More work for one of our favorite clients – this time the full-circle turnaround on shots for the commercial. Refer back to the ‘sweat shots’ post to see the evolution. Video guy Todd Brassard ran around like a madman with the Canon shooting the video that we are simply complimenting. Go Jessie & Ashlee for holding the reflectors in the high wind! My own backyard is the backdrop for the other shot, and thanks to the photogenic mother who let us shoot her day-old baby as part of another set of shots recently. Bounced an SB-800 off the right wall for that one…

For an anonymous Brockit client, the full team spent a beautiful evening on the shore of Lake Superior, shooting a number of locations and primarily candid & semi-staged shots. We had just come from the body painting shoot, so this was a good change of gears (hey, we’re flexible!) and I captured almost 300 shots before whittling down to about 125. A quick note about portraits like this: capturing artistic, emotional shots is just that; emotional. You really get caught up in the feelings of your subjects and when this happens and you have the shutter release down, firing away, you just know that you got the shot. Of course, that means that the technical aspects must already be taken care of. When shooting on a beach, this gets tricky; harsh contrasts, sun, sand, wind, reflections, etc. This means reflectors, diffuser panels, and of course – assistants. Go team!

I’m not sure how to describe this one. When we shoot races, I like to throw an index card into the stuff-bags to let everyone know where to pickup their shots. While intern Ashlee did a great job with the flying bike below (I shot this as a ChainDrive technical shot a couple years ago) I wanted something a little more unique for the upcoming CopperMan Triathlon. On a caffeine buzz one morning I thought why not make a literal ‘copper man?’ I mean, we’ve got latex body paint just sitting in the studio, and I was sure we could get some willing volunteers. It was a good challenge, and the whole team helped here. Emily & Meghan tested the paint and got the mix just right, and Brent & Jessie volunteered as models (they’re both racing anyway). We found a sunny afternoon, painted them up, hit their gold-glitter bodies with a reflector, and that was that. Photoshop turned the gold to copper and the text & graphics followed. Final proofs are below. Thanks models. Sorry it was so hard to get off; next time we’ll use more base layer, or Brent, maybe you just should have taken my advice and shaved your torso! Go team!

Racers, we’ll see you all up in the Harbor for the big race. Check back here for the link (client area) to the shots. Woo hooo!

My, my, my. Jess was our wedding client for an incredible wedding on Presque Isle. Our standard wedding work is typically for 10-12 hours and we started with Jess and noon and packed up the gear about 12 hours and 1400 RAW shots later. With my immobile leg, we took a full crew on the road which included driver and heavy gear hauler Evan, intern & second shooter Emily, and massage therapist & artist Emma as an extra assistant. Actually, what is the Dude’s line in the Big Lebowski ‘you don’t expect me to be handling the money, driving the car and talking on the phone…’ Well, we did abide, and we rocked this out for Jess. Trophy winning, long distance horses just out of town at the family’s ranch, then Presque Isle with a beautiful, concise ceremony, then we took two limos around to a variety of scenic locations and local bars before hitting the reception. Nice shots, guys. Some of my favorites are below. How often do you get the chance to shoot a beautiful bride in amidst free-running horses?! And thanks to the groomsmen for literally carrying me up from some of the more difficult locations. Note the Old Milwaukee beer in his hand (though it is his, not mine) and Emma carrying crutches, cameras, and Crumpler bag. Nice!

So, yeah… this sucks. A tree trimming company came to do some work in our yard and got their vehicle completely stuck in the yard. I refused to even watch out the window, let alone offer assistance considering how completely trashed the yard was becoming - it was clearly a lost cause. Well, they asked for help to push their wood chipper trailer out of the way and I gave a try at it. Pushing with all my strength, I felt and HEARD something pop in my right calf and I hit the ground. The workers described it as sounding like a flip-flop slapping the ground. My good buddy Chad Arney showed up as he does for all of my accidents and injuries and monitored the situation (and a sleeping Kora) while Robyn and I headed to the ER. It took a shot to each butt cheek to temper the pain, and I finally quit thrashing around on the trauma room bed. Todd & Jessie Brassard showed up to offer sympathy and helped me get into the car, and thus began the ridiculousness.

Long story short: I have a partially torn Achilles tendon and Soleus (calf) muscle. It means a non-walking fiberglass cast for 4 weeks (on my driving foot!) and a torturous pair of crutches for the duration and therapy afterwards. I can’t say thank-you enough to everyone for being helpful and sympathetic, and it is an interesting experiment to have one leg, and makes me value the working one – which is getting nicely built up while my right one wilts inside the cast. Seriously, thanks to my family, friends, co-workers, clients, and strangers who are genuinely helpful, concerned, and encouraging.

You’ll notice a slight shift in the number of us on photo jobs for the next couple months. Instead of the standard intern and myself, you’ll see a full crew: dual interns & photographers, a personal assistant, and sometimes even a dedicated driver / sherpa. I admit that I’m getting pretty spoiled by the extra support, and I notice that our clients are getting spoiled as well – while I can’t wait to heal, I just might keep this going!

Can I just say that I love opera singers? I love opera singers. Every time I get a chance to work with musicians I love it, and I especially love these folks: artistic, photogenic, confident, and so so easy in front of a camera. While it will be almost impossible to top the shots of New York’s Arielle Doneson (girl, why are these not up on your site?!) and Julie Baron, we came pretty close with this charismatic crew. All outdoor shots are natural light - with Emily holding a gold & silver reflector - and the studio shots were done with a single softbox and occasional rear fill from a second strobe. Wonderful job everyone – this was our pleasure. Check the gallery for your shots!

The Towles family and I go back a while now in terms of portrait and wedding photography and the most recent shots were a treat as well. Emily, Ashlee and I headed out to their place on the lake and shot a good collection of candid photos in between two other shoots on a Sunday afternoon. The two below are my initial favorites, and the one on the stairs was aided by Emily with a circular diffuser panel. Nice job everyone – always excellent to work with your family!

Another good challenge – we’ve certainly shot our fair share of interiors and exteriors for commercial clients, but starting to shoot for a design house that puts them together is not only fun, but quite satisfying. For this property, all shots are natural or ambient light, and 100% handheld. I just am not a tripod person. I’ll use one in the studio for commercial, repeatable work, but on location I just move around too much and it gets in the way. It is too hard to crawl on the floor, lie on your back, stand on furniture, and squeeze into corners when you are tied to a tripod. Leveraging ambient light with high but safe ISO makes this possible; well… that and holding your breath and shooting like an ROTC Rifle Team competitor of course. (yes, this was in a former life though) Whatever the case, the client was happy, and sent Meghan this great quote:

Meg -

We were so pleased with the River Valley Photos, we have several other
buildings we would like to have Brockit photograph.  Can we set up a
time for Adam to stop by and review two of the buildings?

Thanks