have you ever seen an unhappy sled dog?!

While we don’t get much sleep in the summer, we don’t exactly rest in the winter either… Sandwiched between two back-to-back California trips, a ski race, and two snowstorms was a multi-day event that we’re honored to partner with, sponsor, and SHOOT – the Copper Dog 150! Race organizers Doug Harrer (chair) and Todd Brassard (director) contract Brockit Inc. to literally chase these teams all over the Keweenaw – nailing shots at pre-determined, strategic sites on all legs of the race. For the second year, we’ve loaded our gear and our butts onto snowmobiles (huge shout-out to Rob Greenhoe!) and covered the race remotely for the duration. Highlights HERE, fun stuff below.

rabbit, sweep, video, photo, communications - all via snowmobile

official timer & his time - Kiko

Friday’s stretch is especially tricky because we shoot everything at night. Lots of remote strobes, headlamps, and riding down unfamiliar backcountry trails to setup a shoot site before the teams overrun us. This year we didn’t have to burn our own clothing to keep warm in the woods (yes – we’ve done this…) but we were rained and snowed on which made it tricky for  anything not weather resistant. We put remote strobes inside our helmets on the sides of the trail and used a red LED to lock focus in the snow and rain. We made it to Eagle Harbor to find shelter at the Inn, then camped bunk-style in a secret motorsports haven.

stage left - gopro video & radio triggered strobe

larger dogs -> smaller teams -> shorter leg (35 mile race)

testing remote lights for the night stage

strobes working (note use of snowmobile helmet for shelter)

cold & wet - warming up in Eagle Harbor

Saturday morning started with refueling machines, checking gear, finding coffee and looking for gloves that weren’t still wet or partially frozen from earlier that morning. We shot the start then cruised up trail 3 to a remote spot in the Northern part of the Keweenaw to wait for teams to run into us. We worked with the race to find a spot that would have teams overtaking each other, as the morning start was in reverse order. We weren’t disappointed. Not only was it photogenic, it was also an occasional tangled mess – at one point requiring photog to race down the trail, grab a team, then stand on the brake as the mushers untwisted barking dogs. Copper Harbor was next, and we thawed by the fireplace at Zik’s and offloaded data before naptime.

scraggly 'officials' getting going in the morning

this is dog for "lets gooooooo!"

Jerry Bath's dog Brew charging the photog

teams overtaking each other in the Keweenaw

photog stands on the brake, musher untangles

Sunday was a gorgeous, sunny day, and we took backcountry trails to a gentle curve with snow-laden pine trees as background. We carefully passed a dozen or so teams to meet them in Calumet at the finish and called it a wrap.

waiting for dogs, updating our facebook page, freezing fingers

full speed team

unusually reliable and cushy ride for 150 miles...

Tons of thank-you’s to Rob Greenhoe for the sled, and Doug, Todd, Meredith, Jason, Abbey, and the whole CDog committee for their faith and a careful balance of 87 octane and 80 proof liquids to keep us in business. Kudos also to the teams (who after 3 years are quickly becoming our friends) who travel hundreds of miles to race, and to the community at large who supports this event with countless hours of volunteer work to make it all that it is. It is truly a testament to the Copper Country’s work ethic and camaraderie.

director & asst. director (rockstars)

brockit sponsored team - Keith Peppler #6 (finished 6th too!)

There are highlight galleries on our storefront, and some additional behind-the scenes photos below. The annual video put together by Brassard Media is coming out soon and in addition to the glossy stills, will feature some of our 60fps HD video that we captured for fun on our adventure.

GoPro2 buried in the snow - pre-snowmobile impact (survived...)

we just like this one

Keith Peppler's team - Brockit's banner

We recently had a private, ‘professional-level-beginner’ workshop in our studio that made a number of spouses jealous – so in the name of equality, we’re hosting a beginner workshop on Saturday, April 7th. This will be no different than our other beginner sessions – which means an intensive, hands-on workshop with live models, catered deliciousness, and fun things to drink. We keep the class sizes capped at 10 to ensure lots of one-on-one attention, so be sure to reserve your spot! See you there!

