Night shooting Denver Skyline

A couple weeks ago, I went out on the monthly night shoot with Illuminate Workshops Efrain Cruz. About twenty of us met at Paris on the Platte then moved on the shooting the Denver skyline.



We eventually ended up at confluence park shooting the Platte river in the cold night air. The long exposure & moving water makes for some good shots.



My friend Kris even did some light painting to pass the time.



I usually go out every month doing the night shoot. If you want to come & meet some cool people & get some amazing shots check out Illuminate workshops & sign up for free.

Nighttime portraits in downtown Denver

I got a chance to do some portrait work the other night in downtown Denver. I went out on the Illiminate Workshops free night photowalk.



This night happened to be the biggest turnout I've ever been to. Efrain does these night out on the town every month as a way for photogs of all calibers to get out shoot something, network & above all else feel ok to bring their camera out at night.



I spent the majority of the night leading the pack down to the Cherry Creek bike for some cool water picks. Then we moved east towards the Denver Art Museum. The DAM was very busy this Saturday night as it was the "Free Night at the Museum". To get away from the crowds we moved down to the Capital building.



There I decided it was time to pull out the Alien Bee and softbox I had been lugging around all night. I settled on a spot where there's this Liberty bell and the Capital building in the background. Set up two SB-26s in the grass in the back to side light the bell and then set up the Bee. By this time I'd peaked the other photogs interest & the all came over.



Then it was time for individual portraits and an action shot. To see the rest of the photos taken that night click on any of these photos to be taken to the gallery. You can also see other night shots there as well.



If you're interested in going out with some really cool people check out Efrain's nightshoots .

Denver fireworks over Invesco Field & Coor's Field

Last night I went out shooting fireworks with Doug, Rob & Efrain from Illuminate Workshops. We first started at Invesco Field and shot them from Speer blvd overlooking Elitchs. Sadly Elitchs didn't have all the fun lights on.



Then with the Rockies game still going on we walked over to behind Coor's Field to find a different place to shoot those fireworks.



I met some really cool people and had a great time. If you want to go out shooting Denver night photography get intouch with Efrain as he has night photo walk every month.

Illuminate's February night out

For February's, Illuminate Workshops night shoot, we had quite the turn out. Seventeen photographers of all caliber, creativity, experience, and gear, all got together to run through the night with tripods and cameras in hands.



We started off shooting the Denver skyline off a parking garage off Spear & 14th. After it got dark, our band of merry photogs lugged their sticks & glass around to shoot the Cherry Creek bike path.



Once done trolling under the 14th street bridge we moved east towards Pints Pub for some red phone booth shots, a group shot and a pint.



Along the way we stopped at interesting places to photograph things that cought our eye. Here, I asked Wendy to model for us, which she greatfully did. When we get the model release I'll show her face. (since she's a minor).



Then whisking right along onto the Denver Art Museum for some flash fun using the the talents of the other photographers to do jumping jacks or attempting that YMCA thingy. (Mary, ? , Kris, Efrain, ? , Armondo, ? , Sage)



Then some portraits in front of these giant rocks. (Kris, Mary, Efrain, Me)





Heres the set up: one Vivitar 285hv, Efrains PocketWizards (sonce mine broke), Sages white jacket as a reflector to bounce some light back into the subject. (Thanks everyone for your help!)



Finally, we arrived at the capital building about 10pm before everyone called it a night.



For those of you out there wanting to get some more saddle time with your camera, lenses or want to meet some unique like minded individuals. Maybe your worried about going out at night. You know what they say "about safety in numbers".

Contact Efrain at Illuminate to get more info on the next night outing. We usually go out once a month.

The effects of gravity

In the late 16th / early17th century Galileo Galileo dropped the theory of gravitation on the world. It's usually a good thing to have around. It keeps us from flying off the surface of Earth. Gives us a light in the night sky. You know good stuff.

However, it does have it's down sides too. For example the other night when I was out shooting with Illuminate Workshops night shoot, I easily left my camera unattended to adjust a flash in a light stand. (This is where gravity ties this story all together. Galileo dropped balls off the leaning tower of Piza to demonstrate it's effect). I got to watch in slow motion my camera and tripod succumb to it's power.




