Ah since I have so much free time here is Personal Project Number 2

29 Sep 2011 admin In G+ Posts

Behind the Photo – The Real Story

So I see posts with great shots, and not one description…. I want more…. I want to know what happened on that day, or take a photo that you never thought you would ever have captured and tell us about it…..you know the hiked uphill, barefoot, 30 miles, naked in snow…

Did you fall down the cliff? Did the bear eat your camera? Did the model flip you off? (Happens to me all the time)

There are two main perspectives I use when i pick my favorite photos, one is that of the viewer not knowing any of the back story of the image and the other is the story and the things I remember when I was taking the shot. Many of my favorite shots are not technically perfect or even that great but they bring back memories of things that are very special times in my life….

I want to hear about your best captures that you like and the story about why….

Post them up……Put them on your profile and post a link here….. It will tell us all more about the real you and why you do what you do…..

Here is mine…

So the shot below of the insanely smokin +Jennifer Korbin (Who is not on G+) was one of the first shots I ever took of a real professional model… but there is so much more to this photo….

I knew nothing about taking photos of people, nothing about lighting, I just had this great idea that I wanted to do a Motorcycle calender for a internet site I run called www.rrzone.com – bunch of cool motorcyclists all riding the same type of bike…

How hard could photography really be…… hello wake up call…..

This photo finds me standing behind one of the best glamour shooters I have met in the industry: +mark daughn oh and we are in Belize, with about 80 other people on this insane Mystique Magazine Model Safari that I thought – Hey what a great way to learn about Glamour photography, fly to a island in the middle of nowhere with 20 hot models and 80 plus crazies and 3 pro photographers for 14 days of insanity….

Well it was just that… and that trip changed my career… After the first 2 days there was a very clear difference between fans and people who wanted to learn photography… My business partner at the time and I wanted to learn and were willing to work and mark put us to work…14 hours a day for 12 days… assisting and doing some shooting on the side… I learned from two of the best Mark Daughn and Bill Melton (Wild Bill). Sadly Bill is not around any longer so this photo encompasses those good times also….it collects 14 days of doing things I would never have done 2 weeks before the trip, one of them is photography and the other is major travel. It was a hair up my butt experience and it clearly shows that people need to make those in their lives.

So to this actual shot.. there I was, new Nikon D100 and 70/200 in my hand shooting over Mark's shoulder and trying to snap the shot at the same time he was so I could use his flash setup…… Hey I was new…. there are no rules when you are new….

So this shot with a pile of clean up is easily still one of the shots I look at and then sit back and remember all the stories I will never tell my kids….. (Ok its not like that – but it was a fun time had by a handful of people that are still friends to this day)

I thought it also important to show the then and now… Left id the original image I took and the right is how I reprocessed this shot about an hour ago…

It shows and interesting change in many aspects of what and how I shoot… and hopefully it gives many of you the knowledge that not every shot is ever perfect….just keep shooting and ask a lot of questions here… there is a pile of talent here very willing to help….

Also to add to this… I later got to work with Jennifer again (Like the below shot shooing over someone shoulder is working with someone) and she is truly a professional… and still very active today and still well, drop dead gorgeous – you can find her over at www.jenniferkorbin.com Maybe we can convince her to sign onto G+

Comments: 30

  1. Jason Hargrove 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    I agree! Tell the story. I'm doing that more.

  2. Ian Ginzberg 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    Great processing!

  3. Hugo Paniagua 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    She doesn´t look any older

  4. Serge Yurovsky 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    great thoughts. keep it up 😉

  5. Fábio Pereira 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    Very good one!!

  6. Brent Burzycki 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Jason Hargrove I think it seems very rare to hear the photographers real story… we really need to promote that.. its not just about the client etc…

    +Kev Isabeth Thanks… she is that……

  7. Jason Hargrove 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Brent Burzycki if the client is progressive they see the beauty in showing the behind the scenes. I had the pleasure of being Unit Stills Photographer on a film shoot recently and the traffic we drove on shots you'd traditionally never see opened their eyes. It's a changing world 🙂

  8. Gregory E. Keys 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    Time is a wonderful thing. I have found going back just a year while cleaning up my LR catalog, how much my perspective has changed.

