what goes in the process determines the outcome.

Had a very enjoyable early morning shoot with a famous CFO.  Not only was she very beautiful but down to earth and very friendly.  But I'm glad I caught her strength in this shot.

This was one case where I thought about how much photoshop should be used on a person.  Not that she needed any, but women here in Japan always ask me to take out the wrinkles, spots and make them appear thin.  The problem is that you can do too much these days to the point where you end up with a different person by the time you're done.  Yesterday was a reminder that sometimes you need to leave things as it is to convey the power of a real person.

In the film days, we couldn't retouch easily so we did our best with lighting and backgrounds to get the best shot.  These days, we often figure we can fix things later and not be so concerned about the picture taking process.  I think that's the problem with music these days.  You don't hear enough of the great musicianship that you heard in the 70's and 80's.  Too much tampering in the studio doesn't turn shit into gold.

yoga poses in Japan

Last month I had an interesting request from a Chinese gentleman who asked to have his portraits taken with the blooming cherry blossoms in a poetic way.  This month I had a request by a French Yoga instructor who wished to have portraits of her and her daughter in yoga poses taken with a shrine/temple or japanese garden background.  We were fortunate to do this very early in the morning as, by 9am the area was flooded with tourists.