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It was a music week…

I wound up shooting a few musicians this week, and would’ve shot another – if he wouldn’t have cancelled his show on Friday. First up was the double billed Jill Scott and Maxwell concert at American Airlines Center. It was a good show, though all the media photographers were forced to shoot from way back during Jill’s set. I’d shot Jill a few years back, but had never seen Maxwell live before. He was good, like a modern day mixture of Ray Charles and James Brown. My favorite shots of him were when he was connecting with the audience – like the one below when he asks them to sing along.


I was also supposed to shoot 50 Cent this last Friday. It sounded like an easy shoot. However, it got even easier when he cancelled the show. At the time, I thought my Friday night was wrapping up. Then I received a last-minute call from Quick. They wanted to know if I would shoot Pitbull at the Palladium Ballroom. You can see one of the pics used online here: blog.quickdfw.com and I’m sure a couple more will wind up running in the next printed issue, hitting stands soon.
Next up (unless another concert comes across my lap in the next few days) will be a studio shoot with Dallas, Texas band Black Tie Dynasty for a feature story in The News. That should be a fun shoot! I’ve shot them twice before, and they are real nice guys. I’ll post a link or copy of that story when it runs…
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Canon backup camera?!?

When you aren’t holding your SLR or medium format camera in your hand, do you have a backup camera nearby? When I am not working, sometimes I head out on errands or personal trips without a camera. Because of this, I wind up missing some shots that I would love to have. Sure, I have the iPhone camera, but that won’t do much better than snapping a nice pic for my facebook page or the family blog. I don’t carry the family point and shoot with me, because (even though it takes nice snapshot style pics) it just doesn’t have the quality that my Canon 5DmkII does.

Well, a lot of pro photogs I know like to carry the Canon Powershot G11 with them at all times. It is as close to a “real” camera that you can get, with the exception of a couple Leica pocket cameras on the market for insane prices… The G11 offers RAW shooting, great color depth and a very respectable 10 megapixel sensor. Sure, it’s just a little too big to fit in a shirt pocket, but a purse, fanny pack or cargo pants pocket wouldn’t mind holding this little gem.
So, do you carry a camera everywhere? If so, what model do you carry with you?
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Some recent cover photos…


I thought I’d share a couple recent covers that I shot for Quick. They both had to be fun, sumer type photos to go along with the party themes of the feature stories. However, I didn’t want them to look exactly the same, so I used a very simple technique to change the background.
Even though both were shot on the exact same red seamless in my studio, I pumped up the power on a single light behind the model on the “Cake in a Glass” cover. This made it appear to be pink in the middle and slowly fall off to a light red around the edges. Using a modest power setting on my main subject light, the main to background ratio helps keep the background looking bright and sunny.
The “Happy Hour” story needed a more sexy, nightlife feel to it. To achieve this, I simply bounced two lights (one from each side of the background) towards the middle. This created a very mild bright spot in the center, but it quickly fades to a darker, richer red. Metering for a powerful main light on the subjects, I am able to really bring out the true red color in the seamless. The ratio from main to background power favors the subject, making the background appear darker and more bold.
So, there you go… two different looks and feels on two different covers, but shot on the exact same background! It just takes a little different light setup, and you are good to go!
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The BEST AA NIMH Batteries around…

I think that I bragged about these Delkin 2900mAh rechargeable batteries when I first bought them. Right away, I noticed the fast recycle times and long life in between charges. I did state my reservations about them holding up after several charges, though. Many seemingly good batteries have fizzled out after a dozen charges, but not these!

I bought them from Thomas Distributing online last year, and they are still performing like the day I got them. I’ve tried plenty of brands and been happy with the Maha Powerex and the Duracell brands. I’ve been less than happy with the Sunpak and Lenmar brands. And, there are a few brands that I will never even think about trying again. Until something even better comes along, I think I will continue to use the Delkin batteries.
Now, I know what you are thinking… why not use a dedicated battery pack, like a Quantum pack to run your flash? Well, I’ve used them in the past, and they provide a lot of performance! However, they tend to slow me down with all the extra cords/cables and the battery pack attached to my belt. Plus, having AA’s in my flash, Pocket Wizard radio slaves and a few other misc pieces of gear, I know that carrying a few packs of rechargeable batteries is all I need. It simplifies things for me.
If I accidentally forget to bring a cable for the Quantum, I am out of luck. But, if I forgot to pull a set of AA’s out of the charger before I leave for a shoot, I always have a second or third set waiting in the camera bag. Of course, if worse comes to worse (and it has before), I can run down to a convenience store and buy a set of alkaline AA’s to get me through a shoot. So, I am a AA kind of guy. They just work best for me, and right now the Delkin rechargeable batteries are my favorite.
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Sarah Jaffe in the news…

It was nice to see the Sunday edition of the Dallas Morning News, because the Guide’s cover story was on a fabulous Dallas-area musician named Sarah Jaffe. It was fun doing this photo shoot with her and seeing how far she’s come with her career over the last few years. This was the third time I’ve done a photo shoot with her, not counting the few times I’ve also shot her in concert.
Sarah’s got a lot of potential to make it big in the music business, and I’m proud that the calls North Texas her home!
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Ice Cream Crank-off…


If you read through the current issue of American Profile, you had a chance to see the feature story and cover photo I shot about the annual Ice Cream Crank-off held in McKinney, TX. The event was a lot of fun to photograph, and I bet my little boys would really enjoy sampling all the ice cream flavors in the contest! American Profile is a magazine that’s distributed all across the country, so it’s nice to know that people all over the USA are discovering this fun Texas ice cream competition.
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Hope you shot Willie…

I hope you got your chance to shoot Willie Nelson with his long braided hair. It was an icon, and made him instantly recognizable. As reported last week, the Texas legend recently cut the iconic braids, something that won’t be seen again for years, if he even decides to grow them back at all…
Being a music photographer based in Dallas, I’ve had more than my fair share of chances to shoot the country music legend on stage. Without even trying, I’ve probably covered a dozen of his shows over the years and taken plenty of great photos.
My dream would be to do a personal photo shoot with him, but I understand that he is very camera shy in a one on one setting. He tries to avoid as many of those shoots as possible – only doing the mandatory minimum album and promo portraits needed for his new releases. It’s funny, because he is so confident and commanding on stage, you’d think he wouldn’t mind being in front of the camera.
If I ever do get some personal time with Willie Nelson, I guess I’ll be shooting him sans long hair…
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Windpower 2010…

I recently shot a giant international wind power conference and convention for a client. Not only do my photos show up in newspapers around the country, but they syndicate the images all over the world. It’s rewarding to know that people in India, Japan and Europe may be looking at my photos right now. The above is one of the images that ran in The Dallas Morning News today. My images are often picked up by The New York Times and USA Today, as well. I should do a search to see if they ran any today or this weekend.
To see the other pictures I recently took at the Windpower 2010 convention, you can access the Getty Images search feature. It will pull up all the wire pics I have syndicated at the moment:
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My Profoto batteries…

The batteries on my Profoto Acute B 600r packs are finally starting to show their age. I’ve had the packs since the middle of 2007 and I shoot with them all the time. It’s now the middle of 2010, so that’s not too bad, I think. Three years on those little batteries… Now, I need to find a cheap replacement. I’ll keep you posted!

Speaking of Profoto, they are sponsoring an ASMP event here in Dallas on June 16th at Bolt Studios that should be a total blast! From 6-9pm with free drinks and food, too. Here are the details: