Happy New Year!

Gosh, it's been a great year, and 2014 is really looking up, as well. If you're reading this, thanks for sticking with me. It's not that I've quit writing, it's just that I've been writing so much for Photofocus.com. Follow this link to see what I've been doing over there.

In other news, I got to make some pretty cool picture in Michigan the other day. I met up with my friend Bryan, who I met on the Photofocus page on Facebook, and we went shooting on the streets of Grand Rapids before work one morning.

While in Grand Rapids, I also got a minute with Breck to make a fun portrait.

Lastly, after shooting with Breck I was walking down the hall of the hotel and saw a horse and carriage pull up outside in the blizzard. When I got to the elevator, a couple jumped in, and told me they had just gotten engaged! I suggested we make a quick portrait, and they obliged. Congrats, guys!

I hope things are going well for you all, and I hope you get out and make some pictures with family and friends before the holidays are over.

*Sigh*

It's just what I needed. A relief. A pleasure, really. I got to photograph F. and her new little L., today. She's just a month old, but look at all that hair. Thanks a bunch for a fun time making pictures, F.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Macro lens, f/8, 1/200s, ISO 100.

Technical stuff. We made this picture on the side while making portraits for the Portland Urgent Care clinic where F. works. Effectively, that means I had the lights setup in a specific manner that helps ensure the portraits are all similar, which means I couldn't easily move it to make a piece of art for mother and daughter. 

I had a black backdrop, a small octabox up front, and a barebulb strobe with a reflector in the back. Without changing my light settings, I brought F. a little closer to the octa to wrap her and baby in a softer light (the closer, the softer). We made several frames here, but this was my favorite, shot with me on a chair so I could see from a little above.

Brothers Walking

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @135mm, f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 1600.

I was fortunate enough to attend Photoshop world in Las Vegas last week, and also to lead a photowalk with a bunch of terrific photogs. Lemme tell you, Vegas is different from Lake Oswego, but photography is the same everywhere. It was 100 degrees at night and all we could do was keep walking and shooting. It was a blast.

As we walked, I noticed this bright, soft light shining on R.'s face, so I begged a portrait of him. He was a little reluctant, but incredibly patient as we waited for the huge sign overhead to cycle through different ads and different colors of light. I love happening on this kind of thing, and I love that R. let me make a portrait with him.

R.'s brother, R., was also along on the walk, the two of them visiting from New York. There's this wonderfully lit stairwell we passed, and I just had to have a portrait with R. Funny thing is, as we made a few frames we gathered quite a crowd of international tourists. Apparently, R. resembles one of Bob Marley's sons who lives in Vegas. Who knew?

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @112mm, f/5.6, 1/80s, ISO 1600.

Walking The Strip at night shows all the lights of Vegas, and it's really fun to see. However, most of those lights are not the best for portrait lighting. In situations like this I search for light to make my subjects stand out, and that often means the portrait will be a few highlights on a black field. I like that. It fits my mood. High ISO's are my salvation when photowalking at night.

Jabberwocky

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro Lens, f/8, 1/15s, ISO 400, Nik Color
Efex Pro 4 with Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5.

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
  The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
  The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
  Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
  And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
  The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
  And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
  The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
  He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?

  Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
  He chortled in his joy.

Man, I had a great time this morning with the Portland PAC (find us on Facebook) at Tryon State Park in Lake Oswego. Being new in town, I'm still getting to know areas, so I suggested we get together and go shoot in the woods. Tryon creek is such a beautiful park, and right in the middle of town, too, so it's super convenient. 

My pal Megan found us some willing models (more or less willing, anyway). As the day drew nearer I got thinking that something like Robin Hood would be a fun story to show. Then as we were sorting through clothes, this image came together. I'm reminded of the Jabberwocky, which I memorized in Mrs. Tuggle's class at Air Academy. It's supposed to be a retelling of Beowulf, which is one of the oldest English stories preserved in writing. I think I like Jabberwocky better, however. I really like the picture, and I really appreciate everyone helping me make it come together. I have some other ideas for finishing it, and if I pull it off well, I'll share it with you. 

