Posts Tagged ‘Nikon D700’

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Oh man what a busy past month it has been! On August 21st, I ran my first solo wedding shoot for Debbie & Rich. They were a great couple to work with, and had a really beautiful wedding at Avon Gardens. Although beautiful, the weather was very fickle, but we made out with the best we could! Fortunately, there were no hiccups for the ceremony and reception!

Check out the set here!

Two days later, I had the pleasure of doing Adrianna’s senior pictures (which I’m sure most of you have seen by now). We started off in middle of nowhere, somewhere near Roachdale, IN. She wasn’t interested in any traditional posed shots, but her father really wanted her with his Harley and Pontiac Firehawk. I’m glad we were asked to do them, ’cause they sure worked out well. Her dad made the suggestion to do a burnout with her on the roof! That sure wasn’t my idea. Fortunately nobody died. Then we moved on to her cousin’s house where they had soybean and corn fields. This is where we got all the really dramatic field/sky pictures. Then it was onward to downtown Indianapolis. The rest is history. Nothing makes me happier than when someone comes to me and says “I want pictures that are unique. I want something different, and modern, and I want you to experiment.” It’s pretty much the opposite of a Bridezilla or other type of control freak, and really sets me up for my best work.

I had a few weeks without any bookings, which allowed me to really focus heavily on getting those two gigs taken care of. In that time I took a series of self-portraits which were pretty cool if I do say so myself!

Now, this past weekend was another busy busy busy one! Friday evening, I went out to the annual St. Malachy Country Fair and shot for Phillip Steven & The Open Road. They are a country/rock style band and are really some serious players. I took advantage of the carnival rides and did some atmospheric shots, too. Then on Saturday, at the same location it was Big Daddy Caddy. There was a HUGE turnout, and some kids even got to get up and play, so lots of great shot opportunities. I knew I shouldn’t have handed my friend my camera when I went up to play Tambourine… You may get to see those pictures later.

THEN, Sunday I drove up to Aurora, Illinois (3 hours) and did senior pictures for my cousin Alex. She’s a spunky little hipster senior, and just like Adrianna the month before, wanted more urban, model-esque pictures with a nice dose of experimentation. I got some fantastic shots out of the day from the Aurora/Naperville area. The weather was horribly overcast the whole day, and just when magic hour approached, it became one of the most beautiful magic hours I’ve had the chance to shoot. It presented me with my personal favorites from the shoot, which are the ones in the field where I mostly shot into the sun, producing a very classic, mysterious haze with tasty lens flare. Don’t tell anyone but being so close to Chicago, it was hard to find large open fields and we had to go on private property for some ultra-rich folk.

On Tuesday, I went to see the brilliant Porcupine Tree in concert. I’ve been in touch with the band’s manager over the past several months, and I should have a photo pass to their next concert in Chicago early next year. That’ll be crazy exciting. If you haven’t heard of them, definitely check them out. They’ve got something for everyone. Imagine Pink Floyd had they grown up listening to Pink Floyd, Yes, Stone Temple Pilots, and Metallica.

Coming up in October thus far are another senior picture shoot and an engagement session.  Can’t wait!

Well my old Friend Jeffrey James Holstein has taken his music and put the rubber to the road. He has based himself in Nashville, Tennessee and decided to make a stop back in his hometown to promote his new EP. If you like Josh Kelley, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, Barenaked Ladies, Tyler Hilton, Johnny Lang, Marc Brousard, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, or John Mayer… There’s quite a chance you’ll dig him. I offered to shoot his show on Friday night, and it was a lot of fun! A couple of the band members are old friends from high school, too, so it was a mini reunion! Anyway, since this would be on a bonafide stage, I anticipated great lighting, but ended up being disappointed. Yes, there was ample light, but since the school was in the process of remodeling the stage, the colored lights weren’t even hooked up. Uh oh, two problems. Firstly, I have lost the “color crutch.” Since good photography is all about good light, colors significantly help make more interesting pictures. Since I have just “white” to work with, that means composition was going to have to pick up the slack. The other problem, is that white light is incredibly reflective, so blown highlights were a major concern. Well, based on how my camera (and shooting RAW) operates best, I always err on the side of over-exposure… but I probably should have under compensated. I really had to hone my exposure/recovery/fill skills to get these pictures under control. Check out the set here!

