E-Session California style!

Whew, now I know why they call them "Red Eyes!" Wednesday, make that Thursday, I returned from a week in drop dead gorgeous San Francisco, California. Lots of fun, some awesome shooting and a whole lot of productive meetings (stay tuned for more details!!).

One of the highlights for me was a great e! Session done on the black sand beach at Pacifica. Dani and Sheldon are a awesome couple who thought I was totally nuts when I said let's go out on that rock and see what happens. The tide was coming in and the waves were getting stronger. I didn't plan on getting wet, well not THAT wet anyway. Hope you enjoy!

Homage to Karsh

Sometimes opportunity just presents itself. When it does, seize the moment!

During a recent portrait session of a board or directors, one of the subjects had a particularly great face. After I created the images the client needed I asked him, Allegheny County Councilman Bill Robinson, if he would mind me making a few extra images. "I've never met a politician who didn't love to get their picture taken" he said. With that I simply asked him to turn a little and raise his hand to his chin.

The lighting was also quite simple, one kicker light at 62 watt seconds in a small Chimera softbox aimed at him from the rear, camera left, and the main light at 125 watt seconds in a medium Chimera. set in direct line of his face. No hair light, background light or separator was used.

The entire "extra" shoot took about 90 seconds. Four frames were exposed.

To increase drama, I converted the original color image to a black and white and applied a custom chocolate tone. Photoshop CS2 was used.

Camera was a Canon 5D and the lens was a 28-135 mm zoom set at f/8.

Chris & Mary's wedding

Shame on me, I've been a really bad blogger lately because there is SO much going on around the studio these days. With weddings heating up, engagement sessions scheduled and a LOT of great commercial assignments the hours vanish without notice.

For example... one day last week I was working like a crazy man on a commercial project, determined to get all of the processing, disk burning and index prints done before I finished the day. After working at the computer for an extended period I need to stand up and stretch. As I raised my arms above my head I glanced at the clock... 3:30 AM. YIKES! Time flies when you're having fun, or staring into the magic picture box ; ). PS... I finished the project before going to bed, and delivered it later that morning.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I shot this really wonderful backyard wedding for the most awesome couple. Chris and Mary are such great people. Mary was an absolutely radiant bride. Take a look...

Lauren & Owen's slideshow

Hope you enjoy the show...

May 26 Wedding

It's after 2:00 AM, my feet hurt and my back aches, but I couldn't wait to share some of the photos from Lauren and Owen's awesome wedding! The couple were married at the historic Hiland Presbyterian Church in the North Hills and their reception was held at Heinz Field. In between we made a brief stop on Mt. Washington for some fun pictures, just as a hard rainstorm ended. It will take some time to carefully go through the 3,000 + photos we made, but here are a few of my early favorites. Enjoy!







Do I get gorgeous brides or what?







The girls even wanted a picture with me. Now that's a first!!



I love the emotion in the father / daughter dance.







After a delicious dinner the party really began to rock!

I'll have a lot more to post from this wedding in the coming days so check back often.

New York City e!Session

Last Thursday I flew to one of my favorite cities to photograph Mao and Nicholas' e!Session. What an awesome adventure. Nicholas had a printed itinerary for the day which amazed me, and I'm pretty darn organized! But, nine hours after we began we sat down for dinner exactly on schedule. The best part -- we had a blast walking all over Brooklyn and Manhattan. Hope you enjoy the show...

May Crowning

Recently, while photographing the May Crowning at Saint Philip Catholic Church, I was blessed (pun intended) when someone decided to take a flash picture at the exact instant I made my image. The result was quite pleasing and looks like I lit the scene with an off camera flash. In reality I did, it just wasn't planned!

Technically I was very, very lucky. The person who "assisted" me with their lighting was using a very weak on camera flash at a considerable distance, thus not overpowering my available light high ISO exposure. If they had been closer or using a more robust flash my exposure would have been unusable without considerable highlight compression. If it could have been saved at all.