Let's talk technical stuff, cause this picture is super simple, and it's totally a lucky happenstance that it...happened. See, when working with flashes off the camera, it's best to make the picture look good without the flash, then add the flash in the right amount for the subject. So, while doing my test shots I bumped the tripod, and it made the picture a streak. After I got the final frame of my awesome model, I combined the two with a layer mask in Photoshop. Super simple! I think it makes a dreamy, imaginary effect. Nik Color Efex Pro 4 helped with the finishing touches.

Light is coming from a single speedlight off to the left shooting through a white umbrella, triggered with Nikon's built in CLS. It kinda feels like a beam of light in the woods. Just the thing to make a vorpal blade pop. 

I love making photographs in Lake Oswego!

"Just Got Home From Illinois..."

The Chicago Skyline from nearby Navy Pier. I love Nightscapes like this.

I've been waiting four years to title a post for this song...

See, I spent last week in Chicago, Illinois, at Skip Cohen University's Sumer Session where I studied with the best photographers in the world to better my craft and make new connections for my business. It was a lot of work, a lot of late nights, a lot new information, and lot of fun. Stick with me a minute, and I'll lead you through some of my favorite pictures I made during the week.

Started it all with a venture downtown with my pals Sherry and Mark. Starting with a deep dish pizza at Gino's East, we spent the whole night shooting downtown. As we were shooting nightscapes, we met a man who's a broker for an international realty firm...and he asked to see our pictures! Needless to say, running into him shaped our evening's pictures and we started focussing more on the buildings in the neighborhood. That image at the top is a panorama I made from the pier looking back at town.

That was late night number one, but the walking and the shooting and the Pizza made it all worthwhile.

Next day we headed downtown again, this time with more people and we planned to wrap it all up by shooting the fireworks over Navy Pier in the evening. We started on the Mag Mile, a huge shopping district. Obviously, we didn't really make it into any of the stores...not with half naked skateboarders walking the streets and enormous panhandlers who wouldn't take 'No' for an answer.

Seriously, I saw some interesting light falling in the reflections from a sky scraper and asked the guy with the board if I could make a quick portrait, and he obliged. Next thing I know, this dude is telling me he can take off his shirt and run down the street and make an awesome picture...and it'll only cost me three bucks! Unfortunately, I didn't have any cash, but he said that's ok, other people will see how awesome it is and want to take his picture too, so my picture would just be the seed for a little street performance boom. Well, unfortunately, I didn't have the right lens for that kind of work. That's ok, says he, I'll just do some pull ups right here, then...and then Sherry walked up and said, "Let's do it! Let's see what you got!" So, there's me, the Reluctant Photographer, and Sherry shooting this dude in the alley. It was fun, to say the least.

What started that whole little exchange was the light I saw on this flower...

Which I thought would look great on a person. So I turned to Bob Coates, who I found to be a fine photo walking companion and incredible instructor at SCU, and asked if I could make a quick picture. See, I tested the settings on Bob before the skateboarder with the hairdo walked by.

We continued down the Mile, found a real Chicago style hotdog, and this guy waiting for custom at the pub next door. When I talked with him about a picture, he gave me the thousand yard stare that all professional tourist handlers have learned to adopt.

Fortunately, this officer hadn't quite perfected the stare, but was obliging anyway as we listed to this other fellow perform on the corner. The Police are important on the street corners of the Mag Mile: people are so often stunned by the sites that they forget to pay attention to traffic.

\

Also, Carlos Danger was walking with me, but he couldn't seem to hold still for a portrait. After hotdogs we headed back over to the waterfront to make our way toward the fireworks, and of course we stopped at Millennium Park to photograph the Bean. It's quite a thing.

