I didn’t have many ideas for this project until the last weekend before it was due, which seems to be a trend I’d like to break. I decided to shoot images at a Farmer’s Market, and take the angle of warm weather/no winter having a negative effect on the crops. The Weather didn’t like that angle, and decided to move in some clouds and dump a little rain, which was fine by me. It played into my favor actually, allowing for some great shots of a near empty market with wet asphalt aisles and ominous clouds overhead.

Upon reviewing the images I was disappointed to find most were blurry due to slow shutter speeds while attempting to use a smaller aperture for a wider depth of field. Still trying to work out proper operation of the 11-16 f2.8 Tokina for maximum image quality. I was unsure what I’d do for the assignment, but really lucked out while looking for a car show on Sunday. I’d found a carshow, at a Farmer’s Market!

Sunday’s trip was to the OC Great Park, which was a new location for me. It was closer then I thought and turned out to be a great trip. I was really pleased to discover this location, and am looking forward to returning this weekend, but also got just the right images I needed to complete the assignment. I was able to turn in the three required images, featuring an empty parking lot with ominous clouds, a near empty gathering area in the center of the market, and an empty booth with a full inventory of produce.

I wasn’t thrilled about the images, they were too much like snapshots and didn’t really catch my eye as great photos. They did however tell the story they were supposed to, and went over very well in the live critique. I was surprised but happy to accept the pat on the back with a mention of being one of the best submissions for the assignment! It goes to show that sometimes you just need to follow directions.

The delay really put this shoot on the back burner as other things became more important. The final weekend before the assignment was due came around and I wasn’t able to schedule anything. Things were looking grim as time was running out, until a wonderful coincidence occurred. At my day job, we were to take a forklift safety course to renew our certifications. I asked the instructor if I could make a few photographs of him and was able to get a couple of great shots. I setup my new 2′x2′ popup soft box on a small light stand with my SB-600 inside of it, triggered by my new Pocket Wizards.

I placed the subject in front of a forklift and light him from about 2 o clock. Rushing through the process I mixed up a few settings and ended up with what appeared to be extremely dark images, however I was able to recover just enough in post, and figured out what I was doing wrong right as the instructor was leaving. I was happy with the final product but there were tweaks to be made if I were to do this again. More detail in the background would be great, putting the subject in the environment that he works in.

Still Lifes are Difficult

Wasn’t particularly thrilled with this submission, but it was an interesting process getting to it. I’d not had any time in the past examining or enjoying or studying still life images, so that’s a large part of what made this a difficult project.

While brainstorming for this I came up with quite a few ideas for a series of still life images that emote “relaxing”. I’ll be excited to get some more practice with this style and share some of those images over the course of the year.

From Calumet's Beginning Portrait Lighting Class

It’s been awhile since I shot anything in a studio. About a decade actually, in my high school photo class. Back when I could shoot black and white and get to develop and print my own images. Good times I tell you, though I somehow didn’t retain much of what I’d learned. I’d decided I wanted to attend a few workshops and photo walks this year, and was treated to a great opportunity right away.

I’m fortunate enough to live within immediate driving distance of quite a few great photo stores. Calumet happens to have a location about 10 minutes away, and while the store doesn’t have a huge inventory available for hands on toying with, they do have a great rental inventory and a nice class schedule. I was able to pique the interest of my wife with a intro to Portrait Lighting course and signed us both up with a little Christmas money, so thanks Mom and Aunt Phil for the class!

The class was actually two parts, so we started out with some lecture learning in the morning, then broke for lunch before coming together again for some hands on time in the studio in the afternoon. Calumet has graciously altered protocol to hire a model rather then shooting students, which was a welcome surprise. 6 of us stayed for this portion of the class, so we passed around a few Pocket Wizards (my first experience with them, and how pleasant it was!) and went through the motions with a nice 700Ws Travelite mono block light. We tested different variations of a beauty dish with diffuser and grid, along with the standard Split, Rembrandt, Butterfly, Short, Broad and Loop lighting concepts. The class stayed simple with just the one light, but it was a solid foundation, and I think we may be heading back for the location lighting class next month.

