Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club

John Kelly Band performing at Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club

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Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 400 1/1250thAfter the training portion of the MIC event at the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club came the social and relaxing portion.  Besides a large buffet spread there was a roving magician and a live 7-piece band performing.  During a break, I had a chance to meet some of the members of the John Kelly Band.  They were all very friendly.

Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1250thThere was a bit of a challenge in photographing the band in the form of a very large pool being right in front of the stage (lengthwise).  Now when I photographed a band on the very same stage for New Year's Eve 2009, the pool was covered with a very expensive plexiglass cover.  At first I almost walked into the pool just trying to get a more natural shooting angle.

Tim Poole - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/1000thShooting from extreme angles I tried to get as clean of backgrounds as I could.  I used my Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens wide open at f/2.8 and sometimes a bit stopped down at f/4 (for improved sharpness).  

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 320 1/160th with Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted in TTL mode with diffuser capI switched lenses to my wide angle for the one vantage point I could get close to the stage from the, right rear side.  The band was being mostly front lit by the late afternoon sun so I used my SB-800 to add some needed fill light while still being able to keep the blue of the sky.  Manual exposure mode was necessary for the above shot to produce the results I wanted.  

John Kelly - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 400 1/1000thTo be honest, when I am concentrating on shooting as much as I was to figure out how to best photograph the band, I am not too aware of much else.  So I heard the songs the John Kelly Band were playing, but only in the background of my senses.  Thus I cannot really comment too much on what type of music they play.

Geni Poole - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/2.8 ISO 400 1/1000thMore information about the John Kelly Band: 

Jason Collin Photography:

MIC Event 2010 at Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club

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Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/4 ISO 800 1/200th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted with diffuser capA professional photographer needs to be both very flexible and always ready to take a job.  Out of the blue this afternoon a contact at Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club called me asking if I could photograph an event going on . . . now.  When I got the call at 2:31pm I was actually at the Rusty Pelican in Tampa scouting it out for a wedding I will be photographing there in a few weeks and I was supposed to take care of two other things even further away from St. Petersburg where the yacht & tennis club is.  I did not want to turn down the job, so I said I could make it back across the bay and be on site by 4pm.    

Bill Edwards giving a presentation at the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club

I had to first stop at home and pick up my photography gear and grab a quick sandwich as I would be shooting for 3 hours (4pm to 7pm).  This is another important point, a photographer should always have his/her gear at least semi-ready for shooting.  I plan on writing a full blog post on this soon.  I have photographed two other events and a wedding at TIYTC so I am very familiar with shooting there and also the layout of the club.  This of course gave me confidence about being able to just swoop in and start shooting.

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/4 ISO 800 1/40th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted with diffuser cap

I was told to try and use flash as little as possible, which means high ISO shots.  They also requested a group shot of everyone in the conference room right in the middle of the event so there was no time to place any strobes in the back of the room or anything.  I just moved a few placards out of the way, went to the far back corner of the room up on a little stage, set my shutter speed as slow as I dared (1/40th) and was thankful that 17mm was just wide enough to get everyone in plus a bonus staff member on the far left.  

This event had a whole other outdoor phase to it which will be in a future post.

Gateway Church St Petersburg Wedding with Bianca & Derrick

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Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club docks provides the background for this wedding portraitYou may recognize Bianca as I recently featured her in my new Bride Series.  She married Derrick at the Gateway Church in St. Petersburg.  Their reception was at the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club, a place I photographed at twice before (New Year's Eve, Admiral Farragut Graduation 2010).

Bianca and Derrick take their vows inside Gateway Church in St. Petersburg, Florida

Bianca and Derrick were about as ideal as wedding clients could get for me.  First and foremost, Bianca wanted non-traditional photographs and trusted my candid style to let me tell the story of her wedding through my own artistic vision.  Also, they are super friendly people and though I had only met them once before their wedding, I already felt like friends with them and that I was not photographing a stranger's wedding, but people I already had some kind of connection with.  Again, this is ideal for me.

