Xaden... Firestarter!

Meet Xaden, the Firestarter. This is one in a series of many (planned) portraits highlighting ordinary (heroes) pictured in creative situations around the United States... I'm calling the series Has Anyone Seen America Lately? The title came off a used t-shirt I bought from a little old lady in a dung hut with a tin roof in Nowhere, Kenya. It was blue shirt, very thin cotton, and had on it an iron-on bald eagle's head with a tear in his eye... and that question: Has anyone seen America lately? I wore the shirt for years, and then it disappeared, never to be seen again. I am hoping to one day uncover it hidden in a cardboard box somewhere in storage at my folks house... please cross your fingers.

Anyway, back to Xaden. Xaden is the son of a friend of mine. I'd had this image in my head for quite some time... red-headed troublemaker starting fires in the backyard. Xaden couldn't have been more perfect. His mom woke him up early in the AM to drive him to the location in time for sunrise. My buddy Jesse James helped with the fire (all FX were done IN CAMERA, except for the tiny flame coming from the lighter Xaden is holding). The panorama consists of four separate vertical frames to maximize image resolution, and the grill was shot when Xaden was gone to keep him safe. We ran a propane line up through the bottom of the grill, but don't do this at home! Jesse is a trained professional. Everything was then stitched in photoshop, but like I said, FX were done in camera.

Only Canon Speedlights were used (we've been calling it the Canon Challenge... to see how far we could push the abilities of small lights). I used a similar setup during the Martindale police portraits, 4 strobes of varying power situated around the subject to mimic the sunlight. My biggest obstacle was deciding which of Xaden's facial expressions to use in the final project... he was awesome! See below. Let me know if you like one of the other selects better.

I wish I had a time-lapse of this one, but I don't. Boo. I am, however, using this image as the cover to my photo book (actually, my portfolio): I Shoot People... check it out!

The Land of Popular Photography...

I was recently approached by Popular Photography Magazine and asked to contribute to a "How To" lighting column. They specifically asked to use a shot I produced for a personal project in which I photographed a group of small town police officers... Pop Photo wanted to use this particular shot to highlight solutions to obstacles presented when shooting into the sun. I said "yes" immediately, and for one simple reason: years ago when I was the photographer for my high school yearbook and had just begun to realize my passion for this light sensitive craft, Popular Photography was the very first magazine I subscribed to... nostalgia. Pop Photo's editor, Peter Kolonia, was gracious and awesome as we put together the column... visit your newsstand or subscribe today!

The overall project is entitled "Has Anyone Seen America Lately?" My idea is to travel this great land of ours and use this lighted pano technique to capture all the everyday unique and fantastic folks I can get my hands on... folks like the Martindale, Texas Police Department (see above), World Champion Gun Twirler Pistol Packin' Paula, and Xaden the red-headed firestarter. I'll write more about this project in the coming weeks... I need to muster up some funding first... wanna help?

In the mean time, check out the article in Popular Photography, and watch this Behind-The-Camera-Timelapse below.

I underexposed the ambient light in the scene by two stops. I used four Canon Speedlites to mimic the sun by wrapping light around the subject. Each strobe was equidistance from the subject and each reduced by 1/2 power in relation to the one before it. The strobe furthest from the camera (and closest to the sun) was at full power, and the one closest to the camera was at 1/8 power. This allowed the light intensity on the subject to fall off gradually as it wrapped towards the front of the face. They were triggered using the ST-E2. Each subject was captured separately on my 5D and later compiled in Photoshop. I don't want to give away all the details... need to save a few for the Pop Photo article. Fun stuff!!!

More Pistol Packin' Paula...

Meet Pistol Packin' Paula... again. This is one of the panographs that I've been working on... a new series of a different kind of photography. I'm trying to wrangle up a group or Civil War Reenactors to participate in a photo... I've got the scene all laid out in my mind... keep your fingers crossed.

Martindale Police Department

This is the first in a planned series of images that I am producing for a personal project / portfolio project. A few of the shots have already been completed and I will be posting them here ever now and then. See more at my website.

This is the Martindale, Texas Police Department... and awesome bunch of folks who graciously agreed to let me take their portrait.