*** SIGNUP, FAQ, PHOTOS ***

*** GALLERY ***

Our revolving gallery in the Keweenaw Brewing Co. in downtown Houghton is ready to revolve – just in time for Winter Carnival. Between tattooed bottoms, embalming tables, and photos of our favorite scenic vistas, we’ve found ourselves apologizing a lot lately… SO – here is your chance to absolve us from any near-future “we’re sorry” posts by telling us what you want us to print at 30″. Imagine yourself in the KBC drinking an IPA, stepping on peanut shells, and wondering where you put your overpriced ski gloves. What do you want to be gracing the wall above your head? A beautiful bride on the Lake Superior shoreline? An elegant shot featuring long legs and tall boots? Aerials of the Keweenaw? Sled dogs racing through the night? Zombies? Alpacas? Look through recent content on Tumblr (NSFW), Facebook , or the website and let us know. Final selections (we can usually cram about 10 into the taproom) will be posted with a tag that says for example: “Zombies in an El Camino – selected by Adam Griffis.” Fun fun. Get your selections in by the weekend before the bartenders get irritated with us for the blank walls in there. Enjoy and thanks!

untitled photo from 'transitions'

Really – we are nice people. Nice people who don’t always take photos of babies and butterflies, but we’re not trying to offend anyone. We expect the usual hate mail from gymnophobics (have been dying to use that word) but we didn’t expect kick-back from funeral home directors. Ouch. Actually, we’ve done some pretty nice commercial work with funeral homes in the area, and we find them professional, well-dressed, and really really funny. These are all traits that probably suit their line of work well! In 2004 we were doing a collection of photos on a project called ‘transitions‘ which showed the ambiguous area between life and afterlife. Hospitals were used, as were funeral homes. While the photos have been in circulation for about 7 years, they’ve recently been discovered by the funeral services community with mixed reaction based on the emails and phone calls.

For the record: our work in these anonymous (seriously, how many people could make a positive ID on an embalming room!?) funeral homes was escorted, authorized, and reasonably respectful of the locations. We dropped only one Big Lebowski quote (“Yes sir. It is our most modestly priced receptacle…”) and we’re sorry for any offense or implied disrespect. Art is in the eye of …..

We’ve worked an arrangement involving community service to the industry which we’re optimistic about, and um… if you are ever in need of a good funeral home, we can make some recommendations…

room 603

Meghan's punch bowl! (iPhone w/ KingCamera)

Yes – its overdue, but between holiday hedonism, workshop planning, and broken ribs – well, that’s all the excuses we can come up with right now… In all seriousness, thanks to all of you that came out to our Holiday Soirée just before the holidays. Wow. We had about 100 more people than we expected, and by 8PM had long run out of parking and both the punch bowl and IPA were on their last inch of reserves. Thank you to everyone who bought scratch & dent prints off the walls. We were able to bring a nice check over to the Copper Country Humane Society as a result, and the cats and dogs there thank you as well. Special thank-yous:

Keweenaw Brewing Co. - thanks to Dick & Paul for the CO2 and the hoppy beer, and special thanks to occasional model Abby for pre-washing an entire rack of pint glasses for us!

5th & Elm Coffee – a big thanks to Boone and Frank who balanced the IPA out with some strong coffee, AND some amazing truffles. Wow. Frank will indeed make these for events, keep it in mind if you want to impress someone.

Keweenaw Co-op – our preferred studio caterer for an absolutely amazing selection of gourmet cheese, salsas, olives, hummus (is hummuses the plural?)

Office Max of Houghton – these guys let us leave their store with thousands of dollars of cameras and equipment to be able to demo at the party. Looking through the images on the cards, they were, ah… certainly enjoyed. If you need a camera locally, definitely head up there, ask for the manager, mention us, and they’ll give you a good deal.

