The New HTC RE Camera

Earlier this week, HTC revealed some new products at their Double Exposure event in NYC. http://blog.htc.com/2014/10/double-exposure/ I'm honored to again create many of the images for their newest product the HTC RE, a small handheld camera.

The LED Lenser P7 is always part of my camera bag. Thanks Christine The Photographer for helping me making this image.

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.

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.

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

Happy Clicking!

Color Shift

I've been interested in traditional ways to shift colors in my images. In a time when it's so easy to add digital flare it's hard to come up with ways to shift the image without relying on the computer and committing to a permanent shift in the camera. I like to see the if I can get as close to the final image as possible in camera. For me it keeps me in a tight visual string or style.

To this end, I have been experimenting with shooting through colored glass and objects. I find myself constantly on the lookout for interesting color or shapes to try.

I’m very pleased with this set of images! Christine and I made these a few months back at the Preston Castle. The light at this location is amazing and it always provides ample room to shoot. I found a small piece of red glass that matched her red lips. The glass was perfect for this set. I love the saturation and color it gave and with Christine’s posing this turned out better than I could have imagined!

It’s now part of my bag of tricks.

Nikon D4

ISO 800

85mm

f3.5

1/500

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!

HTC Gluuv

I'm so excited to be able to announce some new technology that I received to play with recently. The amazing HTC Gluuv! With the trend toward wearable devices, this is a very interesting new direction. The prototype I played with has lots of features with still more to come. I'm definitely interested in getting one when it goes into production.

I've got to say, it's pretty cool to be able to try this technology before the world gets to see it.

The New HTC One (M8)

Some of you may have noticed that I have been missing in action the last few months. This is why http://www.htc.com/us I had the opportunity to work with HTC, one of the largest cell phone manufacturers in the world and their new cutting edge top secret phone. I was part of the team that created all the images and web video for the launch of the HTC New One (M8).

The project started in November of last year with planning and pre production. We shot for a full week in January and have spent the last 2 months editing and assembling the final products.

There is no way I could have accomplished such a huge project without a team that had my back, extremely talented models that worked hard during the consecutive days of shooting and a great client. The HTC team had great vision, they conveyed it to me clearly and allowed me to craft a plan that we executed and lead to a final product that everyone was happy with.

In my next few blog pots I will go into greater detail about what it took to get this done. For now I am just excited to finally be able to share this great news with you! It’s been so difficult to keep it quite for the last 4 months!

I am so grateful to have such an amazing team! If not for them and their efforts none of this would have been possible! Thank you all!

Team -
Photographer - Tim Engle
Videographer - Kody Pickern
Production - Christine Alward
Makeup Artist - Jenifer Haupt
Hair Stylist - Mikel Sessions
Wardrobe Stylist - Simone Vianna
1st Assistant - Gene Wang
2nd Assistant - Dave Harlan
Video Assistant - Todd Beighley
Catering - Libby Carew
Security - Bill Thiry & Mike Claypool
Electrician - Wade Barton
Models - Cast Images

Tamarack

I had the opportunity to visit and photograph Tamarack Lodge (the former high security detention building of Preston School and PYA) in Ione, CA. As you drive up to the Preston Castle, if you continue straight towards the fence and look down the hill you will see this location down behind trees. It's a location that I have had on my "Photo Bucket List" for years! It did not disappoint! Visually it is quite stunning, it's like a movie set left in time, perfect but still very intimidating. I can only imagine how it must have felt like to have been in one of these cells day in and day out. It's remarkable that after only a few years of being abandoned, the deterioration is proceeding at such a rapid pace. I'm very fortunate that I was able to get in when I did to photograph it.