Olivia

There's a rather short two month window here in Texas, between April and May where the weather is bearable and the everything is starting to turn green.  Anything after this window is in the brutal heat that is the Texas summer.  All the stars aligned this past May and I had the opportunity to work with the wonderful Olivia for a portrait/fashion shoot.  I had wanted to shoot with her for quite a few months, but she first had to finish her deployment to Afghanistan with the Air Force.  Just to make sure my photo shoot requests weren't lost in the daily shuffle of life, I think I must have sent her "reminder" messages on a weekly basis.  Lucky for me, she wasn't completely sick of hearing from me and still wanted to shoot upon returning home!  Ha!

As you can see from the photos, Olivia is a very striking model.  It's her unique look which made me want to work with her for so long.  Now that she was home, we made the arrangements and planned our shoot.  We met at the location for the shoot around 10am.  It was already becoming warm and quite humid.  I wasn't too worried about the sun light being high overhead because our shoot location was nicely covered by a tree canopy.  I setup my lighting gear while she touched up her make-up.  Olivia brought her boyfriend along which worked out really well because it's always handy to have an assistant to put to work.  He helped me move lights, hold a reflector and keep an eye her to make sure hair and make-up were all looking good.

We shot for almost 2 hours and everything went really well.  I was really happy with the images we came away with.  Olivia was great to work with... a total professional, and I hope to work with her again on future projects!  

The Jones Family Farm

Tucked back in the woods, in a secluded location of Lake Ray Roberts (just outside Sanger Texas) is an old farm house built in 1850 by Jackson Carroll Jones and his wife.  Common in those days were large families and at one time it is said there were 12 people living in this small four room house.  I can only imagine how cramped life there must have been.  But I suppose when you're living on the frontier, running a farm, the more the merrier.  This land was purchased in 1984 by the Corps of Engineers, which soon built Lake Ray Roberts.  Thankfully they kept this old farm house intact and even fenced it off from public access.  This has kept the house, barn and work shed in practically untouched condition!  While there is no furniture inside the house, it still has all the little details like door knobs, sinks and kitchen fixtures.  The barn and shed are still chocked full of rusted farm equipment and all the "junk" they seemed to save up over the years living there.  All this makes for some great photo opportunities.  

I was lucky enough to get this opportunity about a month ago when the Denton Camera Club took a field trip to this old farm.  About 20 of us were given access early in the morning.   We fanned out with our cameras and began to create our photos and document our findings.  It would be an amazing place to do a portrait photo shoot at.  But we kept it to just shooting the farm itself on this trip.  Although I did take a moment to use myself as a model (2nd photo above).  Like most old farm homes, they do have a certain amount of creepiness about them.  This one is no exception.  While alone in the house for a few minutes, you do get odd feelings of how much has taken place over the years, right where you're standing.  It's a very cool place to explore and it hasn't been vandalized with graffiti or looted clean like most abandoned farms.  I really hope it stays this way.  The place really is a photographic gold mine!   

Shooting Fashion with Shelby

Shelby is a local model who I had been wanting to work with for sometime.  She's very comfortable in front of the camera and can easily pull off many different looks.  A few weeks ago our schedules finally matched up and we met up for a shoot.  The whole thing was on short notice, so I had to come up with a location fast.  I quickly opened Google Earth, where I put marker pins on locations I come across and want to remember later.  This is one of those times I was very happy I'd been doing this!  I was reminded of a spot I had found the previous winter and thought it would be a prime location for portraits once everything was green outside.  Behind the local dog park are a network of gravel trails which weave through the woods.  Perfect!  I loaded up all my gear and headed off to the shoot.

We started the shoot at 12 noon, which isn't ideal normally for a photoshoot.  But we had the advantage of shooting under the tree canopy of the trail, and this made it ideal since I could now control the light nicely with my camera and speedlights.  First thing I noticed was we were working with a bright background.  Sun light and green Spring colors was going give me an excellent contrast to Shelby's auburn red hair.  It was at this time I decided to go with a one-light setup.  In most portrait situations, I prefer to use at least two lights of one fill light and one at a back angle for rim/highlights.  This gives the subject separation from the background and, well just looks pretty cool.  But because of the natural light of this location, we had great light to work with.  Shelby and I quickly picked out a spot on the trail to work with.  I marked different spots on the trail where I needed her to stand to make the best use of the shade and ambient light.  This is the spot I would dial in my Canon Speedlight for.  I then setup one Canon 580exII on a light stand with a 32 inch white shoot-thru umbrella, to the left of my camera since the sun was coming from high and to my right.  And I was shooting this session with a 5DmkII and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS.  This lens has long been one of my favorite portrait lenses.  Some think it's just for sports/action.  But it provides excellent image quality, nice bokeh (soft background blur) and perfect image compression between the subject and background.  And on a full frame camera, you don't have to be 5 miles back to get them in the shot.

