Have a Blessed New Year 2010!

Hunkered Down, and 2010-Bound

The twenty three inches of snow we got last week is melting fast after hanging around for a week.

But I have figured out how to put the remaining mounds to good use: We now have a rather large-ish, walk-out Diet Mtn. Dew refrigerator.

The caffeine will be timely and appreciated, as I am spending the week in The Cave trying to knock off my first of three, blog-related New Year's resolutions. More on that in a few days -- hopefully.

But before we head into 2010, one last look at some of my favorite stuff from Strobist in 2009, in case you missed it the first time. (Windows will open in a new frame, so you can 'command-W' to close them and remain either here or in your feed reader.)
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On Assignment: Manil Suri
Fifteen Minutes of Fame
Frozen Hummingbirds
Your Basic Freudian Light Stand
Visiting the Large Hadron Collider
FS: Brick 3BR TH, SB-800s Do Not Convey
On Assignment: Desert Falconer
Lighting Edgier Group Shots
Two-Light Techniques: Pt. 1, Pt. 2 and Pt. 3
Now You Can Sync Anything to Anything
On Assignment: Playwright
New Long-form Dave Hill Videos
Trashy Light
Light, in Tights: Bounceman!
Video: Dan Winters, Beyond Lighting
Dean Collins' Hot Lights Bike
Jon Fletcher's Night Shuttle Shoot
The Men Who Flash at Goats
An (as-yet unanswered) Challenge to Nikon
Drinking with Dead Guys: Beers With Vermeer


Have a happy (and safe) New Year's Eve, and we'll see you next year...

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Kris Allen Live Like We're Dying Lyrics, Video

Remember the time when I posted (predicted) that Kris Allen will win American Idol? Read  it here: Kris Allen will be the Next American Idol

And we all know my prediction was right. He just released his newest album and the first time I listened to one of the singles (Live Like We're Dying), I was convinced he deserved to win even if the rest would say otherwise.

The meaning this song tells the listeners is amazing! It tells or conveys the sense of urgency for all of us who don't have eternity for us to say and show "I Love You" every chance we got.

Here's the video and lyrics. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Kris Allen's Live Like We're Dying

Kris Allen - Live Like Were Dying Lyrics

Sometimes we fall down and cant get back up
Were hiding behind skin thats too tough
How come we dont say I love you enough
Till its too late, its not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that wont come
We could make a feast from these crumbs
And were all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you, what would you wish you wouldve done

[Chorus]
Yeah, gotta start
Looking at the hand of the time weve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start thinkin it
Every second counts on a clock thats tickin
Gotta live like were dying
We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
To turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell em that we love em while we got the chance to say,
Gotta live like were dying

And if you plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbyes
Should be so careful who we live out of our lives
So when we long for absolution, therell be no one on the line

(Chorus)

Like were dying (x4)

(Chorus)

You never know a good thing until its gone
you never see a crash until its head on
All these people right when were dead wrong,
You never know a good thing till its gone

(Chorus)

Like were dying (x4)

(Chorus)

peace out

boots, originally uploaded by simply photo.

I'm outta here until after the new year.

Happy and safe travels, fun, parties, etc. mmmmmmwah! *M

What's your Christmas wishlist?

I had been thinking about this question lately. More than the Holiday vacation and the wonderful gifts what else do we really WISH this Christmas?

What's your Christmas wishlist?

Here's a shortlist of the things I wish to see this Christmas:

I wish to see the victims of the Maguindanao Massacre find Justice and may there be no more any election related violence in my country.

I wish to see mediamen protected and safeguarded as bringers of truth.

I wish to see progress in the Philippines and that the government starts to have the fear of the Lord in their decisions and choices.

I wish to see a newly elected president who's capable of leading the country to progress and development. One who is righteous and one who has been duly elected by the people.

I wish to see my team perform and be the number 1 team in my program.

I wish to see the Young Adults Ministry in my church grow for the glory of the Lord!

I wish to see my family grow and be successful in their careers!

I wish to see my family pray together to stay forever!

I wish to see myself growing in maturity in my relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ!

Praise the Lord!

...::H A P P Y * H O L I D A Y S::...

hoping your holidays are warm, filled with laughter, fresh baked cookies and surrounded by those you love.

