Fishing around with B.D. Morrow

I'm not a good fisherman at all. Let me get that out in the open. The last time I went fishing was over twenty years ago and it turned into a really bad experience.



My dad was taking us twin boys up to the lake to spend the day together. I don't remember all the details but I do know that my twin brother Mike & I managed to turn the fishing pole we were sharing into a giant birds nest. Really just the line the rod was fine but we had twenty feet of line in a huge mess. Don't ask!

Needless to say dad wasn't to happy with us and we ended up calling it a day and going home. It's still is sore spot for dad that we never went back out.



Well, I may not be able to throw a rod & reel but I can definitely hook some light. My friend Brian builds his own bamboo fly fishing rods. He actually has quite the setup in his basement. He trained under one of the best in America & has some amazing bamboo rods with all this intricate detail.



Brian needed some product shots for his website so I went over and fished around some lights. We shot some product shoots and then I wanted some action shots of him actually making these works of art.



If you are into fly fishing or not, check out Brian's website for his story and see how much of and artist and a craftsman this guy really is.

New gear hard case for under $100

One of the big stinks of being a photographer is carrying around a bunch of bags of stuff. Camera bodies, lenses, flashes, tripods, light stands, umbrellas, softboxes, studio strobes, etc... All this gear to create a amazing photograph.

I really think this is why most pro's get assistants. Right? or they just use available light only. One time while second shooting a wedding with Diana she pulled out her Kata bag. I was like "ooooh I need a big bag for all my light gear".

I started looking at camera shops, then online, then eBay, even craigslist. The few places that had them I got sticker shock. This is insane! If people want to know why photography is so damn "expensive" it's because all the gear we buy to make that incredible photo cost so damn much.

That's when I decided to get creative. One day while at a sports store I came across a hard case for a golf bag to protect it when golfers travel on airlines. It had plenty of space, locks, handles & best of all wheels. Plus it was a quarter of the price as some photo lighting bags.



Now it was time to see if I could find a deal. I found this one on craigslist in northern Colorado and drove up to get it. Once home I could get all my stands and light modifiers in it and it closed. A couple weeks later I installed the bungees to hold the umbrellas and softboxes in on the otherside.



This thing is perfect, it can carry my stuff, fits into my Element & was priced right. As a photographer you have to be creative not only in you pictures but also in your business.

Big family Christmas

This year my family got together for a big family hoo-haa. Since my little brother Jeremy is shipping off in February, dad wanted everyone to come down & spend Christmas day at there place.



I told dad I wanted to get a picture of everyone outside all together around sunset. I planned out how I was gonna pose them. Where the lights were going to be.



The Colorado winter storm moved out and the southern skies opened up and turned blue. I was getting all excited the image in my head was gonna come true. Unfortunately, dinner was going to be ready and I didn't have enough time to get everything set up. Plus by the time I explained what I wanted to do, everyone was saying that it was to cold to go outside.

I got all bummed out. This vision wasn't gonna happen. I decided that later I could shoot everyone downstairs in the basement so I better go shoot the sunset. I raced to my car unloaded my camera bag and click click click.

After dinner and some gift exchange before everyone decided to leave. I drug all my gear into the basement to set up the shot. Athena and my nephew Dakota helped me set up the lights. I had one Octabox as my main light high camera right, then two stripbox set behind on either sides. It was all powered by my DIY battery pack.

I then spent a good part of a day photoshoping heads, people and the background into the shot. I think the final images turned out really good. Thanks everyone for sticking with me on this.

Holiday Party Dress up

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far. Saturday was my company's holiday party. So before Athena & I headed out I had to take some pics of us all dressed up.



I set up my white seamless paper in our living room as the background. I put the camera on a tripod with a timer to shoot us. Then got out the Alien Bees. One is in a 5 foot octabox as the main light and the other Bee is in a 1 foot x 5 foot stripbox for a side light. I used my PocketWizards to trigger the lights.



Then I'd push the button and run over and it was up to us to do something in front of the camera till it clicked. We had an absolute great time doing this. Athena wanted to stay and do more but I thought we should get to the party. (I can always set it up again).



David Hobby over at Strobist wrote up a blog about this app Strobox. So I thought I'd try it out. Here's the lighting diagram on how I had the setup. All this was in my living room.(wow!)

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 .

Senior Portrait session with Gabe

A couple weeks ago I got to shoot Gabe for his senior portrait. I've known Gabe & his mother for several years now and we always talk about shooting a family portrait of their entire family. Something always comes up as you know life happens.

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Anyways Tamara said Gabe didn't want any typical senior photos as he's on the yearbook staff and he's seen them all. We decided to go downtown by Union Station. City scape's are always cooler then parks.

So I start setting up my Alien Bee on a light stand and out of nowhere there's this cop saying we can shoot there. Apparently there's the EPA building down there & you can't photograph it? I politely ask if I can shoot the other way and he says yes just as the second police car shows up.



The cop walks away and I giggle thinking that this is my second session this year were I got security or the police showing up.



Back to Gabe's session, we make sure & point the camera away from buildings and shoot away. We get some good shots & then decide to move up by the big mast at the end of 16th street mall. Gabe's little brother Sheldon hops up and wants a photo taken of him so I quickly adjust the lighting and shoot them both.



Tamara and Gabe both really liked the shots we got. I happy we gave Gabe something other then him leaning up against a tree.



Now all we got to do is get that schedule worked out and shoot that family portrait.

Senior Portrait session with Cole

I got asked to shoot a senior portrait session for a co-worker. We decide to make it easy & shoot it in the commons park out between the buildings at my corporate job.



Cole is really fun to shoot & we were joking around the whole time. His mother Debbie was liking the shots which makes it a good session.



Everything was going smoooth, then security showed up spouting off how this is private property & we have to leave. After we explained we worked here & showed our badges he still insisted. I asked 15 minutes & we'd be gone. DEAL.

So dad got to hold a flash mom the other & bam, bam, bam we were done.

Wonder if I slipped him a $20 if he'd left us alone?

Senior portrait session with Kyle

I shot Kyle the other day for his senior portrait session. His mother works with a girl I shot last years senior portrait. She saw the photos & loved them & wanted something similar for Kyle.

Her biggest fear she told me was making Kyle feel comfortable in front of the camera. He didn't want the stuffy senior photo and he wasn't comfortable posing.



We met up at Red Rocks and got to talking & I did my best to get on the same level as Kyle. We talked about music, school and anything I could remember about connecting with a subject.

I even got Marianne to hold my light stand with the umbrella to help things move along & be enjoyable. I don't know about you but I remember going to a studio being told to sit down & do nothing while they did all this stuff then BOOM off went the light and a "thank you have a nice day"



I want people to have fun with photography. Even when I'm shooting it. Kyle & Marianne had a great time loved the photos they got.