So, I’ve seen quite a few of these video portraits lately and while it’s not anything new… It is an interesting concept to me. Over Thanksgiving I took my father’s new D7000 and made some short clips of family members willing to sit still for a minute or so. This is what I came away with.
Later.
This my dad. Just last week he had heart surgery. One of the valves in his heart was “broken”. This is something we’ve know was going to be a problem for some time now… it just reached a point where the cardio guys decided it was time to do something about it.
Now, I can’t imagine what it’s like to have to go through something like this. As routine as a procedure like this is, it’s still heart surgery! They’re cutting open your chest, splitting your sternum and putting you on by-pass. I know that myself and all of my brothers were quite worried about our father, but in the end everything seemed to go very well. He had surgery on Tuesday and was up and moving about on Friday when we made it into town. On Saturday he was released and came straight over to our cousins where we were having lunch. From the time he got there till the time we left I don’t think he sat down once.
Anyway, he’s got a slow long recovery ahead and will be off work for the next 4-6 weeks. Though, word on the street is that he spent half the day in meetings yesterday despite his condition. Since we’re not going anywhere for the next few weeks we’re hoping they will come for a visit in a couple of weeks once things have started to heal and the risk of complications has diminished.
So, 2010 was a pretty good year. I shot a fair amount and was fortunate enough to have quite a few of my images published. I took a quick spin through my 2010 catalog and these are some of the images that stood out and are some of my favorites. I would loosely classify the first set as more action oriented images. I really enjoy photographing these types of things. As a participant in many of these things it’s much clearer in my mind the image that I’m attempting to capture. I know what moment I’m looking for or the feeling I’m hoping to convey and I’m more aware of the elements required to express that which is in my mind. However, there is always room for improvement and in 2011 I hope to do nothing more than keep shooting and continue refining my ability to communicate what it feels like to be out there doing these sports.
The second series of images in this post could be loosely classified as portraits. This is an area of photography where I would like to spend a little more time. I think I’ve got a handle on exposure and lighting, but it’s the ability to make someone comfortable in front of the camera and then to capture a frame that really says something about the person at that moment in that location that I know I could be better at. Right now those moments seem like accidents and chance… I’d like to get to a point where it’s more of a skill, something reproducible.
Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys the images. Happy New Year… and good luck in 2011!!
Dawn Patrol at Mont Ripley
King riding high on one of the features at Mont Ripley…
Unknown rider making it look easy under some good light…
Mark Klein airing it out one morning…
Craig showing some flare last spring…
Craig again doing some more painting…
Craig and John setting up camp…
Craig and John riding through the moonscape that is the Slickrock Trail in Moab…
My little bro Zack cooling off on a paddling trip to Grand Island…
Kyle given’er hell on the new dual slalom course at the Tech Trails…
Unknown rider displaying no fear during the Fat Tire Mountain Bike Race in Copper Harbor…
Sam Crowley of Sea Kayak Specialists in Marquette, MI…
Sam after a day of surfing down in Marquette, MI…
Unknown student at Michigan Tech working on one of the statues during the Winter Carnival All-Nighter…
Sam during a session at the Tech Trails…
Craig one evening out at Breakers…
Mr. Chris Marr being patient…
John, Justin, and Craig sitting on the edge of the earth at Gooseberry Mesa in Utah…
Louise and Anna taking a break…
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
I contacted the guys from UltraFondus over in France and they were kind enough to send me a digital copy of the article about Sam. If you can read french and are interested here is the full copy in .pdf form.
I still think that it’s funny that this image of Sam that ran as the lead was shot in our living room just one night when we were messing around. I guess it just goes to show that you should always be playing around and experimenting and shooting… you never know where those images might end up.
Craig, Kurt, and Mark
The other day I was contacted by an organization about using some of my skiing images from this past season. In support of the images I also needed some head/shoulder shots of the skiers that from said images. Instead of shooting the typical posed shot against a neutral background I wanted to do something different and thought that a Lake Superior sunset might just be the thing to help make these images a little more interesting. So, I contacted Craig, Mark and Kurt and we agreed to meet out at Breakers a little after 9:00.
As the day of the shoot approached it was looking more and more like we were going to have get some rain. In my head that wasn’t such a bad thing as some of the most dramatic skies happen right before or after a big storm. However, on the day of the shoot Mari and I were out for dinner celebrating the submission of her dissertation and the completion of her PhD, and during dinner the sky just opened up. Now, moody skies are great, but bucket sized raindrops are not. Fortunately, after dinner things had quieted down and the sky was looking good. I dropped Mari off at home, let the guys know we were a go, loaded my equipment and started driving.
Craig Kilpela
I arrived out at Breakers just behind Craig and about 20 minutes before I our scheduled meeting time. I just wanted to get there a little early, scout a vantage point, get setup, and have things dialed in to reduce the amount of standing around that had to happen. I setup my FourSquare softbox on a makeshift boom (monopod superclamped to a lightstand weighed down with a grocery bag filled with stamp sand), two edge lights, and started getting the strobed dialed in right as Mark and Kurt were pulling in.