We began shooting and I mostly let Shelby pose how she was comfortable.  Only a few times I would have to have her adjust her hair or move a stray hair off her face.  Sometimes I would instruct her to angle herself to play to either my light or the sun light, depending on which looked best for the pose.  I do try to suggest and demonstrate a pose I want her to try (which Im sure looks ridiculous).  I kept the speedlight set on a fairly low power since I only wanted it use it as a gentle fill light.  I believe it stayed at 1/8th to 1/4 power at most.  And on a few of her shots we used a 5 in 1 reflector set to the solid white side, laying on the ground with my bag propping it up slighting towards her.  This would create the perfect fill light from below to brighten any shadows if the sun became harsher.  Thankfully Shelby showed up with perfectly done make up and hair.

We worked for about 1-1/2 hours and stopped as the sun began to take away most our nice shade.  But by then I had shot at least 15 "keepers" out of about 150 photo's overall.  This type of shoot is known as a trade, because it gives both the model and photographer material for their portfolios.  It was a lot of fun to work with Shelby, the images were a nice addition to my portfolio and I hope hers as well!    

 

Into the Desert with the DCPT Gang!

Back in late 2011 I ventured to Jackson Hole Wyoming with a photography tour group called Dirt Cheap Photo Tours (http://dirtcheapphototours.com), led by owner Jeff Clow.  It was an amazing trip and I returned with a ton of awesome photos.  I knew I wanted to go on another tour, but I wasn't sure exactly where yet.

Then last fall I received an email from Jeff informing me he was adding a new destination to his tours.  The Spring of 2013 DCPT's would be heading to Moab Utah and the surrounding National Parks.  I replied to his email within seconds to let him know I was IN!  He added me to the tour group list and gave me all the needed information.  The price had gone up a bit since Jackson Hole.  The tour now costs $600, up from $500 in 2011.  Perhaps inflation?  Or just the cost differences of the location.  Either way it was still a great value.  You see, if I was planning this trip on my own... I would have to research exactly where to go, how to get there, where to stay, rent a car and drive myself around.  Could I do all that?  Sure.  But it's much easier when you're with a group.  But Jeff makes it even easier.  He rents the cars, finds a good hotel for you to reserve a room at and drives you around each day.  Leave your maps and GPS at home... Jeff has it covered.  All you have to do is concentrate on shooting.  All day... each day.

So, lets start with getting there.  There are three ways you can get to Moab Utah.  Option one:  Catch a United flight into Denver, then a puddle jumper into Moab.  This is what I did.  We flew from Denver to Moab in a Beechcraft 1900 twin-engine, which I referred to as "the twin-engine lawn mower".  It was a fun experience.  You get a better view of the mountains below because the aircraft fly's at a lower altitude.  Turbulence wasn't bad at all and the flight takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes.  Now, if you go this route you'll find out the Moab airport is TINY.  And there are no taxi's or shuttles waiting outside for arriving tourists.  So be sure to call ahead and arrange your ride.  There are shuttle services which will pick you up.  But you have to schedule them.  We didn't know this and had to hang out in the "airport" for about an hour for them to find the right sized van to come get the 6 of us.  Anyhow, Option two: Fly into Grand Junction Colorado and rent a car.  Then drive the 90 minutes to Moab.  And option three: Load up your own car and make the road trip.  The latter seems to be the least attractive to me.  I just want to get there, shoot and get home.

My buddy Stephen Masker and I flew in the evening before the tour actually started.  Jeff's tour was to start on a Thursday evening and end the following Sunday afternoon.  We arrived on Wednesday night to get settled and explore Moab a bit.  We checked into the Moab Valley Inn and got settled.  There are not a lot of daily flights into Moab so if we had waited to fly in on Thursday, we would have arrived just a couple hours before the tour started.  I wanted to be fresh and ready to go, so Wednesday it was.  Thursday evening rolled around and the group met Jeff and each other in the lobby of the hotel.  From that point forward it's a whirlwind.  We loaded up the car with our gear and headed out for  a couple hours of evening shooting.