  9. Brent Burzycki 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Ian Ginzberg Thanks

    +get drumbi thanks

    +Hugo Paniagua That saying Beauty is ageless… oh nevermind 🙂 I tried to use the new Nik filter to make people age – but it says it does not work on gorgeous models

    +Fábio Pereira thanks..

    +Serge Yurovsky hey where have you been? Not seen you around here…

    Post up your stories… I know you all have them……..
    And most will be better than this…. especially if the Landscape guys start talking about the bear encounters…. Hey +Colby Brown anything tried to eat you…..

  10. Marc Jansen 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    I absolutely love the idea of getting the back-story on a photo, especially one that you deem to be a personal favorite!

    Thanks so much for sharing!

  11. Brent Burzycki 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    +shane holsclaw thanks Shane….

    +Gregory E. Keys it is a great way to learn… I think in many cases it is why i keep almost everything I shoot..

    +Jason Hargrove It is very true… outside the box thinking….

  12. Matt Vincent 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    What a great story! I love the line…

    "Hey I was new…. there are no rules when you are new…."

    Maybe because I'm new, I don't know. 🙂

  13. Gabriele Castelli 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    Great story!
    Now I understand why this shot is so important for you. You had a great experience, the kind I wish I could have one day or another, but I think it will be for the next life.

  14. Jeff Wendorff 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Brent Burzycki I often tell people to go back and check their "photography attic". There are inevitably treasures that your new eye or your new software can transform from trash to treasure.

    Thanks for this perfect lesson!

  15. Prashanth Naik 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    Awesome.. I have a small story here but its not well composed : https://plus.google.com/103473863573453096651/posts/MDndYXmYMBg and it isn't as great as yours. Well, I am new to writing stories 🙂 Learnt few tips from you just now. Thanks..!!

  16. Brent Burzycki 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Prashanth Naik thanks for sharing that…. that is exactally what I am talking about……

    +Jeff Wendorff I agree – thou sometimes and take it from me – some things need to stay in the attic.. 🙂

    +Matt Vincent Matt – you seem to be able to relate… I knew nothing… i did not even know what I needed to know.. F Stop? Aperture? Sunscreen? What do you mean we cannot drink the water?

  17. Vincent Johnson 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    I agree. At the very least tell me where the hell you took the photo, or what I'm looking at. Nothing worse than going, yeah that's cool, but what the hell is it?

  18. Ulrich Baer 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    i assume most know, but some not – it is the same picture, with a little photoshoping …

  19. Brent Burzycki 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Ulrich Baer yes it is just that….. thou recropped and redone with 7 years of learning…

    +Vincent Johnson I agree with that… but I think this place is different than most sharing sites.. we all seem to want more details and info and not just a load of photos…. I know I do….

  20. Natalie Cespedes 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    This is awesome.. pls continue sharing more stories for the benefit of us newbies out there 🙂

  21. Brent Burzycki 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Natalie Cespedes happily – but you know – newbies have great stories also….

  22. Matt Vincent 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Brent Burzycki What is it.. ignorance is bliss 😀 It seems that decision you made was a life changer!

  23. Brent Burzycki 29 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Matt Vincent Only if I was to make money and do it full time.. but then again my life still changed….. sadly I still need to work 2 full time jobs to pay the bills….

  24. Goes to show you should never delete your photos that you think can't make the cut, you may still be able to learn or reprocess them later down the road with new knowledge in hand.

  25. Brent Burzycki 30 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Kev Isabeth +Paul Gill thanks… Paul I guess we need to find inspiration, I think as I have hobbled along with my photography I end up needing more and more inspiration….

  26. Shireen Gastineau 30 Sep 2011 Reply

    +Brent Burzycki– how do you share a link? I posted the pic and story, how to link it back to here? lol

  27. Brent Burzycki 30 Sep 2011 Reply

    If you click on the date of the post it will open the post only with a hard link, then you can copy and paste that link here……..

  28. +Brent Burzycki Ok, thanks :). Here's goes,,Let me know if that works or not….,https://plus.google.com/100029952441889055629/posts/7XYPt7TskTo

  29. Brent Burzycki 2 Oct 2011 Reply

    +Shireen Gastineau-Wright Works and thanks for posting……

  30. Rainer M. Ritz 5 Oct 2011 Reply

    Wow, there are worlds between that two images. Thanks for sharing your progress in photograph

Leave a Comment!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *