alberta

Jun

2022

Dramatic Portraits in The Garage

Dramatic Portraits on The Road

On a recent road trip out west, to Alberta and British Columbia, I made sure I packed a light, a stand and large soft box. The soft box being almost six feet but wraps up tightly and takes very little space.

We spent the day with my wife’s son and doing a family BBQ. He has a garage where he keeps his motorcycle, a shop where he makes all sorts of interesting tools and a large part that is a studio. Drums, guitars and the works.

We were enjoying a cigar I thought it a good opportunity to mix that up with some parts of his life. We started with him on the bike and then moved to use the music as a backdrop. I loved how the depth and detail helped tell stories. Sometimes less in more. But sometimes more is better.

These were all shot with the large soft box behind me and off centre. Camera Nikon Z6 with a Nikkor 50mm S 1.8 lens. All very fast and sharp.

My studio equipment, lights, modifiers all come from Strobepro in Calgary. Can’t recommend them too highly.

I did catch a few shots of Spencer’s nephews banging on the drums as well. I’ll be posting a couple of these at Marty’s Road Trip Blog in the next few days.

Processing was done with Lightroom Classic on my iMac. With what this camera catches and Lightroom being such a great tool, gives me a lot to work with to get the photo I want.

Aug

2014

Millarville Rodeo August 2014

Jul

2014

Model Photoshoot at Rodeo Grounds

It was a pretty bright day and the photos in the sun were tough - no assistant to hold the diffuser. We could have gone later in the day but I really hate mosquitoes so we'll go again in September. But in spite of that we got some great shots. We had lots of fun as well - and that is equally important.

I shot raw images with my Nikon 7100 using a Tamron 70-300 lens with unbelievable VR. Because of this I was able to do some adjustment in the high contrast pics. The model had not done anything like this before and moved like a pro.

Jul

2014

Dogpound Rodeo 2014, Alberta, Canada

Took some pictures at the Dogpound Rodeo on July 16th, 2014. I photographed this rodeo a couple of years ago and got some really great shots. I do enjoy these smaller rodeos as you can get closer in - it is a much more intimate setting. That being said, it is the roughest time of day to shoot - middle of the day - it was very hot and sunny and the sun straight up. Making shooting conditions were pretty contrasty but ... the dust was great for pictures. Not so great for camera equipment!

Not much information online about this rodeo. (If anyone from the Dogpound Rodeo is reading this, I would love to hear from you. Email me. )

Takes me about 45-50 minutes up(north) Highway 22 from Calgary. As always, some of the best horsemen to be seen are the pick-up riders - these are the cowboys that catch the broncos that have dumped their riders. Watching these guys ride at a full gallop beside a bucking horse that does not want to be caught to get him or her calmed down is a spectacular event all of its own. Definitely one of my favourite parts of any rodeo.

If you are wondering about the name 'Dogpound' - A 'pound' was a place, usually a cliff, where buffalo were driven to their deaths. Sometimes the dogs herding them would get caught up with the buffalo and over the cliff they went to their deaths as well.

Hope you like the pictures:

Jun

2013