AKA Clay and Tiffany Just last month I had the pleasure of photographing their engagement session at Riverwalk Park in Clarksville, where they had their first official date. They were married at The Cumberland Room in Clarksville, where my assistant and I went to work on April 1 to photograph their wedding. We were met by Clay in his military uniform, and immediately saw the candy bar set up….with you guessed it….GUMMY BEARS! A definite favorite of both my assistant and mine! Feast your eyes on the gummies, won’t you?

It was a nice warm sunny day, the ceremony was outdoors in the ballroom’s outdoor courtyard, yes we mastered the lighting challenge with the harsh afternoon sun The reception was inside the ballroom, where I went around and captured some portraits of the family and guests, as well as some journalistic candid photos of them. Using that fly on the wall approach helps me get real expression when guests are eating or sharing a drink, during the dances, the interaction of the cake cutting, the kids playing, and in this case the grandmother out dancing everyone in attendance! It was a fun day and an exciting day in their lives, thank you for letting me capture your story!

About a month ago, I bought a Quantum Flash T5DR flash gun and Turbo SC battery pack, good for 400 full power flashes, from Dury’s. I just wanted something with better manual control and with more power than the Canon Speedlites…..also Q flash’s are work horses, and do not overheat in times of rapid use. They are an especially sought after flash for wedding photographers and event photographers especially…..as well as being good for outdoor portraits and being powerful enough to provide fill light in most cases. My particular flash is not a hot shoe flash, it does not have it’s own integrated battery or power supply, it connects to the Turbo battery for power. So it needs to be used on a bracket if being used on camera. The way the center of gravity is, it makes that particular setup very cumbersome and heavy. Especially with having to be wired to the battery. I have used it on camera a few times, and works well, but it’s just cumbersome. TTL requires a separate adapter, which I have….and a special Free X wire receiver and transmitter for off camera TTL use. I do not put much stock in TTL, especially with Canon TTL systems. It does ok in a controlled room without pockets of ambient light. But it struggles to provide accurate exposures with ambient light being mixed in the subject area. Or in cases where you would normally meter for contrasts of skin tones, black tuxedo, and white dress all in the same photo. Often the TTL system will balance it like a grey card and you don’t know what the focal object will be. That’s why I won’t really use TTL especially if I would have to buy those triggers.

I have found the auto mode to work much better. Still having trouble with manual mode, still looking into exposures not changing with fstop setting adjustment. And the flash output is the same each time when working correctly, tested with light meter. The auto sensor is on the flash itself instead of through the lens, like TTL. I decided that going off camera would provide a much better and more directional light than on camera. This could be handy at wedding receptions with an assistant. I would mount the Q flash to my Manfrotto monopod, by screwing it on. The sync cord to a Pocket Wizard receiver is attached to the front of the flash with heavy duty velcro. This would be carried by the assistant, who would have the battery pack in their pocket. Now, on the camera, I’d have my Pocket Wizard transmitter, or transceiver in the hot shoe, with a PC cord from the Pocket Wizard to my PC port on the camera. That way, my assistant and I aren’t hard wired together. I took Nick’s recommendation, from Dury’s and bought an Ultimate Light Box, it’s a small plastic softbox that doesn’t lose as much light as rival modifiers for Speedlites, and does indeed have a less harsh light than the stock diffuser. Here are a few random samples of this off camera setup, in my house. Will update you more as I use it more

This was one of the looks we did, when I was in Atlanta shooting with Angela. One of her outfits, when we were sorting them for the shoot, just screamed parking garage for some reason.  So we found a part of the parking garage near her building that had some empty spots and where people wouldn’t bother us. And off we went! Now I will explain the setup, may sound cumbersome for an on location setup but it took me 15 minutes to set it all up by myself. The result was worth it, and we got nice high contrast lighting with good spill control, and the lighting was directional, as opposed to on camera flashes. There was no light in the garage, except some overhead florescent lights, with a really cold color temperature….but the use of strobes or flashes would overpower any color cast that could be caused by any overheads lights.

