Beaufort Lifestyle released

In an earlier post, I detailed a shoot out on Daufuskie Island in South Carolina.  That shoot was with local author and tour guide Roger Pinckney.  Recently Beaufort Lifestyle ran the story and used a few images I had not posted previous.  The horizontal shot you see below ran as a two page spread and really set the article off with a bang.  I purposely shot the image with this in mind, hence all the open space to the right of Roger.  Shot with the D3 and 24-70.  AB1600 and octabox for lighting.  The portrait was some tight work with the 50mm 1.8 to get a really sharp image.  Post in CS4.  I thought all the images looked good and the layout really framed them well.

South Magazine and sustainable living

The Dec/Jan issue of South Magazine has just been released and I was able to stake a small claim in the nearly 200 page issue.  About a month ago I was assigned to meet and shoot a great guy by the name of Michael Maddox.  Michael is an “old hippie” still trying to live responsibly and earth friendly in a modern world.  His project… Green Bridge Farms in Effingham County.  Here he has set up eco-friendly lots for sale along with an organic farm for residents to take advantage of.  He encourages green building practices and green living.  Michael being a farmer, was more than accommodating when I asked him if I could shoot at 6 AM to take advantage of the early morning light.  As you can see the “early morning light” turned out to be early morning fog.  No worries.  I think in the end it actually lent itself well to the morning hours feel.  Lighting was pretty simple.  AB1600 through a large octabox as key and then an AB800 bare with 7″ reflector as a selective rim.  Camera D3 with either 14-24 or 24-70.  The first image was published the following images were from the shoot, though not selected.

Well here we go

For those of you who have been in touch with me over the past couple of weeks you know that I have been in NYC on a photography workshop.  I booked the workshop almost a year ago, so to say that I was excited and growing impatient is an understatement.  Sunday started the four-day intensive workshop and we didn’t wrap up until late Wednesday night.  In between, getting an average of 4 hours of sleep per night, I managed a few decent frames.  So here are the results of time and energy spent on the streets of New York City from sun up to sun down.  I hope you enjoy seeing the city through my eyes just as much as I do sharing it with you…

A look at HDR

By far my most favorite image of the trip.  Shot from the Brooklyn bridge at sunset.  The obvious image is the silhouette of the city against the drop dead gorgeous sunset.  But everyone was doing that.  How could I push the limits; how could I do something different?  So I dropped my angle of view to include more of the bridge and it’s energy, drag the shutter to instill a sense of motion all while making sure to capture the rich color of the fading sky.  Knowing I couldn’t capture the complete exposure range in the camera, I had to think what I could do afterwards to bring it all into range.  Since hand holding multiple frames for a HDR blend wasn’t possible on the vibrating bridge I chose to work a double process RAW in the digital darkroom.  Processed for the sky, the water, and the metal of the bridge and then imported the results into Photomatix, a HDR processing software program.  The results are below.  Photomatix negotiated the exposure range beautifully and brought the image together.  Again, the gem of the week for me capturing the light, color, and energy of the city.

Employing this same technique, I decided to try it out on a few other frames from the day.  One other from the bridge looking the other way and another from Chinatown.

Faces of New York

One of the challenges of shooting in New York is trying to incorporate the most dominant feature in the landscape, people.  They are everywhere.  Some don’t mind being photographed and others would rather do without your camera in their face.  Then there is always the technique of trying to shoot them without their knowing it.  Many of us were forced out of our comfort zones in an effort to get pictures of people.  We were successful and unsuccessful, never the less the power of people in pictures is undeniable.

Lady Liberty

Wednesday morning was our earliest of the week.  5 AM wheels up and on our way to Liberty park.  I had been to Liberty Island before and had seen the statue up close, but I had never been in a good spot to photograph it.  Now was my chance.  Played with long exposures and composition but I was really only satisfied with these.

The Dragon Fighters

Monday afternoon we were treated to an awesome photographic opportunity.  Joe Mcnally, one of our instructors, pulled some strings and got us a couple hours with the men and women of  Engine 9 Ladder 6 “The Dragon Fighters” in Chinatown.  They were more than gracious with their time and their patience for hungry and aggressive photographers.  This unprecedented access was more than appreciated and yielded some great images for all the photographers.  Big thanks to the brave men and women of Engine 9 Ladder 6.

 

And some more…

Not sure where to put these.  Just a few more from the trip.  There were so many opportunities to photograph such a wonderful city.  So the results are diverse to say the least.

The Bobster

One of the neat things about the workshop was the opportunity to meet new people and network with other photographers.  I ended up spending the majority of my time in the streets with Bob Nocek and Les Doerfler.  Two great guys and equally great shooters.  Hopefully our time in NYC won’t be our last together.  The cool thing about having these guys around is that you are never at a loss for subjects, so when it was time to put our small flash skills to use in stepped Bob in Times Square.

Live from Adorama, NYC

Taking a breather now at Adorama in NYC. Shooting since 6 AM this morning. Great weather and a busy city combine for some interesting images. Trying to bring my photographic vision to life without really understanding what that vision is. Hopefully I will know in time. Next stop… China Town.

Oh yeah, if you haven’t guessed… first blog post from the DROID!