E.L. Wright artists & landlord – did you know that we share a building with Andrea from Distant Drum, and Joyce Koskenmaki? These are amazing artists and they like our parties almost as much as our landlord.

And again – thanks to all of you for the good cheer, the laughter, and your love of art. We’re looking for another excuse for an evening party. Today *is* National Peculiar People Day. Hmmmm…

5th & Elm Truffles (iPhone w/ KingCamera)

early guests (iPhone w/ KingCamera & Diptic)

scratch & dent prints (iPhone w/ PhotoForge2)

Adam & Sandy (Nikon D700 w/ 50mm)

playing with demo gear (Nikon D700 w/ 50mm)

camera demo (Nikon D700 w/ 50mm)

photog with guests (FujiFilm X100)

really happy guest (FujiFilm X100)

the cutest guests (Canon T3i w/ kit lens)

check delivery to humane society (iPhone w/ Luminance & Diptic)

1/1600 sec at f / 1.4 ISO 1600, 50mm 2:35PM

We’ve got a fair number of fans who are pretty geeky when it comes to photography, and we get asked many questions about ‘how’ we shot something. You know us – we don’t like post-processing. We can’t remember the last time we opened up actual Photoshop, and we (and our clients) tend to think that processed / filtered photos belong on Instagram (though we’re admitted addicts!) and not in a wedding album. So – we chose this photo this afternoon to simply give the technical aspects behind the art.

This beautiful Chicago bride did her bridal prep in a very dim cabin, and even in the early afternoon, the light was quite low. The camera was set with a high ISO to be safe, in this case, 1600 on a Nikon D3. The D3 is famous for low noise at high ISO, so even pushing this higher would not have been too much of a noise-risk. The lens in this shot is a Nikkor 50mm that is opened up all the way to f/1.4 – again, because it was so dark, but also because it is a compact lens, and gives a super-pleasing depth of field – buttery almost. Its not the most cost-effective lens, and we recommend the f/1.8 for most beginner / intermediate shooters, but ANYWAY…

This shot was unplanned. The previous shot was a feature shot at 1/100 of a second in a dark part of cabin (thus the high ISO!) and when we quietly ran into the bedroom for this single, fleeting moment – the sunshine in the window forced a scroll of the shutter wheel up to 1/1600 to not blow out the whole thing. The shot was so fleeting in fact, that there are only two shots of this moment, so thanks to Nikon for the fast focus and good metering. Even if the camera had been in a non-manual mode however, the electronics would have forced an exposure that would have darkened the image more than what was intended. Much like a point & shoot trying to capture a portrait against a bright window, flagship bodies are susceptible to the same flaws. Just like the ability to drive fast in the winter requires disabling the traction control system, a camera needs to be completely controlled by the photographer to get the result they want.

In terms of post-processing, the image history on this shot includes:

- import
- a profile assignment – which includes a lens profile, some noise reduction, and black clipping
- a preset assignment – which includes a caramel tone and a contrast tweak

Vignetting is not added and is deliberately removed from the lens profile to keep the flaw in the shot. The 50mm is a film lens and the D3′s sensor is FX, which is the same footprint as 35mm film – so the effect is natural.

(And what a dress!)

Email us with questions, or if this has piqued your interest in photography, join us for a workshop!

workshop participant: before vs. after

- NEXT DATES -

Beginner Workshop – Saturday – Jan 21 – 10AM – 2PM (limit 10, catered lunch)

Intermediate Workshop – Saturday – Jan 21 – 3PM – 6:PM (limit 5, cocktail reception)

Participants for BEGINNER sessions bring their own camera for a hands-on, intensive session that will cover:

• basics on photography (light, depth, framing)
• mechanics of your own camera
• image processing, sharing, printing, and archiving
• hands-on exercises in-studio with live models
• mobile phone camera tips
• photo critiques, tips, and equipment recommendations

Participants for INTERMEDIATE sessions also bring their own camera for a hands-on, intensive session that will cover:

• controlling depth of field
• creative framing
• workflow and edits
• working with subjects
• advanced lighting (reflecting, diffusing, remote strobes)
• advanced controls (exposure compensation, auto ISO, flash sync, focus tracking)

Learn more here…

The snow is starting to pile up, we’re wearing long underwear on a regular basis, and our muscles are sore from a fresh season of skiing and shoveling sidewalks.

