Little Light That Could

If you've ever been to a Click Monkey Event, Preston Castle Photo Day, or have just come along on a shoot with me, then you know that one of my favorite tools is the LED lenser P7. I first came across it in 2009 at Costco. It was on sale and you who know me, I hate to pass on a good deal! I’m always on the lookout for cool lights. I kept it in my bag for a few weeks before I discovered what it was capable of. 

First image made with my P7 2009

I was shooting some portraits in Tahoe with natural light and just grabbed the flashlight to see what it could do. WOW, was I impressed with it! The P7’s quality of light, power, and color temperature was spot on! The way it put light out was smooth with no crazy patterns or hot spots. I had tried a Maglite flashlight in the past and was always disappointed with the result, so I didn’t expect much from this light. The next revelation was that I could focus the beam with one had very easily. This was a huge help in getting just the right light on the subject. 

Now, I must say that I warn my models when I’m going to use it on them and also to not look directly into the light. I also try not to keep the P7 shining straight in my subject’s eyes for very long. It is a tactical flashlight and VERY bright! 

I have since built up my collection to around 14 different LED flashlights. I was even able to get 3 prototypes of a true red, a true green, and true blue flashlight from LED Lenser. I was very fortunate because only two color flashlights were ever made. Those prototypes gave me an additional option when shooting, as they add a very interesting splash of color to my images.

Working the P7 in one hand and the Nikon D4 in the other.

Most recently my P7 proved handy for one of my larger shoots for HTC.  At the time of the shoot, my clients were amazed that a little flashlight could do so much.  

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Image on the HTC New One E8

I think the moral of the story is to never be afraid to try new and different lighting tools.

Happy Clicking!

The New HTC One - Pre Production

As I’m sure you noticed in the last post, the crew list was pretty extensive. This project was no small feat. 

The pre-production process took about a month, and even if we had wanted more time, it would not have been possible to get it. The phone was shipped from Taiwan under lock and key and was on a very tight schedule to make all of its appearances as there where only 4 in existence at that time.

After reviewing the production notes, there were obviously 2 things I needed to do right away. I had to build my team and I had to start location scouting. The idea for the shoot was to follow 5 young people through their weekend in a metropolitan area, specifically San Francisco. I quickly realized the scenes that HTC wanted were also available here is Sacramento. There was also the issue that the original schedule had us shooting in December which meant most of San Francisco was decorated for Christmas.

Kody, Christine and I went out and shot location images of our city to send to HTC and they agreed Sacramento was the perfect backdrop for the project.

Upon the decision being made that we would be working in Sacramento I was able to confirm the rest of the team and get to work reaching out to local businesses and resources. From city agencies, to restaurants, to casting agencies we had everything we needed to start building the schedule and the storyboard. 

Even though California was having a beautifully sunny winter, there was concern that some of the outdoor shots would be disrupted with bad weather, so we also had to put in place backup plans for all the outdoor shots that could be implemented the day of shooting. 

The next step was to cast the models. We had the pleasure of working with Amber Collins of Cast Images. There were 5 characters we had to cast in this project. Amber built some galleries for HTC to look through based on their descriptions and we had our models selected in no time at all! Sacramento has some amazing talent!

Now that we had our models I could send the wardrobe details and measurements to Simone to start pulling wardrobe for the project.  We were given very specific requests for each model based on the character that was created for each of them. We scheduled a fitting and sent some images to HTC for final approvals.

So that was it, I had my team, my locations, the models and wardrobe, I had the storyboard and shot list on repeat in my brain. It almost felt like planning a wedding, all the pieces were in place and the last few days were spent waiting in anticipation of putting it all to work.  

Next up, a behind the scenes look of our week long photo shoot!

Making Of An Angel

I'm excited to have my 1st guest post! Christine always has such great insights. She brings a unique point of view as a wonderful photographer that picked up modeling to help understand the other side of the camera.

Tim

So, I'm writing this and I have not seen the image yet. Not to say that it's not important, but what's most important to me is what went into the making of this image.

I'll start at the beginning. I was approached to be apart of a project recognizing the "Top 10"  models of Sacramento. At first I wanted to say no to the project, but my husband, Ryan, convinced me to get involved. He helped remind me it was an honor to have been chosen. 

After agreeing to participate, an incredibly talented makeup artist, Cesar Rivera, offered to lend his services for the shoot. Hair stylist Renne Alejandro, was also on board. Cesar brought along another great talent, Florlinda Ayala for makeup as they were planning to make me glow from head to toe! These three are some of the most talented and kind people I know. I couldn't believe they had offered to help me. 

I also asked fashion designer Nolan Kouri to help me out with the angel wings that I was requested to bring for the shoot (oh did I forget to mention the theme for the 10 models was angels?) Let me tell you, I should have know he would blow my mind, what I expected and what I got, I... Was... Stunned!

Kouri made a set of 4 foot tall wings that could don the Victoria's Secret Runway. Funny story, I was dressed as a ghost in full makeup at a haunted house when I saw the first picture of them, let's just say I was not able to stay in character because I was so excited!

After realizing how much support I had and how much talent was being brought together for this shoot, I knew I wanted to pull off something extra, something special. For this I asked for Tim's help ( oh yeah, backing up again, he wasn't the photographer for the Top 10 project) 

I was more stressed for this shoot than any other one I had been involved in. Even though I know and had worked with all these artists before, this time it was different. They were all there because I asked them to be and the pressure to produce something that represented their talents was felt on a much stronger level. 

So this is what we made. Thank you to my friends that worked so hard to make this image! I can't wait for everyone to see it!

Cheers

~ Christine

Designs by Nolan Kouri, www.nolankouristudio.com

Hair Stylist Renne Alejandro, www.facebook.com/renne.limon

Makeup by Cesar Rivera & Florlinda Ayala

www.facebook.com/zezarmua 

www.facebook.com/florlinda.ayala.mua

Male Model: Matt Webber

Here's a short video of the making of..

Sacramento Magazine "Cover Of The Year"

I just received word the cover I shot for Sacramento Magazine was voted the 2013 Cover of the Year. My team and I put together the photo shoot early last year for the lead story and cover of the April issue. I photographed many of our Sacramento news anchors, it was such a fun day! We had Bethany Crouch from FOX 40 (KTXL) and Lisa Gonzales from Ch 3 (KCRA) as our cover models and wow, are they amazing together! I have never seen such great chemistry! They should have there own TV show.

I am so pleased with the team I had on this shoot. That cover shot came out of a very funny situation. After the shoot was over, Lisa and Bethany were playing on an old Honda scooter that was in the studio. I started shooting them with my iPhone. After looking at the iPhone images I realized that was the energy I needed for the cover shot. We went back and reshot the cover with the same configuration and style. Although the iPhone shot was almost good enough to be the cover by itself.

And who says the iPhone is not a real camera!

Makeup: Jenifer Haupt 
Hair: Renne Alejandro
Styling: Simone Vianna 
Production: Christine Alward