Girls in the Grass

My first more serious model shoot experience was different, but fun. Cot in Contact with Jeanne via Modelbase.co.za & she brought 2 of her friends along, Somarie & Lindsay. I was keen to shoot in a nice open area with a view & decided that the bottom of the cycle track at G-Spot would be it. I was keen for some sunset backgrounds, but started off facing the mountain & kept going that way for a while playing with my lighting as always & the warm sunlight was adding a great feel to everything. The girls were a bit of a hazard to the cyclists with a few crashing into trees trying to catch a glimpse. haha

It was good to have 3 models & was like a relay so I could keep going as they got changed & didn't waste a minute. Of course a few group shots were needed & then once the light was low enough I turned around & took a few into the last sunset colours & ended off with a fun group shot of them all jumping.

Definitely keen to work more on my model shots more, so expect a few more portrait posts in the future. Thanks to the girls for coming out to model for me, is much appreciated!

Dirtopia 2010

Dirtopia, a biking festival full of fun & of course great riding!

I did quite a long write up for Pinkbike, so not going to have too much of a story with this one, but here are a few shots that didn't go into the other write up.

Impromptu Exhibition

My mom & I were asked to be part of a local exhibition & I was quite amped being my 1st time exhibiting my work. We needed to send one piece of work & a shot of ourselves & I sent my HDR of Simonsberg thinking it would be a strong shot to be put on the invite with a piece by all the other artists. They had other plans & used the shot of me on the invite & poster. It was quite a surprise when we got it & after going around town I was getting more amped on the fact that I'm holding my skate in the pic & hopefully reminding people that rolling is not dead. Who knows, maybe some kid gets amped to start or an OG dusts his boots off & get on the wheels again.

Anyway I hope to see you at the opening on the 18th at 6pm!

Peace!

What’s New Doc

I was asked to take shots of a good family friend Graham Ellis a physician & poet in his spare time. It was for an article in a medical magazine called "What’s New Doc". These are a few shots that I liked that aren't being used.

Light Tings

I've been playing with some more lighting setups the last few days. Have seen & done shots where one strobe is pointed at the BG to create a halo around the person so shadows stand out & thought I'd try the opposite. Lighting the sides of the screen very softly & played around with intensity, spread & position for a while before I was completely happy. Having a darker BG behind me meant that the sides of my face would have to be lit up to stand out, so put a strobe either side through an umbrella & played around a bit till I had them balanced with the other 2 strobes on the BG & then the fun began.

Going for something a bit smarter & not my usual silly self portraits this time & found some props & played around with the post a bit too. Somewhere between all this I noticed all the nice grey tones & thought I'd go grab my big Razors hood & with the lighting it worked better than I'd hoped for, hiding my face in shadows. A bit creepy & looked like the hood had a life of it's own, just with hands sticking out. Had a bit of fun with that & then was back to the smart ones for a bit.

Strobist:
SB-600 either side on me on 1/4 & 85m
SB-600 left on BG on 1/32 & 24m
SB-900 right on BG on 1/64 & 24m
triggered with PW's

Playing with Myself

I've been a bit unlucky with shoots lately & between work, broken bikes & no replies I havn't managed to shoot much action the last little while... so I reverted back to (what I like to call) the masturbation of photography, self portraits.

I don't mind looking silly for a laugh & got my dad's riding gear & road bike & decided to have a bit of fun with one of the most unflattering sport/hobby outfits there is. I was laughing the whole time I was working on the shots, so it's purpose was served long before I'd even finished it.


The next day I got to another prop I'd been keen to use with a model a while back, but got stood up, so I decided to have some more fun. I'm my best model, I'm always around when I need myself! Out came the old army helmet my buddy Koos found in someones attic while he was working & they kindly donated it to him. Not quite knowing what to do or what I was after as far as posing goes I tried a few funny expressions & random poses to see what was working & what wasn't. My shoot kinda got ended by the family coming home & wasn't sure if I'd actually gotten anything I was really happy with & loaded them on the PC & had a look & started working on a few that stood out & then had a little inspiration & decided to carry on with my playing in photoshop & quite amped on how it turned out. I fiddled a bit with the processing & have a manual way of getting an HDR feel & was liking it, so decided to do the real thing & have 1 shot of my normal processing & 1 HDR that I'm quite amped on. Definitely mustn't stop playing with HDR, it kinda took a back seat for a while, but think it's ready for a comeback!

Also popped in a setup shot for the army shoot for anyone keen on a behind the scenes shot.

Face to Face

On the 19th we presented a Face to Face Workshop, where we aim to help people improve their portraiture with the equipment they have. It was a good one & saw some really good images from the participants.
I shot a bit as usual & had to play with my toys a bit, but was rather tricky with all the other photographers around, but managed to get a few nice shots & even took a few without all my flashes.

A few of my faves from there...