Dear friends. I have decided to move to East Lansing. I packed everything into my truck yesterday and hit the road. It was a beautiful day for a move. I woke up in Interlochen to the sunrise. The ice crystals were shimmering on the trees while two deer ran across the frozen lake. The morning was beautiful.
I started packing my gear and for the long drive back downstate. I grew up in Lansing. I know the area well. I am excited to be faced with new possibilities and new challenges. The people who I met up north were more like family than friends but I have family downstate who need me at the moment.
We are going to still hold workshops and I will be back to visit over the summer months from time-to-time. This move is a chance to broaden my horizons and grow the business to new levels.
I hosted a photography workshop last Saturday at the Presbyterian Church in Traverse City. I was a little nervous because I didn’t know exactly how many people were going to show up or how the workshop was going to run exactly. I started these workshops last summer and the first one only had four models. Since then it has grown. The last workshop I hosted had somewhere around 15. That was a big jump from the original.
This time the workshop was looking like the biggest one yet. I didn’t know if I could handle it. Once people arrived, however, the workshop started really humming with creativity. My main focus was helping photographers figure out how to use their cameras and the various lighting set-ups they brought. It was interesting to see all the different lights that people use for their photography. One local photographer brought a whole studio set-up. He had all the Alien bees and diffusers. I was very impressed with that.
We had a pretty good turnout of models but it wasn’t as many as I expected. We also had Victoria Mather there to do make-up and hair. She calls herself an MUAH (make-up and hair).
Here are some of the reviews I got from a few of the photographers who attended:
Todd, thank you so much (and others who helped) make the workshop happen. I had SO much fun, and it was amazing to meet so many talented people! I can’t wait for another, and let me know if you ever need help with them!!!
Had a great day today … thank you Todd L Church and all who made it possible … and thank you to everyone who was there who helped me … you guys are amazing!!!
Yesterday started out sunny. It looked like a perfect day for a shoot. Leslie Sevenski and I had scheduled this a couple weeks ago and we both were eager to get out on the lake in Interlochen to look for a fishing shanty. The idea we had was to use the shanty in the shoot somehow. We really didn’t know what to expect.
The shoot started at 3:00pm. Ten minutes before Leslie arrived the snow began to fall. It came down so hard you couldn’t see across the lake. Leslie, being the adventurous sort, agreed to go on the shoot anyway. We ventured out on the ice but most of the shanties were empty. I think we got some interesting shots regardless of the snow.
Wandering out on the lake proved to be very cold. We decided after a while to move into the Interlochen Center for the Arts to see if we could get some interesting shots there. We were also met by my assistant Jessica Lynn Nichole who came along to help with lighting.
Our first stop was the Interlochen bowl, a nice location for the shoot. Leslie’s red top was an excellent selection for a winter shoot.
After a a while we decided to come in and warm up. I live near the arts camp so we came to my house and set up a backdrop so that we could continue the shoot in comfort. I also had Leslie change and gave her a cowboy hat to try on.
Sometimes the day doesn’t go as planned when shooting on-location but I think we made the best of it.
Today I had the opportunity to photograph Katie Millron. She needed some photos to enter the running to be crowned 2010 Queen of the National Cherry Festival. Although the field is very competitive I am sure that our photos are going to help her chances of winning. First prize gets an $8,000 scholarship and a chance to attend the Rose Bowl.
Katie and I met at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons. The weather was unusually warm for this time of year. It seemed like the perfect day for a shoot. We visited several spots both indoors and out and found some great locations to shoot. I am very happy with the result. I hope you are too.
I recently started an online forum for people who attend my photography workshops.
The workshop is intended to give photographers the opportunity to practice lighting an posing models. This is a great exercise to improve a photographers skill level and help them get confident with digital cameras and off-camera flash techniques. Typically we have a mix of models and photographers who attend. All are welcome. We only ask that attendees who are not a member of the Traverse Area Camera Club pay a nominal $5.00 fee to help support future club activities.
Our next workshop is:
Saturday, February 6th, From 3-7 pm
at the Presbyterian Church
701 Westminster Dr
Traverse City, Michigan
Please feel free to visit the new website and join in the conversation. The web address is: www.modelphotoworkshop.com
I created this Photoshop tutorial for the site and I thought I would add it here.
I am excited to recently be approved as a provider of services for the Michigan Film Commission. Michigan offers film-makers a 40 percent tax rebate for films shot in the state. As a result several new films are shooting in Michigan. “Youth in Revolt” was shot partly in Interlochen. I saw the film crew out working as I rode past on my daily bike ride.
My father, who is in his mid-seventies, was married recently to Sue Taggart, a woman who was our next-door neighbor when I was growing up. Sues’ son, Brent, was my best friend and Sue was like a second mother. Our families often went on camping trips together. We sometimes camped at the Interlochen State Park.
Sue’s husband recently passed away and she and my dad decided they didn’t have much time left so they had better act fast and get married while they were still young.
I was their chosen wedding photographer. I created a cute wedding slide show for them. It’s a little long and probably not exciting for anyone other than immediate family but if you dare to watch it all the way though you’ll see a sweet love story and a happy couple.
I thought I would share this story with you even though it isn’t photography related. As a young man I was always interested in comic strips. Two of my favorites were Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts. I read the first Calvin and Hobbes back in the eighties. I loved that strip. I wanted to know the technique behind it.
I had very little to go on. This was before the invention of Google. I decided to write to the Artist and ask him directly. I mailed a letter and one of my drawings to his Syndicate in Kansas hoping they would forward it. A few weeks later I received a response. At first I thought it was just a standard form letter but recently, having done a little research on the subject, I realized how unique this letter is. Bill Watterson rarely wrote to fans. After he retired the strip in 1995 he dropped out of the public eye altogether.
I have read that he won’t even pick up the phone for Steven Spielberg or George Lucas. Journalists have tried to find him for an interview but to no avail.
By all indications the letter I received in the eighties is a one-of-a-kind.
This is the envelope (with address deleted)
This next comic strip related item is an autographed book from Charles Shultz. I felt sort of cocky after receiving the Calvin and Hobbes letter so I started sending letters to other cartoonists whom I admired. The top of that list was Charles Shultz (Peanuts). I wrote to him asking for an autograph. I also sent along one of my drawings. The following is the response.
And here’s the final result.
Watterson holds Shultz in highest regard as indicated by this article.
That’s it. Hope you enjoyed that little side-step from photography.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 Posted in Senior Photos
The weather outside is frightful but the smile is so delightful. lol. It was freezing a couple days ago when Jenna and I embarked on a mission in Downtown Traverse City to capture some great senior photos. I do my best even when the wind is blowing the icy chill right through my bones and my fingers are so cold that they can barely change the lens.
After the shoot is over and the photos are loaded onto the computer it’s nice to sit back and remember….it was a fun shoot after all.
I wanted to post a video slide show from Jessica and Kyle’s spring photo shoot but unfortunately the music starts as soon as you open the blog. It also causes the blog to run slowly. So instead of posting it here I thought I would just give you the link and you can check it out on your own. It is not your typical slide show. It was created frame-by-frame to be unique as a special keepsake. We shot in various locations around Traverse City.
Click the photo above to see the show. Don’t forget to click "Loop All" once you get there.
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