Creation Fest 2010

So starts the daily journal of the Crosspointe youth trip to Creation Fest 2010 in Enumclaw, WA.We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, along with about 6500 (total guess) of our closest friends. At least we hope we can all be friends, considering we are in very close proximity in a large cow field. I doooo love camping! 

Matt K., Christina K., Patti, me, Austin B., Madi B., Matt B.,Chris B., Matt C., Ryan C., Kaitlyn M., Jennifer H., Alena H., Zach H., Melody S., Sarah D., Haley W., Kelsey F. (hence forth called WE) began to setup camp right when we arrived.

David Crowder Band was to go on at 8PM and WE wanted to be there. I have to say I was very impressed with the youth. Matt K. told the kids they had to setup the tents their were assigned to sleep in on their own. And without instructions. They got it done! And no one cried. Christina & Patti set about getting the "kitchen" area established and dinner prepared in the middle of this crucible of mayhem. And they got it done as well. A capital start to our adventure! 

After supper, it was off to the main stage for David Crowder. It was a great show, all be it a little to short a set in my opinion. I really enjoy his style and could of had a little more.

After a brief stage reset, Switchfoot was up to finish off the first night. I tried to get to the area where the youth were watching the shows. I text back and forth with Austin and got to within 65 feet, but that was it. He and the others were about 20 feet from the stage and it was packed! i was able to get some shots of the band and then i bailed out of there. I guess i really am getting older. What does that t-shirt say, "if it's to loud your to old"? Yep, that's me. I made my way to the back of the crowd where Patti & Christina were on a blanket enjoying the show. It was here that we got to witness the highlight of the night. This little boy in the red t-shirt was bust'in a move! And I don't just mean "oh look. how cute. he is trying to dance" type moves...this kid had it going on! He was doing robot, a little Michael Jackson influence, back flips and cartwheels. I think i saw some Riverdance foot work. It was awesome. and he did this for about 45 minuets...non stop! After the show ended we all headed back to camp for a blissful nights rest and dreams of the fun to come in the following days. stay tuned......

Who will be Americas Next Top Model??

Ok, not really (please don’t sue me Tyra). But considering how beautiful every one of these girls are, any one of them could be the next top model! The real story here is these are the Senior Class of 2011 reps for Patti Boeck Photography. Patti thought it would be a good opportunity to gather all the girls together for a group shot and have a chance to meet each other. Of course the concept was real easy to come up with; however, have you ever tried to coordinate 10 high school girls’ schedules!? Not as simple as you think! Patti has the patience of a saint and the perseverance of an ant colony. She would not give up on pulling this off. After about 6 date & time changes, a flurry of texting, and numerous confirmation cell calls, she was able to lock in all the reps. Of course the time that was ultimately agreed upon was 11:30. Right when the sun would be at the highest point of its arc. Not exactly the “choice” light photographers go for. That’s ok, we will soldier on. You never see Tyra get knocked around by a little high noon sun glare! Am I right?! Let’s do this thing!

The shot plan was straight forward. Find a location large enough to line the girls up on a single focal plane and have a pleasing background. We chose a city park in Cascade Park that we were familiar with. Never go exploring for a shoot location when you are on a time crunch. Many of the girls were fitting this shoot in between other commitments so we had to stay on time.

 Side note: always keep a rake in the car. Even in these trying economic times, causing utility cutbacks, the city still finds a way to cut the park grass the day before we shoot. There is just no way to make dead grass clumps “work” in a photo. I thought I had moved all the grass that was in the background but you can still see some off to the right . Photoshop is wonderful.

 Next comes the lighting. Since I knew we would have the sun to contend with, I decided instead of trying to fight hard shadows and glare, I would bring my Alien Bee studio flashes and power them up to balance out the bright ambient light the sun was throwing down. Power came from a 2000w generator. Not ideal for a quick setup situation but it did the job. (Xmas wish = AB Vagabond portable power. Just a little FYI J ).  Being limited by a 1/200 max sync with the flashes, we made exposure adjustment with the aperture. The final group shot landed at 1/200 shutter / 10f / ISO 100. These shots are not the final version. Patti handles that tech/artistic side of things for obvious reasons.

Before you ask, no, that is not a stalker taking video. I grabbed my video/tech savvy son and put him on Spielberg duty. Tough gig I’d say. “Here kid, video tape these gorgeous girls that just happen to be your age”. He has it sooo rough these days. Anyways, stay tuned for the “behind the scenes” video to come online soon!

The session went off without a hitch and on time. Happy, happy, Joy, joy!

Lunch – ONE HOUR! Now where is that catering truck?? 

Patti brought Subway sandwiches and pop for the girls to eat for lunch while she went over a few details about the Senior rep program as well as opened up the discussion to ideas or challenges the ladies might run into when promoting Patti Boeck Photography. The whole event was a great time and a lot of fun to do. This was the first time we did this with our senior reps but I am certain it will be an annual event with each new class.

Patti will have the final version on her PBP Facebook page soon, so take a look and who knows, you may be looking at Americans Next Top Model!

(ok, I will now “cease & desist” Tyra, I promise. Please don’t sue)

Product shoot - the Good & the Bad

We had the opportunity to create a few product images for Hearth Distribution, located in Longview, Washington. Hearth Distribution is a local company that specializes in patio and outdoor appliances that are fueled by propane or natural gas. It is some really neat stuff they have in stock. The images are going to be used for both web and print so I knew we where going to have to be sure to capture very clean and well lit pictures in order to accommodate the demands of various publication formats. The good part about a product shoot is once you have the location setup, the lighting dialed in and the camera angles figured out, the rest is like a production line. Bring in the piece. Dust off. And click. Done. Next! But nothing is as it seems.

