Ian Curcio

It's been a long and winding road trying to decide where we wanted to set up our home base on this crazy adventure of being a self-employed editorial and commercial photographer. Without the safety net of a staff position we wanted to be sure we were making the best choice for us as a whole. In the end, we decided to set up our camp in the Upstate of South Carolina. Centered in the middle of Asheville NC, Charleston SC, Charlotte NC and Atlanta GA. After all, this is where our friends and families are.

So…

We've been breaking in the new studio space for the past few days. Located at 12 Rutherford Road in Greenville SC, close to downtown it's 1800 square feet, has 14-foot ceilings, and comes with two bathrooms and a dressing room. Having the space will allow us to start building sets, work when it's raining and have a place to educate and be educated. It gets us out of the coffee shops for meetings and gives us an opportunity to create our work under a controlled environment.

The above shots are from a white-seamless set up we did over the weekend with a few Upstate film and theater actors. With the exception of that last droid, that's yours truly.

Interested in a Studio Tour? email info(at)iancurcio(dot)com

Posted by Ian at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I'm a big fan of using lights. I think understanding how and when to setup strobes gives you an advantage over the photographers who do not. It gives you more options and when you need to be visually creative, having and understanding your options is a valuable tool. It also gives you control; there is something to be said for being able to walk into a situation and owning it because you understand how to light it.

But not all assignments are going to require you to light them; some are going to require a different set of skills. Skills like remaining calm while being at the mercy of variables you cannot control and being able to wait patiently for the perfect shot.

While on an editorial assignment last month, it took me two days to get these two shots while it really only took me a few seconds to shoot each one. It was the prep work and waiting that took so long. Waiting for the rain to stop, waiting of the sun to be in the right location, hoping the wind would stop blowing, these were all variable that I could not control. That car you see in the bottom picture, I had to wait for that, there was no big production. Just me and a camera. The skyline shot, I asked forgivness later and not permission first as I scouted out and climbed random rooftops in Charlotte's South End to get that picture. It took patience.

Posted by Ian at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are a few images from the shoot I had with David Crow of Floracopeia a few weeks ago. David is a world's expert in the field of botanical medicine, natural health and ecological sustainability and an expert in the Ayurvedic and Chinese medical systems.

He needed a variety of different images to use for his Web sites, promo materials and press kit. He had seen the work I had done for one of his business partners (and long-time friend of mine) here on the East Coast last summer. He had a very specific idea of what he was looking for and wanted to shoot in the San Francisco Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park.

The trip worked out well and was considered more of a working vacation than a full-on assignment. I stayed 4 nights and 5 days with friends and family and was able to offset the cost of the trip by working for one afternoon.

Still, with no assistants and keeping true to having the trip pay for itself, I needed to travel light. No checked bags. So I carried the gear I needed, a body, a few lenses, a couple of Speedlites and the various cords and adapters in my ThinkTank backpack. The Manfrotto 6' Retractable 5 Section Lightstand, as well as the 33" shoot-through umbrella folded neatly into the bottom of my suitcase. And that was it, two bags, all the gear I needed to complete the job and I was able to carry it all onto the plane with me.

Posted by Ian at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Before heading out to San Francisco last week to work on a commercial shoot, I had made the decision to work on a self assignment as well. You know, one of those GOYA assignments that are motivated by nothing more than the urge to create what you want to create with only the restrictions you've given yourself. And I gave myself plenty.

Working for newspapers and travel magazines I've always had to go out and shoot strangers in the streets. It's either grip and grins for the newspapers or low budget magazine assignments where they need someone doing xyz but can't seem to come out of pocket for a good model. Editors and DOPs are too often saying "just find someone who's already doing xyz and use them". It doesn't matter if it's someone shopping, cycling, dining in a restaurant, whatever; nine times out of 10 it's a stranger already in that situation. And it's our job as assignment photographers to be able to approach them, make them feel comfortable and get a great image out of it. In order to do that we have to feel comfortable ourselves and that's what this project was about.

So I decide that I would get up-close and personal with the different people of SF. My goal was to shoot 12 portraits of 12 strangers in 6 hours and I did it. Knowing that I wanted to be able to light my subjects if needed and I would be moving around the different neighborhoods alone and without an assistant, I chose my lighting set up carefully. I used one Speedlite attached to a monopod with no modifier, that was my set up.

I also chose to shoot exclusively with a 20-35mm lens. I did this for several of reasons; first, I wanted to feel comfortable getting into their space and I wanted them to feel comfortable allowing me into their space, after all, that's what the exercise was about. Second, I wanted to be able to show some of the environment that each subject was in and the wide angle allowed me to do that. Third, being close to my subjects allowed me to easily light them from above or the side holding my Speedlite on the monopod. And forth, I walked around the Mission, Castro, Haight-Ashbury and Golden Gate Park without ever allowing any of my gear to leave my hands. It was very minimal, a camera in one hand and a light on a stick in the other.

It did and always does get easier as I went along. I found that about half the people I approached would say yes while the other half would say no and of the half that said no, all of them were very polite and respectful about it.

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Posted by Ian at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What do you do when you have an assignment in Chattanooga on energy and the Tennessee Valley Authority's 800-megawatts of electricity-generating-capacity expansion? You light it. I drove by the power grid the evening I arrived in town and figured out the sun was going to come up behind the grid in the morning. I don't always have time to location scout before shooting but when I do I try and take advantage of it. I decided to get up early and use the sun to silhouette the grid. I was trying to get an image that showed a massive amount of power. My thinking was that by lighting the rocks using a blue gel it would create a feeling of electricity and energy.

Here’s how it looked on the page:

Here’s a link to the virtual magazine: Southeast Resource

Posted by Ian at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I shot for the official 2010 North Carolina Travel Guide which came out this week. Whenever on assignment I'm always looking to grab the safe shot. I tuck it away and it keeps me from worrying during the rest of the assignment. Now I'm ready to shoot something different, something more creative, something I really want to run on the pages. Sometimes the designers will go for it and sometimes they won't but I always try. If nothing else I might end up with a portfolio piece and that's what happened this time. The above shot is what ran in the magazine and the shot below found its way onto my Web site.

Posted by Ian at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)