On this particular DCPT, we managed to hit 28 photo stops.  Spread that out over 3 1/2 days and that's a lot of time behind the camera.  Each stop is pretty much the same system.  Jeff talks about the up coming destination while driving.  Once we arrive, Jeff announces how long we have to shoot.  Usually it's somewhere between 45 minutes to an 1-1/2  hours.  Plenty of time to find the best shots.  Then, everyone gets out of the car and spreads out around the location finding their best photo opportunities.  Of course there's usually one or two "must have" views or rock formations everyone will shoot.  But after that, it's up to your imagination.

I do need to give one warning about the parks around Moab, which I didn't have to give about my trip to Jackson Hole.  It occurred to me on several occasions this is one vacation that I could actually DIE during.  You see, Moab is full of sheer cliffs and valleys.  They DO NOT put guard rails up at the edges.  So you really must use extreme caution while trying to get "the shot".  Because if you're not careful and you fall, it won't be a rescue mission, only a body recovery mission.  Those cliffs are 500 feet straight down.  No joke.  Now, don't let that scare you from going.  It's your choice how close you want to get to the edge.  Jeff doesn't force the tour group right to the edge at any time.  I made my own decisions to move my camera and tripod to within 2 feet of the abyss.  So... just be careful.

The shoot schedule for the tour can be a bit grueling.  Each day Stephen and I were up by 5:30am, eating breakfast by 6am and in the car with the group by 6:30am.  We arrive at our first location before sunrise and shoot all day till late afternoon, only stopping a couple hours for lunch.  It is exhausting.  But you'll come home with some amazing photos.  I ended up shooting somewhere around 900 photos.  I was a bit more selective in my shots that my previous tour.  And I was able to pack lighter than I did for the Wyoming trip.  Since there isn't really any wildlife to photograph in Moab, my gear was really landscape focused.  I packed one body, 3 lenses, my tripod and a few needed accessories.  Stephen put together an entire blog post about what he was packing.  It's worth a good read HERE.

So far I have to say this has been one of my top photographic journeys.  There is so much to shoot in the National Parks around Moab.  Jeff does a great job "chasing the light" as he likes to call it and seems to always know which location to be at and what time to be there.  Overall, this photo tour has been a great value.  My expenses were the following; $600 for the tour (he splits it into 2 payments), about $360 for my flight and $369 for my hotel (5 nights 4 days) plus a little for food/snacks.  All said and done I probably spent close to $1400.  But in the world of guided photo tours, that is "Dirt Cheap".  Normally something like what DCPT's offers would run over $2000.  A great value!  

I returned home exhausted and with a suitcase full of red dust and sand covered clothes and gear.  But it was all worth it!  I've made some new photog friends and added a bunch of quality images to my portfolio.  A big Thank You to Jeff Clow for hosting another memorable photo tour.  I appreciate what you do buddy!

You can view my images from the trip as I add them to THIS flickr photo set.  Enjoy.

The Comeback Kid

The Comeback Kid, a photo by Thorpeland on Flickr.

Life in Texas often brings quite a few mild days during the winter. Forget the heavy coats and snow boots. Just throw on a long sleeve shirt and some jeans and you'll be fine. My friend Rocky and I took advantage of one such nice February day to head out on a photo drive and create some fun and interesting photos.

This was an especially fun day for Rocky. About a year ago he had to sell a majority of his camera gear to help pay for school. Not being able to get out and shoot for so many months left him missing the days of driving down dirt roads looking for a great photo opportunity. Well he got that opportunity when I upgraded one of my camera's. Rocky immediately expressed interest in buying it and getting back in the game!

While at one of our photo stops, I asked him to pose in this hay field gate for a portrait. I jokingly said "this is your comeback portrait". But, I feel it really represents his return to photography and the adventure that comes with it.

Welcome back Rocky!

Portrait of a Skater

Portrait of a Skater, a photo by Thorpeland on Flickr.

Back in February I had the opportunity to work with a talented young up and coming derby skater. She goes by the name 'Baby Hurl' and is getting sponsorship from Atom, a roller derby gear company.

