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.

Season of Excitment...

The end of the year can be an exciting time for everyone.  Holidays are approaching, some people like snow (seriously, they are out there), looking forward to families, looking forward to taxes, maybe a little time off........any number of wonderful possibilities.  I'm dreading the fact that I'm considering making my blog part of a new years resolution as I've sort of fallen off the blogging train the last few months.  I've said before that I've just been busy, and I have been busy; but that like so many other things is an excuse I suppose.

 

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 400ISO, Canon EF70-200F2.8L@120mm, 1/80th@F9.  Single 580EX SPeedlight zoomed in to 105mm set to 1/16th power hard light from the left of the frame aimed at where Dr. Evans hands touch the patient. Fired by Pocket Wizards. I chose the dark moody lighting to simulate a private room in the Office, which we clearly weren't in as I was shooting at 120mm.)

Shot some stuff for Pro Chiropractic clinic in Fishers recently.  Was a nice place- good people.  This is Dr. David Evans, who from what I am told has magic fingers.  Can't say I've ever been to a chiropractor or had a massage.  I even know a Masseuse who does a lot of work for the Indiana Fever, but have never taken the plunge.  Not sure if I'm missing anything or not, but one day when carrying all my gear comes back to haunt me, I know of at least a few people that can take care of me. 

In terms of everything, including the gear that'll break my back; this has been a rather exciting year for me over all.  I've grown personally, and photographically more than I ever thought I would.  I've bought and sold equipment, I've learned new types of photography including the use of a Tilt Shift, or Perspective Correcting Lens.  I've also received phone calls from people and picked up clients that I'd never considered possible this year.  All thanks to a little help from friends, and most certainly a lot of luck.

 

(Nikon D3s, 200ISO, Nikon 24mmF3.5PCE 1/200th@F16.  Single Dynalight 400 Uni inside of a 24"x24" Softbox to camera right, white paper surrounding the guitar to camera left acting as fill cards to about 4' tall.  The image to the left is shot at -6 degrees Tilt, and the image to the right is shot square away like a normal camera lens combo would capture it)

That photo above is two consecutive frames from a recent shoot; straight out of camera.  Didn't expect the shoot to require a PC lens, but I have a 24mm one that I purchased for some commercial real estate a few months ago.  I knew absolutely nothing about PC lenses before this year, and had no reason to, but since I bought the lens I've found myself using it in all sorts of strange ways. The nice part about tilt shift is that the image on the left that has been corrected is not only much more flat as if I was directly head on with the guitar; but the the guitar is 100% in focus of depth of field at F16.  This lens is capable of 36" of depth of field from front to back from 7" away from an object when tilt shifted correctly.  Absolutely phenomenal for shooting product, real estate as you can flatten out things that you can't physically center  yourself on.  That's not generally what a Tilt shift, or PCE lens is known for, but it's what it's original design was intended for.  All the way back to the bellows on a view camera. It's not for everything, in fact I kind of wish I'd bought the 45mm instead of the 24mm, but oh well.  Maybe next time. 

Bought myself an iPad too, which after a week I have decided is going to be an invaluable tool in my business.  After forgetting my card reader for the laptop on a shoot I had to proof a few of the pictures on the iPad.  Turns out it can read D3s .NEF files.......Can we say,  blown away?

 

(Photo by Joe Lee)

Not only is the iPad awesome for carrying my portfolio around (you never know when you'll be talking to your next employer), but at the same time it definitely made an impression on the client at this photoshoot.  It wasn't tethered, but to pull a few images and be able to show them large on a screen I could literally hand them made a big impression. 

So yea, kind of a lot has been going on.  Strangely enough some of these things I've been working on I  can't even talk about yet, which is kinda cool and yet nail biting at the same time.  I can assure you though that there will be some very cool blogs coming up soon, and a new website/blog to boot.  Some of which including the Guitars I showed above, Help-Portrait Indy is coming up very soon on December 18th (email me here if you're interested in helping out somehow), as well as I've got one or two more wild projects that I think might make good blog material.  More Soon. 

Feeding the Frenzy...

A couple of times a year I'm significantly busier than the rest of the year. September is one of those times normally. Don't get me wrong, the summertime is usually busier than the wintertime, but in the case of September; I've been out of town almost every weekend. That includes this upcoming weekend when I go to Pennsylvania to visit some of my most dear friends. Where have I been until now though? Simply everywhere...

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 320ISO, Canon 70-200F2.8IS@70mm, Single 580EX Speedlight fired by Pocket wizard inside of a FotoRosa 20" softbox to above camera right set to 1/4th power.  Single 580EX Speedlight zoomed to 70mm on 1/16th power fired by pocket wizard sitting on the desk to specifically light up the logo on the wall.)