The main / key light was an Alien Bee 800 and a medium softbox, feathered and not direct. It was about 6 feet away from her to her left, with the center of the softbox about even with the top of her head, very little downward angle. She was about 15 feet away from the wall where the blue color gel was feathering it. I placed it slightly further away from the subject area, with the gel covered pan reflector and that strobe right up against the wall. When working with gels, you have to be careful of spill. The distance between it and the subject area eliminated the possibility of getting color spill from the gel. If working in a tighter space, the use of a flag may be necessary. To the subject’s right, from about a 45 degree angle behind her, I used a 20 degree grid, from a c stand up about 10 feet high, aiming down as the rim light to the subject area, about 10 feet of distance between it and Angela. This was to create some contrast and brush light on her, where there would have otherwise been light falloff areas. It was a matter of metering and positioning, especially when working with grids and gels, positioning may take some playing with to get it in the right spot. Oh yea….almost forgot. I used a Pocket Wizard receiver on the key light and the background light with the gel, to eliminate syncing issues, the background light was able to trigger the rim light, so a third receiver wasn’t needed. There was no power in the garage, so I used my new Vagabond Mini on the Key light and the background light, and my old vagabond II for the rim light. This way i didn’t have to run extension cords everywhere.  Hope this helps!

I combine my errands to save fuel. Recently I was out running a couple errands in the area where my gym is, two birds, one stone, and after a workout, I stopped at the Chinese restaurant across the street. It was getting kindof late, I was a little tired and hungry and just did not feel like taking the time to cook that night. I saw these 2 people near the restaurant’s entrance, one was a guy maybe early 20′s and the other, honestly wasn’t sure if it was a guy or a girl, about same age LOL. They asked me if I had any money to spare because they were hungry and needed something to eat. They were polite and humble, yet they usually are. And you never know if they are well meaning people who had hard luck and really are hungry, or if they are just panhandlers looking for a crack rock or a bottle of whiskey. I just don’t like being approached by random people because you never know their intent. I have worked in some bad areas and have heard every story in the book….but again, some may be legit. I just told them, sorry I do not have cash on me but I wished them luck and went on. Which I really don’t ever carry cash, I use debit card for everything pretty much, so I was telling them the truth.

My first instinct as a business owner, that this is not good for business, having their customers approached by panhandlers. So I told the manager that there were 2 people outside that say they are hungry and are asking for money, and it may prevent some customers from entering the restaurant. Looked like he asked them to leave the premises and they did. One way to tell if they were legit, was to invite them in and offer to cover their dinner tab, since it was a buffet and maybe would have been 25 dollars. If they accepted the offer, I’d know they are for real, but if not, I’d quickly know they were looking for their next fix. I don’t believe in supporting peoples’ laziness or habits, when I work for my money…..but also I don’t mind giving the hungry something to eat. Now I kindof wish I did that, not that I have 25 dollars to burn, now especially, but if they were hungry, and I helped feed them, it’s just good karma and it would help them out. Maybe the fact that I thought about this afterwards is symbolic of something, just not sure what, but I hope they got the help they needed, if it was food. Next time that happens, and they say specifically they need food, I’ll offer them food, now that I think about it, I think I should have done that with them.

I have known Angela for 7 years now, and have done many photoshoots with her. Both for artistic and commercial purposes. I’ve always appreciated her friendship, as well as her dedication to everything she does. What separates a muse from a model, is the muse and photographer is a rare combination, where the 2 collaborate, for mutual benefit and certain things are just understood about their arrangement that don’t even need to be discussed, it either falls into place or it isn’t there. To be a muse requires working together on multiple projects and helping each others’ conceptual visions and image overall. This arrangement means we respect each others’ time, and not cancel or waste the other’s time, and comfort / respect boundaries are automatically in place. I have that with Angela. She puts equal effort into every shoot we have done together, even though we have always lived 2-4 hours apart. There have been times where we have shot fairly frequently and also where lapses of 2 years have gone by,  and we didn’t miss a step when we got back on set together. That’s not something to take lightly

