Bend, Oregon - A Whilrwind Adventure

About a year ago while visiting my wife's family in Bend, Oregon and shooting some senior portraits for one of her two sisters, her other sister asked if I would come up and take the pictures for their high school senior prom next year. She went on about how the guy they hired to do the last one was terrible and everyone hated the images, etc... No problem I replied without even really thinking about it.

Cut to 8 months later and I get a phone call, hey this is Trudy from "Central High School" in Bend, Oregon, we're looking forward to having you come up and I wanted to iron out the details." Oh yeah... I totally forgot about that "Yes Maam, what is that date again?" As it turned out it was the Saturday after Corina and Martins Wedding. My plan was to do the wedding Friday night, get on a 7:00am flight to Portland, then a  connecting flight to Redmond/Bend putting me there around 1:30pm.  The dance starts at 6:00pm and they wanted to get some shots of the girls before the dance.

So after we figured out all of the details it was time to reserve my rental package. I knew we we're going to be doing formals at the dance so I was thinking a basic three light setup, with a muselin as my backdrop. I got on the internet, and one hour and thirty two phone calls later it was official, there are no equipment rental shops in Bend, Oregon. Ok, no problem, there has to be a neighboring city with a shop. Nope, the closest rental shop in in Portland three hours away. Okay, if I want to use it I'll have to bring it.

I did the wedding Friday night, got on a 7:00am flight to Portland, then a  connecting flight to Redmond/Bend putting me there around 1:30pm.  I Went straight to the dance hall, set up and lighting, then back to the family's house where 14 of the girls friends we're coming over for some pictures and then taking a limo to the dance.

I ended up carrying 2 Alien Bee strobes on the plane in addition to my regular kit. In hind sight I think I could have got away with using my Quantum and Speedlights but I didn't know the size of the room and many other variables...

I also ended up checking several light stands, umbrellas, and misc grip equipment in a regular suitcase.

f/8 - 1/160 - ISO200
I didn't have any equipment for these shots because it was all at the dance.  It would have been nice to have some fill flash.

1/1000 - f/5 - ISO200

1/320 - f/3.2 - ISO400

1/320 - f/3.2 - ISO200

Dance  Formals - 1/160 - f/11 - ISO400

1sec - f/4 - ISO400

1sec - f/4 - ISO400

1/60 - f/3.5 - ISO1000

1/60 - f/3.5 - ISO1000

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Here are some images from the senior shoot I did for the oldest sister.

1/200 - f/5.6 - ISO200

1/160 - f/11 - ISO200

Corina & Martin Wedding

Corina and Martin finally tied the knot at Castaways in Burbank, CA. A beautiful venue sitting atop the hills and overlooking the city below. It was a windy day and that presented a few problems as the candles would not stay lit. In fact, the wind was blowing so hard, that I had to help a bridesmaid gaff tape the candles to the table just to keep them standing as decor.

It was also very challenging light. The sun wasn't low enough to be nice and soft yet but it was low enough to make sure the exposure would change every time you moved 6 inches. I stayed close and used a lot of fill flash. Thanks Corina and Martin you guys are awesome!!!!

f/3.2 - 1/800

f/3.2 - 1/80

f/1.4 - 1/200

f/4 - 1/6 (handheld no IS)

f/1.4 - 1/50

f/2.8 - 1/100

f/2.8 - 1/100

f/5.6 - 1/500

f/3.2 - 1/60

f/3.2- 1/1250

f/3.2- 1/320

Civil Twilight - "Letters From The Sky"

I recently got a call from a long time friend Michael Carney. One of the acts he manages is shooting a video in Malibu and they need some production still and BTS video. Civil Twilight on Wind Up Records is a kick ass band. Seriously they rock. I knew these guys from back in my band days but they have really progressed and just released a brand new album. Buy it here on itunes.

It was directed by Michael Carney and the DP was Aymeric Montouchet. Amyeric is another old friend of mine and a fantastic DP.  I might have to start bidding for some of the same jobs though... Check out the video here.

I got to pull the guys aside for a few portraits as the sun was fading... My favorite part of the day.

These were all taken with available light around f/3.2.

Handheld HDR - Put into practice

A while ago I did a post about hand held HDR and I finally got a chance to put it into practice. This  wedding at a Catholic Cathedral in Downtown Los Angeles was the perfect setting. It was dimly lit inside with huge windows up high and tungsten bulbs running across the ceiling. It was hard to decide between black and white and color for the final image, but in the end, the black and white just had a certain character.

A few moving subjects made for a small challenge, but all together I spent maybe 5 minutes in photoshop. Still working on the technique but I can see an application for this in the future!

Final image - 3 exposures.

Original

Here are the three original images I used to make the final HDR.

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Here was another test I did while scouting a location for "Seth and Kerry Bridal Reshoot"

Final Image - 3 exposures

Original

Candice & John Engaged

John and Candice both admitted to not feeling especially comfortable in front of the camera, however once we began to shoot you would never have been able to guess it. They are such a fun couple and it really showed in their images!

All of the images shot at f/8 - 1/200 - ISO200

more info on lighting seamless backdrops