Street photo shoot with a model and a musician

I recently had the pleasure of photographing two lovely and talented sisters - a musician, Liat Arochas and a model, Talia Arochas. We took street photos on and around the area of South Street in Philadelphia PA. While both were beautiful, they provided a nice contrast as Talia is dark and Liat is fair.  We were in the middle of our photo shoot during the recent (and rare) east coast earthquake, which added a bit of additional interest to this shoot.

I always enjoy on-the-street photo shoots - there's an energy that can't be found in a studio or outdoors in another location like a park.  A city street provides great backdrops and that human element we all thrive on. There's grit, noise, distractions and ever-present on-lookers. It's not uncommon to have people interrupt a shoot with questions or comments. Most of the time that's not a problem as I've been fortunate not to have any really obnoxious or creepy interjectors. A simple "sorry, but we have to get back to work" has been all that I've needed to say. During this particular shoot, there was at least one tourist who was taking photos of our photo shoot.

Try your hand at some great street or urban portrait photography. It's fun and there's an endless supply of incredibly interesting backdrops to shoot against. If you start getting overwhelmed with the colors, start thinking about shooting in black-and-white, where texture then becomes more important.

Have fun shooting! Peace and love, Colleen  (gjfoto.com)

Blog with MAGIC but no photos

This is a photographer's blog, but this entry has no photos. I just came home from walking my dogs (2 cocker spaniels & 1 cockapoo) and when I'm out with them, I take only my keys and some poopie bags. It was just a walk in the neighborhood, but this one of those times when I really wish I would have had a camera with.

We walked to Magnolia Cemetery, about 4 blocks from my house. Today was a pleasant Saturday afternoon in mid-August and I had the urge to go to the cemetery. I love cemeteries - I find them peaceful and interesting.  Magnolia Cemetery takes up a square block with the front half about 3/4 filled with graves and the back half still open grass.  There were about a dozen people in the cemetery with us, but I was the only one old enough to vote.

The pups and I cut through the grass and then had to walk around a chain divider to get onto one of the paved paths in the grounds.  We had a nasty thunderstorm last night, so there were  lots of puddles in the path. As we passed some cedar trees, a wonderful sight came into view: alongside a large puddle was a beautiful white dove.

The "Sex Kitten" and I

For those who don't already know, I'm a transplanted Philadelphian. When I have the time and sanity, I try to follow what's happening here and there in the city. One of the local publications I follow is Philadelphia Weekly. In addition to the online and hardcopy editions of this publication, there are also a few blogs, including PWStyle blog. I've following this blog for awhile and I recently offered a beauty shoot in the hopes of getting a review. Instead of a simple little blog review, I was extremely happy with a 2-parter. Let me say, I absolutely LOVE the titles - "Embracing my Inner Sex Kitten". (I guess that's why these guys are writers and I'm a photographer.)

My "victim" was "Ms. N" (I'm protecting my source!), a Philly Weekly reporter/blogger/listing editor (busy girl!) who was not only photogenic, but very sweet. We got her all dolled up at Chroma Hair Gallery, which is just a few minutes walk from my little studio.

I didn't know what "Ms. N" would have with to wear, but I normally don't find out until my clients arrive. I was delighted to see her bring a 1950's style red polka dot dress that was totally charming. We're off to a great start! "Ms. N" took a few minutes to settle down, but that's normal. She not only settled down, but took wonderful, beautiful portraits, as I'm showing below. I always have fun with photo shoots and from the blogs, I'm happy to say that "Ms. N" had fun too.

Here's the permalink for the first installment of PW Style's blog - http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/style/2011/08/10/embracing-my-inner-sex-kitten-part-one/

And here's permalink part 2 - http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/style/2011/08/11/embracing-my-inner-sex-kitten-part-two/

Below are a few of my favorite photos from our session. Enjoy!

Love & Peace,
Colleen (gjfoto.com)

Photos by Colleen D. Gjefle / © 2011 / GJFOTO.com 

Philadelphia SlutWalk

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard about SlutWalks. What's a SlutWalk? (I'm addressing the under-the-rock crowd now.) SlutWalks have been taking place around the globe. They are protests against the misogynistic (i.e., woman-hating) attitude that states that victims of sexual assault are "asking for it" by dressing like sluts. The VICTIM is blamed and the RAPIST is somehow given an "excuse" for acting like a Neanderthal. It's not the clothes. If it were the clothing, then a woman wearing a burka would be safe, but that's not the case. It's the RAPIST's fault totally and completely. End of story.  

So here's a vid of some of the photos I took at Philadelphia's SlutWalk, which took place on Aug. 6, 2011. I was glad to see quite a few men there - there were more males present than I had anticipated beforehand. Good for them - those are the real men. 

Photos by Colleen D. Gjefle / © 2011 / GJFOTO.com 
A higher resolution video can be found here.

Hepburn and a Mosquito Net

I'm starting out on a collaboration with another female photographer who has a style similar to mine. Her professional name is Marla Red and our website is Black & White Beauty Photography.

We had a test shoot a few days ago, using lovely Rene as a model and Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's as inspiration.  In addition to our planned model, our makeup artist, Helen, is a beauty as well, so we convinced her to model as well. Since this was a "trial run" and not a paid photo shoot, it gave me the perfect opportunity to pull out a mosquito net that I had gotten from eBay for around $3 including the shipping.  I thought it could lend itself to some cool shoot-through effects.  As it turned out, it was neat not only for that, but it made for an interesting backdrop as well.

So with no further ado, below are photos of Rene ala Hepburn and Helen with the mosquito net. I'm also throwing in a photo video I did of Rene's images as well.

Photos by Colleen D. Gjefle / © 2011 / GJFOTO.com 

You can see a larger version of the video below at http://youtu.be/jafZ8FedBko