To break in the season, come eat, drink and be merry with us on Wednesday, December 14th in our steam heated, 100 year old studio! We’ll have special treats from our friends at the Keweenaw Brewing Co., 5th & Elm coffee & bakery, and the Keweenaw Co-op.

In addition to this deliciousness, we’ll be demoing camera equipment and answering questions you have about gear for your own Santa list or someone else. We’ll have an array of SLR, ILC, point & shoot, and rangefinder-style cameras for you to play with.

AND… we’re having a scratch & dent sale on an eclectic variety of 30″ prints that you can buy right off our gallery walls for your stocking. As added incentive, we’re giving half of the profit to our furry friends at the Copper Country Humane Society.

Oh yeah… we’ll have a punch bowl too! Join us…!

(Here’s the Facebook invite too)

Q: I’ve looked online everywhere, and followed the advice of others but still fail to make my snow look white when I shoot on my SLR. Any tips for shooting photos in the snow? All the photos I’ve seen Adam shoot, the snow is as white as it should be. HELP!

A: Its painful to see so many blue winter photos, but it is indeed tricky. There are two ways to correct this, one at the capture stage, and one at the post stage. To capture, make sure you are NOT using an auto white-balance setting (you might see this as an “AWB” in the menu.) Cameras are smart, and getting smarter, but nothing beats being able to tell the camera what you want. Exposure & color algorithms are programmed to look for neutral colors and compensate based on what it interprets the scene and the color cast to be. Bright snow – especially in the middle of the day when the color temp. of the sun is already a rather blueish 5500-6500 deg. K – will almost always turn photos blue and under-exposed, so force the white-balance setting through the menu system or controls to the actual ambient light. Depending on the time of day, a daylight, or shade setting will give you a consistent, controllable color. If your camera allows it, just change the manual white balance setting to ~6000 deg. K. OR do this really manually by shooting a reference card. But if you are lucky, your camera has a little snowman icon as a white balance setting

The other option is in post-process, and that is to simply adjust the myriad of color temperature tools in programs like Aperture, Lightroom, and iPhoto might even do this… In Aperture or Lightroom, once you set one image to the proper (or preferred) color, you can easily sync the entire set to look the same. As a rule, as minimal amount of time-consuming-post-processing the better, so the closer you get to capturing the shot in the first place, the better!

Q: I’d love to use you guys for my summer wedding in the Houghton area, but not sure I can afford you. Do you offer variable shooting prices, etc? And can I pay you in money from the UAE?

A: And we’d love to have you as a client of ours! We start with a flat rate and build up or down depending on location / distance, number of photographers, days of shooting, etc. Each client is a little bit different, and we work with everyone personally, to make sure that we can provide what they are looking for and what is within their financial means. We’ve cut travel rates if our lodging is provided, we give discounts to military, we discount for sheer flattery, etc… While we can’t accept dirham as currency, the Brockit wine rack always looks better when it’s sagging from the weight of bottles from central Italy and northern California, hint hint…

Q: Is it difficult finding work here in the Keweenaw?

A: Yes and no. There is a cyclic nature to photography during the year, so over the years we’ve balanced ourselves between commercial / adventure, wedding and portrait work. (actually, that should read “wedding / adventure”) Having a large studio also allows us to shoot at any time, and in any weather. Our workflow is thin in comparison to larger cities, but we are happy, busy, quite traveled, and have a nimble team with some pretty stellar clients. We take none of it for granted and spend a lot of our time helping non-profits, fundraising efforts, and supporting fine arts.

Q: What makes you think everyone wants to look like a rock star? What if I want to look like me? Can you handle that?
(Sorry, that’s three questions.)

