Velonews shoot

I got a call from Velonews magazine to photograph a couple of pro mountain bikers for the December 2010 Cyclist of the Year issue. My assignment was to photograph Willow Koerber and Todd Wells, who were both the award recipients for mountain biking. The weather worked out perfectly and Willow and Todd were great to work with. I wish them both an even better 2011 season.

Below is a proof of the published shot.

One light architectural shot

Its been a while since I've posted new blogs. Its been busy and I guess I didn't feel like I had anything to say. I also had a little social media burnout. Like all things technological, the depths of social media can swallow you whole if you let it. One thing I've learned in the last few years of the digital revolution is that there is always way more stuff out there than any of us can take on. There are gazillions of apps, programs, photo doodads, methods, professional requirements, and other cool stuff that demands our time, money and energy. Personally, I love technology and toys. But being a photographer is both a blessing and a curse. As photographers (and now film makers), we are blessed to play with the coolest toys....BUT...we are also required to buy all the coolest toys all the time. Any old guy will tell you about when you bought your film camera and lenses and that lasted you 5-10 years. Now we are required to buy new camera bodies every 2 years. With that, we must buy new computer hardware and software on the same timeline.

The same goes for social media and information. When I first discovered the Twitter world, I was amazed at all the information that was streaming onto my computer. I was learning about new photographers, seeing incredible work, reading blogs and Oh, all the BTS videos! God, I couldn't get enough of all the incredible information falling in my lap. But over time, the load started to get a little heavy in my lap and I had a hard time getting up to do my own stuff. So I turned off my Tweetdeck for a little while. Its been a nice break and now I'm coming back with a little more moderation. I do really love it and it just requires me to self monitor a little tighter.

I've got some new material and have learned quite a bit in the last few months. Today, I wanted to share a new technique that isn't new per-se but it is new to me. It is the concept of building an architectural from a composite of a bunch photos. I've always tried to light up my spaces as much as possible so I would have to do minimal photoshop work.  Due to time constraints, I was forced to step outside of my little box and try something new. I used one VAL(voice activated lightstand) to light up a whole room.

I recently shot a very cool residence near Durango. I will blog about the project in further detail in the near future. One day our shooting got somewhat delayed for several reasons and I found myself having to get two fairly critical shots in the waining light of late afternoon. The two shots were the master bedroom and the great room. We had a couple of issues in the master bedroom but got them fixed and were able to get the shot. We only had about 30 minutes to move into the great room, set up and get the shot before the sun set and lost our light. Normally I like to budget a good hour for set up, styling and shooting. One other factor against us was that the homeowners were coming home and they were bringing guests back to the house. I wanted to be done and out of the home so they could entertain their guests.

Knowing that there was no way that I was going to get this shot conventionally, I gave my assistant Hailey one of my WL 1600 strobes outfitted with a full CTO and a 30 degree grid and powered with a Vagabond battery. I then set up the camera, tethered to the MBP. Once I got a couple base images of the exterior and overall exposure, I then directed Hailey to move to different areas around the room and light stuff up. Here are a series of the RAW images of Hailey doing her magic.

And here is the final result once I put all of the pieces together.

Most of my masking was done by lasso tooling around the elements that I wanted to add. I worked at 300-500% magnification on making my selections. Other elements were added as a layer and then I simply erased the unwanted elements with a very soft brush to blend the layers naturally. Total time retouching was about 3 hours.

I could pick this photo to death on things that I wish were done better. But considering that this shot was made in 20 minutes (first shot was a 7:56 and the last shot was 8:16)while the homeowners were walking through the room giving their guests a tour of their home, I'll take it. I was pretty stoked to be forced to try something new and experiment with new techniques. I've shot like this a couple of times since then and gotten excellent results. Also, my post time decreased by about 40% on the other shots that I did. This little exercise gave me a whole new bundle of confidence in shooting spaces that I really struggled with in the past.

Coffee Break Photo: Solitary ride

This is a shot from the Green River side of the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands. The rider is my friend Keith Turko.

Coffee Break Photo: Morning latte

Okay, this might not be the most creative, awesome photo in the world. I just was so amped this morning that I got to make a yummy latte in the studio, I had to photograph my little slice of heaven. Sorry, I'm not a trained barista so no cool foam art.