 Thats Steve Jebonowski from Harrison college.  Quick portrait session.  So quick in fact, that it actually took me longer to get into the building than it did to do the setup and the shooting.  Steve was astounded that we were done in sub 15 minutes, and frankly, so was I.  Not that I don't think I'm capable, but sometimes things just work out the way they are suposed to, like in the case of that shot.  It's 95% straight out of the camera: The way I like it.

(Nikon D700, 2500ISO, Sigma 12-24mm@12mm, 1/80th@F4.5)

That shot is from the North Central Regional Roller Derby tournament.  The lovely ladies over at the Naptown Roller Girls extended an invitation to photograph them during the tournament, and who am I to decline an opportunity like that?  Despite the fact that I almost wet myself getting that shot, It's one of my favorites from the tournament.  You can check out the rest of the pics here.  It was a solid weekend as the girls went in as 9th seed, and came out in 6th.  No lack of things being interesting that weekend that's for sure.

Speaking of interesting, as I previously mentioned; this weekend I'm taking my girlfriend Shannon to Pittsburgh to see some very old and dear friends of mine.  I'm taking the weekend to do a few things I've missed, like hangin out, xbox, eating, drinking, and laughing.  In fact, we even introduced Catherine to her Destiny....

 (Nikon D3s, 400ISO, Nikon 60mm F.2.8N Macro, 1/100th@F8.  Nikon SB900 Speedlight to camera right shot into a bedsheet hung over a living room chair set to +-0 iTTL.  Nikon SB900 speedlight behind Catherine and xbox Controller set to iTTL +1EV fired into a white fireplace frame.  Both Speedlights fired by SU-800 Speedlight Commander from on camera.)

Very beautiful baby for a very beautiful family.  That pic above actually made it as photo of the day for me too.  And yea, you all know that I couldn't not take pics of little Catherine.  Even though I'm here to get away from some things,  and catch up on Sanity there are still things that I want to take pictures of.  Nuts huh?  This is the first baby I've ever really spent lots of time taking pictures of.  I guess if you consider about 45 minutes lots of time that is...  Either way, Catherine seemed to enjoy it and I know her parents will enjoy the photos as well.  I can't wait to see how little Catherine grows up, and what kind of woman she will become.  I look forward to seeing where the next 20 years takes all of us.  What projects we may work on, and what kinds of people we may all be then.  More soon.

(Nikon D3s, 400ISO, Nikon 60mmF2.8N Macro.  1/40th@F4.  Nikon SB900 fired into the TV stand in the front of the room to image left, set to iTTL +.3EV, fired by SU-800 Nikon Speedlight Commander from on Camera)

The Rundown...

So it's been a lot longer than my normal hiatus of blogging, and I can't even say that I'm sorry I've been busy. I'm sorry I haven't blogged, but not that I've been busy. Over the last week I've covered more than my fair share of variety.


Shot that for Prudential Corporate to go with their online and print marketing for all of Indianapolis.


That's a White gold pendant that I shot for Midwest Coin and Jewelry in Nora Indiana, to go into full page newspaper ads.


(info)
That was shot to go with a Transportation story about becoming a trucker in a Careerbuilder Special section.



That's a new promo shot for Adrianne from Metromix Indianapolis. Some people may remember the last set of promo's here.



This was an article about cleaning Dust out of ductwork to keep your heating and cooling bills down. This was for an article in Green Indy.



Last but not least, that's a photo from the the NRG Third Alarms vs the Rockford Rage. Made a special trip back up to where I grew up to see some friends just to be able to shoot this bout.

So there you have it, kind of a rundown as to some of the things I've been doing over the last week. Not a lot of technical shooting info this week, as much of it is just an update that I am still alive, and cranking. Have a bunch of phone calls I need to return, and if you're one of them I promise that you aren't forgotten. I'll get back to you as I can. Am working on some potential food clients, couple of weddings coming up, have a behind the scenes video for the ninja's over at www.fstoppers.com that I'm putting together, and already have a few of the NRG 2011 Calendar shoots written out. Things are about to get very exciting, very quickly. More soon.

Monday Night Ride...

In the last blog I said I had some interesting stuff coming down the pipe, and I'm now here to prove that statement to be true. Despite the fact that I'm on vacation right now, as usual someone manages to find something to get me interested in bringing the camera with me. This trip was no different as apparently a good friend of mine bought brand new Ducati.

(Nikon D3s, 3200ISO, Nikon 28-70F2.8@28mm. 1/2500th@F9. 2 Nikon SB900's and a single Nikon SB800 superclamped toa light stand held by Andy, set to fire via SU-800 Commander unit attached to the camera via SC-28 off camera cable. All speedlights were set to fire at +1.7EV and were zoomed to 105mm)

Honestly that shot wasn't what I was intending to start out with, in fact it was a test shot for the action shot lower on this page. Simple lighting scheme, which was all hard light. 3 Nikon Speedlights all super-clamped to a light stand and held by my buddy Andy as illustrated here:


I set up the lights like that because Andy had a very very important job. Well a few important jobs maybe as his first job was to make sure the lights were pointed at Biker Mike, and to yank me out of the way if somehow I got in said way... Luckily, only once did the bike brush through my hair on the way past, which I suppose is par for the course that I play on when it comes to Photography. In case you're wondering, no that shot didn't make the cut. I'm sure Ducati would have loved that itw as almost just a frame of their logo and the riders left hand pumping the clutch, but this one seemed much cooler...