I taught a class on Lightroom myself the next day, and we had another wonderful pizza at Giordano's. Monday kicked off with our class time with the incredible instructors. I chose to learn with Suzette Allen, and she opened my eyes to lots of new tools I'll be using to make my pictures and video really sing. In fact, we photographed a family of singers in her class.

We all spent Monday evening at the hotel, but that doesn't mean we didn't stay up late! We had a great time making friends and making plans. My Tuesday class was with Ryan Schembri, Australia's photographer of the year, and a hugely decorated artist, and I had a wonderful time and learned some things that I have never seen before, and that's not common. I should explain, also, that at this conference I got to choose two instructors to spend the entire day with, and there were fewer than 20 people in each class. That's unheard of! These are people who usually speak to groups numbering in the thousands, and I'm on a first name basis with them now. Skip Cohen has really put together a wonderful program, and it's truly the best education on the planet in the Universe! 

NO photoshop work here--isn't that amazing?!?! I learned so many new things.

I can't wait for the next program. It's going to be amazing, and I'll be sure to let you know about it here. Finally, here's a little time lapse video I made at the Bean...

Support Your Library

I love public buildings. Good architecture is hard to come by these days, but libraries often get a good dose of it, and the USU library is no exception. It's built with great light in mind, and I used to love going there with my clients to make use of it. For this image I took my class of Summer Citizens (visiting from Arizona and Texas) to the library to work with our wonderful model, A. Sunlight coming directly through a high window was shining on the white wall of the art exhibit in the atrium, and the reflection back onto A. was simply perfect. It's got a great direction, and since there's no light shining on the ground behind, she stands out against the simple background. Her simple black dress was just right for a black and white image. 

So, get out there, explore your public buildings and look for great light. It's time to put your tax dollars to work!

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @135mm, f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 800.

MBA

K. is from Taiwan. In fact she's from a city I used to live in! She recently graduated from USU with an MBA, and she'll be returning to Taiwan to help run her father's factory. She's a pretty cool gal, and I was glad to make pictures with her. We used USU as our backdrop, since that's where she's spent the last several years. A favorite is that one with the lawn--see, they don't have big fields of soft green grass in Taiwan.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/4, 1/320s, ISO 400.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/4, 1/25s, ISO 1600.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/2.8, 1/4000, ISO 400.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/2.8, 1/200s, ISO 400.

Going on 5...

Paul deKruif wrote, "Creators need audiences."

I've been sharing pictures with you here for four years. I just want to thank you for visiting and supporting me and my family in this photographic venture. We rely on our clients and students for a living, and we can't thank you enough. I really appreciate everyone who visits and gives me kudos now and again--it keeps me going, and keeps me encouraged. When you view my page it's like giving a kid a gold star on his doodle. I'm on cloud nine when you stop by, so thank you. Thank you for being my audience.

A few days ago I shared a picture from K.'s senior shoot; here're the rest in a video.

Venom

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/4.5, 1/200s, ISO 100.

It's time for summer block buster movies, so I thought it might be good for SEO to have a blog named for a famous comic book villain. Plus, this Ph.D. knows more about venom than you realized was possible.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/16, 1/200s, ISO 100.

She's a biology professor at USU's Uintah Basin Campus, and studies venom. Evidently, these little salamanders are deadly; if you eat them. Touching them benignly is no problem, just don't put them in your mouth and bite down (apparently, that's not common sense to certain frat boys). As a rule, don't put any brightly colored salamanders in your mouth, just to be safe. Newts, too.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 100.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/16, 1/200s, ISO 100.

The Mayor

USU is working on a campaign to show off their satellite campuses all around Utah, and they've asked me to help. I make portraits of students and faculty and staff and graduates, while a video crew does interview with all the same. The campuses are really wonderful and are fully equipped--students don't go there because they couldn't get into USU Logan; they go there because they are good schools, and I've enjoyed getting to know them all and photographing all around the state.

