Archive for March, 2010
You are currently browsing the Clint Davis Blog – Greenville, SC Commercial Photographer blog archives for March, 2010.
29
Mar
2010
TEAM BAHATI PHOTOSHOOT
My alarm goes off at 5:05am in the morning… The streets are clear, the sun is still hours away from peeking through the skyscrapers… “where in the hell am I?” were the first words out of my mouth. Then a few groggy milliseconds later I remembered I had to get up early to do a group shoot for the Bahati Foundation pro cycling team. More specifically the Bahati Foundation is a program that helps inspire youth in inner-city and underserved communities.
With a little help from my friend Joshua Chan, facebook, and luck, I was assigned the team photographer for a team that boasts such names as Rahsaan Bahati, Floyd Landis, Nathan O’Neill, and Hilton Clarke. A list of names any avid cyclist should recognize to say the least.
Close up: Floyd Landis (left) – Rahsaan Bahati (right)
Close up: Nathan O’Neill (left) – Hilton Clarke (right)
Rahsaan is the most accomplished African American cyclist in the world today, from an unlikely upbringing; Compton, CA. Coming from a tough and troubled youth, he stumbled upon the sport of cycling by chance, and is what we call a natural. Now he is giving back to his community through the Bahati Foundation. Watch the very inspiring video below for more on his story:
Joshua (left) and Billy (right) helped GREATLY during the shoot. Not to mention (as usual) my beautiful assistant Lauren. She was a little camera shy this morning.
For the group shots I kept the camera on the tripod so I could easily mask faces in from other pictures if someone from the large group had their eyes closed or made a goofy face… which was quite common 
When the crowd grew thinner, I was able to take the camera off the tripod and find some more dramatic angles. Getting low for huge group shots is near impossible since everyone’s face needs to be visible… Oh ya it was St. Patrick’s Day, hence the screaming green attire
The team was fashionably late, which unfortunately cut the shooting time down to just 1 hour. i was able to snap off 11 different types of group shots (not all shown here). We started at 8am, and my watch showed 9am when the last shot was snapped. The team were already on their way out for an intense training session. Not a bad way to spend the morning.
I’ll end this blog post with some snaps from a team ride I covered. An odd venture for me since it didn’t involve power packs, softboxes, or strobes.
19
Mar
2010
M.O.E. Space Jams
Flashy cars, even flashier chains, Michael Jordan Space Jams, and the lifestyle of Money Ova Everything. Maybe one day I’ll be rollin’ in an S-Class Benz or Range Rover on 30′s, but till then I’m fine snapping pictures of my future possessions… Well maybe I can deal without the flashy chains lol. For this shoot I was contacted to do a car scene, group shot, and club scenes of M.O.E. from Compton. This was my time to go all out on urban gritty compositions.
Grady Nguyen provided me with some setup shots. All of the non-club scenes were shot near the LA River, and composited later. I think I heard someone call me Mega Man while lugging around the ring flash. I’ll take that as a compliment
BIG thanks to Steve Demmitt for lending me his 5DmkII, Scott Dukes for the extra gear, and Lauren, Grady and Patrick for assisting… Since then I’ve purchased my very own 5DmkII 
… For obvious reasons, look at those close-ups. And they aren’t even 100% crops!!!
16
Mar
2010
The Top Eagle
When I heard my high school baseball coach was awarded the 2010 National Coach of the Year, I wasn’t shocked. Coach Dean Jones has been a mentor for every player in a Chesnee Eagles uniform for the past 47 years of being head coach. Count that, 47 years. Not only was coaching his job, it was his way of life. With that kind of history, a kid being coached doesn’t even think of questioning his logic. Simply put, Coach Jones could coach a team just by putting his arms on his hips.
I recently visited my home state South Carolina to visit friends and family, and also put a 6:30am photoshoot with Coach Jones on the top of my list. The sun wasn’t out yet, which gave me time to set up. The forecast called for morning showers, but by the time the sun crept through the trees, the clouds and lighting were perfect.
As we were packing up, rain started to drop from the sky. It was almost eerie that the rain held off just in time to finish the shoot. Coach Jones is a legendary coach, but he was also a standout player on the diamond as well. This is the very cap he wore for the San Francisco Giants organization during the 60s’.
Not only is this his awarded season of being the 2010 National Coach of the Year, but it is also his last. There are few things I look back and reminisce about in life, and playing baseball for the Chesnee Eagles is one of them. So when Coach Jones graciously said over and over “Thank you, thank you, thank you” for the photoshoot, I just replied “no, thank you.”
15
Mar
2010
Trail Blazing
If you’re a long-time reader of my blog (ha), you should know I’m a road bike enthusiast. So it was about time that I did a serious shoot with a local professional biker. Rudy Napolitano of Team Helen’s was my first victim. He suggested a local Malibu road for the shoot, and it was amazing to say the least. Remote, twisty, breath-taking views, and 1-way traffic. Perfect. The original pics came out great, but you know me, I had to take them over the top with some photoshop love. This is my take on road bike photography:
For the first pic only a reflector was used, but the other 2 required heavy lighting with AlienBees and a few hours on photoshop. Hopefully more cycling projects come my way! I was jealous I wasn’t the one on the bike during the shoot 
More high-res shots can be found on my PEOPLE section of http://clintdavis.net