(Nikon D3s, 2500ISO, Nikon 28-70F2.8@28mm. 1/2000th@F9. 2 Nikon SB900's and a single Nikon SB800 superclamped to a light stand held by Andy, set to fire via SU-800 Commander unit attached to the camera via SC-28 off camera cable. All speedlights were set to fire at +1.7EV and were zoomed to 105mm)

That's one of the final shots there. Originally I wanted to have a much nicer bluer sky, with potentially a bit of a sun flair in the frame. This sky is what I got, and honestly I can't say I'm terribly upset about it. I feel as though it gives it a good bit of dramatic effect, especially since the sun was giving the clouds that orange burst while it started to set. Surprisingly we weren't out there for very long, I figured it would take quite a few more attempts at this, and really I'm very intrigued about doing it again having learned a few things on this attempt. Who knows, I may have to pull a Redo on this one. The action shots at least, the few portraits I shot I was relatively pleased with. More Soon.

(Nikon D3s, 200ISO, Nikon 85mmF1.4. 1/1250@F2. Single Nikon SB900 zoomed to 70mm attached to the end of a light stand held above Biker Mike by Andy, set to fire at iTTL +-0EV from a Nikon SU-800 Commander Unit from on camera.)

Dancing with Wolves...

Really if I was let into the same shared space as the wolves I'd have been running from the wolves, but luckily they had enough foresight to not let me run around inside the wolf cage freely. I digress, and I never really got started how's that for a new record? Between 3 and 4pm yesterday I got a call from my friend Shannon whom I know through her husband and Roller Derby. She volunteers at Wolf Park in Lafayette Indiana and had spoken with me previously about possibly taking some time for some photo Tomfoolery. Who am I to say no to some Photo Tomfoolery? Unfortunately it wasn't enough time to run out and rent some long glass which I figured I'd need but either way I would consider this to be (as my friend Tom puts it), a "Target Rich Environment".

(Nikon D700, 4500ISO, Nikon 18-35mm@18mm, 1/40th@F3.5)

That is Wolf Park during mid swing on a wolf event. We went at dusk, and unfortunately it was super overcast that day, but the only thing that did was make it cold and rainy-ish. The videographer and Shannon were upset about the wicked orange argon, or sodium vapor lights that were illuminating the display but as I am out of my mind I got excited. Anybody who has read the blog knows how easily excited I am, but the photo above is my good reason for being excited. As I recently told an interview to be a Spotlight Photographer for Photo Potpourri I love playing with colors in my photography. This was just a case where the D3's Clean High ISO combined with the venue lighting choices gave me photos that I would of otherwise would have had to intentionally create. Not that you can't white balance for these lights either though.

(Nikon D3, 4000ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR@140mm, 1/60th@F2.8)

The wolves were pretty cool, although like I said I wish I'd had some long glas, and I wish it had been a whole lot lighter out. 200mm wasn't really enough from where we were shooting, and when its getting dark the lower shutterspeeds have to be brought up with ISO making grainy pictures. Now I know the lay of the land a bit though, so I can rent something either from Roberts, or Borrow lenses before the next trip out, which I think is going to be a Bison demonstration where the wolves will take down a bison for us. (I think). I will probably try to rent the 200-400F4 for the next trip as that even though it's not a F2.8 all the way through, it'll have the range that I want in only one lens. Either way there were a few shots I was able to get that I liked, although nothing super tight on the wolves which is too bad. Next time though. Next time.

(Nikon D3, 2800ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5@18mm. 1/80th@F3.5)

That is Shannon where we were shooting from. When we got there the wolves were across the park from us for which 200mm was most certainly not enough. I've also been hankerin to try out the 70-300VR that Nikon has. The nice part is that I'd probably be able to purchase that one, unlike the 200-400 which would take quite a bit of budgeting prowess inside of a profession that my accountant once again referred to as a Hobby. Either way, next time I'll be ready. I'll be ready to get a much closer photo of this guy here, who I'm pretty sure is thinking to himself while being scratched: "I want to eat you camera dude...you ate the last donut". More soon.

(Nikon D3, 3600ISO, Nikon 70-200mmF2.8VR@200mm, 1/100th@F2.8)

Your own worst critic...

