DIXIE DIXON: life on film

Beverly Drive Magazine “Behind the Scenes”

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:30:14 -0400

Beverly Drive Magazine “Behind the Scenes”

Recent interview with MAC Group and Profoto on lighting with the...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:49:00 -0400

Recent interview with MAC Group and Profoto on lighting with the D1 Kit

Recent Editorial published in Denovo Magazine ”Gold Gone...

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:48:37 -0500

Recent Editorial published in Denovo Magazine ”Gold Gone Rogue” (click link to view entire shoot)

Photography/Art Direction: Dixie Dixon
Cinematography: Lorenzo Wallace
Model: Tricia Rollo with Page Parkes
Makeup: Kiley Wirtz
Hair: Megan Waldmeier
Wardrobe Stylist: Carlos Alonso
Photographs shot with Nikon D3x/Video shot with Nikon D7000

Lifestyle work published in 360 West Magazine November Issue

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:34:00 -0500

Lifestyle work published in 360 West Magazine November Issue

Featured on the Nikon World Website

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:26:00 -0500

Featured on the Nikon World Website

“A simple hello could lead to a million things”...

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:17:46 -0500

“A simple hello could lead to a million things” <- True dat

CINEMATIC LIGHTING “on the fly” Hellooo There! It...

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:56:53 -0500

CINEMATIC LIGHTING “on the fly”

Hellooo There! It has been quite some time since I had a free moment to sit down and blog. The end of 2012 and beginning of 2013 have been NON-STOP… Lots of rad projects in the works. :)

So lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the HUGE importance of lighting in photography and how much the lighting impacts the overall mood of a photograph. Sometimes the shadows are just as important as the highlights when creating a mood. Shadows create mystery.

I try to keep my lighting simple and effective because the more time I spend messing with the lighting, the less time I am able to focus on that connection with the subject… and that connection is paramount in my opinion. Many of my images are shot with one light like these above.

So for those of you who dig simple cinematic lighting, here is a little nugget to add to your lighting repertoire- Constant LED Light- it’s amaaaazing! If you haven’t already, check out the GL1 Hotlight* - Currently my favorite LED light because its so portable (no need to plug it in) and stays charged a long time. *see pictures above

Basically to pull off that cinematic look, try shooting wide open apertures in a room, say F 1.4 and ISO 400 to let in that beautiful ambient light of the room and then spotlight your model with your LED. It is as simple as that. I shot these handheld and you can either have your assistant hold the light or put it on a stand. Easy Right?! :)

Okie dokie I do believe that is all for now… Cheers

Love.

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 01:02:59 -0500

Love.

Recently featured on WORKBOOK.com blog and E-Blast! :)))

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:11:44 -0500

Recently featured on WORKBOOK.com blog and E-Blast! :)))

Audio

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 03:56:29 -0400

RECENT PROMO VIDEO

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:31:00 -0400

RECENT PROMO VIDEO

So ridiculously HONORED & EXCITED to be featured in Nikon...

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:28:35 -0400

So ridiculously HONORED & EXCITED to be featured in Nikon World Magazine and see my image on the cover… this is definitely one of the HAPPIEST moments of my photo career!!! Thank you thank you thank you to all the folks at Nikon… you guys ROCK my world!!!!

Subscribe Here: http://shop.nikonusa.com/store/nikonusa/en_US/list/parentCategoryID.43894800/categoryID.54626700

Photo

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:26:02 -0400

Wanderlust

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:25:55 -0400

Its been a while since these shoots but last night I found a ton of youtube clips from Ibiza, Spain for the TV show “Get Out’ and figured I’d go ahead and post em and share my long-winded behind the scenes adventure…

So traveling abroad is a little intimidating, not to mention traveling abroad ALONE… with luggage (I don’t pack lightly), and with camera gear (which cannot be checked… hello overhead bin). I figured I was well prepared with all the right equipment- battery chargers, outlet converters, an apple travel kit for my computer, a bag full of camera gear, backup gear, hard-drives and roaming set up on my iPhone, etc, etc. You can never be too prepared!

So I arrived in Barcelona from DFW, exhausted, a red eye flight mind you… to make my connection to Ibiza, which is a tiny lil island off of Spain. I turn on my iPhone and try to make a call home and all I get is this message “Out of Service area” flashing. Crap, I’m in a foreign country, no cell phone, knowing not a soul, and knowing not a lick of spanish. At this moment I was thinking to myself, “stay calm Dixie, this is an adventure, think positive”… So my first thought was to find a pay phone but there were none.. so next thought- maybe I could buy a cheap cell phone here?

