Freezing Rain

When I have a client that knows how to dress fashionably for the crummy weather we're currently being subjected to...one just has to rip through a few frames.

So...Here's Lindsay. 29º and freezing rain. Old timey kind of mood all done with ambient light.

Cheers!

ps Don't forget...make comments and the winner get's a coffee gift card! Lindsey Griffin was last weeks's caffeination.

It's all about coffee (well, it's marketing really)

Ok.been a while. My Bad.

I was sitting around trying to think of how to get some people to make comments on my blog. I was sippin a cuppa joe at Urban Standard here in the Magic City and I figured, if I could reach out and say, "Read my blog and I'll share a coffee with you.", maybe I'll get some hits here.

Hmmm...so, here's the deal. Every time I get responses on the blog (nice ones, I hope), and if there are multiple responses, I'll write your email address on a slip of paper (you need to give it to me for this to work). I'll drop them into my University of South Florida ball cap, mix 'em up and pull out a winner. I'll send that person a card from Starbucks for a free cuppa coffee.

Hope you like this idea. Any others are welcome

Cheers!

Made in the shade

I know I posted yesterday but had to include this too...

While photographing kids, I reminded my self that they can do totally unexpected things...like just stand there. Jullian was the most patient and agreeable child I photographed for the children's section of a knitwear catalog that I just had to post this.

To make matters easy, I worked in light shade, no reflectors but nicely color balanced.

Simple...

Cheers!

Chuck

Plumeria

My wife, Elaine, picked up some Plumeria seeds while we were in Hawaii a couple years ago. Finally, the bugger bloomed! Here is a snap shot I took of it. I'd never seen one before but it sure is beautiful.

Shot is the shade...simple but pretty.

Daisy & Bell Peppers

Our new Golden Retriever pup, Daisy, loves bell peppers. Why else would they disappear just when they are looking ready to pick. Here's one that got away and it looks like it's been getting ready for the old folks home.

Shot this on my buffett with a sheet of bond paper as my "studio seamless" and used a headphone zippered pouch for negative fill.

Don't you just love Sunday mornings!

Cheers

Cool Dentist

Who says the photo of your dentist has to be boring. One 24x24" light box and a light to wash the background a bit for separation an a long lens...Dr Smith was a great subject and a poster boy for "You don't need boring shots of you just because you're in the medical field." Two lights. Simple.

Cheers!

Retro

For some time, I have been wanting to put up another retro car shot. Had the opportunity to work with Zoya, another (Russian) ballerina. Kollage Yarns here in Birmingham supplied the sweater twin set...Jennifer Spanick did the make up, and the weather cooperated.

Two lights; one main, one adding the edge in the background. 250/sec @ f5.6 ISO 200

Still doing them simply...

Cheers!

Beauty made simple

All those folks that know me are aware that I am a big beauty shot lover. I also love keeping it simple. Of course, if the face is Sabrina Sikora, then you could probably light her with a mag light and get great results.

Anyway...here is Jennifer Spanick applying the final touch and the final (but unretouched) image (the two large ones).

For the beauty shot, the brolly was prob 2.5 feet from Sabrinas' face. The background for the beauty shot was an 8x10 foot black duvateen fabric.

Cheers!

Dog Days

Elaine and I went to Dauphin Island Alabama for a week at the shore (ya...lived in Jersey once). We brought our new Golden Retriever pup too and here she is..owning the beach...in all of her 4 months of age glory.

Notice how clean the beach is...Gulf of Mexico.

Cheers!

She always loved to dance.

I've shot a lot of dancers. None requires a pole.

Ballet is one of my favorites. Since I lost my longest term dance client after 26 years, I am now free to chase all the other dance wear companies out there. So, here is one image that I will use on a presentation that I hope will get me back in the game.

Light wash over the whole scene with + 1/2 stop edge lighting. Dancer is Lauren Rast (she is a physicist at UAB here in Birmingham). She still has it.

More simple...

Yeah I know...been a while. I've been busy constructing my new web site which is now live. Stop by and visit unless you got here from there :-) http://www.stjohn.net

Ok...so...shooting for B-Metro Magazine in Birmingham (AL). They wanted a nice edgy portrait of a fashion consultant at a very upscale mens store in my area. Their store had brick walls and some cool old window shutters.

Ok then...one light. Wide angle POV and get the light off to the side for some depth. Easy subject...simple light. Client is happy.

My other assistant...

Ok..geez! Why is everyone so "I wanna see a picture of your assistants"?

I put up Katie already so here's one of Lindsay (she shoots events for those that need

someone in that area :-)

She works hard...is always early...drinks coffee...perfect!

