Winery

I was down in Saxaphaw shooting Benjamin Vineyards and Winery for an editorial piece. I arrived in the early AM, the fields were wet with dew, I had wet shoes and socks the rest of the day, next time I'll bring an extra pair. I walked into an electric fence about thigh high (Ouch!! Oh deer) Guess it was to keep the deer from getting to the grapes.

clinical trials

A super fast turn around for a clinical trials study. Shot on Monday and sent off to legal on Tuesday. A big thanks to the models Vince and Laura from Directions USA (next time we'll shoot your good side). Kinda funny how the shoot went down. I'd scouted the location at Moore Square on Friday and it looked like @ 2PM the light was right. My studio is a block away, so @ 1PM I loaded my car with gear and got a good spot at a parking meter. There were some people hanging out on the bench I'd found, if you know Moore Square you know what type of people. I paid them $25 to stay and guard my bench and it all worked out. Ended up only using only a 4x8 reflector and no lights.

Create Chaos contest

We'll almost a winner, 2 Silver Awards in the 2008 Create Awards Competition. I could of bought a new car with all the $$$ I've spent entering contest. I'd written this one off, but was surprised to get an email the other day. The first was in the Portrait Specific category; the second, in the Photo Illustration category. I do have 2 passes for Create Chaos Conference 2008, on October 13th-17th Orlando, FL (valued at $995). If you'd like to spring for a flight and hotel, I'll gladly part with one of the passes. This year's entries spanned the globe, and were judged by twenty leading professionals from eight creative industries. Only one in every five of the more than 1,500 entries received juror recognition.

kitchen

Shot some stuff with The Splinter Group in Chapel Hill, for a kitchen design company. he color balance was all over the place, rainy overcast day,strobes,tungsten and fluorescent lights lots of work in post. Ended up using 7 heads all over the place. I'd really like a Sub Zero fridge, only $10K.

sushi pawn

I had a free day, Yea ! I've been driving up and down Wilmington St. alot lately, to the big box hardware store some days 3 times. There are about a dozen locations I've seen and had some ideas for shoots. Got a couple in, the set-up's are real quick and simple, main light and back light, Kind of a drive by shooting (no pun intended). I knew we'd get run off and that's what happened at Dragon City. Oh well anything for art.

pool and power

I wouldn't want to be the model in that pool, confidentiality agreement.

server room

Just hanging out in a very chilly server room, 5 heads and 2 packs very open lighting.

Womens Edge Magazine

Some shots for Womens Edge Magazine. A very overcast day with light rain, the photo's turned out better than I expected. Broke out the lense baby for afew shots. 3 locations and it kicked my butt.

Raleigh Wide Open

Raleigh Wide Open on Sat. night from the MLK Blvd. Bridge. The fireworks came up behind the tress, but thanks to Photoshop they are now over the city.

Raleigh Convention Center

So the Raleigh Convention Center opened last weekend. I have to say Wow ! I spent 5 years in Vegas working the Sands Expo and Las Vegas Convention centers, I think Raleigh has finally done something right. I ran around snapping photo's like crazy, I was impressed with the architecture, nice clean lines and space. I'm working on my website http://www.raleighconventioncenterproductions.com/ and @ dozen other .com's. Having worked the convention centers before I know there is alot of $$$ to be made, but I feel like I'm selling my soul. Check out the images bottom right for The Downtown Raleigh Alliance booth from last weeks post.

My feet hurt

Got out the new shoes yesterday and was on my feet all day, my feet are killing me today...... 2 locations, Siemens training facility, for some close-ups of doctor patient interaction and a lobby for the cover of a magazine (2 speedotron heads with soft-boxes 1200ws and 800ws, 2 Profoto with reflectors for backlight, blackcards to prevent flare.
A really good concept for the magazine, they bought the back for advertising. The cover, shot of the doctor's looking at the camera, back cover, shot of doctors backs with one looking around the group at camera. You know doctors always in a hurry. Got @ 40 shots off for the front cover, I know I got @ 7 usable images. Back cover maybe got off 10 shots and was still messing with the lighting when the doctors said time to go .......... Got to love Photoshop ........

