Mike Padua Blog

We went to Kauai in October. Shot everything with 35mm Fujicolor 200 film loaded into a Fujifilm Klasse S. The film wasn’t the greatest, as it was hastily purchased because the Kodak I ordered didn’t arrive on time. Shadows have a green tint to them, but such is the personality of different emulsions.

While I certainly would have shot more with digital, I think the volume of what I treasure from this trip would actually have been reduced. I really had to make sure what I was shooting was important enough to document. This is only a small fraction of what I shot, and the rest will remain in the personal archives, to be viewed and treasured only in person, at home. Just like the old days.

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See more work on my website.

It’s official: my new website has launched. It’s much easier and smoother to navigate, and it’s optimized to work on big screens, small screens, and everything in between. The pictures are beautifully displayed and all the functionality to deliver pictures to clients quickly and securely remains.

HUGE thanks to Photoshelter for providing the amazing tools they do for photographers.

Check it out!

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The Wayback machine is calling my name tonight. Revisiting the images from Helen Pau’s original play “The Stone Wife” always brings me back to the beginning of when I started shooting theatrical productions, and reminds me that the tools and cameras I was using back then haven’t changed much at all today.

See the whole gallery here.

Get in touch to book photography for your theatrical production.

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A few more from Davis when we saw our friend’s band at the Davis Flea Market. Flea market-like wares abound, and Tony couldn’t say no to the Swiss Army knife with a flashlight on it.

Saw my friends’ band Dead Cat Hat at the Davis Flea Market in (where else?) Davis with my friend Tony. Had a rollicking good time. They played in an attic space 15 feet above the floor. 15 feet. It was like watching KISS, only the music was better.

I brought the Ricoh GR with me, so all the zooming was done with my legs.

You definitely should be listening to them and going to their shows.

A lot of new stuff cooking. Over a year’s worth of new work to be added to the portfolios, and a new website that’s just about done. The site is up now if you want to look at it…I just haven’t made the “official” official announcement to make it officially official.

http://www.mikepadua.com

It’s 2014 and time to get back to work. I always have to remind myself that the things we use to create (cameras, computers, pens, pencils, paint, paint brushes, etc.) are just tools.

I took a little break from shooting theatrical and film productions to focus more on shooting headshots this year–or at least I thought I did. It turns out I’ve shot almost as many productions (both theatre and film) as I did the previous year, in addition to the headshots. This is just the professional stuff–there’s so much more personal work that I’ve shot that I haven’t even begun to sort through. Here’s a little review of some of the work I did 2013.

Theatrical Productions

The Fourth Messenger – A new, original musical by Tanya Shaffer, Directed by Matt August. See the whole gallery.

Sweeney Todd – Presented by Bay Area Stage, Directed by Jeff Lowe. See the whole gallery.

Funny Girl – Presented by Lucky Penny Productions, Directed by Barry Martin. See the whole gallery.

Wonder of the World – Presented by Napa Valley Playhouse and Lucky Penny Productions, Directed by Taylor Bartolucci. See the whole gallery.

Desire, Despair, Destiny & Death! – Presented by Opera Bravura. Check out their schedule of shows.

The Importance of Being Earnest – Presented by Bay Area Stage, Directed by Jeff Lowe. See the whole gallery.

Films

“New,” directed by John Harden. Cinematographer Kirk Douglas and Director John Harden discuss the next shot.

Rise,  Directed by Scott O’Hara. Check it out on Facebook.

Story of Eva, Directed by Tom Woodbeck. Left to right: Sound Engineer David Minard, Cinematographer Jason Morris, Director Tom Woodbeck. Check it out on Facebook and their website.

Headshots

And of course, I focused on shooting actors and performers headshots in 2013. One notable instance was shooting 23 headshots within an hour for the entire cast of Missouri Street Theatre’s “Once Upon a Mattress:”

Click here for headshot information.

Missouri Street Theatre‘s production of Once Upon a Mattress needed portraits of all 23 of their cast, and we had an hour to set up and light on location, and then one hour to shoot all 23 people. Up to the task? Of course I was…but it would have been difficult without an assistant to help schlep and set up lights, stand in for test shoots, then take names of all 23 people and help move the line along. That’s where my trusty assistant Victor came in:

I opted for simple: one key light directly above, a silver reflector below, and two back lights camera left and right against white seamless.

The biggest challenge was pulling real expressions out of people instead of the “say cheese” expressions you normally see in wham-bam, super fast cattle call portraits. I had 20 seconds to build rapport with someone who I’d never met, so that I could elicit real expressions and then about a minute and a half to shoot about 7-8 pictures. I was careful not to just spray and pray, and really worked on getting subjects to laugh, smile and express something genuine with their eyes…23 times.

The results were posted in Fairfield’s Downtown Theatre lobby along with each performer’s bio during the run of the show. It was an especially fun assignment since I had once nephew assisting and another nephew performing in the show.

Here’s a little preview of the results, but you’re going to have to see the show if you want to see the final, printed lobby shots:

Info on booking headshots, in studio and on location, can be found on my website.

These are the first photos I’ve taken with my Canon EOS M and 22mm f/2.0 Lens Kit.
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I bought the camera because my Ricoh GR is still in repair, as far as I know CRIS Camera is still waiting for the part to repair it. For my personal photos, I’ve been shooting nothing but film and with my iPhone when it’s convenient. I have nothing I against pictures taken with a phone (outside of the fact that comparatively speaking, they suck)–what I hate is the experience of shooting with a phone.

Shooting exclusively with film again for nearly 2 months straight has reminded me of how we used to shoot pictures–carefully chosen subjects, conservatively exposed frames. Much more thought went into whether we wanted that frame or not. We weren’t so profligate with it, and I feel like my digital shooting is much more careful now because of it (until of course I fall back into the habit of clicking-because-I-can, which is just inevitable with digital).

With the holidays coming and my daughter at the magical age of 2.5, and very aware of the legend that is Santa Claus, I wanted something more robust and capable than an iPhone, and more flexible and generous than film, since we have so many holiday activities planned. To hold myself over, I got a Canon EOS M and 22mm f/2.0 Lens.

At an equivalent focal length of 35mm, and a lens faster than that of my Ricoh GR, the focal length is right in my comfort zone.

After getting out of the office, I decided to take a twilight stroll and push the camera/lens combo’s low-light abilities for my first run through with the camera.

So far I can definitely say I enjoy shooting with the camera, but with the finer controls buried in menus and touchscreens, and only one real spinning control dial and a minimal amount of buttons, my impression is that the EOS-M is a step up from point and shoots (albeit a big step up) rather than an alternative for those who want to leave a D-SLR at home. It feels and acts like a point-and-shoot in its slight sluggishness and choice to use slow-ish shutter speeds, rather than an aggressive picture-making machine like the Ricoh GR.

I haven’t even shot with the camera in daylight yet as of this writing, but I’m definitely looking forward to shooting all weekend with it. I’ll post more as I shoot more.