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.)

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.

Weddings.....

(Nikon D300, 1600ISO, 10.5mm F2.8DX fisheye. 1/60th@F2.8)


2009 has been quite the year, and any of you that know me very well knows exactly what I'm referring too. It's been super busy, I seem like I'm running around like crazy but to me it doesn't seem like I have gotten anywhere. In fact I've been all over covering all sorts of crazy things here and there. Weddings usually account of quite a bit of the traveling that I do, on top of Roller Derby. Weddings can be extra stressful, and yet the images produced can contain so much emotion that I'm not sure how some people can turn down the opportunity to photograph what amounts to such a photographic period of time. Not that I'm saying I shoot tons and tons of weddings because that isn't the case. Not that I'm saying I'm the most awesomest awesome wedding photographer that ever existed, because that's definitely not the case. As I said, that day can be incredibly stressful for a photographer too, but when you find a couple that is truly in love the day will just fly by.

(Nikon D3, 250ISO, Nikon 28-70mmF2.8@62mm. 1/320@F7.1)


Locations can be tough to light, crowds can be tough to please but in the end what really matters is the love that the bride and groom share. As the photographer you're in charge of capturing those memories, and in my opinion your job is to make the capturing the memories fun, as opposed to just another job.


(Nikon D700, 800ISO, Nikon 70-200mmF2.8VR@180mm. 1/60@F2.8)


That's Kenny and Sara there at their wedding in Elkhart Indiana last July. Great couple, lot of fun. They had great spirits as the day started our pretty doom and gloom:

(Nikon D700, 200ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.4-4.5@18mm. 1/200th@F9. Single SB-900 set to iTTL +2 to camera left fired by SU-800 Speedlight Commander.)


Really though things worked out for them because as they got married the clouds parted, the mosquitos vanished, swine flu was no longer worried about, and as it turns out the grass truely was greener on the other side......

(Nikon D700, 200ISO, 18-35mmF3.4-F4.5@18mm. 1/200th@F13. Single SB-800 fired to camera left at iTTL +/-0 fired by on camera SU-800 Commander Unit)



Who'd a thunk that those two shots were an hour apart on the same day? Some couples don't get luck like that. I shot a wedding in Bloomington last year that was outdoors in the rain, and who baby was that fun. Left a set of reflectors on IU's campus. I hope that some photo student found them, some family had a picnic on them, or may one wild student used them as a set of ginormous frisbee's. This too was a great couple though, who knew exactly what they wanted, and were absolutely beautifully happy.

(Nikon D3, 280ISO, Nikon 70-200mmF2.8VR@200mm. 1/500@F4.5)


Really though there is a lot more to shooting weddings than just photos of the bride and groom. A lot of the time I recommend a second photographer to shoot weddings as opposed to just one person doing it all. It helps the photographer out, as well as the second person can get photos of the kids picking their noses outside, or playing in all the cute places that they aren't allowed to go in, because most of the rest of us don't fit. (otherwise it would be just fine as we'd probably all go play there too...) Not to mention it affords more time for doing shots correctly, and giving things the time they deserve. Details, details. Sometimes the details are the most important.

(Nikon D300, 200ISO, Nikon 60mm F2.8Macro Nano, 1/100th@F9. Single Nikon SB800 Speedlight to camera right set to iTTL. Single Nikon Sb-800 Speedlight to camera left set to Commander iTTL -1 on a SC-28 off camera cable)


Not only that but weddings can allow your inner stalker to come out. You don't need to get in someones face, sometimes a shot from further back can make just as much of an impression on someone. (That and she was tired of me occupying her bathroom with her of which I don't blame her one bit. It's her bathroom, and just like a small animal I'm easily distracted by things I don't understand; like makeup.)

(Nikon D3, 2000ISO, Nikon 28-70mmF2.8, 1/100th@F3.2)


The wedding above was a halloween wedding last year actually. I had a spider-man costum on under my suit, and i was going to rip open the $8 shirt that I bought and change into spiderman during the reception. Only problem was that I was the only person who did dress up......That made things awkward when someone noticed that I had a costume on under my suit. Yup. Good times. Really though the reception is what people look forward to out of weddings, and no matter what people say I still maintain that the reception is the hardest part of a wedding to shoot. During the ceremony nobody really moves, you can wander around to a lot of different angles and you're still ok. The reception is like trying to shoot a super happy group of people who have no care in the world except that they are now celebrating in the dark. It's like that, only exactly like that. If you're in the right spot though, you really can make and see some neat photo opportunities.

(Nikon D3, 400ISO, Nikon 28-70mmF2.8@52mm, 1/30@F2.8)



(Nikon D2x, 400ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-F4.5@18mm, 1 Second@F7.1. Flash set to fire on TTL Rear Sync)



(Nikon D3, 200ISO, Nikon 28-70mmF2.8@28mm, 1/2sec@F10. On Camera Flash set to iTTL rear sync)



(Nikon D3, 2000ISO, Nikon 28-70mmF2.8@28mm. 1/400th@F2.8)


Weddings really can be one of the more fun things to shoot if you let them. I'm done shooting weddings for 2009, Kenny and Sara were my last one this year and yes that season ended a bit early for me. Not all of the photos in this post were taken this year either, but they are some of my favorites from weddings over the last two years or so. Derby season is about to begin though, and by that I mean literally. I'm updating this blog waiting for my ride to the first bout of the year for the Naptown Tornado Sirens. Not that I haven't been hard at work trying to get the 2010 NRG Calendar shot this year, but shooting the act of derby is significantly different than shooting calendar. Definitely be sure to check back here though as I'm almost certain I'll update more soon....