Nikon D800, 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII lens @ 70mm, f/6.3, 1/200s, ISO 100.

This is my favorite picture from the five campuses I've visited so far. This is the previous mayor of Vernal, photographed in the bookstore/cafe he and his wife run on Main Street.  My wife and I arrived first (the rest of the crew was lost in the desert after our session with the wild biology teacher) and we got to spend a few minutes with this great couple. We came in, ordered sandwiches (best lunch in town by a long shot!), coaxed his wife into being in the picture with him, and we were finished shooting before our delicious paninis were ready. They had a portrait on the wall of their progenitors, and I hope this one goes up, too.

I loved setting up this portrait. From the moment we walked in I knew I was going to photograph them in front of the books. I chose the 70-200mm lens because I wanted a little more environment than the 105mm would give me and I was already standing in the bathroom to get a little more space as it was. I could have used a wider lens, like a 50mm, but that would bring too much other stuff into the picture and make it too busy for the graphic designer to use and too busy for me to love. Aperture was set at f/6.3 in order to have enough depth of field to get both faces in focus, but still have some blur to the background and save my flash batteries a little. There was a window behind me to the left and another waaaaay at the front of the store to the right, and florescent lights over head. That means three colors of light and none of it very flattering. I used a small speedlight behind and to the right to put a pop of light on the bookshelf and as a gentle hairlight. The main light is a speedlight through a white umbrella from directly over the table. I wanted it to feel like the kind of light you often see over tables in a cafe, and I think it worked out nicely. The fast shutter speed ensured that those other lights in the room wouldn't influence this picture.

This picture is presented just as I got it from the camera, including the black and white; which just shows how silly it is to brag about not using Photoshop. I shot this image as a RAW image, which always comes to the computer in color no matter the settings on the camera. However, I wanted to leave a print with them, so I needed a jpeg image I could take to Walmart and have back immediately (my first, and hopefully last, experience printing at Walmart. I made two prints in black and white; one was yellowish and the other wasn't. I'm a snob about my prints for a reason.) so I used the in camera RAW processing to create a BW image with a red filter applied to add contrast and ease the skin tones and I brightened it a touch, then saved a jpeg copy. So, my camera has photoshop built in...but it's still right out of the camera! Sigh.

All grown up...

K. is graduating in a minute, and she's really grown up since I met her four years ago. That's normal, I suppose, but it makes one feel that one is getting older oneself. When I was her age, four years was an eternity. These days, I can blow four years in a weekend.

Also, I've been posting lots of landscapes, and I just want you to know that that's because I've been shooting so many people I'm backed up a bit. The landscapes finish quickly, and they never need more consideration. My people pictures, however, get stressed about and revisited until I think they're perfect...or until they're needed for graduation announcements.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/3.5, 1/80s, ISO 100, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Circumnavigation

Things--life--seem to move in cycles and patterns and rotations. I feel like I'm coming around again and it's a nice way to wrap things up. I'm moving to Portland, Oregon later this month, if you hadn't heard, and everyone is saying goodbye to me. JM is one who has come cyclicly through my photography and this blog. She's been a real friend, always supporting me, and a joy to have in front of the camera, too. 

She and her brother came to classes in 2010 for the first time, and everyone had a great time making pictures with her and N. This is one I didn't share back then. The doorway in the background is my first Studio over on Church Street!

Nikon D90, 85mm f/1.8 D lens, f/6.3, 1/80s, ISO 800.

Looking at that picture now, I realize that I was still frequently shooting jpegs only. Now I shoot everything in RAW, and occasionally RAW with an additional jpeg file (for black and whites, as described in the post below). 

This shoot above was really an auspicious day, too. While we were walking the streets outside the Studio I met my pal Sam, made this picture, and started a friendship thats going strong to this day.

Nikon D700, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens @140mm, f/2.8, 1/100s, ISO 400.

