2011 April | Riz Crescini

Archive for April, 2011

Kinzan River Photo Shoot: Kitakyushu, Japan

April 21, 2011

This week, Shouten, Winnie, and I went out for another photo session. This shoot took place at Kinzan River. Every spring is the Cosmos Festival highlighted by the blooming of various kinds of flowers, especially tulips. On either side, the river is flanked by gorgeous flower beds and cherry blossom trees. We were too late for the cherry blossoms but just in time for the flowers.

Winnie really enjoyed this shoot because she loves flowers!

Winnie looking beautiful in her spring dress

I'm not a "flower" kind of person but even I can appreciate their beauty!

This one is shot with a long lens and the next one with a wide-angle lens. Which one do you like?

Shouten wanted to learn more about flash photography. He specifically wanted to know how I got the nice starburst effect on some of my shots. For those shots, I use a Lastolite triflash bracket. You are able to mount 3 flashes. Using 3 flashes will allow you to “overpower” the sun. Having 3 flashes also gives you a faster recycling time between shots as the flashes don’t have to be on full power. On the next 3 images, my aperture setting is the same but look at how the mood changes when I adjust the shutter speed.

F22, 1/200 A dramatic look with a sharp sun starburst

F22, 1/60 With a slower shutter speed, you bring in more of the scene. The starburst is not as sharp but still pretty good. I also had the model face more in the direction of the flash. I also love the little starburst reflections on the water!

F22, 1/50 Now the sun is starting to wash out. But still a nice warm, pleasing shot of Winnie.

F18, 1/50 Sometimes, I introduce texture to compensate for the harsh lighting. The texture also gives a nice fine art look which I was going for in this image.

I also use a reflector to bring light back into the face when in open shade. The reflector I love to use is the Lastolite Trigrip. I am using the reflector in the next 3 images.

Learning lighting is essential when doing photography and I’m thankful for my mentor, Scott Robert Lim, who has taught me a lot about lighting and photography. Check out his site and be inspired!

Thanks again to Shouten and Winnie for an awesome photo shoot. Looking forward to our shoot in May!

***Update: I forgot to include one more photo. See below:

Can you "feel" the warm spring sun on her face?

Tags: Fukuoka, Japan, Kinzan River, Kitakyushu, Lastolite, lifestyle, photo shoot, Scott Robert Lim, 北九州, 日本, 金山川
Posted in Lifestyle, Photo Shoot | 2 Comments »

Photo Session with Winnie: Hibikino Campus, Wakamatsu City

April 19, 2011

Last Wednesday, I went shooting with one of my former students on the Hibikino Campus. This is the campus where I work part-time as an English teacher. Our model that day was Winnie. She is a graduate student at Waseda University but as you will see, she is also a beautiful model. Shouten, my former student, is from China and he loves photography! Today was his first time to shoot using the off-camera lighting technique and he did a great job. He was so excited that he is now planning to buy his own trigger system for his flash. I had a great time shooting a beautiful model and getting satisfaction from Shouten’s improvement as a photographer. Thanks, Shouten and Winnie! Can’t wait to do it again soon.

Here’s a black and white version of the same image.

Tags: China, Fashion, Hibikino Campus, Japan, Kitakyushu, off-camera lighting technique, portraits, Wakamatsu
Posted in Fashion, Inspiration, Lifestyle | No Comments »

Signs of Life: Yard Photos

April 3, 2011

Just a little over a week ago, I was in Tohoku, Japan as part of a media team for a non-profit organization, Churches Helping Churches. A detailed post of my time up north is on its way. I’m still reflecting on the tragedy that has come upon northern Japan and the rebuilding that must take place in the cities and in people’s lives.

One of the things brought home to me as I was taking pictures of the destruction before me is that for all man’s creativity and ingenuity, we build things that won’t last. We might know this in our heads but on a daily basis, we lead lives that come perilously close to delusional. Why? Because we think our lives are somehow invincible. We take so much comfort from our possessions. We work hard on things that truly aren’t meaningful. The tragedy in northern Japan has taught me that life is beautiful but it is short and fragile. I should correct myself to say that life CAN be beautiful if we live it in a way that give value to others rather than hopelessly trying to attain meaning from possessions.

The blooming of flowers during springtime are a gentle reminder to me of this reflection: we have an incredibly short amount of time in which we can display the beauty that God has intended for our lives. We need to take a hard look at our lives. Are we living it for others or for things?