She has lived in Atlanta for a few years and has changed her look considerably. Totally different hair and new tattoos…..so she wanted to showcase her new look and get it all captured in detail. And do a shoot with some edge and attitude, as we have always been able to produce together…so I went to Atlanta and shot with her in her apartment, a parking garage and a breezeway, all on a pretty cold day mind you. LOL. So outdoor time was kept to a minimum. I used all natural light with a reflector with these, with nice shallow depth of field. After our shoot, a group of us went out to a Midtown Atlanta club, Vanquish, which was a lot of fun. Yup, I needed that. Satisfying my creative outlet helps me in all I do, and she is also inspired by doing our photoshoots. Angela always brings it, and I am so thankful for our friendship and great working relationship. New adventures are always fun!

As we move from engagement session, to booking and shooting season, the dynamic changes. The relationship between vendor and client changes as we move from talk to action. This is my favorite part of the process. Initially it’s about presentation, and showing the customer why I am the right photographer for the job, and showing them my work, print presentation, albums, and help them structure their package. I would hope that if they book me as their wedding photographer, they feel confident in their decision. This is why the brides where price is their only concern, let them book any of the others on Craigslist who are cheap, and unqualified to do so. It produces a much better result when they book me so I am the one telling their story about their lives and their wedding. Once the retainer and paperwork is over, they need to remain confident in their decision, based on the business reputation and stability.

As the time to “put up or shut up” approaches, whether actively planning with my clients, doing their engagement session, etc. is to me, where the biggest thrill begins. That is one reason I love doing a couples’ engagement photos before the wedding…..we all have a chance to work together and learn each others’ personalities etc. and I have the chance to exceed their expectations by delivering the goods, before the big day. Sure, it’s a lot of pressure, and a lot riding on it….but I thrive on it. It’s my shot to drive home in my clients’ minds that they hired the right photographer who can get the job done, as well or better than they expected. This also increases the couples’ excitement for the capture of their wedding day! I just think it changes everything when after months of planning, and talk, the camera comes out of the bag for the client.

I realize not every person has FTP, file transfer protocol, which is used to transfer / share files from user to user, in large or small quantity, any format. The standard for delivering files / images, whether to a client or a model,etc. has been burning to a disc and sending by mail since digital media became the norm. In more recent years, file sharing websites like www.yousendit.com and www.dropbox.com have surfaced, and become quite popular. They are to share high resolution files with other users, where email is not a sufficient space option, as many email services have file size limits that most modern day digital cameras’ high resolution files exceed. Yousendit is nice, and it’s easy. However, if you are a free user, you can send one zip or photo at a time, and there is a 7 day expiration on the download link the person receives that you send it to. This is why I am favoring Dropbox more lately. It’s free, and as you share it with others more, and others start their account after you share yours with them, you get more space added to your account.

This would not be a feasible option for delivering large amounts of photos, like a wedding photographer provides the client from the wedding. But for a portrait or engagement session, model photoshoot, etc. where select photos are provided, it only makes sense to use this option as opposed to being stuck in 1998 and mailing CD’s. Of course the disc does have one advantage, the archival value. Again, never trust any one form of media for backing up important files. Backup hard drives and discs are good, redundancy is good. There is no excuse for trusting one computer as the only source of keeping important photos and documents. How Dropbox works, is I can start a folder and title it, then invite anyone I like, even multiple people but entering their email address in the share folder option box. Only those people have access to the folder, and everyone invited can download the files they want, and they are not compressed or downsized in this process of uploading them to Dropbox. Plus it’s instant. The people who have used it love it, I honestly don’t understand the problem, why some haven’t tried it when invited to a folder through Dropbox. Anyone who can do apps on a phone or use a computer somewhat competently can accomplish this. It’s a very easy, and time efficient way of sharing files, I encourage you to give it a try.