Image of the Day

I'm currently shooting drilling rigs on the Oklahoma landscape.  I was shooting early this morning at sunrise and ran across this little guy.  

I stopped on the side of a dirt road to photography a few rigs and this little grasshopper was sitting on the drivers side door window.  I pulled out the Canon G9 and popped off this shot.

Rangefinder Magazine Article

I've been very fortunate over the course of my career to receive periodic recognition for my craft and this Rangefinder article is certainly a highlight for me. I am very proud and excited to be featured in this years annual lighting issue of Rangefinder magazine.

I want to thank photographer/writer Tammy Cravit for contacting me and writing such a wonderful article. Thanks Tammy for putting up with my often hectic schedule, I'm sure it didn't make writing this article any easier for you.

I'm currently in McAlester, Oklahoma shooting drilling rigs on the Oklahoma landscape. Just prior to shooting sunset this evening, I spent about a 1/2 hour speaking with Rangefinder Radio host Scott Sheppard for an in-depth interview to coincide with the magazine article. I had a wonderful time speaking with Scott and I'll let you know when the interview is available to listen to.

I was able to get out and shoot my sunset after the interview, I really needed to be out 20 minutes earlier but got a bit winded with Scott. Here are a few shots from our late evenings shoot.

Small Strobes, Big Results. Results!

We have just completed our second Small Strobes, Big Results workshop held here in Denver.  I want to thank all the participants for taking part in the workshop, it was a pleasure meeting each and everyone of you.

We had a wonderful time learning new things and creating some wonderful images using small strobes.  A very special thanks to our two models: actor Colin Cheadle, and model Phedre Melisande from Model Mayhem.

I'll be headed out to Detroit on the week of September 2nd to conduct a 3 day intensive workshop for the government in Battle Creek, MI and a one day Small Strobes, Big Results workshop in the Detroit area on the 6th of Sept.  I'm looking forward to visiting Detroit, I've always had a great time when shooting on assignment there.

If your in the Detroit area and would like to attend the September 6th workshop, get a hold of me soon as I believe there are only one or two spots left.

I would like to also extend a very special thank you to both my assistant & friend Erik Lawrence, and Ian Galbraith my intern who also happens to be my nephew, for all their hard work assisting me during these workshops.  Thanks very much guys. 

Corporate Portrait

Being an annual report photographer in Denver and having shot for more than 25 years of corporate assignments, I have built strong working relationships with graphic designers and various other creative people in the industry. For this assignment, I was contracted to photograph "Tensie" for an Ethics & Compliance Report by my New York agent.

My client wanted both head shots and 3/4 length shots of Tensie in an environmental setting. Erik & I arrived about 45 minute prior to the scheduled shoot time in order to scout and set up lights in the location the client had set aside for us.

The client had set aside a very small conference room to photograph Tensie in. Upon arriving at our location the first thing I do is to conduct a location assessment. This assessment consists of the following considerations. Space size, existing lighting (if any/ambient), furnishings and available props.

This particular location worked well, we had contemporary furnishings, daylight windows to camera left and diffusion glass panels of the conference room camera right. The attached video will show the entire set up of the room and lights.

I used some of the daylight coming through the window as a fill light in the room. Sunlight was striking the back wall camera left, I was able to control the amount of fill using the blinds over the windows. We placed a single SB-800 strobe outside of the conference room and directed through the frosted glass panel. The glass panel was not really frosted, instead it had small holes in the frosted material. We did a test shot of Erik to see the quality of light the glass produced. The results of the light passing through the glass panel can be seen below.

I've attached a diagram to illustrate the setting we had to deal with in terms of setting.

After looking at our first test shot, I felt the light needed to be soften a bit more. I ended up putting a diffusion panel up against the glass to further diffuse the light before it struck the subject. The results of that additional panel can be seen here in the second photo of Erik.

If you look closely at the top of the frame of the above photo, you will notice some spill of raw "flash" light striking the back wall and ceiling. By adding additional gobo's to the flash, I was able to contain or prevent the spill of that raw light in the final images. Tensie arrived with several change of clothing for the shoot, we did 3 outfit changes in order to give the client plenty of choices. Here are a few more photos from the shoot as well as the accompanying video.  I have an earlier post showing similar lighting tools using a single panel and one strobe here.

If your interested in learning more about location lighting using small strobes, please visit Small Strobes, Big Results.  You can see results from our August 2nd workshop here.

Erik's gone Fishing

Erik went backpacking in the mountains of Colorado and shot some nice video of his trip. Erik's backpacking buddies are avid fisherman as is Erik and they caught some outstanding cut throat trout. Have a look.

Western Slope Shoot

Working as a corporate location photographer in Denver, I am fortunate to travel throughout the state of Colorado as well as else where.  I was recently on the western slope of Colorado shooting some editorial images for a corporate magazine for a client of mine.

We spent 3 days shooting various subject matter dealing with agricultural tourism in the state.  We stopped by several fruit stands and wine tasting establishments along the way and met some really nice folks.

The photo above was shot at one of those wine tasting establishments.  We photographed the owner out by the collection bins they use when harvesting various fruits.  I was using a 12 mm lens on my D300 and a SB-800 for fill.  You can see my Voice Activated Light Stand below.

I had Erik hand hold the SB just off to the left side directed at the subject.  As a standard practice, I keep an 1/8 CTO permanently attached to each of my strobes.