The Ditch

We made a mission to "The Ditch" yesterday to get a few more shots for an article I'm busy with. I met the twins at Gums & had an interesting drive there, it's quite far out, but more than worth the mission! Literally miles of prefect concrete halfpipe with a few fun things on the way down. We started off right at the end of it, was a nice walk down & was a bit smaller & tighter tranny, but a nice view of the dam in the BG was good to shoot. We didn't stay too long & went further up to get a shot of something Wayne was keen for. That shot is staying hidden for now, but I will say it was one of the most challenging lighting setups I think I've ever done. Climbing up the sides with steep loose banks either side & not much to grab onto & trying to balance a flash up there was fun. We got the shot pretty quick & then to face the next challenge of packing up & getting out. We then drove a little further up to a spot with the best tranny & surface of the whole thing & had some fun shooting there with the last bit of light in the BG & got a few nice shots there. Am keeping those hidden for now too, but I have so many sick shots of Moe for this article already that I thought I'd put this textbook (as usual) Turndown in here too. Was a good day & amped on what I got, think I'll be returning to this spot for more soon!

:EDIT:
Just put up another 2 shots I'm not gonna use.
Jason getting some height & Wayne just chilling in the sunset

Macro Workshop 2010

This weekend my mom & I presented a macro workshop in the lovely heatwave, thank God for an air-conditioned lecture hall! The 1st shoot on Friday was at 33 Stellenbosch in the garden & we had all sorts of toys to shoot as usual. Saturday morning we shot at Eagle Encounters at Spier & is one of my fav shoots & played with my flashes again. I missed the afternoon shoot at Rustenberg in Rose's garden & were at Butterfly World on Sunday morning, another spot I really enjoy. Here are a few of my favs of the weekend & a little tip for any keen photographers.

Ok, now for my tip of the day. haha

These 3 shots were taken of the same butterfly at the same spot & pretty much the same composition, but a completely different feel in each of them. I wanted to use this series to show how important your BG is. So many people get caught up in the subject so much that they forget about the MOST IMPORTANT thing in a shot, the BACKGROUND!
When you're shooting something focusing on the subject you're shooting is the obvious thing to do, so take the next step & concentrate on what else you're making your viewer look at.
First off I made sure not to have any distracting elements in the BG of any of them.
The first was shot standing at the height I just happen to be & had a nice soft BG with all of the OoF greens of the plants behind. I then thought I needed something else a bit more interesting & bent my legs a bit aiming more toward the roof & had some nice backlit leaves in the BG that made some nice specular highlights. On the next one I went even lower to have the sun behind the butterfly & have a seriously contrasty shot, but keep some nice specular highlights.

I personally like the middle one the most, but might change from day to day, but I hope I've opened your eyes to look at what you're not shooting just as much as you look at what you are!

Have a look at the Workshops we present at www.nicolepalmer.co.za

Mo Money!

Went to shoot Malcolm on Thursday & had a sick session. He was keen to get some shots of a few tricks I hadn't shot in a while & got those done quick & easy. I heard he was practicing a new trick into the foam in Stell & he got it super dialed on the trick jump & I got the timing for it just in time to catch the one he got. That's gonna have to stay hidden for now, but as usual a post is not a post without some visual treats.

Tasty Trails

Another tough day in Africa spent at Bel Aire. There was a nice session yesterday with Mo, Jason, Barrel, both Werners, Nicholas, Kevin, Julian, some MTB kids & the new Stellies local Mr. Rigby. Was cooking again & thank god for all the trees. Mo broke his brake cable early in the sesh, so was out & Jason was on form as usual with big flips & 3's. I won't say anything about David, the last pic I got of the session says it better than I could. Let's just say I'm super amped to have someone like that around to shoot!

Deer Park Boom!

Went for a session with the rollers on Sat, has been ages since we've all rolled together & felt like a school reunion, but way better!
Started off at Bonwit ledge & was fun, but after being spoilt with smooth surfaces in the park, the cracks caused more trouble than I remember. We moved on to Deer Park before we melted in the sun & was a good choice with the boom & run up in the shade. I was struggling to decide weather I should skate or shoot coz the spot looked fun, but decided to shoot a bit. Was a tricky spot to shoot being in the shade with dappled light & a brightly lit BG, but between all my flashes & D70 I managed ok.
We're all getting way too old & were done after 2 spots, granted it was really hot, but was a fun sesh & good to see all the guys again. Hopefully make a few more missions with the guys soon.

Ultimate-X

On the 20th of Feb the Waterfront was abused by BMX, MX & skaters in masses. Quite a scorcher of a day & was finding any form of shade to shoot from, but still managed to get a little crispy.
I shot the BMX most of the day & tried a few MX shots in their demos & left the skating to the other 1000 photographers there.
The BMX demos were sick, with all the usual suspects killing it. Mo with his double whips & 3 whips, Colin with some flip turndowns, Buddy just styling the crap out of everything & Wayne was on top form dominating the session! Two huge front flips, both clean as hell, dialed 3 tables & a nice 7. Havn't seen one of those from him before & got it perfect.
The MX guys were jaw dropping as usual jumping right over the BMX track & last trick of the day saw Sick Nick backflip the gap.
Everyone moved to Assembly afterwords, but after a day shooting in the sun, being nice & smelly & still needing to drive home I opted out of that one.

All in all a great day & event by OSP.

If you're keen to see these guys in action get yourself to zone 7 this weekend (6 & 7th) for the Pro-X