32 replies to this topic

[Dennis Boyd]

Portrait/Head Shots  - March 20, 2010

Following up from a series of shoots at my place last year I thought it might be time to open this up to the bigger group.  

This month we have the "Sunset Shoot" as well as the "Portrait/Head Shots" shoot and I hope to see a lot of you come out and play with your cameras this month.

For this session we will follow along with what was successful last year.  It is VERY informal, we picked a date, grabbed our cameras, lights, gear... whatever... and met up to try out new ideas shooting other people.  Each time we met last year there were new faces involved and even though we might not have met before, we quickly learned that we all had one thing in common... we were there to learn from each other.  What a blast and what a great way to meet new people!

We each took turns behind the camera as well as in front of the camera so each of us got a turn to try out different compositions, lighting and what not.

We worked indoors in front of the white screen, out on the deck overlooking the lake (which is snow covered right now), in the driveway with the vehicles, up on the rock overlooking town and pretty much anywhere we could set up.  We tried out shooting with the Elinchrom Studio lights, the Vivitar/Canon speedlights, reflectors, pen and work lights as well as the ambient sun light.

So... even though it is a bit early in the year to try this again... it's time for us to go shooting.

Edit:  Location has changed to a larger venue... the Dryden Airport at 5pm on Saturday March 20th, 2010

EVERYONE is welcome to come on over, it's very relaxing, fun and full of laughter all at the same time.  

[Derek Kennedy]

You keep picking days that Im working lol!

I only have two flights that day (saturdays), one in the morning and one in the afternoon but I *should* be able to make it. I'll bring over my strobes and background(s)/stand.

Ive mentioned it b4 and will mention it again: I have access to 'Gate A' at the airport. Plus, the main terminal is closed saturday evenings (basically right after we finish with the second flight) so we could have the run of the whole joint since I have keys to get us in.

Looking forward to it! Shot some portraits of a 6 month old last week, went great and got some really nice photos for the parents - they were really happy with the shots. But am looking forward to the 20th to get in some practice.

[Dennis Boyd]

Derek... wahooo!!!!  

Ok... just confirmed last night... pat Derek on the back everyone as he has managed to get us a perfect location for this shoot.  Given that my house has been over-run with kids/animals and such... we were pretty reliant on the weather holding up for using my place... but Derek came through on this and managed to get us a perfect location where several of us can set up all at once.  

So people... the shoot is a go for the 20th, 5pm at the airport here in Dryden.

Derek... HUGE pat on the back... this is going to be soo much fun!!!

[Chris Pollard]

That'll work. I'll bring Emma with me ... she'd love to hang out at the airport, and she's generally not camera shy.

[Derek Kennedy]

Yay me!

This is such a great opportunity for us, to have access to such a great location. And for free

After 5 pm the airport is normally locked so that means we can either lock the doors after everyone gets there so that no-one bothers us or we can leave the doors open for us to wander in and out - whatever either way works for me.

LOTS of parking. LOTS of room in the terminal and we will also be utilizing 'Gate A'. There is a pop machine there that ONLY takes loonies, and a chip machine with - well at this time anyway - several snacks. I wont have access to a cash box so if you want to purchase snacks and or drinks bring change. There is also a water cooler so if you dont have money for the pop machine, no problem.

We discussed a bit about shooting outside in the main parking lot area or in front of the terminal before the sun goes down and if weather is an issue (raining!) there is enough of a roof overhang that we could still shoot outside against the terminal.

Unless the last flight of the day is canceled, I will be there at 3pm so I would be unable to give anyone a ride to the airport but I can give rides back into town afterward.

As long as we dont abuse our good fortune (ie: leaving a bunch of trash behind), there shouldnt be a problem of getting access again in the future if its needed. This is a great HUGE location that we should be able to get several studio lights set up so that we can get several people shooting at once. I'll bring two backdrops myself but there are also a few different walls we can use. There is some walls with wood flooring (yes, flooring on the walls!), and bare whitish walls. There are also a few 'built in' props we could use in the background.

Should be a great place to practice as there is so much room to play around with. I hope to see lots of people there! And I really hope to see some new faces as well! Since Im the one that will be locking up when we are done - we are in no rush to leave!

Quite frankly, this should be a blast!

Edited by Derek Kennedy, 13 March 2010 - 03:56 PM.

[Dennis Boyd]

Derek... was just actually coming home from the airport tonight about 6:45pm.... the sunset.... colours in the sky... wow!  

I can't help but think.... the time changes tonight (springs ahead) so by the 20th we should be looking at the sun setting around 7:45pm or so?  Wouldn't that be great if the colours stay like this... set up a few portable flashes for some outdoor portraits with virtually no distractions as it is soo flat out there... could be a great addition to the indoor shoot.

Again... thanks Derek... and if anyone needs a ride... my ole Yuke can haul a few of us and of course... just give me a shout and I'll help get ya there

[Chris Pollard]

What time's the last flight? Emma LOOOOOOOVES to watch the planes land and take off. And she said she's game for a photo shoot. So we have a willing subject! LOL I might have to bring her out early to watch the plane though.

Here's hoping the weather holds up for us! Be nice to make use of the outdoor space there as well as the indoors.

[Derek Kennedy]

The last *scheduled* flight (BearSkin), IF ON TIME is set to arrive Saturday at 16:15, leaving at 16:25. Its too early for me to find out if its even coming in or not, I wont know that until probably Friday.

Normally the flight is only on the ground for 5-10 minutes.

[Chris Pollard]

Yeah, you've probably seen us out there watching the take offs and landings a lot over the last few years. LOL Em just loves to watch planes ... even if they're just little ones. Has since she was old enough to know what one was. Used to be a nightly routine ... once we figured out some of the schedules.

