West Virginia Engagement Session | West Virginia Wedding Photography

It's late and I've got an early breakfast meeting to start an insane week, but I couldn't wait to share a few pictures from today's awesome engagement session in Morgantown, WV with Staci and Chris. Toni and I had a great time going to a few of their favorite places. And WOW, get a load of those clouds! It was so cool.

Thanks for a wonderful afternoon. I'll be talking with you soon. We can't wait to photograph your wedding!

Location, location, location

Today starts a three week stint of out of town location work. Well, not 100%, but each week I'm going somewhere new shooting something for a few days. Gone are the extended travel assignments of times ago, at least for most of us. Regardless of the length of the trip, the challenges are still there because once you're out of the studio, you're away from most of your arsenal of equipment. So what do I take to keep things running smoothly? Here's a rundown of my travel gear:

• Nikon D700 bodies (two, one with the vertical grip for 8 fps)

• Nikon D300s body

• Nikon 17-35 f2.8 zoom

• Nikon 24-70 f2.8 zoom

• Nikon 70-200 f2.8 zoom

• Nikon 50 f1.4 G

• Nikon 85 f1.4

• Nikon 12-24 f/2 DX

• Nikon 70-300 f3.5

• Nikon TC-14 tele-converter

• Nikon SB-900 flash units (two)

• Nikon SB-26 flash unit (w/built in slave eye)

• Nikon Commander Unit

• Sandisk 16 gig CF cards (10)

• Sandisk 16 gig SDHC cards (2, as emergency back up)

• Sandisk 8 gig CF cards (8)

• Macintosh laptop w/external hard drives for backing up files

Along with this "basic" kit I also pack a Manfrotto mono-pod; Gitzo tripod; Honl flash grids, snoots, gels; Manfrotto light stands; mini softbox; shoot thru umbrellas and a few Cliff bars for on the go energy. Oh, and a couple of boxes of Starbucks instant coffee, too! Can't forget the coffee!!

This may sound like a lot to some people, but for me it's just the basic kit I feel comfortable carrying in order to be ready for anything a client may throw at me at any time. This kit also provides one more important element - back up. With multiple bodies available there is less chance for something going wrong. And by duplicating focal lengths you're covered no matter what happens. As a profession this is the ONLY way to work. The 12-24 lens covers basically the same angle of view as the 17-35. That's an important lens range for me hence the duplication. The 70-300 is my back up for the 70-200 for the same reason.

I carry a D300s as a third body rather than another D700 because the former has a DX sensor, hence all focal lengths are multiplied by a factor of 1.5. This is extremely useful when photographing sports - with the D300s and 70-200 combo I have an automatic 300mm f2.8 lens at a fraction of the weight! Add the 1.4 tele-converter and that makes it a 420 mm f4. Nikon glass will allow me to do this and create razor sharp images, my former system would not.

To transport all this stuff my lighting gear is packed into a Lightware 1440 case. Cameras travel in a ThinkTank roller. On site I'll move most of the camera gear into a shoulder bag for easier transport by my assistant. I'll carry two or three cameras with various lenses to work.

Now all we need is good weather!

Technology Rising

Adobe CS-5 really is an amazing tool.

How amazing? Now you don't need to compose properly. Just fix it with content aware filter. Awkward movements can be corrected using the rubber monkey tool (or whatever it's called). Bad exposure cause bad noise, what noise, it's fixed with a couple of new sliders. No need for HDR software, have that too, and it looks better than the stand alone piece. Didn't do an HDR exposure set? No worries, we have a filter for that now!

I'm not sure I'm happy about all this new technology or saddened. Maybe a little of both. For good photographers there is no doubt this is a great tool. But at the same time, where is craftsmanship headed? Will getting it right at the moment of exposure count for anything? Does it now? Does the "fix it in Photoshop" ideology permeate our vocation so pervasively that a new legion of sloppy image makers will become the next generation of superstars?

But there's a backwash from all this technology - film sales are on the increase. Yes, film. Fuji film reported an increase in film sales last quarter.

Monday afternoon I had a lovely conversation with an old friend, Ken Hansen. Ken and I go way back, 30 some years back, to a time when he was a major photo equipment dealer in New York City and I was a young buck photojournalist set out to change the world. Then, like now, Ken was a well house of information. Ken still sells cameras, albeit at a much smaller scale today. He said he's recently noticed an uptick in film camera sales. "All those guys who went digital are buying back their old film cameras. They're getting fed up with digital."

I don't see a celluloid revolution starting any time soon. We're not going backwards. Hardly. That Jeanie left the bottle a long time ago. But knowing, just for yourself, that you nailed it at the moment of exposure - no need to fix it later - means something. It's satisfying on a very personal level that you got it right straight away. It feels pure. And the workflow is beautiful - unload camera, put film in box, mail to lab, sit down, enjoy life and wait for prints to come.

