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.

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.

Aim High

This is B., and she's a pilot, and a cheerful, yet determined person. She's also in the running for Miss Cache Valley, which draws the most talented women I know.

Nikon D800, 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII lens @ 160mm, f/8, 1/160s, ISO 100.

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.

One Light, One Lens, Two High Schools

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens, f/5.6, 1/160s, ISO 800, red filter in monochrome mode in the camera

Ah, high school. Remember how great it was? How free you were? How your only worries were about friends and home work that wasn't really that hard? How you went to an after school job to earn spending money instead of mortgage money? How you got to go to art classes and have a good time? Those were the good ol' days, eh?

Well, I went back yesterday. Twice. I spent the morning with Photography students at Fast Forward Charter High School were we set up a simple studio and made some simple portraits (still hoping to see their pictures of me on Facebook!). We did the same thing at Logan High in the afternoon. I talked about light and working with people and not sitting back in your chair so your legs don't look fat. Then--finally--I shut up and made pictures.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens, f/4, 1/25s, ISO 400, red filter in monochrome mode in the camera

And I have to admit, this post is not normal for me: I haven't finished any of the images, they are straight form the camera. I normally adjust the exposure and do some touchups and add a vignette and maybe use the Nik software tools to really make them pop. But I wanted the students to see here that the photo as I shot it wasn't bad, and that I'm not using photoshop to completely change the picture. Most of the students have shot film and may be inclined to think that photoshop is a little bit of cheating: but I heartily disagree. I use photoshop (Actually, I use Lightroom4) to finish the image off, just as I would in the darkroom, brightening here and darkening there, and increasing contrast, and cropping. It's not rocket science, but it does finish my image to look the way I envisioned when I pressed the shutter button. That's the way photography has been for nearly 200 years!

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens, f/4, 1/100s, ISO 400, red filter in monochrome mode in the camera

Besides that, digital camera all have significant photoshopping skills built right in. This black and white setting I use isn't one of them, however.

When we shoot black and white film, a red filter (red glass) placed in front of the lens makes pictures more contrasty and has an especially nice effect on skin tones. See, it evens the tones and makes blotchy skin more clear, and makes pimples virtually disappear. Now my digital camera does the same effect without the glass--it interprets the light coming into the camera as if there was a filter on the lens. This is great! Just go the monochrome settings in the Menu on your camera (not the shortcut to button on the outside of the camera) and go in and choose to use a red filter (ROYG are usually the options--red, orange, yellow, green). I love it, and I think you'll enjoy better black and whites from it, too.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens, f/4, 1/100s, ISO 400, red filter in monochrome mode in the camera

Also, the students at LHS will remember that the above picture of J. (long haired male) was made when he was sitting farther from the light--that's why the background is more visible. When the students sat closer to the light the difference between the amount of light on the face and on the background was too much for the camera to distinguish and so the background is completely black. The the model farther away from the light, the difference in the light on the face and the background is similar and so the background is visible. Note also that image was shot at 1/25 of a sec--much slower, and much too slow for me to handhold, so I'm using the tripod. 

Also, these pictures are simply made. There's just one light to the side (at Fastforward we put four lights right next to each other to make a single source, and at LHS we shone two lights through a white sheet to make a single source), one lens, and the subject is turned so there is light on both sides of the face. We're lighting the short view of the face, remember?

In the end, I think everyone had a good time.

Classes

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens, f/3.2, 1/400s, ISO 800.

K. is a joy to work with. She came to a Lightroom class a few times with her mom and then left for her dance class part way through. She was always smiling and had a light in her eyes. Not like other people's light, though, not like when a mom says she has a light in her eyes. Nope, K. has some like a two million candle power halogen shining out of her skull--it's like a blinding kind of light that is infectious, and she seems to make others more cheerful just being nearby.

Well, now she's come to model for our photography class a couple of times and it's really fun having her. Sure, she's got that great smile, but she can also put it away and appear somber beyond her years.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens, f/3, 1/125s, ISO 800, Nik Color Efex 4, CS6.

The first image above was made in the Mansion using a 40x40 softbox on a set of fluorescent light bulbs; there's also a large white fill card on the right sode of the picture. I just kept sidling closer until she was laughing at me. That happens a lot--people laughing at me. I had my camera set to Monochrome with a red filter applied in camera to give me those luminous skin tones, and I added some contrast, and my favorite gentle tint with a little vignette to finish the image off. I keep smiling just looking at it.

The second is even more fun. The whole class is crammed into a stairwell at the Library at Utah State University (that's what I call my tax dollars at work!). There's a single florescent tube position vertically in the corner, and she is sitting on a window sill facing into that light. That's it, no fancy tools, and no fancy lights. Anyone with a camera can make this picture. I used a contrast filter, glamor glow, and darken/lighten center in Nik's wonderful COlor efex 4 to finish off the finishing I started in Lightroom 4. Plus a bit of an oil paint filter on the scarf from CS6. I rather like it. Can't wait to have both K. and C. back next week.