Can't wait for the weekend! I need a fun distraction this week.

[Dennis Boyd]

Ok... another thought on this....

For those people willing to come out and pose for us...  TFCD (Time For CD)?

For us it's a great oportunity to learn how to do portraits and head shots... for them... the incentive would be the good photos on cd that they could use for whatever they want?

This is more about us learning... but we need volunteers... so my thoughts are we should compile the shots and ensure the people posing for us get them somehow.

Your thoughts people?

I'll be bringing a generic model release as well... but thinking we should work on that prior to the shoot?

[Chris Pollard]

I would suggest bypassing CDs and just putting the images on the web for download. Question would be if there is 'net access out there that we could use to upload. Question 2 would be where do we put them? On this site? I have space on my server that we could use too. I'd be okay with that.

CDs work, but there is time involved in burning them, and cost to buy the blanks.

But I'm not against bringing the laptop with me to do some post/uploading/burning.

[Dennis Boyd]

Chris... 

I could make up a section here for them... and secure it so only members could access it (but they'd have to become members, maybe "special members").

I could also open up an FTP section where we could upload files to... hmm... might be too complicated for everyone.

Thinking using this site might be the best/easiest eh?  I can set them up with the site, a special model section where they can view and only they can download type thing... no guests could see them.

I have one other option... a little program that people can upload to my desktop (via an e-mail link I send them) and once I have a compilation of shots on each person I can burn them a cd of all shots by photographer... and burn it to dvd or what have you... maybe even play with the lightscribe discs to make it special for them?  

Just a thought... but was thinking we should give a little for what we're getting... make that special effort so we can get this whole ball rolling for more in the future (but don't want to start down the wrong slope).

Ha... but don't worry about the laptop unless ya want to tether... lets spend all the time shooting that night... leave the post stuff till later on

[Chris Mireault]

I use a site called ADrive, you get 50GB of online storage to upload to for free, then you can share files, it gives you a link for people to go to if they want to download something from it. I put a sample on if you'd like to see how it works.

Here's a link to the site: ADrive

Here's the sample download: Sample

[Derek Kennedy]

I have my own personal website. I can always create a gallery that is pass worded. The amount of storage is pretty much unlimited - and I cant see the photos taking up much space anyway.


I could also set it up so that this gallery does not show up on my navbar so basically anyone interested would have to have the URL and PW sent to them.

Private. Pass worded. Safe. FREE.

Just an idea.

A model release should be mandatory. Just in case. But would each of have to possess one, or just each model (or her parent) sign one and copies made for anyone that took their photos?

[Chris Pollard]

Well, we have several days to figure out the best way. I do have LightScribe burning on the lappy.

I have 2GB on my server, and 60GB of transfer, so I'm not adverse to hosting a spot to download photos either. We're a resourceful bunch ... we'll come up with something.

Should I put a notice up on CKDR.net inviting people out if they're interested in having a free portrait done? I have the power ...

[Derek Kennedy]

Chris Pollard, on 16 March 2010 - 09:53 PM, said:

Should I put a notice up on CKDR.net inviting people out if they're interested in having a free portrait done? I have the power ...

Dunno about that...we have lots of people showing up already to pose, and have lots of people that will be coming - having too many people there could cause issues of its own.

I like the idea of having a notice on the site, but we'd loose control to the size of the gathering. Personally I'd like to keep things on the smaller side. Lots of volunteer models coming already, lots of photographers will be there to photograph and if need be - to model so do we need more people to arrive?

And could you imagine the problem with a whack of people we dont even know showing up - and us trying to photograph - Id be concerned with my gear walking away lol! (Also, when I asked permission I indicated that there wouldnt be too many people there thinking they would be more agreeable to us using the terminal vs a large crowd)

Just my 2 cents.

Anyone else want to comment on this?

Edited by Derek Kennedy, 18 March 2010 - 03:38 PM.

[Dennis Boyd]

Think we should have enough already... 

• Two women 8 months pregnant or so.
• One but possibly two couples (one couple for sure and have stated they could pose individually if wanted).
• 2 year old with a her favourite trike and possibly 8 year old
• Guy on motor bike if weather holds
• Possibly a couple belly dancers (?)

So far that I know of...

[Chris Pollard]

Sounds good to me ... as long as I'm back in town tomorrow. We'll see how things go at the funeral home today. Here's hopin'!

[Chris Mireault]

Thought I'd put one on here from tonight.
(things might be off from not having a calibrated monitor)

[Dennis Boyd]

Chris... thanks soo much for coming out tonight... hope you had fun

I didn't manage to shoot much myself but did sneak in a couple...  here's a quick look at two of the 20 or so I fired off.

1. Nicole, shot using my Elinchrom BX's that Chris/Bruce had set up and the Alien Bee with the PLM.  Honestly... I can't even remember if all lights were on or if we had turned off one of them by this time... but I shot it from 1/2 way up the ladder someone had dragged out.



2. Dave and his tat's!  Ha... what a guy!  I think Dave had us all lightened up as he is soo easy going and loved being there tonight.  A HUGE Kudos goes out to Dave for showin' off the tat... again... can't wait to see the other shots of this.



3.  Another close up from half way up the ladder.  Ya... I know... what's he doing shooting with the 70-200 and then trying to put himself up at the ceiling?  Too lazy to dig through my kits to find a different lens from shooting Otters is the excuse



Well folks... I have to say... that truly was a fun night again... and I was soo impressed with everyone who came out as photographers and of course our courageous models.  Of course I forgot to take a good head count... but later when we were at Husky finishing off the night I think we put the count at around a dozen photographers and 8-10 models?



Thanks again folks... and I really... really am looking forward to seeing some of the nights shots (good and bad) .