The Official We Shoot Blog
Wednesday, September 26th, 2018
Portable bandsaw used by a construction worker. Seattle Commercial Photography by We Shoot.
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Raised with the buzz of the table saw in the garage of my youth, construction is in my blood. I was cutting wood with the circular saw, pounding nails, and leveling ground for the foundation of buildings, alongside my Dad, as far back as I can remember. Eventually, along with my hammer, nails, and plumb bob, a new item appeared in my work belt. A camera. And my transition from carpenter to photographer began.
Today, as a professional photographer, a construction photography gene flows through my veins as naturally as my appreciation for a well-engineered building. So when We Shoot was booked for a construction progress shoot this past month, the underlying passion for shooting construction progress coursed again through my veins with the exuberance I felt as a kid working alongside my Dad. Jumping up and down ecstatic!
Driving into Eastern Washington for the shoot, my mind wandered to the many construction progress shoots I have enjoyed throughout my career. Construction graveyard-shift shooting at Santa Ana’s John Wayne Airport. Early morning shooting of shotcrete pneumatically sprayed onto the grounds of a construction site in Southern California’s Inland Empire. And now our still and video cameras are beckoned by this assignment shooting a cold-storage facility under construction east of the Cascades.
Forty feet upward the scissor lift transported Gary, me, and the expert pipe welding crew. Up to the roof overlooking the beautiful hills and flatlands of Eastern Washington. Capturing the welders at their craft. Filming the crew in action throughout the plant. Shooting the construction in all its engineering majesty. Watching with enraptured eyes the rising of the walls of this new refrigeration facility, soon to be housing the fruit of the nearby farms. Listening with eager ears to the buzz of the circular saws.
Oh, it feels great to be back home.
– Dione Benson
Monday, September 24th, 2018
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Fall colors for the season – a fallen log is submerged in colorful leaves. Seattle Commercial Photography by We Shoot.
Thursday, September 20th, 2018
If you want to shoot the perfect image of your business product, let’s talk today of one very important factor in accomplishing that goal. The angle of view.
Early in my photography career my fabulous architectural photography mentor said to never just shoot the first thing I see. He’d say, “With architectural photography the angle you shoot from is crucial.” To illustrate that principle, before capturing his first image during an assignment, my mentor would walk around eyeing the scene from different angles to find the perfect shot. Finding it, he’d set the tripoded camera down and study the view he had chosen. He’d inch a little to the left, a wee bit to the right, and there it was. The spot. The one that “spoke” to him. And then he’d start creating that perfect shot.
This principle applies to all product photography. From cars to crayons. From fashion to furniture. From an industrial facility to a hospital nursing station. Whatever product you’re selling, whatever design you’re illustrating, whatever landscape catches your eye, stop, look, and move. Move to your right, step to your left, inch a bit forward, scooch further back. (Or, if your subject matter is a small product, it’s the product itself you will be moving incrementally.) Experiencing the subject in more ways than one will help you find the spot that just “speaks” to you.
I want to stress here, unless what you’re shooting will be gone in the blink of an eye, don’t go with the first “Oh, that’s so pretty” impression and shoot. Take your time – move around – and more often than not you’ll see an improved image. The right one.
If my assignment is shooting the interior space of a manufacturing plant, the first thing you’ll see me doing is walking with my hands surrounding my eyes like blinders on a race horse, looking for just the right perspective, the right feeling, the right angle, each time in memory of my mentor, hoping to do him proud – and get that perfect shot!
Here’s to you finding the perfect shot! Keep your eyes peeled for the next shooting tip from the We Shoot Newsletter. In the meantime, please respond with your questions, ideas, and topics you’d like us to address. They are all most welcome.
– Dione Benson
4/4/18
Monday, September 17th, 2018
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Nikon D7200 fitted with a Sigma 10-20 mm lens. Seattle Product Photography by We Shoot.
Tuesday, September 11th, 2018
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Rusted Winlock TrueValue Hardware Sign. Seattle Commercial Photography by We Shoot.
Wednesday, September 5th, 2018
Whatever your job situation – self-employed or working for someone else – I hope your summer included a vacation. Some of us, after all, can’t always escape our office, studio, or job site. So, if, like me, you didn’t have a summer vacation, join with me here for a little daydream:
Me: “But, Mr. Jones, we can’t do the work you commissioned. We want a vacation! We want to take time off and kick back in our PJs!”
Mr. Jones: “Paula, please call ‘There When You Need Us Photography Studio,’ will you? We Shoot wants a vacation! A vacation!!!”
Whoa! That dream just became a nightmare! Of course this scenario didn’t occur because “There When You Need Us Photography Studio” is We Shoot. What does that mean? No vacation! But what if that daydream had occurred? The result? No work and no money for that dream vacation – ever unattainable though it may be.
So, do you want to incorporate vacations into your summer? Get close to nature? Close to that bayside city? Close to your fave theme park? A suggestion. While there, keep that cell phone even closer.
But summer without a vacation isn’t so bad. We enjoyed some awesome work at We Shoot this summer. What’s more, pajamas were negotiable. Ahem, at least in the studio.
Vacationing this autumn? Ah, to dream . . . “Mr. Jones?”
Happy Labor Day, Everyone!!!
– Dione Benson
8/30/18
Monday, September 3rd, 2018
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Nikon D7200 camera with Nikkor Zoom Lens. Seattle Product Photography by We Shoot.
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