Monthly Archives: June 2009

Yesterday I got the chance to go up to Lake Wawasee and shoot some photos of Stephanie. I was up a few weeks ago and never got the chance to shoot on the water. I asked Barbara Mendez (an ex-intern) if she would assist for me. For those of you that aren’t photographers. An assistant can be a vital part of a shoot. For a lot of outdoor shoots a large reflector is used to fill in shadows, particularly in bright sun. One of the assistant’s duties is to find the right angle to catch the sunlight and direct it to soften shadows. So I owe Barb a big thank you for helping me out.

The weather was not cooperating with us yesterday. The day started off nice ana sunny, but the wind was brutal. As soon as we got out on the water we saw that there were huge whitecaps coming from the East. Being that we were on the West side of the lake meant we had to battle the wind and waves head on. Then once we started shooting clouds started rolling in. So we shot what we could on the water.

After I got some good shots, we came back ashore. We passed by a local pool that Steph was a member of and I suggested we shoot some at the pool while we had a tab bit of sun.

So, I got a few good photos and we had a ton of fun. We finished up by going The Frog in Syracuse for a nice late lunch. Overall a productive day. 🙂

Yesterday I shot some photos of a local model named Rohma. Last year she was selected in the top ten of the Miss Teen Indiana Pageant and was chosen as Most Photogenic. She asked me to shoot some headshots to be used in this year’s pageant program and for other promotion materials. Could she be the next Miss Teen Indiana? You betcha. We had a fun shoot and got some nice images. Expect to see more from this young woman.

For the key light I used a reconfigured octobox that acts more like a beauty dish. A gridded strip box was used for a low fill.

Also, my studio is featured on a local blog. Go to Jennifer’s website and check it out – http://glassaddictions.blogspot.com/2009/06/open-studio-friday_26.html. Also check out her work, it’s pretty amazing.

Well, Summer is really here. This weekend was extremely hot and humid, but we survived it.

Yesterday morning we got to watch an egret have a sushi breakfast. There is an egret that frequently hangs out at the lake in our back yard. He is fun to watch because it’s amazing how perfectly adapted he is for fishing. Normally I can’t watch him too long because Kate hates him and barks her head off till he flys to the other side of the lake.

 In Fort Wayne, there are quite a few summer festivals. This past weekend was BBQ Ribfest. So, yesterday my wife and I headed down to Headwaters Park to try some BBQ and enjoy live music.

I must confess, while we had fun at Ribfest, we were disappointed with the food. We got brisket and ribs from Texas Pit Barbeque and it was just not good. The ribs were fatty and yet tough. The brisket was dry and unremarkable. Even the baked beans were bad. They tasted like they came straight from a can of beans and franks. I am convinced that my ribs are some of the best in the world. At least the music was good and they had a nice variety of performers. While we wished we could have stayed and listened to several bands, it was just too hot and humid.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to shoot with a couple of other photographers, just for fun. Barbara Mendez (a Fort Wayne based photographer), Alvaro Balderas (a photographer visiting from Mexico) and myself had Friday and Sunday to shoot. We enlisted the help of some aspiring models I’ve worked with in the past and were able to shoot at two locations. The first shoot took place at Cancun on The Landing on Columbia Street. We had access to the entire building and shot mostly available light.

Tasha

The second shoot took place at Lake Wauwausee. We found a cool tunnel to shoot in.

Stephanie


Stephanie and Tamara

It was real interesting to be working with other photographers. Even though we shot the same people, because of differences in our shooting styles, each of our photos were quite different.

Here are some more outdoor shots. I love finding new and different locations. If you take the time and keep your eyes open, you can find lots of cool places to shoot. It seems we (photographers) find a neat location and keep coming back to it. As a results other photographers discover it as well and shots in that location lose their novelty and become cliche’.

The first photo was shot at my new top secret location. 🙂

This photo was taken at? Guess. 🙂  

Location photography is fun and can be challenging because there are tons of unknowns. Plus conditions are always changing and you have to adapt quickly.

Right before the first of the year I bought a new camera. It has higher resolution and better overall image quality. We because each image file is double the size of my old camera, the first causualty was my desktop computer. It was so tedious editing images because the computer couldn’t handle the file sizes. So I upgrade to a 64 bit computer with 8 gig of RAM and a quad core process. I’m very happy with its performance.

The next causualty  was my notebook computer on my shooting station. Here are photos of the old notebook:

I use the notebook computer for tethered shooting. This is where I attach my camera to the computer while I’m shooting. That way my client and I can evaluate photos as we are shooting. It means my client gets photos that they are happy with.  🙂

With the new computer (an HP) I should be up to date with current technology. At least for the week. Next time I budget for a new camera, I have to consider what other hardware will have to be upgraded.