Archive for the ‘People’ Category:
Chad Rocks Buffalo
This is Chad Edwards – an awesome country singer that happens to be a good friend of mine. He’s the real deal – the chaps he’s wearing on his CD cover actually got used to break horses in northern California. Okay, northern California isn’t the most country place on the planet – but Chad spent a pretty good chunk of his 20′s in Nashville living his dream. Chad is focusing on playing in public more frequently – and we were able to catch him in Buffalo last weekend. Be sure to check him out if he’s in your area!
Shooting live music boils down to two simple rules:
- No flash. Ever.
- Catch a moment.
The no flash rule can be a real challenge since clubs tend to be very dark. Fast lenses and high ISO is the only way to fly. For these shots, I used my 135mm f/2L and my 50mm f/1.4 cranked wide open. I had my 5D Mark II set at 3200 and 6400 ISO in order to get a high enough shutter speed to (sort of) freeze action.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135mm f/2L ISO 6400, f/2.0, 1/250 sec.
Jason and Sue
These are our good friends and neighbors Jason and Sue. I’ve been blessed both with their friendship and with having them grace my studio with their beautiful family on a couple of occasions.
I’m dedicating this one today because Sue is having surgery today for sinus cancer which was diagnosed only a few months after this picture was taken. Early reports are good – though they had to remove more cheekbone than expected, the cancer didn’t spread to the orbit of her eye. Therefore – she gets to keep both of ‘em.
She’s had a heck of a fight in 2009 with chemo and radiation – and now surgery. Throughout all of it, she’s been a model of faith and grace. Her beauty is something cancer will never take away from her.
Our prayers are with you today and in the future, Sue!
Who Else Can Help Out?
I had a unique opportunity on Saturday night to photography a 700-person charity ball. It was the Jeremiah Program’s Bullfrog Bash. It was certainly the ‘See and Be Seen’ event of the fall with many Twin Cities luminaries in attendance. The image above was of one of the charity auctioneers raising money for the program. They had her on a catwalk with a spotlight on her – and she delivered!
It was a really challenging shoot that night – it was a beautiful location but the ‘moonlight’ motif made it VERY dark. I had to rely very heavily on the 5D Mark II’s light gathering / low noise capabilities and was almost exclusively at ISO 3200+ (and often 6400). As usual, my 135mm f/2L was a rockstar in low light.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135mm f/2L ISO 3200, f/2, 1/160 sec.
Do Not Feed The Bass Player
I love a captured moment like this – Donavan was in the middle of some wild headbanging during a recent Smokescreen show. I was on the side of the stage trying to get a perfectly focused capture of the headbang – which is difficult since i’m using a long lens, a long exposure, and a big aperture. That all sums up to “blurry”. The trick is to catch it at one of the ‘stopping points’ between bangs. In one of those moments, he noticed me focused on him and he shot me the perfect metal glare. Bang! Got the image.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135mm f/2L + Canon 1.4x Extender ISO 6400, f/2, 1/200 sec.
Kristina and Glen
This is Kristina and Glen – and I’ve got the huge honor of being their wedding photographer. This is a shot from their engagement stills+fusion shoot two weeks ago at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. I knew it was going to be fun based on our initial meeting – but I had no idea how much fun it was going to be. We did a couple of hours of still photography in the great Minnesota fall colors – then switched over to video once we had some shots ‘in the bag’. They were great sports about the whole thing – frolicking in damp leaves in 45 degree weather, playing hide and seek, dancing on bridges, and baring their souls by talking candidly about their feelings for one another. Their love for each other really shows through!
As a little ‘behind the scenes’ – getting this session off the ground was an exercise in patience with the crazy fall weather we’ve had this year. It rained 16 out of the first 26 days of October – and it snowed several times as well. It was pretty – but it really played havoc on any outdoor shooting. The day we shot this was literally our last chance before the remainder of the leaves hit the ground.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135mm f/2L ISO 400, f/4, 1/100 sec
Lindye and Winn
Last week, I had the privilege of attending Dane Sanders’ Fast Track Workshop in Newport Beach, CA. It was a fantastic workshop designed to help photographers focus on their personal brand and to take their photography business to the next level and beyond. One of the high points of the week was a shootout held in Newport Beach. It was a pretty wild setup – I had exactly three minutes where I had complete control of Lindye and Winn to do with them as I pleased. Meanwhile, the other people in the seminar were behind me firing away making their own images.
How did it go? It was an interesting experiment where I took a few HUGE risks to get an image that I had pre-visualized. The day was intensely sunny, and I knew people would be fighting for indirect subtle light. I could do the same – but my pictures would have ended up the same. Instead, I went for a very dramatic spot where I knew the sun would cast a hard shadow on a wall creating a pair of ‘shadow dancers’ behind them. This was a challenge since if I wasn’t careful, they would be staring straight into the sun with bad blotchy shadows. I also had to go early in the shootout when the shadows were still strong.
Net result? I love how this image turned out. It was pretty different than the other (also fantastic) poses that the other shooters set up. It’s a great reminder – don’t be afraid to take a risk and go against the grain when you’ve got something cool and unique in mind!
The Devil Went Down To Lakeville
This is a photo of Dwight, the lead singer of Smokescreen. I took this shot at Babe’s in Lakeville as they played a rockin’ gig for a full house. It is so much fun shooting this stuff.. they are great to shoot and the 5D Mark II is a total rockstar in low-light club conditions. I could crank the ISO to the moon – and it still delivered the goods.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135 f/2L
It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll
Today’s picture was from a live music shoot that I did right before taking off to Colorado. The band is Smokescreen – and the drummer Jesse is a very good friend of mine. When I heard that they were playing within a reasonable distance of my house on a Saturday night, I made the trek to Lakeville with my camera to get some sweet live shots. The guy in the picture is Chris – he’s one of the guitar players.
I continue to be amazed and fascinated at how well the Canon 5D Mark II does in low light. I spent the entire evening at 1600+ ISO – and usually at 6400 ISO – and the noise is really well controlled. I swear that it’s less than on my 40D at ISO 800. Even the 6400 ISO shots were great – they just required a pass through Noise Ninja and they were good as new.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135 f/2L + 1.4x II Extender ISO 1600, f/2.0, 1/200 sec.
The Most Beautiful Door County Scenery
Of all the beautiful scenery in Door County – this was my favorite to look at on our 5th anniversary trip last weekend. Fortunately, I got to look at it a lot. Unlike lake shores, lighthouses, trees, rocks, sunsets, birds, and buildings… this scenery looks fantastic under any light and with any background. For those that don’t know her – and you should – this is my lovely wife Heather. Thanks for all your love and support during five great years of marriage, honey!
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135mm f/2L ISO 100, f/2, 1/640 sec.
Chillin’ at the BBBB
Here’s one from our weekend – spent Boating on the St. Croix River, Biking through the hills of Wisconsin, Barbeque-ing, and hanging on the Beach. All this was done with the Balance crew. Throw all those B’s together – and you get the BBBB! The weather was absolutely perfect – and frankly, I was having too much fun to spend a lot of time shooting pictures. This shot is of Craig, one of our hosts for the day. Craig handled all four B’s – and was good enough to wait for my king-of-rock-n-roll sized Booty (there’s another B!) to make it up the hills. Therefore – he gets the picture-of-the-day! Thanks, Craig..
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 135mm f/2L + Canon 1.4x Extender, ISO 100, 1/2000 sec. at f/2.8