I traveled to her home rink, setup a mobile studio and we spent about an hour shooting posed shots and later a few (staged) action shots. I was most happy with this image.

Baby Hurl skates for the Rolling Rebellion at the House of Quad, which is also the home of the North Texas Derby Revolution. The derby league of Denton Texas.

Bridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap, a photo by Thorpeland on Flickr.

The new pedestrian bridge at the University of North Texas is open and looks great at night. This will allow people to walk from the parking lot to the new stadium.

Photo Walkin'





This past July, my friend and fellow photographer Stephen Masker, grabbed our cameras and headed out into the streets of downtown Dallas.  Sometimes it's just a great time to get out with your gear and photograph whats right there in your own back yard.  Stephen showed me a few great spots to shoot from, one being the second photo above of the trolley station in Uptown Dallas.  I captured some nice images that night.  I look forward to going again before the summer is over.

Team Photos!

The past few weeks I've been shooting team photos and headshots for the teams of the Dallas Derby Devils.  The flat track derby league from Dallas Texas.  All these girls are really a lot of fun to work with!  Although each team photo shoot is the equivalent of herding cats, I eventually get everyone in place.. posed and we're able to get a good photo.  These team photos are used each month in their game-day brochures, fliers and on the league website.    

Engagement Time

A bit out of chronological order because I have a few other photos to post which were taken previously to this one.  But, I'll get to those soon enough.  These are my good friends Brian and Jessica.  They're getting married this summer in Cozemel Mexico and asked me to shoot their engagement photos.  We had a great time just walking around town, shooting where ever we found a spot with nice natural lighting and a pleasant backdrop.  A lot of sessions like these I've brought along some off camera flash to fill in shadows and give things a more polished look.  But this time I decided to travel light.  One camera, a couple lenses and just use the available light.  I think we came away with some very nice photos.  

Tea Party

From a recent concept shoot for my friend Lisa.  She did a great job with costume and props.   And of course posing for the camera.  It was a fun shoot and I'm still working my way through the photos from it.

Getting the Word Out

Sometimes at a pre season kick off party, you just have to go the extra mile to get the word out.  

Frozen Black

Another week, another nice car!  As part of a project a fellow photog and I are working on, we had the chance to photograph this limited edition BMW M3 "Frozen" Black Edition.  Beautiful car!

Someone Call 911

I recently had the opportunity to photograph a very nice Porche 911.  This one had a number of body and engine modification.  Very sweet ride and sounded really mean as it rolled up into the parking garage for the shoot.   

The Mafia

When I showed up to shoot The Mafia's team portraits (roller derby team), I knew I was in for a fun evening.  They had full costumes for their individual portraits and real weapons as props! It was a true technical challenge shooting this many people.  But I went home feeling like I captured it well. 

Seniors!

Spring always means Senior Portrait time!  I really like doing these because they're always a fun age group to work with.  Although, the guys are usually kind of beat down by the idea of having their photo taken... while the girls go all out. hah!  But, I still enjoy shooting both. 

The Virgin Wolves

While walking around the Deep Ellum Arts Festival I came across the Virgin Wolves performing.  Withing seconds, I was an instant fan.  They were great!  Full of energy and with a great sound.  And that lead singer can rock it... no joke.  She's got some serious vocal power.  Check'em out!

Speed of Sound

Back in early April I joined a bunch of fellow photog friends in the Dallas area for a photo-walk at White Rock Lake.  I hadn't been down there in a few years and forgot what a really cool place it is.  For those who have never been, it's really like a Central Park in NYC... but for Dallas.  You've got urban sprawl everywhere.  Then, tucked away just off the road, is a small lake with trails and things to do.  It's very cool.  I think I'll visit it more often.  ;-)

Great Accidents

This is my friend Lucky Lou.  She doesn't like her photo being taken, so I have to be sneaky.  ha!  This is by far my all time favorite photo I've taken of her.  She was talking to another friend of ours and I just shot from the hip with my camera and this is what I got.  It's just such a genuine photo of her, laughing while listening to a funny story being told.  

Derby Portraits

I've been shooting a few Roller Derby team photos and headshots lately.  They're so much fun to do!  This is Cherry Cyanide Slammer.  She may be a pretty face, but don't mess with her on the oval track.   :)