Inter-faith food shuttle

Some shots from a story on the Inter-faith food shuttle. Shot Ann at the farmers market, AB 400 (reflector for boxes in truck/800 with umbrella for main) Profoto 1200 with the Tronix battery pack, back light.

Tin toys

A series on tin toys, 2 soft boxes 800 and 400ws.

Rotten fruit

Some random shots of Rotten fruit.

D3 and available light

I'm a big light production kinda guy, I had an assignment to shoot some portraits in a kitchen. I had all my lighting kits with me and the challenge was to shoot these portraits in a crazy working kitchen. I've had me D3 for awhile and have read about the high ISO low noise, but never really put it to a good test. It would of been difficult to light the whole kitchen, so I tired afew shots with the available light. Cranked up the ISO to 400/800 and shot at f/1.2. The files blew me away. I started with a D1x than D2x, at ISO 400 the files looked as good if not better than ISO 100 from the D2x. I'm seeing the world in a new light ........ I did the same thing the other day and shot all available light. Wow .........

work for trade

I'm now the newest member of The Downtown Raleigh Alliance http://www.godowntownraleigh.com/. Work for trade is a tricky thing. Do you have the time is it worth your while is it a good cause. I'm all about downtown Raleigh, that's where my studio is and anything I can do to help downtown grow I'm happy to do. It was a good chance to round out my stock images of Raleigh, I get a ton of request and am working on www.raleighstockphotography.com. I registered about a dozen website the other day, I need to get to work on http://www.raleighconventioncenterproductions.com/.
Ran around with 2 AB's and battery pack, glad I took the cheap lights, the wind blew one over, but it still works. YEA .... Meet some great people and had a good time. Work for trade well worth it this time.

in print

some images from recent post that made it to print.

in print

some images from recent post that made it to print.

in print

some images from recent post that made it to print.

headshots with a twist

I was asked to do some headshots the other day. Some professional studio looking shots and some outdoor casual shots. Lot's of running around. It was a nice sunny day and the subject was in full shade with some back light..

Grill

After almost 3 years the cyc wall came in handy. What a perfect place to shoot a chrome grill. Notice the SB 800 and red gel in the grill, hot,hot,hot ...... What ? We need food for the grill ? Glad I'm downtown, thanks to The Raleigh Times for the burgers, our local hot dog man on the street and the farmers market for the corn.

Basketball goal

Rigging stuff is so much fun. Rigged the basket ball afew different ways and the best shots were when we actually shot it in the goal.

FPO's

Some down and dirty FPO's, part of a 2 day shoot.

highchair

Part of a 2 day shoot, it was nice to hang out shooting objects in the studio.

Props

Spent the day buying props and putting everything together for a 2 day shoot.

Shred

Out in RTP for some shots for A Shred Ahead. Great people,cool trucks,glad the sun was out.

Beach

Spent afew days at the beach with the extended family. I came back more tired than when I left.

Breakfast

Had to break out the Acute D ring flash and softlight reflector for these shots.

Cancer survivor series

More shots for the Cancer survivor series. Healthy active lifestyle....

Cancer Survivor

More shots for the Cancer survivor series.

Vet School

Spent the day at the NCSU Vet School doing some photo's for Women's Edge Magazine. Out side shots were kinda crazy a very windy day. Had the Tronix/Profoto and AB set-up going. Thanks to everyone holding my light stands.

headshots

Some headshots on a lovely blue background .... and group shot.

face set

Some shot of the face set up. Profoto beauty dish with grid and diffusion, 2 20 degree grids for back light and a Speedotron 40 degree grid on background. Used lots of black cards and fabric around subject to keep the light scatter down.

face

Some shots for client (oops can't say ). close up of professional confident male. Big thanks to Angie at Fuse
http://www.fusetalent.com/ for make-up.

Smithfield

Shots from Smithfield Chicken and BBQ. Forgot to do any set shots. Profoto Soft box camera left and 2 20 degree grids for backlight.

