Standard stuff

Hi,

I was wondering if you had any time today to take a quick photo?
nothing super fancy, I just found out  I have just won a prestigious award and they would like a photo of me in my lab working.
 oh and I'm getting on a plane to Australia  in 2.5 hrs and will be gone for a months holiday.

I'm on my way.

so there you have it.
 I grab my go kit check the battery and memory card situation and hit the streets running.

luckily the lab where all this was to take place is only 2 short blocks from the world headquarters.

so 2 sb900's D3 with 28-70mm f2.8, 35mm f2 couple light stands, pocket wizards,Apollo soft box,calumet 5 in 1 reflector, gels,the bag of tricks and the BIG umbrella.......
not to much stuff... hopefully enough to do the job.

I arrive and meet the wonderful Maria Koulmanda Phd.

She is a really sweet person, brilliant,funny and rushed for time at the moment.
she's literally getting on a plane to Australia  in 2 hrs to spend Christmas with her 94 year old father.

so she shows me the photo brief.....
standard stuff 300 dpi jpeg of her in a white coat in a lab.


Grand, we can do this.

 she shows me the lab space and........turns out people are mostly gone for the Holidays and.....
the Lab she is in, well... a large portion are leaving  for a different medical center.

so it's empty....

kind of weird...like an empty house.... I never have this problem...usually there is to much stuff in the way, here there is not enough....

Well now... this is her bench... she is leaving for a month+ holiday....not much there...so

I tell her I'm going to be a few moments setting up  and we might need her to be doing something in her lab space.... turns out she is going over the last 6 months of notes and planned on doing that during her 20+ hours in the air.... so she scammpers off to grab the notes and I set about making this blah lab look interesting...

I'm going to want a BIG sorce.

that window in the back is giving my plenty of spill and fill for the background but I want the main light to fill a little bit of the shadows on the shelves.I don't want to give it it's own light because I like the fall off and the mix.

 plus there isn't as much "Lab Stuff" back there so a bit on the darker side helps hide that...

BIG umbrella it is!

60" with a SB900 at 1/4 power to start.

 Based on that test above I'm going to want a small amount of fill on her shadow side closest to the bench. I could get away with it like this... but I don't think it would look as good.

now if she was a RUGGEDLY Handsome  male Australian PhD those shadows might look cool... and more shall we say "BADASS"

But she is quite the lady...Heals and lab coat...I wouldn't want to do that to her.

 so here's the final set up. Second SB900 on a stand with a diffuser set to 1/32 power.

It also has a 1/4 cut of CTO on it 

Just a Flick of light to open up the shadows  and warm up the face.

 we have clouds outside  in the sky a nice lab full of "Lab Stuff"

a Pretty lady as our subject,with the shadow of her hair framing her face nicely.

nice catch lights in her eyes and a nice softer light that evens out any unwanted shadows.

the only real problem I had was getting her to stop laughing... she got a bit of the giggles at one point.

but that's not a bad problem to have....
















She

Been a while.

yes.... yes it has been a while and the rumors of me joining the French Foreign legion are greatly over exaggerated...


lots been going on at the Wahl Photo World Head Quarters.

October is a Crazy time for us...Julie (the Bride of Bruce) is part owner in the Garment District and Boston Costume. So that means I am a Halloween Widow.... yup I just sleep next to her occasionally during October.
That and I've been spending a lot more time behind the camera in stead of in front of a computer.

So now that that's over and life is returning to a semblance of normal...well what we call normal...
a few cool things have been or are about to be published.


First off I've been working with my buddy 's Dan and Scott over at FTF cycles on a bunch of things.

The main thing is the XR1200 Project for Iron Works Magazine.

7 articles making this stock XR Sportster  into a RACE DEMON.....
as featured in this post right here.

Well the final article of that series  just published so I figured I'd share the tear sheets and some of the other images I made at New Hampshire International Speedway on the Track Day we tested her out on.

some of these were in the video and article....

and these are some from that day I like....

I LOVE THIS LENS

 MOTARDs!

Information week 500 and a little sweat....

So I get a call a few weeks back.
 much like any other call.

starts off with "Are you free at one of these 3 times....?"
 well sure why?

Turns out the Senior VP of IT at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, one Dr. John Halamka, needs a few "Environmental Portraits" made.
The images are for Information Week a IT trade Magazine.
They have a top 500 list of innovators that they have named for the past 24 years and BIDMC and Dr. Halamka are "somewhere near the top of the list"......

Great...
so .....whats the environment.....?
 well turns out Dr. John...he's a great guy and a first name type of guy as well.... is not only CIO but also a Emergency Room Physician and renowned expert on Mushrooms.

so in front of the ER it is!

