Driving back to Houghton from Kalamazoo (that’s 550 miles with a four-year-old) and gently buzzed on coffee, Robyn and I thought a fun project would be to shoot people’s most essential, tangible, physical item and focus on it, literally and figuratively; leaving themselves as a secondary prop – which is how I feel without a couple of my own coveted, material possessions… So; see the draft poster below, created by Ashley, one of Brockit’s interns. If you are 18, emotionally dependent on a some object, and want a little compensation for modeling in the studio, send an email to mail@brockit.com with contact information and a description – not of you though – we are looking for all types.

Karyn from Segno / Marketing Dept. and I spent a couple hours shooting in the 30,000 sq. ft. kiddie casino that is the MineShaft & RockHouse bowling alley / restaurant /etc. High ISO, and remote strobes made quick work of the dark interior, and the shot below features the ‘glow bar’ which was shot handheld with the typical, fake-martini that I use for shoots like this. Crazy place… You might remember that we shot their menu before they launched back in the winter. This time I did not have the flu though… Nice place, guys.

As part of a video commercial for a good client, we grabbed a couple models and shot based on some sample shots and a rough storyboard. Basically test shots, but after a flurry of controversial emails, looks like these might be the final ones for the project. A lot of pressure to re-create shots based on stock samples, but we pulled it off decently with no less than 6 people in the studio. Nice job models; one of them a first-time figure model.

We shot Donna Michalek for an American Society of Mechanical Engineers publication. Always a trick to shoot on white; blow out the background without the subject. A paper roll and a wireless strobe worked the trick though! Even used on-camera strobe (gasp…) to bounce off the ceiling. Nice job, Donna!

Jessie from Portage Health and I ran around two locations, shooting environmental portraits of doctors over the course of a couple days. As always, photogenic doctors and a good challenge shooting in trauma rooms, exam rooms, and fluorescent lit hallways. Temperature matched gels, and lots of bounce. Check out their website (which just won a gold award) to see some of the final work. Congrats, Jessie!

We spent some time with Rhiannon in the studio, along with Chris, Millie and a cap and gown. Rhiannon, for hating having your picture taken, you did great! And Chris, thanks for the growler of amber ale the front porch! Woo hooo!