PoorTraits

Yesterday seemed like the right time to play with some self ports again, so I got out my old school uniform. Just about ten years since I last wore it or tied a tie & still can't do it properly. haha

We've set up my mom's studio for a photoshop workshop tomorrow & decided to use the screen in there as my background & after a few shots I decided that I've done enough with a white BG & turned it around.

Not too sure what I was after I just played around a bit & eventually thought of using some toothpaste to have the "getting up" theme going... that & I knew with the lighting I had that the toothpaste would glow a bit. I took 1 test shot to see if the framing was ok & was happy, so got my toothbrush, pressed the selftimer & began squeezing... then to look at the camera & think of an expression quick! Put everything down, had a look & was amped. Got it 1st go, doesn't happen too often with this type of thing & didn't need to crop at all.

Today my mom needed some portraits, so set up exactly the same, but lowered the strength of both flashes behind her to not have quite such a harsh rim light.

Strobist Setup
Key stays the same
Me: SB-600 1/8 & SB-900 1/4
Mom: SB-600 1/16 & SB-900 1/8

Blazed Days

Blaze is back from a month in Durban & hooked up with him for a session. We first set out to find some quarters in a sketchy area & am kinda glad we didn't find it coz Blaze didn't remember exactly where they were. It would've been asking for trouble to haul out all my equipment there, so we opted for spot 2.

That was a bit safer, but in the parking lot of a mall & security stopped him from doing a wallride, but said he could ride, but at his own risk. We were amped to not get bust, so I took my stuff out, set up & here he comes again... now his story had changed & said we can't do this here. We tried to work something out & mid conversation he just mssioned off. Well, we didn't need an invite to take advantage of the situation & got to buisness.

The spot was a one brick bump up 3 stairs & after about 70 tries he got one. Wasn't as clean as we were hoping, but pedal to top tube & rolling away would have to do for now. He was tired, I had the shot I was after so we decided to call it & go get Pierre & see what else we coud hit.

After that it was a lot of sitting around in parking lots wondering where to go & didn't really get anywhere from there & decided to end the day.

Back to Boarding

I got a ring from Al saying they were keen to go skate Markotter & was keen to shoot some skateboarding again. Looking through my pics made me realise how long it's been since I made a street mission with any plankers. Markotter was a no go & me not being too keen to go back to De Jagers gap again I suggested PRG's double set.

Immediately Al called Dylan out on a tre flip. It was nearly a bust, but I managed to sweet talk the guard there into letting us have a quick session.

A warm up ollie & kickflip went down pretty quick, then it was onto the tre.

I took a few with the fish, but thought I'd try a different angle & shoot long & was a much better idea. The sun was getting low & giving the whole shot a warm glow. Flare was a bit of an issue, but between my lens hood & hand I managed to get rid of the worst of it.
It took a little while before he landed it, but the light was just getting better & better, so just kept shooting.

Pretty amped on it & keen to make more skateboard missions in the not too distant future.