Personal

27 Dec

Posted at 18:42h in Gear
Canon-EF-24-70mm-f-2.8-L-USM-Lens-2 I'm trying to make an effort to write more posts about some of my equipment, 'cause I know that other photographers out there in the market for new stuff would like to hear feedback about this stuff from real people they know, and not some crummy product review on adorama.com. I'm also going to try and make a spot on the site that details the current equipment I use in the field. Before I go off about how much I like this piece of glass... it's important to note that for all of you photographers in the beginning or even middle stages of your learning don't get too consumed with buying super expensive gear and thinking it'll make your photos magically turn to gold. A sharp lens and a poorly executed photo composition is still a poor photo, no matter how heavy and expensive your setup may be. Invest in some knowledge and gain solid skills in the field before you blow your savings on equipment that won't help your game too drastically in the beginning. I've taken many awesome photos in my years, and some of my top favorites of all time were taken with a $900 body/lens Canon Rebel setup.

16 Dec

Posted at 09:49h in Just for Fun
christmasKitties My little helpers, Coal and Tobi, are the rascals pictured above. Lisa bought these ridiculous outfits for the cats which made for some good photo ops. I don't know what is funnier, the way they look in them, or the reaction they have, trying to squirm out of them the instant they find themselves looking like Rudolph. Coal really cracks me up, he truly looks like the Grinch here, always has that contemplative look like he's stormin' up something evil in his noggin'.

13 Dec

Posted at 17:28h in Info/News

I've been working over the past few weeks getting the workshop curriculums squared away. The advanced workshop, among the set of workshops, will teach you lighting techniques like the one used to create the picture above. Upon completion the "workshops" page will almost be it's own...

04 Dec

Posted at 21:03h in Info/News

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...

17 Nov

Posted at 21:38h in Info/News, Shoots

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...

09 Nov

Posted at 09:44h in Info/News, Shoots

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...

06 Nov

Posted at 08:43h in Gear
TT5-CA_lbox 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.

02 Nov

Posted at 11:40h in Just for Fun
IMG_7688 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.

29 Oct

Posted at 09:40h in Just for Fun

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...

28 Oct

Posted at 09:35h in Info/News, Shoots

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,...

26 Oct

Posted at 15:39h in Info/News

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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.

21 Oct

Posted at 10:39h in Behind the Scenes, Just for Fun
IMG_0636 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?

16 Oct

Posted at 12:13h in Shoots
IMG_6090 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.

14 Oct

Posted at 21:44h in Info/News
IMG_6273 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.

13 Oct

Posted at 09:17h in Info/News

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...

09 Oct

Posted at 12:08h in Shoots

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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.

05 Oct

Posted at 11:02h in Shoots

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...

29 Sep

Posted at 16:09h in Shoots

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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.