On Wednesday, my buddy T.J. called me at work and asked if I wanted to join him and Dave at the Slippery Noodle after work for open stage blues jam. Normally I’m a recluse when asked to go do stuff like that after being at work all day, but I figured “Hey, I’ve never been there, and I might as well bring my camera.” Well it turned out to be a good idea. The lighting at the Slippery Noodle was fun! I really liked the blue/green Christmas lights, because they give a great bokeh effect. Several of the big names around town were there, like Governor Davis, Gordon Bonham… and then there was Dave On Keys and T.J. to boot. I did a few shots with my SB-900 and the Nikon Creative Lighting System. It’s very cool, and makes me want more flashes!

As a little bonus for myself, I decided to run downtown after the Noodle, and take some pictures after midnight. I used my Gorillapod and my 14-24mm f/2.8 almost exclusively (although used my 85mm f/1.8 for two shots).

Saturday was an eventful evening, with my first “hired” band shoot for local hardcore metal band Alex Renie (whom I’ve recommended to that they need a catchier, easier-to-remember name… but hey, I’m the only person who thinks so).  They played in the basement of a little head shop right across the street from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  I have to say for a little metal show, the atmosphere of a dirty basement with graffiti on the walls was excellent. Not knowing what I was going to have for lighting, I brought three studio cans, two with red gels, and one with orange.  I end up finding the sole light source for the entire basement to be a window for daylight, and a single incandencent bulb overhead.  I was actually a bit worried at first.  With this being an earlier (6:00pm) show, the daylight was strong through the window.  I didn’t like the idea of A. the bright atmosphere and B. the mixed white balance of daylight/incandecent.  But as you can see from the pictures, the cans added a bit of extra color which helped quite a bit for backgrounds, and I was definitely able to tame the mixed lighting.  Having the red/orange cans being a bit warmer really helped the effect I was going for anyway.

I had already planned on going to the Cairo Cafe that evening because it was going to be packed for several parties and celebrations… and since it was only 3 miles away from the band shoot, I decided to go in early.  There was no point in going home.  So I rolled in and relaxed with a hookah.  Tonight I had a different goal in mind with my pictures.  In the past, I’d always been showing off the low-light capabilities of my D700 by shooting between ISO 2500 and ISO 6400… and while neat, I never could achieve the high contrast smooth look that I sometimes desired.  So I decided that I would experiment with flash.  Now, I’ve strayed away from flash.  I’ve always hated it.  I understood the concept behind fill and bounce, but for some reason my pictures always looked like A. I used flash or B. I tried to use flash.  I’ve been looking at some phenominal work with flash lately and decided I need to learn to embrace it as another tool… especially with my upcoming foray into weddings.  Wow I just said “foray“.  Well after some trial-and-error with flash power and WHERE the actual bounce was, I believe I got the results I was looking for.  I’m incredibly pleased, and hate to say, I will probably always shoot flash there from now on.

I just recently purchased some advertising in a local wedding guide startup called the Indianapolis Wedding Blog.  If you know anyone planning on getting married in the Indianapolis area, DEFINITELY have them check it out. It’s very slick and well put together, and will be a one-stop-shop for everything they’ll need. It’s run by a guy who also goes to Life Church where I run sound on Sundays.  I will be exclusively presented along with no more than 9 other photographers in their upcoming print edition of 5,000 circulated copies that will be their summer issue.  There’s no turning back now!  Speaking of “no turning back”, I have officially booked my first wedding for the first week of October.  The lucky couple are Bayleigh & Jeff.  A big congratulations to them (for the marriage, of course)!  That wedding will be at the beautiful Avon Gardens, and it’ll be an evening wedding!  Should be able to get some more interesting photos than your traditional early-afternoon-in-a-church!  Of course we can’t forget that Kala & Kevin are tying the knot as well next summer, and I’ll be taking care of their engagement photos next weekend.