Behind the Scenes | Chad Sharpe and Malibu Boats

    I love shooting enviromental lifestyle shots everywhere I go.  One main problem is that I travel a lot. It makes it very difficult to bring the Large modifiers I love to use.  Westcott has a few simple modifiers that pack so light I bring them everytime I fly.  The first is the Westcott Apollo, it is basically an umbrella that turns into an inverse octa-bank like light with an attachable grid.  Another is the strip that has the same umbrella base setup.  This 3 modifier combination fits right into your suitcase and only takes up a few pounds when traveling.

    Check out my Behind the Scenes video I did HERE with the Apollo Orb, Strip and scrim-jims.  I got Chad Sharpe to come over with his new Malibu Boats 22MXZ.  The shoot was extremely fun going from being super sunny, to horribly windy, to raining, then to pitch black because of cloud cover.  Welcome to Florida Spring Time.

#TheList

 Westcott Apollo Strip 16 x 30" (40.6 x 76.2 cm)

Westcott 43" Apollo Orb

Westcott Scrim Jim Large Reflector Kit - 72x72" (1.8x1.8m)

Elinchrom Ranger RX Speed AS Asymmetrical Battery Powered Pack

Elinchrom Ranger Free Lite A Flash Head

PocketWizard PowerST4 Receiver for Elinchrom RX

PocketWizard FlexTT5 Transceiver Radio Slave for Nikon i-TTL Flash System

Kupo High Overhead Roller Stand

Kupo Master 40" C Stand with Sliding Leg (Chrome Plated)

Kupo 20" master C STAND with TURTLE base KIT- silver

Kupo Steel Baby Boom

Kupo

Kupo Convi Clamp (Silver Finish)

Kupo Convi Clamp (Silver Finish)

Induro BHL3 Ball Head

Nikon D4 Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Nikon PC-E Micro Nikkor 85mm f/2.8D Manual Focus Lens

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4G Classic Portrait Lens

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 35mm f/1.4G Wide-Angle Lens

Nikon SB-910 AF Speedlight i-TTL Shoe Mount Flash

Hoya 77mm HD2 UV Filter

Hoya 77mm Neutral Density (ND) 0.6 Pro 1 Digital Multi-Coated Glass Filter

Hoya 77mm Variable Density Filter

Nikon D3s 85mm f1.4 lens 1/400th a sec at F2.2 Hoya ND4 Filter

Nikon D3s 35mm f1.4 lens 1/400th at F2.5 Hoya Vario ND Filter

Nikon D3s 85mm PC-E Tilt Shift Lens 1/400th at F5.6 

Nikon D3s 35mm f1.4 lens 1/320th at F2.5 

#BTS

Snowboarding | New York City

No Sleep 'Till Denverrr

View from Liberty Park in New Jersey at about 12 am. 

    From my first days of shooting snowboarding I have always thought about what it would be like to shoot in New York City.  Unfortunately it is so rare for it to snow enough in the city and sit for more than a day.  When I saw the first ever named snowstorm, NEMO, coming through the North East I knew this would be my one and only chance.  I was on the phone Friday trying to get a hold of crews, calling RedBull HQ in NYC, and even random contacts at sponsors trying to get someone up there, and by Saturday morning I gave up.  I was out having a few cocktails with the fiancé when I randomly saw Pat Milbery on Facebook posting from Washington D.C. attempting to get to NYC.  About 3 hours later I was wheels up Business Class style still with cocktails leaving the sunny 75 degree weather to the windy, cloudy, and 15 degree New York weather.
     When I got there it was no sleep till Denver status to get the shots we needed.  There was actually a rain storm directly behind the cold front.  We were only expecting to get a day and a half of shooting in before the snow would be gone.  We ended up getting very lucky and the rain was just a light mist all day.  We ended up with 3 and a half days of shooting around NYC, with 2 of the days with the RedBull wench thanks to Kyle.

The group in Central Park

    Looking back at the trip, I almost never realize how lucky I am to have gotten there.  I ended up with some of the best snow photos of my life, and got to drive around New York City for the 3rd time, in the 3rd natural disaster in a row there.  I already had 2 hurricanes down there, and this was my first big snowstorm there.  We ended up with a lot of help from certain police department and security crews, allowing us acess to closed areas to get the shots we were all gunning for!

On the Way to Brooklyn

Welcome to Brooklyn

    Here is a little write up that ESPN put on their home page of the trip, with a few spot leaks.  This is actually my first time ver on the ESPN home page, and prob one of the first few for the action sports industry.  Adding even more excitedment to the story, we got posted up next to a story on Micheal Jordan.  Be on the look out for the print shots coming out soon!

ESPN front page

The full Story

Downtown Financial distract post sunset

Uptown and Central park area at sunset

Sunrise pow slashes

New Jersey Wenching

Post golden hour in the Blue minutes

The RedBull MXT at Liberty Park around 1 am

Sunset ish at The Projects | Behind the Scenes

    Check out the behind the scenes video my man Alex Glass shot for me at. You can go behind the scenes with me at the Projects in Orlando, Florida to see how I shoots rail riding on the water.  I have guest Professional wakeboarders; Todd Watson, Trevor Bashir, and an appearance by Shane Bonifay.  You will get some inside knowledge of how to shoot and keep your equipment safe around the water at the same time.  Be sure to watch for all the small things that will help make any shoot run smoother and safer.  The best part of the video is I will be using the Nikon 85mm PC-E 2.8 (better known as a tilt shift) for the first time!  Everything was also shot from a few hours before sunset through sunset using PocketWizard's Hypersync technology!

CHECK OU THE VIDEO HERE

    Here are a few shots from the video.