Ever watch Mystery Science Theatre 3000? Those guys are some tough movie critics if I ever saw any. No movie is safe from their judgmental eyes. I like to tell people that they are their own worst critics when it comes to either photos of themselves, or their photography in general. I am no different, and a good friend of mine made mention to me that it never seemed like I was happy with anything that I shot. EVER. I told him he had a good point, and reminded him of the previous statement. In fact however, last friday I had a shoot that I ended very happy with (except for maybe the travel time to shoot time ratio...)

(Canon 5D Mark II, 250ISO, Canon 16-35mmF2.8L@30mm. Single Canon 580EX Speedlight set to 1/8th power shot through a 42" Umbrella to camera right fired by pocket wizard)

That's John. He is an honorable mention in the IndyStar's Salute to Nurses that I mentioned in the previous post. I drove 45 minutes to Anderson Indiana to take this photo of John, which required my simple go to lighting scheme. A single speedlight with a 42" umbrella. Simple, effective, I like it. The Hospital liked it too, and that's more important than what I think in the end, but I DID take 45 minutes to drive up there, so I wasn't about to be done shooting after 15 minutes. It turns out that this particular hospital in Anderson is on the top of the list for Computers in the rooms at patients bedsides. These computers give the nurses tons of information about about each patient immediately at their fingertips. Plus it lets them update their facebook, or watch movies while at work..... ok well maybe not, but I did actually ask... This is the shot I came up with.

(Canon 5D Mark II, 320ISO, Canon EF70-200mmISF2.8L@70mm. Canon 580EX Speedlight snooted set to 1/16th power shot into the computer monitor fired by pocket wizard, Single 580EX Speedlight set to 1/8th power snooted with a FotoRosa Snoot and zoomed to 105mm set to 1/16th power fired by pocket wizard aimed directly at the patients head.)

This shot took a few more minutes to set up, as we had to find a nurse to volunteer to be the patient. I also used two lights, both with snoots to selectively light parts of the image. At the end of the day, I shot in the hospital for about 1/2 the amount of time as the round trip travel time, but at the same time I was pleased with the two setups that I ended up with.

In the end my buddy Mike was right. There are still things I would change about these photos, and I am a believe that there is no such thing as "good enough". Despite that fact, I do like how these two shots turned out and can only hope that the more I shoot the luckier I get to where I'll like a lot more of them right out of the gate. I can tell you one thing though, my best photo has yet to be taken, but I'm looking for it. More Soon.

Indy Warehouse Photo Group...

A few weeks ago my buddy Joe Lee asked if I'd be interested in doing a shoot in a building he knew of that was covered in professional grade griffiti. What? do I look like someone that says no to something like that? At least I'm not as scary as this dude:


That's my buddy James, who showed up for about 10 minutes in the middle of all the commotion. He may look like the back alley guy that's looking for trouble but he really is one of the nicest guys you'll meet. He saw the event happening on facebook, and I told him if he showed up he'd probably end up with at least one cool photo of himself. He seemed to like this one when he saw it, and I can't complain about it either. It was a quick 5 minute shoot, which is my favorite kind. Got him in front of the wall, bing, bang and done. Easy as pie. That's what the workshop part of this was for though. Joe wanted to get some Pro's together with people that wanted to become better photographers so there would be kind of this learning collective thing going on. Personally I think it could have used a little better planning over all, but either way I met some people that got some shots they were pleased with, and the very little I did actually shoot; I was pleased too.


That lovely lady is Joe Lee's mom. Back when he first spoke to me about this event he asked if I would mind taking a minute to take a photo of her for him, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. She was a lovely lady, who was incredibly excited to be a part of this event, and I was thrilled the opportunity to take her photo. I wanted to do something a little different for her, and so I had the lovely Brittany stand in front of a light, as though she was spray-painting the graffiti. Originally i wanted it to appear as though Mrs. Lee was one of the graffiti artists, but now that I see what I came up with it appears as though Mrs. Lee is the supervisor. Either way you want to take it is fine. You could also think she was catching the artist in the act although I prefer to think of her as the rebel...


Speaking of Rebels, this lovely lady is Brittany. Pretty girl who wanted to do nothing that night but go outside. So outside is where we went alright; outside through the window onto the roof of the warehouse. She wanted the same thing that I wanted originally, which was something to do with the Skyline. I was more than up to the challenge of this, except that the one and major recognizable building in downtown Indianapolis wasn't lit up. That one building was the Chase Bank Tower in the center of the downtown. This is the shot that I really liked out of the set we shot though This could have been shot down on the ground, I realize this; but now I have the story about how I climbed through a window, used a work light to weigh down my umbrella and strobe, and then stood with wet shoes on a vinyl bar stool that was already unbalanced. It immediately reminds me of when I introduced myself to some of the people at the warehouse. One of the guy's responded with, "Yea I met you before, you like to climb on stuff don't you?" Busted... If I didn't climb on stuff though; I wouldn't have been able to get above the snow to catch that wicked green tint from the Mercury Vapor street light on the snow behind Brittany. Was it worth risking life and limb for? I think so, but then again I also think that if I spin in circles nobody can see me so you should probably decide for yourself.



