Tuesday, June 24, 2008

fire fighter series


Not everyday you get to climb a 70 foot ladder truck. We had no idea which direction the sun would be at the locations. For most of the people shots, I shot from inside the garage looking out and the subjects were in shadow. Main light camera right and a side light/ back light on camera left. For some of the ladder shots had an SB-2800 and AB as back light triggered with PW's.

fire fighter


This was my favorite shot from the firefighter series. This is the chiefs son who was hanging out at the fire station.

ladder truck


Some shots in Swannanoa on the ladder truck.

Swannanoa firemen


Firefighters in Swannanoa for a series of ads.

Burlington firemen


Some shots of firemen in Burlington for a series of ads.

Asheville


Some shots from walking around downtown Asheville at night. Had some really good Thai food, and a good Guinness at an Irish bar. Asheville is a really happening town,it seems to be stuck in time, lots of hippies. I didn't see a Starbucks but there is a sushi restaurant on every corner. Hate to see what happens when sushi isn't the in thing ....

Kirby Derby Rain or Shine


Kirby Derby rain or shine, lets just say there was only rain ....... A really good turn out considering the weather.

Kirby Derby


Racers on the course, the conditions were slick with all the rain but after some tire pressure adjustments most of the cars made it around corner #1. SEE BELOW.

Kirby Derby Wipe Out


Danger around every corner at the 7th annual Kirby Derby.

Trish


Some shots of model Trish, thanks to La MaQuillage (make-up) and Lee Stalcup (wardrobe).

back up


So the other day I burned disk #1288. I've been burning 2 copies of each disk, I keep one at the studio and take the other one home. I've been getting worried about the data on the older disk, some are over 11 years old. I've decided to back up my back up on external hard drives. Man this is going to take forever. I can get @ 50 CD's and 20 DVD's done aday, if I'm not shooting. I feel pretty lucky, I've only lost 2 files and they were from older disk and really large Photoshop files @ 320 megs, I've got the flatten version. Just FYI my bad disk were Memorex and PNY.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Boot on my roof


When they were replacing the front of the studio, I used the ladder to get on my roof. It's been almost 2 years since I've been on it. I had a squirrel get in my studio the other week and he kept setting off the motion detector ( $100 in false alarms ). I couldn't find where the squirrel got in ? I thought I might find a gun,knife or crack pipe on my roof but all I found was an old boot. A quick photo shoot, why wait for the Hose Master to warm up when you can use a flashlight. 25 sec. @ f/22 on black velvet. I'm off to Asheville for a 2 day shoot, hope it's cool in the mountains.

headshots


The creative work is just knocking down my door, more headshots on white ...... I happened to be wearing one of my fancy new t-shirts. Look at the quality after one wash, thanks Vista Print T-shirts .....

My neighborhood


Had a job cancel on me the other day and thought I'd work on my neighborhood project. No one hanging out, it was just to hot. So I shot afew houses.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Peggy Kirk Bell


I was lucky to get an assignment photographing golf legend Peggy Kirk Bell, at her home course Pine Needles in Southern Pines NC. Check her out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Kirk_Bell. It was a real inspiration being around Peggy. It was 100 degrees and she kept going and going. The course and clubhouse are beautiful, and lunch was great (thanks). AB's 800 and 400.

Night shots


The smoke from the wildfire on the coast had blown in the other day. I thought it'd make for some cool night time images. By the time the sun had set most of the smoke had disappeared and nothing dramatic in the sky. Used a tungsten balance to get the blue in the sky to pop. The exposures were around 30 sec. at f/8.

before and after


Before and after shots of a rescue truck. This was a real quick retouch. I'm still not happy with the windows and need to add some highlights. Had a small strobe inside the truck cabin.

My neighborhood


I'm still working on my "Welcome to My Neighborhood" series. I went up to Moore Square to see who was hanging out. I've been really excited about this project and everyone has been great about getting photo's taken. I am starting to feel alittle guilty, the last guy I photographed (baseball hat) was so out of it. I almost felt I was taking advantage of him. I'm sure this is a moral dilemma most photographers will face at sometime in their careers.

Rex doctors


Some location shots of doctors for Rex. Very small room so everything was low power, softbox,umbrella,grid from the side and a reflector on the background.

broken glass


So after my pouring shots I thought, it'd be cool to get a splash shot. Notice the glass changed ? On my first attempt I hit the edge of the glass with the acrylic ice cube and water went everywhere. I switched glasses, and built a rig so I could slide the ice cube down. This worked much better than throwing it in. I end up using 3 shots for the final image. Shift key and layer mask.
2 grids, color balance was tungsten to give it a blue cast.

pouring water


Some shots pouring water. Used strobes on a white formica sweep, but set my color balance to tungsten to get a blue cast.

cemetery


I was on my way back from Southern Pines and stopped to get gas, this cemetery was across the street.

bowling


took my kids bowling over the weekend, just some snap shots ...

AKC Scanner


Did some product shots with Crittenden Advertising of a pet scanner for the AKC. Ended up suspending the scanners from armature wire, there was to much wrap around on a white background.

face lift


Sounds like a good name for a photo-shoot, but oh well ....... I'm in the process of replacing the facade of my studio.