Dr. Sketchy's...

A few weeks ago my girlfriend Shannon asked me if I would go with her to Dr. Sketchy's anti-Art School at Birdy's Bar here in Indianapolis. If you aren't familiar with Dr. Sketchy's, it's a Burlesque show where the models take poses and everyone takes a few minutes to try to sketch them out. In my case, and in the case of a select few others they allowed us to photograph the event.

Nikon D3s, 2500ISO, Nikon 50mmF1.4G, 1/60th@F1.8

Not to say that I didn't sketch a few things out with Shannon as well as photograph the event, after all we went to spend some time together on top of doing an art related activity; but my sketches were so EPIC that I was asked not to post them here for fear that I would give the troop a bad image devalue the sketches.

There were a few other shooters there, Ryan Baxter whom I met at the Warehouse Photo workshop last year, as well as a guy named Don, whose business card I can't find at the moment but will try to remember to update with a last name later. It was a neat experience as I'd never actually seen a Burlesque show before, but the thing that really excited me was the fact that I was there under no deadlines, instructions, limitations (other than no flash) or any pressure to post the images anywhere. Very un-normal for me.

Nikon D3s, 2000ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@185mm, 1/60th@F2.8

As it also turns out Shannon and my friend Nikki is joining the troop as well, so it looks like we'll be going back to see her perform. That night she was doing the job known as being the 'Stage Kitten', meaning she got to collect the things that the Burlesque Dancers dropped while they were on stage. Unfortunately due to different distractions, as well as a lack of spotlights while she was doing this I was unable to get a photo of her doing her job. Next time Nikki, Next time.

Nikon D3s, 4500ISO(EEK!), Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@200mm, 1/60th@F2.8

That's Violet Phoenix from the Bloomington Burlesque Brigade. She was the special guest/model for the evening and she really genuinely seemed to enjoy what she did. Holding poses for anywhere between 1 and 15 minutes at a time is tough! If you don't believe me, you should try it out and see for yourself. I digress, though. It was quite the event, and it definitely helped me out with working on shooting things just for myself as I wanted to do in 2011. It's not something I concepted out, or had any control of; but whether I took the photos or not didn't matter. I was doing it because I wanted to just like this guy here using crayola crayons to sketch miss Violet.

Nikon D3s, 12,800ISO (hOly cOw!) Nikon 70-200F2.8VR@180mm, 1/60th@F2.8

Last night I gave the opening class lecture for the Advanced Portrait class at the Art Institute of Indianapolis. One of the things that I pushed to them was that their personal work would get them more gigs shooting than anything they shoot with a big name attached. I'm not sure that my night shooting at Dr. Sketchy's really qualifies as 'personal' work for me as it was just kind of an event coverage, but the fact that I was there shooting just to shoot under no real pressure from anyone or anything is a good start. I even broke the ISO barrier in as I very rarely take my camera above 800 normally... Welcome to 2011. More Soon.

In Knots...

Here I sit at almost 2AM on a Friday morning knowing that I've got about a hundred things to do before I go to sleep, and yet I decide to write myself a blog. I'm thinking about my girlfriend, the computer sitting on the floor next to me, some paperwork I need to fill out and send back out, photos that need to be taken, eggs that need to be eaten, my cat running wind sprints up and down the flights of stairs in my house, my parents 30th wedding anniversary this weekend, and lots of other stuff too. There comes a time in any photographers career when things are just overwhelming. Some of them find it at a shoot, some of them find it between shoots, some of them find it while editing. Honestly, I find editing one of the hardest things to do as a photographer.

(Nikon D3s, 200ISO, Nikkor AF-D 85mm F1.4. 1/2500th@F1.4)

Last weekend I was asked to be the second shooter at a wedding by my buddy Matt Stoltz. That's him arranging the bride and groom for some posed photos for the album. Great group of people, the bride was an absolute hoot. She was such a ham that even during the ceremony she caught me taking a photo of her...

(Nikon D3s, 1000ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2 with TC20eIII@370mm, 1/500th@F5.6)

My assignment for Matt was mostly the details even though he encouraged me to shoot it as I normally would have shot it. Honestly shooting a wedding with 2 people is about a thousand times easier than shooting it with 1 person. The shot above was from about 30 feet above, and the time it took me to get up there was enough that I'd have missed some important shots during the ceremony. Even though Matt told me to get mostly details, I still ended up shooting a few things just for the ambiance of the day.

(Nikon D700, 200ISO, Nikon 18-35F3.5-4.5@18mm, 1/250th@F5.6)

Despite my inevitable disregard for instruction; either because of ADD, or just my quest to take a memorable frame, I did end up taking quite a few detail photos that I liked.