Christmas Lights and Lighting Christmas

So, we're definitely gonna have a white Christmas here in Maryland.

We are buried in snow, with the high between now and Christmas only hitting the mid 30's. That stuff ain't goin' nowhere.

I took advantage of the first pristine evening to do a twilight photo of our house with the Christmas lights, right out of the tutorial that was referenced last week.

Twilight is the magic hour when it all comes together. And the snow is an added bonus, making large, formerly black areas in the photo very easy to compress tonally. You can underexpose it by a full three stops and it is still a rich medium grey.

Or in this case, medium blue. After the light goes down, the ambient shifts to a very cool color temperature. And by shooting between daylight and tungsten WB, you can play the warm against the cool very nicely.

Here, I used a daylight setting, shifted three units to blue -- which is about halfway to incandescent. That left the tungsten lights nice and warm. Our normal outside lights, BTW, are warm CFLs, which are warmer than tungsten with a little green added in.

Other than that, it's just a waiting game. In a rare moment of lucidity, I shot test shots of the neighbor's house through the window from my warm living room until the lighting mix was pretty close. Then I walked out to the street and made my picture within a couple minutes.

(I'm kinda liking this staying-indoors-during-a-major-snowstorm thing -- a pleasant change of pace from the last 20 years of chasing snow art.)


Lighting Christmas

For those of you not around in 2007, we did a walk-thru of how to easily light your whole living room with just a couple speedlights. It is designed for Christmas morning, but is a good technique to know for any time you have to light a large area with mobile subjects. For reference, you can find it here.

If you are expecting lighting gear under the tree, this might even be excuse enough to get to open it a day early -- just sayin'.

In the Hobby house, we are full-blown into Christmas mode right now, so please forgive any delays in moderating your comments, etc. And whichever holiday you may be celebrating this time of year, we hope it is happy, healthy and spent with friends and family.

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saul leiter:: street scenes

Saul Leiter's vintage photography of urban winter streets, always seem to look warm and romantic from this beach, vantage point.

Having no formal training in photography, Leiter began shooting New York street scenes in the 1940s.

He once noted his love for using expired colored film for its result of surprising and odd shift in color.

Saul Leiter's work was the subject of a major 2008 exhibition at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris.

Happy Holidays from Google

I received an email just today from Google and I really just want to share this to everyone!

They're doing as they would say "SOMETHING DIFFERENT" this Holiday Season!

Check it out here: Happy Holidays from Google

This gesture truly is very selfless of that of Google!

How about us? What are we doing something different this Holiday Season?

christmas at the white house

Christmas at the White House 2009 from White House on Vimeo.

we need to talk to them about using at least one living tree next year.

rizzle for the sizzle

I just came back from standing in a 45 minute line at the post office. A bit remiss in my gift sending {per usual} vowing to, next year, get my act together by October. As I stood in a line of octogenarian surfers, off duty lifegaurds and flip flop wearing beach moms, frantically filling out mailing slips as their little surf-grommit kids swung from the edge of the counter, I took comfort in knowing that I'm not alone in my slacker christmas spirit. In this spirit, I share with you a few last minute gift giving ideas.

Holiday cards on the fly have made it all so easy you can wait until the week of! forget about mailing them out, some of use haven't even created our cards yet. I like minted.com's easy turn around and great looking designs.

I bet Santa uses something like this. Originally meant to haul around bricks and mortar I suppose, the Heritage Leather Co.'s Mason bag is sturdy as all get out and cool looking too. found here for $70.00

Fabric originally from Kojima Japan, the kyoto selvedge chambray scarf. Great for those of us in mild temps in a beautiful 'violet' colorway. found here for 80 bones.

Using old perfume recipes from the 1920s and 1930s, these exquisite and unique scents contain essential oils of cedar, hiba, patchouli, vetiver and vanilla with a twist of lime and spruce. Beautifully masculine in scent, definitely unisex for you gals who don't like to smell too sweet and perfumy. Found at the Portland General Store for as little as $10.00

I love the work of I'm Smitten {and they have the rare site with music playing, that doesn't make you scramble for the mute button} . I've especially had my eye on this lovely piece for some time. "Foxes in Trees" print - $40.00 found here

Tom's shoes. LOVE these. I was in line {as opposed to on line} the other day, the women in front of me had a pair of flats with the ubiquitous {around here at least} TB logo across the toe. I, then, looked at my own casually canvased, espadrilled foot and wondered if TB gives a pair of shoes to a needy child with every purchase of a pair of her shoes. Tom's "One for One" plan only makes these shoes that much more awesome. And now they come in all kinds of groovy colors and designs. I take mine solid- but the above are kind of sail-club worthy.

