Fine Art Color Abstract Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Models at Fashion Show

Abstract Photograph of Models on the Runway at a NYC Fashion Show.

Models on Runway

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

When I worked for Reuters I covered the fashion shows in New York City every spring and fall. After several years of practice I came to know when I had the images I needed for my client. This show was of a lower level designer and I knew I had the shot early on. So I set myself the goal of creating something really creative and interesting and conceptual (and yes, salable as stock). I came up with several images that I really liked, including this one (and yes, it has sold very, very well over the years).

If you have ever watched a fashion show it seems all glamour and glitz. That is because the people bringing that image to you are not photographing themselves. To get the images that fashion magazines want, you have to be sitting directly at the end of the runway. That means that eight or ten photographers are going to get that image and all the rest have to settle for second best. The New York photo press photographers are quite a competitive bunch to begin with, but when you add in the photographers from England and France and Italy and Japan and ..... you get the idea, all competing for those few spots, what you get is chaos.

I enjoyed the competition because I figured out a way to get around it, a way to satisfy my client and to create a image that was unique from what everyone else was getting and to avoid the horror of being in the front row. I would find myself a spot in the back row, off center, where no one else really wanted to be and use my creativity to get really good and really different images. I needed large telephoto lens to create these images. This one was done with a 200 mm lens, but I would often use a 300 mm and on occasion go as high as a 600 mm. Then I would try to be a journalist and create an image that told a story about what the fashion show was rather than just what a dress looked like. Reuters was a news agency so this approach went over very well.

It is so important to keep in mind that you try to create something different than what every one else does. If it is for news or art or stock, when you create what every other photographer creates, your product is a commodity and can always be replaced by another photographer's image at a lower price. If you product is different buyers will have to come to you and pay what you are asking. I tend to go back to this point a great deal as it is fundamental to survival in photography.

Fine Art Color Abstract Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Girl in Pool

Abstract Photograph of a Girl Walking at the Bottom of a Swimming Pool.

Girl in Pool

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

My agency wanted me to "think outside the box". This is part of what I came up with. Let me tell you, this was not an easy image to create. We had to get the model, Tomi, at the bottom of the pool at the same time that I was swimming down to about mid level. I needed to be looking over her back and have the air bubbles from her jumping in just rising to the surface. She would jump in, I would count to two and follow her. I would have to dive to the right place, figure out where I was, get the camera to my face, focus and then snap the frame. All the while just assuming that the auto exposure was working correctly.

You can bet we both jumped in the water a LOT that day.

More, I was using a Nikonnos back in the film days. Manuel focus and, I had to change film every 36 images. Thankfully I had an assistant that day. Her only job was to dry the camera, keep her hands dry and then change the film without getting water into the camera.

I know that this was taken with a 35 mm lens on Fuji Velvia (50 ASA), but as for shutter speed and f-stop, I can only same that there is a good depth of field and that the shutter speed was high enough to stop the bubbles in mid rise to the surface.

Days like this are why I love photography. You get to be wild and creative, and do something entirely different than the rest of the world. While it is, at times, hard work, you feel very gratified at the end of the day and you sleep well at night.

Limited Edition prints are always available. Please contact me at brad@bradrickerby.com.

Fine Art Color Abstract Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Cityscape Hong Kong

My vision of the crowded streets of Hong Kong at night.

Faceless, Hong Kong

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

When the light turns green, when the sign says walk go, you walk. Crossing the street. You go, the mass arounds you go and the mass from the other side of the street goes. You move through each other when you meant. Never looking up, just getting through. The faces are blurs, devoid of features. Maybe they have them, but you never notice, just as they never notice you. In a city of hundreds of thousands or even more, millions, the chance that you will ever see that face that you didn't see the first time around is so small that you figure don't bother. 

I tried to capture this feeling for a long time and finally found it in Hong Kong one night. The two large faces in the foreground are what sell the meaning. (Sadly, because of those blurs, this will image will never work for commercial or stock purposes.)

A 17 - 35 mm lens, set at 29 mm was used to create this image. It was shot at ISO 200, f2.8 at 1/8th second. When the light turned green I just walked out into the intersection and stopped in the middle of the street. I turned sideways and pushed the shutter. I had to do this several times to get an image I liked. People always bump into me when I shot this picture. I just smile and apologize. They shake their heads at the crazy American and go about their businesses.

Fine Art Color Abstract Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Fireworks 2

July 4th Fireworks #2

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

This image was created On the same night as the previous image. This time, however, the focus is directly on the fireworks themselves. You can see how much more substantial and not at all ethereal the light seems. At the same time, the fireworks are exploding all over the place. Great fun!

Once again, this image was created with a 200 mm lens. The camera was set at ISO 800 and at f 20 for 1/3 of a second. It is hand-held by the way. I call that a steady hand.

Fine Art Color Abstract Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Fireworks

July 4th Fireworks

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

July 4th. Near the beach in Rhode Island.  All the beaches are jammed. So we have our own little fireworks display. Just me, the girlfriend and her kids and kid's friends. Store bought fireworks. They amount to nothing but a little flash and a great big bang when you set them off. But with the proper technique, they become art.

The madness was in the method. You set off the fireworks low to the ground and these never gain any altitude. So you have to get under them. You also have to make them look far away, as if they were up in the night sky. That requires the compression of a telephoto. Telephotos have minimum focus distances. So you are lying on the ground, far away, shouting instructions to kids who are having too much fun to pay any attention, as the smoke from previous explosions clears. It was a blast.  I have several of these images which I may post later. In this image, the autofocus picks the main body of sparkles in back to bring into focus so the explosions that have strayed into the foreground go wildly out of focus, creating quite a nice effect. Sort of spectral. 

This image was created with a 200mm lens. ISO 800, at f 4.5 at 1/640 of a second.

Abstract Watercolor Painting by Brad Rickerby Donated to Auction to Help Japan

Flowers Outside My Front Door, 8.5 x 11" Watercolor and Gouache on Paper

Painting by Brad Rickerby

Available by Auction to Help Japan

I am taking a one post break from photographic how to. In addition to my work as a photographer, I am also a painter (go to http://colorlightmovement.blogspot.com if you would like to see my paintings). I have donated this work, Flowers Outside My Front Door, (which is what I hope to see in my yard very shortly), to Daily Paintworks, for auction with the proceeds donated to agencies helping Japan in their current crisis.

This work is watercolor, gouache and dye on 180 lbs Arches watercolor paper. The paper size is 9 x 12". The size of the painting is 8 x 10.5". The small boarder area makes matting and framing a breeze.

Please go to Daily Paintworks to enter your bid. Starting bid is $35.00. 

Thank you.