We would all eventually get stuck at a long drawbridge before reaching the reception on Treasure Island!It also really helped that I was very familiar with the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club.  I knew exactly where I wanted to take them for some quick outdoor shots (see top photo) before we all melted in the searing midday Florida sun.  I am really glad we all made the effort because the lead shot above turned out to be Bianca's favorite.  

Hershey's Kisses cleverly placed amongst diamondsThere was plenty of time to get all the shots I wanted.  I could even use my macro lens some to get the above detail shot of the centerpiece to Derrick and Bianca's table at the reception.  As a child I would very carefully unwrap Hershey's kisses and save the white label for some reason.  

One of these would soon be in my stomach.Cupcakes have become a huge dessert trend in the U.S. over the past few years.  The above cupcakes were laid out on a multi-tiered tray in the reception ballroom and I eyed them immediately.  Walking past them from three feet away I could still literally smell their sweetness.  As my time photographing their wedding came to a close, I was ecstatic that Bianca said I could take one home with me.  Little did she know I might have photographed her entire wedding for a tray of those cupcakes rather than cash money.  Maybe.

the flower girl ruled the dance floorThe last thing I photographed was some very lively dancing buy the reception guests.  The DJ knew how to get a lot of people up and moving.  However, everyone made way for this boy and the flower girl and to my surprise he was twirling her and doing complicated dance moves!  I always like the last shot I take while on a job to be a high note, and the kids above made that easy this time.

I thank Derrick and Bianca again for choosing me as their wedding photographer!

Treasure Island Yacht and Tennis Club New Year's Eve Party 2009

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Dancing on top of a pool at Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club on New Years' Eve 2009

This was only the second time in my life, and first time since high school, that I worked on New Year's Eve.  From 7pm December 31, 2009 to 2am January 01, 2010 I was photographing the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club's lavish New Year's Eve Party featuring John Secada and The Commodores.

No expense was spared to impress guests as they arrived at the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club on New Year's Eve 2009

The Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club's New Year's Eve event was my highest profile job to date.  It was also my most prolific job too nearly filling to capacity three 8GB memory cards.  Over the course of the 7 hours of shooting I literally only stopped shooting for four minutes as I ate half the sandwich I had packed away in my stowed camera bag.  Ultimately, I delivered over 700 edited images to the client in just a one week turnaround.

There were three different dinner areas all very well decorated.

There was no lack of activity during the New Year's party as there were three distinct areas for guests to dine, dance and party in.  In the yacht club building itself there were two floors of entertainment.  The second floor was an intimate setting with John Secada performing, and the third floor was a large and lively dining hall with The Commodores rocking the place.

2010 made it easy to fashion eyewear of itself.

The third location was actually right on top of a pool (see top photo), covered in a $90,000 system of plexiglass sheets that formed a see-through dance floor--that could only be used once as it would be too scratched to use again!  Here a cover band called Stormbringer provided rock and pop stalwarts.   

There were many chances to dance cheek-to-cheek.

While it was great to have three areas to find candid event scenes to photograph, it made for a lot of stair climbing and grounds walking!  Also, since I never took a real break and always had my Nikon D300 with a Nikkor SB-800 (thanks Pedro!) mounted on it around my neck, not to mention a Nikon D90 with Nikkor 50mm 1.8D lens too, by the end of my night my right arm had never been so tired from shooting before!

Romantically ringing in the new year on the dance floor at the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club

Despite the endurance challenges, this was by far my most exciting photography job.  The guests, yacht club staff and the entertainers were all very friendly and made my job easier with their help.  The guests were all in a really good mood and mostly loved to have their photograph taken.  The staff was fun to talk to and get behinds the scenes info from (like suggestions to shoot from behind the bar).  Special thanks to Sara for thinking of me for photographing this event.  I could tell she put a tireless effort into making this a great event.