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The best in candid event photography providing new & dynamic images you can showcase your business with in 2012. MORE INFO
Jason spent the 00s living abroad in Asia. He returned to the Tampa Bay area in 2009 and began Jason Collin Photography. When not behind his camera, Jason is an avid movie watcher and enjoys being outdoors with his adopted puppy, Kiki. Jason is left-handed & a night owl. FULL BIO
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Monday, March 4, 2013 at 4:34PM Jason Collin 
Engagement portrait session on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThis past Saturday I photographed one of my family members professionally for the first time! My cousin whom I have not seen in over a decade due to living in different parts of the country moved down here to the Tampa Bay area. She got engaged and contaced me about an engagement shoot on Sunset Beach in Treasure Island Florida. I said sure, sounds great, you bring the romance and I will take care of the rest!
Candid portrait during an engagement shoot with my cousin on Sunset Beach Treasure Island - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right front & SB-600 to rear frame rightThey did their homework and had several photo ideas they wanted to try out, which is fine with me as I am always looking for new shot ideas myself. It was a frigid day, actually the coldest of the year, but they dressed Florida style anyway and were real pros!
Sun melting engagement photo on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightAs requested, they brought the romance allowing me to make candid portraits like the one above. I wanted to have the sun melt through the couple in this shot adding to the impact of the overall image.
Dramatic sunset background engagement shoot on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: see setup in photo belowBesides being cold, it was incredibly windy, but at least Mother Nature also provided a classic dramatic Florida sunset to use as a background in the photographs. I prefer there to be clouds in the sky as well, as I feel it adds more interest than if the sky were cloudless.
My unique two strobe setup for making my signature sunset portraits on Treasure Island FloridaI remembered to make a quick shot of my strobist setup this time. As you can see, I use two speedlights in my off camera flash technique for sunset portraits. There are just diffuser caps on the strobes as it was far too windy for an umbrella or anything like that.
Getting a kiss from their dog during our candid portrait session - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightMy cousin and her fiance brought their dog, Bear, who was a good boy and watched patiently until it was his time to be in front of the lens where he immediately started dishing out big kisses!
Engagement shoot in Florida, but wedding in Rhode Island! - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightMy cousin, like me, was born in Rhode Island and will have her wedding actual up in the Ocean State. It was great to reconnect with her, and her mom (my aunt) made a surprise visit too! It was a real reunion and a very fun engagement portrait session.
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Monday, February 18, 2013 at 4:15PM Jason Collin 
Sisters having fun on Treasure Island Sunset Beach Florida in this candid portrait - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power to frame left & SB-600 @ 1/4 power to frame rightTwo families were coming to Florida for a warm winter vacation from their homes in Pennsylvania and contacted me about getting family beach portraits. They were staying at Sunset Vistas on Treasure Island, Florida and wanted to use the beach their as the backdrop for their family portraits. I had never been on that stretch of beach before, but I pretty much knew what to expect as virtually all beaches on Treasure Island look the same. The biggest variable was the weather, but we were pretty lucky. The day before the shoot was all day rain. The day after the shoot was arctic and super windy. Our shoot day was perfectly sunny with only a slight chill in the air. Lucky!
The above shot was my favorite of the session, featuring two sisters doing as I suggested, just be sisters. It may end up in my top ten images of 2013 as my favorite candid portrait, we shall see.
All hands on dad in this family sunset portrait on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightSince there were two families in this hour portrait session, I had to work twice as fast. There were several group shots with everyone, but otherwise I setup a shot with one family and then quickly had to get the next in place for their turn, all of course with the sun providing its own countdown timer!
Two families watching the sunset on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th - Stobist: SB-800 @ 1/1 power frame left & SB-600 @ 1/1 power frame rightThis was my first time to make this type of shot with so many people. I had to use both speedlights at max power and a relatively large aperture of f/5.6 to light everyone with the sun that low.
Another great Florida sunset at Treasure Island backlights this family portrait - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 to front frame left & SB-600 to rear frame rightEven though each family had four members and were photographed in the same spot and time was ticking away, I still tried to add as much variety between shots as possible, in the case above using a different pose and moving one of the speedlights behind the family. Compare this shot to the second photo from the top to see how the light changes at sunset time in just 3 minutes.
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Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 9:43PM Jason Collin 
A black skimmer bird in St. Petersburg, Florida nature photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/800thThis black skimmer was enjoying the late afternoon sunshine on a small beach in the North Shore Park area of St. Petersburg, Florida. I had to get down on the sand to get to the bird's eye level for this composition. These birds get their name from skimming their beaks over the surface of the water in search of food. Unfortunately, this bird and all her friends must have already eaten dinner because they were just standing around and I could not get any cool action shots of them skimming. Such is the nature of nature photography!
Florida, Saint Petersburg, beach, bird, black skimmer in Nature & Wildlife Friday, January 11, 2013 at 10:11AM Jason Collin 
Piggy back rides for everyone on Redington Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right & SB-600 to frame leftThe Anderson family was visiting from Canada staying at their condo on Redington Beach for the holidays and while the family was all together, wanted candid Florida sunset beach portraits. Unfortunately, the weather was not very Florida-like as the temperture was pretty low and the strong wind actually made for a tangible wind chill effect. Nevertheless, we had a good sunset for a background and made some fun portraits together.
One of my trademark shots, the family facing away from the lens toward the sunset - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThey had seen my other photographs of families looking away from the camera and out toward the sunset and specifically requested to have one of these trademark shots of mine. I added a bit of a soft filter to the image this time as I felt the high detail of the original did not match the overall feel of the shot.
Staying close for warmth & the portrait! - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left and SB-600 behind to frame rightOne thing you may notice in all my sunset portraits is that I always get the people's heads above the horizon as much as possible so the horizon is not unpleasantly bisecting anyone's head. In order to do that for the family while sitting, I had to lay down on my stomach right on the sand! Beach portrait photography does require getting messy sometimes.
Brother & sister having fun on Redington Beach Florida at sunset - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightI always like to see siblings having fun together, and here brother gives sister a lift with a bright sun setting behind them. I feel these kinds of shots will have the most impact twenty years from now and hopefully will help remind the siblings of the fun of their childhood, and in these case, teenage years together.
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Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 3:59PM Jason Collin 
Watching the sunset as a family on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left rear & SB-600 to frame right frontOnce again I had the opportunity to photograph a client I already knew as DSLR Photography Lesson student Kristin booked a Family Beach Portrait session for Sunset Beach on Treasure Island. As I have mentioned before, it is always a plus to photograph people you are familiar with, and of course as a pro photographer it is flattering that a client would give you repeat business.
Baby Naomi was in constant motion when not being held close by her parents!Kristin's nearly 2-year old daughter was a very talkative little girl, and as one might expect a very active one too. I usually recommend that parents hold their child as the best means of keeping them in the frame!
Having family fun in front of tall beach grass on Sunset Beach Treasure Island FloridaThe whole family had a lot of personality which made it fun to photograph them as they were never at a loss for smiling in front of the lens. A willingness to get a bit sandy allowed us to make the above shots in front of Sunset Beach's tall grass dunes.
2-year old preparing to be a ballerina - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 to frame center right & SB-600 to rear rightUsing a mound of sand that was the remains of a castle, Naomi practiced her ballerina moves as I framed her with the dusk sky out over the Gulf of Mexico.
Gliding down the shore black & white family beach portrait - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 500 1/400th natural lightKristin has two more photography lessons with me where I will help prepare her to be able to make her own family beach portraits in the future!
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