Time Whizzes by

I thought I'd update everyone on what has been going on for the past few weeks.
Obviously I have more than dropped the ball when it comes to keeping the blog updated. Something I'm planning on working on more frequently, as I actually do enjoy writing.

October is shaping up to the busiest month this year so far. By a long shot. It's almost like 2010 decided to concentrate itself all into one month.
2 weddings, a workshop or two, an annual report, some interior photos, lots of marketing, maybe a few head shots, sprinkled in with a touch of shameless self-promotion.

I have a series of Downtown Dallas photos that I have been building on over the past four months or so. I have them all over on the Radiant Squares Facebook page (There's that shameless self promotion I was talking about...).

Here are a few I have been rather pleased with:






For more you can check out the albums called "The Dallas Project" and "Abstract Dallas".

I've been teaching more lately as well. Had a few one-on-ones with some people, trying to help them figure out how to properly work their camera. I know a lot of other people have been asking me to sit down with them, so maybe that can turn into a monthly thing. If you have a dSLR and would like to learn more about using it, or if you would like to learn some tricks and techniques for taking good photographs, please feel free to drop me a line and we can start getting that taken off of your to-do list!

My sister is also in town for a few days, which normally would turn into an automatic portraits session, but we are both really busy with work and I don't think we will have time for that - unfortunately.

Well, that's it for now. I will talk to you all soon!
Be on the lookout for the Radiant Squares monthly newsletter which will be coming out soon.
If you are not signed up yet, there is a link on the home page of www.radiantsquares.com where you can sign up.

I hope you all have a great week!

Upcoming fun-nes

On Tuesday of next week, Mike and I are heading up to Arizona for a 3-day long shoot of a brand new hospital. It is not open to the public yet so we will have the run of the place.
This is my first time attempting to travel with all the equipment we will be taking with us.

I don't have a final tally on everything yet but so far it looks something like this:

2 camera bags, 3 cameras, 6 lenses, over 30gb of CF cards, two laptops, an external hard drive,
10 light stands, a tripod, a monopod, 2 bogen superclamps, 2 justin clamps, about 12 speedlights, 8 pocket wizards, lots and lots of gels, a truckload of rechargeable batteries, 2 battery chargers, 2 soft boxes, a Lumiquest box, a boom arm, an empty sand bag, tripod case, and our clothes.

It will be interesting getting all of this through airport security!!
We will get a tour as soon as we arrive and are fed, then its work time until about 7pm that night.
Early to bed and up at 5 for a 6am sunrise shot, working all day and again a late night. Then another sunrise shot (unless we get a good one the first morning - I'm crossing my fingers).
We will finish up around 2pm on the third day, drive to Las Vegas airport and head home to crash and sleep all day Friday.

Busy busy busy!

Last weekend I shot a church event put on by the young singles department. It was an "Amazing Race" event. Teams picked a country to "dress up as" then started out in the same room, were given a puzzle to put together, and on teh back of the puzzle was the first clue. From there it was off to travel all over Downtown Dallas, Plano, Richardson, and Carrollton.
I got some fun photos and the event ended around 2pm.

Here are some of my favorites:


Putting together the first clue


Playing in the fountain


Here come the teams, fresh off the DART


Finding clues in the fountain


The food challenge had some not-so tasty treats


One unlucky team member eating dog food


Zero Gravity challenge


Zero Gravity Challenge


Flying High


All the participants, volunteers, and staff that stuck around till the end


3rd place team member heading home

That's it from me for now. Stay tuned for more. Hopefully I'll have a few minutes here and there to blog about our trip to Arizona!

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone!
R.

Roadside Stops

Last week my good friend Mike and I went down to Clear Lake to help teach at a journalism workshop for high school students who are on the yearbook staff. This was their first year having a photography class and the kids seemed to love it. The first day was spent going through the basics of operating a camera and composing a photograph, but on the second and third day we got to get a bit more advanced and showed them some basic lighting techniques.
Here is a photo that Mike did of me teaching them the basics of lighting:


Clear Lake was beautiful and Mike and I took the opportunity to walk around and talk to some locals and, of course, to photograph them.

Here is one of my favorite photos from a town called "Kemah".



You wouldn't be able to tell from looking at him, but he is a nurse! He has the softest hands of any Harley rider I've ever met. haha

All in all it was a very fun trip and it yielded some great portraits.
More to come I'm sure!

60 Second Head Shot

I was shooting downtown today when my client asked if I could do a quick head shot of her.
Naturally, I agreed.

My favorite place to do head shots is outdoors in the shade. My favorite backdrop is trees, bushes, or anything nature looking. The green just really complements people's skin. The shade allows me to use my own light, which gives me much more control over how the subject is lit.

The building I was shooting in has a nice park next door and my first thought was to get her over to the park. But once I stepped out on the porch I realized I didn't have to take her more than 5 feet from her front door.

I quickly set up a light stand, used an SB-28 speedlight, and a shoot through umbrella.
I posed her with her back to the park and fired 2 quick light tests.
Fired of 10 more frames once the light was right, and we were done.
From the time the first light test was shot to the time the last frame was shot was exactly 59 seconds!
What took the longest was setting up the light stand and flash, and I decided to change lenses after seeing what it looked like. (I started with a 5omm F/1.4, but opted to go with my 70-200mm F/2.8 instead.

And here is the result of my one minute of shooting: