Trying to make it all come together.

I'll be the first to say, there's a hell of a lot going on in this photo.



I ended up with 10 players for a portrait. 10 PLAYERS!!! I how the hell are you supposed to make a portrait with 10 people work without it looking like a team shot. I was stressing out about this assignment for a few hours today. When I got there, I saw how the outlets were conveniently installed near old bleachers... and behind the bleachers are was a wooded area. These are the All Saints Cougars... cougars live in the woods right? They also come out on cloudy days to play baseball and softball I guess.

Anyway, I think this photo would have been a disaster without the bleachers. I used them to contain the situation. If this photo had any chance of working I would have to make a few kids more prominent than the others, which may piss some parents off but I can't please everyone.

I placed the kids unevenly on the bleachers, and then balanced the sides with the two kids with the bats. I noticed how serious and focused the kid front and center was so I had him hold his hat and lean forward. Had he been wearing his hat I think his eyes would have been hidden and would conceal his attitude. He also holds a good solid center in a photo that has a lot going on.

Shelter

It's been cold and breezy... She was keeping out of the wind.

Here Fishy...

There were in fact fish down there...




...I did put forward the idea that it might not be a good idea to eat anything he catches from that ditch.

When Less is More

Cadia is a tri-athlete who competes for charity. I was assigned to get a portrait of her. She lives in an apartment complex which isn't the most athletey place so I suggested we take a walk. I had all of my lighting gear with me but decided to ditch it all save one SB-600 (outdated I know) and we headed straight for a nature trail. All I did was frame her up with her head blocking out the sun and added a simple fill and wvalah... a portrait! I think less was more in this situation because I didn't have to deal with the no outlet problem or carrying around Dynalites, I needed to be as more mobile. If I had I probably would have only used one.

I think most people have a photo like this...

Keeping your head cool for the kids.

I almost walked out on an assignment today after dealing with two uncooperative coaches, the baseball coach who threatened to call my boss to complain about how many of his players were to be in the photo (we don't do team shots... period!) That photo will not appear in my blog or in print. 10 minutes later the softball coach takes me aside and says, "Tell you what, you put an extra girl in there and maybe you'll get out of this town without a speeding ticket." Their softball coach is a cop apparently. The Alpha Female in me almost packed up and walked out (I've done it before)...but then that would have spoiled it for these kids. The photo with the extra girl will not appear in print or my blog either.

To be honest, I'm glad I stayed because I wouldn't have got this shot.

Thea

I was experimenting today and I like like the result

Pulsatory

This was an interesting assignment! I spent much of the day hanging out in scrubs in the doctor's lounge. They even fed me! I even sat through a doctors in-service, and I'm not exactly sure what it was about because it was all medical terms and such. I did however understand what they meant by "pulsatory"... and I also was involved in a demonstration when I had to duck to avoid being hit by a pulsatory spurt of blood during this procedure.

Archer

Not what I was trying to do but I like it anyway.

Beauty and Grace?

... I'm not fooled! Swans are evil.



Tomorrow is the first day of Spring... Rejoice!

Beveled

Wondering what your looking at?

This is Charlotte... both faces belong to Chalotte, she's an RN at a pain clinic here in Bay City, and both faces appeared in a beveled mirror, the small sliver was in the beveled edge. I thought it looked cool.

More Ice

Ice

I woke to the sound of my work cell ringing this morning before the sun was up. An entire neighborhood in a town near by was evacuated because strong winds were pushed giant ice floes up the beach threatening homes on the shoreline. The ice piled over the roofs of some houses and broke windows cascading ice into homes. This is just one shot from my first take. I went back later in the day for a follow up story... and I'll post those later as I just switched of the night shift and I'm running on 2 hours of sleep in 48 hours.

Cake...

...is good!

Falsehood in Silk.