Back to School

Some back to school products shots for Great Outdoor Provision Company. I wish I had a Pelican case for a lunch box when I was in school.

tight set

Sometime you've got to shoot where they put you. We usually shoot in a large conference room, but it was booked.

headshots

Some out takes from headshots .....

raleigh skyline

Driving back to the studio late one night. Pulled over on the MLK bridge and snapped some shots. The sky was dark, but used a tungsten color balance and it made the blue really pop.

Pharmaceutical 3D

This was pitch #3 by the agency, the client never picks #3. Well this time they did ..... I've shot some stuff for 3D before and it was a real precise under taking. A special platform/rail system on the tripod for the camera and all the movements. Today we were operating on the SWAG theory ( scientific wild ass guess ). We did have a chart from the printer with some measurements for focal length and distance. It's all about the "parallax" (my new favorite word). We did 3 different sets that day, shot with and without objects and the "parallax" of foreground and background objects. For the camera movement we had a wooden dowel from the center support of the tripod almost touching the floor with gaffer tape underneath and 1/2 inch increments. For each scene we shot -4,-3 1/2,-3,-2 1/2,-2,-1 1/2,-1,-1/2,0,+1/2,+1,+1,+1 1/2,+2,+2 1/2,+3,+3 1/2,+4. I really hope it works and I get a cool 3D poster.

Nationwide

Got a call from Nationwide to photograph a local family for a brochure. I usually come away feeling very confident from a shoot, this was the first time in awhile I felt so so ....... It was 95 degrees and the kids didn't want to be there. I do think there are afew good ones and the client was happy. Profoto beauty dish main light and AB800 back light.

Kids run amuck in the studio

OK, it really wasn't that bad. Some out takes for a product launch of Buckleyboo http://buckleyboo.com/. I'm no fortune teller but I think this is going to be big. If they sold stock in the company I'd be first in line. What's a Buckleyboo ? It's a stuffed toy with 5 different types of buckles on the front. I have 2 kids ages 4 and 5 and I know they'd go nuts for something like this. 2 large soft-boxes Speedotron heads main and fill and a 40˚ grid for a backlight.

multi-cart falling apart

My multi-cart is falling apart ...... I cruised around downtown Wake Forest with some equipment on my multi-cart ( 3 lightware cases , 1 Tenba case and a Versa Flex big stand bag ) and the rubber on the wheel came off. My wife calls me a cheap bastard, I like to think I'm thrifty. This is the mid level Multi-cart R6, I haven't put much wear and tear on it, so I'm alittle disappointed the rubber came off the wheel. If your looking for an equipment cart move up to the R8,10 or 12.

seeing how the other half lives

Some more shots from the small town article on Wake Forest. Got to see how the other half lives. A combination of Profoto and AB for kicker lights. Had a good time at Short'y , where Arnold Palmer use to eat hot dogs.

small towns Wake Forest 2

Some shots for an article on small towns, got to spend the day in Wake Forest bumming around. Meet some great people saw some cool places and got alittle history .

hanging at an agency

Some random shots at an agency for the website.

the connells

I checked out one of my favorite bands of all time the connells at downtown live the other night. I was being sneaky and got my camera in, no long glass ... oh well ..... Great show.

Pharmaceutical

Some shots for a large pharmaceutical company. Shot in model home, prices starting in the low $300K, not part of my reality. It's always tough shooting stills and motion on the same day, but a big thanks to Mark and his crew for making my life alot easier. Set up some portraits upstairs in the bonus room, the flash was not a problem when filming was going on, but the beep from my Profoto 600 pack was ( there is not an on/off switch for the sound on this pack .... What's up with that,and the door had been taken off the bonus room ??? ). Guess I learned the hard way. The models were great out of DC and Atlanta. Everyone got great stuff and left happy.

metal sculptor

Assignment on Heartworks Studio, Mike Roig in Carrboro, NC., some really great pieces of art.
AB 400/800 old school Vagabond, back/side lights. Profoto Beauty dish with grid, Tronix 1200 battery pack, main light from left.

Rocks

Shot a stack of rocks for a client, hot glue goes a long way in this balancing act. When we finished I tried to think of things to put on the rocks, small businessman,house,ball of yarn ........ Wasn't feeling very creative that day. I might have to come back to this one.....