27
Jul
2010
Volvo C30: Same tunnel, same old tricks
Photographing cars was the reason I got my first camera. I’ve always been a big car guy, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by my current ride; a Scion xB. Maturing sucks. My brief 10 year driving history includes having my name under an 87 300ZX, 96 300ZX, 94 RX-7, 99 Subaru 2.5 RS, and now…. the box. Unfortunately a fire-spitting RX-7 can’t haul all of my photography gear.
Back on point, after a 2-3 year hiatus of not shooting cars (focused on people and designing), I got an itch to shoot Lauren’s new Volvo C30… that, and I had a day left of renting the Canon 15mm 2.8 lens for the Ashley Knights Jr. photoshoot (hence the same location!). I wanted to focus on just 1 shot, a motion/rig shot. This technique used to be a super tight-lipped secret up until a few years ago. I like to think I was one of the first digital photographers to figure out how to take this kind of picture. Along with names like Easton Chang, Luke Munnell, Josh Mackey, and Jason Siu come to mind as well. Back then I was using a 2.5mp “state-of-the-art” Olympus camera lol. In fact it was a rig shot that gave me my big break in the automotive industry, and opened a lot of doors. Now with the spread of blogs, tutorials, and every photographer out there willing to share every shred of knowledge in a youtube video for any kind of fame, the secret isn’t so, secret.
Unedited image. Despite an occasional car at 3am, the famous tunnel had very little traffic.
My trusty rig, totals 12′ in length. Got the piping specialty cut at some NASCAR shop in North Carolina years ago.
The two 6′ poles are connected with a slightly smaller diameter metal sleeve, and held together by… yes, paper clips 
I may not have the fanciest rig on earth, but I dare say it’s the most practical!!
I almost felt like I was 16 again shooting my buddies cars long after midnight. In hindsight I would of done a few things differently for this Volvo image, but it’s a good starting point to my revamped interest in shooting things with 4 legs instead of 2.
15
Jul
2010
52 MPH…
…on 2 wheels, without an engine, and on a flat surface. Unless you consider your legs an engine, then Ashley Knights Jr. is the Pagani Zonda of the bike world. Normally a person would hop in a car to go the National speed limit of 55, Ashley just does it with a 15lb carbon fiber bike and 2 (very) powerful tattoo-clad legs.
Ashley had just reached Cat 1, now aiming to ride internationally in the next year, and what better way to get extra attention than eye-opening pictures? Personally as a road bike enthusiast I was all about the shoot. Cyclists are some of the nicest people I know, and make a very fun and challenging shoot. So, after a meet-up time of 3am in downtown LA, we were off.
After the tunnel, we had a short breakfast to wait for the sun to come up, then headed to the river for some downtown LA backdrop shots:
Fortunately at 4am on a weekday, the tunnel had very little traffic. My beautiful assistant Lauren doing a FINE job of adding sweat to Ashley 
I think Ashley kinda looks like Michael Shumacher… which is pretty fitting. With a call-time of 3am to 7am, I promptly went straight home after this shot and slept till the sun went down. Oh and thank you for the chocolate chip cookies Briana!
16
Dec
2009
Livin’ on the edge
It pays to be my friend. Clinton has now been in front of my camera 3 times. Previously with a gritty downtown LA theme, and also a cowboy/western theme. This time he wanted a fashion theme. I wasn’t sure what he was going to wear until he knocked on my door… Pointed black shoes, grey wool slacks, leather gloves, and a matching grey wool beret? 1920′s here we come! Which would go PERFECT with my loft’s atmosphere since it was built in the 1920′s and well maintained since then.
Most notable about The Chapman building are the beautiful 13 floors of marble stairway. You just don’t see that anymore unless you’re in a 5 star hotel. I was trying to get a lot of depth, so placing Clinton at the very edge of the frame while looking down gave me the look I wanted.
The roof is the main attraction of any downtown building. A quick jump over a neighboring wall and we’ve been transported from The Chapman’s green grass, lawn chairs, and jacuzzis to a tattered and worn down roof… perfect for that old rustic feel.
Clinton survived the “jump” 
Of course the above image is a composite. One of him jumping, and another over the edge of the building. Now personally I turn into a spineless puddle of mush when it comes to heights, so crawling over the railing and hanging my camera 5′ beyond the ledge made me just a tad queezy. But I’m very happy how this image turned out.
On to the behind-the-scenes shots.
My lovely trusty and beautiful assistant Lauren snapped some shots on her iPhone of the stairway. Just goes to show how beautiful and well restored this building has been kept for over 80 years.
The finished shot spans 3 floors. On each floor was an AlienBee strobe. Since the marble is practically white, the power had to be set relatively low, and constantly adjust each light to get the balance I wanted… With each tiny adjustment meaning I had to climb 3 flights of stairs, I got a decent workout in!
Pulling back from a ledge shot you can see what I was working with. Yes I wasn’t lying about shooting on a ledge, that 2nd photo wasn’t a composite folks! Mad props to Clinton risking his neck for a shot! Where I’m taking the picture from is just about how close I like to come to a high ledge! Both feet on solid ground. Also note that in the final pictures, I edited out most modern elements such as cars and new buildings.
