500px link test

I'm liking the look of 500px - the design of the layout, the quality of the images, just all around good stuff.

So, I thought I'd check out what it takes to link to my 500px images, and show off a fun shot in the process.

Attitude by Denny Wells

There you have it. A fine young man, shot during a family portrait session which I offered again this year as a United Way fundraiser auction item. It's always fun getting some attitude in front of the lens!

If you would like to see YOUR attitude in front of my lens, drop me a line. I'm sure we can make that happen.

From the phone

Whenever I'm at the computer, I seem to be working on pictures, buy never posting to the blog. So, I'm sitting here holding my daughter for her nap time (my 2 month old is seriously fussy, and this seems to work) and thinking... I need to start putting shots out there.

Here's a sample from a shoot at Kincaid Beach last Monday. Posting as a test of the android blogger app. More soon.

Frank's Table

As winter has set in, Frank's group shoots have moved mostly indoors - and mostly at Frank's house. Over the last couple of winters shooting with Frank, I have used a bay window in his living room a lot.

But in the last few weeks, instead of the bay window, I've been shooting around Frank's large dining table. OK, perhaps no so much "around" as "on". It's a good thing his table is sturdy!

You're thinking "wow, what a beautiful table", right? I bet you hardly even noticed Amber there.

This was my first time shooting with Amber, and she was awesome. Very energetic, and managed to make the most of the really brief time I had for this shoot.  Coincidentally, after the shoot we discovered that in addition to our photography connections, we have pretty close day job connections as well. Anchorage is such a small town sometimes.

I also recently had the opportunity to shoot with Jenny (previously shot in the sunshine of Point Woronzof)

For the strobist photographers reading here, the shots with Jenny were primarily lit with a bare flash high to the left, and filled with a softbox flash a couple of stops down from the right. In contrast, the Amber shots above are keyed off of a softbox, with a bare flash for rim light (which happened to mostly miss Jenny in the two sample shots). You can really see the difference if you look at the shadows under their chins.

And finally, since this is a dining table, I had to pass along a food shot. The Southcentral Alaska Photo Meetup group shot food at Franks house last weekend. Believe it or not, this delectable little chocolate & blueberry cup came from our local Fred Meyers!

Beaches in Alaska (with a Moose)

Another shoot with Frank, this time down at the Kincaid beach. Don't be deceived by the warm weather attire - this was a chilly 50 Degree day in mid-September.

Brie was a great trooper.  What's a beach without bare feet and a beach ball?

And as the shoot was coming to an end, a guest decided to come check out the water. Not really sure why a Moose decided to take a dip in the Cook Inlet - leave it to an urban moose to be cruise the beach for chicks.

Boot Hill Part II

After venturing out to Boot Hill in late August (prior post here), Frank K arranged for a second shoot there in early October. We did not have the luxury of a blue sunny day, or a beautifully restored car, but we still had a great time. In fact, the soft light of the overcast day resulted in some really nice natural light portraits like the one below.

I spent most of this shoot with the lovely Kelsey. When you have eyes like this staring at you, the rust the moss certainly fade away.

Last time, I wrote about the swingset ferris wheel.  It's a 4-seat ferris wheel, where each seat is essentially a swing inside of a donut-shaped fiberglass shell. You propel the ferris wheel by swinging in the seats and walking on the shell.  Last time, I took shots of Brittani and Eric sitting in the ferris wheel. This trip, I took a ride of my own. It was a surprising amount of work, but a it was fun to be spinning around above everyone.

In case a car fan is reading, the first two shots were taken in the red / rust colored boat car on the right.

The last two shots were taken in an old Cadillac. The tale from the colorful owner of Boot Hill indicated that this Cadillac was once owned by a prominent Madame on Spenard. He claimed that a lot of early Alaska decisions were transacted in the back seat.

And a parting shot of Kelsey with her beautiful eyes through a broken window.