Aamz

Some more portrait practice. 1 model, 3 spots & a few flashes later...

Natural Light

Langebaan Park

A new park has just graced Langebaan's presence & we (Ryan, Zynn & I) went through for a session on Tuesday. We made an early start to make the most of the warm winters day & got there around 12. It's been a while since we've made any missions & the park was looking good! I can't remember when last I've really been in a hurry to get my skates on & was so keen to see the possibilities the park had to offer. Just rolled around for a while & noticed there are a few dead spots that need a bit of attention. I overheard the "superiors" talking about it, so hopefully they'll get sorted out soon. Other than that everything is looking & feeling really good & had a fun session.

After quite a while I decided to get the cam out & snap a few shots. Started off with a double flat rail & just shot Ryan & Zynn sessioning for a while. I was quite keen to have a pic or 2 of myself & didn't have anything too special in mind, so just stuck with a fish on the bowls extention & set up & got Zynn to be my trigger finger. My legs were starting to cramp after the marathon session & we were all feeling a bit finnished.

I nearly started packing up, but decided to see what the hip would look like with the fisheye & just took some nat light shots of Zynn. I liked what I was seeing, so set up & caught a few more airs. My legs were feeling good again & was keen to see how high I could get, so put Zynn on the trigger again. After 2 or 3 goes my legs were not too happy, but was too amped to get the shot & kept pushing a few more. Kinda got what I was after & decided to call it a day.

I had just packed up & was feeling finnished from a day in the sun on a nice reflective concrete surface. My body decided to give up on me & had a bit of a spiritual heatstroke experience & made use of the drive back to recover. Bit of a crap way to end a great day, but was well worth it & def initely going back soon for some more, are a few things we didn't get to that I'm keen to try.

Ryan - AO Fish

Ryan - Backslide

Ryan - Misfit

Zynn - 360 Top Soul

Zynn - True Savanna

Ryan - AO Top Porn

Zynn - 360 Fish

Eric - Fish

Zynn - Abstract Mute

Ryan - Mute

Zynn - Stale Grab

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.

Sir Lowry's Pass DH

Last weekend was the second leg of the provincial DH races & was such a good weekend for riding & shooting.

I did a write up for Pinkbike, so check it out for a bit more detail, but here are a few shots from the weekend.