See You On The Other Side!

Hey all! Ever the intrepid adventuress, I'm off to Ecuador from June 25 to July 11. Fear not though, my lovely partner, Miss. Saira, will be here in Edmonton, and is able to answer any inquiries the you may send our way.

Coming July 2nd!

Hey Edmontonians! Watch your local Wildcard Racks on July 2nd, where our newest Bombshell Photography Inc. postcards will be making their debut. Collect all five!!!

My New Favourite Prop

Last week I received my new favourite prop- a white ostrich feather fan.

I've been obsessed with acquiring one since falling in love with the film The Lady Eve a couple of years ago. If you've never had the pleasure of seeing this film, a screwball classic written and directed by the great Preston Sturges and starring the great Barbara Stanwyck, I highly recommend watching it.

In a pivotal scene, Stanwyck's character carries a similar ostrich feather fan. To save from writing a lengthy analysis of the film, click here to link to the introduction Peter Bogdanovich gave for the film on TCM's Essentials program several years ago (the entire film used to be available on You Tube, but has since been removed). In the first couple of clips with Stanwyck in the white dress feature the aforementioned fan.

What Bogdanovich fails to mention about the film, the most appealing quality in my mind in fact, is the empowered nature of Stanwyck's character. She is always the smartest person in the room and is a fascinating blend of calculated vixen and soft-hearted romantic- my favourite female character in all of cinema.

If you love The Lady Eve as much as I do, or would like to recreate the fan scene, I have the fan to do so.

Here's the trailer if you've never even heard of the film:

Really?!? - Annie Leibovitz's Wall Street 2 Shot

I was looking through Vanity Fair's February issue (the Tiger Woods issue) a few weeks ago, and happened on an article about the new sequel to Wall Street. It was accompanied by a couple of pictures by Vanity Fair contributing editor and celebrated photographer Annie Leibovitz, including the one above, which left me scratching my head a little...

Really? I this the best shot of the cast taken that day?

Let me qualify my bewilderment. On the surface everything looks ok: everyone is looking at the camera, their eyes are all open and the overall composition is fine. It's clearly supposed to be a candid impromptu shot of the cast and director- fair enough. Look a little closer (click here to see the larger image from the Vanity Fair website). Look at The Beef (Shia LeBeouf to the lay person). See how the left side of his face is substantially blown out? The strobe directly behind his head isn't helping matters much. Carey Mulligan's face is a little on the over exposed side as well; though not nearly as bad as The Beef's. Her collar is also mangled and folded over on one side, and the way Mulligan has her right leg wrapped around her leg and partially hidden behind her left calf made me do a double take- it looks awkward.

I have to admit, I take a certain delight in picking apart this picture. Not that I think that I know more than Leibovitz (I'm nowhere near her level as a photographer), but I was stuck my the sloppiness on display in this photograph. In some ways it's kind of affirming to know that a photographer of her caliber can miss things. Nobody's perfect, I guess. But, I'm surprised that a greater effort wasn't made in digital processing to even the exposure out a little... But then what do I know, maybe it was intentional? It's not very flattering for the subjects if it was.

Welcome to the Blog!

Chances are that you have been playing around on the Bombshell Photography Inc. website and decided to hit the Bombshell Blog link, or maybe you did a google search for god knows what and this blog came up. How ever you got here, welcome!

This is the more casual side of Bombshell Photography, where we talk about photography, retro icons, fashion, films, television, art or anything else that catches our fancy. The conversation may inevitably fall in to the realm of personal matters, and we may from time to time use the blog to showcase some of our recent photographs, or update you on what is going on in the Bombshell Photography universe. Whatever we come up with, we hope that you will enjoy it and visit the blog regularly!

Just remember here at Bombshell Photography Inc. we do more than make droll witticisms: we take pictures too! If you live in the Edmonton area take a look at our main site at: www.photobombshell.com. You could be one click away from releasing your inner bombshell.