Oct 13, 2015 | Field Reports
It’s live RIGHT NOW – BT Journal 18.3 and it’s huge! Brent packed this issue with more images, more video and more text then ever before so you feel like you’re right next to us in that Landie! This issue is 80 pages, yep, our normal 24pg Journal is 80 pages this time. It centers around our July Africa Adventure. Before you think further, the issue is the length it is because so much of what it is to be a wildlife photographer, going to Africa and much more has been clouded with time. The romance, the technical, the good for your soul and so much more are what bulks up this issue and it is inspiration I think you need and will enjoy reading! You subcribers, thanks for your continued support. Those of you wanting to improve your wildlife and landscape photography, what are you waiting for. Go get it now!
Oct 9, 2015 | Field Reports
Multi-exposure ease, Alaska Spectacular!
Oct 1, 2015 | Field Reports
My good friend at Epson, Eddie, knows how I love to share my images via the print. He also knows I’m really, really, really a stickler when it comes to print quality. My favorite papers are Hot Press Bright and Exhibition going through a TON of it each year. Now one paper is a Matter and the other a Luster and depending on the subject (the most important), the client and the wall the print is going to be hung, I select the right paper (and at times, I go metal with Image Wizards). While we were talking about the new Epson P800 (repl for 3880) printer, a new paper (at least new to me) came up, the Exhibition Watercolor Fine Art (what Eddie affectionately calls the 80grit paper). Now I’d never heard of or tried that paper and trusting Eddie, a box of it arrived. Sadly, a couple months back. I just started test printing with it and man … it’s gorgeous!!!!
You can’t tell a thing about paper from a website, no matter what I post, visual or text but I can describe it pretty well. It keeps the subject sharp but renders the photograph like a painting. The texture to the paper you can feel quickly once you take it out of the box. It’s a Matte finish fine art so you use the Matte Ink but it renders deep blacks very well. This combination of texture and blacks it why I think I really like it so much. The new P800 which I’m anxiously waiting for I’m told is the best Epson printer for “reds” and the combo of this, Exhibition Watercolor and 17×22″ size will be a lethal combo for printing. With red such an important color in selling prints and with texture a big selling point, I think Epson has made it easier again for us to print, share those prints and probably sell more of them.
Sep 27, 2015 | Field Reports
Just finished up a great week in Cripple Creek with spectacular fall color with a great steak dinner and then time with the “Blood Moon.” Here’s a quick click, Df, 80-400VR3 ISO3200. Just for John :-)
Sep 24, 2015 | Field Reports
It’s been a while since I’ve done a full blown, working comp, big stage commercial shoot. To say I was rusty is being kind. Now I never was really fast at it, often looked for small details that never really show up in the photo. Sharon worked hard and spent almost three years getting us the client so I wanted to deliver more than they expected. The client is AvFuel and the setting is kinda our home, Minot Aero Center. And the job is to show both AvFuel and MAC doing their daily thing. So with the comp and list in hand, I went to work. This top shot is pretty darn simple, business jet in front of the big, new hangar. To bring it home visually to Minot, shot it after a blizzard had gone through. Simple D4s / 24-70AFS click. Check that off the list.
The next shot might seem simple but it’s one the lawyers got involved with. The pumping of JetA must be done in a very precise way which means holding the nozzle correctly using the right stance, wearing the proper eye protection, ear protection, gloves, vest and even pants. After that, there is bringing in the client and location to the photo; the signs on the truck. The easiest part was the taking of the photo. Quick click with D4s / 24-70AFS and SB-910. Check #2 off the list.
Then came the interior shots. This particular image took three hours to arrange, five minutes to shoot. This is a brand new space at the MAC and the goal of the photo is to bring it to life. It’s the pilots lounge, rec and planning area. Everything you see in the photo except the pool table was staged for the shot. That includes the P-40 Warhawk and Jet out on the ramp, to tables, models, pool balls and even the water bottles with the MAC logo on them. Sharon in the back corner there even has her iPad plugged like she’s a pilot getting ready for the next flight. It was shot with the D4s / 24-70AFS and two Profoto B2 heads with Oct and 2×3 softboxes. The lighting was the challenge, had to light the entire set light and airy. The flash heads placed so you didn’t see their reflection in the windows yet lit it all. Now you can see why it took me three hours to set up and seconds to shoot. The thing that was really important was that I not only followed the comp but went beyond it and since the client was happy that was accomplished. How do I know they were happy? Invoice submitted for payment an hour after delivery of images. That’s always a good feeling! And me, looking for more not so much for the payday but to practice some dusty skills and get back what I had and move the ball forward!
Sep 20, 2015 | Field Reports
photo by RC Concepcion
Forty years ago today, my life was changed forever. It’s when our adventure together began, one that continues to this day and points to the future. She’s my business partner, my best friend, gave me two amazing sons and has been by my side from the very start. There are no words to describe my love for her, and no words to say thanks. But she will always be, the love of my life!
This is how it all began
“Will you go out with me?” That one question launched the two great love affairs of my life. In my dad’s new Dodge Dart Swinger (what a name for a car), I picked up my date. In the trunk was my new Minolta SRT202 w/50f1.4 and 105f3.5 I had worked all summer to buy, a 24mm lens borrowed from a friend and my brother’s tripod and cable release I had borrowed from him. With that we made the drive down to Huntington Beach, a 30min rush of nervousness. We went to a local’s favorite sandwich shop, Strotelmyers, and picked our gourmet sandwiches to go to eat on the beach (all the big spender could afford). We parked, grabbed dinner and camera gear and walked down to the surf.
The blanket was spread out with care on the sand. A young boy’s twitter filled the air (I’d been in love since the first time I saw my date months before) as we laid out the dinner with the camera gear carefully being assigned its place on the blanket. We sat down, unwrapped the sandwiches and looked out over the ocean. What a beautiful sunset. Sunset?! I said excuse me, dropped my dinner, grabbed my camera and off I ran down the beach leaving my date on our first date sitting there alone on the blanket in the setting sun.
I returned 20min later quite satisfied with the couple of rolls of color neg I had exposed. I returned to find my date sitting there were I had so rudely left her. She hadn’t touched another bite of dinner, she had carefully wrapped mine up that I had dropped and greeted me with that smile and twinkle in her eyes that caught my heart the first time we meet. The photo would later that year win an award at the Los Angeles County Fair. And the date, she’s been my friend, partner and companion on this photography quest that has filled our lives ever since that night on the beach. That’s how the two great love affairs of my life began.
And the love affair continues …