Craig Kilpela
I had Craig go first and I have to say I think he got the best light. While the entire shoot probably only took about 10-15 minutes from the the first image to the last image, the light was still quite variable over that short period. It was late in the day and there was still a stiff breeze which made for quickly changing light and cloud conditions. Regardless, I think these images came out pretty well. The only thing that I might change would be the way the edge lights were set up. I would flag them to reduce the lens flare, and I would have reduced their power as they ended up a little hotter than I had intended.
Anyway, below are the rest of the pics.
Later.
Mark Kivisto
Mark Kivisto
Kurt Aho
Kurt Aho
Craig Kilpela, Kurt Aho, Mark Kivisto
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to photograph an incredible instructor duo for Canoe and Kayaks yearly beginner’s guide. Sam Crowley and Nancy Uschold run Sea Kayak Specialists right here in Marquette and were being profiled in the magazine. Well, the issue has finally hit the newsstands and I was as surprised as anyone to see one of my images as the lead profile. On top of that, the image ran across the full two-page spread.
Being the first image I’ve had published that will be seen by people other than students and alumni of Michigan Tech… this is a pretty big deal to me.
Anyway, I really should thank Sam and Nancy for putting up with me, both in Nancy’s garage and out at the breakwall. They were really good sports and a lot of fun to talk to. I also need to thank Sam Gardner for coming down to Marquette and holding the strobes. Lastly, I need to thank Conor Mihell for suggesting me as a potential photographer. Conor wrote the profile that accompanies the photo and a handful of other articles throughout the magazine.
Later.
So, I was reading through some of the posts over on the Strobist website when I came across a shoot Mr. Hobby did for Canoe and Kayak magazine. I really like the resulting image created using a combination of Alienbees Moonunit and a overhead beauty dish. This got me thinking as to how I could produce a similar quality of light with the gear I currently have. The beauty dish, to me, really just means “soft overhead light”. I do not have a beauty dish, however I think I could get away with a shoot-thru or bounce umbrella. I wouldn’t have as much control of the spill or edge, but it would get me close.
Now, what about a ring light? I’ve seen quite a few different DIY versions online, but they all seem pretty… well… hokey, and they don’t have a lot of power. I suppose I could just use another umbrella on-axis, but I don’t really think that would get me where I want to go. This is where my Lightware FourSquare softbox comes in. What if I take the diffusion panel off, open up the back, install two sb26′s… pocketwizard… What do you know, I’ve got one spot left through which I can shoot. In theory though it should work pretty well, and I should have a decent amount of power. Also, if I had an additional sb800 I could use high-speed sync. Now I just have to test this out.
Here you can see two images I shot of my friend Sam. Neither image is anything special and they are not meant to be attempts at reproducing the style of light I was so intrigued with initially. This was just a test. Both images were shot at iso200, 1/800, f18 with my Nikon D70s at 18mm. I had two strobes in the FourSquare set at 1/4 and zoomed to 24mm. Pocketwizards were used for triggering purposes.
I want to apologize to Sam. This idea popped into my head washing dishes while waiting for him to arrive so we could go for a XC ski. I threw everything together and then attacked him as he walked up the sidewalk. Then as he was leaving I grabbed my kit and again he was forced to pause for a second so I could grab a frame. I am sorry. However, I cannot promise that it won’t happen again.
Later.
Today I had the opportunity to shoot a couple of friends for a Michigan Tech School of Business publication. Steve and Caleb started The Bike Shop just under 2 years ago. In that short amount of time they have gone from the new kid on the block to what some would say is the best bike shop in the Upper Peninsula. They work hard, treat their customers well, and they know a think or two about bikes. Hopefully they will have a long successful run here in Houghton.
Anyway, Michigan Tech’s School of Business is running a feature showcasing the different ways in which a student could use their degree from Michigan Tech. Steve and Caleb being graduates of the program who went on to start their own business were perfect candidates for the article. Once they were identified I got the call to see if I was interested in taking a couple of pictures of the two of them. How could I say no?
This was another one of those MTU assignments where I end up showing up to the site not having a good idea of what I’m after. Lynn pointed out that maybe I should be a little more proactive about finding out what they are looking for rather than complaining about it. I think she may be on to something, but on the other hand, I have tried gleaning a little more info by asking different questions about their requirements and usually we end up in the same place… “Were not really sure. Could you shoot a bit of everything.” Though this doesn’t mean I shouldn’t continue to try.
So, when I arrived UPS had actually showed up and there were quite a few bikes to unload. I shot a couple of images of the guys doing some work, and then put the camera down and helped out. Once that was all taken care of I decided to get a couple of headshots on white. This is quickly becoming a goto setup for me. It’s very quick to setup, gives good results that look great in black and white or color and the simplicity of the image highlights the subject in a way that not many other setups allow. There’s something about a simple image that can be quite powerful. I will probably continue to use this setup and keep collecting these headshots. Something cool may one day come of it.
