviving punk from the likes of Joy Division (now New Order) and The Cure mixed in with modern edges of Radiohead, and some drum&bass influences. Bottom line - get out of my way.

I had the pleasure of seeing them play in NY last April at Terminal 5 and was blown away by their skill. If you haven't heard the drummer on their albums and his nearly impossible beats, their live sets are played verbatim - endlessly and tirelessly. He is a complete machine.

In band photography, harnessing dramatic stage lighting is huge in creating images that speak loudly. One thing difficult about photographing music is the attempt to represent something with an incongruent set of tools - like trying to convey a sun setting on the ocean with just the sound of water and seagulls.

This set of images is a tribute to my favorite Bloc Party album - Silent Alarm. Two words describe much. Enjoy.