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Archive for November, 2008
Valentine’s Spectacular!
November 17, 2008Miami pt 1
November 12, 2008I’m just back from a great week in Miami – relaxing after a busy summer of weddings, portraits and pin-ups and getting some sun before the full winter kicks in here in Portland! Miami is a bit like LA – full of rich, beautiful people with way too much money and cars that cost more than my house! Still – it was sunny..for the most part…and I got to hang out with my best buddy Steve for a week. Downside was I was away from my wife and son for a week. Here are a few quick shots – more to come.
NOBS Inferno Shootout!
November 10, 2008While at the NOBS Photo Success Inferno last week, I took part in the Shoot Out. This was an amazing night where 6 photographers were thrown a challenge and then 6 retouchers worked their magic on the images.
The photographers were matched with a retoucher by pulling names from a hat, and I was lucky enough to get James Hodgins – the co-founder of NOBS, an awesome photographer and top guy too! All the photographers were secluded outside the main room and brought in one by one to shoot. They had one large strobe, a desk lamp and a reflector for lighting and had to use a chaise as a prop. They had a lovely model to work with and just 5 minutes to set up and shoot a perfect image. James read my mind and took apart the desk lamp and used the shade on the model’s head, which I thought was going to be our shot…but then he had a flash of inspiration and took the bulb out, cooled it then stuck it in the model’s mouth!! I was cursing him as I only had 15 minutes to retouch the image, and I’d have liked an hour on that one!
We had a break after all the photographer’s had shot, then we all downloaded at once and had 3 minutes to choose an image. I was in between the shade/head shot and the bulb/shot..but thought what the hell, and picked the bulb one! I then had 15 minutes to retouch the image anyway I wanted with a crowd of about 30 people milling around me! I had great fun working this way and going up against some of the best retouchers around. The overall winner was Jason Abbott – a great photographer (and new friend) from Texas. His image was retouched by the awesome Shelly Harrington. The whole evening was organised by another great new friend of mine, Alison Berk from Humbolt, Canada. She spent the night in character as Sarah Palin (who?!)
Here are all the photographers and retouchers and me working hard with an audience. Images courtesy of Tommy Cooper Photography.
And here is the image that James shot and my final version…I used a blue action from the amazing Andy Armstrong’s Design|House set. Andy was one of my competitors and he’s also now a firm friend.
Historic Night….
November 5, 2008As you may have read – I’m in Nashville tonight for a photography convention, and damn good fun it’s been. It’s also been an amazing night being here in the US during the most historic election in recent history. I don’t “do” politics – I live in the USA, I pay my taxes, but they won’t let me vote for another 2 years or so…so to avoid any tension I generally stay away from political debates…however….GO OBAMA!!!I honestly feel that Obama is going to push America forward in a great new direction…something that has been lacking for the last 8 years. Of course, everyone in England thought that Tony Blair would do that for the UK, and look how that turned out eh? Still, this guy LOOKS like President, SOUNDS like a President, and can pronounce nuclear…it’s got to be a step up. The excitement here in America is spine tingling, and I’m so happy to have been here and seen it happen. Best of luck to the new President. As a side note – it’s worth pointing out that after a very nasty campaign, John McCain’s concession speech was honest, heartfelt, and showed true honor. Mike.
Blogging from the road!
November 4, 2008No images today – maybe a few at the end of the week. I’m writing from a photography convention in Nashville, TN! I’m sitting in a room with over 100 awesome photographers from all over the States and many from Canada too. Tonight I’ll be taking part in a Shoot-Out of photographers and retouchers…keep your fingers crossed for me!Conventions like this are a great way to keep up with all the latest trends in photography, but also to mix with and swap ideas with some truly talented artists. I know most of these guys from an online forum, and it’s been great to put faces to names.My next stop is Miami for some sun, relaxing and of course shooting some of the amazing architecture down there!In other news – stay tuned for a huge announcement about next years weddings…more soon!