Cuba in December!

I am very excited to let you know I will have the unique opportunity to lead a group of photographers to Cuba from December 11-18, 2013 with the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops (who have a people-to-people license from U.S. Treasury to take groups legally to Cuba).  This will be a rich cross-cultural experience whose main focus is to discover and engage with the people and culture of Cuba with Cuban photographers as our guides.  This will not be a photo workshop, so there won't be organized classroom sessions or group critiques, but we will spend our time together in Cuba meeting people from all walks of life and photographing them and their surroundings.  I will be available for one-on-one sessions in the evenings to review your images and also will be happy to offer my photographic advice and give lighting demos as we travel around Havana photographing together.

 The base trip cost is $3,995, but expect to pay closer to $5000 when all is said-and-done with the additional costs of airfare to Cuba, airfare and hotel rooms in Miami, and the extra meals and mojitos, etc..

 I am thrilled to be visiting Cuba before it changes forever and I hope you will join me for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Please let me know if you are interested in going to Cuba with me in December and I will forward full details soon.

Thailand Mentor Series Trek

We have a few more spots available for the up coming Thailand Trek.  Don't miss this opportunity to travel to one of the most beautiful locations on earth.  I'll be joined by my friend Reed Hoffmann, another Nikon professional providing excellent instruction during the trip.  I've traveled throughout S.E. Asia many times during my career, by far it is my favorite part of the world.

Here are just a few travel tips to think about when planning your trip:

1. Pack light!  One of my favorite lenses to travel with is my 28mm-300mm lens and my 16mm-35mm.  This allows me to get all the coverage I need for travel photography.

2. Pack a lightweight tripod for those low light photo opportunities.  We’ll be photographing 600 year old temples at both sunrise/sunset and a tripod will come in handy.

3.  After shooting those iconic images, move in close and look for those special detail shots that tell the full story of your visit.

4.  Think before you shoot!  Often we are overwhelmed by the scene before use, particularly when we travel.  Slow down, let your eye scan the entire frame and avoid distracting elements.

I’m looking forward to photographing the colorful “Floating Market at Damnoen Saduak”  This market is full of vegetables and fruit venders and other food items selling their goods from there canoes in narrow canals.  This will be an opportunity to create some absolutely stunning photos.

I sure hope you'll join me on this trek.  If you have more questions regarding this Trek contact the Mentor Series.

Mentor Series Video

Check out this new video for the Mentor Series.  If you have never been on a Trek, see what your missing.  I'm headed to Thailand on a Mentor Series Trek in November.  There are still a few spaces available, hope to see you there.  

Federal Reserve of Kansas City

I recently started shooting for a new client, the Federal Reserve of Kansas City. I was contacted by them to photograph a couple of individuals here in Denver. One of my subjects works at the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Security at the Federal Reserve is very tight, I had to provide my licence plate number and vehicle type the day before I arrived. I was instructed to enter a specific gate, press an intercom button and give my name and my contact persons name. I was also told not to be alarmed when armed guards come out and search my car.

Sure enough, the day I arrived I was greeted by 2 armed guards and a uniformed guard carrying a mirror on a pole used to check beneath my car for a bombs. Yeah, security was tight. Once I was permitted to park my car, I went to the glass booth and presented my ID. My contact was informed of my arrival and I was escorted into the lobby of the Federal Reserve Bank.

My assignment was to photograph the assistant vice president and branch executive economist. The photos were to be used for their monthly magazine "Ten". I was shown around the building, allowing me to scout a couple of locations for the portrait. I wanted to provide my client a "safe" corporate style portrait as well as something a bit more edgy.

During my scouting, I noticed the elevator interior and I just knew I had to shoot there. The light modifier that I choose to use was a ring flash. This was the perfect solution for the environment my subject was in. The back wall was a reflective service and the use of the ring flash provide a intensity of light around her. This is the final image I selected from the shoot.

The ring flash I used is made by RoundFlash, this is a very clever ring flash which is collapsible and fits in a small bay. The opened size is about 17" in diameter. My friend Eric Krugl in Austria sent me one as a gift, I really like it and the size is great.

For the second portrait, I need met my subject at the Anschutz Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado. This portrait was a straight forward corporate style portrait, I'm also including two set-up shots to show you the lighting.

In the photo below, you can see where my subject and I was standing. On the left, I bounced a flash off the wall and on the right you can see a flash fitted with a grid for a rim light.

If you have any questions regarding the set up, feel free to comment.

Small Strobes Big Results Los Angeles

I am very excited to be teaching at the Julia Dean Photo Workshops this summer.  I'll be teaching a SSBR workshop August 12-16.  I hope you'll join me for this one week intensive.  You can learn more about this workshop by visiting The Julia Dean Photo Workshops Web Site.

Cowboy Studio Beauty Dish

For sometime now, I've been using a wonderful light modifier I picked up at Cowboy Studio.  I bought a 22" beauty dish which came with a diffusion sock and grid about a year ago.  The beauty dish has a wonderful look to it, sort of hard and soft at the same time.

The photograph above is of my friend Chris, he needed some corporate head shots and I wanted to do something for myself.  I used the beauty dish with the honeycomb grid, this is the only light used for this portrait.  The light on the background is the fall off of the main light.  I had Chris stand about two feet in front of a piece of fabric I bought at a local fabric store.

These Beauty Dishes are designed for Speedlight shooters.  I really only use it around town as traveling with it can be a problem because of it's size.  These are really inexpensive, under a $100 dollars!  DT