Further on the simple ...

Ok..had 20 minutes to shoot this thing...otherwise, alley traffic would have flattened this whole operation...

I've indicated throughout my blog and other venues that I am a big fan of keeping things simple when complicated would...complicate. So, here are three travel strobes with reflectors, one gritty alley, one model, one assistant and my trusty Vagabond. Shot on my Nikon D3X at about mid-day.

More Beauty

Here is a beauty shot of Sabrina Sikora. Based in Hong Kong, she was visiting family in Georgia and answered a "Hail Mary" email about testing...here she is in one of my one light beauty shots.

BTW...took a retouching class from David Cuerdon. It took my beauty retouching to the next level...still have a few more levels to go but I did like this result.

Cheers!

Back to simple

Shot a series of shots for an LA based web-zine and here is what I finished up with. Shot the beauty and the jeans ads with one strobe in front (used one to light the background on the beauty shot) and available light on the bracelet shot.

Travel far...keep it simple :-)

Cheers!

Trips and keeping your eyes open

Ok..Long freakin trip! Birmingham to Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale to Vancouver (Canada) to Birmingham. Tired? Yepper.

Anyway..while trying to get to Vancouver to meet with Elaine (wife) who was there for a conference, I got waylaid in Minneapolis for 5 hours. That's the bad news. Good news is my brother lives there so he picks me up, we do a great Italian dinner with him and family, and drops me off at the airport where I can resume my trek.

On the way there...the weather gets a bit ugly so I lean out the window and shoot this sky shot. Staying on your toes is key here folks. If you see something unusual, shoot first and ask yourself questions later. This shot was posted on Facebook and immediately seen by someone that wanted to use it for stock. Stock market I bet.

Cheers!

ps: Love Vancouver!!!

Daisy

Yes...been too long since my last update/post/blog/schmog. Anyway, Elaine and I are the new pround "parents" of Daisy, our new 8 week old Golden Retriever pup.

More pictures will surely follow . . .

Cheers

Chuck

...more vacation.

So...Elaine and I are driving back from dinner (she was driving) when I saw this stand of white birch. These just gotta be my favorite kind of tree! We spun around and I jumped out into this sloppy wet snow bank and ripped off a few frames . . .

Sometimes, when you see something out of the corner of your eye...just look!

Cheers!

Chuck

V a c a t i o n

Vacation...Killington Vermont. Skiing in the Green Mountains . . .time to relax. Right. My wife says I see life through a viewfinder.

Anyway, I was fiddling around with my iPhone and some fun app store goodies and came up with these interesting images...thought I'd share them. Lots of fun places to get interesting images and I never knew how fun iPhone images were till I started fiddling about with them.

You can be sure this isn't the last you've seen of this stuff :-)

Cheers!

Bankers

I just love photographing bank folks...

First, they are very nervous. Second, they always make unkind comments about what they're wearing. They self criticize their hair, make up and did I say their hair?

Anyway . . . I do like this kind of assignment because I get to use some people skills that make them feel comfortable and that I am there to make them look really good. This particular image wasn't on the shot list but I loved this conference room and the woman I was assigned to shoot was very pretty . . . hope they use it!

Another of my simple is better images...one 24x24" softbox and pretty good shutter drag to let the ambient light in for some mood.

Cheers!

Katie All Done Up . . .

Ok..I know this is two posts in one day but it's overdue.

I get a lot of comments on my assistant Katie and how I always put her in humiliating situations with the gray card shots. So...here is one where she is looking straight at the camera, no gray card and no fooling around . . .

Cheers!

Exercise!

G'Day all!

The other day, a client asked me to shoot something "gritty" for a fitness poster. What she wanted was to show lots of body emphasis while keeping it "fierce".


So . . . here's what I did; Three lights (main, and two edge lights) in front of a blue mottles muslin background. The whole thing was desaturated to some extent in post.

Again...simple but effective.

Cheers!

Horses and Tommie Turvey

Hi all!

Covered an event for the Alabama Horse Council's annual fair in Montgomery. I had a booth showing my horse action portraits and nearly filled up 4 pages of contacts in the guest book.

My booth was next to Tommie Turvey, who is a horseman extraordinaire! I took this shot of him during his show. I cheated and my assistant Katie and I mounted a couple strobes opposite of each other in the stands as it was dark as a black cat a night there. Amazing what you can do with two lights.

Cheers!

Shiney

Shooting shiney stuff can be a challenge. No more a challenge when we dress Katie up in a not so shapely bunny suit and accessories for a gray card image.

This subject matter is difficult only if you can't see or figure out what to do with all the reflections.

Cheers!