Happy Thanksgiving! I don’t have a turkey mask, but I think this chicken mask from Archie McPhee’s will do. :)
Archive for November, 2008
Pancake and bacon face is sad that he is going to be eaten soon. Such is the fate of yummy breakfast foods.
Photographing cats is hard. They don’t take direction well (if at all), and they do whatever they want whenever they please. All you can do it sit and watch and hope that you can get the right shot at the right moment. Most of time, you miss the shot (well, at least, I do), but sometimes you get lucky and capture a winner.
Earlier this week, I got lucky. I had just finished working on a self-portrait with off-camera lighting and decided that I would try to photograph Jackson as well. I already had my lighting ready to go (D300 shooting at 1/800th sec at f/7.1 and ISO 200 in commander mode, SB-600 with a Lumiquest Softbox III attached), so all I needed to do was get in position and get the shot.
Here’s the progression of events:
1. Sit near Jackson and wait for him finish scratching his neck.
2. Hold out flash with left hand and wave it around to get Jackson’s attention. Make sure camera is pointed at him.
3. While he is distracted, take a few shots (I got 3).
4. Watch Jackson get bored and run away.
5. Pray that one of the shots is in focus and properly framed.
All of this happened in the space of about 2 minutes. Of the 3 shots I took, this was the only one in focus *and* framed well. I wasn’t even looking through the camera – I was too busy watching Jackson and making sure I was holding the light in the correct position. I got incredibly lucky.
The only post I did was cropping the image tighter and brightening up the exposure just a bit, so we could see more detail in his body. The rest is as-is. I am incredibly happy with how this image turned out and will definitely be attempting more off-camera lighting with Jackson.
Last weekend I was asked once again to photograph The Good Foot’s annual 4 the luv of it b-boy jam. Like last year, I was assigned to cover the dancing portions of the show, and, like last year, it was a blast. The dancers were amazing. The audience ranged from fellow b-boys/b-girls to the children and parents of the dancers and everyone in between. There was such an incredibly sense of community and friendship that it seemed more like a dance party than an actual competition.
My only concern this year was whether or not my camera gear – and my body – would survive the night unscathed. Last year there were several casualties and injures. My beloved Nikon D70’s shutter died during the show, and I was forced to borrow another photographer’s Canon Digital Rebel XT. One of the dancers inadvertently kicked the lens on the borrowed camera and knocked something loose. And I was kicked in the head twice by dancers getting too close to the crowd. Fortunately, nothing bad happened this year other than me having some sore legs from crouching and kneeling all night.
Here are a few more shots from the evening:
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