The last shot that I did that night was of Jamaar. I saw him standing there, and another shooter brought a guitar with him. It just seemed appropriate, I won't even lie. I guess I thought he had that Lenny Kravitz thing going for him or something because this is what I saw. Quick 5 minute shoot to end the night.

Everybody seemed to have a good time there, some people shot really well, others weren't as happy with their performance as they would have liked but in the end it was a learning experience for everyone. There is already talk about doing another one, and I'm going to try to have more of a part in the organizational standpoint in that because like I said earlier; there were a few logistical things we could have done better. Otherwise I think everybody had a good time, and I guess next time I look forward to doing even better. More Soon.

Megapixels in 2010.....

Just the same that I know people interested in Megapixels, I know several people that are somewhat large into the whole "New years Resolution" thingy. One person I know actually frames her resolutions and hangs them on her office wall. I give her a lot of credit because that's one heckuva way to keep these things on the front and center. She makes sure that she crosses them off. I think a whole bunch up, but don't always push all the way through them, which I suppose defeats the point completely. can you make a resolution to actually finish your resolutions? Things like aluminum foil balls, lost marbles, pretty ladies, and pretty much anything that flashes tend to get in the way with mine. This year though I've pretty much decided on a few that are a lot more professional related than personal, and considering I'm as nuts about photography as I am; I think that's for the better.


(Nikon D3, 200ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5@18mm. 1/60th@F11. Single Nikon SB-900 to camera left inside of a 15" softbox set to TTL +/-0. Single Nikon SB-900 speedlight set on a table about 20 feet back inside the chamber cutting across Andy and the background. Both Speedlights were fired by an SU-800 Commander unit, attached to the camera using an SC-28 off camera cable.)

Speaking of things that flash, I was on vacation last week and where as most people try to get away from their jobs and do random vacation things I actually had a few shoots lined up. These shoots though were to go with part of a resolution for 2010 that I have. That resolution is to be much more proactive in my photography by shooting more challenging things for myself. That shot is of my buddy Andy, embodying an important part of his profession. Andy is a Radio Frequency Test engineer, and the cones behind him are Radio Wave Absorbing material. Cool place. I can't really say much more about it, but trust me. COOL.


(Nikon D3, 800ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR@105mm. 1/2sec@F4. The camera was mounted to a Bogen Manfrotto Tripod with a Manfrotto 405 Geared Head. Single SB-900 Speedlight set to 1/16th power shot through a 42" umbrella fired by pocket wizard on the end of a 8 foot paint pole held by Andy the RF engineer.)

That's Mike, he's been wanting to be a cop since he we were knee nibblers. I'll never forget helping his neighbor who became part of the police force practicing his vehicle stops and home invasion stuff on us with other guys on the force. Some of those guys were nuts, and I don't want to relive some of the things I'd seen them try. Finally he did it though, and is now a lawman. He was kind enough to take 10 minutes out of his schedule so that I could snap a couple shots of him. Opted for the slightly more moody lighting because cops are tough. They can take it.


(Nikon D3, 400ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5@18mm. 1/20th@F5. Single Snooted Nikon SB-900 zoomed to 200mm with the included Warming Gel set to TTL -2EV, fired by SU-800 Commander Unit attached to the camera hot shoe. Single SB-900 Speedlight set to 1/32nd power zoomed to 50mm fired by Pocket wiard into the back of the tanning bed to illuminate the Ultrasun in the top left of the frame. Camera white balance set to Custom 4000 Kelvin to accentuate the blue given off by the logo lights of the tanning beds giving the frame the Ultra blue background, while using the SB-900 to draw attention to Brad with the warming gel.)

Making people look their best though is Brad's Job. Brad is the General Manager for a company that I do work for regularly, and they manufacture tanning beds. They spend bunches of money every year towards making tanning safer, as well as for longer lasting effects. They are one of the top tanning bed companies in the world. Brad's normally not the person being photographed for me, he's usually the one holding a light, finding a vending machine, or carrying something heavy for me. This shoot was particularly important to me for that reason. He's always been a big help to me, and is always willing to help in anything. When I said I wanted to try a few things out, but I needed a subject, he was the first to volunteer.

As I said, for 2010 one of my resolutions is to be more proactive with my photography with more challenging self assigned shoots. These three buddies of mine were very gracious to lend me their time so that I could further myself photographically. I may continue this series as well, I haven't decided; but I like how it has started. As for other New Years Resolutions, there are plenty of things I'd like to accomplish this year. We'll see what happens. Maybe I should take a page out of my friend's book and hang the resolutions on the wall so they can haunt me until finished. Or maybe I should just stay close to her to see what else she can teach me. Either way, I look forward to what 2010 has to bring for all of us. More Soon.