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

problem being we have a 1:30 meet up time...and about 10 minuets with him while he's rushing form one meeting to another.

so.... Dave and I arrive early...and check in with Security... take a look around.... nice landscaping and signage.... a few ambulances....and really sick people and their families we don't want to get in the photos....


and 12:00 pm....DIRECT OVER HEAD SUN.....
but that might not matter....  I've been here before...the sun is moving and we have an hour and a half before our Subject arrives....it might duck behind that building over there....maybe....

so we start doing some tests and get set up.
get the frame...light the frame.

 well....this will require a trip back to the car and grab a silk and a bigger flash....

then before I can voice that thought.......my phone rings.......
turns out the subject only has 5 minuets and is going to be there in 5 minuets or so....not in the 40+ I though we had.
thanks for being early and flexible....

ok Dave grab that ipad and stand in!

yuk....on the light not Dave...

lets use the 3 foot diffusier/ reflector that we have with us instead of the 6x6 silk  a block away that will take 5 minuets to set up that we do not have any way......

well look at that.

SB900 on a ttl cord 1/4 power on camera left to fill some shadows.

BAM....

and here's our guy....
and there are people having a issue in the back ground....it is an emergency room in the city after all...
and sweat is now rolling down my back like Niagara Falls....

good thing we have setting #2 10 feet to the left!

Dr. John is Great!he's used to the attention... He just steps up, slots in, we chat while  I snap and then look at the histogram, check focus....

we are done....

WHEW..........

now I'm not bragging here I really don't want it to come across that way.
I'm not saying look what I can do with these little tools!
or that I half assed it....
I was a bit scared when that call came in...and..
when the people had a melt down in the back ground...

what  I am saying is BE PREPARED...

Getting checked in with security took a little longer then I wanted....and then getting 40+ mins chopped off my prep time was a blow....
but I had with me a smaller scale set up of what I wanted to use....just in case....
What I wanted was a 6x6 silk to cut down the ambient  and even out that harsh mid day ((SUN)).
Then a more powerful portable flash unit to use as fill.....etc.

 What I had with me on the scout was a fill disk and a smaller flash and of course Dave.

So that's what we used...and it turned out fine...because we rolled with it and were prepared.....

Here are the tear sheets, contents and a 1/2 page
don't let them see you sweat...even if it is 90 degrees in August in a parking lot at 12:30 pm.....

Robert Stickgold and all his dreams

So I was Lucky enough the other day to Photograph Robert Stickgold.
He's a Sleep expert and Dream Researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard University.

and....

a REALLY funny guy.

He's got a perfectly timed, dry, witty sense of humor.
Because of it this was one of those shoots that is  hard to pull off because the subject has you laughing most of the time.

but that's a good problem to have.

He's a really interseting guy as well. ( go figure)

During the shoot I got to find out about all sorts of things namly at parties he's not really interested in your dreams... Much the same as I'm not really interested in photographing at a Party I've been invited to...

I usually do because I'm obsessed like that,but that's more for me then a client.

So between cracking up, Bob sneaking a small "yoda" doll into the frame some how when I wasn't looking, and phones that would not stop ringing we got a nice, distinguished,portrait of him.

That ran in the Boston Globes G Section today accompanying Karen Weintraub's interview.


Thanks to Bonnie Prescott  for the assignment and David Baker for all the help schlepping gear etc.

FenWay Rain Day

So I was at Fenway Park the other day.

I get over there a few times a month it seems like.
 there is always some event or some such that needs a photo or 2....

well this day wasn't much different.
 quick in quick out snap snap snap in between.

it wasa rainy day, misty rain at the best of times DOWN POUR at worst....

well I was on my way to the spot where I was supposed to be shooting.....but the people  I was supposed to be shooting canceled...

funny that ....no field access with the rain and all.

so we turned back and started making other plans,and I realized something.
The Park is a weird, eerie place when not in use.

it smells the same as game day... all old beer and popcorn and "human".
but it's really weird with out the throngs of rabid fans jammed into the causeways.
a very different feel if you will.

so... on my way out I stopped and snapped this....

just sort of summed it all up for me....

Black Beauty

so ...I been working  with my buds Dan and Scott for a while now.
 we ride, we wrench, we BS .

Dan is owner and operator of FTF Cycles in Randolph Mass.
 a fine shop.
Scott is the crazy wrench former AMA pro who works with him.
well Scott bought this here XR1200....and ....well they proceeded to make it one SCREAMING HOT ROD....

There have been a bunch of Articles in Iron Works Magazine over the past year on what has been done to the bike and how and more importantly why.

 now that it has been finished there are 2 more wrap up articles coming out the final one being in December 2012

well the images for the most part are  embargoed...but...... I made a video.....while we went to open practice up at the NH International Speedway I bolted a GoPro Hero HD cam on the XR.

yes BOLTED....that thing goes fasts and vibrates while doing it.
 all I needed was one of the sticky mounts they recommend coming loose at 120MPH+
 I use  RAM Mounts.....nice vibration reduction and it STAYS where you put it.

again thanks to Iron Works Magazine
Vanson Leathers
Bills Bail Bonds and everyone else!




well the Video is up on Vimeo
so... here....it... is......

