I’m trying to make the most of the lull before wedding season kicks in big time next month by working with some models whom I’ve worked with before and wanted to complete some other projects with before I get really busy.

First up, I shot with Heidi in my new studio. It’s a great place to shoot - lots of interesting options and lots of space. Heidi is always fun to work with, and she suggested a film noir concept. I spent a couple of hours browsing photographs for inspiration, and she supplied some great outfits. The red skirt/black knickers might not have shown up in too many Raymond Chandler flicks, but they went along with the "retro" feel.

Next I had the pleasure of working with Nicole again. Nicole and I had a lot of fun in the studio last time we shot - she’s an amazingly talented dancer and gymnast (I’ll post a few from that session here as well since I just realized I never blogged those images). This time we ventured into the great outdoors (ie: the fields of Davis) and Nicole proved just as sure footed on the damp grass and dirt as she was in the studio. I was simply in awe at her ability to do these amazing leaps over and over again in any conditions.

And I have to give a big shout-out to my best buddy Mike - he’s been visiting for a while from Michigan and was kind enough to join me as "key grip" on both of these shoots - allowing me to work faster and carry more gear than I possibly could by myself. And, don’t tell anyone, but it’s even possible he might have done a bit of modeling during the session with Heidi. Thanks Mike!

Heidi - Film Noir/Retro shoot:

Nicole:

I just got back from an exciting and inspiring week at the WPPI convention in Las Vegas. This is a week long extravaganza for wedding and portrait photographers - classes, a huge trade show, networking and just generally living and breathing photography for seven days. It was a blast and I’m really charged up and inspired for the upcoming wedding season.

As if a week in Vegas wasn’t exciting enough, my new baby arrived while I was away: a Canon 5D Mark II. I’ve been waiting to get my hands on this for a while, and so far, I’m not disappointed… at all. The low light capabilities are fantastic, and the image quality is beautiful. I had to take it out for a test run, and since I saw some really cool senior photography in Vegas - that’s high school seniors, by the way, not senior citizens - I decided it would be fun to do a senior photo session. Of course, I don’t know many high school seniors, so I put up a casting call on model mayhem asking for willing 18-20 year olds to take some photos. I got tons of responses, and scheduled a shoot with Brianna and Stephanie from Rocklin. I had a specific location in Davis in mind - I ride past this spot all the time on my bike, and the evening sunlight is just beautiful. But mother nature wasn’t cooperating, and it was pretty overcast and cloudy - but that turned out OK - the gray skies made a nice contrast to the bright green grass provided by the recent rain. The LCD on the Mark II is big, bright and beautiful, and I could tell I was getting some great images. The files from the Mark II are really sumptuous and a joy to work with. I had almost as much fun editing these as I had shooting them. Hope you enjoy them too! (Oh yeah, in honor of the new 5D, starting now - LARGER images!)

What better way to break in my new studio in Davis than with some breakdancing? This is no 80’s flashback - Vince and his talented crew pulled off some amazing moves. My biggest challenge was keeping them on the backdrop - I already need a bigger studio I shot with Vince before in Old Sacramento (I’ll post a few of those images first since for some reason I never blogged them), and we wanted to do another shoot under more controlled conditions - Vince ended up with lots of splinters and some glass in his forehead after two hours of break dancing in the wilds of Old Sacramento!

And I couldn’t resist using my new ring light on Linh:

Bevin is one of my favorite people to shoot with - always energetic and willing to try fun things. Since she’s an awesome triathlete (she just did her first half-Ironman race - 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) we decided to try to make a series of really cool pictures that would look like an ad for a triathlon.  My friends Ron and Jeff joined us to help with carrying and setting up the 5 lights we used for this shoot. Jeff also took some shots and got some great stuff (I’ll post a link when he gets them online). This was a really fun session - it’s definitely the fewest number of pictures I’ve ever taken for a modeling session (I shot 60 total in the course of 90 minutes or so, and some of those were just “test shots” - I’d usually shoot about 300 or more in that amount of time) but it was also the highest ratio of “keepers” - almost every shot looked cool, and Bevin was getting a kick out of hearing our squeals of delight when we checked the LCD after every shot.

I had a fun weekend in San Francisco at the Lighting Essentials workshop. The instruction at this workshop was much better than the last one I attended, but the workshop was overbooked, which created a bit of a paparazzi feel. I was one of the more experienced photographers there, and most of the lighting information was a review for me, which is exactly what I wanted - a low-pressure atmosphere to practice different lighting setups and maybe learn a few new tricks along the way. Plus, I got to help out a few of my fellow participants, which was lots of fun, since I love teaching. So even if I didn’t learn a lot of new stuff, the weekend was definitely a success: I met a lot of new photographers and models that I’m sure I’ll work with again, got to practice various lighting techniques and generally had a fun time in and around San Francisco.