I’m very happy with how this shoot came out. So how about getting in the Christmas spirit and give the gift of comments
3
Dec
2009
Art Walk – Downtown LA
A walk down a not so beaten path. Or should I say an unfamiliar path for my camera. The land of f/1.4 has been unknown by my camera until this night! Linhbergh, his cousin Grady, Lauren and I drop down the elevator and step outside a block to stroll the now famous Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk. So famous that the starving hipsters are tweeting about the “douchebags” crowding the streets. Don’t worry I won’t be tapping your PBR reserves, and besides life is too short to not drink Guinness and wear sperm count-reducing skinny jeans. Sorry for the mental image.
Anyways like I said I was walking with my friends, and Grady graciously lent me his 50mm f/1.4 lens (I was using the G.I.JOE plastic 50mm 1.8 up until then) and I felt like I was using a camera for the first time! The difference between f/1.8 and f/1.4 is more than I imagined.. which gave me lens envy that Linhbergh was 2′ away from me using the blackhole inducing 50mm f/1.2. Enough nerd talk, here are a few snaps I took throughout the night.
The image above wasn’t taken on the streets of the Art Walk, instead it was taken 5 stories up in my loft. Because not only is art displayed on the Art Walk, there are also price tags attached to most items on display. This piece by Patrick Haemmerlein stopped me in my steps. I LOVE the broken collage look, mass (made of thick wood), and the fact that it’s truly a one of a kind unique piece of art. I’m sure more of his work will end up on my walls soon.
The Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk is held every 2nd Thursday of every month. If you decide to make it out there, drop me a message!
18
Sep
2009
World of Whirlcraft
Another shoot at my new pad in downtown LA (freakin love this place!). This time with Lyz. Short and sweet is her name, and her personality is just the same. Believe it or not she’s an avid World of Warcraft gamer! I can hardly get my sister to play Halo 3, let alone coax a model into playing one of the most addictive life-ruining, insomnia-inducing game in existance! You can never tell a book by it’s cover… well, sometimes, but definitely not in Lyz’s case.
For this shoot we collaborated for a jumping shot. Once the shoot was confirmed, I ran down to Big 5 to buy a trampoline… and how sick would it be to hit the rooftop button on the elevator and have the shoot on top of LA? Yea that’s what I thought too. Obviously these are highly photoshopped for the end look.
We tried a couple of outfits, the white “dress” worked best for the composition. I used 2 gridded Alien Bee 1600s flanking the model, and the Alien Bee ringflash for front fill… next on my ever-growing gear list are a couple of softboxes. It’s easier to see why the pros need assistants!
27
Aug
2009
From neat to street
Time to break in my new AlienBee lights (1 ABR800, 2x AB1600), and trusty PocketWizard transmitters. I feel like I’m just picking up the camera and shooting cars 5 years ago, and feel that inspiration and drive once again. So now it’s shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot. Not all of my shots will be exactly what I want, but eventually I’ll get closer to that goal.
Next on my list is Jolin Barot, middle name Ripped. Not an ounce of fat on this joker! Makes my 75-rep push-ups and 50 mile bike rides seem like an exercise in relaxation. But first the “neat” shots, all button’d up and iron’d out sitting on the couch in The Chapman lobby. One great thing about photography is you can take a normally mundane location, add a little bit of lighting, and turn it into a portfolio piece. While shooting this location, at least 20 people walked inches behind my back doing their daily business.
Now the street shots. Same guy, sans the shirt, and literally 30 paces out the back door from the lobby. And instead of loft-dwellers, we had bums and liquor store employees passing by.
A few steps back shows what I was working with. Shooting against walls can be tough when trying to pull off rim lighting. But like i said shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot.
Big thanks to Tanisha from Lowrider Girls for hooking up the shoot, and of course my girlfriend Lauren for assisting me again and again and again. Click over to my main website to see the high-res shots.
14
Jul
2009
Here is an employee at A&F
…You know, the clothing store Abercrombie and Fitch. Clinton Thompson’s everyday outfit usually consists of a bright pastel polo with plaid shorts and sandals, courtesy (of course) from A&F. Easily one of the nicest guys I know. And oddly enough we’re the same height, weight, and he moved from South Carolina (Greenville) to LA just like me! Yes we knew each other before moving to LA. Small world.
This shoot was my first REAL model photoshoot (completed April 12, 09). Fully charged my equipment, scouted for a location, thought of a direction for the shoot, and had great help from my girlfriend Lauren Takeda and my photo buddy John Batte. For the shoot I primarily used an Alien Bees ABR800 for main light, and a Canon 580ex for fill light. My goal for the shoot was to turn a real world nice guy into a commercial bad guy. Enough babbling, here are some untouched images:
The location had a power plant in the background, wicked power lines, and a pile of pavement rubble… All in downtow.. oh wait, I try not to give away my locations so easily
The sun was just right to get a beautiful gradiated sky.
You’ll see this image again further down.
Grrrrrrr looking all intimidating
The location also had a dirt path leading to the power plant, good stuff.
My beautiful assistant Lauren! She was so pro at spritzing down Clinton
OK so even though I loved the location, and the sun was just right, I was still sticking to my original art direction of compositing him into a badass city background. Again the main goal of the shoot was to turn Clinton from a country club J. Crew model into a menacing character:
Look familiar?
Some dust added, with downtown LA in the background.
This shot is a compilation of about 8 different photos. No streets were harmed in the making of this image. Take a look below for some of the main images used.
All in a nights work… well maybe less if my computer had more RAM! I must say the most challenging part was distressing the pavement where his feet and hands once were.
All smiles after the shoot is done! See I wasn’t lying about us being the same height/weight!… though he could probably beat me in arm wrestling.
