The particular lens I used was a Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5 – 4.5. This year marks the 10th year that I’ve owned this lens, and also happens to be the Sigma Corporation’s 50th Year Anniversary. I bought this lens in 2001, because even then, true to Sigma’s philosophy of creating unique lenses, it was not only the best, but also the only wide angle zoom option to use with my 1.3 crop Kodak DCS 760, which was used to take these images. I have since then used that lens to shoot many magazine covers, advertising campaigns, and fashion spreads. Also, having acquired the Kodak DCS 760 in 2001, this year (2011) also marks 10 years in my using digital capture.

Of the many reasons why I switched to digital, probably the most compelling (and strangest!) is because I wanted my photographic process to be as close, at least in spirit, to the pioneers of black-and-white ‘Art’ photography such as the f/64 Group. Put simply, they shot their own film, developed, and printed their photographs themselves. It was an approach that epitomized the virtue of purist, or ‘straight’ photography, meaning that it emphasized the unique qualities of photography as a medium of expression, but at the same time remained artistic and interpretative through the visualization process and the control of black-and-white tonality in the final ‘art’ print.

I wanted a level of control of my work, from shooting to post-processing, that just was not possible or practical without a dedicated high quality darkroom. Most of my work up until that time was shot with 120 format slide film, and thus had to be sent for processing and printing at a professional custom lab. The precise control of black-and-white tonality, as outlined in Ansel Adam’s Zone System, is quite difficult to achieve if the film development and printing is handled by a third party lab. Even with a good custom lab, the process required test prints and good communication.

Today, despite using the most modern digital equipment and lenses, I still value many of the virtues of the purist or ‘straight’ approach. I consider creating beautiful black-and-white conversions from color digital capture, just like it was when shooting black-and-white film, an art in itself.

— n , pl cartes blanches
1. complete discretion or authority: the government gave their negotiator carte blanche

On most editorial shoots, we need to carefully consider the editorial parameters, or the even the over-all ‘look-and-feel’ of a magazine. For example, the images we create for a fashion magazine meant for teenage girls are completely different from images that we create for a men’s magazine, which in turn would be different from images we create for a more sophisticated women’s fashion magazine, or from the portraits we shoot for a more edgy or conceptual publication meant for adults.

‘Carte Blanche’, however, is where the situation gets turned around. It is when a client gives us complete creative control of the shoot, from concept to execution. In this case, our client was Jag Jeans, who were sponsoring the production of a spread in PULP Magazine (Philippines) called ‘PULP Skin’. Asides from the basic concept that the shoot had to be ‘sexy’ – it was to be published, after all, in the ‘Pulp Skin’ section – the concept, styling, model selection, and execution was entirely up to us.

This situation is ideal, because then the creative team can just take the gloves off and…create. Notice that there are no jeans in these images. It does however, provide positive publicity to the brand, since the readers know who is sponsoring the production. The Pulp Skin section was quite popular, and not only to male readers (who happen to be a large part of the brand’s target market), but also among the publishing and fashion community. Many photographers and stylists use these ‘Carte Blanche’ shoots to show off what they can do when there are virtually no limits.

Styling by Millet Arzaga
Photography by Tommy Zablan
Modeled by Roisin

The Canadian Association of Professional Image Creators (CAPIC) Vancouver Chapter, just held an event where Heather Morton, who publishes her ‘Ask an Art Buyer’ blog, shared her insights about how photographers should be taking risks. Knowing Heather more through the contents of her blog but never having met her before the event, I was pleasantly surprised by her casual and down-to-earth demeanor in person, which set the tone for the event.

This is CAPIC Vancouver Chapter President Rick Etkin addressing some questions from the audience. The talk went late into the evening and it was clear from the content of the presentation, as well as the reactions from the other members of the audience, just how challenging and dynamic today’s environment is for professional image makers. Among the many points Heather Morton and the other panelists made, these are a few that stuck with me;

If you’re a photographer, I highly recommend attending one of Heather’s talks to get the finer points of the things I mentioned above, as well as have the opportunity to react and evaluate how these things apply to you. Personally, my take on it is, just like other risky endeavors, like being, say…a Skydiver, a Race Driver, or a Ninja, being a successful Photographer is to adopt a certain lifestyle.

