Mood Photography Blog

Supporters and Protectors.

Mahmood Fazal — Fri, 27 May 2011 19:39:42 +0000

One of the strongest supporters of my photography has been my Bogen /Manfrotto tripod. I bought it several years ago and I remember eyeballing it for many months before pulling the trigger. It was right after my cheapie tripod dropped my stuff. The Bogen appeared to be a pretty good buy at that point. Lesson learned. Now I have a monopod too and love it. This company has proven itself by its product. I am now a proud owner of this Kata bag. Its huge, lightweight and user friendly. Knowing that at Manfrotto is behind this company, assures me that it is going to protect my stuff just as well my tripod had supported it. The tripod has been through a lot and is going strong. Knowing me, I will be abusing this bag too. Pretty confident it will hold up. Will try to update as I get to know this bag.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Lay off the Cheese!

Mahmood Fazal — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 02:41:18 +0000

You are looking at a kid that has never been told by me to say ‘Cheese’ (for the camera) from the day he was born. I always felt it was up to me to get the shots and he was not required to do anything but be himself. I played with him, smiled at him, was goofy. I got the smiles I wanted. Having photographed a lot of kids, I meet many ‘trained’ kids. Trained to give me forced and fake smiles. After he was born I was determined not require that of him. He is older than 3 in these photos. We may have saved him from the cheese face. He will now pose for me with no forcing on my part, gives me a great variety of looks, and loves to be the photographer using my camera phone.

I think the simplest way to save a child from the cheese face is to let him or her play. Let them jump, be silly, make goofy faces. Let them be kids.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Cristina on Kiawah

Mahmood Fazal — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:04:19 +0000

Kiawah Island, South Carolina is an awesome place to visit and great location for photography. While on vacation, Cristina was able to pose for some senior portraits on the beach. We had some some great skies and some great views. She did awesome.

Filed under: Portraits

Form and Shadows.

Mahmood Fazal — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 13:14:50 +0000

I needed to now if I could pull of the look of the images that you find in the packaging of the infamous P90X workout system. I had a friend who was in the thick of it. She was happy to try the shoot and we were both excited about the results.

Filed under: Portraits

Emily and Peter-We had a blast shooting this wedding.

Mahmood Fazal — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 05:34:26 +0000

Emily and Peter met in London and got married in beautiful Charleston, SC. It was an honor and a joy to photograph their wedding and to be a part of their great day. I also had the privilege to shoot with Darrel Johnson of Viewfinders Photography and Dustin Ledo of Bella Loren Photography. We had a blast working together. We will surely be doing it again.

Filed under: Weddings

Photoshop and the past.

Mahmood Fazal — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:17:24 +0000

I recently worked on a photo restoration project that had a unique impact on me. You will see both the before and after pictures for reference.

The original was a tightly curled up and yellowing, black & white darkroom print. In order to get it in the computer, it had to be unrolled and gently crushed on the scanner to get it as flat as possible. I am still surprised that the print did not break.

On a side note, I think we could have dipped the print in water for a while and it would have taken the curl out with minimal damage to the print. I wasn’t about to take that responsibility with their memories.

I have been using a 12×12 Wacom Tablet, with its pen tool, for a couple of years now . It’s completely replaced the regular mouse. I would buy one for each computer in my office if I could. When I get a new MacBook Pro., it’s getting it’s own tablet. It was really instrumental in getting the job done fast and clean.

Here is now the reason for this post.

I got know a lot of the faces in the picture because so many of them had to be reconstructed. There were noses missing, ears missing, arms missing, etc. It’s ironic that these men had to give of themselves to each other in this project. I had to borrow arms and cheeks and noses to repair the damaged. I was fortunate that I did not have to borrow any eyes. There was usually one good eye that I could duplicate and fill the gap. Eyes are too unique.

Apart from the Photoshop, the photograph was fascinating. Shot cleanly, everyone was in focus. But like every group photo, not everyone was happy to be there.

Time for me to get overly analytical.

Even the guys who seemed uninterested were interesting. One can get a idea of their sense of direction for that day. Maybe there was a outing to get to, later that day ,or someother thing that was distracting on the minds of some of them. The human face evolves through the generations and I saw faces that I would have once seen in an old western. The smirks, the bravado and even the stern looks were captivating.

