I shot an assignment for a magazine recently. All black and white of chefs in Austin, Texas. I've been testing the waters of delivering black and white files on CD's instead of prints, as magazines are just going to scan the prints. In the link below are three of the chef photos with info. It's not high art, just a fun job. Also a photo of a freind in Paris. Binna was in very low available light.

http://homepage.mac.com/kirktuck/PhotoAlbum22.html

Thanks, Kirk

-- kirk (Kirktuck@kirktuck.com), May 20, 2002

Answers

Kirk;

Good stuff. The toned shot is very nice. What toner did you use, or is it a print on color paper?

I wonder what the white circle is above Binna's right ear? Looks like an artifact of a mirror lens. HHHMMM

cheers

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), May 20, 2002.

Nice portraits, Kirk. Fun, relaxed, natural. You got to love Tri-X for portraits in available light. Now, chef Peter has a greenish cast, chef Marion a reddish cast, (chef Emmett doesn't show up in the slide show), and Emma lokks like the only real grayscale. To me anyway. Is this due to different scanning methods? Like RGB scanning of B&W or something?

-- Olivier (olreiche@videotron.ca), May 20, 2002.

Kirk: PS

I like MArion's as No 1.

I would have included all of emmett's arms and hands. His fingers bleeding off to the right are a bit distracting. One of my teachers was a protege of Karsh and I was taught that whenever hands are in the picture, they need to be ALL there and clear, at that. Hands are important for artists, singers, sculptors, boxers, piano players and others as well as chefs.

IN fact very few portraits, IMHO are complete without hands playing an important role.

Again

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), May 20, 2002.

Kirk,

I love the expression in Binna-in-Paris. It looks like she's thinking, "I can't believe I'm at a cafe in Paris with a photographer who cuts off people's hands." But sure enough, there's her hand. Tricked her!

-- George (davecasman@yahoo.com), May 20, 2002.

I like Chef Emmette. Nice light; happy guy.

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), May 20, 2002.

Verrrry nice..... how DO you do it? How do you get the spontaneous happy expressions? I more often get plastic smiles from my subjects while I'm holding the camera and fiddling with focus. Would you like to clue us in on your technique?

-- Fred Sun (redsky3@yahoo.com), May 20, 2002.

Good work Kirk, I´m sure it can become a great proyect, go on with it, youre doing just rigth! ;)

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), May 20, 2002.

Kirk,

Wow, these are some well-executed, professional-caliber portraits. Really fine work. Was this your first magazine job? If so, congrats! I wouldn't be surprised if others weren't knocking on your door soon. Keep it up.

-- Rick Molen (rickmolen@yahoo.com), May 20, 2002.

Decent, but what is so special about these portraits?

-- Lux (leica@sumicron.com), May 21, 2002.

Hi Kirk. It shows your talent. Keep it up. Regards, Ed

-- edgaddi (edgaddi@msn.com), May 21, 2002.

Dear Lux,

"In the link below are three of the chef photos with info. It's not high art, just a fun job." Posted them so people could see how the scans worked and the tones we were getting. Does everything have to be "special"? As I said in the original post, it's just a job. Not high art. The reason they are posted on this list is that they are made with Leica lenses and people always seem to want to see real world examples of stuff.

Kirk

-- kirk (kirktuck@kirktuck.com), May 21, 2002.

Kirk,

You are too modest; these are certainly more than fun snaps! Any portraitist would be very happy to get interaction like that from their subjects. The technical annoyances, such as they are, are irrelevant, given the mood and moment of the portraits, though I do have some sympathy for the "artisan hands must be sharp" point of view.

Thank you very much for sharing; the slide show format is a real treat to viewers.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), May 21, 2002.

Kirk, if you cannot take criticism, just don't bother posting. I am sure I was entitled to ask what are so special about these pictures that you have posted.

Just because you posted something here, everyone has to agree they are good?

Well, if it makes you feel better, they are excellent portraits.

-- Lux (leica@sumicron.com), May 22, 2002.