Baltimore woman Sheontay Smith, 27, is on a waiting list for subsidized child care. She is photographed Tuesday, December 6, 2011 in the Southwest neighborhood of Baltimore “Sowebo” where she works as an inspection scheduler for the Baltimore Housing Authority. Day care for her three-year-old is $520 a month, her second highest monthly expense next to rent. She could apply for child care assistance if she didn’t have a job.

The New York Times story, which outlines the frustrating reality of raising a kid by a single working mom, is here.

One of the tough parts of making these portraits is that they were during her lunch hour. Ideally I would’ve gotten her at least getting her son ready for school in the morning, but, for some reason, that wasn’t feasible. We also couldn’t make pictures in her office. So, we just walked around the block. I felt bad because Sheontay — a pretty attractive woman — would get hollered at. “Damn Girl! You a model?!?” I know my camera and I didn’t help. Sheontay took it all in stride, though. 

I recently realized that I when I listen to music I respond waaaayyy more to the mood a song creates than I do to its lyrics. I always hear how the vocals are sung and never hear what’s being said. Maybe that’s why I like metal?

It didn’t take too long for me to understand I react the same way to photographs.

And as you know, light controls most of the mood of a photo. Sure, so does body language, but when the two meet…

So, these are test shots. I was working on super controlled, film noirish lighting. Like the first Scary Self Portrait post I wanted the eyes to go entirely black, with the exception of two small, piercing, catch lights, made, this time, with an underpowered, tightly gridded monolight. The key light in the above photo is pointed down, off my right shoulder.This picture only uses one gridded mono light, positioned directly underneath my camera & pointed up. The grid is so tight & focused none of the shadow hits the wall.This one is the combination of the two. and as a bonus, here’s me in a luchador mask.

City Springs School social studies teacher Nick West catches “Bobby the Beaver,” the talking piece he uses for “circle time,” Thursday, August 25, 2011. His 8th grade home room students, including Dwayne Jefferson, middle, and Jonte Parker, right, use circle time as an opportunity to interact, and discuss issues of concern.

The Baltimore City charter school has implemented several structural practices such as single gender classrooms and the Restorative Practices pedagogy.

Principal Rhonda Richetta’s idea is to create a safe and respectful culture rather than utilize traditional “crime and punishment” methods. After Restorative Practices became mandatory, the school lost a majority of their teachers. Mr. West, who just started his third year at City Springs, has the most seniority among middle school teachers.

This was one of the more interesting assignments I’ve had for Education Week. The story is about school security. But when I got to the school, I felt like security was a non-issue. I guess that means its working. Everyone was respectful towards everyone else — which is a pillar of the Restorative Practices model of education. Staff members use “affective language” when talking with students. Students were encouraged to deal their issues in “circles” rather than fighting, employing the teachers as mediators of sorts. I bet that gave the teachers a super-strong connection to their kids.

Something’s working at this place. I’ve never met more polite middle schoolers. And it’s not like this school is full of hand picked genius/polite students. City Springs is an inner city Baltimore neighborhood school. It’s not the worst neighborhood, but it’s comprised of three housing projects and 99% of the student body receives free lunches.

I got the impression that school was, ironically, a source of calm for most of these kids. Everything’s structured. — even their locker breaks. I guess that makes sense because when I was in school, locker breaks were when most of the fighting happened. And most importantly, the kids are learning! The teachers have the time to finish lessons.

“I don’t really use it that often.” says City Springs School Principal Rhonda Richetta talking about her security system. “It’s not this security system that has changed the climate in my school. It’s the Restorative Practices.” When she first started as principal she remembers having to break up fights 5 or 6 times a day. She wanted to change the school’s culture rather than beef up the security measures. She now finds that she has to rely less on the school’s security camera system set up in her office, and has fostered a respectful culture between students and faculty.

Faculty did leave, however. After Restorative Practices became mandatory the school lost the majority of their teachers because, according to Richetta, they didn’t want to change how they taught.

From what I understand, a major critique of this approach to teaching is that it doesn’t allow for educator creativity. Almost everything is structured and scripted. But when your students live in poverty, I wonder how much structure and respect a lot of them are getting when they’re not in school.

When installing new security cameras Richetta chose small cameras to not foster a an over securitized ambiance.

Eighth-graders in Tracy Hauser’s home room Brittany Carter, left, and Tyveona James, right, join hands with classmates during “circle time.” 

You know how some photographers LOVE shooting weddings while others shoot them every so often to make some extra money? Well, I came to a decision earlier this year that I don’t shoot weddings. I don’t advertise as a wedding photographer. So, I only get referrals from friends. None of my friends can afford my rates ($3200-$5400), and neither can their relatives. So, I never really book weddings. It’s okay. I like having my weekends free.

Another way photographers make extra money are family/kid/baby/and pet portraits. That’s a bit more my speed and interest level. But I don’t really wanna make cheesy glamour shot/Olan Mills pictures, either. I like funny.

So, I got an idea.

Messy Kid Portraits!

Heck! if someone wants a portrait of them and their spouse playing in the mud I’ll shoot that too.

…seriously. I’LL SHOOT THAT! call me.

So, This shoot features Margot Ludwig. When I made these photos (Wednesday, August 31, 2011) she was almost two.  I approached her mom Kendall — who owns Curly Red Designs — with the idea. Obviously, Kendall was in.

Yup. this is what sometimes happens when I try a new lighting set up and no one else is around. enjoy!

 My friend Andrea Wise has a fire juggling brother. So, when I found out I couldn’t not make some photos, right? 

The El Mateo!
Luchador mask courtesy of the limited edition “Weird Sports” book by Sol Neelman.

Check it out: I’m in good company.