The group shot becomes so important because it can tell a story of one sees him or herself in that group. We play our perceived roles in the world even when posing for a group shot. This isn’t science, just my thoughts.

Next time you see a group shot. After you have looked at yourself and determined if it is a good photo or not, look at the other people. What do you see?

Filed under: Because photography is our passion

Assistants, mules and rockstars.

Mahmood Fazal — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:48:23 +0000

I enjoy shooting with help. Sometimes all the help I need is someone who enjoys photography and is basically happy to be there.

I also enjoy assisting other photographers on jobs. I have done a few this past year and its fun. The pay isn’t stellar but I learn stuff and its a great change of pace.

When I need help, I get picky.

I had a great assistant for a while. She would say that she was part pack-mule. We carried a ton of stuff on jobs. We tried new things and we grew together. Mostly we had fun. She moved to another state. You can find her at www.kimullrich.com

I have worked with ‘rockstar’ assistants. I say that because on job day they get distracted and go off shooting for themselves, socializing and having a good time. I am left carrying the bag.

But ‘rockstars’ can energize crowds that helps with fun photos.

I think a good assistant, for me, is someone who is calm under pressure. A lot of people can shoot good photos and a LOT of people THINK they shoot good photos. I say this only to emphasize that the good assistants are a real small group. They are calm during inevitable equipment breakdowns, take initiative when situations change, are good with people, and mostly great at brainstorming ideas.

Posted in Because photography is our passion

The 4×5 is awake again.

Mahmood Fazal — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:03:15 +0000

For those of you who don’t know…

This is a 4×5 Large Format Camera. It’s over 50 years old. It takes awesome pictures.

It shoots film. One frame at a time. The negative is actual 4 inches x 5 inches.

The resolution is awesome.

I was recently blessed with some of the last remaining 4×5 Polaroid film left in the universe.

Here are some samples of what the images look like

So my friends, my POLAROID PROJECT Begins.

Look for new images every so often. I’ll assign a separate gallery for them soon.

Also…

The FOURXFIVE event is coming.

It is something I’ve been chewing on for a while.

Here is what it will look like.(I think)

There will be one or more 4×5 cameras available.

This will your chance to use a 4×5.

Shoot with it or have a portrait made of yourself or whatever you wish.

Each camera will have a photographer attached to it to help you use it.

(Any one out there know how to use one? Call me)

I will donate the 4×5 film. You will pay for processing.

When we figure out prices and dates. I will post them.

After the film and prints come back we have a party to show them off.

Here is what I want everyone to understand.

This will be a chance to celebrate the art of photography, the beauty of film.

Remembering that it is okay to take ONE image every FIVE minutes

instead of 5 frames in 1 second.

In the mean time,

If you are photographer, student, lover of the art. Get your portrait made with a 4×5.

I am happy to do it. I’ll donate my time and film. You pay for printing and processing. Maybe it will become part of an exhibit one day.

Posted in Polaroid

Focusing issues…

Mahmood Fazal — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:58:17 +0000

I have nothing to say. Zac does an awesome job

Posted in Because photography is our passion

Now that those pesky New Year resloutions are out of the way…

Mahmood Fazal — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:00:07 +0000

To peers and students alike,

This year is going to be awesome. I have a few suggestions for our photographic resolutions adventures, designed to have artistic growth.

Here is the list. Try every one of these at least once.

1- Shoot at least one roll of FILM this year. Choose color or B/W based on whether you can have it processed locally. No film camera, use a disposable.

2-Shoot for yourself. Plan on everyone thinking you have gone nuts and shoot something that REALLY interests you.

3-BE in more pictures. I realize I am missing from so many memories over the years. It will make you a better portrait shooter, trust me.

4-If you shoot for a living, surprise one of your clients with a FREE shoot. Do this after all your negotiations are done, and all details have been agreed upon and the job is finished. When it is time to bill them, let them know it was your gift to them.

These will be enough for now.

Most of us look at blogs for the pictures anyway. So here is one with me in it, taken by a plugin remote trigger on the camera.

Posted in Because photography is our passion