Tag Archives: photographer

Photography in Lehman’s Terms: Don’t stop life to photograph it this holiday season | Lifestyles


’Tis the season ye merry photographers. No idea what the statistics are, but I have a pretty good idea there is no time like the holidays for shooting tons of pictures. Back in the day, I’d wager more rolls of film were used between now and New Years than during the whole rest of the year.

Certainly no different in this day of cellphones and gigabytes.

But not around my house. I’ve become a bit of a curmudgeon when it comes to shooting Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities. Rebelliousness is not usually part of my nature, but come the holidays, with the expectation being that Greg’s a photographer, I don’t snap a lot of shots. Does the cobbler make shoes on Christmas Eve?

I’m not saying I’m proud of it, but the fact is, the holidays are one time when I enjoy myself more without a camera around my neck or my phone in camera mode. This is crazy, because what better time to document the joy and love of family and friends than when they’re gathered for the holidays?

So, don’t do as I do, do as I recommend.

CANDID, NOT POSEDIn all honesty how many shots fill your photo albums of people smiling at the camera, posing with a just-opened present or with a carving knife poised over the ham? Most of them? Too many photographers think a photograph is something you stop real life for.

Here’s the main idea to keep in mind for this holiday season: Get most of your photos of people doing what they are doing. Shoot pictures when grandma is opening the Christmas present or reacting to it. Get that shot of dad and the big bird while he’s carving it or the activity in the kitchen during the cooking.

Even when it comes to the most delightful of us — the children — we tend to stop them from their normal activity to get a picture. Let them play! Years of professional photography has taught me that kids can ignore a camera like no one else. They notice it, but VERY quickly forget about it. That’s when your best shots happen.

So, don’t stop life to photograph it.

IF POSED, MAKE IT FUN

Now there’s posed and then there’s boring, stiff, stare-at-the-camera POSED.

During the holidays most of us are around people we know pretty well. Use your knowledge of them to pose them meaningfully. If Uncle Frank is bored to tears with family gatherings, say “C’mon, Frank! Show us how you’re really feeling.” If your mom is protective of her kitchen while cooking, maybe you can coax her into a pose by the kitchen door, arms crossed and chef’s knife in hand. It’s posed, but has some playfulness to it and says something.

Pose fun, if that makes any sense.

TAKE IN THE ENVIRONMENT

Generally, people don’t get nearly close enough to their subjects in photography — a topic of many columns. But during the holidays be sure to step back and take in the environment. Allow a sense of place to come through.

This sense of place can be literal, such as in what house is the event happening. I look through old family pictures and there are so many where I have no idea where they were taken. A wall is a wall is a wall. Step back and take in more of the room on a few or even a couple shots of the exterior.

Sense of place can also be more symbolic or atmospheric. This can involve including the decorations and the food in your photographs. Keep an eye out for making these things the actual subject of pictures. If the lights on the house are Griswold-esque, it might be worth a shot.

TIME, PLACE AND NAMES!

Don’t make the mistake of thinking your memory will always be so fresh. File your images with the date.

I am currently digitizing nearly 100 years of Lehman family film. It’s frustrating to look at photos and try to figure out when and where they were taken by how old they look. Or the model of car in the background. Or the style of clothes, the hair and the furniture. Save them in a dated folder!

Also, I have whole albums of wonderful black and whites from generations gone by and very little idea of who, what, where and when. Take a little time and attach some names, even if it’s in a notebook that you can photograph and include with the pics.

Shoot, have fun and preserve memories. It is a photograph’s greatest gift!

Frederick photographer Brodie Ledford featured in national competition | Arts & entertainment


Brodie Ledford says it was a Christmas gift he’d bought for his wife that led to his career in photography.

The 41-year-old Frederick native always loved video cameras and taking photos, but it wasn’t until he purchased a camera for his wife, Dara, a fine arts major in college with a focus on photography, that he became enamored with the art form.

For their Christmas together after she graduated college, Ledford “went out and bought her a brand new DSLR [digital] camera,” he said.

