Happy Anniversary To Me!

Mary Ann and I are married 31 years today! She got me some new photo gear, which I very subtley hinted at by emailing her a direct link to it on Amazon.com :) So after spending the day just hanging out together and enjoying one another, I convinced my normally camera-shy wife to sit with me for an anniversay self-portrait.

The greenery in the background is a part of about 200+ feet of skuppernong vines (that's a type of grape for those who aren't from the south) that cover most of the fence around our back yard. We also have a free standing arbor full of them that is about 30 feet long and 8 feet high. We've taken many a prom, graduation and family holiday snapshot in front of these.
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Strobist Boot Camp II

David Hobby, who runs The Strobist blog, sponsors the Strobist Boot Camp. Participants are given a real world shooting assignment and must go out and plan, execute, and submit a photograph according to David's specifications. Since The Strobist is all about creating world class photographs with small, portable, speedlight flash units used off camera, the assignment will usually revolve around solving some lighting challenge. After all the submissions are in, David uses his blog to showcase and comment on the best examples from all of the completed assignments.

David just started up a new Boot Camp session for Summer 2009, Strobist Boot Camp II. The first assignment is a head and shoulders portrait. For this assignment, David suggested shooting someone who needs a portrait as part of a job search. This is the portrait I shot for my friend Tom as my submission for the first assignment of the current Strobist Boot Camp session. Tom and his wife Linda retired as public school teachers and have taken up a second career doing event vidoegraphy and photography.

One of the things that has really gotten me reengaged in photography is the Strobist phenomenon. It's a photography movement created by photojournalist David Hobby, and dedicated to teaching the tools and techniques of world class photography using small, portable, off-camera flash units. David's blog, The Strobist, is one of the most popular and highly regarded photography-related web sites in the world. David literally gives away his many years of knowledge and experience for free through his blog. If you're not already plugged in to The Strobist, I highly recommend you dive in.
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My First Real Gig

After the pictures I took of my new grandson Hudson had made the rounds to my wife's friends and co-workers, one of them asked if I would shoot her and her daughter. Sandra is a single mom from Columbia. I was happy to do this shoot for her at no cost just so I could get some experience with outdoor portraiture, which is a new area of photography for me and one I am really developing a keen interest in.

I had a great time shooting Sandra and her daughter Melissa and learned a ton in the process.

One of the techniques I learned from The Strobist blog was using flash to shoot against the glow of the setting sun. This shot of Melissa is one of my all time favorites. Several people have said she looks like she's standing in front of a painted backdrop.



These are just a small sample of a couple hundred frames we shot that day in various areas around a local waterfront park.

And adding to the day...

We had an unexpected bonus shooting opportunity this day as well. A young lady whom I'd never met before accompanied Sandra on the shoot. Lindsey was just a friend along to accompany Sandra and Melissa for the day. She was a great help during the shooting session, pitching in to help move equipment, hold light stands in the wind, coach mom and daughter in posing, etc.

During the course of conversation I learned that Lindsey's husband is in the Air Force and deployed to Iraq. So we decided right there on the spot to include her in the shoot so she could have some nice pictures to send to her husband in the desert.



Lindsey proved to be a natural in front of the camera, requiring absolutely no coaching to strike several attractive poses.

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