Wedding at Catlin Gardens
Last weekend I shot my first wedding at Catlin Gardens. This was an absolutely beautiful location inside and out. Vilma and Dwight came up from Texas for the wedding. They were such a wonderful couple and were a pleasure to work with. The photos shot at this wedding I consider some of my best work yet. For the outdoor formal portraits I used two bounce umbrellas with sb25s.
Brett and Katie’s wedding
I am continuing to get caught up on posting photos from the past month or so. This set is from another wedding I assisted StudioBlu with. This time we were at Anthony’s Pier 9.
This couple was a lot of fun and early on I was tasked with shooting the groom and groomsmen. They were a lot of fun and played along with most of the ideas I threw out at them.
Wedding in Warwick
Back in July I assisted StudioBlu with a wedding at Chateau Hathorn in Warwick, NY as his second shooter. Gave me a chance to experiment with shots and angles. Ended up getting some pretty cool shots.
Newborn portraits
I had the opportunity last month to photograph Lauren and Joe’s newborn Jacob. He was about two weeks old when we did the session. He was young enough that he was still in that calm, sleepy, pliable stage.
We spent about 4 hours on and off during the session and came away with a ton of great shots. For most of the shots I used the 3×5 large softbox with a white foam board reflector.
More newspaper staff portraits
Here are more portraits that were taken recently. The setup was: one main studio light camera right, reflector camera left in close. One studio light with grid aimed at white background. One umbrella with sb25 at full power behind subject camera left for fill light.
60th Anniversary Party
Last week I was asked to photography my wife’s grandparent’s 60th Wedding Anniversary Party. I took the opportunity to try out the black foamie thing, which I am getting a better feel for now. The shadows are a little to harsh in places. I bounced the flash a little too much to the side instead of off to the side and in front of the subjects.
Some of the photos came out fantastic even though I only did minor minor edits on them.
Fun times.
Wedding portraits at the Shadowland
I shot a wedding last weekend in Ellenville and reception at the Eagle’s Nest in Bloomingburg. Alex and Christina contacted me a few weeks before the wedding. Their photographer had cancelled on them. I was available and was happy to shoot their wedding. My favorite part of the day was after the ceremony they both asked if we could shoot some photos in front of the Shadowland Theater down the street from the church. I was thrilled at the opportunity.
For the Shadowland portraits I used one sb25 and a bounce umbrella to create a dramatic feel to the images.
Wanaksink Lake sunset portraits
I had a client hire me to take photos at their summer home on Wanaksink Lake in the Catskills. Going into the appointment I didn’t realize they wanted shots on the lake. When they told me that and got to the dock I realized I needed to think pretty fast. It was late in the evening and the light was coming in hard from the west. The first set of shots used the sunset as the backdrop. I needed to blast the with the lights in order to stop down the exposure on the sunset. For the second appointment, the sky was clear and I ended up using the sun coming in from the side. I was very happy with the results.
Times Herald-Record cover August 1, 2010
Made it on the cover of the TH-R this Sunday with a photo illustration of a driving using a cellphone. Secondary art ran inside on page 5 as well. For the detail shots I used high speed sync to allow for a shallow depth of field while still getting enough flash power onto the phone and my hand to balance the expose with the sun.
Sunflower
I was asked this week to take a photo of a large sunflower for friends of ours. Their son had grown a sunflower from seed and it had grown to over 6 feet tall. Their son was so proud of the flower his parents asked me to swing by and get a few artistic shots of the flower…….
Underexposed sky to saturate colors. Used umbrella to shade the flower from direct sunlight. Used 1 sb25 camera right fired into foam board reflector to bring up the exposure on the flower.
Baby Jacob
We had a great photo session last weekend with baby Jacob and his parents Joe and Lauren. We ended up with a ton of great images. We ended up mainly using the giant softbox along with a reflector. I am liking the one light setup more and more.
Here is my favorite image from that session.
Testing the new softbox
A test portrait with my new 3×5 softbox and grid. Shot with softbox and monolight 3 feet away from subject. Desaturated in post processing.
Orange Magazine product shots
I was published in the new edition of Orange Magazine for the first time. These are product shots of items made in Montgomery.
New Portraits
I was tasked recently with taking portraits for some of the editors and reporters at the office. Was able to get 2 done with studio light and 2 were shot with strobes. I was pretty happy with all four shots (but especially happy with the first). Setup info below:
2 lights. One large softbox camera right up high very close to subject. One gridded light on background. Large reflector camera left close in to subject.
2 lights. One large softbox camera right up high very close to subject. One gridded light on background. Large reflector camera left close in to subject.
3 lights. One sb25 on background. One in a small softbox camera right as rim light. One in umbrella as main light high camera left. One reflector camera right close in to subject.
3 lights. One sb25 on background. One in a small softbox camera right as rim light. One in umbrella as main light high camera left. One reflector camera right close in to subject.
Hall – Boston wedding
A few weeks back we were at Eagle’s Nest in Bloomingburg to shoot the Hall – Boston wedding. A fun a couple, we were able to get a number of fun poses during the formals.
Cover of the THR
Had a photo published on the cover of the Times Herald-Record this past Friday. Story was about the increase of visitors and traffic to Sullivan County in the summer. I ended up shooting the Welcome To Sullivan County sign in Bloomingburg. My idea was to have long taillight trails with the sign lit up at night. The angles didn’t work out as well as I hoped, but it still was a cool photo.
Little Tommy
I recently had a photo session with Tommy, who just turned 1. One-year-olds are a lot of fun…but very very difficult to have sit still and photograph in a traditional setup. We spent about an hour photographing him. The photos turned out very cute and a number of them where he sat still we were able to get fantastic detail on his face.
I used 3 lights for this shoot…a key, fill and hair light.
Take a look.
Jacobson / Mowry Wedding
Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing Erika Jacobson’s wedding in Rhode Island. She is daughter of a dear friend of mine (Carrie Jacobson).
The wedding took place in an absolutely beautiful church. The pastor made it a little difficult by not allowing any flash during the ceremony. It worked out in the end though.
Check out some of the images below:
Mr. Poppins – Self Portrait
Shot with 1 sb25 at 1/2 power bare in front of the subjects. I underexposed the background to give it a saturated look.
I ran and jumped off the hill toward the flash with the umbrella open to give the illusion that I was taking off and flying.
All about the timing of the jump.
My Chuck Taylors
Decided it was time to try shooting something that had an edgy retro feel to it. Easiest thing on the list…my sneakers.
Info: Shot with 2 sb25s. Both through umbrellas above the subject on both left and right. Poster board used as base and background. Used a high pass filter in Photoshop to give the photo an edgy feel.
Brown/Hayes Wedding
A few weeks back I had the opportunity to shoot the wedding of Renee Brown and Michael Hayes. These guys were so much fun to work with and the reception was a blast. We came out with some wonderful photos of both of them. Thanks for having me there Renee!
Fashion portraits (clam shell lighting)
We shot a few fashion style portraits a few weeks back. Finally got around to posting them. I was THRILLED with the final product and the way the light wrapped around both of the subject’s faces.
Setup: Clam shell lighting. Used 2 sb25s and a reflector. One directly behind subject with a shoot through umbrella angled slightly up and a few inches behind subject. Second was in a shoot through umbrella angled down directly in front of (about 8 inches) and above subject. One reflector was held by subject at chest level.
I think it is safe to say these are my two favorite portraits I have ever shot.
Time: Studio practice
Over the weekend I decided it was time to practice in the studio again. This time I took a small wall clock and a long exposure to get the sweep of the second hand moving over the face.
