It just occurred to me that I never blogged these images. I got them out on facebook, but not here. One of the keys to moving a lot of folks through an event like this is having good help. On this day I had GREAT help! Marlene is always my right hand when I shoot,...
We were all here to welcome Gianna home from the hospital today! The kids were especially glad to meet their new sister and see their parents for the first time in a few days. Thanks to Aunt Ori Ori for taking great care of them until we could make it up here! What a great...
I’ve shown this before, but I was reviewing some images and realized I made a very amateur mistake on this photo. Before I confess to what it was, take a look at a 100% crop. And now the final image that I am very pleased with: OK, so what was my big mistake you might...
I’ve driven past this barn dozens, maybe even hundreds of times through the years. But the other day while I was in Ohio, it caught my eye for possibly the first time as an interesting image. I zoomed past it and thought to myself, that might have been a nice picture. I was in the...
Above photo by Bill Fortney As many of you know, I’ve been taking photos for more years than I like to claim. I photographed my first wedding for money in 1972 as a high school Sophomore. What were they thinking hiring someone that young to take their wedding pictures? 40+ years later, it is how...
I can’t remember the last time I’ve had this much fun! What an incredibly fulfilling day, and I owe it all to my dear friend and brother in Christ, Bill Fortney. He invited me to this workshop a few weeks ago, and as much as I wanted to attend, I wasn’t 100% convinced I would...
Wednesday I went to Nossi at their invitation to expose them to Mirrorless cameras. This is Natalie Nicole, an actress and model. She got the short straw and worked the high key set with me today. I love the fact that her Native American heritage gave us beautiful olive flesh tones and super black...
March 24, 2010 I went on a several day road trip with my son. We headed south to Florida just so we could take pictures and enjoy some time together. It was fun, random and spontaneous. We didn’t even make hotel reservations because we didn’t know where we would end up at. I found these...
Like Little Dorothy said, “there’s no place like home.” Ohio has been home most of my life, until nearly 3 years ago when we moved to Tennessee. This past weekend was one of my very favorite shows to work for Dury’s! This years Professional Photographers of Ohio show was the best it’s been in recent...
This was my office last Tuesday, and it was a beautiful place to work. Wood floors, spot lighting, high ceiling and lots of outlets. Nothing missing at all. This room is a gallery that was being taken down, but they let us use it anyway. As you can see, my standard 3 light set up...
Let me introduce you to my friend, Henry Hamman. Henry is a talented writer, great guy and a lot of fun to hang with. (he also is super smart and loves photography) Today I am driving to Sewanee, which is about 100 miles South of Nashville. We’ll meet Henry there and set up to photograph...
We were pleasantly surprised by a visit from our son! Out of the blue he called yesterday and said he was heading up after work. Good thing he left last night because he missed the snow this morning. It’s not that he can’t drive in it, because he can. But the rest of the city,...
I’ve owned one of these Think Tank bags for over two years. But before I changed camera systems, it was referred to as, “The Mother Ship” in other words, where all my DSLR gear lived until I needed it for a job. If I were traveling anyplace far away, I would use this to transport...
It doesn’t happen that often in Nashville, thankfully. But for the sake of our visiting family from California, I was glad it did. Besides, I am on vacation and I didn’t have to drive out with all the crazies on I-40 heading home tonight. The few times I’ve seen it snow here, have not been...
I have to start this off with a bit of a disclaimer. Third and Lindsley is a great concert venue to see some very talented musicians and a better than average sound mix. However, just as good as it is for the musicians and fans, it is equally terrible for photographers. I knew that going...
Some of the concerns I’ve read about are focusing in low light. This was a very dark corner of the room, in fact this is a 1/4 second exposure to get some light from the tree lights to show up, ISO 400 and f9. I won’t say that the camera didn’t struggle, but I would...
We had a beautiful day Wednesday, so I went out to test the new lens at close focusing. After all, we want to see what shallow depth of field looks like and expected bokeh. Well, without a portrait subject I had to improvise with some landscaping outside our home. I am very happy with...