What better way to sell aprons than to set stuff on fire, right?

We cracked a few eggs, too. LITERALLY!

So, if you’re a person who’s easily offended by exploding yolks, don’t go any further.

Seriously, though. The egg breaking photos are pretty awesome.

My neighbor Kristen Rigney owns City Sparrow where you can buy retro styled, HAND MADE, aprons & pot holders. …one pot holder actually got a little singed during this shoot.

The idea behind this shoot is to illustrate the follies of an unskilled housewife.

So, if you want one of her aprons, she’ll be selling them December 3rd at the Charm City Craft Mafia’s Holiday Heap.

..or online at www.etsy.com/shop/CitySparrow.

Let the eggsploding begin!The egg got everywhere. The ceiling, the floor 15 feet away from Kristen, on my shirt. I got a little of the white on my camera, too, but none in my hair, surprisingly. Obviously, Kristen wasn’t so lucky.

BOY! Doesn’t this post’s title sound cocky!?

All that means is Jen Rynda replaced me at the Patuxent Publishing Company when I quit last December. And In case you’re curious, she’s doing a great job.  She’s also putting a fresh new face on the Athletes of the Year photos — which, I suppose if I left a legacy at PPC, that would be it. …which was a legacy belonging to Fran Gardler before that. She’s pretty good at shooting sports, so, for some reason the powers that be assumed she’d be good at shooting the Athletes of the Year. I get the impression that expectation made her a bit nervous. So, she bribed me with a burrito last June to teach her how to use my old lighting kit (which was actually cannibalized by a few other staffers hahaha!). During our lesson, she made this cool, moody photo of me.

This This and This (specifically the flying lacrosse player) are some pretty cool examples of how she’s making the Athletes of the Year shoots her own.

So, earlier today (yeah! how’s that for a fast blog post turn around?) we met up for lunch and I started talking about lighting. ….y’know, one of those nerdy things photogs sometimes talk about. I mentioned using a Lastolite TriGrip Deflector silk to diffuse the harsh light  from Nikon my SB-900 in a photo I made of Melissa Golden eating pizza, and one thing led to another and BAM! — we’re talking about High Speed Sync/focal plane lighting. So, we went back to my place and I gave her a quick demo of what the new Pocket Wizard Flex system can do with a speedlight and D700 + 35mm f/1.8 at 100 ISO, 1/8000th of a second, at f/1.8 outdoors on an overcast, drizzly day.

Now, I’m not really a tech/gear blogger, so I’m not gonna go into a big technical explanation. There are a ton of blogs out there better at nerding out on gear. I learned about fp (focal plane) lighting from The Strobist, for example. So, if you have the time, do some digging.

All I’m gonna say about this shoot is that it took very little time to set up. 10 minutes, including set up, break down, and two location changes. I rarely takes me 10 minutes to set up the big lights.

I’m NOT gonna say the results are “just as good as using the big lights.” But they’re different than using the big lights. Obviously if I used two speedlights the light sculpting might be more impressive.

But, y’know… it’s my go to method for running and gunning a lit portrait. Below are a examples of how much light the SB-900 actually gave the shoot and what the set up looked like.no light (obviously).

Who needs a tripod when you have a bannister? …although, I wouldn’t mind getting one of Lastolite’s TriGrip Brackets, either.Indoors with the TriGrip. ISO 100, 1/8,000th, f/1.8 …the strobe was set to Manual at full (1/1) power and zoomed in to 24mm.

This is without the TriGrip at the same settings. …and yeah. Jen’s out of focus. That’s one of the problems you’ll run into when shooting at f/1.8. Aside from my focusing problem, I also think the lighting looks a little gross in comparison to the one above. Sure, the light is spread out, lighting the room a bit better, but the quality of light looks cheap. — in my opinion. There are just too many weird highlights and shadows. Oh. And I should say, I’m not sponsored by any of the companies I touted in the post. …but if Nikon, Pocket Wizard, and/or Lastolite wants to give me a call (gear, and money) I’m all ears (and eyes).

And just for reference, this is what the room looked like with the same exposure settings, sans flash.  dark, right?

“I had to stop telling people I live in Ballston, because they think I’m saying ‘Boston.’ So I just say Arlington,” says the lovely and talented photographer Melissa Golden, who’s now a new home owner, the day before moving day Sunday, September 25, 2011.

For this post I wanted to showcase what Melissa’s condo was going to look like completely empty. After all, homes are only empty when they’re bought and sold. So, this day marks a big-deal chapter in her life. The next time it looks like this, that chapter will be closed.

A few other themes I played with in this shoot are adulthood, what it means to scrape by (the pizza) but still looking fabulous (I mean, look at her dresses! …and those shoes!).But while Melissa’s technically an “adult” she’s still full of life and fun. …and quirky. So, in some photos I tried contrasting “adult” and “young.”

…look at me getting all metaphorical over here. Although, I’m sure there’s a much more elegant way of wording what I’m trying to say. ha!

And, because she lives by herself in a one bedroom, I wanted to show a sense of loneliness as well. I live by myself and I know how still the air can get. And, y’know, being all grown up can be a little lonely at times …what, with you and sometimes only your responsibilities to keep you company.

Melissa joked around before I got there saying she was going to get me out of my comfort zone. …and I later asked what she meant.

She replied: No big lights. All ambient!

And I did set up my big light, too. But her place was just flooded with super-cool natural light. So, I broke it down. I only busted out my small light (sb-900) for the glamourous pizza eating photos.

So okay. lesson learned (which I’d been ignoring for a while) ambient light is also good for portrait work.

“Here’s to buying condos instead of cameras” as she knocks back the inaugural bottle of Tres Sietes tequila she won in a raffle.