updated. 3 february (japan time):

i added two more shots. everyone thanks for your feedback!

30 january. so here goes results!

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 1 - student project

so here are results. we started with the classic image of royal portrait. gold accessories, real vitage army jacket, a golden belt (from some girls-brand collection!). while the actor was dressing up with the stylist i was near with him and we discussed the image of pride, courageousness, glory and at the same time sadness...

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 2 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 3 - student project

my set was really simple. i used diffused opa light (i think you call it beauty dish) coming from the boom-stand from above (almost above the head of the actor), and grid-light shooting from behind-left of the actor. the sides were blackened out (sorry for my english) to bring up the edge, and i had a light shooting at bounce-reflector on the floor to bring a nice catch light in the eyes. if you want i can draw the lighting map.

now after we did this shot (10 minuts tops), we moved to another one. me and my make up were discussing that the men in royal portraits of 18-th centure all had this feminine side about them... it mostly came up because they were using a lot of make-up those days. so we decided to add some pink to the actors cheeks, and even bring out some eyelashes. just a little bit. there were another reason why i wanted to do that. i thought that i would bring up the other side of actor... he usually plays yakuzas in movies, but in real life is really nice and soft person. but to express it more we needed the make-up. i asked actor to look cold and glorious. here are results... again. look at the clothes. we worked hard on all details.

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 4 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 5 - student project

now what was important for me is not to forget the personality of the actor. though it is a shoot based on the imagination and a lot of fashionable(?) clothes, it is still a portrait work. this is the base of my selection. i chosed not just the coolest pictures, but the pictures i thought represent this actor the most. so after this 2 versions, we pretty much were satisfied with the results. but there still some clothes and the actor was willing to do some more.... so after all this cold and glorious images, i deided i wanted to go the opposite (now it was not in the plan of the shoot originally). i asked the actor if he was okay with that, i explained him that it would be cool to go more emotional after this cold images. something more sentimental, more passionate, and again i want it to be glorious and sad at the same time. so we decided to go black-and-white. and the make up was based on that.

i stoped the music in studio, so it was silent, just the sound of camera shutter and lights. the actor was really amazing. it is really those moments that you do for shoots, when you are amazed by someones personality so much that you want to keep it, you want to stop the time and enjoy the powerful moments.

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 6 - student project

i was raised in japan, and a lot of people still believe here that the camera captures part of the humans soul and heart. i am one of the believers. i asked the actor to forget about the rhythm of camera, and move in his own rhythm - i will capture the moments i am looking for. and thats what we did... the actor was moving and sometimes i shooted like crazy, sometimes i was waiting for the right moment to come.

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 7 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 8 - student project

and so here are results. i am looking forward on jonathans and yours reaction. please leave a comment, ask me questions, just dont pass by :) and i hope you enjoy my bad english explanation :)

i think the jonathan give me those spark that i needed to explode creatively. there are so many things i want to ask him still. but first - the result of the work...

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28 january (japan time). i hoped that the class will be on schedule, but i can imagine how much time Jonathan have to spend to look at all projects. i respect that. but anyway, the shoot is done, it was amazing! i am selecting the work now, and thinking on how to retouch it, will be back to show the results later...

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 10 - student project

26 january (japan time) updated:

so the shoot is tomorrow night. here is an images me and my team are using for the shoot.
on the right two is the actual actor we are going to do test shoot with.

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 11 - student project

updated:

Ok, so here is my first mood-board and a project that I am going to do (i plan to do 2 during this class, cause I just want to use this opportunity fully!). So I asked one of 49-year old respected japanese actor to pose for me privatly. I plan to base the shoot on this 3 images.

This are the portraits of japanese royal family members in different times (mostly 18th centure). They have this feeling of pride, courage and time in them... and at the same time for some reason the make me feel a little bit sad (I try to figure out why, maybe its background? the light?). I think this images will fit that actor, and I just got to bring the carpet in the studio! (check the first image, this prince stands on the carpet) :).

But it would be not interesting if I just reproduce the feel of the images... I wonder what should I do. And I am lucky! Because I will have a shoot on 27th, and Jonathan will post his video on 26th! So I hope to use the lesson in my shoot!

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 12 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 13 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 14 - student project

^^^^^

Ok. I am already working as a photographer in Tokyo(i switched to it completely last year), but I am still learning and Jonathan is one of the photographers I am looking up to, and I really admire his work. Hope to learn a lot from him...

I don`t do mood boards, I find it a little bit odd using others people photography to create your own. So I just share my project...

you have to forgive me if my english is wrong.

Okay, here is my project. I am shooting asian womens portraits in a small private studio with little lights (actually i have only two softboxes). I am interested in how girls mood changes, and how women open their heart to stranger (which is me, as a photographer). At first girls are shy, they try to pose and show themselves in a good way, but through talking they are slowly open up... some of them cry and share their fears and stories, some of them laugh... i am still learning the process of portrait, but i try to build my portrait based on a communication and trust. I wonder Jonathan does it, cause working with celebrities there is always fear of saying something wrong, not getting the mood right and e.t.c. how do you approach strangers? how do you approach strangers with attitude and like celebrities? how do you make them get out of their comfortable zone to create something original? this is what i am really interested in....

dear classmates, feel free to comment on my work!

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 15 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 16 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 17 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 18 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 19 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 20 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 21 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 22 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 23 - student project

---- my other portrait works (since everybody share theirs) ----
(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 24 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 25 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 26 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 27 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 28 - student project

(results!) royal family portrait, and some of my works Asian Women Portraits and new work - image 29 - student project

i can share later some of "retro japanese love hotel" series i have if anyone have interest.

Tim Gallo

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