Bike & Build

So here is the shoot from today with Kevin Marriner, the dark clouds made it awesome. Def glad it was crappy outside. I was shooting the OCF bare, I think it  always looks good for athletic-type shoots. This shoot was to help him promote Bike & Build, an organization which funds affordable housing projects through cross country bike riding. Here is his profile: Kevin's Profile on Bike & Build

Double, Inverted Rainbow

That sounds like a sweet diving move. But it is not. I shot this image years ago in Scotland, literally seven days after I started taking photos. It's been through a few edits over the years, but none recently. This was taken with a 6mp point and shoot. Apparently a lot of the times you see a rainbow, there are more than one present. It is just hard to see because of the glare of the sun. And because it has been reflected twice, the colors are inverted with purple being on top. Cool, huh?

Reppin

Cup & Saucer

Take a seat. Bean Dip Clothing at the Cup & Saucer.

DJ JAPANCAKES

Shoot with DJ JAPANCAKES in NYC this past weekend. More to come soon.

Never on Schedule, Always on Time

I just got back from NYC, working on some new images from Bean Dip Clothing showcasing some of their new designs. Here's a teaser-

Bean Dip Clothing

I'm heading up to the Big Apple today to do some shots for Bean Dip Clothing, should be a lot of fun. here's one from last time:

Steel Wool

What do you get when you mix whisks, steel wool, 9v batteries and string? This.

Jordan Pond

An oldie but a goody from Maine. Jordan Pond, (open edition) is one of my best selling prints, I've never tried it in Black and White. So here it is. It is a Panorama of 18 HDR images, 54 original images, it can be printed 6' wide.

Here is the original:

Fog

When its foggy I like to take the telephoto out for a spin.

St Patricks Day +1

In honor of everyone waking up with a huge hangover from last night, here's a scene from the Emerald Isle to make you feel it was all worth it.

Lamium

I don't normally take pictures of flowers.... which is funny because by day I am a landscaper who works with them constantly. Go figure. It's lamium. We have a lot of them in bloom at the "Farm". Pretty awesome.

Dorsie

I had my gear set up to shoot some images my father needed for a brochure, and as soon as we finish Dorsie walks up out of no-where. See that X on the ground over there? Go nuts. 

And yes, that is a tie made of duct tape. Definitely more to come later.

Stanley

Quick shoot I did for my father, Stan Sperlak. He needed some "smiling" shots.

High's Beach

Twilight shot from High's Beach from a little bit ago... About time to go back out now that I have an hour more of daylight and I don't have to rush to get out.

Forest

Forest shot from up in Maine. I wish there were more rocks here. I love cool rocks.

In Between

Ok, let's keep the b&w coming. Shot in between doing some light painting at Cook's Beach.

Reed's Beach

Normally I love color in a photograph, but sometimes things are just awesome in black and white, especially with long exposures. Leaving the shutter open tends to simplify the scene, which lends itself well to b&w. 2 min exposure at f/4.5, shot at 16mm.

So I turned around while doing long exposures and saw this....

So for the encore performance of the light painting we had an audience.... You can check out the full album here: Light Painting

Raiden

All I can say is I look like Raiden from Mortal Kombat. This shot is a group effort with some awesome photographers- Hello, Gorgeous. Photography, Let It Be. Photography, and Kenny Noddin Imagery. Couldn't have done anything without them. Light painting is too much fun.

Light Painting

Did some sweet Light Painting tonight with some great local photographers. Gonna post a few more tomorrow.

Links

So I said I'd give you guys some of the links I was talking about at the Photowalk at Wheaton Arts. If you weren't at Wheaton Arts, here's a peak at some of the cool stuff I use to get things done whether it be while I'm shooting or when I'm at the computer editing.

This is the link for the noise reduction software I use, way better than photoshop in my opinion: Imagenomic Noiseware. It doesn't soften the image and is very easy to use, but also very powerful if you want it to be.

I use Cactus V5s for triggering any off camera flash I am using. I don't use these a ton or in a lot of very high pressure situations, or I'd be using Pocket Wizards, but they work great and fire 99.99% of the time and are a fraction of the price. A (1!) pocket wizard is like $160, a 2 (2!) pack of Cactus V5s are like $70. I usually get mine from MPEX but the site is down now... Here is the link on Amazon: Cactus V5

I love these. I always have my GorillaPod in my bag, as sometimes it's just not practical (or legal) to have a big tripod with you. These are great for impromptu long exposures, taking night shots in crowded city streets by attaching to a sign or fence, mounting strobes to weird things up high (or down low), the possibilities are endless. This is the on I have - GorillaPod Focus, and here is the site for a list of all of them, you may not need such a strong one - GorillaPods. You can put normal tripod heads or the small Joby heads they make special for them on these little guys, and the Joby heads will take cameras AND flashes.

One of the HDR softwares I use, and probably the most popular, is Photomatix Pro. Its great, I don't use it exclusively as I feel it doesn't give the most realistic results, but it has a lot of control. Here is the link to the site: Photomatix Pro. I also have a tutorial for using Photomatix Pro on my site: Mike's HDR Tutorial w/ Photomatix Pro. 


The flashes I use are the Canon 580EXII and a Lumopro LP160. The 580EXII is great and is the Canon flagship flash. I use it when I need to keep it connected to the camera for bounce or direct flash. The Lumopro LP160 is super easy to use and is an all manual flash. it is highly recomended by the Strobist Community and I like it a lot too. It is only $160 and I think it is well made, works well, and is easy to use.

If you can think of anymore, leave it in the comments.

Self Portrait

I'm not huge into photographing myself, but sometimes it's fun. There is a lone light off camera to the right illuminating the texture in the sand for the two minute exposure, although I'm only in it for one. This photo hasn't really been photoshopped much, just a simple black and white conversion and some brightening on the stars.

Sandbox Ambush

A good action shot I took while embedded with the Green Army. While only feeling like insect bites to me, the small plastic bullets were quite lethal to the opposing force.

I shot this a few years ago in my sandbox. Yes I have a sandbox. It was actually my first time trying to "make" elements of a picture in photoshop. Obviously, the explosion and small arms fire are computer generated. I grew up playing with plastic army men and figured I'd pay a little tribute. I sell this as an open edition print and  it actually is one of my best sellers, I think it's a great edition to any kid's room.

Playing with Oysters

Full album here: Playing With Oysters

Winter Beach Portraits

Check out the full album: Winter Beach Portraits

Sunrise

Just one exposure tonight, using some dodging and burning from an under exposed image to bring it out. If you don't have to use more than one, don't.