I'd Like to thank...

Milling around on the tubes of the internets earlier today I was looking at some photography blogs and I came across website that ranks photography blogs online. For kicks and giggles I searched the page for mine to see if I'd even made in into the plethora of other blogs they had listed, and to my amazement I not only did make it into one of a the many categories; but I beat out a website that I both read and recommend to people daily. Strobist.



The full list of blogs can be found here. The irony on this is that I can in no way compare myself to most of the websites on this list, and for all I know my blog might have more viewers than the list itself does; but either way it's pretty cool. The numbers that I mention as for readership on this blog may be slightly skewed, but I can tell you for sure that I am nowhere close to the 72,000+ RSS Subscribers that strobist has; much less the photographic content or Grammatical quality. If you look past all of those things though, than apparently I've got more Pages per visit.

I think that means how many pages someone looks at an average when they look at this blog. So really whomever does read this will tend to find something of interest; which is super flattering folks. I already know there are people out there that read this that I don't know, like the ladies up at the Carmel Portrait Innovations for example. I don't know you ladies, but I've been told my an ex employee/friend of yours that you read my blog; and I greatly appreciate it. Honestly I only hope that I can continue to find content of interest to write about in my quest to make something out of this somewhat lucrative profession that I have chosen.

Regardless I'd like to thank the people that do read this, and continue to read it. The readership slowly has been climbing which makes me not only feel good, but want to become a much much better photographer, and even writer. This is an incredibly minor thing to get excited about, and that's not even an insignificant enough way to put it. There are hundreds of blogs listed on the rating page, I was just blessed to be on one small part of it. I guess this just means that I definitely have to keep writing here, because it seems to be confirmed that people DO actually visit my corner of the interents. Thanks again everyone, Happy Holidays, and now more than ever: more soon.

Short Attention Spans......

One of the funny parts about photography is that you never know what you will end up having to work on next. Some projects come into play just like David Hasselhoff does; OUT OF FREAKIN NOWHERE!. I've posted here in the past about working with the Bob Rohrman Auto Group on the 'Rollin with Gunner' video series on Metromix.com. This weeks Rollin with Gunner deals with wanting to play golf during the winter, for which the only solution is obviously to hit glass Christmas ornaments with golf clubs....

(Canon 5D Mark II, 250ISO, Canon 100mmUSMF2.8Macro, 1/250th@F10. Single 580EX Speedlight set to 1/2 power fired by pocket wizard to camera left zoomed to 105mm. Club Swung by Gunner)

That was a still photo that I took while shooting the Rollin With Gunner for this week. The problem is that I didn't have an off camera Cable to use with my canon equipment to achieve faster than a 1/250th of a second sync speed with the flash. That's important because that golf club is moving hella fast, which is why even though I have a flash, and I nailed the club in a single shot; The club and shattering are blurry.

On any normal Wednesday night, I stop in to work at Ultrasun USA, for whom I shoot online, and print photos for outside of the newspaper. It's all non, newspaper glossy magazine, web, and brochure type stuff so there's no direct competition there. Anyway, my good friend Brad is the one who is in charge of the work that I do there and I was telling him about what I was doing at work with Gunner. I showed him the Gunner video that I had finished earlier that day and he was not only excited but he wanted to try it. I'm sure anyone who has read this blog before has heard me mention Brad, and how if there is trouble to be had; he's there with me. He's the friend where if I decided I was going to hell; he'd yell shotgun. (For the record I believe he has in fact already called that seat on the bus I'm taking). He wrote up a real nice piece on his blog about working on photoshoots with me not too long ago too, and I am still super flattered by it. Check it out here. Anyway, Brad decided that we didn't need to shoot what we were supposed to shoot tonight, and we went and bought around a hundred glass Christmas ornaments instead....

(photo by Brock Bruner)

I wasn't totally prepared to shoot high speed action like this tonight, and I'll probably be pulling glass out of my hair, arms and jacket for the next week or so; but really it was all worth it as some of the shots are completely priceless. Brad's the kind of guy that can never have enough gadgets either, so we definitely had an HD video camera inside of a plastic box right in the line of fire to make sure that nothing was missed.

(HD Video Grab from a Sanyo VPCHD-1010)

In the end the intention was to get the club smashing the glass ornament all to snot in frame, which is not as easy as you would imagine. If I could redo it I'd have bought about 20 feet worth of USB cables to tether my camera to my notebook to be out of the line of shrapnel, but in the end we both ended up un-injured; save a few minor eye, and artery injuries.... This was also a great opportunity to play with the Nikon High Speed TTL Sync on the Speedlights too.

