brockit inc. - blog

copperdog 150 & the great bearchase 2010

meg — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:07:38 +0000

It is going to be a busy weekend, folks… Despite the warm weather, all events are a go! Since when do we let the weather stop us in the Keweenaw, anyways?

With the 1st Annual CopperDog 150 sled dog race & the Great Bearchase X-country ski race, both starting in Calumet, you are going to be seeing our crew all across the map, as Brockit Inc. takes on the role as the ‘Official Photographer‘ for both events!

*** Check back here for gallery photos at the conclusion of the weekend’s races! ***

First: the CopperDog 150 consists of a 150-mile course and a 30-mile course. As of this blog post, there are over 30 teams racing! Sled dogs galore! For family-friendly viewing come out and support the 7pm start in downtown Calumet, this Friday, the 12th of March.

Next, Brockit has been shooting the Great Bearchase for years and always looks forward to it – seeing our friends fly by on fast skis is exhilarating! As always, this race is on the Swedetown trails and consists of a 26km classic, 26 & 50 freestyle, along with the Junior Bearchase for ages 5-16.

Hope to see you showing your support on Friday evening, March 12, for the Junior Bearchase & Saturday morning, the 13th, for the Great Bearchase. There is still time to register for both!

For more details check out www.bearchase.org & www.copperdog150.com

For updates, follow CopperDog on Facebook & Twitter:

www.facebook.com/pages/copper-dog/

www.twitter.com/copperdog150

(and don’t forget to follow & fan us too!)

wedding FAQ

Adam — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:28:49 +0000

Questions about how to get a Brockit crew to cover your event? Read Meghan’s FAQ page to learn what we do, how we do it, and what our clients say about all of it!

Wedding FAQ

happy holidays

Adam — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:24:29 +0000

Wonderful Brockit clients – thank you so much for your business, your friendship, your support, patience, and loyalty! Without you, we’d just stand around taking pictures of ourselves! With you, we push ourselves artistically and technically to provide the best imagery of you, your families, your businesses, and your art. Thank you to our hard-working crew of photographers, office staff, models, interns, and gear sherpas that make it all happen. A sincere Happy Holidays!

keweenaw family resource ctr. – fundraiser

Adam — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:30:36 +0000

If you know us well, we’re all about gloss & glam photos for clients, but you also know that we are passionate about the community and spend a lot of time in and out of the studio helping with foundations, benefits, and fundraisers all for the greater good. Shooting for the Keweenaw Family Resource Center and their fundraising efforts for a children’s indoor, winter park (to be called the Treehouse) was a pleasure for us. Read more about their efforts, the event, and the park here. Its a great cause!

Families can select the link below for galleries of candid and semi-candid shots. Digital downloads and physical prints can be ordered easily and immediately, with a percentage going back to help KFRC’s efforts with the winter park.

http://brockit.smugmug.com/Clients/kfrc

Special thanks to Brockit intern Rebecca for covering the majority of the event!

keweenaw brewing co.

Adam — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:26:48 +0000

Ah – the KBC… We have a great relationship with the folks at the Keweenaw Brewing Co. and have been working with Dick & Paul and their lovely wives for a while now. Oh – and lets not forget their awesome pig-tailed manager, Christine Young, who not only hooks us up with races like the legendary ChainDrive, but hosts a permanent Brockit photo gallery in the KBC – how cool is that?! Seriously, the brewery is a great place, full of ecclectic folks, and strong, tasty beer. My 6-year old Kora calls the couch & fireplace area the ‘living room’ which is either really good, or really bad… We are working on a couple projects for the KBC, a set of studio shots of their cans, as well as a play-by-play of the brewing process which will result in a series of large format prints for display in a local museum and eventually the KBC walls. Some studio highlights and details below. Free beer if you can guess whose arms these are…

arranging cans

a lone blonde has been liberated

simple and effective

art, or a crime?

larry & alison

Adam — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:44:20 +0000

A very beautiful wedding at Castle Farms in Charlevoix, MI. Larry and Alison did great at their engagement session, so we had no worries that they’d be a very photogenic couple. Add a location like Castle Farms, and pretty much all we had to do was point the camera in their general direction and hold the release down. Thanks so much to Kristi Bauer from Rogers City for assisting in Charlevoix. This part of the state is great – sand dunes, breakfast diners, cherries, and a nice breeze off of Lake Michigan.

Castle Farms has an interesting history: it was constructed in 1918 by Albert Loeb, who was the President of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and it was designed by Arthur Heun. Loeb built Castle Farms as a model farm to showcase livestock in addition to new farm equipment that was sold by his company^.in 1927, the farm was closed and rented out for storage until 1965. It was then turned into an art studio by John Van Haver. In 1969, it was sold to Arthur and Erwina Reibel and was mainly used for rock concerts^. If you were around at this time, you might vaguely remember acts like Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, or The Beach Boys. Its a crazy place for sure.

Many congrats to Larry and Alison – you guys had a beautiful day!

Check out their slideshow, or view some highlights below…

facebook page

Adam — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:42:54 +0000

A reminder to add the Brockit Inc. page to your Facebook feed to keep up with events, requests for assistants / models, and of course – images of YOU!

brockit inc. on Facebook

2009 copperman

Adam — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:23:56 +0000

Images are up!!! 2000 shots of swimmers, bikers, and runners – and all of you getting wet on all three events! As always – incredible athletes – very inspiring, and intimidating! Thanks to Terry and the race organization for inviting the crew at Brockit Inc. to serve in an official capacity again this year. Thanks also to studio manager Captain Meghan who organized the logistics of equipment and shooters for this event – on a day where we also had two teams covering weddings! This year’s Copperman was notable for the ‘rain event’ – whoa… I’m not sure where everyone was for this part of the race, but assistant Whitney and I took shelter under tree branches and Gore-Tex, sheltering gear for what can only be described as a torrential downpour while intern Emily jumped into the back of the timing trailer at the finish line. Again, you all are die-hards. Always so great to see some of our favorite athletes from Copper Harbor to California that come up for this event. Thanks also to Gowtham who joined the Brockit team for the weekend of shooting. Gallery here!

Also – check out the highlight slideshow, featuring 150 images of rock-star triathletes. Click on the image directly below… and again: the full gallery is here showcasing 2000 images from the race for purchase as digital or print.

canal run 2009

Adam — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:50:44 +0000

Lots of weddings, and lots of races this summer! The 2009 Canal Run is complete, and we’d like to thank Arnie and the race organization for letting Brockit be the official photog. of this event. The full gallery is here, and we’ve added a nice trick. You can enter your THREE DIGIT bib number in the search tab as you are looking at the gallery to filter your results to just your bib – or just photos were you bib is not obstructed by your arms, another racer, your sweatshirt tied around your waist, or… Try it out – its pretty slick, but remember to enter 3 digits (bib #3 = 003) Some quick highlights below, and thanks to our excellent shooters Emily and Rebecca. Nice job racers!

GALLERY

west virginia wedding with rebecca

Adam — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:44:26 +0000

— UPDATE —

Rebecca’s slideshow here! Nice…

—

I had the great pleasure of shooting all weekend with Rebecca Kiger at a beautiful wedding in West Virginia recently. The below is Rebecca’s blog entry in entirety, and in twitter speak, I’ve RT’d it to share the story. I echo much of the below; our hosts were amazing, the atmosphere, service, and events were all beyond top-notch. Just look at the photos! You should visit both Rebecca’s blog and website, and if you are ever in West Virginia, stay at the Blennerhassett! A special thanks to Rebecca’s assistant, Amanda, my assistant Megan Kahoa, and my chauffer brother, Aaron Poot.

—

Melissa McCormick and Tres Ross were married on Saturday, May 30, 2009 in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Guests flew in from all over the country and were warmly welcomed at the Blennerhassett Hotel, which provided accommodations and award-winning wining and dining. The Ross Family owns the historic hotel in downtown Parkersburg.

The wedding day began with a morning sternwheeler boat cruise along the river. Guests were entertained with live music and more wining and dining, as the family and hotel are renowned for their hospitality. Below, photographs from the voyage, including one of Tres sampling an oyster shooter.

Below, Sasha, one of the chefs at The Blennerhassett, begins early preparing for an elaborate dinner. In the following image, wine from the Bremer Family Winery in St. Helena, one of the featured wines of the weekend. The winery customized wine boxes with Tres and Melissa’s names and their wedding date. Next to the wine, orchids that were found throughout the wedding floral design at the hotel. Pam Shirley of Aletha’s in Marietta, Ohio created the magnificent arrangements.

Connie Miller, who is out of Cincinnati, Ohio, custom-designed Melissa’s dress. Below, a look at some of the detailed beading on the bodice. On the heel of her Manolo Blahniks, which were inspired from an episode of Sex in the City (the one where Carrie loses her shoes at a party), are two of Melissa’s beautiful rings, her something blue and her engagement ring.

Emotions ran high on the wedding day for both Melissa and Tres. Joy was expressed through laughter, smiles, and tears. Above, Melissa twirls in delight as she begins to dress for the wedding and then tries to hold back tears when she sees how her wedding dreams have been realized. ”I really feel like a princess,” she said. Below, Melissa and her bridal party depart The Blennerhassett for the church by horse and carriage.

The ceremony was held at undoubtedly one of the most beautiful churches in Parkersburg, Trinity Episcopal, located just blocks from the hotel. Below, Melissa arrives to the church courtyard. Alongside that photo, a detail of her bouquet.

The wedding was officiated by Father Jackson of Trinity Episcopal and Bishop Price from Columbus, Ohio. When Tres was hit by a car at the age of six and endured months of hospitalization and recovery, Bishop Price, who at that time was at Trinity, walked alongside the family in prayer and support. While the family was honored that he returned to deliver the ceremonial vows, Bishop Price indicated in his blessing later that night, what an honor and blessing it was for him and and all those present to witness Tres and Melissa’s wedding, for thirty years earlier, prayers had been focused on just keeping him alive.

In the second, and fourth photos below, images from the beginning and the end of the ceremony at Trinity. In the fifth image below, Tres and his mother embrace following the wedding.

The couple returned to The Blennerhassett by horse and carriage and sat down for an elaborate dinner in the Charleston Ballroom. Below, enormous urns of orchids and roses donned the tables, which were topped with red and platinum table clothes. The tables were set with a myriad of wine glasses and fleur de lis wine stopper favors, symbolic of the couples love of wine and their quickly approaching honeymoon through the champagne vineyards in France. In the image below the table setting, champagne is poured for a toast. Alongside that photo, the waitstaff wait ready to serve wine to the guests. In front is Cindy, who after working hours cheerfully preparing for the reception, still had time to sincerely ask me how I was doing. She exemplified the spirit of hospitality at the hotel.

The toasts were both humorous and heartfelt. Below, Brandi delivers her roast/toast, while Melissa, Tres, and his brother Spencer laugh along.

Following dinner, Melissa and Tres moved from the ballroom to Spat’s Lounge to cut their seven-tiered cake prepared by Tere Clegg. Below, a shot of the cake in Spat’s Lounge and below that, Melissa and Tres finish licking their finger tips of one of the several flavored cakes prepared by Tere.

Even though rain dances had been performed at the beginning of the day, right before dinner concluded an unbelievable storm passed through Parkersburg. This wouldn’t have dampened the evening had the dancing had not been planned outside in the courtyard of the hotel. After days of celebrating, Melissa expressed some relief that instead of dancing the night away she could kick off her shoes and rest before departing the next morning for France. Before the couple slipped away for the night, the ten piece band moved inside and played two songs so the night could conclude with dance. Melissa and Tres danced to “Could It Be Magic” by Barry Manilow. Tres couldn’t help but sing his heart out to Melissa as they danced (third photo below), and this is where the tears filled up in my heart as well. In the final photo below, a shot of the dance floor and a view from the Blennerhassett courtyard prior to the rain.

When Melissa and Tres return from their honeymoon, besides continuing their phenomenal work at the hotel, Tres will carry forward the work of the Ross Foundation, a family foundation based in Parkersburg with a primary focus on supporting causes within local communities throughout West Virginia. The couple will reside in Parkersburg. Congratulations to a couple who inspires through their love, strength, and unbelievable graciousness.

Thanks go to Adam Johnson for serving as my second photographer the day of the wedding!

2009 chain drive

Adam — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:28:34 +0000

— UPDATE (last) —

A final congrats to all racers this year. Awesome job on the trails – thanks for being colorful & photogenic. The weather was great and hopefully you all had as much fun as we did – of course I was covered with a lot less sweat and mud than y’all were… In total with 5 folks shooting for Brockit, we ended up with very complete coverage. I love clicking through the beginning of the race which was shot from 3 different angles, in chronological order. Fun! 2860 images in total with the addition late last night of 723 images from intern Rebecca who covered the bridge crossing and the finish line with her D300. Nice job!

— UPDATE (again) —

Finally wrestled Greg’s disk away from Christine at the KBC and shots are uploading as I drift off to sleep. This will bring the total to 2137 images online, with intern Rebecca’s bridge and finish line shots to upload this weekend. Phew…

— UPDATE —

Photos are uploading to the storefront as I type. There is a single gallery with a chronological order to the photos and each you will notice has a tag in the filename indicating the photographer with credit for the shot.

AB = Allison, AJ = Adam, CS = Chris, EA = Emily, GM = Greg, RF = Rebecca

Images are free for medium resolution download (please thank your race organization & Christine Young!) and high-res as well as any physical prints are available for purchase through the site. Enjoy, and thank you!

A quick congratulations to all the racers in this year’s chain drive race in the Keweenaw! Always inspiring, and always a little dusty & buggy… This year Brockit Inc. had no less than 5 photographers covering the event, and in two shifts. A huge thank you to our team: Greg from Juskuz who was shooting on the North end of the course, Chris from XMATIC who was chasing the leaders on the trail and also on the North, our own Emily hit the fields, woods, and blackflies a mile from the finish, as well as Rebecca who camped out at the finish line. We had a couple unique angles for the start as well, so a big thanks also to my buddy Todd from Brassard Media who hooked me up with a boat ride to parallel racers along the canal. While I was breathing boat exhaust, Emily was on the roof of the condos next to the bridge, and Rebecca was standing on the bridge itself. Fun, fun! Give us a little time to compile everyone’s content, but in the meantime, some sneaks from Greg and Chris below.

2008 gallery highlights – 5th & elm coffee house

meg — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:19:16 +0000

The wonderful thing about a small town is that people help each other out.
Word got around that there were some empty walls at the 5th & Elm Street Coffee House, in Calumet, and Brockit was asked if we had any extra prints to throw up for a couple of weeks. From our collection of mounted prints in the studio intern Rebecca, and myself, picked out a broad range of images that we thought would represent Brockit well. The nice, dark wood, paneling makes a perfect canvas for Adam’s bright shots.

Stop by to take a glance and also check out 5th & Elm’s second location in Hancock (the old Spice of Life). You can’t go wrong with good coffee.

