My colleague Hugh G has nicknamed me the Patrick McMullan of Honolulu as I always seem to end up shooting lots of the socialite parties here in town. I don’t shoot many but those I do shoot end up in the local glossy mags. The parties are lots of fun and and I recognize many of the people are they are the same faces at all the different functions. Like I said, I really don’t shoot many…mostly four or five a year and that’s plenty for me.
The party I shot on Friday was for the Parc Hotel and it was a neat shindig. DJs, artists, food, lights and lasers, and drink. The party also had as I can only describe as water dancers. To describe, two girls dressed as flowers and they floated around the pool and did a slow moving water ballet. Pretty neat.
My focus was off but that element gave the image a deliberate slow and dreamy feel. Dreamy…how many times does that come up in a description of an artistic photo? Not dreamy but rather, an unexpected entrance into solemnity. Dare I say Degas?
I opted to shoot with my Canon 1D Mark II over the 1Ds just to give the 1Ds a rest. I shot raw varying the iso between 400-1600 depending on the quality and feel I wanted to pull from the image. Looking at the newer tech on the market right now, the Mark II is slowly obsoleting itself from existence. In many ways, most jobs can still be shot on the tinny Mark I with that small 4 mg file. Hell, the original Nikon D1 with the small 2.7 mg file was pretty incredible. But the computer war took over the camera battles and now we all have to face an increasing pull of more megapixels for more money.
The Mark II is a great camera…fast and quick on the focus. Jacques made a claim not too long ago he longed for a Mark II over the III. Its hard to say which is best. No grain or digital noise in a high iso image must be nice but not always the best. Natural or enhanced depends on your preference.
Parties are usually loud so I can sneak around and take some neat pictures of people when they are not really paying attention. I mean its hard to sneak around people when you have a big Canon, lens, and flash on a hand/face combo. Nevertheless, when the drinks are flowing and conversation is shrilling away, its neat to sneak around and snap the unexpected.
The laser lights were flashing and casting everything blue.
This last shot was part of the dance troupe except she wasn’t in the water. I can only describe her as a living flower and she’d pose around the party flipping her pedals above and over her head. Although my last image doesn’t quiet show the experience, the uniqueness of the image overall makes the image.
Enjoy.