(Nikon D3, 2500ISO, Nikon 60mmF2.8Nano Macro, 1/8000th@F11. SB-900 Speedlight to camera right behind the ball set to 200mm +1EV iTTL, SB-900 Speedlight set to +1 EV iTTL to camera left with the Green Gel supplied with the unit, SB-800 zoomed to 105mm, on a stand above the camera shot through a 42" Translucent Disk for Fill set to +1 iTTL. All Speedlights fired by a SU-800 Unit attached to the camera by an SC-80 Off camera Sync Cord and posted on top of a stand about 5 feet above, and behind the camera. Club Swung by Brad Clampitt)

I have a feeling that'll end up being my Christmas card this year, but we'll see what happens over the next week. You just never know. Speaking of never knowing, I think the best shot of the shoot was the shot that was only taken 1 time. This shot was taken on a whim, as I adjusted 1 speedlight to to punch Brad's face. I told him to swing only fired this one frame. Sometimes the more you do something; the luckier you get. More Soon.

(Nikon D3, 2500ISO, Nikon 18-35mm F3.5-F4.5@18mm, 1/8000th@F11. SB-900 Speedlight to camera right behind the ball set to 200mm +1EV iTTL, SB-900 Speedlight set to +1 EV iTTL to camera left with the Green Gel supplied with the unit, SB-800 zoomed to 105mm, on a stand above the camera shot through a 42" Translucent Disk for Fill set to +1 iTTL. All Speedlights fired by a SU-800 Unit attached to the camera by an SC-28 Off camera Sync Cord and posted on top of a stand about 5 feet above, and behind the camera.)

Everyone Gives Thanks.....

This time of year people like to talk about what and who they are thankful for, and I suppose I am no different; despite the fact that 2009 has been an exceedingly tough year for me. I've been very lucky thus far in my career as a photographer and I can only pray and hope to God that my luck will continue with the opportunities, and friends that I have had along the way. The Roller Derby has advanced me significantly in my skills, as well as the contacts that I have made along the way. The fact that I work with people at the newspaper who are of an unmatched photographic caliber and am completely honored to be even considered to work in the same building as them has also been very lucky. I am thankful for family and friends who have supported me with my wild ideas as well as being there for a lot of the successes, and numerous failures. Most of all I'm thankful for just being as busy as I have been in the job that I love as it has allowed me opportunity to photograph things I'd never otherwise have opportunity for.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 1600ISO, Canon 300mmF2.8IS, 1/200th@F2.8)

That's Tony Hoard and his dog Rory from the 2009 Indianapolis Circle of Lights Festival. I shoot that event every year on the date ominously known as "Black Friday". For those of you that don't watch much TV, like myself, that's the guy and dog from "America's Got Talent" last year. The guy from Indiana who lost his job because he was pursuing his dream of being a touring frisbee dog show. I give the guy a lot of credit; he went for his dreams.


(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 1600ISO, Canon 300mmF2.8IS, 1/160th@F4)

That's Paige Brown and for a little kid she's a heck of a singer. Supposedly she's also sang in front of other various large crowds as well, but either way here she was in Indy singing in front of the somewheres of 100,000 people like a champ. She too was going after her dreams, and I know she wouldn't have made it there without the help from her friends and family either.


(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 1600ISO, Canon 16-36mmF2.8L@16mm, 1/50th@F2.8)

Those two kids have hopes and dreams of a different kind, but they are hopes and dreams that I'm sure their families (or Santa) this season. You can see more shots of the festival from the Editorial side of the newspaper here. Matt Detrich and Alan Petersime were the editorial photographers who shot the event that night. They are both outstanding shooters who I look to for inspiration every day. Them and their small army of D3's went to town on the event that I shoot every year, and as usual came back with some amazing stuff. Highly suggested to take a look at their work.

I shot some promo shots for the band, "An American Shootout" last night at a few Indy Locations. The shots turned out very nice, to the point that I can and will even say I am very happy with them. They aren't ready to be posted yet, but as soon as they are I'll be sure to tell that story. It's a good story too, but what isn't a good story when you mix things together like iTTL and Cops? Seriously? PARTY! I'm also going to leave you with a 3 minute shot from last week that I was pleased with also. It's a shot of the prettiest funeral director I've ever seen, with her father. Got there and had 5 minutes or less to shoot the portrait of the two of them for their Ad. This is what I got. The more I do this, the luckier I get. Thank you everyone who has been there for me this year, and helping me to be where I am today. As well as everyone who continues to offer to be there for me no matter what. I appreciate you all more than you think. More soon.


(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 400ISO, Canon 16-25mmF2.8L@21mm. 1/30th@F3.5. Single 580EX Speedlight set to 1/8th power zoomed to 70mm fired into the Taupe colored wall behind camera left fired by pocket wizard.)