8th annual houghton spring art and music festival

Adam — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:20:45 +0000

— UPDATED —

All, thanks so much for the emails, phone calls, txts, tweets, and facebook hits with praise for the 2009 Houghton Spring Art & Music Festival. The response has been overwhelming to say the least. Thanks to all the musicians, vendors, downtown businesses, the Scott MacInnes & the City of Houghton, Carlton Crothers & the SmartZone, Todd & Jessie from Brassard Media, Bonnie & Cynthia & the Arts Ctr, PJ Olsson, Good Times Music… I could go on and on. Thanks to Todd & Meghan for cameraphone shots in the middle of the action below. Again – my personal and sincere thanks to everyone! We’ll do this again next year!!!

Daily Mining Gazette story

PJ’s Rock Camp blog

—

Check it out, everyone. This year’s downtown festival is a little bit different from the previous 7. We’ll be setup in the middle of downtown, right in the middle of the road actually – taking up two full blocks of road. Check out the musical lineup as well. Everyone has been working especially hard on this one. Please distribute the link, the word, and the poster around.

Take a peek at the commercial that is going live today. (nice job Brassard Media! and way to get my little girl in it!

The Copper Country Community Arts Center and the City of Houghton present the 8th annual Houghton Spring Art and Music Festival on Saturday, June 13 -Shelden Avenue from noon-8pm.

The festival’s outstanding features include ~30 artist booths & demos, free family art activities, CCCAC Extreme Bake Sale, prizes from downtown businesses, and an awesome music line up. Food will be on site with T’s Taste of Chicago.

Music Line Up

Noon The Outlaws
1:20 Uncle Pete’s All-Star BBQ Blues Band
2:50 Orphans Torch
4:10 Joshua Davis and Joe Wilson from Steppin’ In It
5:30 Squeaky Clean Cretins
7:00 P.J. Olsson & Rock Camp

This year also features a “Frog Hop” activity. We’ve received generous prizes and support from The Library, Down Wind Sports, Wicker & Willow, The Edge, The Lunch Bag, Good Times Music, The Blue Iris, and Silver Rae Bead Studio. Stop by the Arts Center booth during the festival to pick up a Frog Hop card to take to our supporting businesses and receive a frog stamp. Fill up your card with all eight stamps and return it to the Arts Center booth to be placed in a drawing for prizes. Participants must be 18+ and present to win and will be announced before the final performance…

Speaking of the final performance, this year our headlining act will be P.J. Olsson who will be performing with over twelve young musicians ages fifteen and under as well as a hip-hop dance team. Participants are in P.J.’s “Rock Camp 2009″. Check out their website at www.pjsrockcamp.com.

Thank you to our sponsors Brockit Inc., Brassard Media, and MTEC Smart Zone!

Questions? Call the Copper Country Community Arts Center at 906-482-2333
or e-mail ccarts@chartermi.net.

Bonnie, Adam & Todd in the studio - talking about the Festival

Bonnie, Adam & Todd in the studio - again - talking about the Festival

pam k – fashion shoot

Adam — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:49:36 +0000

Pam is a fashion designer with a very distinct style, so we provided some green marble from the old hospital stairwell and a dark studio to offset pink, black & white. We shot Pam’s fashion show a while back, and while this is the same modeling crew, the look and location are new. Kept some high saturation on the colors with a bit of added contrast, and synced a spot removal to fix an annoying speck on the D3’s sensor. Thanks to the random voulenteer from the drawing studio who was able to throw some feathers on the scene. Pam – as always – great work!

mary in the green stairway

old chapel and some feathers

monolight in the studio with reflector

pj rock camp 2009 – photoshoot

Adam — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:31:54 +0000

In a dance studio basement in the Keweenaw Peninsula, there has been a steady stream of musicians, dancers, instructors, and equipment moving in and out of the doors. Through the walls there are sounds of guitars, drums, harmonized vocals, and the occasional yell when a circuit breaker blows from the load of amps, stage lights, and the industrial smoke machine. What’s going on here? It is PJ Olsson’s Rock Camp 2009. Check out the running blog for the whole story, but in short – its a very cool, hands-on session with some stellar instructors, headed by rock star PJ Olsson. A live performance is planned for this year’s Spring Art & Music Festival in downtown Houghton on June Saturday June 13th.

