Jason Tag Photography

Now that the month of September is winding down, I figure it’s a good time to look back at all the thing that happened this month.

Julia - September 6 2008

This month I got to work with four models I had worked with previously.  The first shoot this month was with Julia.  A very beautiful and energetic woman.  I love working with her because she’s not really a model and so she thinks differently from most of the models I work with.  Because of this she doesn’t get locked into modeling poses.  When she poses it’s more organic and natural.  I also love that she is a free spirit.  She seems as though she wants to just experience as much as she can and truly enjoy the moment.

Ashleigh - September 6 2008

The same day I shot with Julia, I also got to shoot with Ashleigh.  Another amazing woman who is just a joy to work with.  This was our second shoot together and I would say that she seemed more comfortable with me and the work this time than the first shoot we did.  Ashleigh is another woman who is fun to work with because She really seems to be able to look within and get really introspective during a shoot.  The shots we get tend to feel more personal, as if I’m capturing her experience.  Capturing a moment in time that is beautiful and magical.

Sarah E. - September 10 2008

The third shoot of September was with Sarah.  Sarah was one of the models I had worked with early on.  At the time of our first shoot I was still working out a lot of issues and trying to figure out how to work with models.  As a result I only got a few shots that were any good and I always I felt I could have done much better with her.  She moved away shortly after our first shoot and I felt sad because I was unable to work with her again and fix the problems of the earlier shoot.  So when she wrote me to say she was moving back I was stoked!  I couldn’t wait to shoot with her again.  I also felt that at the time of our first shoot, I didn’t have the experience to capture her properly.  She is one of those models that is able to internalize and to create a feeling of peace and persoanl reflection.  A truly beautiful woman who I’d like to work with more.

Sylvia - September 21 2008

My fourth shoot of the month was with the model who started all of this… Sylvia.  This time we got to shoot on the Island of Oahu.  She had wrote me and had said that she would be on Oahu for a few days.  So I took the chance to work with her in my playground. Sylvia is an amazingly talented model and a beautiful person who also has a good understanding about photography.  Working with her is a joy because I learn so much whenever I work with her.  Everything from the business of photography to getting a better angle for a shot or finding the right setting for a pose.  She also has a great sense of peace that makes being around her a real treat.

Overall September was one of my busiest months ever and it was a great deal of fun to work with these four amazing women.  I hope that I’ll get to work all of them again soon.

Peaceful Morning

Over the weekend I got the chance to shoot with Sylvia on Oahu. I was so stoked to be able to shoot with her on my island for a change. The ideas that talked about for this shoot was to shoot in and around water. so we headed to a location I’ve shot at several times. Instead of staying near the trails we hiked up the stream and into areas where not alot of people would normally go. We were rewarded for being adventurous with an amazing pool of water and a few small waterfalls. It was a gorgeous setting and a place that not too many people have seen before. Which makes it such a special place for me.

Flowing Water

One of the things I wanted to capture was water flowing around Sylvia. I wanted to try to slow down the water so that it appeared as a blurry mist flowing around her body. So we spent a great deal of time on it. One of the problems I found was that it wasn’t easy to get the camera to go dark enough to allow me to get a long enough exposure time. Even with the aperture set at ƒ22 I was still getting overexposure at .5 second exposure times. I knew that in order to really blur the water I’d need at least 1 second exposure times maybe longer.

When it wasn’t working at one part of the stream we headed further upstream and we did find another great place to shoot this idea. All in all it was a great morning creating art!

As I mentioned earlier… I never got around to editing the shoot I did with Sylvia back in February so I decided to start going through it. I absolutely love working with her because of her eyes. From the first shoot I did with her I couldn’t get over how beautiful her eyes are. So I decided I would put this one up on the site and share it with all of you.

As I was going through some of my past shoots I realized that I never fully edited a shoot that I had done with Sylvia back in February. I remember making her a cd of the shots…unedited, but I never did edit them myself. So I started going through that shoot and thought I ‘d post one of them here. This shot gives such a sense of peace, which I sometimes need to be reminded of. Especially at this moment in time when I feel especially chaotic.

Aloha,
Jason Tag

While I was onthe plane flying to Maui to shoot with Sylvia a few weeks ago. I had this weird thought of getting a few shots that are framed badly… On purpose. I don’t know why but I thought it might be interesting. So while Sylvia was posing on some rocks I decided to hold the camera with one hand beneath my knees as I stood up. I pointed the camera in her general direction and press the shutter release. I was pretty pleased with the result. I think I’ll try some more of this on my next shoot just to see what happens. The shot below is one of the ones I took this way.

Well, Sylvia sent me a really nice email saying sh’es back from her trip and she’s loking to do another shoot with me soon. I’m so stoked to work with her again. You’ll remember that she was the model on my first shoot and she was the one who started me on this journey. I got tons of ideas and cant wait to shoot one or all of them with her… In case you don’t remember her(shame on you!) here’s one of the pics I took of her…