Working with the model wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it might be, and I especially enjoyed having my wife there. We made a good team I thought, and are looking forward to joining some shoots with a few meetup.com groups together in the near future. I raced home to poke around a pair of old Norman light heads that my father in law has held onto since his days as a pro. I’m presently shopping for light stands and a soft box for them. I was instantly crushed when it occurred to me the quantity of backdrop material I’d thrown away while working at a print shop. One material in particular was a perfect match for the backdrop muslins sold at the store. Maybe I can get one of the old salesman to grab a 10′x10′ leader the next time he’s at the factory for me, you know, for old times sake. And a 6 pack.

A portrait from Calumet Beginning Portrait Lighting Class

We’ll start the weekend off with a snow tubing trip to Mt Baldy, weather permitting. Then if there’s time or if the tubing trip is called off, an XC and Super D mountain bike race at Southridge in Fontana. With my wife leaving for a little 3 week trip to visit family in Oklahoma next week, this is also our last chance to catch the Vivian Maier’s exhibit in LA together. I happened across it after seeing mention of it on the Light Chaser’s meetup.com page, but it’s been open for the past two weeks, and closes next Saturday, the 28th.

Sunday wil consist of either a makeup trip to Baldy for tubing, or the Downhill race at Southridge, and then at 6pm, a trip to the Home Depot Center Velodrome for the America vs. Canada race, round 2. Very exciting stuff. I asked Harry if he’d like to attend but he’s booked, and work is good, so I’ll be capturing this by myself with a loaner 70-200 2.8. Even more exciting stuff. I’ve never been to a track race before so I’m actually really excited to attend.

I’ve got a garden gnome in the courtyard that I like. I’ve shot it once before while testing one of my father in law’s old lenses. I think the piece is older then I am actually.

This gnome has been standing guard for about 3 years now. He’s pretty weathered, and I’m pretty sure it’s a he. He’s hanging out on a bed of red mulch, and surrounded by nice leafy green things. I think I’ll try improving on that last take, maybe with some artificial light this time. Try to create some hard, dramatic edges. Last time it was very dreamy.

Project52 Week 2 B&W test

Project52 Week 2 test image

These were both shot for week 2′s assignment, shoot a portrait of a stranger. I joined some friends at Fashion Island in Newport Beach, CA as they shopped for some denim. I thought it might be a solid place for this assignment.

I couldn’t quite bring myself to approach anyone, and didn’t really see anyone that fit what I had in my mind for the assignment either. As we decided it was time to head back to the cars, we rounded a fountain and found a pair of girls chatting away.

I asked if I could photograph them and after struggling to explain why, got to squeeze the shutter release a few times. This blonde caught my eye the most, her friend was leaning back and didn’t really fit into the image quite as well. It turned out that they were both pretty young and were disturbed that the boy of their affection had not returned a text message yet. In this image, she had just caught a glimpse of her mom walking back to meet with them, and had a bit of an embarrassed grin on her face. Realizing her age all at once and still being nervous about the experience anyways, I felt like a bit of a creeper and didn’t want to stick around to talk to mom.

I like this image quite a bit but feel like I hit a good one pretty quickly. I’d only attempted one other shot prior to this, so I’m stretching the due date out a bit and will attempt again this weekend. The other shot came from a quick trip to CES last week. I brought my Nikon with me specifically for this assignment. I happened across a photographer outside on a smoke break (his, I’ve quit). He fit perfectly what I’d hoped to find, texture. His hair was wild and salt and pepper colored. Atop his mussed do sat Ray Bans, and on his nose a pair of reading glasses. A few days of stubble graced his face, and he smoked a cigarette while reading emails (I imagine) on his iPhone. I asked if I could photograph him, again stumbling through an explanation why (I feel as if saying I’m a student would be cheating, as P52 is supposed to prepare you for professional assignments, hence the assignments and due dates). I managed to pop off one shot before thanking him and quickly returning to my fellow traveler.

I’d hoped to capture an image of a man with texture such as his with an off camera flash, enhancing the rough texture. I hadn’t exactly practiced this technique yet, but read all about it on the drive to Vegas. I’d played a bit in the car but once I hit the show floor I changed the settings to an aperture mode to quickly pickup snapshots of the wares. I didn’t remember to change things back before this shot, so it was terribly overexposed. I shoot in RAW primarily for situations such as this, to cover for my negligent skills. It’s saved me before. Some work in Aperture, a little fooling around in Snapseed, and I’ve got this. Better luck next time I say.