Sometime you just have to accept a little divine intervention.

May 12 Wedding

Saturday I had the honor and pleasure to photograph Katie and Joshua's wedding at Saint John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Carnegie. The pastor, Rev. Bruce Nordeen, was also the groom's father. I hope you enjoy the show.

Pam & Julius

Saturday officially kicked off my 2007 season with a fabulous wedding at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. Jeannie Dankowski from the Marriott did an awesome job coordinating the wedding and Parkway Florist did the floral design.

The groom’s father, The Rev. Louis Ridgley, Jr, presided over the ceremony. The bride’s beautiful ivory gown was from MB Bride in Greensburg.

During dinner, and well into the night, the band Dreamscape kept the guests entertained and dancing.























Oh, and did I mention the couple met while working at "a place for smiles?"

Available Light

In college my favorite professor would constantly expound how he photographed every assignment strictly by “available light.” But looking at his pictures you could tell many were lit by more than one source. After being questioned over and over he finally relented and gave us the answer. To the professor, available light was whatever light you had available whether it was the sun, a few reflectors or a step van full of powerful electronic flashes. As long as it was “available” to you, it was “available light!”

At the time we just thought the old guy was daft. Years later I realized he was a genius. I felt like grasshopper in Kung Fu, finally grasping the wise old man’s message.

Whether you use a single candle or a dozen flashes, the only thing that matters is the light quality. The light quantity determines your exposure, but it’s the quality of that light that will determine the message your image conveys. Quantity and quality are often mutually exclusive.

In the following examples, I photographed Sister with just the light coming into her apartment from the window. Neither flash or reflector provided extra light. The quality of light was exceptional so all I had to do was composed, focus and shoot. Available light at it’s best.





Unlike Sister, these next photos from a recent portrait project required much additional lighting, which was “available” in my trunk.







There is a time and place for each style of lighting. As professionals, it’s our job to be a master of the tools we have available and know which one is more appropriate than the other in every given situation.

Portraits

When you talk about a portrait you usually think of someone's face. But does the face alone really tell you about the person? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, it all depends on what you want to say. I strive to make my portraits a deeper, more telling story. To accomplish this I look for little details of their life -- gestures, special objects, close ups. If you photograph with an open mind and heart the images will come into you.

Yesterday was one such day. I had the pleasure and honor to photograph Sr. Clementine, a woman who has devoted most of her 86 years to Christ. I came away with many, many wonderful images but this detail is among my favorites. I'll post more portraits (including a nice series) after the client selects their favorites.

Time Capsule Parade

I love small town parades and festivals. Over the years I've photographed hundreds of them across the country with the intent of someday putting together a show or book. This weekend Connellsville, PA celebrated the burial of their time capsule. It was a typical small town affair with Boy Scouts, marching band, color guard, fire trucks and a few politicians giving speeches. As with most things in life, it's not what you see, but how you see it. Hopefully you will enjoy what I saw (and how I saw it).

-- The time capsule was given a ride along the route by a horse drawn wagon


-- The local VFW color guard led the marchers


-- Brightly colored umbrellas were the order of the day


-- Folks along the parade route




-- The Boy Scouts surrounding the stage reminded me of the Secret Service protecting the President, only a bit less intimidating...

...or not.

Executive Portraits

For the last few weeks I've been working on a series of portraits of executives. These are top officers in corporations around the Pittsburgh area who all have won awards of achievement (more on that in the coming weeks). Everyone has been incredibly corporative and excited about the pictures so the images have been a wonderful collaboration between artist and subject. I was going to hold off and splash these all at once but I was so jazzed about my Friday afternoon shoot I couldn't wait.

The hardest part of this shoot was getting there because the late winter snow storm really made driving a mess. What is normally a 30 minute drive took almost an hour. The ride home was no picnic either but I think the results were more than worth the effort. Besides, I have 4-wheel drive for just this reason!!