What's more, Sam obliged the next session of my classes by coming and modeling for us--and this while rehearsing and playing violin in the orchestra for the Utah Festival Opera everyday. As I recall, he had to boogie from the studio and run across the block to rehearsals as soon as class was over. He's a true friend to spend energy helping us create when he still has creating of his own to do.

Nikon D700, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens @ 98mm, f/3.5, 1/80s, ISO 320.

While I was making the above image of Sam, Erin Holmstead was also in the room shooting as one of my students. Another day we were making pictures of flowers in the Studio and I was so inspired by her image that I turned around and made my most favoritest rose picture.

Nikon D700, 85mm f/1.8 D lens, f/5.6, 1/100s, ISO 400.

Nikon D700, 55mm micro lens, f/5.6, 1/80s, ISO 800.

Well, about a year later, Erin started working for me as my intern at the new studion in the Thatcher-Young Mansion. She tried to help me get organized...but I was too much for even her skills, I'm afraid. She was a huge help getting things done, though, and we had a lot of fun times making pictures for people and trying out some wacky stuff occasionally. Eventually, she even let me make pictures for her new family!

Nikon D7000, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 50mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 200.

Well, right about the time Erin started working with me, another student asked me to help him one-on-one. J. needed some specific help just for himself at his own pace. So we headed up to USU to walk the walks and see what there was to see. Foolishly, I didn't shoot a single image of J. that day. However, while we were hassling people outside the campus library, cajoling them to be in our pictures, JM walked up and said hello! I hadn't seen her in quite sometime, and I was glad to talk with her a minute.

Naturally, I invited JM to be in a picture or two. She demurred, however, claiming that she wasn't really made up, and didn't think she was ready to be in a picture that day. I said she looked great, but I also respect someone who takes a picture seriously, so I said goodbye and got back to coaching J. on the use of a diffuser in bright sunlight.

You can imagine my surprise a few minutes later when JM tapped on my shoulder and said, "I decided I could be in a picture." She was so genuine and disarming, I couldn't help smiling as I invited her into our location studio on the planter by the sidewalk. I'm so glad that she stopped because it made for one of my all time favorite images.

Nikon D7000, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 92mm, F/5.3, !/3200s, ISO 800.

I love to see the maturity in JM's eyes here, compared with the image made one year prior at the top.

In speaking of all time favorite images, although I didn't make a picture of J. that day, I did have the privilege of photographing he and his wife a little later on. I hope I can become half the husband and friend that J. is.

Nikon D3, 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII lens @ 105mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 200.

Oh, and one more all time favorite includes my man Sam. He was back in town again this last summer for the Opera and was, once again, good enough to indulge me in some creative activities. Fortunately, his stay overlapped the Cache Valley Cruise In, so we headed to the fairgrounds in search of the perfect automobile to match up with Sam. As we walked he talked about wanting a '69 mustang. We happened to find one.

Nikon D800, 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII lens @ 145 mm, f/2.8, 1/400s, ISO 400, Nik Color Efex 4, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

After convincing the owner of the Mustang to let us use his car for awhile, and after a few more days' break, I got Sam back into the Studio for some more portraits. If you're like me, you can help smiling when you see Sam laugh. That's the kind of treasure this black box I work with keeps for me, and lets me share. In fact, I can share it and share it and never run out.

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 250mm, f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 100.

Which brings us to today. I was texting with Erin and Facebook messaging with Sam, when J. surprised me by showing up right before my class to help setup for our club meeting this evening; and who surprised him but JM, who came to model. So, nearly three years and five cameras later, JM is with my class again, sharing herself and helping us learn to create, helping us to consider the importance of pictures. 

What was it Norman Maclean wrote?

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it."

As I sail through life, I find it all goes 'round, and friends come again, and the shutter records it.

Nikon D800, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens @90mm, f/5.6, 1/160s, ISO 800.