What a job...

I've always been young when it comes to rolling through life. When I graduated high school I was only 17, didn't turn 21 until my senior year of college, things like that. I always had to make friends with the older kids, or drop down to the even younger ones meaning that I really was always kind of in this strange spot. Being the youngin, I have always been apt to try to fit in no matter what my situation while trying not to grow up too quickly. A lot of the people that I hang out with are older than me; some a little, and some significantly. I have had clients that I'm positive I would have lost if they knew my age. I've never successfully dated anybody younger than me, and have always been apt to asking out/dating older women. Not all of them seem keen to the idea of dating a younger guy, but as long as they aren't mortified by the original suggestion and don't run and hide building a fort out of sofa cushions afterwards; I've got a shot. (Ideally I want to find a girl who wants to build a fort of sofa cushions with me, but one step at a time.)Being young also means that I take a certain entertainment in my job. I'm a photographer for a living. How cool is that?! Seriously. Some things I've done just to do them for myself, but otherwise I take photos and videos of stuff.....for money. Not only that but I've met some cool people, and done some cool things along the way. This week was no different than that by any stretch of the imagination.


(Canon 5D Mark II, 160ISO, 100mmF2.8. 1/60th@F8. Single Dynalight 400JR to camera right fired by Pocket Wizard at half power through a 6'x4' translucent panel. Single Dynalight 400JR to camera left inside of a 36"x36" softbox set to 1/8th power)

I shot that on Tuesday afternoon as advertisement for Metromix's Ugly Christmas Sweater party on December 4th at Britton Tavern. It's almost straight out of camera as you can notice the dirt on the floor under the girls. I just wanted to show you how pretty the two girls were before all the work we put into them, as this post is just about enjoying my job. Both of these lovely ladies are planning on being in attendance, and both of them were super cool. It was a fun shoot, and by far not one of the worst parts of my job. Elaine is on the left and she is an artist/GoGo girl here locally and Sarah on the right is a designer/website entrepreneur. Both obviously model on the side, and required very little instruction during the shoot which for the record; is freakin awesome.



Several weeks ago now, I shot a cover for an album which is going to be released at a party at Birdy's tonight. Cool bunch of guy's all School teachers who decided to combine their free time activity of music in order to create the band "Youthguard". My buddy Adam Yale did the artwork and I think it looks real good. Nice guys and I'm definitely going to check them out. The image above isn't the Exact final CD art, but it's pretty close. Should be carried in major stores supposedly too, which is what I'm going to wait for I think. Not sure if they will have CD's at the party tonight or not. Even though I've been at this for a few years now, and shot lots of various different activities; I never get tired of seeing things in public. The world doesn't know I shot them but I do. It's freakin cool. Also this shoot turned out well enough that one of the people present has hooked me up to shoot one of the bands from the Warpred tour a few years ago. That'll be neat, and I'm sure there will be more on that here soon. Here's another shot of Youthguard, from early in the production process.


(Nikon D3, 400ISO, Nikon 18-35mm F3.5-4.5@18mm. 1/30th@F6.3. Single Dynalight 400JR above camera right 18' off the floor hard light on the band set to 1/4th power fired by Pocket Wizard. Single Dynalight 400JR about 100' behind the band about 8' off the ground on some stairs set to 1/8th power fired by Pocket Wizard, SB-900 Speedlight suction cupped to the Glass wall camera left using the Delkin Fat Gecko camera mount about 7' up fired by Magic EYE in SU-4 mode set to 1/2 power zoomed out to 17mm. Post Processing by Adam Yale)

I also this week shot another Rollin with Gunner video. This week we went two places: To the Jiffy Lube to determine if the people who change your oil really are cousins of the Travelocity Gnome.....AND we went to the Bob Rohrman Dealership to dispose of one of Don Stuck's 450lb pumpkins.....



Don Stuck and Gunner are hilarious, they are quite the team and I look forward to when this video launches this upcoming Thursday. I of course will have watched it 46 thousand times by then, but I always watch them once they go live just that one more time. The video was shot with several cameras. There was a guy in the back seat with a Canon GL2, I had a Sony HDD HD Cam mounted to the dashboard, this screengrab was from a 5D Mark II with a 200mm Lens, and the little grey box on the pumpkin playing Kamikazi is an old Nikon Coolpix 3100. This video; will be cool.

Where else would I do things like this? I'm doing a video at the Red Room in Broad Ripple tomorrow, and I'm shooting the last and final month of the 2010 Roller Derby Calendar Sunday before the Colts game. All of the tough things about this profession definitely are tough, and thi can be like any other job with the suck from time to time but as my grandmother likes to point out; I do have a job. It's been brought up that maybe I have grown up a little too fast, but maybe I see it a little differently. My mind works the same as it should except maybe now I'm young enough to really get a kick out of some of the things that I do in this profession. Being stuck in the gutter of a Go-Kart track waiting for colts players to come around the turn, standing knee deep in pig poop wearing a hazard suit for the Pork Producers Guide, learning how to build log cabins, carrying Roller Derby girls around a junkyard to not get their skates full of grease...... Weeks like this are the weeks I live for with this job. The weeks where you close your eyes and chuckle while sporting a little smile muttering to myself; how did I get here? 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)

Lions, Tigers, Zombies, and Video oh my!

So wow time has flown, as I realized today when my good friend Dr. X mentioned that it had been over a week since my last blog entry. Normally I'm on top of things like that, but I've been doing a lot of work lately which is good as it's kept me out of trouble I'd most likely get in if I wasn't busy. I'm not saying that me being in trouble is as predictable as hearing the phrase, "just across the state line" at the end of a radio or television ad for fireworks; I'm just squirrely and tend to find myself in strange spots from time to time. Speaking of strange spots, a friend of mine sent me this:


I can't take credit for this, and neither can my friend except for the fact that he sent it to me. All I have is a link to the original file on blogger, it doesn't even say what blog it's on, or where it's at. Whomever created this, is a Genius though, and it's exactly what I needed to see giving me a good laugh.

I've been shooting a lot of video lately as I think I mentioned previously. When I say a lot, I mean in the last 3 days I have shot and edited 4 videos, while shooting another that I have yet to edit. Shooting video on that 5D Mark II is phenomenal; albeit a phenomenal challenge. This video was shot at the Simply Wow event for women Entrapeneurs. The Audio works well, and the video looks good despite the fact that the entire thing was shot in Manual Focus.



I also shot a video last weekend at the Metromix Halloween Party. I was once told that Genius is created by mixing a little initiative, with a slight amount of insanity. I shot this event using the 5D Mark II for video as well, and boy talk about tough. I pushed the camera to the maximum of its range and quite honestly am I not only impressed with the camera, but I'm pleased with myself. Good party, the next one will be in the Red Room on November 14th in Broad Ripple. Hope the video makes you want to go...

SO that's what I've been up to, and the video isn't stopping. The first home bout of the 2009-2010 Roller Derby season is on Saturday the 7th as well. I shot a Rollin with Gunner video Today, and things are continuing as busy as usual. Shot some jewelry already this week for the first time in a while, but more on that soon as well as a few other projects I've been working on. LIfe has been exciting and sleepless lately. More Soon.