On Sunday May 19, 2013 I was a guest on the Picture This radio show on WTAN. It is a weekly radio show discussing photography hosted by Jeff Donald. I met Jeff soon after I moved back to the U.S. in early 2009 by joining one of his many photography meetups. Though I do not attend many photography meetups anymore due to shooting professionally full time, we have stayed in touch and he asked me if I would like to go on the air and talk about my photography history and career. I really enjoyed it! Thanks Jeff for inviting me.
Photo Stories
Rainbow over Smacks Bayou Snell Isle St. Petersburg Florida HDR
Rainbow as seen from Smacks Bayou Snell Isle St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRI rushed home from a networking event to pick up Kiki and get our usual evening dog park time in before an imposing storm on the horizon passed by. Basically, as soon as we got to the dog park a deluge opened up. After even a huge live oak could not provide adequate shelter, we headed back home. Naturally, as soon as we parked the rain stopped and the sun was out.
The storm that birthed this rainbow did wash out dog park time, but at least I got to make this photo - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRSo back on went Kiki's collar and leash as we headed out for a walk. That is when I saw this rainbow appear vividly over Smack's Bayou. Still we walked on and I let Kiki run around in a soccer field (see lower right corner of the above image for where we were earlier). I just hoped the rainbow would stay visible by the time we got back.
There was actually a double rainbow visible shortly, but not possible to capture by this time - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRIt did. So I mounted my Nikon onto my tripod quickly and was able to make the above photos. I could see a double rainbow with my eye, but getting it to come out in a photograph was not possible due to a number of factors. Still, I was glad that even though our usual plans got washed out, at least I was able to add another rainbow photo to my archives.
Social Media Portraits with Kevin in Tierre Verde St. Petersburg Florida
Social media portrait with a puppy in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame left
I will be working with new client Kevin on several photography projects. The first of which was this social media portrait session. Kevin wanted to have some good portraits of himself showing what he likes to do in his own home setting for social media and also for dating websites. I have been trying to find a way for years to reach people who use dating websites who are trying to find their dream matches with horrible cell phone mirror photos of themselves. If you are going to spend money on a dating website, and are serious about finding someone, then I think there is great value in having professional portraits of yourself made showing you having fun and doing things you like to do. You will definitely stand out from 99% of the other profiles on any dating website just by having high quality and most importantly flattering images of yourself.
That is Kevin's puppy Dash with him above. I had fun playing with Dash while I was getting my strobist gear setup as she was particularly fond of my light stand bag and tumbling over it!
Formal social media portrait with photos of his children in the background - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftKevin wanted one shot of him looking more formal. It was his idea to have photographs of his children in the background. I liked the idea also. There was a challenge to overcome in not having any reflections from my speedlights in the photo frames on the wall, but after a few adjustments I was able to produce the glare free shot above.
Social media portrait showing pool & billiards hobby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftThis photograph shows Kevin by his pool table which tells the story of one of his hobbies. He is still the main subject of the photograph, but including the pool cue and edge of the table shows what Kevin likes to do for fun.
Social media portrait showing in kitchen cooking hobby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftKevin's house had a great kitchen which I thought should definitely be featured in one of his social media portraits. This shows him in an inviting activity where a person on a dating website might imagine they would like to visit sometime. In the right background of the shot is Kevin's new Italian ice machine! He can make his own sno-cones.
Next I will be photographing Kevin's GT-R. I am looking forward to it!
 |
 |
Harley-Davidson 50mm Motorcycle Series St. Petersburg Florida Photography
Harley-Davidson in downtown St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/250thI like to photograph motorcycles with a 50mm lens. I saw this Harley-Davidson parked in downtown St. Petersburg Florida. Using a 50mm f/1.8 lens lets me select only a part of the motorcycle to show in focus by using a large aperture creating a shallow DoF. I like this style for motorcycles where the bike is shown in ever increasing blur from front to back.
Shooting motorcycles with a 50mm lens - Harley-Davidson - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/250thUsing a 50mm lens up close also means the whole motorcycle cannot be fit into the frame, which I think is a plus. It is much easier to get creative with composition with focal length restrictions.
Indian Rocks Beach 12 Person Candid Family Portraits in the afternoon
Baby in the air on Indian Rocks Beach candid family portraits - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power frame left & SB-600 @ 1/2 power frame right rearIt was an unusual family beach portrait session for me in two regards. First, it was a large family of 12 people out on Indian Rocks Beach. The more people the bigger the challenge of course. Secondly, the client requested a 4pm start time since there were very young children in the shoot who could not stay awake for a more traditional sunset shoot which that day would have been until 7:50pm. This latter condition though led to a new style shot I had not tried before (above) that I really like having one parent hold the baby in the air with the other parent looking on behind.
Afternoon on Indian Rocks Beach large 12-person family beach portrait - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightIn order to fight the power of the afternoon sun and still have the water in the background, I had to set my speedlights to 1/2 power to fill in the light on everyone's faces and also carefully angle everyone to get as much blue in the sky as possible. That along with basically four babies in the photo made for a bit of a challenge! I was very pleased with the result though. It came out better than I thought possible for a middle of the afternoon portrait in direct sunlight.
This family told me they make this same photo year after year - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThey told me that they all make this same pose year after year and having many photos over time showing it. I am glad to contribute the 2013 version of it!
Candid kids playing on Indian Rocks Beach - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/250th natural lightGetting all the babies close together was a no-go even with parents sitting them right next to each other, so leaving them to their own devices I had to do some moving myself to make this candid shot.
12-person family walking down Indian Rocks Beach candid portrait photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/500th natural lightA big action shot with 12 people on Indian Rocks Beach which was at least not crowded at that time of the day on a weekday afternoon!
 |
 |
Treasure Island Sunset Beach Family Portraits with Elizabeth
Elizabeth & her family on Sunset Beach Treasure Island, it was actually freezing! - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightOn perhaps the coldest evening of the year, I met Elizabeth and her family on Sunset Beach on Treasure Island for a family beach portrait session. Not only was it cold, but it was also very windy with clouds of sand at times sweeping down the shoreline. However, her family was great and braved the cold. As for me, I was fine . . . inside my windproof Mountain Hard Wear jacket!
Teen romance on Sunset Beach Treasure Island portrait photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right & SB-600 to frame leftYou can see the sand at their feet blowing in the wind. I never experienced that before on Sunset Beach or any other Pinellas County beach. I thought though it made for a cool photo effect shooting with a long focal length.
Watching the sunset on Treasure Island Florida family beach portraits - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 frame left & SB-600 frame rightThough it was frigid and windy, at least Mother Nature also provided a great sunset as a backdrop to our family beach portrait session.
 |
 |
Unique Pet Photography - Kiki sitting upon her chair
Kiki fits snugly but somehow comfortably in her own chair in front of the window - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-600 @ 1/1 power to frame left in shoot through umbrella and SB-800 @ 1/4 power to frame right in 43" brollyAfter making a headshot for a client in my home photography studio, while I had all the lights setup, I tried to coerce Kiki into letting me make a photograph of her. She is very, very reluctant to do so for some reason being very resistant to the whole idea. So this time I put her favorite chair in frotn of a white background (though later digitally edited for a pure white background) and had her curl up into it in her usual manner. She spends a lot of time lying down like this staring out the sliding glass door beside my work desk.
She was actually facing into the living room and not out the window, her distant look is just her trying to avoid looking at me and into the lens!