And finally, while we're on the, gift for a gift idea, check out Walk With Sally's- shopping cart. One hundred percent of the proceeds go to this non-profit mentoring program {started by my husband} helping children and families dealing with cancer. The Skarf is the newest edition to their growing line of product. The site also, offers One Hope Wine as well as various tshirts {one of which I designed}.

So, that's all I got for you all today. Now, excuse me as I must go deal with one case of strep throat and a dead opposum under the house. Oh, and I need to order those holiday cards.

Keepin' in mind, through it all:

On Assignment: Photography for Social Media

I have been getting a new type of assignment over the last few months that I would have never anticipated even a year ago: Shooting corporate headshots and portraits specifically designed to be used in social media.

If you are a photographer who is savvy with Facebook and Twitter, you might do well to hook up with forward-thinking people who are heavy users of social media sites. More, inside.
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Ahead of the Curve

For me, the first thought of social media headshots was in an email exchange a while back with fellow blogger Ben Popken. He was sporting a cooler-than-thou avatar pic, and I asked him about it.

He told me that he "had it done," by photographer Nikola Tamindzic [NSFW]. In an instant, this made total sense to me. We register visual impressions in a fraction of a second, and Ben was smart enough to make the most of that for his online presence. Think of the number of images that hit you on a given day, and how efficient you are at making subconscious assessments based on image content and style.


Ben's avatar is current, cool and loose -- a perfect fit for his highly visible job Consumerist. But also is part of a group of photos at the ready for the speaking gigs and TV appearances that are part of his duties.

Take a moment to check out the bottom/right sidebar at Consumerist, which features Ben's headshot as seen above. Just below him, Meghann Marco's photo is also from a pro shoot, albeit a tight crop. It's from a cool group shot by the same photog of the (then) three editors at Consumerist:


The other sidebar shots are more typical of what you would normally see used as a bio pics or avatars. And to me, there's a huge difference in the first impression left by the different types of photos.

Consumerist doesn't have a gazillion bucks to go out and fund a big shoot. But even in 2007, they were smart enough to give themselves an instant leg-up on projecting a cool image.

What's amazing to me is that even in 2009, some much better-funded companies using social media still don't get this. In fact, some companies actually are using employee I.D. badge photos as avatars for their Twitter folks. Talk about penny-wise and pound-foolish.

If you are corporate social media type -- or just very visible on the web in your profession -- how much is riding on that first impression? Should you really be letting some guy down in security make your avatar photo on his ID-O-Matic mugshot machine?


Have a Compass Point

The trio of headshots up top came from a recent shoot I did of a social media team at a financial services company. They work directly with the public, and wanted to project an attitude of being fun, smart and approachable. Not exactly your father's corporate headshot. One of the ideas I tossed up for this shoot was a "Fast Company" look, based on the very smart Biz 2.0 mag of which I am a big fan.

As good as Fast Company is, one of the things that irks me about them is their willingness fall back on the same Jill Greenberg-style cover, say, 6 times a year or so. But that does give them a look, and one that is recognizable to even their non-photographer readers. This common knowledge is helpful in finding a visual compass point before the shoot. And they went for it right away.

I'll confess to having a love/hate thing with that Greenberg style. I like where she starts out, but frequently do not like where she ends up. Way too much over-lighting and post work for my taste.

My preference is to go with the natural, 3-D look of that wrapping style of light, and go lighter on the post work. I'm just not a big fan of the highly Photoshopped, alien-looking plastic skin thing.



Here is a pullback for Suzanne, the subject on the left up top. We kept this lighting pretty consistent throughout the shoot, which involved six people on that day.