Technically the shot was pretty simple. A single Dynalite flash head with a 20 degree grid spot lit the subject at 62 watt seconds with a wink of fill provided by another Dynalite head at 62 watt seconds in an extra small Chimera softbox feathered off at an extreme angle. The back light was provided by a third Dynalite head and red gel powered up to 250 watt seconds. I captured the image with a Canon 5D and the 16-35mm lens at around f/8. Because of the fabric in the shirt a moiré pattern developed when shot at certain angles, light straight on. To counter the moiré, and to add drama, I angled the camera off axis. The whole shot took about 25 minutes including lighting set up.

I hope you like this shot as much as I do. When the project is complete I'll share the rest of the images.

Before and After

For me capture is only the beginning.

Back in the dark(room) ages I would literally spend hours crafting a print to perfection. That kind of attention to detail came thanks to an old boss who had worked as a printer for famed landscape photographer, Ansel Adams. I still remember my first day on the job when the boss handed me a medium format negative and showed me the darkroom door. He smiled and said when I could make a print Ansel would be proud of then I could print his negatives. I've always liked a challenge. Two weeks later I finally made a print he would accept and I was finally allowed out of the dark.

Fast forward to the digital age. The same is true today, it takes practice to develop your craft. The difference is only in our tools. Rather than lock ourselves away in a small dank room for hours at a time we now sit in front of an electronic screen for hours and hours tweaking images pixel by pixel. The difference? No chemicals, unless you count the way-too-strong Starbucks coffee I drink!

The example here is from a series of shots I made at a college dance class. The easy part was to capture the action at the proper moment. I love the line of the dancer's arm, her hair and the man's bulging muscles as he holds her through the move. Nice picture, but far from a work of art. The after shot was the result of pumping up the color, adding a slight diffusion layer and doing a lot of burning of the background. Some custom Photoshop actions were used but a lot of work on this image was done the old fashion way... by hand.

It's not what you photograph, but what you see in your minds eye that counts the most.

A New Day!

Blogging has been a lot of fun. You see, I like to write. I'm not especially good at it, at least not in a Proust sort of way. I usually write in a conversational manner, just like I talk. Maybe it comes from working alone too much and talking to myself, who knows, but for what ever reason it works for me. Now let me state for the record, I was NOT an english major so from time to time I may screw up my syntax or other things I should have learned in school had I been paying attention and not messing around with my camera. Sorry. Deal with it. If you can't, just look at the pictures, OK? Thanks.

So why the apology? Because for those who are English sensitive there is going to be a lot more to be sensitive about from now on! I've decided I like this blog thing so much I need to do more of it. But rather than just spew out a bunch of stuff happening every day (boring!) I'm going to try to make it useful. I've noticed there are a lot of photographers who check out my blog. Many are good friends, some new friends and some are friends I haven't yet met. It's all good. And since I really enjoy sharing what I've learned I might as well do it right here from time to time. Besides, I KNOW there are a lot of my brides who are really into photography so maybe some of the tips here and there can help make their photography experience more rewarding.

So stay tuned, the best is yet to come!

Peace

WEDDING PUBLISHED!

I'm so juiced! Brigette and Steve Palsa were one of my awesome couples last year, so when Pittsburgh Magazine selected them to be one of their featured weddings of the year I was totally thrilled. Not only did they get a two page spread, but a picture of the rings Steve designed was selected as the image to carry the contents page as well! Way to go Brigette and Steve!

Recommended Wedding Professionals

Today I'm pleased to recommend two exceptional musicians that I met at
weddings this past year.

- Judi Figel's powerful vocals and fabulous personality kept the night
alive for Maria and Andy Dugger. She's a pianist and a versatile
vocalist with an impressive song list. If you are looking for a wedding
singer you will find no one better!

- Devin Arrington is a gifted violinist who provided breathtaking music
at the wedding of Bridget and Craig McCloud. But don't think he can
only play soulful songs, at Katy and Mike Gallo's reception his Irish
jig had all the young girls dancing!

Do yourself a favor and visit these awesome talents online!


Devin Arrington