Back Again

M. came to model for my class again last night, and, as expected, we had a great time making pictures with her.

This was my portraiture class that's happening this term. We are only making people pictures, and we're having a great time of it.

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

During classes we shoot with continuous lights that allow us all to shoot at the same time without worrying about recycle times on flashes or triggers. This has a big 40x40 softbox on the left, and another high and behind on the right, and an 8x8 v-flat made of home insulation panels on the right bringing a little light to the dark side of M.'s face. We've got a bit of a loop lighting pattern on her face, and a great expression. Can't wait to have M. back again.

More Jewels

Here are a couple more I dug up from last year. Lessee...Ah, yes. My pal Zech was in town for a seminar we both attended on creating cinematic stories. Zech works in Boise, and we've collaborated several times. I met him at a different seminar before I even owned my first camera--it was with David Ziser and it was a life changing workshop.

Anyway, one of the jobs Zech and I worked on was a wedding with a family full of cops, and we really had a fun time making some character rich images. So, we decided to do a few things we didn't get to try when we were in the rush of the wedding...

Photo by Zechariah Wendt.

Of course, We couldn't take it too seriously for long. 

Zech and I also spent some time walking and shooting on the the USU campus. It was a good day.

Photo by Zechariah Wendt.

Photo of Zechariah Wendt.

Photo by Zechariah Wendt.

Digging Out and Posting Up

I bought a new computer last week. Between that and the end of the year, I'm cleaning things up--you know, out with the old, in with the new. Not that I'm getting rid of your images (that'll never happen!), but I'm getting rid of a lot of my images that I'm finished using and likely won't be looking at again. For instance, when I teach I end up making a lot of images that are just junk. What can I say? I like the continuous shooting mode on my camera.

For all the junk pictures I make when I teach, I love teaching. Often, my favorite images are made when I teach. Maybe it's having high expectations from my students and no expectations from my models. Whatever the reason, I always end up with a few keepers each time I teach. Like these from earlier this Fall we made while I was teaching the Vernal, Utah, SMUG. They're a terrific bunch, and I always enjoy getting together with them. If you've got a photo club, let me know where and we'll schedule a workshop!

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens, f/3, 1/1600s, ISO 200.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens, f/3, 1/1600s, ISO 200.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens, f/3, 1/2500s, ISO 200.

Been A While

Gosh, how time flies. Seems like just last Spring L. and I were making her Senior Portraits. You can view those here. But, alas, she just turned 21. I guess I've been doing this longer than I thought! Well, she stopped by for a birthday portrait the other day, and I'm sure glad she did.

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

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens, f/14, 1/200s, ISO 100.

Calculated Magic

The talented M. came for my class the other day to be our model so my students could practice their skills. Well, after class we retired to the studio for our weekly Open Lab (when club members can come and use the studio or make prints or get tips on anything photography) and at the studio M. unleashed her skills. She's a dancer and a teacher and we really enjoyed working together to make some pictures in motion. I always love working with dancers, and I hope we'll have M. back soon.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 VR lens, f/4, 1/250s, ISO 640, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Setup for this image is very simple, but required some math. In the studio I usually strobes--flashes--that give a very bright, very short burst of light. Working with more than one photographer doesn't work with strobes, though, because the flash is synchronized with the camera that triggers it and the others can't capture it at the same time. So this is captured using fluorescent lights that are very bright and stay on all the time. There are eight bulbs shining into two big white styrofoam reflectors. The light then reflects back onto M. very evenly. Still, those bulbs are nothing compared to the strobes, so in order to fairly freeze the action I turned up my ISO, brightening the picture and yielding a faster shutter speed--fast enough to freeze M.'s body, but still let her hair blur a little. If I wanted to freeze the motion more I might use 1/500 of a second for a shutter speed; twice as fast. But in order to keep the same brightness in the picture I would need to either open the aperture twice as large (one stop to f/2.8) or increase the ISO one stop, doubling it to 1250. In camera speak, 'one stop' is simply a doubling or halving of the light.

There's always an element of Mathematics in every picture, and when the moment and the equation meet...magic happens.

Headless Chickens

Ever feel like one of those? It's been the busiest summer of my life. I returned the other day from a wonderful conference in Chicago where i got to teach alongside one of the greatest photographers in the world, I just photographed the birth of a brand new baby girl (all natural for mom--wow!), and I finally moved past my stigma of winning third place in the Logan Summerfest Plein Aire Photography Competition.

I initiated the competition three years ago, and for the last two years I've earned third place. Heck, I picked the judges and couldn't win! Well, this year, I didn't pick the judges, and not only did I not get third, but I did get First and Second places. I was floored and honored. 

And someone just reminded me that didn't even post those images here! So, first and second respectively. 

I love Seniors!

Take these two sisters, for instance. Somehow, being a senior in high school is a license to look great in pictures. See, most of us usually feel like we are going to look silly in a picture--that's really the great fear, that we won't look good. 

But whenever I get together with people we always lighten up and make pictures that not only look good, but we also have a good time making them! With S. and K. my cheeks were sore from smiling and laughing so much.