As you can see, there is a beauty dish for key, and two gridded strips behind her for separation. Not a lot of juice on the strip lights, either. Just enough to define the area rather than nuking it. What you cannot see is a diffused (bare-bulb) SB-800 close to the collapsible backdrop, and an ABR-800 / Moon Unit for on-axis fill.

That last light is important, as it allows you to dial the contrast up or down as needed right from the camera position. We nixed the fill altogether on Rob (on the right) for instance. And if you don't have a ring you could use an umbrella right behind the camera in a pinch.

This lighting scheme gives a lot of control, as you are pretty much lighting every plane in the photo. Thus, there is a volume control on everything. But by keeping the ratios close, it all just look very crisp and 3-D -- and not so nuclear as in the Fast Company fronts.

The files were pretty close right out of the camera. I only added a little bit of high-pass filtration with hard-light layers to punch it up a little in post.


Bring Some Attitude

In the end, the edited photos set the tone for what should connote a fun, person-to-person feel in a social media environment. So while you should definitely start out with some standard corporate neutrals and smiles, get past that stuff quickly and work a wider variety of expressions. Then you have the ability to make choices in the edit later.

For these, we decided to go with more of an impish, fun look for the avatars, with a range of expressions inside on peoples' profile pages. When you think about it, everything in business comes down to person-to-person relationships. And being willing to open up a little bit in a corporate environment can pay big dividends in social media. It helps that this particular group of people were smart, funny and outgoing.

Which, of course, also makes them the ideal type of person for this job. Clarky, in the center, is hard-core social media. She had tweets timed to drop in while the shoot was happening. (FWIW, I sometimes use Future Tweets to space mine out, too. Keeps me from looking like a freak by dropping in tweets at 3:00a.m. when I frequently am actually awake writing.)


Just Do It.

If you are interested in building a social media portfolio, the best place to start is by photographing people in your circle who are already blogging and/or on Twitter. It's great for them, obviously. And done right, you will already have the beginnings of a viral marketing arm for your work.

Come to think of it, if your goal is to spread the word you might want to find the people who are already social media hubs in your town and work with them right off the bat. Being the chatty, social types they are, the first thing they'll probably do when they throw up the new photo is to talk about and link to the photographer who shot it.

But the important thing is that you get a subject and they get a photo. Lather, rinse and repeat until you start getting a better comfort level -- and a better, more targeted portfolio. Then you'll be ready when the word of mouth starts to come back to you.

This is an area I am interested in for several reasons -- not the least of which is because it is an intersection point for several areas of my professional life. So I have been shooting friends and colleagues to create the beginnings of a body of work in social media.

Which, in turn, has also led me to what I think will be the most interesting project I will be working on in 2010. Not ready to talk about it here yet, but suffice to say that the serendipitous aspect of just jumping in and making things happen can be very powerful.


Your Examples

Knowing that a lot of you are on Twitter, I'd be curious to see some of your choices for cool avatars there. It's a small amount of real estate, but some folks are creating a kickass first impression with it.

For instance, I like Tim Ferriss's avatar, which is perfect for the globe-trotting lifestyle engineer that he is.

Whose avatar -- other than your own, of course -- do you like? Hit us with a comment, and include a fully-formed URL (i.e., http://www.twitter.com/ahetherington) in the comments.
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Next: STB: John McIntyre

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

But CHRISTMAS is more than these decorations, more than any culture and traditions! 

It must be all ABOUT Him! 

Jesus, the REASON for the season!

For God So Loved The World

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16 (New International Version)

As we celebrate this Christmas, let's not forget the real reason why Jesus came. He came for us! He came to die for us! He came because He loves us!

May HIS name continually be praised!

DIY Awesomeness: Level-Headed Light Stand Mod

We love Reuben Krabbe's lazy-leg light stand mod so much we will be more than happy to help pimp his blatant appeal for new followers on Twitter and Facebook.

This mod is designed for a standard light stand. But for those of you who use compact, 5-section light stands, remember that they work differently because of the 180-degree leg-fold design.

Just eyeballing it, my thinking is that the extra holes on the leg -- going further down the leg -- would have to be spaced much tighter than two inches. (Half an inch, maybe?) I'd line it up and check the angles before drilling. Also, you might have to pull the pin and re-insert it to get it to close completely.