Coffee Break Photo: Black Canyon fishing

This is a shot of my friend Ryan fishing the Gunnison river in the Black Canyon during the stonefly hatch. This was hands-down my finest fishing experience. Fat, 27" Rainbows literally jumping out of the water to hit our flies. The beauty of the canyon is unparralleled.

Coffee Break Photo: Evening shower

Last summer while I was coming off the golf course in Durango an approaching rain shower lit up the western sky at sunset. The sky got real purdy for about 2 minutes and then all went flat. Fortunately, I had my camera in my golf bag because I was scouting golf photos on the course.

Coffee Break Photo: Coated chain

This from one of my many trips to Utah desert. I believe it was the White Rim exactly. Its kind of a cool detail to show what our food tasted like on that trip.

Coffee...Oh hell, Lunch Break Photo: Taos Pueblo Door

Coffee Break Photo: Melanie

This is a portrait I shot when I first went digital in 2005. I recently did a little treatment on the portrait and still experimenting. Love to hear comments good or bad.

Coffee Break Photo: Art professor portrait

Here is a portrait of Amy Wendland, head of the art department at Fort Lewis College. I think FLC used a different photo for her feature, but I loved this one. She has a very light, fun personality and it was a blast photographing her.

Coffee Break Photo: Kayenta Towers

This tower is a site I've driven by a million times in my journeys to southern California. It sits right east of Kayenta, AZ. I think the towers in the background are in Monument Valley but I'm not totally sure. Either way, sights like this make me feel fortunate to have the opportunity to travel through the southwest on a regular basis.

My blog is BIG!!!!

I just figured out how to expand the width of my blog. This has been driving me nuts because the normal template is soooo small and my photos are small. That just won't do!

I'm testing the size with a new photo. This was a wall poster in San Francisco. I loved it because of the MASI spray paint at the bottom.

Coffee Break Photo: Gorilla face

Any thoughts on what this is?

Coffee Break Photo: Swing into the sun

Barbara wanted a fun photo for her website, www.mindswingconsulting.com. We went out to local playground, I set up a couple strobes and she started swinging.

Coffee Break Photo: Indian Creek Offwidth

A few years ago, I went out to Indian Creek with my friends Jeff and Maja for a little spring climbing escape. I went out to shoot photos of them while they suffered up the cracks(actually they loved every inch of them). Maja wanted to test herself on a big offwidth crack that got wider as she climbed higher. This one in particular allowed me to slide behind the rock and shoot out at her while she climbed. I've always loved the delicate play of light on her cheek.

Coffee Break Photo: Coal Power Plant, Page, AZ

This is a power plant that I have driven by numerous times. Its ugly plumes of smoke have always captivated me. On one journey back from Zion, I stayed at a cheap hotel in Page so I could wake at dawn to capture the true essence of the pollution that is emitted from this plant.

Coffee Break Photo: Inside & Out

Tonight is the Surfrider Art Gala in Del Mar, CA. It is a fundraiser for the Surfrider Foundation where art from local artists is auctioned off.

http://www.surfridersd.org/artgala_2010.php

I donated a pair of prints that work in tandem. They are a couple of shots of a bamboo forests in Maui. The one on left is from the inside of the forest, the one on the right is the same forest from across the valley. It should be a fun event and hopefully some good money will be raised.

House of mirrors - photographing bathrooms

Shooting bathrooms is some of the most trying and complicated shots one has to do on architectural shoots. There are plenty of factors that can give you a headache.

1. There is no space to work in
2. Since they are so small, they require a wide angle lens, which in turn reduces the options for placing lights or reflectors
3. Bathrooms are constructed of shiny tile and glass. Lots of reflection everywhere!

Today, I'm breaking down a shot that I did last year of a bathroom.  It wasn't one of the worst I've had to work in, but it did have its share of issues to complicate things. The builder who I was shooting for wanted the room to appear bright and airy. He also wanted to highlight how the bathroom placed the homeowner in the natural environment that surrounded the house. In the end, it wasn't perfect and it had some flaws, but the client was happy with what was produced. Here is a scouting shot of the bathroom.

Here is a shot of the exterior of the house. It is literally built into the cliff. The engineering to support this structure was pretty impressive! The bathroom is on the lower level on the left corner of the house closest to the camera. BTW, to shoot this shot I was on a sky lift hoisted up about 40-50 ft in the air...and I was still looking up at the house!

PROBLEMS
The house and bathroom faced east. There were a lot of dark pine trees outside which made the room fairly dark.  If I shot it with a well exposed exterior to show the natural environment, the room went completely dark. Conversely, if I exposed for the interior, the exterior view was blasted out. That's pretty typical of any interior shot, unless it has big windows on all sides of the room, has extensive lighting or it is fairly dark or overcast outside. My other big issue was that there were windows in the corner of the room and a glass surround for the shower. This would easily show reflections of my strobes. This second problem made it more complicated to use a bunch of strobes to light up the interior of the room to match the exterior exposure, especially big umbrellas or soft boxes that replicate natural window light.

Here is the final shot.

PROBLEM SOLVING
One light source that typically looks natural in all scenes is the sun. I chose to use it as my main light source and then fill in the shadows with my strobes. Since the room was located down low in the forest and the path of the sun would put the room in shadow for most of the day, I had to shoot the photo at sunrise. The sun rose right between two trees and provided natural light to the whole bathroom. The benefit of this was that it highlighted the trees outside (natural environment) and created great texture on the different features and fixtures in the room. Since the colors of the tub, tile and rock are all fairly light, the room was pretty evenly lit with the reflected light. Yet, the back lighting did also create some deep shadows on the surfaces facing the camera. Since there is glass everywhere, I couldn't put up a big foam coare or reflector to reflect some of that beautiful light back into the scene. And as stated before, I couldn't put strobes with diffusers up for the same reason.

Fortunately, off to the left side of the scene is a hallway from the bedroom. This allowed me to put a strobe bounced into a umbrella there to highlight the stone steps into the tub. BUT...I had to set it low because the two windows in the corner basically reflected any strobe in the room. The hallway strobe, like all of my strobes, had a light straw colored gel on it to match the warm sunrise light. I also had to scrim the side closest to the stone wall so as it wouldn't be blasted.

The other dark area is the shower surround. This is where battery powered strobes come in really handy. You can place them in a shower and you don't have to deal with a cord running out of the shower and over to the outlet that is on the other side of the room. This shot didn't have that problem because I cropped out the bottom of the shower. I could have easily ran a cord out and it wouldn't have been seen. Either way, I used one of my Dynalite 400 Jrs with a Jackrabbit battery placed on a small Bogan 5 piece stand. This light combo is great for putting strobes in small places because the stand has a small foot print and can placed deep in corners. This is also a great place for a 550EX or speedlight to be used. Again, I used the light warm colors of the tile in the shower to act as my color modifier for the strobe. I bounced the Dynalight against the shower wall not seen by the camera and it put a warm fill on the rest of the surround.

I originally turned the TV on to show that you could watch TV while sitting in the tub. Since I chose to shoot with the bright sunlight coming in, it reflected too bright to show anything on the screen. This turned out to be fine because the client felt it was more important to show the natural light coming in and all the exterior environment rather than somebody's ability to watch TV.

As you can see in the finished shot, there is a door that opens to the deck. Doors in bathrooms are saviors for a couple of reasons. First, they allow you to open them, and placed at certain angles, eliminate reflections. In this shot, the door going outside reflected the camera when closed. The door to the shower reflected the bright stone TV wall and killed the detail of the interior of the shower. By opening both doors, I was able to eliminate reflections in a matter of seconds. A trick to holding doors open exactly where you want is to use a used ball of gaffers tape pushed down at the floor or near the hinge to keep the door from swinging closed or all the way open. Second, an open door is inviting. The viewer is instinctively drawn to see what's on the other side of that door. Open doors invite people to explore different aspects of the photo that they may pass over if it was closed.

Some would ask, why not just shoot the interior and photoshop the windows. Yes, I do that. Quite often in fact. But I'm kind of old school in the notion that you have to get the best possible shot in camera and then take it into post. Many times, a small change that takes 20 seconds on location can save 20 minutes of photoshop work.