I thoroughly appreciated the straight talk from panelists Nora Ahern, Managing Director and Founder of Village and Co., and Eric Arnold, an Art Director from DARE. Heather Morton invites local industry experts to the discussion to make sure the content of the presentation is as locally relevant as possible. It definitely wasn’t a fluffy let’s make-each-other-feel-good motivational talk. If anything, the atmosphere was pragmatic – with the hopeful notes being grounded in a solid dose of reality.

This is Rick Etkin and Dave Rossander the moment after I told them that, in keeping with the spirit of the evening, I was going to blog about the event.

…And off she goes.

“There is nothing new in the world. It’s all been done before.” (To paraphrase the rest of the statement: If you want to create a new style, then you have to look at what’s been done before and learn to combine elements from different periods or styles.)

“(The evolution of style) …is about action and reaction.”

- Ivan Sayers

These are just a couple of gems that I picked up from listening to Ivan Sayers; a fashion historian who specializes in the study of women’s, men’s, and children’s fashions, from 1650 to the present, in his lecture entitled “A Survey of Accessories in the 20th Century”. His talk reminded me that just as we can always trace the evolution of art through technology, we can also trace the evolution of culture through fashion.

Why would I be attending such a lecture? Because it’s interesting and I’m open to anything that broadens or enriches my understanding of this world.

I am also a photographer, and I can get assigned to re-create the glamor of a certain era for a fashion spread, like what I did for this 50′s retro-styled fashion shoot. By experience, getting the styling right for a period piece is one of the most difficult jobs for a fashion stylist, so as a photographer, it pays to know as many details as I can. Of course, there is always a possibility that I’ll someday model a historical character in 3D.

Ivan Sayers was kind enough to bring so many (and in some cases, very valuable and historically significant) hats, shoes, and bags for the attendees to peruse. See images below.

If I were to imagine my own personal version of J. M. Barrie’s (he authored Peter Pan) Never Never Land, this would be it. Our location was the Shangri-la Hotel, in Boracay, Philippines. It’s a castle by the sea in one of the most beautiful white sand beaches in the world. The beach itself is lined with bars, restaurants, clubs, and massage parlors.

To get there from Manila in the morning, we had to take a plane, a tricycle, and a boat ride and arrived in the early afternoon. I originally pitched that we were to shoot at dusk, however, Luis Espiritu, the Art Director, thought it would be interesting to shoot at night. So a night shoot it was to be. It didn’t matter, when it comes to photography – I own the night.

It’s difficult for city dwellers to comprehend how dark a secluded beach on a cloudy night can be – without any artificial light sources. It’s totally black. Thankfully we were armed with cigarette lighters and a Hensel Porty power pack. I changed lenses by the light of my cigarette lighter and would ask my assistant to momentarily switch on the modelling lights of the Porty in order to direct, compose, and focus, and take a few frames, and then ask him to switch it off after a short period to conserve the battery.

Had a fisherman on a boat been spying on our shoot, I’d imagine it was a surreal combination of blinding flashes where he would catch glimpses of a half-naked actress rolling around on the beach for a few milliseconds, mixed with moments of total darkness as our flashes took out his night vision by forcing his irises to close.

But then, actress Mylene Dizon dressed in these swimsuits is incredibly easy on the eyes. So it evens out.

It doesn’t look like it in these images, but I spent a lot of time in this shoot in the water. The tide was high that evening, and when the waves would come crashing in, I’d be drenched right up to my chest. My camera at the time, a Kodak DCS-760, required an external battery to function for any significant amount of time, and I found that I had to pin the rather large battery pack (a Digital Camera Battery or DCB 30) on my shirt collar to prevent it from getting shorted out.

Looking back, it would seem almost foolish to carry more than $8000 in equipment while waist deep in sea water, getting hit by waves, trying to feel my way around the sand in total darkness. But then…a photograph is forever.

“By that sin fell the Angels”
- William Shakespeare

A series of conceptual portraits of Model Richard Herrera for Bare Magazine.
Photography Tommy Zablan
Styling Millet Arzaga
Model Richard Herrera

Eyes like oceans
so far away
A feather trail
to a better way…

I know all your graces
someday will flower
in a sweet
In a sweet sunshower

-Sunshower, Chris Cornell/Soundgarden

Make-up: Ana Viseriou Model: Charity (John Casablancas) Styling: Angeline Bridal 1st Assistant: Eri Tashiro

You cannot script moments like these. They happen, and the best thing we can do as photographers is capture it is beautifully as we can.

Always a pleasure to shoot for Canadian Immigrant Magazine. This is the December 2010 cover.