A: We know that deep down, everyone wants to look like a rock star. When people look at a photo of themselves, even on the back of the camera, and they exclaim, ‘woah! that’s me?!’ we know we’ve succeeded. Its our job to flatter by bringing out your natural beauty. If you want to look like yourself, you are probably already familiar with the sound of your blingy jewelry clanking against the side of a cocktail glass at noon in a chromed-out Prevost coach… We can handle that.

(did you know that Adam is actually terrified of heights?)

Ever wanted to know intimate things about us? Why do we shoot Nikon? Do people really pay us in whiskey? Do we make everyone get in the water for their shoots? Did one of us really jump out of a helicopter? At the recommendation of one of our favorite assistants, we’re going to open ourselves up for questions on a weekly basis. We’ll narrow the focus each week for topics on gear, modeling, workflow, weddings, assistants, etc. but to start it off – today anything goes…!

Ask us whatever and on Friday morning we’ll reply to as many as we can and post the whole Q&A here. We’ll use your first name or keep you anonymous.

*** ANSWERS ***

Deal? Go for it… Just use the form below.

Gear requirements:

reliable
weather-proof
capable
flagship / premium level
fashionable

Crew requirements:

(see above)

We pulled these two photos this morning to show how it all works together, and to show off Kora and Anabelle hard at work on a double shoot. While its rare to have two little ones on a pro shoot, its not unusual, and they’re not just playing around – they test lights, haul gear, charge batteries, make clients laugh & smile, clean backgrounds, sweep floors, and are a riot to have around. Oh – a couple organic cookies from the Co-op usually suffices as payment too….

The gear they’re holding isn’t just for looks either. The softbox is a double-diffused (for this shoot) Photoflex Octodome NXT mounted to a Photoflex LiteReach. This combo is complex, but so so so versatile and able to be collapsed, folded up, and fit neatly inside the main Crumpler bag & stuffed under the seat of any regional jet. The strobe is a Nikon SB900 or SB800 (this looks like the more compact 800…) which is mounted to one of PocketWizard’s brand new FlexTT5 transceivers, and is being triggered by a combination of MiniTT1 transmitter / AC3 zone controller. Phew…! The setup allows us to sync the strobes above 1/250 (1/1250 in this shot!) and gives some beautiful, diffused light in any location. As long as we’ve got someone to haul it & hold it that is…

There is not one of these girls that isn’t stunning, their mother included… We did some grouped shots and then used each scene for some portraits. While each set of shots have about the same level of final exposure, they’ve got remarkably different settings. The trees were thick and green in the woods which made a dark canopy, and the fields had full sun. It’s a misconception that photogs like bright sunlight actually… Sun = shadows = tricky… So the shots in the woods were at about 1/60th of a second at a moderate ISO (1600) while the field shots were stopped down a bit to f/4 (yes, we consider this ‘very’ stopped down for our preferences) and at 1/1000 and a lower ISO. Shots were batch-processed for color and exported.

We’ve been gritting our teeth as we look at heavily Photoshopped images lately. We’re not purists (we’re shooting digital afterall!) but we take a very hands-off approach to processed images. This is fodder for a longer post, and a topic in our classes (one is coming up in Dec) but we kinda pride ourselves on shooting the final shot when we hit the shutter release. Are you paying us to shoot or are you paying us to edit!? The Drake girls are no exception. Beauty needs no manipulation.

And again… W O W. So much beauty, and so much fun. We were thrilled to work with Megan and Jon – laid back, charming, and totally in love. In the winter, we shot this gorgeous couple in our studio and a bit outdoors for their engagement shots, then we drove up to Lake Linden in the early summer to work with Megan on a bridal shoot in the historic Laurium Manor Inn. A very special thank you to the owners of this amazing place for always letting us come up and shoot on their property. Have you been there?! It is truly spectacular. Massive, ornate, and completely intact. It operates as a B&B now, and has everything from the original icebox (love!) to the elephant skin wallpaper in the dining room. Crazy and amazing. Megan was a natural and needed little coaching from us on being comfortable in front of the camera.

