Maren

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We had a great time on our shoot with Maren. Maren has a great look and this is our second time shooting with her. This is a good example of a location shoot that went into the night. The sky gets to be a beautiful blue if you underexpose it right.

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Danielle – location scouting

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Here are some pictures of a model we met in San Francisco. She told me she wanted to be a demon coming out of the woods. I think she did a great job. She goes by the name of Necro Wolfie.

We were a little worried because we don’t know our way around San Fran, but we found some really neat trees in the Presidio when we scouted out a location the day before.  I was hoping for some fog.  It was foggy every day except this one.  Nonetheless, we were able to find some great places to shoot because we scouted ahead.

Another spot with Erin:

And the shot with Danielle:

If you are wondering why she is so pale, she was wearing white makeup to make herself look whiter.  Location scouting is an important part of our process.  Even in situations where we know we will not have a lot of time to find a place to shoot, we make time to look for the best spot out of the available locations.

Notice that Danielle’s shots are so much moodier than the shots of Erin?  That’s the effect of using a lighting rig instead of taking “available light” photos. Had we taken the photos with available light, then we could not decide where to take the pictures.  The place would have to decide for us.  For the photos of Danielle, Erin is holding a speedlight on a paint pole through a small softbox.

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More San Fran pictures

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Erin and I took more pictures in San Fran that I would like to share.

You can see the fine arts palace in the distance to her left.   My wife is pretty.

Here we got two very different looks, just by setting the ambient level differently. The flash is the same in both pictures. I think I like the dark one better, but I generally like dark pictures. It also fits the idea that there is a cemetery behind her.

This is Erin when she is cold.

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Halloween

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Fun Halloween this year, even though I have had a terrible cold all weekend. First to Chandra’s house in Charlotte, NC on Friday. We always take a group picture outside Chandra’s house. This is the only party I have made every year. Something always comes up for every other party. Erin and I got stuck in some crazy traffic on the way from Raleigh. There were three car fires! How do you have a car fire? What makes your car catch on fire? I need to know so that if there is some kind of warning so I can avoid causing traffic on the 40.

We used one umbrella and the Ranger RX for this shot. The group is too big to light effectively with one light, so we did what we could.

Inside, I didn’t take any pictures. Chris took them all. He did a good job.

Erin and my pumpkin wasn’t cool like last year’s. We did what I guess amounted to the monopoly man. Last year we did boo from Super Mario Brothers.

Saturday, we went to Jon’s house and then went out shooting people in the street. I used the Ranger and the Maxilite to give deep shadow, dramatic lighting that I thought might be suitable for Halloween. We saw some really neat costumes and we stopped the people we thought had some of the best.

These girls were filthy. If you want to see the NSFW pics, email me.

These folks work at Sushi One. A new restaurant on Glenwood.

For more shots, click here.

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Mandy and Michael

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I performed a few rock songs during Mandy’s ceremony on the beach.  What a lovely time!  Here are some random shots during the night.  All of them were using a bare flash with a CTO gel.  The orange gel is to fake that “magic hour” lighting and gives a hard orange light that people like so much in the late afternoon.  These shots were too late for that light, but you can see the sun peeking out above the houses in the background.

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Amy and Hanh

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We recently went to San Francisco for Amy and Hanh’s wedding and it was great fun. I have known Amy for years and she is absolutely one of my favorite people. Hanh is perfect for Amy, mainly because I like him so much, and his dancing entertains me so.

Friday morning, we all went on a bike tour from San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, to Saulsalito, then to Tiburon.

Erin on her bike. This is her natural glamorous pose. We stopped too many times to take pictures of the beautiful day. Here is the picture that made us miss the boat from Tiburon back to San Francisco.

After the scariest cab ride I have ever experienced back to San Francisco (and I am from New York City!), we made it back in time to shower and change for the welcome dinner. Amy and Hanh wore traditional Vietnamese áo dài and áo gấm at the dinner. If you can’t pronounce that, it is because you are not Vietnamese.

They had a delicious assortment of foods including dungeness crabs, which are not native to North Carolina, but are in abundance in San Francisco. The fancy Vietnamese outfits plus crackly messy crabs equals, you guessed it, lobster bibs!

Lobster bibs all around, and that makes for a fun time for all.

The after-party was down the street at an Irish pub, to celebrate Amy’s side of the impending union.

They had an intimate ceremony at the Presidio chapel that perfectly blended their personalities. There was an interesting reading about a hippo or a kangaroo that I can’t exactly remember, but I liked it nonetheless.

Here are some reception and party shots from the officer’s club next door to the chapel.

Congratulations Amy and Hanh!

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San Francisco

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What a great time in San Francisco.  Whew, we took a boatload of pictures out there!  We stayed near the Presidio with my friend Shawn.  He walked us down to the palace of Fine Arts.  Absolutely gorgeous, and next door to a Starbuck’s.  I still think that they burn their coffee.  Nasty.  Eddy agreed that Dunkin’ Donuts makes the best coffee and we avoided a long argument that could have lasted over the whole trip.  Thank God.   Eddy and shawn also agreed that we thought Google’s search could not have gotten faster.  We were wrong. What am I going to do with all my extra free time?   Here’s the palace on our morning leisurely walk.  Erin took this one.  She rocks.

Why does anyone live anywhere else?  Anyway, we had a full day on Sunday, with sightseeing and costume shopping and finally a long walk on the beach.  There at the beach we were treated with a beautiful sunset, a rare occurrence in San Francisco.

Clearly, I did not take that picture.  Neither did Erin.  That’s us.

Here’s the setup shot.

I am the Voice Activated Lightstand in this one.  This is what the group looked like after eating crabs everyday.   Oh and the french pastry shop that I went to is the best place in the world.  Officially.  Tartine bakery and cafe.  Don’t you dare miss it if you are within an hour of San Francisco.  Enjoy the rest of the pictures.

More to come soon.

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Supergirl

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I took some pictures of Supergirl a few weeks back.  Here are my favorites.  Taken with some strong monolights and a generator.  I needed something to overpower the sun.

Next time, I will use a neutral density filter to get my aperture down to 8.  These are F16-F22, so they are not as sharp at they could be.  Which one is your favorite?

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Violet

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Collect them all!

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Ronni and David

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Ronni and David were married at PGA national.  Congratulations!  I am proud of you baby brother.  I love you. Enjoy the slideshow and the pictures that follow.

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