So, I've been planning my vacation for several weeks. My daughter goes back to school on the 16th, and my wife has been home with a 7 year old and a 2 year old for 6 weeks, and I was looking forward to giving her a break. My son is also going into the hospital on Thursday to have tubes put in his ears. We didn't have major plans, just a basic "Staycation", but it was going to be fun. But life being what it is, things aren't quite going to work out the way I had planned.
A big huge thank you to all the photographers that came to Faded & Blurred's leg of the Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk. All told, we had about 75 participants, just a fantastic turnout! We walked downtown LA, through little Tokyo, to the Walt Disney Center, and then finished it off at Philippes for food and a beer. (or 2)...
So this is it. It's where it all started for us. The seeds were planted for what would become Faded & Blurred. Not far from where we will be on Saturday, photo walking through Chinatown at last years Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk. Jeffery, Nikki, and I, talking about how much fun we were having. How we didn't want to wait another year. How we thought we could possibly get groups together and do this maybe once a month or so.
If your photographic endeavors lead you to taking pictures of pretty girls, if you have a Model Mayhem portfolio, if you are captivated by the genre of Glamour Photography, or just want to be able to take better pictures of models, you may want to check out the new ebook Guerilla Glamour by my buddy Jimmy D.
(Warning, links in this post may lead to NSFW images!) Jimmy has been a working photographer for years, and maintains a great blog with lot's of info for photographers, stories, experiences, and all served up with great wit, over at Pretty Girl Shooter. He has created an ebook that covers everything from the must have gear list and descriptions of what each piece is used for, to the talking with, directing, and posing of models, to the behind the scenes set up shots, all served up in typical Jimmy D fashion, and the pictures aren't hard to look at either... ;-). He's selling them for $9.99, and it is 100 pages. It will look great on your shiny new iPad.
And if your wife catches you reading it, you can always say, "I just bought it for the articles!"
Just a quickie post to see what everyone is up to for the weekend? I'm hoping to see some of you at the Planes of Fame Paul Bowen seminar on Saturday. Here is a map to the location: View Larger Map
Just finished reading David Ziser's Captured by the Light. An excellent resource full of information for shooting and lighting a wedding, even if the images feel a little dated. Next up for me is Martin Evening's book on Lightroom 3.
Just heard that David duChemin's new book, Vision and Voice, has been released and is starting to ship from Amazon. I am really looking forward to this one, should be a great read.
Just thought I'd throw in an image taken from our Faded & Blurred Hollywood photo walk. Something you'd only see there. Speaking of photo walks, our next walk is on the 24th, for Scott Kelby's 3rd annual World Wide Photo Walk. Are you joining us? Are you participating in another walk? If so, where are you going? It looks like there is already over 1000 walks, and almost 26,000 photographers participating!
Just a few images from my Monday night Engagement shooting class. We worked with 2 couples under various conditions in downtown Covina. While some were using the lighting set-up, others were shooting available light (as was I). In the alleway, I had them positioned under a tungsten light source, so I set the white balance in camera to tungsten which gave me proper skin tones on the couple, but allowed the alleyway to go a cool blue. They were shot at ISO 3200 with the Canon 5D MKII and the Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS.
Hope everyone has a great rest of the week, it's going to be hot. And don't forget to bring images to class!
On Thursday night in my Lighting on Location class, Herman was kind enough to agree to be subjected to our lenses. He rode in on his electric blue Ninja, and away we went. We lit Herman up with a speed light mounted in the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox and balanced some ambient while we still had it.
As it was 7:30, the light was dropping fast, so we wound up with shot's like these after the sun set:
And then we moved Herman and his bike into the elevator. Yep, an elevator...
This last 1 is my favorite of the night. I love the aggressive feel of it, and the hint of blue, with the brake lights glowing red in the background.
For my engagement class, I need a couple for Monday night. If you know of anyone, let me know.
On Wednesday for the wedding class, I will be lecturing on how to set up your equipment and make it work for you.
If you are looking for something to do next Saturday, 7/17/10, why don't you come to the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino to see legendary "Canon Explorer of Light" aerial photographer Paul Bowen. He will be giving a seminar, sharing techniques, showing his work, and doing a Q&A on aerial photography. Admission is $11, and all the details on the seminar are here. The address for the museum is:
Planes of Fame Air Museum
7000 Merrill Avenue, #17
Chino, CA 91710
If planes aren't your thing, but you like Glamour Photography, Jimmy D, a longtime "Pretty Girl" shooter, just released his new ebook "Guerilla Glamour" with tips and tricks for everything from building a great lighting kit, to working with models, to helping pose those models. Check it out, buy it, and download it, but be careful, those links may not be "Work Safe" :-)
And now a reminder. If you are shooting events, please make sure you are insured. 'Nuff said
The weekend started off at a company picnic, with some BBQ, face painting, and balloon animals for the kids. Then off to The Hip Kitty for drinks and fondue for a friends birthday. That was a very cool joint.
On Saturday we had my daughters horseback riding lesson and a family BBQ in Temecula. And on Sunday, we had another BBQ in Chatsworth with firends and their adorable kids. Boy did the kids have fun. And Peche Lambic goes down great with chicken kabobs :-)
Then off to the fireworks show in West Covina. They put on a very decent show. After we got home and were getting ready for bed, my wife saw trees burning from our kitchen. The neighbors behind us lit their Palm Trees on fire with fireworks. The sirens, the fireworks explosions, the hosing down of our yard and roof while we were watching hot embers come our way... lot's of excitement. Our dogs didn't finally calm down til after 1 am.
Monday was supposed to be a relaxing day at home. Had some chores, and my daughters swimming lesson, and then playing with the kids. My daughter and I took the dogs for a walk. While walking our dogs (I was walking our terrier, and Stella was walking our Great Dane) a very irresponsible pet owner left his gate open while working on his car.
His large Rottweiler charged us. My Dane spun around tackled and herded the Rotty away from us and fended the dog off until the owner came out with a pipe to chase his dog back in the yard. My daughter has major road rash from where she was dragged by our Dane (all to keep the dog away from us) but she is all right (a little scared), and she never let go of the leash. We were about a 1/2 mile from home, so I walked the 2 dogs, and carried her on my shoulders home. She is a very brave little girl, and my Dane is a damn fine dog... And if anyone in the story needs to be chased with a pipe, it's that irresponsible dog owner. So she got some extra love tonight.
Needless to say, I'm exhausted...
Cming up this week in class:
On Wednesday I will be lecturing
On Thursday, Herman will be coming in with hus motorcycle and leathers. Should be a fun (and hopefully uneventful) remainder of the week...
Had our first shoot last night in my "Lighting on Location" class, and our very own Tri-Community student Tiffany was our model. We busted out the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox and the wireless triggers in a parking lot and shot away. Our first set up was against an aluminum door:
After this set, we moved Tiffany to include some more ambient light and environment. While the students were using the flash set up, I was shooting available at ISO 6400, f/4, at 1/40 sec. Her face was lit with a torchlight mounted on a stand that the students were using to lock focus.
Just a couple of slight adjustments in Lightroom 3, essentially a light sharpening, a medium contrast curve, and a saturation/color adjustment brush on the face and hair. I like the way these came out.
. An excellent resource full of information for shooting and lighting a wedding, even if the images feel a little dated. Next up for me is Martin Evening's book on 
.
and the 
.
" softbox and balanced some ambient while we still had it.
