Photography by Scotty Graham

Beauty Photography

December 4, 2019by Scotty Graham

I have been having lots of fun working with my students (and ex-students) the past two weeks, and also my daughter, Kayla. All of these girls volunteered to be my model, and they were all so professional. Who knows? Maybe they have a career ahead of them modelling. I learned how to post-process these photos from the incredible, Manny Librodo, who openly shared his techniques with me. He is a true artist when it comes to Photoshop, and has a great eye and creative mind.

These photos below are somewhat my “experiments” with the new techniques I learned. I am still fine tuning those techniques. Here are my favorites from my experimentation so far…

Manny Librodo Workshop

November 20, 2019by Scotty Graham

I started following Manny Librodo back in the early 2000’s. One of the first websites I uploaded photos to was pbase.com. It was there I first saw Manny’s photographs. I used to comment on his photos, and he would comment on mine. We had several personal exchanges back then as he was also an international school teacher working in Thailand, and I, of course, was working here in Jakarta. We were both teaching different subjects (I was teaching Math, and Manny was teaching Psychology), but our real passion was photography. Manny became famous, and I….well, didn’t. He ended up quitting his teaching job, and has been doing workshops all over the world for the past ten years. I am now teaching photography. So, we are both working (if you call it that) in a job we love. What’s the saying? “If you get paid doing what you love, then you will never work a day in your life”. That’s it for me, and for Manny too.

Any way, bounce ahead 15 years or so, and here we both are working together. Manny flew to Jakarta last Tuesday, and spent a week at my house running workshops for the students, teachers and local photographers. We hired a designer, Eggie Jasmine and a make-up artist, Hilda Winaz, and got students and JIS grads to model for us. It was a high-fashion photo shoot! Manny showed us how to find natural light, and we shot thousands of photos. Then he took us into the classroom, and taught his secrets in post-processing with Photoshop. It was amazing, and I learned some new tricks…

It was a great week, and Manny and I quickly became good friends…a friendship that will last a long time.

This photo below, I took in the studio. Lana Sidi Said is the model, and of course, Eggie created the concept, and Hilda did the make up. I put two photos together…the studio shot of Lana, and one of my Cambodia photos, and then used some of the techniques I learned from Manny to post-process.

My 12th Trip To Pacu Jawi

November 11, 2019by Scotty Graham

Believe it or not, I didn’t go to Sumatra at all last year. Garuda over double their price to Padang, so it just made it too expensive to spend just one day in Sumatra to see the races. This year, however, Lion Air started flying to Padang for nearly half the price. So, I organized a trip this past Saturday, and brought 9 people with me.

It is always an amazing experience, and it’s tough to NOT get a good photo!

I usually shoot with my Nikon D800 and the Sigma 50-500mm. This time, I shot with my Sony A7R3 and the Sony 100-400mm lens. No comparison which was better…the Sony wins hands down!!

Some Street Photos From 2011

November 6, 2019by Scotty Graham

Amazing what you can find going through old photos. These were taken back in 2011. I am never sure why I never post some photos. I guess at the time, I just thought they were average…but now I think they are bit above average…haha…

Back From Raja Ampat

October 29, 2019by Scotty Graham

I get so caught up keeping my Instagram and Facebook posts up to date, I forget about my own blog!! So for my ten or so readers, sorry about that!!

So last week was my something like 25th visit to Raja Ampat. I have seriously lost count on how many times I have been. I started going in 1998, and the only year I missed was the year I was suffering from Cancer treatment (2013). Some years I have gone two or three times. Never the less, every time I go, I am always AMAZED. I might be delusional, but I really think the reefs have gotten even more healthier. At least it seems so. After every dive, while handing my weight belt to the boat guys, I always say….”wow…what a dive…hard to beat that one!!”

If you have been following this blog for some time, you know I love the Sweet Lips. On one of our last dives at Cape Kri, I shot down to 40+ meters to my favorite Sweet Lip spot. There were literally thousands of them mixed in with other schools of fish. I only had a couple of minutes to get a shot, so I saw a group of them hovering over the rock they usually hang out at. The sun was peaking through from above, and Otto was hovering about 20 meters above me. The thing I love about Sweet Lips is that you can get close to them, and they just look at you like your some idiot, but are patient and don’t move. Can’t you just see what they are thinking with these photos?? I couldn’t decide which one I liked the best, so I posted all three shots from this spot…which one do you like the best?