First of all I would like to say thank you to the nearly 4,000 people that have read my previous post on the Fuji X Pro1 vs Nikon D700. I’ve never had so many visitors to my blog and am still shocked that there is that much interest in this information. I feel like I...
I’ve been wanting to do a head to head comparison of these cameras for several weeks. I was hired to do some portraits on Thanksgiving, so it was a good chance to see how they stacked up. Before you look too critically, these will be finished in Lightroom, yada, yada. I am not excited about...
Sometimes I get into just poking around on my archives of images and wonder what they might look like with a few modifications. When I found this one, I thought the color needed punched up a little. I always liked it, but didn’t really love it. A few “clicks” in Nik Color Efex and here...
This is what it takes to work outside on a super windy, not many clouds in the sky day. Our great friends Mike and Laurie Sherwood brought over their bike and created this really nice fall scene set. Mike was so cool, picking up most of the kids, letting them sit on his beautiful Harley...
82 Degrees in late October…we used to call that “a gift” when we lived in Ohio! It was a day meant to go out and enjoy your bike before the long, non-riding months of winter set in. We had a list of things we needed to get done, and if we did we were going...
I was looking for an image on my hard drive and came upon this one. I had forgotten I took it last year, but it caught my eye this morning. This was my Nikon D700 with a Tamron 28-75 f2.8 lens. I still think this lens is one of the best value lenses we have...
Morning is my favorite time of day. I’ve said before I love the entire new beginning! This time of year it is brisk on the back patio, and the steam rises from my coffee mug as I wait for the sun rise. I don’t sleep all that well, so sunrises are a part of most...
I have to admit that I’ve been a Fuji fan for many, many years. I loved their film and all their cameras and lenses. Recently I bought the X10, and it is one of the most fun cameras I’ve owned for many years! When photography is both your profession and a passion, you just don’t...
This was a super fun evening! My good friend Mike Sherwood had an extra ticket to this concert because his wife was out of town. When he called and asked if I could go, I was super stoked about it! The venue is one of my very favorites. It was the outdoor setting of Fontanel...
OK, I know these aren’t roses, I’m not that botanically challenged. I don’t know what they are really called, I just know they are pretty. Driving home late tonight I rediscovered the need to slow down and enjoy the beautiful scenery that may be right in front of you. As I drove up the road,...
I make a living selling camera equipment to all kinds of “photographers” at most every skill level. I realize we all started somewhere, and I invest a significant amount of time mentoring most anyone that asks for my help. I enjoy the teaching aspect of my job and try to help whenever I can. I...
My sister and her family visited us in Nashville last week. I carried Marlene’s little Nikon Coolpix S4100 for this trip. Admittedly these are snapshots, but I think that it will illustrate what you can do with this fun little camera. It does have a touch screen menu which takes some getting used to, but...
If it looks like Lindsay and her crew are having a great time, it’s because they were! Her assistants Tiffany and Jeff were thorough, accommodating and they worked their butts off. Even the heat of the Nashville summer didn’t slow them down, neither did direct sun. Jeff just picked up a diffuser and a couple...
What can you do with one light and a reflector? How about this? There is no magic, it is just the most perfect light source I’ve ever used. Because of it’s reflective qualities, it transmits soft, beautiful and EVEN light all across the subject. Where is it placed? Just out of the frame on the...
It was Father’s Day and I had just settled into my recliner for a little rest. My phone rings and Marlene asks me to grab my camera and head up to the bridge. “The “Daylilies” are blooming, and it would look so nice with Jade’s outfit,” so off I head. I didn’t want to take...
The challenge was to take a room full of photographers and show them the importance of solid basics when shooting in a studio…especially in a high production environment like underclass photography. A calibrated meter – here my trusty Gossen Starlight 2 Great (consistent output) lights. In this situation I used two, Hensel Integra Mini 2...
This past weekend we traveled to Cleveland, TN where I spoke to a group of 25 photographers about lighting for their underclass businesses. I took two hours to break down the basics of consistent lighting. Quality lights, an accurate meter, and the discipline to use them all the time! I think they got it, only...