Nikon D800 85mm 1.4 at  f1.8 1/1,000th a sec

Nikon D800 85mm PC-E at f4 1/800th a sec

Nikon D800 85mm PC-E at f4 1/500th a sec

Nikon D3s 85MM PC-E f5.6 1/1,000th a sec

Nikon D800 85mm PC-E f4 1/800th a sec

Alliance Photo Annual 2011 | Back Pedaling!

    I realized that I have been slacking on posting up publication prints the past year.  So I decided to start from my favorite issue from the begging of last year and work my way up to date.  I will say it is super fun looking back on old shoots and prints!
    This was my rookie year of shooting wakeboarding and my first cover actually.  A lot of hard work and more fun went into all of the shots. If you haven't seen an issue yet email Alliance for the past issue.  They print it in super large format, almost bringing back the pull put poster size!
    Every image was shot on a Nikon D2x and used Pocketwizard's Hypersync technology.  I think that was the first year for me using the new technology too!  No photoshop or anything done to all the photos below as normal par for action sports magazines.

Reed Hansen on the cover with a method on a wake skate!  

Melissa Marquardt with a wrapped tail grab 3.

One of my favorite shots from that year, Melissa Marquardt from the tube!  Lots of flashes and near death experiences to get this one.

Nate Perry on the left with my mirror shot idea.

Steel Lafferty boosting up and over me a few feet from the Mastercraft Wake.

Terry Bailey to the left shot through an hold Reflex Camera.

Interview | Range Finder Magazine

    Just got a copy of the February issue of Ranger Finder Magazine.  It is of course the "lighting Issue" for the year for them!  I did the interview a few months back on high speed sync just before the Pocketwizard Webinar.  The magazine has a lot on insight on different ways of shooting, and new tech updates monthly.  Check it out on news stands of the Digital Issue here.

Sunset B-Boy Omen | Behind the Scenes

    I have had an overwhelming email response to my instagram photo of B-Boy Omen I did recently.  I had originally done the shoot for a Kupo Grip Behind the scenes Video with Photographer Erik Valind, that is going live early next month.  Thanks to my non stop "is that really not photoshopped" inbox, I thought I might do a quick behind the scenes preview of the shoot!  This will be straight down and dirty as the video has all the information.  My portion was also shot in 15 minutes max so we had enough time for Erik to get 3 different style shots done through sunset and into dark!

My Shot

Nikon D3s 35mm 1.4 1/400th a sec at F 2.2 with a Hoya ND16 filter

3 Elinchrom Ranger Speed AS packs and S-heads and Elinchrom Modifiers

PocketWizard Flexx TT5 and St4 receivers

All Kupo Light stand and Grips

Erik's Shot

NIkon D800 24-70mm 2.8 at 1/250th a sec at F5.6

2 Elinchrom Rangers Speed AS packs and A-heads with Beauty Dish from behind and Strip from Front Left.

PocketWizard Plus III as transmitter and ST4 as receivers

Kupo Turtle Base C-stands and Boom Arms

    I had met Omen a few months before the shoot at the RedBull BCOne in Tampa, Florida.  He actually won the even and went on to the world finales.  It was super awesome working with Omen who has performed all over the world from Japan to Broadway!
    Long story short on this one I had some down time around new years and Erik Valind was in Florida for vacation.  We both wanted to get some video work done while he was here, and Omen said he would be in Orlando for the week before he hit the road again.  I called Erik up and we pitched some ideas back and forth and he was in Orlando the next day!

Here are the 3 Elinchrom Ranger Speed AS 's I used for the shoot charging waiting for Erik to arrive.

We went to the local hardware store and got some cabinet grade wood that was smooth enough for Omen to dance, and spin on.  Always wear safety glass when working with powerful tools.

I framed the wood sheet out with 2 by 4's for stability.  When the chalk line goes mia form the tool box, pink duct tape can fix it!

Then I added pre-measured legs to get the platform to sit just below the water line.

Here is the final platform and some of the Kupo Grip stands and grip arms used for the shoot.

It was also about 50 degrees out that day with 30 mph wind gust!  I originally had planned to use an Elinchrom Octabank with Westcott Scrims for the shoot, but that was not going to happen without an army of assistants.

Erik and I carrying the large platform into the water. #frostytoes

I used F-stop Loka bags to hold the Elinchrom Ranger packs in the water.

This is the High over head stand from Kupo and a last minute Ranger holder to keep the pack out of the water.  (kupo makes J-hooks that you can attach to the stands to hold the flash packs)

The Elinchrom 51inch Strip attached to the Kupo Grip arm and Adjustable C-stand for uneven surfaces.

Here is the Key light setup with the beauty dish, and strip down low.  This will give really solid even lighting for upright and upside dow positions Omen would be throwing down.  You can also see the Kupo boom arm being used to extend the light far over the water.  This is also before the High Overhead got moved into the water.

This is me on the platform checking out light positioning before Omen comes out into the cold.  You can also see one of the rim lights to the back well out in the water.  The F-stop Loka was attached to a ladder and the Ranger S-Head was secured with a Max Arm instead of a light stand to the ladder.

The final setup with Omen warming up on the platform.  You can see the Kupo High Over Head stand in the water, and the other rim light well out in the water to the right.

Omen getting into position for the buddha shot.

Omen just before the final position.

One of the other "freezes" I shot.

A nice view of most of the setup and open doing a spinning freeze.

Imediately after the water shoot, we moved everything to a different sport for a single and then a 2 light set up for Erik Valind to shoot.

One Erik's final shots again.

     Thans for checking out the #BTS of the Omen Buddha shoot and be sure to watch out for the video in the coming month!  Big thanks go out to Erik Valind for the help, shooting with, and video work!