For their wedding, the Brockit crew took an early morning, caffeine-assisted drive south to an undisclosed location which was the site of a vintage resort now turned private, family estate – complete with lake, beautiful dock, and trails over the river and through the woods. BUT we did not know this. We did makeup and prep at an off-site house about 12 miles away, and although we are not backyard photographers, we were anticipating perhaps a large backyard wedding. When we pulled up to sprawling property, massive tents, and parking for tour buses (kinda) we were happy to have the 2-way radios that are a mandatory part of the gear. Plus, its really fun to say things like: “photog 1 to asst. um… what’s your 20, over” “photog 1, I’m charging batteries in the garage, over.” “copy that, we’re needing the groom to get his butt to the dock please” “roger roger, one groom on the way, over and out.”

Megan and Jon had a gorgeous ceremony, backlit by sunlight off the lake, and between the sunflowers, the purple dresses, and a striking couple, we pretty much just pointed the cameras in random directions and opened the shutter curtains. The time between ceremony and reception is always our favorite, and we pulled the stops out on this one. Lens flare through the trees, ankle deep in a slippery waterfall, and lots of kissing and laughing. We can’t believe nobody slipped and headed downstream though… and as if to test our luck, we convinced (this wasn’t hard) the bride and groom to hop in a rowboat while we chased them in a canoe. Kudos to photog asst. and shooter Louisa who helped steer the canoe and document this beautiful ridiculousness.

Their reception was highlighted by an array of sweet-smelling cakes (holy awesome work by Gopher’s Cafe in Marquette) an engaging DJ, and food catered by our friends at the Library up in Houghton. Oh – least we forget the tour-bus. Yes – this was to run people from a couple locations during the night but this plan was slightly delayed when the driver high-centered the 45 foot bus in the sandy driveway. This was totally photogenic and even more amusing when a tractor was used to pull it out! We’ll share the photos once we’re sure the statue of limitations has passed.

We finished off the night with some star-sky night shots of Megan and Jon on the dock, which is the topic for an earlier blog post and covers some fun technical and artistic details of how we worked to get this shot.

So, yes. W O W. And if all this wasn’t enough, Louisa was further inspired and documented her own thoughts when she got home. Its truly inspiring, and you’ll have to wait for it…

Megan and Jon – best to you both.

Norm Augustine is a former Apollo engineer, Lockheed Martin CEO, US Army undersecretary, Distinguished Service Medal (5 times!) chair of the National Academy of Engineering, OH… and a fellow Nikon photog. He has some amazing safari stories and we handed him our backup D700 which he pointed directly at our  attractive assistant BettyJean and fired off a handful of perfectly exposed shots.

We had literally 5 minutes to get a handful of solid shots of Norm as he is undoubtedly a busy guy. To maximize the time, we offered to pick him up at his hotel so we got there a few minutes early and test-shot Betty in a couple spots in the lobby. We settled on a chair with some decent natural light and a bit of backlight from a lamp. An f-stop with a very open aperture was chosen to minimize the background but wasn’t stopped down too much, so we’d have a security blanket of focus on Augustine’s face. Norm is pretty used to being photographed, so we chatted casually and got in close for literally 10 shots. He was happy to take a look at the preview and was very pleased. (phew!!) It was at this point where he showed adeptness with the camera which uncovered his passion for photography. He travels the world and shoots with a D700 which we happily pulled from the bag and threw a fixed lens on it for him to show his stuff. He aimed at Betty who is a natural anyway (um… have you SEEN the makeup shots with RHY?) who posed happily for a quick burst of perfectly exposed shots. Nice job. Norm hopped in the Honda with us, and we chatted about his travels as we escorted him to his dinner event. Fun fun…

Read the article and check out Norm’s wikipedia entry too.

