Recapping Help Portrait 2010

This was my second year volunteering for Help Portrait. I must say that it keeps getting better and better every year. This go around, the weather decided to cooperate and caravans were organized to shuttle our subjects to and from the the Road Home Shelter. The turn out was great and the day has been the highlight of my holiday season. An amazing group of photographers, hair and makeup stylists, and support staff spent the day turning a downtown night club and dance studio in to a full fledged photography studio where families and those in need could come get a hot meal, a warm coat, and a personal photo session with some of northern Utah's talented photographers.

A special thanks goes out to all those who made this happen, especially to Dave Brewer for stepping up to be the local organizer for the second time. It was great to see some familiar faces and meet the new ones too.

See the highlight video of this year's event.
Video 1
Video 2

Run with the Wild Fashion

Animals have been involved in Fashion Photography as long as I can remember. I've seen everything from polar bears to snakes and even lions implemented into ad campaigns for clothing lines and fragrances.

Robin came up with this concept when she met the owner and driver of a sled dog team. Arrangements were made and the concept of this shoot was born to where we could create a fashion motif with the dogs. Winter had already started and most the canyons/ mountains had already received several inches or feet of snow. This would work perfect for our theme since we associate Huskies with snow and winter.

We set out to Little Cottonwood Canyon and found a nice area which had some large standing rock formations, dead weeds, and enough forested area to block out whatever sky might creep in to my shots. It was vastly overcast. For you photographers out there, this is great for lighting since nature has provided its own natural "Soft Box" or diffusion from the sun's hard and harsh light. With that said, lighting was simple and straight forward, with only a single flash and umbrella needed to light the subjects appropriately.

I forgot my sandbags and needed help balancing my boom arm containing the flash and umbrella. Luckily, I brought my assistant Trevor in as a V.A.L. (voice activated ligthstand) to hold everything. Without him, we would have been in some real trouble.

The shoot went off without any deaths or accidents and I was pleased with the final images.

Don't Give me no Bull...

I had the opportunity to shoot a collaboration with Kelsey again. She had been wanting to do a concept involving her English Bulldog and intertwining a punk or grunge theme.

We headed to downtown on the last tolerable day of the year before the Winter chill took over and shot in front of some neat walls plastered with graffiti. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and we were shooting mid-day when the sun is working against us with harsh light and keeping shadows short. These shots were all captured in the smallest open shade of the buildings' shadows. In some cases we had only a couple feet to work with before the sun cast it's overexposing light onto the asphalt.

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On another note, HELP PORTRAIT 2010 is this Saturday, December 4th. Last year was Utah's first year participating in this national non-profit event. I look forward to another amazing year helping out those in need.

Fall Leaves

The Wasatch Front of the Rocky Mountains can produce some of most vibrant Fall Colors I've ever seen, given that the snow doesn't arrive first and the temperature doesn't freeze too soon. Unfortunately this year we had a vast cold front move in and "shock" all the leaves into their dead winter state, causing them to fall to the ground before their colors peaked or halting their chromatic change in a mix of a pale yellows and drab greens.

You now have clients running to get their family portraits taken with vibrant Fall Colors. What do you do?

Improvise. Scout, scout, scout, and scout some more. Move to lower altitudes to the wooded parks located in your backyard and valley suburbia. With luck, you'll find some trees with some color left. Utilize some camera magic and shoot with a large aperture and shallow depth of field to turn the background into a creamy, blurred bokeh of Fall color, avoiding the details the drab leaves are displaying.

Anthony is a paramedic / fire fighter I used to work with when I was still full time in EMS. Anthony is an outstanding medic with great skills and a genuine compassion for those who need help. I was excited to shoot his growing family. Their daughter, Claire was a natural in front of the camera and we captured some cute and fun images.

For it is All Hallows Eve...

I've been wanting to do this concept for over 2 years now. It seemed each October, some other conflict would prevent me from doing it. Well, thanks to a creative collaboration with some very special people, this shoot became a reality.

A little back story with this one...
In recent years, we have all witnessed the increased popularity with vampires, including their myth, culture, and sensual appeal. With popular sagas such as Twilight and HBO's series True Blood, our western culture shows no signs of wavering their undying faith and interest in the subject. What I find interesting is all the different and diverse interpretations of what a vampire should look like, act, and relate with it's prey.
This shoot defines how I imagine vampires would be. No Edward, no glimmering sparkles, and certainly no compassion for the human species. These vampires are professional sirens who can seduce and draw their victims in with their beauty, pseudo libido, and ethereal charm. I imagine vampires are a highly evolved immortal creature that holds great strength, but rarely needs it. Why go to all the trouble of acquiring a meal when their prey wants and desires to be with them... They want to be bitten.
I think of the 3 female sirens from the film O Brother, where art Thou where these females hypnotize and serenade their victims with there beauty and song.

For you photographers reading this, the lighting on this one was a bit more complicated than my normal setups. These images had a minimum 3-5 strobes both bare and modified to accomplish the desired effects. My favorite is the bare flash hung upside down in the curtain to provide some separation.

Getting Classy- Urban Bridals

I've known my good friend Josh now since we were lads in middle school. I was more than enthusiastic during our consultation when his fiance Shelly had decided that she didn't want your typical traditional bridals with some flora and fauna background. She wanted an urban environment with a modern feel.

I went to work trying to get a grasp of her "style" and personality. I decided to go with the ever more increasingly popular fashion approach in which the images could easily be seen in your bridal magazine without a second thought of whether or not they belonged there. Shelly certainly did amazing as we set out to the side streets and alley-ways of Salt Lake City's industrial areas.

All images were shoot with one to two speed lights. This style of bridals is my favorite to shoot as editorial fashion is what I am know for.

Abandoned Macabre

I recently had another great collaboration with Kelsey of Kel-Z Photography. This time she stepped behind her camera instead of posing in front of mine. We found a local designer who made several unique dresses created around a macabre theme. Kelsey provided the location, a little set of abandoned buildings just off the beaten path of a suburban neighborhood. Add three talented models and we were off, shooting away.
Chris and my production team came out to record the whole thing for the BTS video as well as to assist me with my lights.
Take a look at the results.
And be sure to view the video behind this to see how I accomplished these shots.