Trip up to Lone Pine, Ca...

I met up with my buddy and excellent photographer friend Mike Cassidy for a trip up to Lone Pine, Ca to capture some incredible landscape, sunsets and clouds.  We were not disappointed and after setup and waiting for the weather and sun to line up we were rewarded with a majestic view of the mountains.

It was a really great time and a wonderful time.  We explored a lot of the areas around the area while chasing the light.

The shot above was shot with a Nikon D300s and Nikon 12-24 DX AF-S lens.

Film Noir Shoot

I had the opportunity to team with Faith and Cliff from Oval Studios on a "Film Noir" shoot they scheduled a few months ago.  It happened to coincide with Faith's birthday which made the entire event even that much more special.  It was a super great time and we worked with models Jessica McGoldrick, Diana Dominquez, Jules Ensey, Amber Jones, and Samantha Griffith.  We had a great make-up artist Amanda Moore who did a fantastic job making the models look beautiful!

In the tradition of the Film Noir style the lighting was harsh and everything was in black-and-white.  I pulled out the super large black backdrop, grid-spot and speed lights.  We set up around 5pm and finished packing everything up around 4:30am the next morning. 

Faith was the main shooter and I mainly worked the lights but I did capture a handful of images that I'm pretty happy with.  Click on the image above to cycle through the selects!

These images were shot with the Nikon D300s and Nikkor 85mm 1.8 AF-S lens.  Really great combination!

Available Light...

I had the opportunity to create of images of my youngest daughter while we were playing in the park.  She is very photogenic and loves to be in front of the camera.  We were playing on the swing and I asked to make some images of her.  This was one of my absolute favorites and was just too cute.

This shot was captured with a Nikon D300s and Nikkor 85mm 1.8 AF-S lens.

Starting Over...

The last year has been pretty difficult with a lot of personal issues that have really complicated my life.  The direct result of all this turmoil was that my photographic creative side was put on the top shelf and neglected for over a year.  Today I sign the papers that takes me out of limbo and gives me my life back!

Everything happens for a reason and I honestly feel that events in life guide you to where you need to be and to help you make the correct choices during a long and hard path.  I have been very fortunate that along every step of the way I have had family and friends by my side who have walked with me and helped me through this journey.  I will be forever grateful for their support, kindness and patiences.

I have also been very fortunate to make some amazing new friends along the way with the latest set being Faith and Cliff Johnson from Oval Studios.  I had an wonderful opportunity to work with with some lighting/equipment techniques and as a result I was able to put a camera back to my eye and create some images!

Photography has always been very special to me and something I have been extremely passionate about.  It was amazing to experience that again and I am ready to start creating again!

The imagine above is of Diana who was the model that Faith brought as our subject for the evening.  Now this wasn't a model shoot but more of a lighting exercise and I just have to say that Diana was awesome, very patient and an absolute blast to photograph!

Tsunami Surfers...

My dad and brother formed a surf band called the Tsunami Surfers that has been playing in and around Bakersfield.  Last weekend they played the Kern River Spring Festival located at Hart Park.  It was a great opportunity to connect up with them and to have an opportunity to photograph the event.  They have put a tremendous amount of effort in the group and sounds pretty tight.

The venue was a pretty tough location to photograph with harsh back lighting and a very attractive fence in front of the band but I think I was able to work around it and get some pretty nice shots.

To minimize changing lenses on this I just used two (2) Nikon D300s with the Nikon 17-55 2.8 AF-S DX and the Nikon 70-200 2.8 AF-S VR attached to each body.  As mentioned above the lighting situation was pretty complicated and to keep things simple I would meter off the concrete floor using exposure lock to prevent the band from being under exposed.

The only thing I forgot?

Earplugs...