Special events take place all over South Florida. Some of these events are small family gatherings or small business related events. Others are much larger and more important events.
In order to answer this, one needs to consider the cost of not having a record of the event. In some cases the event is not important and after the event, if none, or few pictures are recored it's not big deal. Other times, not having pictures of your event would be a huge problem. When considering this question, the answer may also be based on budget. The pictures in this article were captured my me, (Jeff Kolodny) a professional photographer with many years of experience and a extensive photography education. More on myself later.
At this event they decided to hire me for several reasons. First, there were lots of people in attendance. Most of the participants worked and trained for years to earn their karate belts. Many of the participants had family members and friends in attendance. In addition there were some very well known and highly regarded karate masters in attendance. Given all the guests that were attending and the VIPs a decision was made to hire me as the photographer.
About this event
This two day event as hosted by, East West Okinawan Karate in Boynton Beach. Given all the Dojos and Karate academies in South Florida, this is by far one of the best. They offer a wide range of classes and programs making it the perfect for for any level student. For children, they offer programs that are fun and teach skills that build self-confidence and self-esteem and well as improving mental focus, memory and inner peace. One event took place in the Dojo and the other larger event took place at the Delray Beach Convention Center.
How I covered this event
Shooting a live karate event is a challenge because it requires a action photographic technique. This means fast shutter speed to freeze the action, and nice lighting to provide attractive images. As with any live event, lighting is always an issue. The lighting inside your typical Dojo, convention center, or other work space is not designed with artistic lighting. The lighting in these types of places is more like, provide enough light to clearly see, and most of the time that light source comes from above, for example, spot lights or halogen lights in the ceiling. While this type of lighting gets the job done in terms of being able to see clearly, it doesn't eliminate shadows or produce any type of flattering lighting. This means the photographer needs to re-create the light source. For the professional photographer, this is often done with an electronic flash. Over the past few years camera technology has improved and the newer cameras are great in extreme low light situations, however simple sowing up with a good camera and taking pictures doesn't produce the best imagery. I see this all the time, photographers with great cameras, shooting with no flash or other light source, thinking they are getting great pictures. In the back of a camera, on a tiny screen, this type of un controlled lighting may look on, but when printed or blown up, there images are just ugly. Shadows under eyes and noses, eyes that have no color or are just dark, don't make for pretty pictures. This is why, extra lighting is needed.
When covering this event I decided to go with bounce flash. I used a very powerful flash or strobe and bounced the light off the wall behind me. This softens the light and filled in all the shadows. Having my flash on camera allowed me to move around freely and quickly so that I could get the photos I needed. I'm a real stickler for showing faces clearly, so in addition to showing the karate moves, I also made it a point have the faces appear in each shot. I'm not one to photograph backs of heads.
FIRST - Years of experience!
I started taking pictures at the early age of 13. My father who was an experience amateur photographer had a home darkroom and shot pictures at every possible moment, especially travel shots. Using Kodachrome film his scenic pictures were amazing and he also, knew how to pose and photograph people as well. For those not familiar with Kodachrome, in it's time Kodachrome produced the most beautiful images ever. Now discontinued Kodachrome is never to be forgotten. There were songs written about Kodachrome, movies about Kodachrome, to say Kodachrome is historic is an understatement. As a kid I grew up surrounded by photography. When I started high school, I spent hours and hours in the school darkroom and learning about videography as well. My the time I started college, I already knew how to use a camera. As a photography and a communication major, I attended Adelphi University in Garden City NY. During my college years, I worked on movies, shot model portfolios, edited videos and spend countless hours in the darkroom printing pictures and processing film. Today, almost every photographer shoots digital, however as an experienced professional photographer, I believe that having the understanding of film photography is a huge help. Shooting film requires a level of discipline that is not required with todays digital photography. A film photographer needs to consider every aspect of the picture, during exposure for a multitude of reasons. Cost is a big factor, a film photographer must pay for every shot taken. First there is the processing cost, and then the cost of making prints. What does this all mean? It means a photographer who comes from a film background brings a special level of discipline to the photography. Each image captured is carefully composed and exposed for the highest quality imagery. If you look at my pictures, you will see, nice even lighting on faces. Pictures that are taken to tell a story. Flattering people pictures in which the subjects are attractive and pleasing to look at. I'm sure you must be thinking, what about ugly people, fat people, and so on. The truth is, in every the moment any picture is captured the photographer has the option to photograph several different ways. For example, an image could be taken at a high angle, or a low angle, if the photographer wants to make someone appear taller. When a larger parson is
Location: Boca Raton, Florida.