Had a great time in Philly yesterday. Nice folks, packed house. They even put up with me while a camera exploded in the first hour. Seems it was the one from the sandstorm last week, and it just gave up the ghost right there on stage. Always an interesting moment when you have 600 people in the room with you and your exposures are 3 stops hot. Oops! But here’s the thing. It’s nothing new. It’s camera work on location. Stuff goes wrong. Folks were interested and patient with me while I worked it out and pulled things back on the rails. I also got some offers from audience members to borrow a Canon camera:-)
Did this in about 3 or 4 minutes with Isidor. Two flashes two tri-grips.
And we did a quick “commercial” looking shot with Kate, who is a dancer with the Philadelphia 76ers. (I’m a Knick fan, but we got past it. Honestly, there hasn’t been much to argue about in the last few years about either team.) Bright white background, Ezy Box Hot Shoe softbox up front, with some low fill. All TTL.
Move pretty quick on these Kelby days. Got a couple on more on tap, Denver and Sacramento. I talk fast all day, and try to get as much done and as much info out there as I can in the 5 hours we have together. Yesterday was a hoot, good bunch of folks in the audience, though Drew, Lynda and I were pretty zapped at the end of the day, which made for an interesting drive back up the Jersey Pike….more tk….
Just returned from the Middle East. Was very honored to be invited by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage to work with regionally based photographers. What it meant for us here at the studio is that Drew and I bounced to the Middle East twice in the last month, first to GPP in Dubai, and now, Abu Dhabi. Hectic, but fun. The class was terrific. Good group of folks, and talented shooters. It is an area of the world that is endlessly fascinating, and I have always been received graciously, and I learn a great deal. Doing stuff like this re-convinces me of one thing–travel is the graduate school of life.
Amin leaps in the lobby of the Emirates Palace Hotel. Quick impromptu shot done off the cuff in the middle of the lobby of a 7 star hotel. Try this without insurance, permissions, a letter from the Governor, and a 5 month email paper trail at The Plaza in NY. Uh, that would be no.
Mariam bouncing light.
Shua frames a shot.
The off camera TTL flash gang in the desert.
Amin, a break dancer from Morocco, is inexhaustible.
Sahar shows Eva, a fashion model, how to pose.
Cool Kholloud. (aka, David Hobby plant)
Flipping in the desert
Sheikh Numnuts and Sheikh Drew of the Desert
Shot this pre-dawn on Monday, about 6am Abu Dhabi time, in the second largest mosque in the world. Back home, it was still Easter Sunday. What an amazing world. More tk….
In Abu Dhabi, as the guest of the AbuDhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage and their wonderful emissary, Bader Alnomani. Teaching here to coincide with the Emirates Photo Competition under the auspices of the ADACH and the FIAP (International Federation of Art Photography). Having a terrific time, seeing portfolios, teaching about light, and in general enjoying Abu Dhabi, which is a city where, previous to now, I had only visited the airport. I see the above scene from my hotel window every morning. It is an immediate reminder that I am not home.
Lessee, my work flow on this one might be instructive.
Wander jet lagged through hotel room in pre-dawn dark. Look out window. The Sheik Zayed Mosque. Also known as the Great Mosque. Nice. Pretty.
Let eyes wander upward to…full moon. Stand there slack jawed, toothbrush hanging from lower lip. Put two and two together. (Not easy for me even on 8 hours sleep.)
Race around hotel room, grab Gitzo, D3X, 200-400 zoom. Look again at moon. Disappearing behind clouds. Curse.
Open patio door. Setup tripod, camera and lens. Hope no one notices I’m still in my u-trou.
Make rushed, bad exposure of moon. Calm down.
Dial in minus 2.7 EV. Make another exposure. Better. Swing camera to Mosque. Adjust EV to minus 2. Make shot. Looks okay. Clouds closing in.
Program camera to DX format to get bigger moon. Program 2 shot multiple exposure. Make shot of moon, swing camera to Mosque. Make second exposure. Doesn’t work. Why? I thunder thumbed and programmed the multiple exposure wrong. Curse.
Do multiple thingy button on D3X properly this time. Zoom. Get big moon. Place in upper left. Swing camera to Mosque. Zoom out. Make another shot. This time both exposures pop up in LCD. Say thank you to St. Jude.
Repeat. One more frame. Moon gone.
Sit. Launch card into Aperture. Cool. Push some sliders. Saturate, contrast, sharpen. Got a preset for blog. Go click. Pic on desktop. Put into blog.
Go to breakfast. Try to remember to put on my pants.
More tk….
The Gulf Photo Plus gang has just posted the video from the shootout with David Hobby, Zack Arias, and Joey L. It’s a hoot. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the crowd was the real beneficiary of all the humor, sweat and photographic expertise that was on display during each shooter’s allotted 20 or so minutes. I hadda boogie to the airport, so I missed the processing of the Polaroid with Joey L, but I was privileged to kibitz a bit while David and Zack knocked it back. It was, at the end of the day, after all the “I will crush you” bantering that occurred, just an event based on mutual respect and friendship amongst all the instructors. That of course, and treachery, skulduggery, pocket wizard frequency manipulation, swiped Canon cameras, model mayhem (in the sense there were two, instead of the assumed one), and some dip in the audience with a microphone offering inane commentary.
Check it out HERE.
More tk….
Shot with the 24mm f1.4. I really have been looking forward to this lens. Fast, wide glass is paramount doing what I do. This past year I logged a ton of chopper time for the Geographic, shooting at dusk or flat out nighttime conditions, so chip performance (D3S) and fast glass with edge to edge sharpness has been hugely important. I’m pushing myself back towards prime lenses. I’m trying to remember how to move my feet. I’m trying not to be on location and stand there like a frikkin’ house plant.
Shot on the streets of Ybor (”Call me Eye-bor”) City during the Safari pre-con get together at PhotoShop World in Orlando last week. Had a hoot out there with a nice bunch of folks, tagging along with my bud the Mooster. Ybor is a real nice, weird place. Friendly people. This gentleman was kind enough to allow me a snap in good light.
Just bought the 24 1.4 from the magic man, Jeff Snyder, at Adorama, which is where I buy all my stuff. He was able to reach into the system and re-direct the shipping so the lens caught up with me on the road. Jeff (jsnyder@adorama.com –go ahead, use it, tell him it’s my fault) routinely pulls gear outta the air and pulls the levers needed to make stuff happen on deadline, which is cool. Tougher to make that happen talking to an 800 number.
I still have my 28 1.4, though Nikon stopped making that years ago. From what I know the construction of that lens entailed the use of lead, hence it was banned in a bunch of countries, and Nikon said forget it. I guess the powers that be in these places understandably wanted to save photographers from themselves, knowing we are insecure babies and when things go wrong on location we just revert to a preverbal state, curl into a ball, and start rocking in the corner while sucking on our lenses. I personally don’t suck on my lenses, I just routinely suck when I use them. There’s a big difference.
But I still have it, even though there’s an incurable aberration on the back element, which makes it less than attractive on Ebay, so I just hang onto it. You can’t see the little ding when you shoot at 1.4, and that’s all I shoot that lens at. Which makes it kinda like my old catadioptric 5oomm mirror lens, which has a fixed aperture of f8. I just look at my 28 as a fixed aperture lens as well, only faster and easier to focus.
Writing this on Saturday night. Another wild night at JFK airport. Non-stop excitement. Bound for Abu Dhabi. Never been there, but I’m sure in its’ own way, it’s just as interesting as Ybor City. More tk….