What a great mod, Reuben. Lots of tripods do this, but I have never seen it on a light stand.

[UPDATE: Apparently, Avenger makes a lazy-leg stand. Still liking this DIY route, tho.]
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(Via the always excellent DIYPhotography.net, where Udi has lots more light stand DIY stuff.)

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"Donner, Party of Four, Please…"

We are snowbound here at Strobist World Headquarters, 14 inches into a forecast two feet of snow. The whole Mideast Atlantic is getting pummeled.

I'm an indoor cat today, not at all missing the mandatory snow art assignment at The Sun.

We are (I hope) sufficiently stocked up on food, and cracking the occasional "Modest Proposal" sub-reference around the kids. They remain clueless as to why we think that's funny.

Happy to be snuggled up near the fire and working on an OA post for next week. If you are traveling -- in any form -- on the East Coast today, please do so carefully.

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peace out

belted galo :: grass doe

Nikon Shotguns the Web With Goodness

Hey, you.

If you are a Nikon shooter and use CLS, you definitely want to head over to Nikon's site for three new free lighting vids. Heck, even if you aren't a Nikon type, it's worth the watch for the McNally lighting theory tidbits.

There are three vids so far: here, here and here.

Big props to Nikon USA for moving into high-quality, free instructional video on the web to make their customers better shooters. Every company oughtta be doing this. Really.

Not leaving well enough alone, you can also get Nikon World for free on your iPhone/iPod Touch. And if you are on Twitter, you can follow Nikon there, too.
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As for the Canon equivalents, lessee…

Oh yeah: Fake Chuck Westfall is busy on Twitter. Mind those virgin ears, tho (or cubicle passers-by) -- as Chucky frequently uncorks the odd NSFW rant.

(Seriously, if Canon or any of the other major camera manufacturers is doing good quality lighting videos, sound off w/URLs in the comments.)



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Beach bungalow 8- The Skirted Round Table, Holiday gift giveaway

The "real" beachbungalow8 as seen in the New York Times today.

Michal Czerwonka for The New York Times

Almost a year ago, my friend and fellow blogger Joni {cote de texas} asked if I'd be interested in joining herself and Linda Merrill { ::suroundings:: } to create a design podcast. Sure! why not. I was so flattered to be asked. I figured we chat, create a few of these podcasts and the whole thing would be short lived. I had no idea, that it would turn into what it has become. Almost a year later The Skirted Round Table has far exceeded, clearly, my own expectations.

I had never thought that one day I'd be chatting it up with people like Margaret Russell, Charlotte Moss, Alessandra Branca! The list goes on. Wow. I'm truly blown away by our good fortune. As we cruise into next year, our show focuses, once again on Holiday decorating. Unlike our last stab at it, this time we're a little more up beat about it all! We have some great blogs to talk about with beautiful holiday decorating.

And to thank our listeners, from the bottoms of our hearts, we are offering a gift give away. Actually, each of us is having a giveaway: there will be three First Place winners in all. One winner will receive a gift from Linda, one will receive a gift from Joni and the third will receive a gift from me! Your choice: either this yummy candle by English Eccentrics or this sweet little sugar bowl.

To enter – go to The Skirted Roundtable blog page HERE and leave a comment. That’s it! We’ll pick the three winners Thursday night. So hurry and leave a comment – and go ahead and listen to the newest podcast while you are there.



BTW:
After this week, The Skirted Roundtable will be on vacation until the first week in January when we welcome Stephen Drucker, editor in chief of House Beautiful magazine as our first guest of 2010.

10m Nikon/Canon TTL Cords Now on Ebay

After several months of use, I am a pretty big fan of my YongNuo 10-meter TTL cord.

Most of the time I do not use it for TTL. But I frequently use it as a rock-solid, quick PC cord that can also handle FP sync when I want to do an f/2.8 portrait, lit in full sun. And if you are using CLS, it is also great for getting the master flash to a place where it can see all of the remote flashes.

The problem has been where to find them, as no one seems to have picked up the ball at retail. But they have finally popped up on eBay in quantity on both Nikon and Canon platforms, and from someone who ships worldwide.

As of right now, the specific pages are here for the Nikon and Canon versions. But those auction listings will change, so you can always search Nikon 10m TTL and Canon 10m TTL to track them down.

