I’ve recently picked up the sport of road cycling and starting to enjoy it.  My friend and model Christy also enjoys it, so I asked her if she’d be interested in some sports related shooting.  I rarely, if ever do sports shooting, much less towards the later part of the day approaching dusk, but it’s something I’ve wanted to try for a few weeks now.  We set out to a road that has nearly no traffic with a nice field behind us and I hooked up a remote flash to help bring a little more light into her face.

I’ve recently acquired a very wide angle lens and have been dying to put it to use.

I haven’t busted out the fisheye in a very, very long time.  Just wanted to see it bend the road a bit.

Thanks again to Christy for dealing with me while I got the lights setup and riding in the same circle for about an hour straight.

Looks like one of the photos from Mune’s birthday party was already used in a flyer now running for local skate shop Homebase.

This has also been added to the Published page.  Looks like it might be a good time to stop in and get some new threads too.

Veronica contacted me about doing a series of photographs over the next few months that show her body transformation as she prepares for a fitness competition.  Body building has always kind of intrigued me but I don’t have the discipline to do it myself, I totally respect those who do it.  Always game for a fun shoot, especially one I’ve never done before, I jumped at the oppertunity.  Last week we agreed upon this evening, so we shot a few hours ago and I got a few edited.

Reviewing the photos in camera should be a crime, I totally hated the images we first started to shoot based on the histogram and LCD monitor, I load them in my Macbook and I’m pretty happy with the lighting.  Veronica wanted to shoot in her local gym, a true gym, no fancy nautilus stuff you’d find in a country club.  Patrons here use real weight, sweat and power to get big.

We moved to a cement brick wall for a few more shots and some posing.

And the bathing suit shots.

Next progress shoot will be in about three weeks, I’ll be bringing more strobes with me, my laptop for better image review and possibly doing some location work.  I’m real interested in how this series and Veronica’s training will progress for the upcoming competition in November.

Thank you to Veronica for contacting me about this series and the Key Lime Rita’s, and Mike for letting us shoot in his gym.

My good friend Mune celebrated her birthday Friday night along with some other friends at a club slash private house party in Manhattan. She invited me up and who was I to say no?

First time taking a bus to the city, I usually drive. Wasn’t so bad I guess.

Apparently, even if you put on a private party, you need a flyer to promote it.

And on with the party pictures. This was seriously the must nuts house party I’ve ever been to. Barely any room to move, hot as hell and the floor was moving a good two inches vertically from people jumping.

Home around 4.30am, bed by 5.30am just as the sun was coming up, awake around 1pm. Motley looking crew in the morning.

Leave a camera lying around with a wide angle lens for too long and Emery’s bound to pick it up and start snapping photos.

After some discussion and clean-up time, we decide to head to a Peruvian joint that is supposed to have the most amazing roasted chicken. Turns out, it’s true. If you are in Brooklyn, hit up Luz.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who were starting our day late. Luz didn’t open up till 3pm, Andy wasn’t happy.

30 minutes later they open up and Andy is once again happy, drinking something that resembles slime.  He swears it tasted good though.

Pretty table thing things.

Random balls hanging from the ceiling.

You know it’s summer in the hood when someone cracks open a fire hydrant.

Food was great, but we had to bust out and leave Brooklyn, bound once again for PA.  Can you imagine how long it took to tile the Holland Tunnel?

Thank you Mune for the invite and hospitality, shout-out to all the amazing people I was introduced to and met, and everyone who was celebrating a birthday!

The series of headphones shots I did last year have been doing very well, selling several hundred already this year.  In that time, I’ve yet to be informed as to how they are being used, until now.  Here is one example of how this royalty free stock photo was used:

This has also been added to the Published page.

I heard this quote last night and it kind of stuck with me, so I wanted to share it.

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up and knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up and knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you better start running.

Best I can tell, it was first quoted by Herb Caen, but I could be wrong.  If you know different, please share.

Mune hit me up this morning to meet for breakfast slash lunch and we originally intended on going for sushi, but being Sunday every place was closed at noonish when we went.  I grabbed my camera for the outing, having just bought a new 5d, I wanted to start shooting more and figured this would be a great way to do some street photography, something I rarely do anymore.  While waiting for Mune to finish getting ready, I snapped their neighbors front porch slash office setup.

We had heard that there was a Belgian waffle place not far from where we were so we hit that up.  I’m always a bit leery of ordering espresso at new places, but seeing a pair of quality grinders and a for serious espresso machine, I figured it couldn’t be that bad.  I was wrong.  I ordered a double espresso, I didn’t see the chick behind the counter dose from the grinders, so I’m thinking it was pre-ground, but who does that?  I also saw her grab a latte cup, not an espresso cup, even though there were two dozen of them on top of the machine.  Who pulls a double espresso into a latte cup?  It was slightly bitter and the cup wasn’t pre-warmed, so the espresso turned cold about twice as fast as it should have.  This is how it was served to me.

Mune ordered a regular coffee and I also got an Orange Pellegrino, something I usually wouldn’t get but was somehow in the mood. At least Mune seemed to enjoy her drink.

I ordered an egg, cheese and bacon panini sandwich which came on a waffle, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was, never having a sandwich on a waffle before.

Mune forced me to share waffles and ice cream with her.  Something about it being a sin to be in a waffle place and not order it.  We got butterscotch ice cream with a dark chocolate sauce over a pecan waffle.

Look how happy she is!

YUM!

We decided to do a short lap around the downtown Bethlehem area, feeling guilty about what we just ate.  This gave me a chance to do some street photography and shoot some stock stuff as well.

While walking around we saw a new second hand shop.  Oddly enough, their window display showcases a t-shirt from a South Side Bethlehem skateshop owned by our friend Andy, Homebase.  After all, Homebase is where the heart is!

The following shots of the peeling brick wall I had spotted a few days earlier but did not have my camera with me.  The texture really drew me in and I wanted to show the punch colors off in post processing.  I’ve also started to really appreciate a good vignette on a photo, so added a thick one in around the shots.

It felt good to walk around and just take photos, even if it was a bit muggy outside.  Hopefully I can continue to do this on a more regular basis.  Thanks to Mune for spending the afternoon with me, great company and even better model!

OK so today isn’t the 4th, it’s actually the 5th, but whatever, it is still a good time to blow shit up. Matt asked if I wanted to tag along to a friend’s farm where they set off about $7,000 worth of fireworks every year. Who am I to say no. This whole weekend has been muggy and rainy though, so I left all my camera gear at home. Thank goodness for camera phones.

And finally, 15 minutes of fireworks! No one got hurt, we all had a blast and hopefully the weather will be a bit better next year so I can take a real camera out.

Borrowed a camera for the weekend that shoots 9 frames per second along with a super wide angle lens.  The result is Kyle doing a blunt slide on a picinic table below.  This animated file is made up of 16 individual shots and then laced together with a 0 second delay between them.  Props to Homebase for putting on the skate jam.

Here are a few of the 16 shots that make up this series,

Just found out that one of my images is being used for a splash page to try to get people excited to go to Costa Rica. My image on iStock can be seen here. Design is below, and added to the Published page.