We just finished up another great class at Dury’s! We tried a totally new class idea, posing AND lighting with a 20 student limit. Not sure what would happen, we opened it up and it was totally booked in less than 24 hours. For the morning session, we worked on a basic gray paper backdrop. ...
Mark Mather from Hensel sent me some of their lights for evaluation purposes. I started the process this past weekend and used them for one of my sets during our “Posing and Lighting” seminar. This is their “beauty dish” with a reflector right under her chin. The light here is an incredible 300 Ws monolight...
The incredibly gifted photographer Clay Blackmore has been posting beautiful infrared images lately. That reminded me that I borrowed our mutual (and missed) friend Monte Zucker’s camera on a visit to San Diego a few years ago. While walking around the Zoo/Balboa park area, I photographed this candid scene. It’s not great art, but I...
I met Xavier at work a few months ago. He is a big guy, super polite but maybe a little intimidating in his regulation Army Camo uniform. But once he flashes his smile at you, it’s all over. You know that he is a very cool person and you want to get to know him...
My Tamron 14mm fisheye lens was perfect for this image and the next one. This was a super fun evening. Marlene and I are the official photographers at our new home. We were able to take all the photo’s from the meet and great till the end. The guys in the band are almost all...
Wow, this was an unbelievable evening! It was a “who’s who” of some of Nashville’s best studio and performing musicians. All willingly offered their time and tribute to a man who was much more than just an incredible musician, (although he was that for sure!) he was their friend. He touched many lives by...
There is nothing like window light! A great softbox is a good start, but even the best ones are no match to His light. Seriously, does that surprise you? It doesn’t surprise me that mans best attempts fall incredibly short of whatever God decides to do. We know that “God so loved the world that...
I’d like to introduce you to Vince “Vinnie” Yuppa, born with the very cool birth date of 11/22/11. This little guy is going to be a handful and will proudly carry on the Yuppa name. His sister is getting used to having him around and will be quite the helper for her mama. It was...
Last weekend was awesome! All of our children were home and we had such an enjoyable time. One of the things we try to do is get out and take some pictures together. It is usually just us “guys” and I get to spend a little time teaching them some of the things I’ve learned...
We’ve had so much fun this past week with our children and grandchildren! Blessed is how we feel. The entire family was together with the exception of our son-in-law Hugo. He was missed a lot, and we can’t wait till Christmas when we’ll be together again. For anyone interested, here is an album with some...
I spent this past weekend with a great photographer, an author and educator, Kevin Ames. If you are a photographer, you will want to look at his blog and follow along with all that he has going on. Kevin is a solid technician and totally understands lighting. Based in Atlanta, he stays busy shooting all...
There are so many lens options when you buy a new camera. It can be a bit overwhelming at first look. But, if you take some time and read the specs, it gets easier. Nikon and Canon both make available “kit” lenses with their most popular bodies. Generally speaking, these are not great lenses. In...
This is the 85mm lens shot at 2.8! The only reason I did not shoot it wide open was to keep all of Sadie in focus. But look at the beautiful out of focus background, right out of the camera! Thanks to Dave Metz from Sigma that sent us these great lenses to shoot with. ...
Why do we name some of our possessions like our cars? I know we’ve nicknamed our GPS, and it is not a flattering name at all. Let’s just say it refers to her ability to totally get lost in the middle of otherwise easy to navigate situations. Anyway, Sadie’s dad has had a few pickup...
Recently I was invited to be a part of a challenging photographic project. Challenging from a few different areas. First, the objective was to photograph some of our neighbors here in Nashville. The one major difference is that these people are homeless and live on the streets. The day was fairly cold, a high of...
We had so much fun yesterday taking Mateo’s pictures! It was an entire family affair: he was both adorable and cooperative. I was a little concerned that we couldn’t make it something that was totally different from his cousin’s pictures. But his parents did their homework and had lots of ideas for us to try,...
