Author Archive: ken

Last week I was fortunate to shoot some photos with Fort Wayne Ballet’s ballerina Lucia Rodgers. I wanted to shoot with a dancer for quite a while, but haven’t had the opportunity. So, it was a real treat shooting someone as talented as Lucia. Photography give you a rare glimpse into the study of movement and reveals things your eye misses when watching dance live.

It amazing how something so difficult for most of us appears easy when done correctly by someone that has the skill and talent. On this first photo, notice the angle of her feet, then you try it. (Be sure to have 911 on speed dial) 🙂

I’d really like to thank Fort Wayne Ballet (http://www.fortwayneballet.org), Lucia Rodgers, Karen Gibbons-Brown, and Andi Rodgers. Also, big thanks to Barbara Mendez (www.barbaramendezphotography.com – site under construction) for hooking this up.

Here’s the “and More” part of the post. I shot this yesterday. I really like the colors, the pose, and how things really work together in this image. Thanks Rohma. 🙂

Anyway, that’s some of what I’m been working on. Whew, two blog entries in one week, almost a record. 🙂

This weekend I was fortunate to be able to shoot at an old factory in downtown Fort Wayne. The setting of urban decay made a great backdrop for the photos. On the ground floor the available light coming from the windows hardly touched the interior spaces. Supplemental lighting was needed.

On the third floor, sunshine was pretty abundant on the west side of the building. There was a decided contrast between the two shooting environments, even though they were in the same building.

It was a good day of shooting and I enjoyed the challenges of shooting on location. Even though you can scout out a location in advance, there are always surprises. No two shoots are the same and you have to be able to adapt to changing conditions. You know, I love shooting in my studio, but it’s a blast to shoot on location. It makes packing up all the lighting gear, lugging them to the location, then unpacking everything worthwhile.

On a side note, thanks to Barb, Wendy, Tasha, Alicia, Kayla, Rohma, Karrie, Nick, Letticia, and Chuck. Special thanks to Gary, you rock!

This week I decided to create a list of things that an aspiring photographer should do. These are things that will improve someone’s image quality and consistancy. This list is geared towards beginners as well as others who wish to improve their photography skills. While numbered, this list is in no particular order of importance.

These are things that will help you regardless of whether you shoot people, flowers, or landscapes.

1. If your camera allows it, shoot RAW. RAW images not only give you more control over your final output, but they also give more control over exposure and are more forgiving.

2. Shoot with your camera on manual exposure where you control the aperture and shutter speed. You will learn about depth of field and camera movement which will give you much more control over your images.

3. There is direct and strong relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. LEARN IT! As a side note, there is a another direct relationship between minimum shutter speed and focal length. Learn it as well.

4. Learn your equipment and how to use it. Whether it’s a flash unit, light meter, or your camera, learn how to use it.

5. Learn how to hold your camera. I’ve seen a ton of people that don’t know how to securely hold their cameras. It’ll make a big difference when you have to shoot with a slow shutters speed hand held. Shooting a photo with a long lens at a slow shutter speed is very much like shooting a rifle. When you pull the trigger you have to be absolutely still.

I hope these tips are helpful. While I didn’t have the time to get real specific  about each one, there are plenty of online resources/tutorials that will give you more detail.

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.

Once again I am apologizing for being late on posting to my blog. With the long weekend I forgot about posting something new. The photos this week are of Chrissy whose an avid car buff. Her baby is a 2002 Trans Am. This is real go-fast car with numerous tweaks to the original 350 HP engine. The car sounds awesome too.

And here is a photo of just Chrissy.

These photos were shot in downtown Fort Wayne last Friday.