Rhian HY started their morning with her mad makeup skills, then transitioned to gear sherpa and stuck with our crew until the early night. And what a crew – in addition to Rhian, Louisa shot second, relying heavily on a full-frame D700 and a fast lens, and King shot HD video with an arsenal of Canon DSLRs. It was a maze of logistics, so special thanks as always for Meghan who served as home base / coordinator for not only this crew, but our B team that was shooting another all-day wedding too! Only to Meghan can you text her, asking for a shot list, and it appears in 120 seconds…

Mairi was a nicely relaxed morning bride – working through makeup, hair, and dressing like a pro. Her girls were equally compliant, and we shot them in formal and candid shots around the cabin while Louisa chased the guys around the beach as they setup for the ceremony. Oh – completely random: we’d be remiss not to thank Rhian for cleaning up the background in one of the formal setups at the cabin which included touching a spider. She doesn’t do that for just anybody. Due to construction and a trolley that had to travel twice from each side of the Keweenaw we were pretty far behind schedule. But that’s the beauty of a beach wedding. Nobody really cares – or at least their concern vanishes when a trolley full of a dozen beautiful, screaming, dancing girls shows up. Come to think of it… that would fix just about anything.

The beach ceremony was elegant and brief, and we spent probably twice the ceremony time playing in the fog that rolled up on the Lake Superior shoreline. Fog is fun. You can get lots of different effects depending on focal length, distance, and direction to the sun, and both Mairi and Ben were great sports about a variety of scenes – even allowing us to pull their lips apart from each other for a few of them. Bar hopping resulted in tours of the Cliff Bar, the KBC (where beer appears as if by magic for the photogs,) and the Dog. Bubba said he’s never seen a rush on pickled eggs before. Shots, yes. Eggs, never.

The newly restored Brownstone Hall and its stage, its retro-glitter walls, and its full kitchen allowed for great photography, and a fully plated dinner. We stole the bride and groom for some more photos nearby, danced with them, and wished them well as they passed under an arch of sparklers at their dramatic exit. Well done, guys! Beautiful in all respects.

All shots were with Nikkor glass on full-frame bodies, and we used remote strobes inside Brownstone. All other light was natural / reflected, and in some cases – dim enough that ISO 6400 and an f/1.4 was required (and enjoyed!)

launching wish lanterns

a solitary wish lantern over the portage

Rhian HY at work

everyone was waiting for the trolley

saying hello without techinically seeing each other

playing with fog

entertaining the locals

relaying her speech to the emcee

ISO 6400

everyone wants to be carried, right?

classic version

modern version

Adam misses out

psh! who needs Adam anyway?

]]> http://www.brockit.com/blog/archives/1821/feed 1 http://www.brockit.com/blog/archives/1794?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=stacy http://www.brockit.com/blog/archives/1794#comments Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:57:44 +0000 Adam http://www.brockit.com/blog/?p=1794 We keep looking for a better term than ‘Senior Photos.’ It just reminds us of our own painful, first solo photoshoots at 17 years old: leather jacket slung over shoulder, cheesy smiles, studio lights, and lots of ‘editing.’ We worked with Stacy just how we work with a model or a commercial client: she worked with us on concepts, was open minded, professional, adventurous, and gorgeous. 5th & Elm’s Boone loaded us up with some black coffee (thanks!) and studio manager Meghan got out of the studio for a couple hours and joined us on this one which was a treat. She had scouted locations that fit what Stacy was looking for and we did clothing changes as we changed scenes. The clouds were a little ambiguous which always makes for changing light, and more annoying – changing light temperatures, both of which require continuous, on-the-fly thumb and finger work adjusting exposure and white balance. Congrats to Stacy – who like most of our wedding and portrait subjects lately – had no problem lying in the woods, sprawling across fallen trees, or standing waist deep in a swamp. Ha! Her shots are worth it and we hope she’ll have less traumatic memories (and photos) from her first pro shoot.

Unedited images below were shot with a combination of natural and reflected light with a 200mm 2.8 and 50mm 1.4.