Jason Tag Photography

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!

Sarah E. - September 10 2008

I had another shoot today. This time with the extremely beautiful Sarah E. She was a model I had worked with early on and she ended up moving to Florida before I had the chance to work with her again. She was so much fun to work with and hang out with that I was rather bummed when she moved. So imagine my excitement when She wrote me saying that she would be coming back to Hawaii!

Sarah E. - September 10 2008

Today’s shoot we went to an area that I had scouted before but I was unsure about whether it would work as a location to shoot nudes. It’s a popular hiking trail and is usually less popular on weekday mornings. We we’re very lucky that weren’t interrupted by people walking by or stumbling in as we we’re shooting. We only ran into other hikers as me moved from one part of the location to another. Sarah wore a sarong to cover herself between setups. So none of the hikers ever caught her in the nude. Very lucky indeed.

Sarah E. - September 10 2008

This shoot was done with the new lens and I have to say that it performed well. I think I figured out the issue with it not focusing properly. I was re-framing my shots before it was done focusing! I feel rather silly about it. So today what I did was let it finish focusing then I checked my focus to make sure and then I took the picture. I’m glad I got it figured out I was worried that I’d have to take the lens back since it is quite a good lens.

We spent a great deal of time playing on and around trees, we also spent some time shooting in the stream that meanders through the location as well. We both had a lot of fun and I’m sure there’ll be more with Sarah in the future!

Tide Pools

It ended up that I had two shoots yesterday. The first shoot of the day was a sunrise shoot that turned out to be pretty awesome. We went to a location that I had shot at before. Although this time we hiked down around some tide pools that I had never seen before and got some great shots. The model looked beautiful against the volcanic rock and the ocean.

The ocean was a bit rough and a few times we had to dodge some waves crashing against the rocks we we’re shooting on. Later in the shoot we moved to a beach that was totally deserted. So we played in the shoreline and got some really cool shots there as well.

Banyan Tree - Sept. 6 2008

The second shoot of the day was with Ashleigh. I loved shooting with her so much that when the opportunity to shoot with her again came up I took it. I knew we would create some really beautiful and interesting images. We shot at a wooded location that I’ve haven’t shot at in a few months. We really had a lot of fun walking around the area and finding fun things to shoot with.

On both shoots the new lens performed beautifully. I don’t see a big difference with the shots but I can say that it made a big difference during the shoots.  I’ll write more about the lens a little later.

All in all it was a great day for shooting and both models and myself had a great time.

Yesterday’s shoot with Julia was a lot of fun. We had great conversations and came up with some beautiful images as well.

The shoot began at the summit of a mountain near Honolulu. The weather was overcast and it did rain a few times during the shoot. Julia was quite adventurous and was willing to shoot in the rain. We weren’t going to let something like a little rain stop us.

We started shooting with a concrete structure that I’ve used on another shoot. I kinda wanted to start somewhere familiar to get to know her and figure out how best to work with her. Once we got started things went fairly smooth. The main problem I kept having was due to the low light of an early morning coupled with the overcast sky. I’m glad I brought my flash with me. I had tried to use on the shoot with Rose but couldn’t get it to give me what I wanted so I gave up on that shoot. However during this shoot, I really needed more light and the reflectors were definetly not enough for the job.

So I forced myself to use the flash and make it work. I got a few shots that are obvious flash shots but I soon got the hang of using the flash for fill and this diffused skylight for main light. It was trick because I had to check every shot and make sure that the light balance was correct. Something I never had to worry about before.

One other problem that came up during the shoot was that since she had never posed for nude photography before I found that I had to really think about poses and try to describe what I wanted her to do. I found it quite challenging and in some cases I don’t think I translated what I saw in my head very well. That’s something I’m going to need to work on.

During the second half of the shoot we ventured off to a part of the location I had never been to before. Part of my thinking was to shoot in a part of that location I didn’t know so that I cold possibly come up with ideas for it prior to the shoot. I wanted to test myself as to how well I create on the fly. In some cases I thought I did well and others…not so good. But there’s always room for improvement.

All in all we had a great time. I’m very glad I got the chance to meet her and get to know her a little as well as creating some beautiful images with her.