(Nikon D3s, 2200ISO, Nikon 60mmNano Macro, 1/80th@F3)


(Nikon D3s, 200ISO, Nikon 60mmNano Macro, 1/80th@F10. Single SB900 Speedlight shot hard light over the straw hat and rings towards the camera set to iTTL +1, fired by SU-800 Speedlight commander attached to the camera)


(Nikon D700, 1400ISO, Nikon AF-S 50mmF1.4. 1/80th@F1.4)

These photos are all unedited. That's what I was asked for, and honestly I wouldn't feel right editing them just for the blog. Is this how the bride and groom will get them? I don't know, that's up to Matt. Either way, I was pleased with my shooting of the day.

(Nikon D700, 640ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5. 1/6th@F6.3. Single SB-900 Speedlight with a full CTO held by my left hand to camera right set to iTTL -1.7 zoomed to 105mm fired by SU-800 Speedlight commander attached to the top of the camera)

It was a great warmup for Justin and Lori's wedding in a few weeks. Greatly looking forward to their wedding, some old friends of mine. I'm very happy for them finding each other. Really until then I'm going to be super busy too. Until then though, I'm going to go back to watching my cat run wind sprints up and down the stairs, and thinking about how lucky my mom and dad were to have found each other, for what now seems like will be forever. 30 years this weekend. Epic in today's society. More Soon.

Outside the Box...

It's been a busy week for me. Last weekend I went to Louisville to shoot the Naptown Warning Belle's as they kicked butt against the Derby City Roller Girls. Great time, Great bout! Great Car ride down too. My favorite part might have been when one of the skaters was trying to decide which of the other skaters to give her credit card too.....Miso Crazy, or Helluva Gudtime......I'm not sure I'd like those chioces either. lol. Right after I got back, I had to shoot the Honor our Hero's festival here in Indy, which is where the shot above is from. D3, 18-35mm, 720ISO.

Sometimes when you're busy it's hard to get everything done though. I think everybody can Identify with this, which made me realize something that I know a lot of Pro's don't do which saves me a bunch of time. When a lot of people think of Pro Photographers they think of either super expensive camera's, or camera's that are set to nothing but Manual. This isn't the case however. Remote cameras can be set to priority modes, or sometimes you just can't predict what light is going to do. Pro's will also find ways to get camera's into places that most people aren't. That especially includes, places that other pro's arent...


The shot above was a D300 and a 10.5 Fisheye set to Manual Exposure. 1250 ISO, 1/60th a second at F2.8. Shot blind while holding the camera 60 feet above the track as far under the catwalk as I could reach. Getting a shot like that is tough; there are a lot of things to consider like do you want the action to stop? will the reflection of the floor make the picture too dark if you use it on automatic mode? ect ect.

Setting a camera to a complete manual setting is scary the first time you do it, but not the end of the world. Recently however I've become a BIG fan of the 'Auto-ISO' function on my D3 and D700. Freakin amazing feature that I know a lot of pro's overlook. It lets you decide how much of the action you want to stop (shutter speed) and how much depth of field you want (aperture) and then adjusts the sensitivity of the sensor to take your shot! It's almost like cheating in my mind. It's amazing. It doesn't even keep to standard ISO's. I shot a photo earlier at 580ISO.

A perfect example is the shot at the top of this post. The camera Automaticaly set the ISO on that shot to 720. Without Auto ISO that shot would have been taken at 1600ISO or whatever I may have set it at, when I started shooting. The photo would have been grainier, and not as reproduceable at a large scale. Where that shot is going to go...I have no idea; but at 720 ISO out of a D3, someone could make a poster out of it. When you're a pro, that's a big deal. Printing things big is especially important when you're doing things like this:

(Styling by Nikki Sutton, and Assist by Greg Andrews)

Like I said when I got started, I've been super busy lately. We are starting the 2010 Roller Derby Calendar very soon. The shot above is from last year's calendar and it's one of my favorites. I shot it with a D3 at 200ISO, with a single Dynalite 400JR through a 44" translucent disk to camera right. (would have used a softbox, but gosh....bathrooms are small...)

Looks like I get a little bit of time off for good behavior coming up though before it's time to really grind. I'll be in Maryland for the 4th of July, and I'm rather excited about seeing some long lost friends. When I get back though It's hard to work on the the Derby Calendar, A Swimsuit Calendar, as well as a few other projects I know I've got coming up over the summer. Until then, Everybody have a Happy 4th of July (even if it's just a regular Saturday for you).

Until next time, think outside the box. Try some of the crazy features on your camera like Auto-ISO. Try to get someplace you've never been to see things a little differently. You may find yourself not only pleased with what you get out of it, but you may also take a few pictures you like to remember it by. More Soon.