Blog: Vacation Edition

Everybody likes to have some time off, and I got to experience that Rarity last weekend. I got to spend some time with some of the best friends anybody could ask for, that I never get to see. I studied Photography at Purdue, and I'll tell you what. There weren't many of us that did. Not that I'm saying I'm special, it's just that there were 3,000 engineers for every 1 photo student. Needless to say, all of my friends are engineers that live across the country doing various things to keep us safe, or make sure our ketchup stays red. We are able to get together maybe once a year if we're lucky. They know I'm a photographer for a living, so when I pull out the camera they all attempt to act normal, but are all interested in learning about things like depth of field, and things that I don't really think about anymore. It's really great to be accepted into such a smart group of friends, and be able to contribute to some sort of technical mumbo jumbo conversation that comes up.


That's Doug. Doug is easily one of the smartest people I know, and is definitely an asset to Boeing and the proejcts he works on. Doug is also very easily excited, and yes his wetsuit is on backwards in this photo. This oversight was quickly corrected, but Doug and I had several conversations about depth of Field over the course of the weekend. (intermixed among other conversations regarding how many beers were in a keg, and how much each person in a 12 person group would have to drink in terms of cases to comlete the keg, if it was in case form). Doug is the kind of guy that if asked, and gave a number to a decimal I'd believe pretty instantly. Anyway, Doug was intrigued by being able to isolate an object through a camera optically.

D700, AF-S50mm F1.4 @F1.4, Ambient light.

Even though it was vacation I am more than willing to talk photography, and I only hope that I was able to answer Doug's questions regarding Depth of Field. Unfortunately I didn't have any long glass with me to demonstrate lens compression as well, but if I'd have done that I'd have also tried to set up a speedlight, and then probably take the entire shoot out of control over a simple explanation. I'm sort of a Nut like that. My buddy Brad knows this; He has a brand new Sony A700 and will call and email me at all times of the day with questions. Brad is the kind of guy whose imagination was last seen dry humping a bug zapper. This is more than likely why he and I get along. Brad has been known to assist me from time to time because he's interested in learning anything he can get his hands on; and I greatly appreciate his help. Last week he helped me film some video for Express Effects Cosmetics; the company that makes THINgloss. The owner has launched a new campaign to be a ray of hope in our current economic situation. You can learn more about it here. She is going to put a webisode up every week charting her progress, in a very similar fashion to Reality TV.

I've got some more video to shoot later this week, and this next weekend will start the shooting for the 2010 Roller Derby Calendar. If I can find time and I end up doing something worth writing about I'll be sure to do so. Until then, find something you want and be diligent about it; work for it. If it's really as great as you think it is, the prize will be worth the fight. More soon.


Tony eagerly awaits the time to bulid a campfire.
D700 AF-S 50mm F1.4@F1.4.

Basketball, Weddings, Overtime, Derby, Conflicts and Birthdays.......

So Wow. This has been a heck of a week. For work I drove almost 800 miles this week shooting Restaurants, Basketball, and Fire chiefs. Roller Derby, Police officers, and Course Guide covers. It's been a crazy week that culminated on Saturday with 2 Weddings, two All Star Basketball Games, a Roller Derby Double header, and a Birthday. (Happy Birthday Dawnya, wherever it is you've ended up).

Obviously I couldn't do all of those things on Saturday so It turned into a game of, what trumps what. Honestly it's good to have choices on what you want to do, but when you want to do everything it comes down to what you HAVE to do.

In the end I HAD to shoot the All Star Basketball Games in Conseco. I don't shoot basketball except for 1 week a year, and this was it. I love shooting sports, I used to shoot them at Purdue, but it just wasn't in the cards for me to continue doing sports on a regular basis.


I did end up making it to the second half of the second game at the Roller Derby, but that's only 30 minutes of Derby out of 120 total bout minutes. As this was the last bout of the home season, I was sort of disappointed that I couldn't be there for the girls. I did manage to get a few shots though, which you can find here.



Congrats to my friends Greg and Allison who got married last weekend in Michigan. I'm sorry I had to miss the wedding, but work obviously got in the way here more than once. Congratulations to John and Tina who got married as well; whose wedding I was unable to shoot because of all of the fore mentioned conflicts as well.

Otherwise this week has been particularly stressful because the basketball was a priority, but it was along with what normally takes me 40ish hours a week to accomplish anyway. I shot the cover for next semesters IUPUI course guide, a couple of dining guide inserts, as well as the Greenwood Fire Chief for the upcoming Honor our Hero's section at the paper. I wish I could have come up with a more dynamic image for the Fire Chief, but the weather wasn't very nice and there wasn't a whole lot of room in the foyer in the Fire Station so this is what I ended up with.


Over all I am looking forward to a bit slower of a week this week. I've still got a Cat I need to find a home for, that isn't happy I was gone for 80 hours last week; but that's why I didn't have a pet to start with. Despite the slightly less busy week, hopefully next week I'll have something interesting to write about. More soon.