A behind the scenes look at the making of the Smokin' Hot Espresso 2010 calendar. Enjoy, and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
The calendar is here! Got a copy yesterday, looks great. Calendar launch party is tomorrow evening below are the details. Come meet all of the baristas and myself. Location: Jimmy T's - Kent, WA Time - 8pm - til close We will be showing a behind the scenes...
We finished the Smokin' Hot Espresso calendar project yesterday with a bang. Came up with this concept after seeing similar ideas. I decided to used 6 girls in undies playing video games. Does it get any better, guys? Didn't think so...
It was a long, cold, yet very productive weekend for the Smokin' Hot Espresso calendar shoot. Got three more months out of the way, with only two more to go. This project is going about as smoothly as could be expected, mostly due to Josh...
A wireless flash trigger system, ya gotta have it. A must have with on-location lighting photography, but I'd argue almost a must have in the studio as well. No one needs to be tripping over those old dinosaur sync cables now-a-days. Of course we all want them, it's just a matter of if you can pony up the dough for a couple. Pocket Wizards, if you know anything about flash photography and the technologies used to talk to your lights, I'm sure you've heard that name. It's the Cadillac of wireless flash, an industry standard in pro photo, and they are not cheap. They fire from a 1000 feet away (don't ask me when you'd ever need such range), you can fine tune them using your computer for super specific needs, and they can carry your camera's flash settings wirelessly to hot shoe flash units from across the room. There are a ton of photog geeks out there writing post after post about these little gadgets, not to mention the manufacturer's site where you can read up on the fine details, so I'm just gotta give you the easy-peasy, simple, practical use for these things, while trying to leave out as much geek speak as I can.
Got an email from Helen McGovern, executive director of the EFN, checking my availability for their "Abundance" fundraiser. She had attended the Tacoma Community House fundraising event I worked a few weeks back, also saw the pictures I captured there, and asked if I could do the same for her organization. But of course! ;) That was a busy Saturday. I was (and still am) in the middle of shooting the Smokin' Hot Espresso calendar. That day I had two months scheduled to shoot, and I threw this event right on top of that. Piece of cake, right? Maybe if I wasn't still in the middle of a horse pasture wrapping my last calendar shoot for the day, an hour out of town, and needing to be present and clicking at the fundraiser 30 minutes from then! Let's just say I had a "vision problem" and I couldn't quite accurately make out the speed limit signs on the way back into town. Made the event just as things started to ramp up. phew!
Discovered this butterfly roaming the house Halloween night. Instead of squishing it (I was tempted) I decided to throw a couple lights up and photograph it. As it fluttered about, I lit it from the front with a bare bulb, along with a light (gelled blue) hitting the back wall. Shot of couple of these and then turned off the front light and just shot some silhouettes created by the blue light bouncing back.
So I couldn't resist, I just had to share the above picture with you all. Meet Tobi and Coal, the furry brothers that continually keep me entertained at home. The night we forced them to wear these ridiculous hats just happened to be a tad...
Yes, that's right, June in October. At least when you have an entire calendar year to shoot in three weeks and you are in the end of October, you don't have much of a choice. Large, challenging, and fun hurdles are riddled throughout this project,...
I've been working with the people from Smokin' Hot Espresso, a bikini barista business, for a little over a week now. They have hired me to shoot a calendar for the 2010 calendar year. We have roughly two weeks to fit all the shoots in and design the calendar. It'll be an interesting time as we try to get this all accomplished in such a short window of time, especially taking in consideration a lot of the shoots will have to be worked around the weather.
We already have three shoots (months) out of the way, as we are pushing to get all the outdoor shoots completed first, cause as we all know, the weather will just be getting worse and worse. Be sure to keep checking back for more posts about the shoots, the pictures, and the hurdles we had to overcome throughout the shoot. A behind the scenes video is also in the making and will be available for viewing on the site as well.
So, what do you do when you aren't liking your shot? You change your angle, lighting, exposure, or... you can jump in the pool. When planning this shoot, I had thought that I'd might need to get in the water, but for concern of dipping my camera in the water, and/or loosing my footing while working and my camera going under with me, I didn't want to risk it. That and once I was in the water I would have to stay there and finish out the shoot so that I wouldn't be trailing water all over the place and most likely all over my equipment. So I didn't have any intention of getting wet, didn't bring a suit, towel, or a change of clothes. Hey... I wasn't getting in... right?
You may recognize Tiffani from another shoot not too long ago. She accompanied Spencer for his senior pictures, and was in a couple of the shots. She loved Spencer's turned out and asked me to capture her as well. She made the drive up from Olympia, and we shot her around the Museum of History in Tacoma. I really love this place. There tons of cool walls, all kinds of different shaped and style staircases, ramps, handrails, all coming together to make a large number of shooting locations in a very small area.
For all you travelers, especially those Bellinghamers, if you'll be flying Allegiant Airlines in the next couple months... take a peak at that in-flight magazine located in that pouch in front of you. You know, that spot where your knees are already pushing into due to lack of leg room, yeah, that pouch. Inside that you can find an article about the Fairhaven Village Inn, a great hotel located in Bellingham, and of who I shot photos for a couple months back. Shortly after the shooting the hotel I received a call from the editor of Sunseeker Magazine, the in-flight magazine. The hotel put them in contact with me to provide some of the hotel photos for the mag. I picked a couple, sent them their way, and about a month later I received a couple fresh copies of the magazine, the edition with the article in it.
Yes, if you've been to the site before, you are in the right place, and no, you didn't accidentally eat some bad mushrooms. I spent yesterday evening porting my site over to new theme, one that I feel is much more visual. Being a photography...
Squeaked in a sunny morning shoot with Myrriah and Rhiannon the other day, ya know... before the weather here in the PNW will make something like this impossible for a good six months. It was a Saturday morning, the sun was out, and the light was behaving fairly well in my friend's backyard. We had mom and daughter come over and pose with the apple trees.
"Antique Quest & Wine Fest" was the event put on by the Tacoma Community House last Saturday at the Museum of Glass. Hana, a great gal who works for the organization, asked if I would come capture the event. Free booze and really old stuff?! Count me in!
The senior pic season is starting to wind down, at least that's what I've been hearing from some of the students. Some schools are requiring seniors to have their photo turned in by the beginning of October. It's been a while, but I wanna say...
What a fun shoot. Despite the fact that we had to get up at 5:30am to do this one, everything else was awesome. The Lakeway Best Western in Bellingham, WA, was very nice in letting us do this in their indoor pool. The only catch is we had to be out by 9am. As in hair/makeup prep, light setup, troubleshooting, shooting, and teardown by 9.... aka early morning.
Purchase a Matty Photography gift card for a friend or family member and give the gift that not only lasts a lifetime, but generations. Gift cards can be bought in any dollar amount, and then applied to your special person's photo shoot. They are the perfect...