After the headshots were out of the way we decided to setup a couple of images of the guys pretending to do what they would typically do at the shop… work on bikes. Unfortunately they had cleaned up quite a bit and some of the work areas were a little too clean. Also, the CFL’s that were lighting the shop were extremely yellow which led me to increase the power of my lights and totally overpower the ambient to keep it’s effect on the color to a minimum. For Caleb we positioned him at the truing stand and I had Steve hold my light stand with the softbox above him. For Steve we moved over to one of the bike stands and had him adjust and readjust the deraileur while Caleb held the light.
After the individual portraits we needed to get a couple of frames with the both of them. At first I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them. I had been thinking that we could position them behind the counter, or maybe on the couch they have set up for customer to hang out on. Then I remembered all the bike boxes. Steve had mentioned that they should build a fort out of them. As cool as that would have been I thought we should just stack them up and let the guys sit or stand by them. In my head I had envisioned more of a pyramid shape. Something that represented their climb to the top, their achievements over the last two years. What we ended up with was really just a pile of bike boxes, though they did have a sort of peak.
The next problem was trying to figure out what to do with the lights. This is the second time in three days that I’ve wished for a boom. Fortunately a friend/customer stopped in and we were able to convince him to hold the lightstand and softbox overhead. I also set up two strobes as rim lights and a fourth strobe slightly to camera right to provide fill. Overall I think that everything went pretty well and that we got some images that will fill my clients needs. I’d be glad to hear everyone’s thoughts on the images. Below you will also find some of the setup shots.
Until next time…
Greg OUT!
Well, yesterday was my first assignment for the new year. We kicked things off with a trip down to Marquette to create some portraits of Sam Crowley and Nancy Uschold of Sea Kayak Specialists. Sam and Nancy are kayak instructor instructors and are some of the people responsible for making sure many of the new instructors here in the Midwest know there stuff.
Apparently they are pretty good at what they do and because of their commitment to quality instruction they are being featured in an upcoming article in one of the paddling magazines. This is the point where I come in. The magazine in question was in need of some images of Sam and Nancy and for whatever reason… too little caffeine, still hungover, ???… the editor asked me to take them.
So, yesterday morning I packed up the car, picked up Sam Gardner in Baraga(sam came mostly to surf… but I put him to work for a bit), and headed for Marquette. We arrived at Nancy’s house just before 8:30 and we started setting up in her garage. For the first set of portraits I wanted to do some clean individual shots on white. The magazine had not requested these images, but we were there and you never know what you might need in the future. So, I set up my foursquare softbox behind the subject with an silver umbrella directly above and in front. I then took two sets of images… one in casual clothes and the other with Nancy and Sam in their paddling kit. Here you can see the black and white conversions. I am really liking this type of portrait. It is easy and quick to setup, produces good results, and the simple nature of the image really lets you focus on the person. I can understand why this type of setup has been so widely used in different types of portrait collections.
Anyway, after the headshots we moved the lights around and went to work creating a portrait of both Sam and Nancy in front of their kayaks which were stored in the garage for winter. I was hoping to create something of a season neutral image. We used the kayaks as the background, set up two sb26′s as rim lights high and out of the frame on the left and right. Then I used my Foursquare softbox with 2 sb26′s as the main light. The only issue I has was trying to control the falloff from the main light. No matter where I positioned it, I just couldn’t seem to keep it from contaminating the background. If I moved it in really close so that the light fell off more quickly the difference in exposure across Sam and Nancy was too great for my tastes. If I moved the main light back to even out the exposure more light fell on the background. Ideally I would have used a boom to support the light directly above and slightly in front of the subjects. This would even out the exposure across the subjects and allow me to get it close enough that the light would fall off quickly enough to no contaminate the background.
Below you can see that the main light was situated at camera right. Nancy’s shoulder is a little hot, but not bad. The spill from the main light was limited to the left side and I kinda like the light to dark gradient. I was thinking about this issue and at the time I wish I had a boom, but the reality is that I could have just move the main light in tight and exposed the frame so that Nancy’s shoulder was just a little hot. Then I could have added another strobe into an umbrella set as far behind me as possible to serve as a kinda of on-axis fill to help bring up the darker area around Sam. I don’t really know if this would have produced anything appealing, but I would have been worth a shot. I just have to remember to use what I have and not wish for things I didn’t.
After the garage session we moved out to the breakwall at Presque Isle. Here I positioned Sam and Nancy on the far right of the frame using the waves crashing against the wall and the lighthouse as background elements. I did this because the sample image that was sent to me had a similar appearance. I figure they might need that space for text. The conditions were very… uhhh… how to put it… grey. The water, sky and snow were all about the same tone. So, I decided to gel the strobes and push the ambient into the blue spectrum. The helps the subjects pop and adds a bit of drama to the scene.
After the shots on the breakwall we jumped down to some ice covered rocks nearby and did a quick session keeping the light setup the same. Sam Gardner was kind enough to hold the light so that we were a bit more mobile and I didn’t have to worry about everything blowing off into the lake.
Well, I hope this was interesting for those of you that frequent my site. If anyone out there has any suggestions or criticisms I’d love to hear them. Keep in mind that I’m just making this stuff up as I go. Another assignment tomorrow here in town… stay tuned.
Later.