Here are some more tips to shooting bathrooms

• Use smaller light sources such as a strobe with a grid. They take up less space in the tight confines of a bathroom and are easier to hide in reflections. Also, if it comes down to photoshopping out reflections, a small one is easier than a big one. 
• Have bright colorful towels that compliment the bathroom. Many times homeowners have white or drab towels that look nice but look plain in photos
• Its good to bring glass cleaner on a shoot. Clean for a homeowner or cleaning crew never seems to be clean enough for photography. Use cleaners that take hard water stains off.
• Do yoga. Often your camera is pushed in a corner and strobes are placed in the doorway, forcing you to contort yourself to see the viewfinder and do limbo moves to get in out of the bathroom. Flexibility is your friend.
• Like all lighting in photography. Start with one light, get it right and then continue to build your lighting. Its way tougher to throw up 3-4 lights and then figure out how to solve all of the problems that they are all presenting.
• Think outside of the box. Keep an open mind of how to deal with the multitude of issues you may confront.
• Have a good attitude that you are going to be a lot smarter after you finish shooting the bathroom in front of you. Have the attitude that you are going to solve all sorts of problems and devise some cool new tricks to put in your toolbox for next time. 

Have fun and good luck!

Perspective

Do you remember in Happy Gilmore where Adam Sandler prepares for next year's hockey season by standing in the batting cage and instead of trying to hit the pitched baseballs, he's standing in front of them. He's getting the crap beaten out of him by hurdling baseballs to prepare for the hard licks he's going to take next year on the ice. That's what I felt like today.

Cold calls. I was making them to architecture firms. I had my prospect list, my talking points in front of me. I was ready!

Mind you I was a little anxious after having some very positive cold call experiences as well as some not so positive experiences in the past. Often times it comes down to timing and need. For example, I had one client hire me on the spot when I called them to introduce myself. What they didn't tell me until afterwards was that they had just made the decision to look for a new photographer. Lucky Me!

On the other hand, I had another experience where had I not had such a good sense of humor I may have never wanted to make a cold call again. I had someone say to me "You know we have three staff photographers already and this market is pretty much locked up, there's nothing happening here." Ouch!

Fortunately, my calls this morning started with a lot of messages. That's normal. I look forward to call backs in the next few days. If not, back on the phone!

After a second cup of coffee, I hopped back on the phone ready for anything.... including possible baseballs to the chest and called my next prospect.

This one was a wee bit bigger, the VP of marketing of a international architecture firm. Gulp, I hit dial.

The woman answered, I introduced myself and reminded her that I sent her a small portfolio book a few days before. She responded with a friendly recognition of the book and complimented me on my work. She then transferred me to her photography director. We talked details about how they used photographers and other logistics, she added me to their list of photographers and we went on our way.

Bingo! 5 minutes after leaving lots of messages, I squeezed my little foot in a very big door. Granted, its not like I'm going to get a call tomorrow to fly to Dubai, Tokyo and New York to shoot their flagship projects. BUT, my work is on their desk, my name is in their files and I've personally connected with them. Now, all I can do is send them quality, compelling work for them to see that I'm staying active and shooting good work. It will come around.

Tomorrow, I get to start my day with a whole new list of names and probably some bruising to my chest or even better...a new gig.

I'm ready! The upcoming season looks to be a good one.

This guy tells it like it is

In the last couple of days, I've been receiving a bunch of FB and twitter links about this article in the NY Times.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/media/30photogs.html?src=me&ref=general

It sheds light on the diminishing and brutal reality of our professions as photographers. And yes, it is painfully true.

Photography is a profession that constantly kicks your ass in many different ways. Not only do you have to be the most creative guy in the room...
...you have to be a savvy marketer
...be an incredible diplomat and politician
...understand tax codes
...constantly understand all of the latest social media tools
...know why it is better to process RAW files in a 16 bit, Pro Photo color space at 240 ppi vs 8 bit Adobe 1998 at 300 dpi...but that it might change if the final output is offset printing vs inkjet large format printing
...and you understand why having 32GB of memory is necessary to work efficiently with photos and now video
...and why it is absolutely mandatory that you have to have your multiple terabytes of data backed up in at least three different places that are preferably not in the same building or even the same city 
...and the list goes on and on and on.

Today, I came across a blog post by Jack Hollingsworth on Twitter.  He pretty much summed up the reality of being a photographer. The harshest part is that you have to ask yourself if you are really doing the one thing in life that you should be doing. If so, dive in, make the most out of it and get ready to get the shit kicked out of you. And then get ready for it to happen over and over again. And if after all that you still wake up and are convinced that its your calling, you are in the right place. You will succeed.