Several years ago, back in the Photoshop 5.0 days, I was working on an architectural shoot. View camera set, all lines corrected for proper perspective and I'm about to make the series of exposures I stopped. One more job to do first - clean the parking lot in front of the building of paper cups. As soon as I started to pick up the trash the art director stopped me and asked what the heck I was doing, that could all be fixed in Photoshop! I asked him very nicely how much digital retouching this parking lot would cost. "Only $200" he said. "I'll tell you what," I said, "I'll PRE-touch the photo for only $100, saving you half of your RE-touch budget." He looked at me puzzled and asked "what do you mean PRE-touch?" I smiled and said, "I'm going to pick up all these damn cups so I don't have them on film!" The moral of the story - why spend so much time doing post when you can get it right the first time.

Film or digital capture doesn't matter. It's how you shoot that does matter.

For those that want to learn more about Photoshop CS-5 check out the video with Terry White here:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/photoshop-cs5-feature-tour/terry-whites-top-5-photoshop-cs5-features/

I'll be getting my copy soon.

A day in the life of a family - Russian Orthodox Baptism

Saturday I had the honor of documenting an important moment in a family's life - the Baptism of their son, Geoffrey, at St. Vladimir's Russian Orthodox Church. This is the second Baptism they commissioned me to cover. Three years ago their daughter, Anna, was Baptized.

I love creating picture stories for families. The 'day in the life' type work fits perfectly with my background as a newspaper and magazine photojournalist. I capture moments, emotion and action as it unfolds. In the end it's not just a record of an event, it's a slice of life preserved for generations to look back on and remember. This summer I will do a number of private commissions of this type of work.

Before the actual Baptism took place I set up a portable studio in the Church basement and made a series of formal family portraits. Because everyone came from out of town it was important to this family to have these pictures. They will make a nice section of their book - a formal record of everyone attending.

Thank you everyone for putting your trust in me to capture your very special day. It was an honor and a pleasure to be witness to such a beautiful ceremony. God Bless.

Father Michael giving a final blessing

Mother and son

Father and son

Never have I seen two more serious little boys.

Adobe CS-5 preview

It's not out yet, but the moment it is, I'll be all over this one! Some of the features of this version are game changing. It's amazing when I think back to the humble beginnings of Photoshop. I started out using version 2.0 on a tiny Mac with a small black and white screen way back in the late 80's. Now... well, check this out for yourself... CS-5 Preview

Sunrise is so early

3:30 AM my alarm sounded, shaking me from a deep slumber. Too early for most normal people, but I've never claimed normality.

Sunrise shoot today, time to get up and get ready to flip the creative switch. Sunrise light is beautiful, albeit awful early. Such is our burden as image makers.

Got up, tried not to drown in the shower, swilled down two cups of black coffee strong enough to jump start an Cummins engine. Awake, finally. Cameras in hand I hit the street.

Timing was off. Dang. So on the way to the location I did a bit of early morning shopping. Wal-Mart. Open 24 hours. Yeah. No time to do this during "regular" hours so lucky me. People inside reminded me of a George Romero movie. They looked worse than I felt.

Arrived too early anyway, still dark. Time to scout. In the dark? OK, time to eat a little breakfast. Awake, awake at last!

Morning light is good. Still too early though. Contrails are just crazy cool. A few frames bracket for the HDR and I'm done. Wandered a bit more and shot some other things but nothing struck me as nice as what I pre-visualized in the HDR shot. All in all a good mornings shoot and a well deserved nap this afternoon.

Sunrise is so early

3:30 AM my alarm sounded, shaking me from a deep slumber. Too early for most normal people, but I've never claimed normality.

Sunrise shoot today, time to get up and get ready to flip the creative switch. Sunrise light is beautiful, albeit awful early. Such is our burden as image makers.

Got up, tried not to drown in the shower, swilled down two cups of black coffee strong enough to jump start an Cummins engine. Awake, finally. Cameras in hand I hit the street.

Timing was off. Dang. So on the way to the location I did a bit of early morning shopping. Wal-Mart. Open 24 hours. Yeah. No time to do this during "regular" hours so lucky me. People inside reminded me of a George Romero movie. They looked worse than I felt.

Arrived too early anyway, still dark. Time to scout. In the dark? OK, time to eat a little breakfast. Awake, awake at last!

Morning light is good. Still too early though. Contrails are just crazy cool. A few frames bracket for the HDR and I'm done. Wandered a bit more and shot some other things but nothing struck me as nice as what I pre-visualized in the HDR shot. All in all a good mornings shoot and a well deserved nap this afternoon.

Make a simple picture

When was the last time you simplified your shooting and used only one lens? Not a zoom, either, a regular one focal length lens. How about putting on a regular 50 mm lens and use you mind, eyes and feet to create some images this weekend? Use your mind to pre-visualize the image, your eyes to find the photo and your feet to "zoom" in and out for best composition. Make pictures simply, but don't make simple photos -- work at it, compose, see, stretch and push yourself to see out of the box. The Pittsburgh weather this weekend is suppose to be totally awesome. Take a photo walk, even if it's only in your back yard, and make some fresh images. It's spring, time for life to begin anew. Make it your visual life, too.