Both versions are under $50 USD, with free worldwide shipping.

And if anyone knows of any established retail outlets (as opposed to eBay sellers) who may also be stocking them, please feel free to post a direct product URL in the comments.

(Thanks to Selbosh for the eBay tip via the comments.)
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Pixel TR-331 Update

And speaking of remote TTL capability, I placed some first-person review notes (from VA-based photog Don Harper) on the previously mentioned Pixel TTL remotes in the Flickr thread dedicated to that product, where most of the best info is already collected.

And there is another, excellent review in that thread, here.

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holiday

I'm cutting outta here, and heading up to the mountains. I leave you with these sunny & charming, holiday shots.

Vogue UK, May 2008 Photography:: Patrick Demarchelier.

pencils of promise ~

In an effort to use the power of blogging as a philanthropic vehicle, this holiday season, Paloma Contreras of La Dolce Vita blog has enrolled and inspired fellow bloggers to assist her in spreading the awareness of an amazing non-profit benefiting young women in developing countries.

Pencils of Promise, a wonderful 501(c)(3) organization based in New York, that partners with local communities and organizations to build schools of early-stage education in developing nations for some of the world’s most impoverished and undereducated children. There are more than 75 million children in this situation worldwide.

How we can help:

Our Blogger Collaborative Project will benefit the females students of Champet, a village in Laos that is home to the only high school in the area for surrounding villages. In order to attend this high school, the students must leave their families and homes to live in dormitories. However these dormitories are worlds away from what comes to mind when we think of Western boarding schools. Most importantly, PoP wants to point out that girls are moving and living in these unsafe dormitories which consists of make shift bamboo huts in order to get an education. It is heartbreaking but so courageous at the same time.

For more information and photos please visit Paloma's blog, La Dolce Vita or go directly here to make a donation to this worthy cause today.

forvever knocking it off

Last spring I posted some photos of a baby shower I threw for a friend and received loads of emails requesting the source for her beautiful necklace. Unfortunately, the beloved 'Stormy Sea Necklace' is no longer available at Anthroplogie.

But look what I found at forever 21 .....

not a bad fake for $40.00 less.

On Assignment: What, Me Worry?

When on an assignment, my goal is for the actual shoot to be as worry-free as possible. That's why I try to get all of my worrying done beforehand.

Some people call this as "pre-production" work, but I tend to think of it as worrying in advance.

A worrisome, pre-planning walk-thru, inside
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I did an assignment a couple weeks ago for a magazine that I won't name today, as the cover does not come out until next year and it's not cool to scoop a client.

But while the shoot was fresh in my mind, I wanted to run through my advance worrying before the actual shoot, as it is at least as important the time when you are actually taking photos. I will probably OA the shoot when the magazine is published, but for now it shall remain generic.

As someone who came from an environment in which much of the advance worrying was done for me by assignment editor Chuck Weiss, learning how to work out a game plan for before the fact has been a big help.

I would show up in the mornings, get my assignments for the day and hit the road. The assignment sheet was a framework, with most of the details worked out. And beyond that point it was the photo version of "Whose Line is it, Anyway," with photogs reacting real-time to the daily stream of curve balls that were thrown our way.

Which, of course, made the job very interesting, in a can-you-hit-a-curveball kind of way. Nowadays, all of the prep and pre-thinking falls to me. This is good in that it gives you control, but bad in that there are more variables to screw up work through. The goal, of course, being to leave as few surprises as possible for the day of the shoot.


Before the Shoot: A Walk-Thru

The first email for this job arrived from the magazine's art director while I was away in Mexico. They had a quick-turn cover assignment (the subject was to be leaving for an extended trip shortly) in the DC area. They wanted to know if I could I shoot it within a few days for publication early next year.

No problem, I told them. I would be back in town as of next Weds., and could talk more then. So I put that conversation on top of the to-do pile, as it was time sensitive.

As soon as I got back, I got details on the subject and how to contact him. The ball was now rolling, and the clock was ticking, with a couple of days to pull it together.


First: Worry About the Subject

Before contacting the subject, I first found out everything I could about him -- web pages, his personal site, YouTube videos of him in action, etc. Think somewhere between book report and full-blown stalker. The more you know, the better. Not that this is going to give you an amazing photo idea (then again, it might) but it will probably keep you making a completely stupid and irrelevant photo.

