Today we had a fun shoot with Craig Sowby, owner of My Online Drummer and his new baby boy of 7 days. He brought his drum set down for some unique shots of the newest addition to the family along with big sister Suede. Working with newborns is always a challenge and can be a bit intimidating, but the beautiful end product and the memories it captures is worth the extra care taken during the session.
While Ellis was getting the opiate of mothers milk, we put suede in the large bass drum for a few shots. She has the cutest squeaky mouse voice and would repeat anything we asked her to. Getting genuine smiles from her was not an issue. The lighting was just right to get the sparkle in her eyes.
Enter stage right, (whether he liked it or not) is Ellis. He’s the cutest baby that always seems to be staring off into space pondering the meaning of life. We had a full drum set to work with so we picked out a tom just his size. Looks cozy. Suede kept checking in on her little brother. The pacifier and cloth diapers were a nice touch.
We let Suede out to stretch her legs and ended up with her on top of little Ellis. There were a few shots I liked in this pose, and I decided to try two tone coloring…interesting effect. The drum was lit by placing a strobe just on the other side of the white drum head giving the baby a nice glow.
Not forgetting the reason for the shoot, we let Ellis have the glory of the spotlight for a few clicks as well. I experimented with green because green is nice and it matched is plug.
If you’d like to see a selection of the shots in full screen, click here.
I just picked up a $9 reverse lens adapter, allowing me to take standard lenses and mount them backwards. I had some fun playing with it yesterday at the national gardens in front of the capitol. Here are some shots I liked. For a full screen version click HERE. For my how-to article on this technique click HERE.
Shooting family portraits may be the most enjoyable genre of photography for my wife and me. There’s no all day commitment and no “the most important day of your life” pressure either. Yesterday we had a chance to shoot the wonderful Phipps family. With dad home briefly from work in Iraq and the oldest son returning from a two year mission in Sweden, you could feel the family bonds between everyone. They said they were up for anything, so we had fun posing them in some unique ways. Here are a few of my favorites from the 1 hour shoot.
I’m not sure if this is the final nail in the coffin, but it’s an interesting comparison using extreme enlargements (building size) between the Nikon d700 and the film body Nikon F5.
As a second shooter, I shot a very fun and unique military wedding this last weekend. Here are just a few of my candid shots. The daughter of 2-star General Marks and her military fiance had a full line up of military dressed grooms men to give them a most unique wedding. Military weddings are unique and a privilege of those in the armed forces or cadets. What most guests at a military wedding are most likely to remember is the “crossed sabers,” also known as the “arch of sabers,” or the “arch of steel. Traditionally the bride and groom walk through the arch of swords. That passage is meant to ensure the couple’s safe transition into their new life together.
I try and get out to cover local events when they occur down town. Two days ago I decided to see what interesting shots might be awaiting at an American tea party in front of the White House. Full gallery here. (Music provided by The Pressure)
Looking back on recent posts, I realized that I haven’t put much of my own work on this blog lately so I’m doing that now. I recently had a project with singing artist Sherrell Rowe, who is finishing up her first album. Her music is well produced and she’s excited to get things rolling. Our objective was to get some shots for her new album and website that are in the works. First we shot her fashion style. Because we did the shoot on white seamless, I drew in my own dirty background in post.
As I peruse the wild world of photography on the wild world web, I occasionally find gems worth sharing with DPS readers. In this post, pro photographer of 20 years Jim Talkington shares his pursuit of recreating the classic vintage portrait look. It illustrates how talented the photographers of yore were with their limited equipment, as well as how complex it still is for modern photographers to turn light into magic. Enjoy. <LINK>
I had the opportunity to interview Stoffel De Roover, one of the great smoke photographers out there. If you haven’t seen smoke photography before, check out this interview article for some insider information on how its done and his site at lumendipity.com. The photo below is entitled “Boy With New Balloon”.
I don’t follow fashion. But the photos in this series were interesting enough to keep me viewing for a few minuets. Strange and interesting (are those to aspects inseparable?). Enjoy the link: Crazy Cat Walk
I had a great time taking pictures of little baby Olive last week. We went for what I have officially named, “the baby on a stack of ultra-soft, I wish I were small enough to sleep on towels too, cause that looks so comfortable” look. It was a lot of fun. When we finished we did a few shots on black as well. Total time: 25 min. Here are a few of my favorites. As a bonus, for you photographers out there who want to perfect your white seamless portraits, be it fashion or baby, I have included a link to an exceptional tutorial by an exceptional photographer. Enjoy…
If you haven’t seen this photo project by Simon Hoegsberg, check it out here. Very cool pano shot in the space of 20 days from the same place at the same time in England. (LINK)
DPS has an online interview with him here which explains how it was done. (LINK)
I had heard of roller derbys but I’ve never personally beheld the awe and excitement of one. When the invite came to watch the Washington D.C. roller girls battle it out at the DC Armory I knew it’d be action packed and a great photo-op. Continue reading ‘Roller derby madness’
As I peruse the wild world of photography on the wild world web, I occasionally find gems worth sharing with DPS readers. In this post, pro photographer of 20 years Jim Talkington shares his pursuit of recreating the classic vintage portrait look. It illustrates how talented the photographers of yore were with their limited equipment, as well as how complex it still is for modern photographers to turn light into magic. Enjoy. 
I had heard of roller derbys but I’ve never personally beheld the awe and excitement of one. When the invite came to watch the Washington D.C. roller girls battle it out at the DC Armory I knew it’d be action packed and a great photo-op.