“The funny thing is, the second she opened it, I started playing with it,” he said during a phone interview. “And that camera then became mine. The rest, as they say, is history. That was nearly 17 years ago.”

Today, Ledford owns Brodie Ledford Studios in Frederick and was recently featured in a photography competition called Creator Series. Ledford was one of 10 photographers selected to be part of the 11-episode series, available to stream online.

In each episode, the photographers were challenged in various aspects of photography, from lighting to composition to posing — and they were given only 10 minutes to get the shot.

The web series, which can be viewed on YouTube, was judged by Canon Explorers of Light photographers: Sal Cincotta, an award-winning wedding and portrait photographer; Laretta Houston, who is known for shooting the Tyra Banks Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition; and Vanessa Joy, a renowned wedding photographer. The series was based in St. Louis, where Cincotta, the show’s producer and host, owns his studio.

Ledford entered the contest after seeing a promo for Creator Series at ShutterFest, a large photography conference. He admits he had reservations about entering a competition that would be broadcast worldwide. He considers himself a private person. But he decided to apply anyway.

After applying, Ledford was then interviewed. His portfolio and online presence also were reviewed before he got to the next round. Then he had a submit a 90-second video that explained “why us.” But after sending in the video, several weeks went by, and Ledford assumed he hadn’t been chosen.

“Then when I finally had lost all hope, I got an email saying ‘congratulations, you’re in,’” he recalled. “I was completely shocked, and I was excited and terrified all at the same time.”

He spent July shooting the series in St. Louis. It premiered online in August.

His biggest adjustment was learning how to use the Canon gear that was required for the series because, of course, it was sponsored by Canon.

Cincotta was each photographer’s assistant throughout the series.

“It’s a little bit intimidating because he’s absolutely fantastic,” Ledford said. “He’s one of those guys who expects the best because he is there as the best, and he’s known to be amazing.”

The photographers being allowed only 10 minutes to shoot their assignments for the day made it all the more challenging. Normally, setting up a studio shot can take up to an hour, Ledford said. “We basically had 10 minutes to pick the gear we wanted, set the shot up, talk to the model about what we were looking for, coach the model and then shoot it.”

Then, the photographers were asked to immediately hand over their memory cards.

It wasn’t until every photographer finished their shoot that the contestants could see the photos they’d shot and work on them further. They got 30 minutes to select and edit the images. But, Ledford said, realistically, by the time he would select his images, he would only have 15 minutes, on average, to edit.

“The images that were created are mind-blowing to me — that it was done in such a short period of time,” Ledford said. “That’s where the challenge was.”

The cards were given to the judges who then selected the best and the worst. Every week someone was sent home.

“My favorite competition was probably the reflections competition,” where a model was reflected in a mirror or window, for example, he said. “Because it was something that was outside of what I would normally do.”

The entire competition, he said, was challenging because it forced the photographers to try a type of photography they normally don’t do every day.

He said the series really showed that there’s more to photography than people realize.

“I think the biggest thing that is difficult for photographers is that people think that the cameras have a magic button because they don’t see the behind-the-scenes stuff,” he said. “People don’t see the editing process. They don’t see all the lighting. They don’t understand setting [the camera] on manual mode, not on auto mode.”

Ledford credits his wife for getting him into photography as a profession, and he dabbled in it while he held a full-time job as a store manager for Best Buy.

“My wife would take my photos, and she would make photo books for me and just keep, you know, pushing me and say, ‘Hey, look, it’s great stuff,’” he said.

He and his wife, who is also a photographer, cofounded Brodie Ledford Studios, and when someone asked if he did weddings, it became his first professional gig. After a while, his wife again encouraged him to take the leap full-time into his new passion.

“I walked away from that life, and I was able to do what I want to do now,” he said. “And it’s unbelievable.”

Ledford’s business is considered a luxury, service-based company, where he focuses on client relationships.

“There are a lot of people out there that take pictures, and there’s a huge difference between a picture taker and a professional photographer,” he said. “I really pride myself on the fact that we focus on the experience for the client, and our clients truly do become like friends and family.”