By the time I called the subject for the first time, I had a pretty good working knowledge of him. I knew what I would like to do (kind of a hero/epic looking shot, a little painterly, maybe) and where/when I would like to do it. But the "when" part depended on the subject's availability.


Worry About the Location

Not having any access to his normal working environment (this guy typically operates on the fringe of insanity, in some pretty exotic locales) I'm looking for a backdrop to connote water and build on that.

First destination: Google Maps. It's a godsend. I can scout locations -- including user-supplied photos for popular destinations. More important, I can plot sight lines in the direction of sunset on any given day of the year.

I settled on Centennial Lake Park in Howard County, MD as it was near my house and I was pretty sure it would be cool to shoot there. I knew I could get a clean look into sunset with water, so could use the wide variety of light that happens before, during and just after sunset.



A trip to the park with my point-and-shoot confirmed sight lines in the direction of the setting sun. I did a direct flash test of my hand against the sunset, just for a quick look.

I was also able to see what our immediate shooting area would look like, and find an alternate spot in case we had wind. In the end, we went with spot #2, as it was in a more windward direction. This bought us some calm on the water in the foreground before the wind laid down completely.


Worry About Permits

A quick look at the park's rules and regs told me I would probably be okay, as they only required permits for commercial and "instructional" shoots.

Permits are a double-edged sword, and we were potentially in a squishy area on this site. For me, there would be a short-timing issue (we were scheduling fast) so I definitely wanted to work around getting a permit if possible. But a permit also gives you a little ownership of the shoot area, and without that sheet of paper you are somewhat at the mercy of the other people there.

Technically, this shoot is editorial. So I figure we should be safe. But that won't make much difference if the guys who work there look at the lights and decide we are commercial. So I call in, ostensibly to make sure we will not need a permit.

But that is not the real reason I call. The regs already say we do not need a permit. What we do need, however, is the name of a higher-up to throw around in case we get disturbed by site workers while trying to shoot. Then we can say, "Nope, it's cool. We called and checked in, and (Jane Doe) said we did not need a permit because we were editorial."

Note: If you are going to go with this line of defense, it's all in the way it is delivered. Last thing you want to be doing is to be asking for permission again with the tone of your voice. You are merely assuring them that this is not something that is about to add to their day's responsibilities, because someone above them has already signed off.


Park worker: Let me see your permit.
Photographer [with a small wave of his hand]: You don't need to see the permit.
Park Worker: We don't need to see the permit.
Photographer: These aren't the photographers you are looking for.
Park Worker: These aren't the photographers we are looking for ...


Scheduling a shoot on a Saturday when the main offices are closed helps, too. Then they can't call Agency VP Jane Doe and say, "But they have a whole lot of lights and stuff flashing. Sure you do not want us to shut them down just to be safe?"

Funny thing about that, actually. During the shoot we were approached by a group of park workers. As they drove up in the truck and rolled down the window we were lining up the best line of BS we could muster. Then one leans out of the window and yells (and I quote) "Hey, look at these mother f-----s!" before driving off.

(Translation: It's close to quitting time, and we don't need the extra work of trying to figure the situation out.)

Perfect. But we were ready whip out some Obi Wan if necessary.


Worry About Logistics

Back on the planning front, we call our subject and get a date and time locked down. There is flexibility here, so of course we are gonna sked it to happen through sunset. That's a major advantage compared to getting your assignments all cut-and-dried. Take the timing reins when possible to get yourself the most chance of a good picture.

After locking down a place and time, I post an open call for VALs/assistants on both the location scout photo photo page on Flickr and on Twitter.

Alas, Flickrmail was borked for some reason (imagine that) and no responders got my follow-up mails. But Twitter backstopped it nicely and we had three sherpas assistants (Les, Mark and Linh) for shooting and some decent pizza after. (The magazine's budget was not assistant-friendly, but a location shoot and pizza is usually a pretty cool way to spend an evening. I generally enjoy being on either end of the equation.)

Next step: Send out a Google Map to all, with exact locations for shoot and place to park. People can pull directions from their home this way. Everyone gets everyone's cell number, email, etc., too.

