Photo courtesy of Carla Fedje
In October we had the privilege of speaking with a very talented photographer, Carla Fedje. Carla spent eight years doing collision appraising. She'd dabbled in photography for a few years and then, less than a year ago, she decided to pursue photography as a full-time job.
Carla's interests involve shooting people not things. When shooting portraits, she likes weird poses and loves a bit of "vulgarity". Carla frequently pours through fashion magazines getting new ideas for poses and lighting. One of her specialties is shooting pinup style portraits.
Carla works primarily with models. She often uses Model Mayham to find potential subjects but emphasized that models can be flakey and, even once you line up a model, you have to badger them into actually showing up and bringing the requisite make-up and clothing. She prefers to work with more experienced models where she doesn't have to guide them too much. She recounted a particularly frustrating shoot where a more junior model just sat there with pretty much the same bland expression for the whole shoot.
When working with a model, talking to them and getting them to relax is key. Having once done some modeling herself, Carla will often pose herself to show the model what she wants. She does, however, still find it uncomfortable telling the more experienced models to do things and that is an area she would like to improve on.
An amazing aspect of the photographs shared with us were that many/most of them were shot in Carla's very own living room. This is amazing because her living room is only about 10x9 feet. I am all too aware of how difficult it can be to shoot when you have your back mashed up against the wall. She makes good use of the space she has and has even set up some fairly intricate backgrounds (although she generally tries to steer towards simple backgrounds as, unless perfect, complex background can really ruin a shot). Note: If anyone has any leads on studio space let Carla know!
For technical details count one more for the Canon crowd :) For lighting she has a number of soft-boxes and uses those regularly. She has a number of favorite toys including her light meter, flash battery units, and the honey comb grid. She also is a huge fan of using white foam core for reflectors. She shared with us a number of great photoshop tips including adjusting color levels to give more glow to skin, "if you aren't using layers you should be", LAB color for alternative curve adjustments, etc.
Carla can be found on the web http://carlafedje.com/ and http://carminafoto.com/.
-- Jeff Clement
Intermediate Theme
Wes Devauld
Intermediate Theme
Jeff Clement
| Score | Photographer |
|---|---|
| 8.3 | Wes Devauld |
| 8.3 | Jeff Clement |
| 8.0 | Ryan Pahl |
Advanced Open
Scott Winter
"Circle of Love"
| Score | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 8.6 | Scott Winter | Circle of Love |
Intermediate Open
Mike Roest
"Tower"
| Score | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 9.0 | Mike Roest | The Tower |
| 8.6 | Ryan Pahl | Hawker 800 |
| 8.0 | Wes Devauld | From Another World |
Beginner Open
Kyle Johnson
"Lockhart Creek Flowing Into Kootenay Lake"
| Score | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 8.3 | Kyle Johnson | Lockhart Creek |
The new themes for the upcoming year have been picked!
| Date | Theme |
|---|---|
| Nov 7, 2007 | Glass |
| Dec 5, 2007 | Statue |
| Jan 2, 2008 | Red |
| Feb 6, 2008 | Tools |
| Mar 5, 2008 | Back Alley |
| Apr 2, 2008 | Graffiti |
| May 7, 2008 | Paper |
| Jun 4, 2008 | Different point of view on a common subject |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| President | Harry Mah |
| Past President | José Guillén |
| Monthly Program Director | Marcelo Pinheiro |
| External Program Director | Scott Winter |
| Secretary & Treasurer | Jack Blair |
| Newsletter & Webmaster | Jeff Clement |
Contact information for the current executive can be found here.
Jeremy Cowart's website has some fantastic photographs in a variety of areas.
Dave Hill has some fascinating surreal work (very photoshopped).
Chris Jordan has a number of photo projects including some trying to highlight how much waste North America produces.
Tony Field has an Epson 4800 printer for sale. $1250. Contact Tony @ (403)249-5338.
Neil Koven (neil at neilkoven . com) has a huge pile of photography stuff for sale. E-Mail Neil or call him at 276-6335.
"I came across some more items for sale; I'm not sure of the value of any of them so the first one to request an item and shows up with cash or cheque in hand, gets it."
- GAF 6x9 contact printer (it works but is missing the glass)
- Time-O-Lite GR 72
- Wein flash meter
- Honeywell Strobonar flash (only works on AC)
- Braun F22 flash (only works on AC)
- red safety light
- red safety bulb (2 different ones)
- flash and camera bracket
- metal screw mount lens shade 7-S
- Fuji beach ball
- Konica inflatable dirigible
- 11x14 2-blade easel
- 11x14 electric Premier print dryer with Ferrotype (?) plate
- 2-litre collapsible darkroom chemical containers (two)
SCREW MOUNT FILTERS
- 49 mm UV
- 52 mm Y(K2)
- 52 (?) mm 7S 85
- 49 mm 80B
- 62 mm 1A
- 29 (?) mm 1A skylight
- 49 mm polarizing (two)
- 49 mm softone
(and no, I don't know what some of those letters and numbers mean...ntk)
DARKROOM CHEMICALS
- Kodak stop bath--16 oz (four)
- Ilford IN-1 stop bath (3/4)
- metal rod thermometer
- ultra black developer (never opened)
- Ilford Multi Grade developer (3/4)
Happy Halloween Everyone!
Hope everyone has a great Halloween and hopefully I'll see you in November's meeting.
Jeff Clement
Newsletter Editor for Calgary Photographic Society