Photography can be an isolating discipline. Sometimes this is nice. Approaching the quiet landscape at dawn for example. Its just you, your camera the sunrise and birds chirping. The freedom of a solo journey while no one else is yet awake or cognisant of what you’re up to. Sometimes this isolation becomes tiresome. As in documenting a long project and then isolating yourself in your edit room going through thousands of photos alone at your computer, wishing you had a cheerleader to urge you on or that Facebook wasn’t looming in another browser tab waiting to whisk you away in its talons like some evil dragon of procrastination.

I can’t tell you how fun it is to shoot with a team. When I started out, I had visions of this lone wolf character roaming about with his camera, getting perfectly executed Nike-worthy ad shots all by his lonesome. Nothing could be farther from reality. Your typical fashion shoot will have a hair and makeup person, wardrobe stylist, designer and one or more lighting assistants. Your typical advertising gig may consist of agency folks, creative director, casting director, lighting assistant, model(s) and other logistics personnel. For an editorial shoot, I may go into the job with a bit more than just my creative vision. From the editor, I might have a synopsis, shot list, page layout preview, samples of past issues, perhaps even a sketch from the graphic designer. It won’t be long before boneheads like me are given GPS coordinates on where to put their camera!

This type of teamwork and planning can seem, at times, restrictive but it tends to produce polished shots. Try as we may, we photographers just don’t always spot that stray hair or that garment out of place or realize that the pose we so love is not flattering our subject.

Wether we’re doing private family sessions, photos of toddlers, weddings, or big advertising gigs, we can always benefit from teamwork.  Building a team even in the early stages of your business is so beneficial and inspiring that I wish I had adopted a team mentality many many years ago. There are many people getting started in the photo business, fashion industry, graphic design etc. that are often willing to help in exchange for professional photos, publicity and/or modest pay. When I was starting I would have killed to hold a reflector for some local family and wedding photographers just to see what they were up to and how they built their business! Too often I let this opportunity pass.  Don’t hesitate to ask around!

You may not think you need any help but – What can your team do?

1. An awesome job with hair and makeup.

2. Watch your gear so it doesn’t get stolen or washed into the sea during a beach session when you’re not looking.

3. Hold reflectors lights etc securely and at just the right angle.

4. Change batteries when you’re in the middle of something else.

5. Be a second set of eyes when you’re not seeing something wrinkled or out of place.

6. Scout a location when you’re not able to be there ahead of time.

7. Coach and give you ideas that are often better than your own.

8. Keep kids entertained and happy on family sessions.

9. Shoot the groomsmen while your following the bride around and shooting her prep shots.

10. Tell you that you’re about to knock over the wedding cake when you’re backing up to get that perfect moment.

11. Save you time, allowing you to produce more images per session.

Who’s on your team?

For the promo video above big thanks go out to:

Carlos Chavez and James Chris Taylor: lighting. Veronica Johnson: hair, makeup,wardrobe. Models: Paola Mandujano and Morgan Leigh. Video: Vanessa Manuel.

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Just moved into a studio on Miramar Rd here in San Diego. It was an easy decision and a hard one. Occasionally I get that request- “can you shoot some portraits for us on a simple white backdrop?” or “Can we meet at your studio and go from there?”  Requests for studio work plus the ability to store away some gear, have a 24/7 studio space and solid location to meet San Diego clients is very appealing at this point. I’ll be hunting down some other photographers here in town who may want to share the space or rent it on on hourly basis to help cover the cost. I’ll also be updating my Facebook album here and there when we add lights, furniture and props so you guys can see what its all about.

Of course I’ll still be doing on-location and outdoor shoots as well. Buuuuuuuuut, Don’t hesitate to give me a shout if you need studio ad shots, portraits or family photos. Or if you’re a photographer and just need some creative space and equipment to use, shoot me an email or call me at 760-920-6380.

Model: Ilse Bravo, Assistant- Carlos Chavez. Thanks for looking!

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6′4″ white boys from the USA don’t exactly blend in on Mindanao. I discovered this pretty quickly as I was whisked around town by friends, relatives and taxi drivers while trying to  make some decent photographs on my family trip to the Philippines this summer.

But Filipinos are generally pretty OK with being photographed. Many times when trying to shoot a candid I was met with a big grin, a peace sign or some other gesture straight at the camera that threw me for a bit of a loop. This made street photography quite fun aside from a lingering nervousness of being robbed or pick-pocketed after making a wrong turn.

Urban areas were surprisingly populated and a bit polluted in Butuan City. The primary public transport is the “tricycle”, basically a motorcycle-turned-taxicab by the addition of a metal shell and third wheel. Butuan has bigger tricycles than Manila, boasting two rear seats and one situated shotgun. Traffic laws exist but are largely ignored.

