Post Joel Grimes Workshop (Phoenix) this blog begins what has been a monumental series for me. This is post #1. I was put to the self-test of digital capture working in concert with 13 others, post processing, retouching as closest as possible to perfection, compositing and outputting to web and print.

Compositing wasn't a focus of the workshop, but I've recently been a compositing madman, inspired by Joel's very creative work. So on the very first night of the workshop I hastened back to my room after dinner and immediately searched my archive for Bryce's perfect background. Fort Point in San Francisco sits under the Golden Gate Bridge, and has a ethereal set of officers’ quarters that proved to be perfect. Two composites later I am left with both their otherworldly atmosphere and Bryce's haunting look.

I also became endlessly fascinated with Bryce's hands. It’s the simple classic elegance of the forms they make. David thinks it's the regal look of Nefertiti revisited. The interaction between the attendees and models is so fleeting it’s amazing good images come out of the endeavor. Bryce remarked that she had been told to work on her “symmetry.” I think she's done. My favorite pic is the one that cuts off right at her eyebrow and that is exactly how it was shot (not cropped). What stories are in these eyes?