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)

Kickin the tires. Lightin the fires...

So it's been longer than my normal pauses between blogs, and I swear it's not because I haven't wanted to. I've had the great fortune of being busy, busier than I can handle almost which any photographer can tell you; is a blessing. The blog isn't the only thing that's suffered in my absence though, the photo of the day that I do on my facebook page has been missing for about 5 days now. Good thing I wasn't going for a record there or anything.

Anyway, just got back from Philly where I was invited to shoot at the East Coast Extraveganza, which is a Roller Derby exhibition tournament to help teams change their standings right before the regional tournament selections are made. It was quite an event, and aside from shooting some random artsy stuff it helped me put some new equipment through the rigors it needed to get broken in.

(Nikon D3s, 2500ISO, Nikon 70-200VR2. 1/250th@F4 SB9000 Speedlight zoomed to 105mm to camera left set to 1/16th power superclamped to the lexan saftey glass around the hockey rink. Same setup on a second SB900 to the right side of the camera, except zoomed to 200mm. Both fired by Pocket Wizard.)

I did shoot more than just the Naptown girls this trip, in fact I shot 6 bouts in total. I'd never shot so many bouts in a row before, but it was easier than I anticipated. It probably helped having a beer after the 4th one straight, but who knows. The girls are always a pleasure to travel with, and I'd never been to such a large derby event before. I mean, in terms of people Naptown puts on a LARGE event, but having 20 teams all in one spot? It was absolutely amazing. Philly is a beautiful city and I wish I would have been able to see more of it. Fortunately for me, there are a lot of beautiful towns and a few projects have popped up recently that allow met to see some more of them very soon.

(Nikon D3s, 800ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2 with the TC20eIII 2x teleconverter. 1/1000th@F9)

Someone once asked me how I can afford to purchase and own up to date camera gear, and my answer was simply this. I don't keep the old stuff. My D3 was going to net me more money now than tomorrow, or next week, so purchasing the new body is relatively inexpensive. Figure if you only spent a thousand dollars every other year to have the most up to date camera body, would you do it? Yea, my D3 was very sentimental to me as it was a major accomplishment in technology and in my career for being able to own one. The tens of thousands of shots that I put on it helped make my living, further my craft, or were shot for pure enjoyment. But by selling that D3, I made way for a new Nikon D3s at a fraction of the cost of purchasing it outright. My buddy Scott down at Roberts Distributors here in Indianapolis has me always on mind when it comes to deals that come in. I can't say I always take the deals he finds me, but when he finds me a deal I always go in to check it out. I buy almost all of my equipment from Roberts, as does Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and many more. If it's good enough for them, I suppose it'll do for me... In the end, is the D3s everything I had hoped for? Yes, and then some. It's a pretty amazing camera that feels like an old glove as it's identical to the D3 in almost every way except some very important ones. Those ways that it's not identical though? I've got some neat projects coming up for that, so stay tuned.

(Nikon D700 200ISO, Nikon 18-35F3.5-4.5@18mm. 1/400th@F22)

Unfortunately there's not much more than Derby photos that I can post from the last week or two as I don't want to scoop the publications or organizations that I've been shooting for. What the Naptown Roller Girls did was amazing in Philly though, and they deserve every bit of credit anyone wants to send them for their accomplishments. Very soon though I've got a lot of content coming down the pipe that I'm very excited to talk about. Lets just say I'll give you the following keywords to think about. Motorcycles, Beer, Music, Going Green, and Sunsets. Much Much more soon.


(Nikon D3s, 2500ISO, Nikon 70-200VR2. 1/250th@F4 SB9000 Speedlight zoomed to 105mm to camera left set to 1/16th power superclamped to the lexan saftey glass around the hockey rink. Same setup on a second SB900 to the right side of the camera, except zoomed to 200mm. Both fired by Pocket Wizard.)

Scary Hot Stuff.....

Scary hot can be a term used to describe so many things. The Sun for example can be considered scary hot. After all it probably is the hottest thing us as humans know to exist; other than of course another star someplace else.... either way it's the closest hottest thing we know of. Personally right now I'd describe the amount of work I've had to do as Scary Hot. I can't complain whatsoever, however it's detracted from certain things that I should be doing as a typical 25 year old, like having boatloads of fun (sometimes even on a boat...), Blogging..., sleeping, eating glue, accepting candy from strangers, and did I say sleeping?

I've been doing a lot of side shooting from the newspaper lately on top of what was already a wicked busy time at the newspaper; and that's been excellent. I can not complain at all as a lot of the stuff I've done recently has really worked out for me in the end. The amount of hours and time I've spent awake and shooting the last few weeks. That can definitely be considered being Scary Hot right now. Honestly though I love what I do and despite the fact that I may not make it out to a bar on some weekends or do some of the things that a typical 25 year old does; I'm cool with it. It's a little bit of prospecting mixed with a dash of already found, along with a pinch of slightly off my rocker that makes for a good combination of photography; at least in my world anyway. Especially when you have to do some things exceedingly quickly in some cases.


That was a 5 minute portrait that I shot at the Fight with Flight last weekend. Some people who read this will have seen it already, and some won't. I wanted to shoot a portrait of a Redbull girl while at the RedBull Fight with Flight event because I was there for myself; and that's what I wanted to do. In the Newspaper Biz a 5 minute portrait is usually 4:30 longer than whomever you are shooting figures it needs to be. Either way, it turned out pretty solid for very little planning and a little faith in the Nikon iTTL system. I was pleased with the result, and so was the lovely Emily. Most of what I do is on such a tight deadline, you need to be setup and ready to go before you even go and get the talent into the room. After all, their time is worth more than yours (whether that's true or not, if you think that way you'll never be in trouble). You can get in trouble though, because Emily is a Senior in High School. Does she fit into the Scary Hot category? HECK YEA. I'm pretty sure she's got to be 18 to work for RedBull, but just goes to show you never know....

With other events in mind I'm sure everybody noticed all the advertisements around for the, "Big Game." I won't even lie that since the term "Big Game", is somewhat ambiguous I'm going to agree with my friend Grand Ref Otto (Grand Theft Otto to the drunks). We are pretty sure everybody who mentioned "The Big Game" was referring to the roller derby bout last weekend. The Naptown Tornado Sirens beat Memphis last weekend and it was an awesome bout to see. You can check out the photos from that event here.



Speaking of the Roller Derby, and 5 minute portraits; that's the lovely miss "Kickabroad Crane". Rumor is that she's so touch she broke her foot while kickin a$$ and she kept on kickin. Literally, she was wearing one of those plastic boot things you get from the doctor after breaking your foot, so she was easy to commandeer to be a light test subject for something I wanted to see. Simple 2 light setup, not much photoshop required except to put the two shots together which was easy enough that I managed to figure it all out in just a few minute. I need to come up with a derby name that is somewhat mormon related so that way I can have many derby wives, becuase lots of these ladies would definitely fit into that description of Scary Hot that I mentioned earlier in the blog. That photo was taken tonight at the Practice Base after I got done taking the photos of the Freshest Fresh Meat for the programs at an upcoming away bout. Simple. Easy. I like it. I could definitely use more of the simple easy. More Soon.

Catching Bankrobbers...

First off I'd like to thank everyone for the wildly awesome feedback I received in regards to the last post about the Roller Derby time Lapse. I wish I'd have been able to catch it on a double header, but this seemed to work out alright. Because of all of the derby related traffic I've decided to follow up with another derby post, except this one is out of the 2010 Roller Derby Calendar.

(Nikon D3, 250ISO, Nikon 70-200mmF2.8VR@80mm, 1/30th@F7.1. Dynalight 400JR set to 1/2 Power hard light about 15 feet above the car to camera right fired by pocket wizard. Dynalight 400JR set to full power in the adjacent parking lot left set to full power with a 20 Degree grid fired by pocket wizard. About 15 feet in front of the car Renee was holding a snooted SB-900 zoomed to 200mm at 1/2 power fired by magic eye to illuminate Jen X's face (in the hat). To her right stood Mike Guio with a snooted SB-800 zoomed to 105mm set to 1/2 power fired my magic eye to illuminate Racer Xtacy's face. (far right).See the diagram below for a better explinatoin.)

This was easily one of my favorite shots out of the calendar this year. Not because of who is in it, not because it was a good concept, and not because of the car. It had to be one of my favorites because it came out almost exactly as intended. This shot is exceedingly close to straight out of camera. It wouldn't have happened without the help of Renee Petrina, Mike Lightening, Tom Klubens, Andrew Hoelting, Megan Gill, Michael Guio, and Jason Pittman. I also can't forget Kevin and Julie who own that beautiful 1929 V8 Ford Hot Rod. Gorgeous car. (Subsequently also the car that ate my SB-800 Speedlight last July also.)

The shot featured was one of the last ones that I shot, and it took just about all of us to pull it together.

Don't let this diagram fool you. It actually took me about 8 attempts to get it to look like this, and it's still barely legible; thus explaining why I don't diagram much...

The girls looked amazing, the outfits turned out great and the light ended up being perfect. Sometimes it's possible to have too many people helping on a shoot, but in this case we had just enough and might have been able to use one more. The money bags are actually pillow cases that we filled with shredded paper that we pilfered from the paper disposal recycling bins near Racer Xtacy's house. In other words, considering I still have the money bags in my garage, I'm probably holding someone's medical records and don't even know it.

We started the night working a little differently though. I wanted to try something a little more night getaway style with some cooler colors. The only thing I got out of that were some goofy test shots....


That got submitted to Light-Test.com but I don't think it actually ended up going anyplace. I enjoyed it though. That was about our 40th test shot with the three guys, I couldn't get the light just the way I wanted on those shots. I was much happier with the original concept when we shot it. Either way, it was a heck of a fun shoot. We all had a good time, everybody learned a thing or two, and the girls look as beautiful as ever.

It was a memorable shoot for everyone, including all the car club guys who were on the other side of the fence watching. For a few minutes they had forgotten about their cars to check out the ladies modeling. Then of course someone lit something on fire, and the crew had to drag even me back to the set. It was a late night because of all the test shot problems, but the girls and the crew were all troopers. As usual, you can find more of the behind the scenes shots here. The shot turned out to be one of my favorites, and I think the ladies in it are happy too, and that's all that I can ask for. More Soon.

Roller Derby in 3,691 photos and 4 minutes...

Despite the fact that the Colts were playing last night, there was still a pretty good turnout for the first roller derby bout of 2010. Special thanks to all the fans that came in their colts Jerseys; it means a lot to the girls that the Fans are that loyal. My photos of the bout can be found here.

Ever wonder what it takes to put on a Roller Derby bout in the Pepsi Coliseum?

This video is 4ish minutes long, and is made out of 3,691 still frames shot by a Nikon D2Xs camera on an Interval remote release timer set to fire a frame every ten seconds starting at 11:30AM and 9:54PM the day of the New Year's Smear. You probably want to click the video to take you to youtube so you can see it much larger and maybe even HD. A lot more goes into putting on a Roller Derby bout than most people think though...

More Soon.

Making Zombies...

(Nikon D3x, 200ISO, Nikon 28-70mmF2.8@48mm. 1/30th@F6.3. Single 750Watt Studio light through a 60" and 42" umbrella on each side of the camera about 12 feet up. Single Dynalight 400JR set to 1/4th power fired by pocket wizard to low camera left. Single AlienBEE 400 Watt studio strobe set to 1/2 power from behind the crowd attacking the skaters from behind. Single 400watt AlienBEE studio strobe bare bulb to camera right set to 1/4th power fired by magic eye).

Despite 'South Park's' bold statement that Worcestershire sauce being the only way you make zombies; last September for the 2010 Naptown Roller Girls calendar I attempted to make my own. With several hours ahead of us, myself and some very talented people got together at the Roller Derby Practice space here in Indianapolis with about 15 volunteers and skaters to play with a little blood.....


The blood didn't exactly wash off, and we didn't know that at first. Everyone stood outside against a white wall where we had sort of a zombie assembly line. Inside two people worked face makeup, and applied a little bit of the edibile face blood; while outside we just splattered blood everywhere in an attempt to make everyone look like they had just come out of a Rambo movie. At one point. one of the girls decided to wash her hands after using the bathroom to discover that the blood didn't wash off. When she came out in a panic appropriately my response was; "Zombies don't wash their hands...". It was a wild idea for a shoot, we wanted to incorporate all of the volunteers into a shoot for the calendar this year, as the volunteers really do help make the league what it is today. What a better way to thank everyone, by covering them in blood, and working them in a cold space for 6 hours with he promise of some pizza at the end. Zombies eating pizza? Brilliant.



The shoot was WILD. The space we were in might as well be a black hole for light. If there was a way to install the sun indoors, we probably try just to give all the girls a little sun. It was so incredibly dark that it took an 8 light setup in order for us to get enough light just to expose the scene at F8 125ISO.. The basic setup for one of the shots is shown here:



That setup was the setup for one of the shots, with a wide surround of back lights while one even farther back popped everyone as kind of a key light. It started me out at a very even lighting, which I could then shape as necessary. Sometimes it's easier to light even and ten form, other times it's easier to cut away at the darkness. In this case I wanted to see everything, and then remove as I went, which after post processing gave us this shot here:


(With an 8 shot setup I'm going to leave the lighting for guesswork. If there's a big inquiry it can bea nother blog and I'll diagram it out, but the punchline is Nikon D3x, 100ISO 1/40th@F8. 8 Lights).

Anybody who's read my blog knows that this style of post processing isn't my thing. I guess it goes back to one of my New Years resolutions to try new things with my photography. These were not processed before the calendar was released, I revisited the shoot for this blog entry because I wanted to play around more with these things before potentially putting them into practice on my own. Not to say some of my shots haven't been re-worked like this; I just wasn't the one that did it.

I Loved the idea of the zombies, and next year I have something pretty solid planned for the big group photo but we'll just keep that under wraps for now, as I've got a few things to pitch to the league's board before we get started. Thanks to Mike Guio, Tom Klubens, Jason Pittman, Michelle Pemberton, Melissa Brooks, Megan Gill, and Heather Burdette for all of their help in making that crazy Saturday work the way it did. Everybody was a trooper (especially the ones where the blood didn't come off).


(Nikon D3x, 160ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-F4.5@18mm. 1/30th@F9. Single 750Watt Studio light through a 60" and 42" umbrella on each side of the skaters on top of the platform. Single Dynalight 400JR set to 1/4th power fired by pocket wizard to low camera left to add fill to the front of the platform, Single AlienBEE 400 Watt studio strobe set to 1/8th from above behind camera for depth on the hands. Single AlienBEE 400 Watt Studio Strobe to camera right bare bulb set to 1/4th to camera right about 40 feet back as a side fill. I'm not sure this last one made a difference, but it is in my notes so I'll put it in here.)



The problem with a lot of the shots that the skates weren't as visible in the images as we all would have hoped. Considering this is for a Roller Derby Calendar the skates were somewhat of an important visual. The shot we chose was pretty close to straight out of camera, which is the style that I like. There are more photos posted on my facebook Photo Fan page here. Leave some comments if you wouldn't mind; let me know what you think about the excess post processing. The final shot that was in the calendar is the last image in this post. Thanks in advance and as usual; More Soon. :)


(Nikon D3x, 100ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-F4.5@21mm. 1/30th@F9. Single 750Watt studio light with a 60" umbrella above camera right set to 1/2 power fired by pocket wizard. Single 750 Watt Studio light to low camera left fired through a 42" umbrella set to 1/4th power fired by pocket wizard. Single Dynalight 400JR bare bulb fired by eye sensor to behind the crowd left set to 1/8th power. Two Snooted Dynalight 400JR's set to full power fired by Pocket wizard on the ground to cash shadows of a few zombies that I separated from the pack for that purpose.)

Firefighters: June 2010

SO I suppose if I'm going to talk about a few months out of the Roller Derby Calendar I should start with the very first shoot done right? Ok maybe not,but this one required the least amount of work to be able to display on here with any piece of mind at all.
(Nikon D3, 200ISO, Nikon 28-70mmF2.8@28mm. 1/80th@F10. The lights in back are Dynalight 400JR's set to 1/2 power fired by pocket wizard. Joanie is lit by a single Dynalight 400JR fired by pocket wizard set to 1/8th power through a 24"x24" softbox, and the open garage door on a nice sunny afternoon.)

That's Joanie Gouge and yes she is actually a firefighter. In fact she is the reason we had access to 'The Belle' which I believe was the name for the firetruck. Heck I'm lucky to remember to eat lunch some days, so I guess we'll just have to hope for the best on that one. Either way, people tend to think that you always go into a shoot with something set in your mind as to exactly how you want it. You usually always do, but you don't always get what you want; especially if you haven't seen the location before you get there..... The shot above was an outtake of the 'Firefighter' Shoot for the 2010 Roller Derby Calendar. We shot individuals of the girls at this shoot because at that point we were still pretty ambitious. I'll say one thing though, Joanie there looks like a force to be reckoned with and on the Track; and she is.

(Nikon D3, 250ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-F4.5@24mm. 1/60th@F7.1. Two Dynalight 400JR's at 1/2 power as hair lights at each corner behind the girls, another two dynalight 400JR's set up behind left and right camera set to 1/4th power shot through umbrella's)

We did quite a few things with the truck, and I praise the lord I didn't break it while I was there. I stood on the hood for this shot, and whoa baby talk about nervous. Next thing I know I'd have fallen straight through the engine and would be running for the coast of never to be seen again with several firefighters in pursuit. Luckily, nothing happened. They even let us play with the firehouse actually....

(Photo by Tom Klubens)

Unfortunately the best of my final shots ended up being Vertical which doesn't exactly work with the format of the calendar....

(Nikon D3, 800ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-F4.5@18mm. 1/1000th@F4. Nikon SB-900 Speedlight to camera right to fill the girls at iTTL+1EV, Single SB-800 Speedlight behind the girls as a hair light set to iTTL 0EV, Single SB-800 Speedlight set to iTTL+2EV to the left of the girls in a hallway to give som hilight to the water. Speedlights fired by SU-800 Commander unit attached to hot shoe on camera.)

Really though it was a fun shoot to do, especially when Joanie asked if she thought we should play with the firehose. Yup, I turned back into a 5 year old (visually, I'm mentally 5 all the time). The risk to self and equipment was 127% worth the risk of being hosed for the shot above. I was pleased with the overall outcome of the shoot because these girls looked HOT, which was totally the idea. Oh and I mentioned ideas when going into a shoot? The idea for this one was to have one of the girls dressed like some sort of super pyro, with her hands on fire and such. That didn't exactly work out for us, but here was one of the shots that was to be photoshopped as such. I tried to throw some fire on there, and could never get it to look right......


(Nikon D3, 200ISO, Nikon 28-70mmF2.8@56mm. 1/125th@F8. Single dynalight 400JR to camera right through a 60" umbrella set to 1/2 power fired by Pocket Wizard. Single Dynalight 400JR to camera left set to 1/4th power shot through a 42" Umbrella fired by Pocket Wizard. Single Dynalight 400JR shot directly at the concrete behind the truck set to Full Power. Bare Bulb fired by Pocket Wizard)

In the end the final shot chosen was one I was happy with. I'd like to thank Jason Pittman, Tom Klubens, Michelle Pemberton and the entire Pike Fire Department for helping this month come together. Without everyone's time, cooperation and skills this wouldn't have gotten us started on what turned out to be as daunting of a project as it always is. I will be pulling more and more photos aside as I go though. Check for things to be posted on the blog, as well as on my newer facebook page in the soon to be coming Behind the Scenes Gallery. Thanks again folks, and as usual; More Soon.

"Third Time's a Charm"...

Some of the best things in life are the hardest things to do. Asking for a date, making new friends, confronting someone about a problem of some sort or another, chasing your dreams........ect. I give a lot of credit to people that are willing to look things face to face, hold their ground and do what they need to do. For the last several months I've been working on the 2010 Roller Derby Calendar, and more than enough times I remember thinking to myself that it wasn't going to get done, or that I was going to mess it up somehow. Sure enough though, after several nights of lost sleep, coordinating with 45 individual girls, makeup artists, other photographers and delivering products to an art director; it's done, and it looks good.

(Nikon D700, 2000ISO, Nikon 60mmF2.8Nano Macro 1/50th@F4)

This project did not come without its hardships before, during and after completion. The hardest thing I've had to do in a while was look three of my friends in the eyes and tell them that the shoot they had for the calendar wasn't going to make it in the final product. I've had to deliver bad news before, but when it's your friends it's the hardest; especially seeing how the girls and the fans react to the product that we produce for them.

(Nikon D700, 1100ISO, Nikon 60mmF2.8Nano Macro 1/50th@F2.8)

Face to face may be the most difficult way to do something, however I believe that everybody deserves the opportunity to be looked in the eye and told the truth. I can't say that I always do that, not by any stretch; but everybody seems to handle things differently. In today's day in age people like to rely on the phone, email, or text messaging to deliver communications to people that they either have a problem with or who may mean the most to them. I was recently stopped to talk by an old friend who appeared to walk out on a business deal we had almost two years ago. At the time I was disappointed that she had disappeared on me and I had considered it a bad business practice; but she stopped and talked with me face to face tonight about it. That alone to me means more than the fact that she wants to make good with me over our original contract from way back when. People don't often do that anymore, and for that I thanked her, and thank her again even now. Everybody reacts to situations differently. Some people disappear completely to never be heard from again. Some people brush things under the carpet in fear for a short timer before dealing with them; sometimes to only make things worse. I've had kind of a lot of those kinds of people in 2009. I can't say I haven't brushed things under the rug, or that I haven't avoided things even. Very few people will stand up and admit fault, or do what is right; and those people are the gems in today's world.

(Nikon D700, 1600ISO, Nikon 60mmF2.8Nano Macro 1/50th@F4)

These photos show the work that never ends. The calendar is being officially launched on December 10th at the NRG toy Drive at Spencers Tavern in Downtown Indianapolis. Girls will be on hand to sign calendars, and collect toys for 'Toys for Tots' which is our December Charity. Sooner or later there will be prints for sale too, but one step at a time. The photos in this blog are everyone preparing the 200 calendars for our season ticket holders as their packages include a signed calendar for that year. It was a frantic time, trying to get all the girls to go through the rows of calendars, but they all did it.

(Nikon D700, 900ISO, Nikon 60mmF2.8Nano Macro 1/50th@F2.8. Original photo by Michelle Pemberton)

The calendar is a compilation of concepts and photos from some incredibly talented people. Tom Klubens, Michael Guio, Michelle Pemberton, Megan Gill, Nikki Sutton, Polina Osherov, and Jason Pittman. Everyone did some fantastic work on this project and I have to extend an extra thanks for all the work they put in helping schedule girls, themselves, and make every arrangement necessary to get this Calendar done; it looks outstanding. More Soon.

Picking Fav's...

As I mentioned in the last blog post Roller Derby Season is Among us. As part of that the ladies moved into a new venue where a whole new realm of photo taking possibilities are available. You can view their most recent bout in my photos located
here.



On Flickr I belong to a Roller Derby photo group, and one of the forum questions asked users to post their favorite derby shots that they have ever taken. After looking through the other posts people had made, I decided to participate in this post, and these are the shots that I came up with as the top 5 Roller Derby Photos that I have ever taken. (Presented in no particular Order) (this is the original post on flickr)



The shot above was taken in Minneapolis Minnesota during the North Star bout almost 1 year ago now. I took the shot from 90 feet above the track on catwalks inside the dome of the arena. According to the other team nobody had ever gone up there for bout action before, and the hits to the photos proved it. At the time this photoset was taken, it had more hits to it than any other derby bout I had photographed.


This photo is of a skater named Sweet C. I took this photo back when I had the D2x during season 1. Anybody who knows Cameras knows that the D2x was an Awesome camera, and the Mecca of resolution at that time in camera history. Anybody also knows that this camera had more noise than a broken antenna eared TV that used vacuum tubes powered by a hamster in a wheel. My solution to some of this problem was the use of flash pans in up close action. In this photo Sweet C is celebrating victory by giving High 5's to her fans. The motion blur creates a dynamic to the frame that I feel can easily get lost in sports, while keeping her face sharp and identifiable with the flash gives it personality; as well as the intense feeling of the win.




That shot was taken in North Carolina inside of one of the coolest Roller Derby Venue's I've seen to date. It was an ex hockey arena, that had these cool windows all around the outside. During warmup sometimes I like to take the opportunity to try new and slightly more lucrative photos of the Derby Girls which most often end in my butt being nailed by one of them in a turn like this. Nobody ever gets to see the girls this up close and personal during the bouts, and this seemed like a pretty solid way to so up close and personal what exactly these girls do.


This photo is of one of our jammers. Her name is Katya Lookin, and she's a great inspiration to quite a few girls on the team. That is of course when she's not looking angry enough to be in your derby eating your children. Last year I wanted to do HDR style photos for the programs and so I shot a few of these to pitch to the Art Director. In the end we didn't use them for anything, but the girl who is pictured here loves this photo, and so do I. It shows all the hotness, as well as the fierce undertones that derby has to offer.



Last but most certainly not least is this photograph for the 2009 NRG Calendar of Cereal Killer. This shot was done in Red Rocket Michelle's bathroom with 6 2 gallon bags of Fruit Loop equivilent cereal. Nikki Sutton did the style and the makeup, and good ol' CK just laughed it up for us. It was an awesome time, and a helluva cleanup after-wards. Michelle said her bathroom smelled like milk and cereal for at least two days after that. We only used about a quart of milk too, the rest of it was water which was hilighted by the use of the single 400 watt strobe inside of the tiny bathroom.

So there you have it; the 5 derby shots I have taken that are my favorites. There are plenty of other ones that I've taken and there are plenty of others that I have yet to take which I'm sure can top these. These by far are not the best roller derby photos out there either, in fact; If it was the 5 photos that others have takenin question, than this is a whole other ball game because there are tons of talented photographers out there covering roller debry all over the Country. Tom Klubens, Dr. X, Greg the Mayor, Red Rocket, Bob Scheer, Polina Osherov, and many many more just here in Indianapolis, and all are worth checking out. Roller derby has been a valued experience for me thus far, and has taught me a lot about myself and the way I shoot sports. I only hope that everyone who likes to take photos can find something they are as passionate about. More soon.

Not Long Now......

(Nikon D3, 250ISO, Nikon 70-200mmF2.8VR@130mm. 1/30th@F7.1. Dynalight 400JR to camera right fired by pocket wizard at 1/4th power though a 60" umbrella. Single Dynalight 400JR to camera left shot through a 24"x24" softbox at 1/8 power fired by pocket wizard.)