This was NOT the largest group of people I saw on a single motorbike. My father in law would say that “Filipinos use motorcycles in ways their Japanaese engineers never dreamed of.”

A/C outlets were dual prong as in the USA and your iphone or laptop can handle being plugged straight into a wall without adapters. Many small electronics now automatically adapt and accept 220v power. It was nice to be able to charge my Canon camera batteries as well as Eneloop AA batteries without converting anything. The hardest thing to adjust to coming from the USA was the scarce availability of hot running water and the thick, heavy, humid air. Most days were 80 plus with very high humidity. Add to that some very “loose” smog control laws and lots of vehicles.

Bowling pins are a bit smaller than here in the states and are set up the old fashioned way.

This is Catholic mass in the mall. Yah, you got it right, MASS. Not a quickie service or a bible study sanctioned by your local book store. I’m talking a full fledged mass with communion, vestments and the whole 9 yards. Not everyone wants to interrupt shoe shopping and a frozen yogurt binge to drive to a church that probably doesn’t even have air conditioning. I don’t blame them a bit.

Island hopping outriggers can be commissioned for some snorkeling and recreation for a small fee.

The “karabao” or water buffalo is definitely the local work animal of choice.

Water buffalo need to wallow periodically because they do not have sweat glands to cool down. I swear my father in law could write the facts on the bottom of Snapple caps and keep them in production for decades! He is a good tour guide.Balot, a traditional snack, is a fertilized duck egg served with a bit of salt.

Ice is fairly hard to come by in the smaller towns, but Butuan City has the Solid Ice Plant that will grind up a big chunk for your cooler. Tell me this wouldn’t be awesome to have in your backyard right before a good tailgate party!

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Today is share day. I am not recommending you go out and do this, but I hooked up my Travelite 750 (yes, thats 750 w/s of flash) to a Vagabond Mini Lithium battery pack a couple of days ago for a shoot with Vincent Hardy. This is basically a lithium battery with two 120v standard A/C outlets and a USB port for powering small portable devices. Its made by Paul C. Buff, inc. and they are slowly winning me over with all their cool toys. I usually use battery powered speedlights on location, but having A/C power on location gives you the astounding flexibility to shoot at low ISO settings and smaller apertures and not stress your flashes and batteries out by cranking them all the way up. This means you can set camera settings that severely underexpose the daylight and then ramp your subject back up with flash to balance everything.

The whole unit only weighs a few pounds (3.5 to be exact). Its technically only recommended for Paul C. Buff made flashes (Alien Bees, White Lightnings, Zeus and their new higher end Einsteins). The reason for this is that there is a significant drop in voltage between flash pops that can basically be summarized as a temporary brownout. Some flashes simply won’t tolerate this and can malfunction. So far, I have only operated one Travelite with the unit at a time but I was able to get around 30 full power pops out of it as well as about 40 1/3 power flashes without even seeing a dent in the battery life or a whisper of a problem from the Travelite! The manual does specify that its not for use with certain units, especially the popular Profoto flashes, but this is to be expected.

Needless to say, I’m impressed. I’ll come back to this after my next session with it and do an update if anything blows up or stops working! I think its a great location unit when you need a bit more power than AA batteries can offer or want the ability to charge your computer or other devices on a long location shoot. Or perhaps you just never have enough outlets in the studio and want the power source right next to your light where you need it.

First 4 photos, Travelite 750 with 32″ softbox. Blue sky/streetlight shot was: ISO 50, F/10, 1/100 sec. Last three photos were done with the battery powered speedlights. Thanks to Carlos Chavez for helping out with the lighting on this shoot! …And thanks for reading.

UPDATE: I used this combo a handful of times and nothing blew up or broke. But since then I have sold my Travelite and bought some Einsteins. I love the Einsteins because of their much faster duration and of course they are more portable and lightweight than the Travelites. I also find the controls more precise than the simple knob control my Travelite had. Another bonus is the ability to control the modeling light independently of the flash on the Einsteins. And of course they are Vagabond-approved. The wider power band on the Einsteins (all the way down to 2.5 w/s) allows me to blend them more seamlessly with battery powered lights as well.

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Getting the most out of your portrait/lifestyle session sometimes means just doing something everyone enjoys and letting your photographer follow you around and act as the fly on the wall for a couple of hours. We had a blast hanging out with Kristine and co. Starting out on a boat singing choruses of  “I’m on a boat!”, strolling through seaport village and finishing at Roy’s for some martinis. The idea was to show some natural shots, a few posed groups and capture the friendship theme without things being too contrived. Who can say “no” to photographing six ladies on a yacht? Big thanks to Carlos Chavez for helping out with lighting and gear on this one.

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