My blog will cover some of the aspects of photography that I enjoy. Please enjoy the images and commentary I post.
El Alacran
El Alacran was easy for me to shoot. But not with a price! All of these Loteria images I am producing have a price of one sort of another. My friend Warren Savary and fellow photographer has given me great insight into the world of scorpions. For years I have watched in wonder at the images he can produce of scorpions. I purchased this scorpion at the East Bay Vivarium in Berkeley, California. I paid about $25 for this Arizona Desert Hair Scorpion (Hadrurus arizonae). My kids were thrilled at having this animal as a pet after I was done with it.
The shot was done in my studio using an Alien Bees ring flash on white paper and three Alien Bees 800s to get rid of any shadows. I used the Canon 5D MKII and a Canon 50 mm Macro lens for this image. However, in the process of getting the scorpion in the position like the original Loteria image, I was stung. And the true price I paid for this image, which felt like a bee sting. After I kept it for about 5 months and it ate nothing, gave birth to its young and then ate them, soon thereafter it died.
La Dama
The first image I did was La Dama. It took months to find the outfit in the color and style. I gave up at thrift stores and was looking for big Department Stores for sales. One day at Macy's this business suit was for sale as the exact match to what I wanted to do. As for the model, I had my best friends cousin lined up as the model. Veronica agreed and then into my studio and with post photoshop work the shot was done.
Loteria
When I was a child my father enjoyed Loteria. He was very happy to show his children how he played the game as a child. I played it many times and was always enamored of the images. As a photographer I always wanted to do my own version with a photo realistic approach. Many have tried to photograph Loteria, but to do all 54 images as close to the real game in a photo realistic manner is difficult, even for an accomplished artist. My progress on this major project can be seen here - http://www.lasphotos.com/loteria I have a new appreciation for Loteria and have gone to great lengths to find the props and items in the game, making many of my own. This project will take all my artistic and photographic skills to accomplish.
For example, El Paragus was a technically difficult image to produce. The umbrella is under simulated rain using real water drops. The planning took several weeks. The 14 foot 1/2" copper pipe was drilled with over 200 hotles and had water running in it. The shot used 7 strobes and a complex set up to hang the backdrop and umbrella. It took me over four hours to set this shot up. And I shot from late afternoon until dusk, to get the perfect image. Here is the set up:
And the final image after some work in Photoshop:
Please visit my blog to see my progress.