And even with that level of info, pad the schedule If possible. Leave time for things to go wrong. They usually will, in some way. If you have planned for it, no big whup. Our subject was about 30 mins late, but we had planned for that. We only missed some late afternoon light, but still had him for the twilight transition.

Interesting note: Photographer Robert Seale sometimes takes it a step further, sending a car and driver for his subject. That is a very gracious-looking perk, for what is essentially a kidnapping -- and total control of your subject's whereabouts. Smart.


Worry on Paper

At this point, I have already begun a notebook for the shoot. Just a pad that stays with me and soaks up every idea I get for the shoot in the few days leading up.

This is maybe the biggest help of all of my advance worrying. Just having that pad/iPhone/back of your hand/whatever to jot down ideas allows you to just keep stuff percolating in the back of your mind and grab the good ideas that come along.


Worry About the Comp

I had the mag send me pdfs of several past covers. This lets the AD show me what he likes, and lets me see the range of what has been deployed in the past WRT logo, blurb space, etc.


This was very important in this case, as this particular mag has a humongous logo up top, and it will really dig down into the composition.

Can we float the head into the type? Yes we can, they say, into the bottom half at least. (That helps some.)


Worry About the Photo and Lighting

Any photo/lighting ideas I get within the next coupla days will go into this notebook, in very basic shorthand form. I want to be able to create a few different looks in short order. And having a playbook to go to will keep me from spazzing out with no ideas at the shoot.

The point is to have a script of ideas at the ready, but still be open to improvisation.


And every photo idea has a lighting scheme attached to it. This helps me to plan for what lighting gear I will need, and keeps me both from not having something and from overpacking. Well, too much, anyway.

This also helps me to previsualize the final image, for a better compass point when designing the light at the shoot. And I can group ideas into similar lighting themes, to allow me to swap out very efficiently at the shoot if time is short.

In the same way I might diagram a photo after the fact for this blog, having those diagrams pre-drawn is a big help. Those ideas, on paper, help to clear my thinking and to help others with the lighting setups if we are moving quickly.


Worry About the Gear

My approach to gear go with the lightest pack that includes no single point of failure. I.e., no one thing can break and kill the shoot. Since that usually means backing up lights somehow, it also give me the ability to improvise on the scene.


For gear this time, I am light on cameras and glass and heavier on light. One body to shoot, one backup body. One long zoom and one short zoom. One point-and-shoot to use as a setup camera and/or BTS video camera if we want.

The zooms meet up at 70mm (one 24-70, and a 70-200) so if one goes bad I can shoot at 70mm. Just fine for a portrait, worst case.

Lighting is more complicated. I have monoblocs, which gives me redundancy. (If everything runs through one pack and that pack goes, that's a bad thing.) I just take one extra mono than think I will need. But power is a weak point -- I only have one Vagabond II pack because my second inverter borked and in for repair.

So I shove four SB-800s in to the camera bag, and throw a few umbrella adapters for them into the stand bag. Now, even if the other Vagabond fails, I will be okay. I will just have to wait until the ambient gets a little lower to overpower it.

Speaking of lighting -- bringing along an AA-powered, strong LED flashlight means I can focus on the subject's eyes well past sunset and into the dark. You only forget that one once, and never again.


Shoot Day: No Worries, Mate!

Some stuff defies pre-planning. On the scene, we had a couple of lookie-loos who literally wandered right into the lights, checking stuff out.

"What's that? An AB800? Why, Iamthinkingaboutgettingoneofthosemyself. Excuse me as my curious young offspring steps right up and starts touching the gear! Nevermind the potentially fatal voltages -- if he gets electrocuted I can make another one just like him!"

Yeesh. That's a downside to working without a permit -- it is difficult keep people out of your shoot. So we talked with them for a coupla mins, stayed diplomatic, then invited them to watch. From a distance. Like, over there, behind that bench. Or maybe from across the lake.

At about sunset, a friend biked by with her always-present iPhone. Thus were photos of our in-progress shoot ported to Twitter before we were even halfway finished. Felt like we were on The Truman Show or something.

But for the most part, all went well. And in the end the smoothness of the final shoot was largely a result of the many layers of worrying that went into it.