I'll let Jack tell it the way it is, because he did so much more eloquently than I could ever hope to.

Thanks Jack. Well spoken.

http://jack.bigfolioblog.com/weblog/post/144352

Ben Powell - musician shoot

Last week, I had the opportunity to photograph a very talented guitarist, Ben Powell. I wanted to add him to my collection of "Friends of mine that do stuff" series. He's a genuinely nice guy and plays really cool guitars, so he's perfect for the project! This project is a work-in-process that is starting to take shape. Basically, I'm forcing myself to create portraits with a black background and 1:2 aspect ratio. Why those parameters? I have no idea. But it does force me to be creative in the sense that I can't really use environment as a crutch to add visual appeal to my photos.

I set up the first shot with Ben to produce a photo for my project. Out here in California, I don't have a studio to work in so I offered to shoot the portrait at night in our backyard. The yard would give me space to set up a background and strobes and the night sky would provide wonderful controlled lighting. Ben suggested that we could also shoot in the garage at his house. He said his garage had a high ceiling so I agreed to shoot it there. When I arrived to set up, I found the garage to be a wee bit smaller than envisioned. It was going to be tight, but it would work out fine.

Here is a little tighter view of the deluxe studio space/recording studio in Encinitas

I originally had the vision of him playing slide guitar "tabletop" on his lap. I pictured the guitar spanning the whole bottom of the photo with him getting really close to it while playing. It would have made a pretty sweet shot. When I asked him about doing that, he explained that he really doesn't play that way he doesn't have the right type of guitar for what I was envisioning. To keep it organic, I told him just to play some of what he had been working on lately. He played and I shot and it was fun!

This...

...turned into this.

Our friend Bri stopped by to help and I used him as a prop.

I got the shot I was looking for so we changed it up a bit.

I really like panoramic format.

Now, it was time to go outside. A week earlier, I scouted out a location under a bridge down in Del Mar. The columns and geometry were very interesting and would make a delightful backdrop for a portrait. Yes, I did just use the word delightful.

Notice all the white spray paint. That's where the bridge people marked all the concrete that is weak and is ready to fall off. Where we were shooting, there were bunch of fragments of concrete laying on the ground that had fallen off the bridge recently. Makes you think about where you are standing.

Here, I had Brian holding one of my Dynalites with a Med softbox to offset the natural sunlight.

Then we were off to shoot one final shot on the bluffs overlooking the ocean. But first we had to shoot one on the tracks. What is slide guitarist photo shoot without a train being involved?!?

For the bluffs shot, I had a vision of Ben throwing his dreads while he played. Kind of Bob Marley/Michael Franti style. We tried it a few times, but it didn't quite work out as I wanted. Ben was really a good sport and tried numerous times. We laughed our asses off because Bri was getting worked by the strobe/softbox getting blown by the wind. I wasn't without my issues either. My batteries in my PWs decided to crap out on me right when we were ready to shoot. They were charged beforehand...I swear!

Eitherway, while I was running around like a monkey humping a football, Ben pulls out his iphone and starts watching the Laker game - LIVE! He said it costs him $20 bucks and he can watch any NBA game at any time. So... here we are doing a photo shoot on the bluffs overlooking the ocean, Ben's playing slide guitar, Bri is battling the strobe in the wind, Barbara is manning another strobe in the deep grass that all the dogs pee in...and we're watching the Lakers get worked by the Bobcats! I love technology!

We didn't get the shot I wanted but I did get an one-off that was pretty cool.

It was a fun day of shooting with some great photos created. Thanks to Ben for playing along with my ideas and throwing in some of his own. Thanks to Brian showing up when he could be riding his cruiser and drinking beer on a gorgeous Friday afternoon. And last but not least, thanks to Barbara for coming out when she was sick with a cold and being part of the program with no complaint.

Shooting portraits on the top of a really high boat deck

I went out to San Diego for a D-65 workshop with Seth Resnick and Jamie Spritzer. If you feel completely confused with digital photography and workflow, these guys provide one of the best workshops out there. Their energy and good humor actually make learning about converting color profiles and bit depths fun!

