Photo Stories

Madeira Beach St Petersburg Candid Portrait 3 Generations Family Photography at Sunset

in

Father holds his baby girl in the air at Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power beside camera & SB-600 @ 1/4 power to frame rightI returned to Madeira Beach Florida last week for a family beach portrait session at sunset with a three generation family.  There has been very unpredictable rain this July here in Florida, but two early day rain showers allowed for a nice clear sky with plenty of clouds for an ideal backdrop.  I made use of that great sunset in the above photo of a father holding his baby girl high up in the air.  I have made this kind of shot a few times before (see here), but I tried a new strobist lighting position that produced the best results yet.

Black & White family beach portrait on Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightI like clouds in the sky for a beach portrait session, and all the ones in the above shot in my view add drama to the overall family portrait.  I framed this shot very carefully, so that the viewer would have no idea of the line of hotels just outside the left edge nor all the people walking down the beach just outside the right edge.

Baby Girl at sunset on Madeira Beach Florida candid beach portraits - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 somewhere near the baby as she was roving aroundToward the end of the session we let the baby loose for some truly candid shots, as she never even looked my way once.  That was actually fine with me because I like the results of her looking perhaps at her own reflection in the water or maybe just the sparkle of the setting sun?

Gathered around sunset family beach portrait Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50m @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThis is a new-ish pose I like for a group of five adults (plus baby ok too) with one person anchoring the entire pose and everyone wrapped around.  Just lining people up like a picket fence makes for a mundane beach portrait to me, so I am always trying to not take the easy way out and encourage the clients to get in the sand and of course interact with each other to produce more personal beach portraits.

Sisters sunset portrait on Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThe same for this shot above of two sisters.  They were just going to stand next to each other, until I used the trusty Posing App to suggest a more sisterly bonding look for the photo.  When this photo is looked at by the sisters twenty years from now, if they were just standing side-by-side, that would evoke no physical feeling, where this photo in contrast will hopefully make them remember what it felt like to hold their sister in their arms.

Shinjuku Tokyo Japan light trails

in

The view I had walking home at night when I lived in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, Japan - Nikon D80 f/29 ISO 200 5 sec tripod mountedThis is a photograph from my archives, taken back in October of 2008 at the start of my DSLR shooting from when I lived in Tokyo, Japan.  I lived in the heart of the city, Shinjuku, and getting home required walking over a pedestrian bridge with a great view, day or night, but especially at night.  I brought my Nikon D80 with me and a tripod I had just bought allowing me to make light trail images like this one.  Note that the brake lights appear on the left side of the road, as Japanese drive on the opposite side to the U.S.

Severe Lightning Storm & Waterspout over St. Petersburg Florida June 2013

in ,

Severe lightning strikes in St. Petersburg Florida during a powerful June 2013 storm - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 bulb mode lens covered until strike tripod mounted with cable releaseWhile out teaching a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg on June 25, 2013 my photography student and I were treated (?) to a spectacular view of a powerful storm that produced a waterspout, funnel clouds and ground shaking lightning.  While keeping a safe distance, I was able to quickly setup to try and capture some lightning shots.  This means setting the shutter speed to bulb mode and covering the front of the lens until lightning is visible and keeping the lens exposed just long enough so the overall shot looks good.  I only had three chances and was lucky enough to get the above lightning photograph on that third try.

Waterspout over Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg Florida June 2013 - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseThis waterspout attracted a lot of onlookers.  In grew in size greatly and I could not get my camera around the tree in the foreground to show its full length.  It was eerily translucent and silent dipping up and down from the clouds above.

Oncoming ominous storm clouds approach St. Petersburg Florida waterfront - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThis is the approach to the storm before we saw any lightning, waterspouts or funnel clouds.  I had never seen such a long, thin band of angry looking clouds stretch all the was from Tampa Bay to south St. Petersburg.  The sun was going down adding a bit of pretty color to the underside of what really was a menacing stormy sky.

Funnel clouds came from this cloud band along the downtown St. Petersburg Florida waterfront - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseTurning and looking to my right from the same spot as the previous photo shows just how long that band of clouds stretched too.  Right above the sailboats two funnel clouds would eventually form right in front of us!  They never touched the ground and all we ended up was a little wet once the rain came, but the storm added a lot of excitement to our photography lesson!

Jason Collin radio interview on Picture This WTAN Clearwater Florida

in

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.

Rainbow over Smacks Bayou Snell Isle St. Petersburg Florida HDR

in

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

in

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

in

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.