Yesterday I wrote that I was working on a shoot for the weekend. Lat night I received an email from a model who was interested in working with me. We talked on the phone about the shoot and it seems like she’s going to be a lot of fun to work with. I’m always a little cautious when working with a new model. I got the impression that she’s done some nude modeling before but it’s been mostly for art classes. I know she’ll be relieved to know that she won’t have to hold the same pose for 5 minutes at a time. I’m a little nervous about working with a model I’ve never worked with before mainly because I never know what to expect.

I’ve been quite surprised by the models I’ve worked with through this experiment. Rose, as an example, is a woman I’ve known for years but never worked with her as a model until a few weeks ago. Even though I knew her, I still wasn’t sure what I was going to get and she turned out to be quite an amazing model. I’m glad I asked her to pose for me. And I’m sure we’ll be working together soon. I’ve found so many great models and wonderful women through this experiment that I find myself anxious to meet this new model this weekend.

The location I’ve selected is a place I’ve shot at before. The last time I was there it was an afternoon shoot. This time we’ll be doing a morning shoot. It’s a place that has a lot of nature but also man-made elements as well. The location also features an old road which I look forward to using. I also want to explore where that road goes. It branches off in a direction that looks like it just goes off into the bamboo but it might lead to something interesting. So I’m thinking that we’ll start off at the top of the mountain, move to the road and then move into the wooded area. Being nude in the woods will be a great way to end the shoot.

I guess we’ll see what happens…

On my last two shoots, something that come up was the idea of climbing trees nude. The shots I got are quite interesting and beautiful. As I’ve been editing two shoots simultaneously I found both of these images and felt the need to share this interesting Phenomenon. Maybe one day I’ll do a whole shoot about being nude in trees…

Yesterday I did a shoot with the amazingly beautiful Rose. I’ve known her for a few years although we don’t get to hang out as much as I’d like. I was quite nervous going into this shoot because she’s one of my friends. Most other models I’ve worked with I’ve become friends with because of this experiment. So I was worried that she’d be uncomfortable or that it would be weird for her to be seen nude by a friend. I was also worried that I wouldn’t be good enough or that somehow the shoot would go horribly wrong and she’d never speak to me again. Well that was my fear talking, the same fear that kept me from shooting nudes for 15 years.

Well all my fears were proven unfounded. It turned out that because we were friends that we already had a rapport and there were no trust issues. We had complete confidence in each other and that turned out to be a nice bonus on this shoot. This shoot really felt like we were just hanging out and the shots were secondary.

We shot at a location that I hadn’t scouted previously so I was also worried that the location wouldn’t be all that great. So it ended up being a surprise and it also became a shoot about discovering the shots and the moments as we lived them. My favorite way to shoot. that way there can be no preconceived notions and it’s really up to me and the model to find the shots.

We found a couple of really cool trees to play with and on fallen tree that was a lot of fun to work with. We also came across power line towers that were also neat to pose against. There’s just something about metal and skin that I find interesting.

We had a lot of fun and I hope that I’ll be able to work with her again soon.

Aloha,
Jason Tag

Up to this point in the adventure, I’ve been shooting outdoors in natural light.  I have used reflectors for some shots but I don’t feel comfortable using them unless I have an assistant.  It’s tricky to hold the reflector and the camera at the same time.  Or worse, having your reflector flying away in the wind and having to chase it down the beach while the model stand there waiting.( it hasn’t happened but it would suck if it did!)

Needless to say, I like shooting outdoors because it’s really the only time in my busy life that I get to be outside.  It’s sad I know.  I like being outside in the sun, taking a nice stroll through the woods, or maybe just relaxing on the beach.  And shooting nudes is not a bad way to experience the great outdoors either.  I have also enjoyed taking the minimalist approach and shooting with just a camera and that’s it.  It’s not easy to pull off but I feel that it’ll make me a better photographer if I can learn to shoot without all the fancy gadgetry and just focus on the actual shots.

I love the beach but I’m glad that I decided to shoot in the woods on the last shoot.  I was very happy at how those shots turned out and you can be sure that you’ll be seeing more shots in the woods.  But I would also like to do a few shoots that are industrial nudes or urban nudes.  I think these could a lot of fun.  Imagine playing with the contrast between the our harsh world and the soft skin of the human body.  Or showing off the strength of the human body against a metal structure, or how the body is capable of becoming one with the industrial world.  I am truly excited about the possibilities and seeing what comes of all this…

Aloha!