Meet Carmen Blike, an expat American photographer living in Antibes, France. She is one of my students and is really rocking photography in her little town by the sea.
Carmen is a hugely dedicated and committed photographer and rarely does she not have a shoot day planned or being executed. Antibes is a small town, so Carmen shoots a bit of everything, but she loves portraiture the most.
This is her first portfolio… it won’t be her last.
Carmen shoots people, food, and product and is creating so many great photographs each week she will be doing another one of these by summer’s end.
You can see more of her work on her website.
FOCUS ON BEING DELIBERATE
I could barely make out the song playing in the little bar in Ouray. I knew the melody, but it was damned hard to hear it over the clanking of glasses, conversation, and the air conditioning. The chorus did it for me, and I smiled big enough...
“YOUR LIGHTING SUCKS”- MY GUT WAS CRUSHED!
OK, she didn't exactly say that, but it is what I heard. I was standing in her little office - 'her' being the art director of a major retailer in Los Angeles. The transparencies were scattered over her lightbox and she was looking at them very closely....
FINDING THE PERFECT PLACE IN A SEA OF CHOICE
We sat outside at a little cafe on Coronado Island. It was one of those simply awesome days with temps in the high 70’s, and a soft breeze off the ocean. To my left was the grand old Coronado Hotel. To the right a huge expanse of sand with surprisingly few...
MY RULES FOR SHOOTING FOR FREE
Do I want to do this photograph? This is very important to me. If it is something that I think could be a great piece in my portfolio, then it gets consideration. Have other photographers been paid for this same shot? If so, then why are they not wanting to pay me?...
WE BECOME WHAT WE FOCUS ON… NATURALLY
There is an old saying: "I'll believe it when I see it." That's a problem, you see. Because if you don't believe it, you will never see it. It is out of your field of vision. You cannot focus on what you cannot see. And our brains want to make damn sure we...
THAT TIME I NEARLY LOST IT IN FLAGSTAFF
"It's not working", I exclaimed to the smartly dressed consultant I had hired to tell me why it wasn't working. "I know the work is good", I was starting to whine a bit here. (Not proud, just truthful.) It was the early 80's. Big hair, wide belts, and mullets. I was...