Brockit’s involvement comes in the form of a full blow, rock-star photoshoot. Interns Emily and Rebecca helped load in all the gear and worked quickly with Todd & Jessie Brassard of Brassard Media – both who seem to be involved in every aspect of the camp – to setup the scenes and get the shoot rolling. Having returned just the night before from a large weekend shoot in West Virginia, I needed all the help I could get. We shot performance style with a live performance complete with lights and smoke, then moved to the studio setup for the group shots. Each performer, dancer, singer, etc. gave two quick poses – inspired by TopModel, MTV, RollingStone, or the variety of examples that Jessie brought with her. Got some great shots out of this for sure. Nice job everyone!

Some sneaks below, and the full sets will be available by the weekend.

— UPDATED —

Full galleries are up. Check it out.

satish and vani

Adam — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:53:48 +0000

Anyone following Brockit on Twitter or Facebook knew that this was a fun project for our studio. It had all the right ingredients: incredible people, photogenic location, high energy, and some unique challenges. I finished a week of work in the Detroit & Ann Arbor area and headed to San Francisco to meet awesome Brockit assistant Emma at SFO. Though we made the assistant call-out on the Brockit Facebook group, the stars aligned and Emma, who worked most of our Lake Superior weddings last year, was in the area and served as chauffeur and assistant for a couple days. Satish and Vani were a great couple to work with! Let me back up – not only were they great, their family was incredible. We were so well received, accommodated, and pampered with Indian food and drinks, that we felt completely at home. I think Vani’s family was surprised at our ability to eat hot food though – everyone kept on saying, ‘be careful, you know that is very spicy, even we don’t eat those peppers!’

We started in the morning with some traditional ceremonies inside the house, then moved to a traditional ‘American’ setting and attire for the early afternoon. Beautiful locations and not a cloud in the sky! After a long lunch we watched the transformation of Vani as she was adorned and clothed in traditional and ceremonial markings, jewelry, and clothing. I’ve captured many a bride’s transformation, but there was certainly something magical about Vani’s. The flowers sewn into her hair, the gold thread in her sarong, the henna on her hands… beautiful, beautiful.

Going long on these preparations, small caravan raced at a disturbing (even for me) pace out to the temple through California rush hour traffic. Unlike an ‘American’ wedding, there is no slipping the time in a Hindu wedding. Stars and planets do not care about traffic… On to the temple and the non-stop ceremony. If you haven’t been to a Hindu wedding, woah…. incense and rice in the air, along with the smells of insanely good food, kids running everywhere, and non-stop ritual on stage. Thanks so much to Gowtham aka: @sgowtham in Houghton who for the price of a couple beers at the KBC gave me all the tips on Kanya Daan, Panigrahana Hathlewa, Saptapadi, etc… I don’t think I missed a thing! Emma switched lenses like a pro for me as the scenes changed quickly, and Vani’s family guided my barefoot self around the stage like I was a sibling.

Technically I shot most of the day with natural light. I added a strobe for the outdoor, afternoon scenes, but kept the aperture open and focal length as long as possible for the intense ceremonial action on the stage. I was surprised to fill 24GB pretty quickly, so thanks again to Emma for fast CF card swapping, and thank goodness the D3 has dual slots.

I couldn’t help but spend a few extra days out in CA. While my friends in Northern Michigan had snow, I had 74 degrees, sunshine, and not a cloud in sight for days… ahhh…

— GALLERY —

Highlight and storefront galleries here, and some selections below.

finlandia university – graduation

Adam — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:08:09 +0000

— UPDATED —

Photos are available! Just over 400 in all from two photographers. Images are posted in chronological order. Some highlights below. Congratulations again!
Check out the gallery here!