Either way, as I was driving out of San Diego I came over a ridge to see a row of windmills spinning in the distance. I was hypnotized. Once I got to the base of them, I shot a bunch of photos of them. To see windmills from a distance or in a magazine is one thing, but to sit under them while they spin is just really cool. I've always been fascinated by them since then.


Last year, Barbara called me from San Diego and asked me if I wanted to go to a small seminar on wind energy. The seminar would be held at the same windfarm that I photographed a few years earlier. I was stoked! We basically learned how they went through the planning process, how the land lease was arranged from the Kumeyaay tribe, how energy from the wind gets transformed to usable power, and so on. We then got to tour the site, control rooms, transformers and the base of the windmills themselves.

I was currently working on my portrait portfolio and I thought, a shot of the project manager would be a great addition to my project. I asked Rob Titus, the project manager, if he would be into doing a shot and he agreed. I called him up a couple days later to arrange a shoot and his schedule had become quite busy. It didn't look like we were going to be able to put something together while I was in town. Discouraged, I had to wait. I hate having to wait.

I kept his info though and contacted him later in the spring when I was coming out again. I asked if he was still into it and he said sure. I then went went one step further and and said, "You know a shot of you on top of one of the wind turbines would make a really cool shot." Fully expecting him to respond with..."oh corporate would never go for that", I braced myself for the less than desirable answer. The next day, I got an email saying, "Sounds great. We just have to fill out some liability forms and you have to do a training session. But I don't think it will be a problem."
YES!!!! I get to make a cool portrait. I've done quite a bit of big wall climbing photography, so I was fairly comfortable with the exposure of working on a really exposed location.

Barbara had a marathon that morning so she pretty much just chilled in the sun at the base of the wind turbine and relaxed her tired legs. Rob got me dialed out in safety gear, gave me a extensive safety training lesson and up we went. The turbines on the Kumeyaay farm are 280' to the main turbine deck. The turbine is accessed by ascending a ladder up the shaft. There is a cable that runs up the ladder, that you connect a safety ascension device to. If you slip while climbing the ladder, the ascension device catches you with a camming action on the cable. Despite this, it's still scary as hell when you are 150' up the ladder. I think the tubular effect of the shaft makes it worse.

When we got on top, Rob explained the safety measures to walking on the deck. I had two lanyards that were to be clipped in at all times to a small 8"railing that went around the turbine deck perimeter. Well, my photographic ADD brain went into full force and as soon as we were out of the hatch, I started making my way across the deck without clipping into anything. I was quickly reprimanded by Rob and clipped in immediately. At that point, I realized that there was a 40 mph wind trying to blow my hard hat off. Weee, this will be fun!

Not really knowing exactly what to expect, I had to assess the situation of what and how I was going to shoot. I brought a selection of lenses, flashes and other equipment but it became very apparent that K.I.S.S(Keep it simple stupid) was the rule of the land up here. We were working on a deck that was quite similar to a boat deck, maybe 8' x 25', 280' high and quite windy. Any sort of flash diffusion was out of the question. Multiple flashes were gonna take too long and be a pain in the ass. The two medium and telephoto lenses weren't going to make it out of the bag. But they sure were fun to haul up that really long ladder!

I had Rob do some inspecting kind of pose and he happily complied and looked at one of the gauges. Since I didn't have much room to work with, I had to hold on to the gauge on the other side of the deck with one hand and lean back as far as I could to show the other windmills in the background. After seeing me hanging back over the side of the deck, Rob shouted over the wind, "It looks like you're used to working in these conditions!" Actually, when in the moment of shooting, I sometimes get too focused on the task at hand.

We then moved over to the other side of the deck, closer to the props to shoot another photo. BTW, this turbine was shut down for maintenance and wasn't operating while we were up there. The prop was sitting at a cool angle so I tried to get Rob, the prop and the other wind turbines in the background all in the composition. The sun was low in the sky and I had to shoot into backlight. In order to retain the rich blue sky with the bright white turbines, I knew I had to pull a flash out on this one. I set up a 550 with a pocket wizard and held it as far out to my left as I could. I prefocused my 24mm and shot with my right hand. The wind was blowing pretty hard so braced my camera on my pack to keep it still. It took about 5 test shots to get the flash dialed and then I took several shots and compositions. Rob asked me what else I wanted to do and I was confident that I got what I wanted. It was a wrap.