North Vietnam

October 10, 2019by Scotty Graham

Two summers ago, I took a motorcycle trip from Hanoi to Sapa in North West Vietnam. It was a spectacular trip. The best part about traveling by motorcycle is that it is easy to pull of the road and take photos. I felt like I was stopping every five minutes to take a photo. The only bad part was the routine to take a photo. 1. pull over and park. 2. turn off the engine. 3. take your helmet off. 4. open the seat. 5. grab your camera. 6. take a photo, then do everything in reverse. With all that effort, it was kind of a pain to take many photos, and often I would just keep driving unless there was something spectacular to photograph.

When we arrived a small villages to spend the night, there was always time to take a hike or go on a photowalk.

This little girl was on the trail at one of our hikes through some incredible rice paddies. Would be great to go back there a few years from now, and see if she is still there!!

How About Something Like This of YOUR kid??

September 27, 2019by Scotty Graham

This year, instead of selling my prints at the Christmas Bazaar, I will be selling photo sessions to create photos like this of your kid. It can be any sport or hobby. I am very creative, and can make something to fit your style and to match your child’s personality. Just send me a message if your interested, and I can book a session for you in advance.

I will still be selling my prints, but won’t have many on display this year…but you can always choose a photo from my portfolio, and I can make any size print for you to fit your home.

The Three Dudes

September 26, 2019by Scotty Graham

You gotta wonder who these guys were back in the day. Somehow they have survived the poachers. Most of the characters on the walls of Angkor Wat have lost their heads. Must have been quite an honor back when the Khmere chose to have your face carved in stone to last centuries.

By the way, do you see the small spider and his web? Once you spot it, it’s hard to take your eyes off of it. I thought of “photoshopping” it out…but, in the end, it kinda adds to the photo…

A Nice Kenyan Sunset

August 27, 2019by Scotty Graham

At the end of each day while on Safari, the guides stop for what they call a “Sundowner”. They park the truck at the perfect location, set up a table and a couple of chairs, and pull out snacks and a bottle of wine. I told them I wanted a nice sunset shot, so they parked way down a slowly sloping hill. When I looked up the hill, there was a nice tree at the top of a ridge, and some animals wandering around. I pulled out my 200mm lens, and zoomed into the tree, and waited for the animals to move in the perfect position. The Wildebeest near the tree was just standing there not moving…so he was in position. Meanwhile there were several antelope running around…I wanted to catch one of them running into the right side of the frame. At first, they wouldn’t cooperate…but finally, just as the sun was at the horizon, three of them ran over the ridge out of view, and the fourth one ran to the right. BANG….GOT IT !!

Streamlining My Website

August 26, 2019by Scotty Graham

You may have noticed I took a couple of pages down from my website. My thinking is that my website had too much clutter. The main goal of my website has always been to share my work, and to tell stories about my photos. A website with LARGE images seems to me to be better than Instagram or Facebook…it is more intimate as well. It’s all about “exposure”, and getting your work “out there”. So that is the main purpose of this website, so I decided to take all of the “other stuff” out, and focus on showing my photos.

This means focusing on making more frequent blog posts, and updating my portfolio often. I am kicking myself in the ass to get a move on that. I take way too long between posts, and want to change that.

A Double Rainbow

On our family trip to the Southwest this past summer, we drove through a small Utah town (can’t remember the name of it). The light was just amazing. On the west side of town the sun was setting in clear skies…on the East side, there was an ominous storm brewing. Of course, this sets up the perfect scenario for a rainbow, and boy did we get a rainbow! I pulled over to the side of the road, and jumped out of the car with my camera. Others followed suit, and before you knew it, many of the locals were out with their iphones taking photos with me. I was looking for something to put in the foreground of my photos so that I didn’t end up with just a photo of a rainbow. Across the street, I spotted it…and old abandoned car. Another dude who got out of his car too, standing near me with a nice DSLR camera, came over to talk to me. He was asking what kind of camera I had, and what my camera settings were. We talked a bit, and I then pointed across the street to the car, and we looked at each other, and agreed we had to go for it. So the two of us walked to the car in the deep grass, and took some shots. I hadn’t shot an HDR in a long time, but thought this was the perfect opportunity to bracket my shots…it is what HDR was made for. I took several shots, but this one was my favorite.