Many congratulations to the 2009 graduates from Finlandia University! Emily and I were pleased to capture the event this past weekend and watch the transition from student to graduate. A little shout-out to Peter VanPelt who received an honorary degree and made a number of eyes tear with his powerful speech. Thanks, Peter.

We’re processing the photos which include candid shots as well as the stage shots and will be uploading as quickly as possible from the road this week. Keep an eye on the blog here for updates. I’d suggest adding the RSS feed or subscribing to the blog so you’ll know the second they’re up! Thanks and congratulations again!

a voice of one crying in the wilderness – an exhibit

Adam — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:20:54 +0000

A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS

An Acknowledgment of Life, Death, Grief, and Rebirth

A collaboration by photographer, Adam Johnson, and artist / model, Heidi Wiitanen

………..

A series of eleven 20” by 30” black and white nude photographs to be shown at the Rhythm Skate Shop from April 15th through May 15th.

Reception: April 17th, 2009, 8 – 10 pm

Purpose:

Although these local visionaries have worked together for several years on various photography shoots, this is a first-time collaboration for photographer, Adam Johnson, and artist / model, Heidi Wiitanen, presenting the public with a very special project.

The project consists of 11 black and white nude photographs and a mask, conveying the emotions involved in the process of life, death, grief, and rebirth. The model, Heidi Wiitanen, shares her portrayal of the different selves in each of these emotional processes through photographs taken by Adam Johnson. Powerful and relatable, these photographs display an embrace of trials and hardships, the ability to overcome them and the beauty of rebuilding oneself with a sense of empowerment.

Postcards and an artist statement from both will be available at the reception.

room 603

Adam — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:08:33 +0000

I’ve been adding old content to Adobe Lighroom which I’ve been using dedicatedly since it was in Beta mode. I’m a fan of this package versus Aperature or similar workflow products for no other reason than it follows Adobe’s long history of solid software and workflow tools. With that, I’m amazed at how little actual Photoshop work I do. I used to take my top selects from a shoot and load them right into Photoshop and run the gamut of curves, crop, spot, etc. I even had plugins for monotone control, noise reduction / enhancment, blah, blah, blah… I was using Photoshop last night and I took me a half an hour to figure out how to move a layer selection! I just don’t use it and have gone to the less-is-more and being very careful about what is in the lens as I hit the shutter release. Oh, that and I have NO time to be dinking with ‘fixing’ shots. If they are no good – delete!

So – adding old shots into the database I pulled the two shots that were used to create ‘room 603′ a while back. The quick story here is one of catharsis. Instead of dreaming about falling, being chased, my teeth falling out, being unknowingly naked or being totally unprepared for an exam, I tend to dream about dark industrial buildings and the wandering apparitions they contain. I had one of these dreams and wanted to recreate it. The shots below were done in an old hospital on a Saturday morning with the key to the building and permission from the city. We brought the sheets, gown, and even the IV bag for props. The model is standing on a Pelican gear box, a single hotlight with doors is assisting the sun through the window, and the rest was already there in the slightly decaying (and cold) critical care ward. The sequence is below, minus the baseline shot with no light in the window (making the transparency possible which was actually my wife’s suggestion) 1/30 at 3.5, ISO 200 shot with my old D100 on a tripod (another thing I never use anymore.) After I worked the layers, I immediately printed this at 30″ and fulfilled the full-circle catharsis, making this one of my personal favorites, though not my mom’s…

shot #1

shot #2

final composite

brockit on facebook

Adam — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:28:43 +0000

So after a number of requests, we’re trying out Brockit on Facebook. I’m a firm believer of keeping self-promotion out of personal pages on Facebook as groups seem nicely setup for this, so there you go. While we thought of having a ‘I was a Brockit Model’ or ‘I am a Brockit gear sherpa,’ the group is simply Brockit Inc. Fun, fun. Look for images to be uploaded here soon. I have to wait to connect to the fileserver to watermark the images though. Chad needs to get remote desktop working up so I can do this from in front of the fireplace at the KBC…