In some ways PR photography can be one of the most challenging to make interesting, as the subject is often someone speaking at a podium in front of a group. Sometimes the speaker is the shot – a notable who’s presence is the newsworthy event. Other times having the speaker in context with a display showing the topic of his talk helps provide creative elements for a photo.

In one of the more interesting displays at this show, one of the auto makers had a cut-away car with the body shell split down the middle. The two halves spread open revealing the interior, frame, engine and all the insides of the car. The show attendees could get in the car, with a product specialist, and the body closed, all while the specialist described the many features of the vehicle.

It looked great, and would have been an easy capture in video, but getting still photos that described the process provided a bit of a challenge. Open, the body halves and interior looked like a static display, and closed it just looked like a car. A single shot of the vehicle closing still looked like a static display.

I used post processing in Photoshop to help solve this one. I set up the camera on a steady tripod, and did a series of shots. The first was the display open, with the people inside. I then shot several exposures of the car closing, until it was completely closed. Each individual shot looked like this:

I first tried using the PhotoMerge tool to see what happened, but as I suspected it would, it just ended up with the open and closed frames merged together.

 I then opened each photo in Photoshop, and one at a time dragged each successive shot onto the next. I created a Layer Mask and with a low opacity brush erased some of the area where the car was closing in the underlying frame. That was flattened and dragged onto the next closing frame, and the process repeated. The final image looks like this:

This is a process very similar to the one I use when combining exposures of architectural interiors, and with a little practice it’s actually quite simple. The students who take my classes discover that it’s simpler and quicker to do this than to describe it!

Photo (c) John Glenn

It’s that time of year again, when New Orleans welcomes the world to hear the city sing it’s soul song. The Jazz and Heritage Festival is a two-weekend event, typically held on the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May. It begins this Friday, April 24^th and continues through May 3^rd.

 Jazz, Zydeco, Gospel and all manner of music fills not only the fairgrounds during the festival but venues large and small throughout the town for the entire event.

Unfortunately, due to other commitments I won’t be able to be there this year, but my good friend, John Glenn www.jglennphotography.com , a tremendously talented photographer now based in Atlanta will be, as he has for the past 18 years, recording the visual story of the festival and the city in a way no one else can.

In recent years John has had a show in the lobby of the International House Hotel www.IHhotel.com, his home base in New Orleans throughout the festival week, with receptions on each weekend. A portion of the proceeds from print sales go to the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

John will be hosting receptions at the International House on Friday April 24^th and Friday May 1^st. They’re always a great event and feature – of course – great musical entertainment as well as a chance to view his work and meet the artist.

John’s invited me to extend an open invitation to all of you to stop in, meet him and see his work. Now this means getting to New Orleans, and since you’ll already be there J, you definitely want to check out the music and good times at the festival!

You can learn more about John’s work on his site and here in this press release:

http://www.prlog.org/10217023-john-glenn-photo-journalist-exhibits-to-benefit-the-new-orleans-musicians-clinic.html 

 There’s more info on Jazz Fest at www.nojazzfest.com

There’s still time to get there and while I won’t be there in body this year my spirit will be, and next year I’ll be back and meet you all down there!

His wife, my “Aunt Barbara” insisted that the weekend was not for mourning – it was to be a celebration of a life well-lived. He had just turned 91, and had been ill for several months, so she had a time to adjust and say good bye. Rudy lived a rich, rewarding life and had accomplished everything he wanted to do.

In his 45-year career as a doctor he had given greatly to his community, and had received much in return. They traveled the world together, and experienced all the richness that life has to offer.

Seeing his life remembered in the photo-collage that the family had created was heart-warming and inspiring. It triggered memories of times from my earliest years spent with our families together. It’s amazing how just a single photograph can bring back so much, and recreate such happiness.

True to Barbara’s wishes, the weekend was a time of happy remembrances and a reuniting of family and friends. We all tend to think of the people close to us but time and distance has a way of separating us and we never find time to keep in close touch.

It’s a bit of a painful reality check to see how we can all drop what we’re doing and find the resources to come together to say goodbye to a loved one, but don’t seem to be able to justify the time and expense to get together to enjoy each others’ company while we’re all still here.

The weekend provided a chance for reflection and renewal for me as well. And it gave me an opportunity to connect with a young member of the family who I had known of only by name, who is now a high school student and an avid budding photographer. We hit it off right away and it will be exciting to help guide and mentor her as she progresses and grows. And maybe it’s also a way of continuing the legacy of our families’ connection for new generations.

I suspect that somehow Rudy had a hand in that . . . J

The combination of light, weather and all the other variables will never make it look quite the same. I too am subject to the rule of “gotta be somewhere” and have passed by scenes that were just perfect photo-ops, planning to come back at another time. No matter how many times I’ve returned, at the same time of day, with the same weather conditions, something has always been different and the shot was never quite the same.

Sure, there often is a shot there, but the shot – the one that caught your eye and imagination – is gone forever.