Now for the bad. In our pre-shoot conversations with our client, it was explained by Hearth Dist. that they would take the finished images, cut them out of our backdrop and “place” them into various backyard backdrops. Bully for us. We setup a nice and clean white paper background. No fuss, no muss. Now flash back to the shoot day. As we finish shooting the first piece, John (Hearth Dist employee who helped with product setup. He knows this stuff like the back of his hand! You can never have too much help I say) begins adding glass pieces into the top of the product we had just shot. I ask “what are you doing that for?” John looks up with a “what do you think I am doing” look and says – “you are going to take a picture with this lit. Right?” Uh oh. Now I have taken pictures of fires before. You know, kids around a campfire with the smores. Candle light at the dinner table. But those have an overall composition of dark and warm. For a product, I knew I would have to capture the warmth and color of the flame but also still bring in enough light to illuminate the piece. Huh. Well, let’s try the original light setup – two AB800 with soft box, one on each side of the piece, almost in a straight horizontal line with the piece. Front illumination is from a Canon speed light at camera right. Backdrop is lit by a speed light. Sometimes you stumble into a winning shot when you don’t try so hard. This was not one of those times. No go with the original setup. It was just too bright. The flame is not visible because the AB’s wash it out and the white backdrop isn’t doing any favorers. OK. Let’s regroup here. Throw up a black backdrop to allow the flame to show up. (I always have a black cloth with me. You just never know when you will need a backdrop/ground cover/changing room) Next we turned off the AB’s and the backlight. Now it was just a matter of finding the shutter to aperture ratio for the right look. I kept the Speed light at camera right but now it was going to be the main. I also always keep reflectors with me so I placed those on each side of the pieces to fill in the sides. After one or two tries (ok, maybe more like 4-6, but who’s counting) I got what I was looking for. Whew. Now that we had our game plan mapped out, it was back to knocking out the rest of the pieces. We just switched from the original “no flame “setup and then the “flame” one light, black background setup for each piece.

 

 I guess the moral of this story is always error on the side of over preparation. You just never know what may come up, no matter how extensive the pre consult meeting may have been. After we completed the shoot and were heading back to Vancouver, Patti and I didn’t even really talk about the unexpected challenges. I think we are used to that. But we both agreed that it is the unknown that makes doing this so fun and rewarding.  

When we last had sunshine.......

So this is the obligatory " i have been so busy i just haven't had time to blog" blog. Truth is, Patti is still real busy so she is "allowing" me to throw this down today. This was a family walk we took in the Clark county area. As you can see, there was sunshine on that day. Now you have an indication how long ago it was when we took that walk! I think i can speak for ALL when I say - Enough with the rain and clouds and cold! This weather is starting to play like a Greek tragedy. Anyways, the walk was a good time.

    Madi had the opportunity to showcase here leaping abilities. Logan was up to know good from the look he is giving. He did almost grab a snake or two. Don't be fooled by the smiles in the group shot. You parents know what I am talking about. This is the one keeper out of about 15 shots that were less than desirable. Austin picking on Madi. Logan staring at everything BUT the camera lens. Aspen, my baby (& favorite of course), was the one who hit her mark on every shot. But still a great time to be together as a family. With Austin only two years from college and Madi right behind him, days like these are truly  moments to grab and hold as tight as we can!Here is where I insert the obligatory " i will make a point to post more often on my blog" statement. I will. Really. If Patti allows it that is. Stay tuned........   

    

Jeremy and Echo's Wedding

What a day ! Having shot a few weddings in the past, I always go into the day wondering if it will go smooth or will it be full of stress and frazzled nerves for the wedding party. I am used to the process of "the wedding day", but this is usually the first time for most of the people I am about to photograph.I never know how they will react to the unexpected challenges that always occur on the big day.  The day started well. I was able to get Echo outside between sprinkles and got some great shots of her on a vintage chair. I say great shots like I had anything to do with it.When I  have a bride as beautiful as Echo to put in front of the lens, I  just click away, smiling the whole time because I knew these were going to be great! The camera really likes Echo! And her lucky husband is no slouch either when it comes to having a picture or two taken. I sometimes have to coax the guys, but not Jeremy. He was a gem to shot and those blue eyes. WOW! I think I know how he swept Echo off her feet. After the individual shots were complete, it was time to start the ceremony. One problem. Half the guests had still not arrived due to traffic on the interstate. Here is were the plans of the wedding day were coming unraveled. I thought "OK, now people are going to start stressing out". But it never happened. There were a couple additional challenges that popped up but they were dealt with and every one soldiered on. It was so refreshing to see family and friends focus and treat this day for what it's true purpose was - the coming together to witness and celebrate the love of two people and the beginning of a new family. The ceremony went off without a hitch. The venue was intimate and wonderfully decorated. Now i have to say here that in most weddings, the bride is the main attraction. However, at this wedding, I think the ring bearer may have stolen the show! He is Jeremy and Echo's baby and all three just light up when they are together. He is the little guy swinging between Jeremy & Echo. Such a cutie! 

Congratulations Jeremy & Echo! I had so much fun being a part of your special day and I pray you have a long and happy life together!  

Little Dilyns first year Photo shoot & smash the cake!

So it is Dilyns first Birthday!!  We had a hoot with just letting her dig into this delicious cake.   How cute is the one where she is actually smaching the cake with her foot.  I love it!!!