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.

Family Portraits

I love shooting family portraits. They are unpredictable, and full of precious moments.

A little more than a week ago I had the opportunity to shoot the Church family. We met this summer when our daughter started at their new home-based day care. (In case you are looking, and in case she has room, we highly recommend Katie's Cubhouse. She's awesome.) It has been fun getting to know them, and watching all of our children grow fast. In particular, it is fun to see their daughter in her new role as older sister - a role that our daughter will be playing early next year!

On the Saturday before Halloween, we headed up the hillside - first stop, was an abandoned and collapsing homestead. It was cold, and the he kids were fussy. But we still got a few good shots off.

Turned the light stand around and captured these shots from the same spot (in front of the collapsed homestead). Great view, and what a cutie!

Charlotte put her hands in the cold snow and cried - so Mom stepped in to help.

It didn't take long outside to decide that we were all cold - so we headed down the hill to the warmth of their parents house for a couple more shots.

I love Bennett's expression here -"Hey, are you lookin' at me!"

It was a challenge wrangling everyone together - getting everyone looking at the camera at the same time. Mom and Dad are torn between looking at the camera and making sure the kids look at the camera (I have the exact same problem taking self-portraits of my family). But it all works out.

If you'd like portraits of YOUR family, hit me up on my contact page.

Boot Hill Shoot

Shots from another Frank K shoot. This time, we ventured out to the Valley.

Boot Hill is a small private junk yard in Butte (along the way to Palmer). Driving the Old Glenn Highway past the Butte, Boot Hill emerges from the trees with an eclectic collection of classic cars in various stages of decomposition. Front and center in the lot is a small ferris wheel. But it's not really a ferris wheel in the modern sense. It's more like a swingset on steroids.

What's a photographer to do, but shoot the ferris wheel?

Boot Hill Ferris Wheel

I was extremely lucky to shoot again with Brittani.  This time I got to shoot her AND her friend Eric.  Plopped them down in the ferris wheel and played around. Before we were done, Eric was reaching for the sky at the top of the ferris wheel - too high for good photos, but lots of fun.  I had to go back a few weeks later to try it for myself.

While others were shooting in the midst of the rusty, lichen covered wrecks, I managed to eke out a few minutes with a pinup style Brittani, and a beautifully restored '52 Chevy Coupe.

Fuzzy dice tell me that the car is a '52.

But who's looking at the fuzzy dice?

No heads up display or GPS, but that's a pretty good looking model there. Car model. What did you think I was saying? (Just kidding Brittani - you are awesome!)

Extra bonus shot - I had my daughter along for this shoot, and managed to corral her in an old El Camino for a couple of minutes before we left.

Add this to the list of things that make me happy.

Family Portraits as fund raiser

Last year about this time, in the midst of my company's annual United Way fundraising campaign, our United Way organizers landed on the corporate equivalent of a bake sale fund raiser.  It was an online auction for the employees of our company for the donated services of other employees.  My offering was a family portrait session.

Tammy was the high bidder, but didn't want to take her shots in the winter.  So, we waited, and waited. And waited.  And finally when the sun came out in August, we made it happen.

I've shot around these rocks before, but never with a group. When one of the kids suggested the rocks, we ran with it. Good thing I had an extra light or two - one flash for each rock.

Shots with the kids were definitely the best. In between the moments of teenaged disinterest, these shots emerged.

On the street

A couple weeks back I had a chance to shoot around the Anchorage Museum.  I've seen some great shots with the Museum's new glass walls as a backdrop, and thought I'd have a go.  Alas, the setting sun (ordinarily a beautiful thing for a photo shoot) really messed with the shots around the Museum.

So, I looked a couple of yards away, and there is some really interesting etched glass on a bus stop - and the light starts working for me.  Later, my brother informs me that his friend Lise Hoffman was the source of the etched glass - nice stuff Lise!

Lise's nice art reflecting Nashara's nice form.  This was another Frank K shoot with models from Andy Lewis of Model Elite.

Shooting on the street is always interesting.  We had a few whistles, but overall it was a quiet night, and we got some nice shots.

Strobist details:

The first shot is primarily ambient (sunset reflecting off the museum back onto Nashara), with a touch of fill from the SB-26.

The second started with the sky under-exposed at tad, and then added the SB-26 bare, zoomed to about 50, on half power.

The sun breaks through

Anchorage had a rather crummy summer this year - late June through early August in particular was extremely drab, wet and rainy.

I've been shooting this summer with my friend Frank K, and we were getting out a fair amount even in the rain.  Then, as luck would have it, we scheduled a shoot for the first sunny day in Anchorage after 30 straight days of rain.  

These were my results.

Jenny

Michelle

For the technical photo nerds, these were all shot strobist style, with an SB-25 and an SB-26, bare, half power (full power for the last shot).