Okay, I’m not really famous but it is cool to be in the feature picture for the “Tip of the Day” on Green Is Sexy

Go get your green on and subscribe to their RSS feed already!

I did my first studio shoot yesterday with the help of Craig as my model and Phil graciously letting me snarf some time in his studio last night. Instead of using Phil’s lighting equipment, I brought my own along since that is what I’ll be using as I dive into glamour/fashion photography more. My lighting setup consisted of 2 manfrotto stands, 2 shoot through umbrellas, 2 flashes (Canon 430EX and a Vivitar 285HV).

Not only was this my first time shooting in a “real” studio, but also the first time I’ve had to give model direction and have that model sitting around waiting for me to setup a shot. Thankfully this was just Craig, and I didn’t mind having him sit around while I experimented (which was the whole point of the night anyways). I consider this payback for me cheering him on the sidelines of his last half-ironman at Lake Stevens.

Photographing a male model was funny to me because I found it difficult to get creative poses without it screaming like an ad for Tiger Beat Magazine. Here are some of the photos:

Rest of the pictures are on Flickr. I only managed to sort through 7 of the photos since I got home so late last night off the shoot. As I sort through the remaining photos, I’ll be adding them to Flickr so check back there in a few days for more Craig-goodness.

After going through this, I can definitely see the value in having (a) great equipment and (b) having an assistant. It would have made it so much simpler to have someone with me how could have adjusted the angle and height of the umbrellas instead of having to put my camera down, adjust the lighting and re-setup the shot.

I’ve been super happy with most of the equipment I have so far, except for a few things:

1. The cheap “Cactus v2″ radio triggers are driving me insane. They misfire or don’t fire at all about 10% of the time. While that doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, it drove me insane to potentially lose a great shot. However, I’m not yet ready to spent the money on the pricier (and infinitely more reliable) Pocket Wizards.
2. I need a vertical battery grip for my camera in a bad way. Composing portrait shot after portrait shot with my 70-200/2.8 was insane to try to balance in my hand and forced to take multiple shots due to hand shake.

Phil uses continuous light sources in addition to flashes, which gives him a lot of ambient light. Since he has a fixed studio location this makes a lot of sense since he isn’t carrying his gear around like I am.

I was only using my strobes to light the studio area, so the ambient light was really low when composing the shot, so my camera had some trouble focusing at times. This forced me to have to manual focus more times than I would have liked. I may have to give in and using his continuous lighting just to get more ambient light to make it easier on my auto-focus.

Btw, for those who want to buy me a random gift out of the kindness of their hearts, consider this on my wish list

1. Canon BG-E2 Vertical Battery Grip
2. Sterlingtek Canon BP-511 knock-off battery (why pay 7 times the price for the Canon branded one?)
3. Vivitar 285HV (a third strobe would really help give me some flexbility in backlight situations)
4. Four Pocket Wizards (I need one for each of my strobes )

Thanks again to Craig for being such a patient experimental model for me and Phil for providing the crucial studio space for me. You guys both rock!

Dear Ms. Tin-foil Stink,

4 of us saw you at the bus stop wondering what was in that mysterious tinfoil package that you were caressing with your hands. We kept trying to get a glance at it and caught each other several times in the process. Alas, you didn’t reveal your goods until you were on the bus sitting directly behind me.

I heard the soft crackle of tin-foil opening and several heads turned around; no surprise that it was the other 3 gentleman who were stealing glances at your mystery package 5 minutes earlier.

Then it hit me.

The god awful smell of your breakfast food waffled through the air as gently as a scud missile during Desert Storm. I immediately turned around and saw that you were eating a huge hunk of Munster cheese.

After realizing what you were eating, I immediately turned around to make it painfully less obvious that I was on the verge of vomited in my mouth. The master card moment was when the person sitting next to you got up and moved 5 rows up to try to evade the smell.

Don’t get me wrong. I love cheese. Everyone loves cheese. It’s just that myself and your fellow bus commuters just don’t love the world’s 4th smelliest cheese in the morning sitting right next to us.

May we suggest a tasty Starbucks breakfast sandwich instead?

Love,

Me

I got my first photo on Flickr Explore today! It made it as #78 for November 6.

Since starting to take the connector bus about a month and a half ago, my life has gotten considerably better by eliminating the stress of the commuter traffic, and giving me about an extra hour a day to read.

One of the unexpected highlights has been the crazy array of characters I’ve seen while taking The Connector. So in the spirit of Overheard in New York, here is the first installment of As seen on the bus.

Dear Mr. Sweaty Man,

You got in all in a hurry the other day looking quite frazzled. From the the way that you were panting, the casual observer would have thought you ran for miles (or even a few blocks) to get to the Connector. However, you and I both know I saw you cross the street from your apartment building exactly one block away.

You proceeded to sweat uncontrollably the entire ride. So much, in fact, one might have been scared for your health. The panting you had initially when you got on the connector had passed, but for some reason your body wasn’t in agreement. You looked so hot for the first 15 minutes of the ride, but then you started to sweat through your entire shirt. Half-way through our commute, your shirt looked like saran wrap and we could see the pores of your skin. I hope that your jacket and bottom of your shirt helped cool you down as you wiped your face.

Proof that it’s a good thing that we have on-campus showers.

Love,

Me