Anybody who knows me knows how involved that I am with the Roller Derby team, the Naptown Roller Girls, or the Naptown Tornado sirens if you will. I love roller derby, and quite thankfully it was what helped me make my transition to living in Indianapolis. When I first moved here, I knew not a soul except for maybe a friend or two from college. My then, work acquaintance Michelle Pemberton (Red Rocket to some of you) found out that I used to shoot sports at Purdue and asked me to come check out her roller derby team. Sure enough, I did and I'm now the stain on the back of the bad penny that nobody accepts as current but nobody is evil enough to throw away.

Now 4 seasons later, I have helped produce almost 3 calendars for the team, as well as had photos from bout action published in numerous magazines, books, and other various media outlets. The Roller Derby has afforded me many travels, many friends, and many late nights working on photos for what has ended up to be not for the girls on the team; but for me. I have a lot of portfolio work from the team and for that I am forever grateful. A lot of it comes from the calendar that we put out every year, which will be ready for the Bout in December. While I can't show you the shots from the calendar yet, I think it's only fitting to give you a little something to amp you up before the first bout of Season for tomorrow evening. So what kinds of things might you find in Roller Derby Season 4?


(Nikon D3, 400ISO, Nikon 50mmF1.4AF-S. 1/80th@F1.4)

I made a deal with the devil and can't tell you what you'll find. Yea so I suck. I've been called worse by better so I'm not worried. What I can tell you is that I'm pleased with how things shaped up. Like putting play doh through one of the little spaghetti machines and getting that perfect pasta. Dig it, but don't get all bloodied up over it.


(Nikon D3x, 100ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-F4.5@28mm. 1/50th@F10. 750w lights set to 1/4 each to each side of the camera shot through 42" umbrellas. 6 400 watt lights around the perimiter of the scene set to 1/2th power hard light.)


Don't expect to see Hellvua like this in the final product. You can dream though, because she got a lot more bloodied up before the end of that day. Little did anyone know, but blood isn't easy to wash off......


(Photo by Tom Klubens)
(Nikon D700, ISO 800, Nikon 70-200mmF2.8VR@70mm. 1/640th@F4.5)


Eventually after a while the rumor is that all the blood came clean without too much of a disaster. Dr. X still has his bloody socks from the even though as he showed me last week at a shoot. For those of you that don't know who Dr. X is, I've got a photo of him right here....


(Nikon D3, 200ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5@26mm. 1/50th@F14. Dynalight 400JR set to full power to camera right hard light fired by pocket wizard, Dynalight 400JR set to half power to camera left both fired by pocket wizards. This shot was during a light test to fire two SB-800 speedlights with orange gels underneith the awning. They didn't fire on this shot.)


Take from these shots what you will. Every single one of them was from a shoot featured in the 2010 Naptown Tornado Sirens Calendar. Some have more information in them than others, and some I'm not sure will tell you much at all. I just like causing trouble I suppose which seems to be the theme of the week for me. One thing I can tell you for sure; and that is the fact that we were sponsored again this year. Good luck tomorrow ladies, you know I'll be there as usual hoping that maybe I'll be able to get lucky, and fire that shutter at the right moment just a few more times....More soon.


(Nikon D3, 800ISO, Nikon 50mm F1.4AF-S. 1/30th@F1.4)

When Ninja's Attack.....

I have to thank my buddy brad for the title of this post as he was the one who came up with it. It is a very accurate description as to what has been happening for the last week or so as it feels as though I have been attacked on all sides by not only ninja's; but as my pals at Bungie would say: Ninja's that were on fire.

That being said I am going to keep this quick and easy. Derby season is on the way. I've got 3 calendar shoots this week to finish everything up, and November 7th is the first bout. You can check out the team here. You can buy tickets for the bout here. I'm hoping to be able to post more things that I've done at work with the 5D Mark II soon. Not that I can't post them now, but I've just been so busy fighting off the Ninja's that I would almost have rather floated over International Falls in a barrel.....Actually that sounds pretty cool so maybe it's not a good example. Been a lot of late nights, lots of early mornings lots of out of towns lately as well. Last weekend was in Lafayette for the Premier of the Independant film: Thick as Thieves.


(Nikon D3, ISO 6400, Nikon 28-70mmF2.8@28mm. 1/100th@F2.8)

The image above is from the Premier. I was hired to shoot the premier, the crowd, the tailgate at the Purdue Football game, and any other interesting events that may have occurred during that day. The film itself was made by Purdue Alumni, and they wanted to premier the film in Lafayette at their Alma mater. I was there when they did the first film,and they were happy enough with the photos to call me again while they were in the area. They did the big premier in Chattanooga Tennessee which was the weekend of the Motorcycle Grand Prix.

(Nikon D700, 200ISO, Nikon AF-S 50mmF1.4. 1/640th@F2)

I find shooting events tough, as most of my day is setting up lights to eithe rmake something look un-lit, or quite frankly to make it look lit. Shooting from the hip, on camera flash, no flash at all, get it or don't......It's all a different kind of shooting to me. I was pleased with what I ended up with though.

The film itself was good. I didn't know what to expect, but these guys know how to make budgets stretch. The entire film was made on around $11,000, and what they did for that money seemed like money well spent. I probably would have lit a few scenes differently, maybe an edit here or there differently as well but EEEEEP! I know nothing about making a feature film so my opinion should be taken as lightly as anybody who has ever used the analogy "shake a stick at" to anything. I'm shakin a stick, but what I say still don't mean nuthin.

Nice job guys, I look forward to your next installment in the series for sure. Until then, as I mentioned earlier; Derby season is among us. I've been playing with a lot of video lately and after shooting headshots last Sunday at practice, I pulled the 5D Mark II out of the case and took it for a whirl. (Manual Focus and all...) I'm no Vincent Laforet with the 5D Mark II, but I think I did alright and am relatively pleased with what I made. The league knew nothing about this video, so if it gets pulled down that could have something to do with it. It was shot in about an hour and a half, edited in about 2 hours on a Macbook Pro, and I don't have any canned audio to throw over the top of it or I'm sure it would be much much cooler. Like Blue hair in a japanese cartoon kind of cool...or pouring a glow stick into Homestarrunner's mountain dew during a Techno song. (I hear they have to pump your stomach if you drink that stuff...) Otherwise the girls are getting ready for Season 4, and so am I. You should be too. More soon.

Practice Makes Perfect.....ish

So I must be doing something right with the blog as someone reminded me today that it had been about a week since my last updated. In the last week I have been absolutely insanely busy so I guess I'm not surprised that I hadn't noticed, but I am here now with all sorts of factoids, and marginally interesting anecdotes from the last couple of days to spread onto the internets like a thin layer of peanut butter. Last week when I posted the blog about weddings I was waiting for the one and only Heather (as seen in this blog post). I was waiting for her to pick me up to go to the airport as I was traveling to Sioux Falls South Dakota with the Naptown Roller girls for their first WFTDA sanctioned bout of Season 4.

(Nikon D700, 6400ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-F4.5@18mm. 1/80th@F3.5)


As I've said in the past Sports in general are tough to shoot and this derby bout was no slouch in itself. The venue was an expo hall that had literally just gotten done being the fair. It was 50 degrees in the venue, super wicked dark, and it smelled like Manure. How's that for motivation? Motivation to not sit on the floor that is (which of course I did, because well..........I'm that guy.) Anyway, the girls played hard and suffered a tough loss. As usual I was extremely glad to be allowed to go. Southwest Airlines had other plans for my return home, but that's another story; possibly a story involving my hatred for the severely antiquated, "paper plane ticket". The halftime show was remote control cars, which if I do say so myself were freakin sweet. The only problem is that at 1/400th a second at 8,000ISO i couldn't stop them mid air off the jumps. They might be the grainiest blurriest photos of something moving in the dark that I've ever shot. (Other than when I print things on sandpaper eat oreo cookies over my opened camera that is...) If there was a dial on my camera that read studio photos on one side, and super insanely dark you'll never get the shot otherwise on the other; my camera was just below the insane side. I'm glad I got to practice shooting before the home season starts though; it's always good to get a bit of a warm up. You can look at the rest of the pictures from the trip here.

(Nikon D3, 1600ISO, Nikon 70-200mmF2.8VR@125mm. Nikon SB900 behind camera left zoomed to 200mm Fired by pocket wizard about 30 feet off the track taped to the outer railing of a set of bleachers set to 1/16th power. Nikon SB900 behind camera right zoomed to 200mm Fired by pocket wizard about 40 feet off the track taped to the outer railing of a set of bleachers set to 1/16th power. Both Speedlights were aimed at Turn 1.)


I did get a new camera at work this week though, and I've been using it non stop to run it through the rigors. I am no longer allowed to say that I am not allowed to have nice things as they purchased me a brand spankin new Canon 5D Mark II. I dig the resolution but the autofocus is a little slow and from what I can tell not quite as accurate as I like. Great camera though, and the video is what it was primarily purchased for anyway. Speaking of video, I produced another Gunner video this week at the Butler Homecoming. It was with the other HD camera at the office, but it is hot through the internet tubes as of this morning. The Chariot Race was neat for sure, and Gunner seemed to really be a hit with the students. You can check that video out here.

I'll post more of what I've done this week as it goes live, but as I've said I've been working a lot of video this week. In fact I even spent some time practicing with the 5D Mark II's video as it is Manual Focus Only when it comes to video. Some would say that is a downfall, I'd prefer to think it'll just take a little longer to adapt to. Practice makes perfect is what I'm told, but I'd prefer to think that the more I practice the luckier I get. It always seemed that way with golf anyway. I really look forward to the possibilities that this camera has. My 8 extreme long term readers will remember when I shot the Music video for KJ Testin earlier this year with a 5D mark II. If you don't remember, you can check it out here. To get a little practice in the hopes that I might get lucky with it I shot some video at Roller Derby practice tonight. I'm working on throwing something together with it, but I'm not going to lie iMovie is the only thing I have on this computer and I hate it, so you'll have to wait. I think maybe now I've got a few ideas for at the newspaper as well as for the Roller Derby rolling around inside my noodle. You'll just have to wait and see. More soon.

Metromix Lovin.....

Quick blog for now, I just wanted to point out that I've got a bunch of stuff popping up on Metromix this week. First off, as I mentioned several times along the way, last weekend I shot the Zombie month for the Naptown Roller Girls 2010 calendar. We allowed Metromix to cover the shoot, and while the shots don't look anything like what the final is going to look like it's a little behind the scenes action for you. So check that out here.



Metromix also launched some new Custom content this week. The content is called, "Rollin with Gunner." It's a video segment where Gunner takes a road trip to do various activities. The premise is that a road trip can be just a block away. You never know what kind of fun you'll have along the way. The first installment takes us to the First Colt's homegame where Gunner attempts to get fans to fill his Gas can with Beer. We had a lot of fun making the video, and next weeks is going to be good as well. Lets just say I had never seen a 400lb pumpkin before..... That's next week though. You can however check out the tailgating here.



