Surfing USA

Getting up on a surfboard the first time can be tricky, especially when you have the paparazzi following your every move. Even so, Kevin, Chris, and Stacey did an awesome job riding the great Kahuna. Well, OK, maybe the waves weren't as big as the great Kahuna. They were closer to the ripples made when you throw a rock in the water. Nevertheless, spectacular spills and thrills were captured, including the classic "Endless Summer" sunset picture, while we visited Venice Beach a couple weeks ago.

Organ Hummers

So after a couple glasses of wine with our sister and brother-in-law, Katie and Joe Organ, we decided upon the title of this blog entry. The hummingbirds hanging out in front of their beautiful Mendon, NY home were too pretty to resist. So I set up a tripod and waited until the sun went down so I could use a couple flashes to freeze their wings, which beat at 50 - 80 times per second. Click on the pics to see larger versions.

One light in the garden

Nothing better than having family with us over a holiday weekend so we were pretty psyched when Stacey, Juan, and Chris surprised us with a visit from D.C. over the fourth. Stace and I have learned that dragging our cameras and lighting gear out for long periods of time is greatly frowned upon when "family" time is so rare, but we did get to sneak in a few pictures. We were up at 6:30am on Saturday to take some yoga pics (did I mention that Stacey is also a popular yoga teacher in D.C.?). Simple setup; just a softbox to the left of the camera and natural daylight. The other pics used a technique I've been anxious to try; one speedlight mounted high on a lightstand aimed at the windows/glass door on the back of the house. The light is outside, about 20 feet away in the garden behind our house. It strikes the window grilles and indoor plant, creating interesting shadow patterns on Stacey and the wall behind her. The intensity of the shadows is adjusted by changing the camera shutter speed.

Squirrels, kids, and brides

Number one rule in photography is to "have your camera with you". When the bag weighs over 10 pounds, that's easier said than done. I had to run and get it to catch the squirrel eating bird seed that had dropped near a sprinkler. Same with the baby playing on the beach and our friend's granddaughter playing in magnificent window light. But it was definitely with me when our close friends', Colleen and Rick, daughter got married in Vermont a couple weeks ago. Cristin and Keith made a beautiful couple in a spectacular location.

A Day at Duke Gardens

Claire has a friend visiting from Massachusetts and we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon in the Sarah P Duke gardens on the campus of Duke University in Durham. The water-lilies and pond life offered some great opportunities for pictures.

Breakdown

Sabrina and Rick are recently engaged co-workers who joined me for a photo shoot yesterday. Not only are they both good looking and very photogenic, but were incredibly patient while we spent three hours setting up and shooting the "breakdown" story. Rick's beater F150 served as the perfect prop while lovely Sabrina grows increasingly impatient with his inability to fix the problem. This was a great opportunity to try multiple strobe units to light our subjects as the light slowly fades to darkness. For those with an interest, the setups are shown at the end of this post. Click on the pictures for larger versions.

What a beautiful day. Sure glad I have a handyman around!

What a bummer. I hope this won't take long.

I'm thirsty. Can we PLEASE get going?

He sure is cute when he fixes things.

Maybe I can help!

What if you turned this little thingy back here.

Will this take much longer?

I'm SOOO bored!

My whole night is ruined.

Forget it. I'm out of here!

Signs of Spring

Our backyard has been filled with songbirds lately, all busy preparing their spring nests. With my camera on a tripod close to the feeder and a radio control, I have been having fun capturing some of their activity.

Glass blowing by Alice

"Alice" is a pottery fountain that was a gift from my mother 30 years ago.  After years of sitting dormant, I finally replaced the broken pump and she is pouring water from her vase once again.  She was a patient subject while I lit her with a softbox about 110 degrees camera left and a blue gelled flash aimed through some wine glasses to cast shadows on the wall in the background.

I then placed the blue flash high and to the right, aimed at the water, and moved in close with a macro lens.   The softbox was 90 degrees camera left.  Each exposure was completely different and the amazing  water droplets reminded me of blown glass.  Click on the images to get the full effect.