We had some time in Humboldt, Canada, to mess around and play. Our hostess, Alison Berk, wanted to experiment with a technique called ‘off camera flash’ which is where you fire a remote flash to balance with the sun – something I use at weddings all the time.
These shots then are kind of jointly made by myself, Alison and Andy!
Couple of videos of us messing around in Humboldt, where it’s…erm…rather cold! Videos from Toronto coming soon, including one with James Hodgins at the top of the CN Tower!
My make-up artist, the fabulous Hollie Olsen (available for any make-up services including bridal: Celebrity Spa Services ) is also an actress. She’s staring in a terrific new short due next year, about a guy convinced he’s a super hero and can save the World.
Trailer here:
She asked if I could come to the set (an old abandoned hospital) and take a shot of the cast in character….I’d love to!! After we did the main group shot, I had each of them pose as singles again in character.
Here is the group, Hollie and ‘Rufus’ – the mad janitor! More to come, and this isn’t the final processing yet – just testing. The final DVD cover will probably be more fun!
So – I’ve been a bad blogger again. Good reason though, I’ve been in bed sick for over a week with flu. Urgh. Rough.
No more complaining though! On with the good news…
As readers will know – (see post right below this one!) Pindora’s Box is ready for the public, and I’m as giddy as a schoolboy. It’s AWESOME. Mama Shan and I are really happy with the final product, and we think that pin-up photographers will love it. In fact, it’s suitable for other portrait photographers too. Our launch date is November 1st, and we’re ready!
In a week I’ll be heading to Nashville for the NoBS Inferno, where I’ll be speaking to over 100 photographers from around the country. My presentation this year will be a live pin-up shoot! The day before and the day after the Inferno I’ll also be presenting my own ‘Retouching Junction’ workshops with high end retouching on offer.
Next year I’m planning more workshops for photographers, stay tuned for news on that in the New Year.
I’m also deep into rebranding Katchlight here. People often ask ‘why Katchlight’? Well, when I first started out on my photographic adventure I did use my name, Mike Long, but it seems I wasn’t the first Mike Long in the world to take up photography, and someone already nabbed the domain name, so I searched for something that brought to mind photography…they were all taken. Katchlight – (the photographic term is catchlight) came to mind, and I’ve had it ever since. I often think of just being ‘Mike Long Photography’ but I don’t want to get clients confused with the other Mike Long, who also shoots weddings.
So until I can get that domain name, my brand will be Katchlight, and I’m going to be altering the branding over the winter, with new packaging products and maybe a new logo too.
Weddings for next year are booking at a furious pace – so if you, or someone you know, is getting hitched…don’t delay. I have a few select dates still open, but once booked…that’s it!
This week I had a web designer compliment me on my Portland Pin-Ups website, which is high praise indeed. It’s worth mentioning that I am available to design any website you need…with a focus on photographers of course!
That’s it for now – have a great weekend!
Regular readers will know that I’m working on a set of Photoshop actions and tools for pin-up photographers with my friend Mama Shan, from Nashville. We are ready for a November 1st release and are tying up the final details with our beta testers right now!
Here is a teaser using the Flow actions and Virtual Room:
George is the spitting image of Henry. Here they both are, at about 1 week old. Freaky…
I’m loving this project – it’s fueling my creative fire big time. These will form a companion to the main Carnival of Sins project. I have no idea where this project will end up, but the journey is very exciting! These shots are meant to look like they’ve seen better days, and are candid views of life backstage at the Carnival. I’ll be shooting similar ones for the other girls and characters.
Because it’s my wife!
We will welcome boy #2 in a week or two, depending on how keen he is to join us! Here are a couple of her looking very pregnant, and Henry hugging his brother!
As the summer winds down, so do my weddings. Today was the last of mine for the season – a couple in the Autumn, but I’ve got some time off from weddings now to concentrate on the (very soon) arrival of my new baby in a week or so.
Jennifer and Jeff were my last couple then for the summer, and what a great way to finish! A lively wedding party for sure, great people, great fun and a perfect day!’
Just back from the first of a two wedding weekend, and it couldn’t have started better!! After a terrible morning of rain, I was thinking we’d have to break out the umbrellas…but the skies cleared and Kiley and Joel had awesome weather for their wedding out at Aileron Hill. Virtually all their guests had flown up from Kansas for the big day, and it was a relaxed, fun and romantic wedding.
This was another of my weddings shooting for Powers Studios this summer – images used here with kind permission.