I walked the airport for quite a while asking around like a stupid tourist- but I was in luck- there was an electronics store in the airport that sold $20 cell phones. I purchased one on the spot and asked the lady if it was easy to set up and she said it was so I went to my gate to catch my connecting flight. As I sit there waiting to board, I open my new cell and start to set it up. However… I begin to notice that the text is all in spanish… “Eeek, are you kidding me?” I try to dial a few numbers but it won’t let me because I have to add minutes to it. Frustrated, I put it in my bag and board the plane.

To my surprise and relief, I sat next to a man who was fluent in English… I politely asked him if he could set up my phone and he was able to change the language to english. Whew! The flight was only about an hour so I arrived in Ibiza after over 12 hours of traveling. I was beat. It was mid-day there so I was supposed to catch a cab to the Villa where we were to be shooting. I caught a cab and all I remember is this crazy loud pumping club music and my head was throbbing… I must have been dehydrated. But come to find out, luckily everything in Ibiza is “Fluid”- there are no stop lights or stop signs, their music has no start or end points, and the alcohol is always flowing, ha. Its quite the experience.

I arrived at the villa and headed up to my room to freshen up… found my handy outlet converter and plugged in my straightening iron and went to grab a beverage. Good thing I wasn’t gone long… my straightening iron was Smoking when I returned. Apparently the converter didn’t do its job properly and I was out a $100 Chi iron. Boo! Being the hair fanatic that I am.. and thinking of having terrible frizzy yucky hair while on tv (even though they usually only show the back of my head), I left the villa on a mission to find a straightener and to put minutes on my phone.

I asked the clerk in the lobby where I could add minutes to my cell and he said there was a tobacco store about 1/2 a mile down the road. I did find the store, but the cashier didn’t speak english so explaining to her that I needed to add money to my phone was a bit tricky… though after about 15 minutes of explaining, she finally understood, so I had her add $50 to the phone, but having no idea how much minutes cost or anything. It lasted me a couple days.

Next stop- a straightening iron. I took a taxi into the town of Ibiza and asked the cabbie if he knew of a place to buy hair appliances and he pointed me in the direction and said some spanish store name and drove off. So there I was roaming the streets of Ibiza for a good hour or so and finally stumbled upon a random hair salon. I went in and asked the hairstylist if I could purchase an iron and hesitantly she said yes, but the only one she had was the one she was currently using on a client. So she told me to come back in an hour and pick it up after she was done. Ha… in my desperation, I agreed. I came back after having lunch at Subway, which by the way is exactly the same as in the U.S. (yum, turkey sandwich), and returned to purchase the used iron from hairstylist. Hoooray!!! All is well.. I have my phone, I have my straightening iron!

On my way back to the cab line, I walked past THE store he was talking about, a little too late mind you, they had all kinds of appliances including NEW straightening irons. Ah well, I told myself at least I knew mine worked. It was about sundown by then and I headed back to the hotel to crash. I had to be up at 5am in the morning to be ready to start shooting at sunrise. Lol, all of that work and I hadn’t even made one picture.

To my surprise, the rest of the trip was a DREAM. We shot 12 gorgeous models for the show. Each day, I would cab it to the location at 6am and gaze out the window to see all the party-goers just leaving the clubs. People in Ibiza know how to party, just saying… and this was the peak of spring break season. Most of the people who live there wake up around noon and then go to work. Pretty cool if you ask me. So we’d shoot Sunrise and break during the mid-day light and then shoot sunset. The light there is incredible- warm, glowy, and super soft. By the end of the shoots, I had around 12,000 pictures and 2 entire full hard-drives. Seriously, is that even possible? I won’t even go into having to spend weeks going through all these, which I must say was COMPLETELY worth it. We ended up with some AMAZING images and footage… the crew was STELLAR to say the least!!!

This very long-winded post just reiterates how life is such an adventure… sometimes it is very challenging to just live in the present and enjoy the crazy detours along the way, but if you can learn to enjoy those moments, you are bound for some fun. And my fun is in making beautiful pictures, working with amazingly passionate people, and visiting beautiful places. Life is lived in the detours my friend ;). If you actually took the time to read this, I think you deserve a cocktail or a ribbon or medal or something. ;) Cheers! ~

Shoot with gorgeous Kelli in Ibiza, Spain

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:23:54 -0400

Shoot with gorgeous Kelli in Ibiza, Spain

Recently Published in PDN’s beautifully designed new mag-...

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:15:00 -0400

Recently Published in PDN’s beautifully designed new mag- PIX MAGAZINE

Download a copy here: http://digitalmag.pdn-pix.com/pdnpix/2012summer#pg1

Video

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 23:14:49 -0400

Behind the scenes with beauty- Lana Tailor

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 22:43:41 -0400

Behind the scenes with beauty- Lana Tailor

Video

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 22:38:25 -0400

Just found a bunch of clips from my shoots in IBIZA, Spain for...

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 22:37:06 -0400

Just found a bunch of clips from my shoots in IBIZA, Spain for “Get Out” TV