Otherwise It's been crazy busy this week. Not sure what else to say actually. I'll be videotaping a chariot race Saturday at Butler, and then Shooting KJ Testin's first show as a headliner Saturday night. I've been doing lots of printing for Ultrasun this last week, and by lots of printing I mean lots. Just finished printing an 8'x 10' wall for them. Talk about monstrous print. Most I've ever printed in one sitting, took 5 2'x10' sections. Crazy big. Anyway I'm easily excited and I digress. To leave you for now though I've got some more behind the scenes. The video below is what I do for Ultrasun, other than parts. If you've ever wondered how to shoot a tanning bed you may be able to figure it out from the video below. No it's not necessary to spin it in a circle just to shoot it, but that might have to do with the other part of the project I can't talk about yet.....Just imagine. Getting dizzy in a tanning bed... what? I dont know where the Music came from either, sorry. It's labeled as businessman in the "canned" folder at Indystar..... So if anybody knows who it is let me knwo and I'll credit them. More soon.

Eatin Time...

So it's been a while since my last post, and I'm sure that most of my already very modest readership has already found someone that can at least spell their own name correctly. If not, that I shall attempt to correct my spelling in the slim and nill free time that I currently enjoy as most of my time at the paper consists of shooting custom work. Custom work being Advertising, Marketing, internal video, and other various things. Shoots at 7am on Sundays, 5pm on Mondays, the bar guide requiring that I go to the bar when it's open at 10pm and so on and so forth. As I've said in the past it's one of those strange awful things that I sort of enjoy though. I'm not sure I would be able to survive sitting at a desk for 8 hours every day, and I hope that it doesn't come to that, but if it does my hopes are that I'm doing something cool like designing xbox games or reviewing those addicting flash games you find on the internets.

Right now though I am sitting at lunch, which I made for myself. My culinary skills are greatly eclipsed by that of a 8 year old with an easy bake oven; despite the fact that I worked at a restaurant while I was at Purdue. So really I thought this might be a good time to update the blog, enjoy my microwaved hamburger, and say a thing or two about photographing food that actually looks as good as it tastes.

(Nikon D3, 200ISO, Nikon 28-70mmF2.8@70mm, 1/60th@F9. Nikon SB-800 Speedlight fired by pocket wizard set to 1/2 power to camera right shot through a 32" Translucent disk. Nikon SB-800 Speedlight fired by pocket wizard set to 1/4th power fired through a 42" Translucent disk)

The shot above is from when I was shooting for billboards and Menu's for a restaurant bar in Indy named Lulu's. A friend of mine was the chef, and another friend was the GM and they thought I'd be able to get some nice stuff for them. Gladly I didn't disappoint myself, or more importantly them. Also made a nice print of that shot for the chef, who had it framed for his mom. (Nothing is a greater compliment to a photographer than framing one of their photos and giving it to your mom. Awesome.) I don't remember what the food up there is exactly, but I remember eating some of it at some point or another too, and it was outstanding. Most of the stuff that I end up shooting ends up tasting outstanding though (I actually get to try it sometimes). If it wasn't outstanding, they wouldn't feature it......know what I'm saying?

(Canon 1D Mark II, 100ISO, Canon 24-70mmF2.8L@64mm, 1/200th@F7.1. Single Dynalight 400JR fired bare bulb from front camera left, set to 1/4th power fired by Pocket Wizard. White 60" reflector to camera right for fill.)

Shooting food at the paper has always been somewhat Trial and Error for me. I've made lots of mistakes, and continue to make them every time I go out to shoot. Flared lights, mis colorings, omlets, and even more. I make a mess no matter where I go, as anybody who has seen my desk at the paper (or at home) would know. Food is one of those things to shoot though, that is similar to jewelry in that way where you can take absolutely forever to do it, and you can be outlandishly deliberate about the styling. Unfortunately I am not afforded that kind of time at the paper, and usually someone eats the food I shoot when I'm done. I can't say the same about the shots you see taken for McDonalds, Burger King, or any other fast food joint. The food may look amazing, and taste that way as well; but if you ate the burger they photographed? It would kill you....

(Canon EOS 1D Mark II, 400ISO, Canon 24-70mmF2.8L@45mm, 1/50th@F5)

The most destructive I am to the food that I shoot, is poking at it with a fork, cutting it up, maybe leaving it a little under cooked, or just down right re-arranging it. Otherwise, it is all edible after the fact (unless you are allergic to the germs of my fingers poking at and or playing with the food). If I know someone is meant to eat it afterwards I'm usually pretty good about it, but there are other times when I absolutely destroy the plate, and my clothes after the fact. It never did sink in not to wipe my hands on my pants after playing with my food. Or maybe I'm not supposed to play with my food in the first place? I don't remember. Sorry mom....

Anyway, As I mentioned to begin with I've been crazy busy since I got back from Canada. Lots of video actually. Shot for a band named Youthguard at the beginning of the week, and there is a super cool behind the scenes video being put together for it. Doing a new Metromix road-trip series as well, which has been fun thus far albeit time consuming. Tomorrow I've got one of the largest shoots I've ever attempted during the day too. I've got a battalion of zombies that have to be made for a photo for the 2010 Roller Derby Calendar. So long day tomorrow. To end on the food note though, I leave you with a slightly different way to view food. More Soon.

(Canon EOS 1D Mark II, 400ISO, Canon EF 100mmF2.8Macro, 1/50th@F4.5. Single 580EX Speedlight from directly overhead set to 1/16th power shot hard light right at the top of the food, fired by off camera cable.)