Thankfully it dumped in the grass not on the cement. As I picked it up I realized the impact severed the foot off my PocketWizard Transceiver. Out comes the words ":-&@;-/".



Then next day I contacted PocketWizard to find out the cost of the repair. They wanted over $60 plus shipping it to them to fix it. OMG!




I thought that was a little over priced, so I got out the super glue. Within ten minutes it was all back together.


We'll see how long this lasts. Stay tune for a future post about photography insurance.

After the lights go on.

Last Saturday night I went out with a bunch of really fun & interesting photographers. It was the latest Illuminate Workshop's night photography outing.
(see the dancing snow?)


When I did this in the summer months we had to wait till late in the evening before it was dark enough to shoot. Now we can shoot at 6pm but boy does it get cold!

(Thanks Efrain for holding the second flash, and Mary for releasing the shutter on this one.)

(think i'm going to redo the color on this. what do you think?)

It was over cast all night and I intentionally left my white balance on cloudy so I could get some color besides grey. I think the orange/red is pretty cool.
(click on the pic to see the different color balances)





I'd also like to thank Chase Jarvis for his advise.(I read about this on his blog) This photo was taken with my iPhone and stitched together with the Pano software.

If you want to meet some pretty cool people and shoot the Denver area at night, come on out to one of these events. They are quite fun and you'll have some new photos to work on.

Sheba's Monthly Photo Contest are due Sunday.

Here's my submission for this months contest. The subject is History, which at first I thought was going to be quite easy but as time moved on into the past I realized its not as easy as you'd think. It's such a broad topic that it was difficult to try and nail down what captured it.

Of course there is the basic idea of history of stautes, old cars and I did shoot the Colorado History Museum the other night when I was out on the night shoot with Efrain from Illuminate Workshops. I wanted to try and capture "time" in my foto for history because I think history is more then the past, it also incorporates "time" as well as what happened.

So here it is.... This huge Oak tree was struck by lightning many years ago. It has remained dead and hollowed out even though life has continued to grow up around it. I shot it at night with a Vivitar 285hv flash on both sides(triggered by PocketWizard radio slaves) it's a 30 sec exposure to get the night sky to light up.



For some reason this seems all pixelated. (click on the foto to be taken to the gallery to see the original) Vote for my foto on Sheba's blog

You never know what's gonna happen on a Night out in Denver....

Last night I met up with Efrain, Armondo, Traylor and Dave for the July Night Photography Shoot. We met at the Denver Art Museum and headed out to see what we could take long exposures of.



We took some fotos of the local architecture then head up by the capital and ran into the 16th Annual Kaiser Permanente Moonlight Classic. It's a 15 mile bike ride through the streets of Denver. So off we all went in our own directions photographing the 100's if not 1000's of people on there bikes.



There was a costume contest that brought out the very creative bike community. Many dressed up from rockers, bunnies, Sesame Street character, bikes covered in colorful light, and even a piano on two bikes.



After several hours of shooting bikes and being stopped for some portraits.



Efrain and I headed back to the capital. We stopped to shoot a local church



and then the State Capital building.



We met up with Efrains brother Ed whom showed off his mono-forked Carbondale mountain bike. Thanks Ed for riding down the stairs about 50 times till we got it right.



Finally calling it a night a little after 2am we headed back to the car to stop for one last shot of the Colorado History Museum.



Which brings us back to the "you'll never know whats gonna happen". Efrain and I set up on the grass next to Broadway. Started the first shot with some nice success. 10 seconds into the second exposure there is a sound that brings joy to children's ears on a hot August day. "Shhhhht shhhhhht". Sprinklers ripping through the air can send two grown men into a frantic run with camera and tripods in hand. I haven't run like that since high school when the cops busted our party for under aged drinkers.



Thankfully none of the equipment was ruined or actually even wet. Just a few drops here or there. Definitely a fun night out with some good people. I'll be turning this into a regular monthly thing.