VIDEO


oh yeah....

WBUR Common Health.

Well this is cool.

 I did some photos  a few months back for an internal piece on this Doctor and his reasearch.
 Stuart Schnitt
Really nice guy  doing intereting work.
well turns out it is really interseting and he's getting a fair amount of press on it.
 GO Stuart!

 WBUR the local Boston NPR station runs a blog called Common Health and they picked up the story and one of my photos.
here it is.
 

Street photos

I don't do a lot of street photography.

I think that is going to change...

here are a few I've clicked while on my way some where...

Hey! Have I got an Assigment for you!

6 weeks in Bali shooting classic motorcycle racing super models who also play in a Stoner/Speed Metal band. All expense's paid and Phase One wants you to use the new camera with the Schneider Kreuznach glass and Profoto is on board with enough lighting gear to stress the Tokyo Grid.....

ahhhh one day that phone call/ email will happen.....one day....
 but not today.........

the more run of the mill communications I get are...

We are working on a brochure. We will need a photographer to come Thursday.
The two employees who will be photographed will be there any time after 8:00am.
What time works for you?
We will need separate environmental portrait of each employee.

that's slightly edited.
 I took the header and closer off... but that's pretty much it.
I then found out who they were working with in the design Dept.
 and asked if there was a vision or any kind of detail....

here"s a synopsis of the conversation.

"Make it look like an awesome place to work.....like it's the best place ever....."
Blank stare..."Got any more for me?"
"It's a simple piece a trifold  that highlights what a nice place it is  to work and how there are opportunities there. Probably 3-4 images horizontal and verticals....etc I know you will make it look good. oh.... and we are almost at deadline...so I'll need a quick turn around."
"how quick?"
"You're shooting Thursday...I'm going to press Friday."

now at this point..... the designer gives me a smile.
 we have worked together a bunch in the past.
and I know this smile.
it's the ~ I know I just dumped this on you and that's all the info I have because they didn't give me any real info and I have 200 other things I need to be doing here and 500 outside of here and I just really need some great images  to help me save this thing that just got dumped in my lap and I don't even have the copy for this thing yet.....
help....? Please...?~

never fear... I'm on it.
see it's not the DREAM ASSIGNMENT.
but it's an assignment... it pays the bills and that's good because the cat sure does like to eat....
I know I'm super lucky to be able to pay the bills with a camera.
and that's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to make this place....that I don't know what it looks like yet... look like an awesome place to work!
Every one I shoot is for the cover of Vanity Fair.
that's my mind set "knock it out of the park or die trying"


so....
vague brief, check.
lights, camera, action, check, check, check.
address and contact person check and check.
sense of optimism and hope check and check.

and away we go....


 So I arrive early, because I'd rather have to much time then not enough...because we never have enough....
I explain to the security guard who I am and he sign's me in and tells me to go up to the appropriate floor.
I do and I find the proper door and then my contact.
She's super nice, we chat and I'm told while the people I'm there to photograph are there I need to catch them in between calls.
ok.... not to bad..... I can set up and when they are ready  turn to me and bang out a few images.
and in the mean time I need to make some images for the "filler" spaces. so I have run of the place.

the place....
the space....
yeah... ever see that movie Office Space..........
it's a cube farm....a beige cube farm humming with Fluorescent light.

not a beach in Bali.
but anyone can take a good photo on a beach in Bali....
so I set about it.
 one person has a really big window as a wall to her cube.
winner!
lil fill and a bounce card... not to shabby!

second person is in the middle of the floor I seriously got a little lost  getting there.
it's sort of disconcerting....disorienting all the sameness of it all.....

so.. this is a job for GIANT OCTAbox with massive power pack and a hair fan!
but I ain't got that stuff with me......
so how's about I use a 50" westcott apollo and 2 SB900s in it and a SB800 off the ceiling to camera right outside the cube and a old SB21 ring light as on axis fill.....?
 BAM done....



ok.....
all set up....
where's my subject?
and she just went to lunch.....be back in 45mins or so.

Groovy..........

so an hour to kill..I set about getting those 2-3 other filler shots.
man this place DEPRESSES me.

I couldn't do it.
no way... I'm more of the view has to change blue collar guy....

so I keep looking,  really looking.
snap here snap there...
and in all the same ness I start to see the differences.....
all the little things people bring in and "decorate" with....
wow......
there are lots of photos of kids... they serve as a reminder as to why you are there....need the money to feed the kids....

 need the money....that's why we are all here.....

so. I get what we need for the piece and do all the post and it goes out to the dsesigner then the printer client happy check comes bills paid Cat feed and happy.
winner!


then I take a look at the "lagniappe".....
the little extras I shot while killing time...
the stuff that the client or designer didn't want to see.
a little slice of life.....I couldn't do it but there are a few brave souls who do....
here they are...see for yourself....