The October issue of National Geographic features photographer Michael “Nick” Nichols and a team of researchers and technicians documenting the condition of America’s remaining virgin Redwood forests. Page 128 has a photo of PocketWizards in action. This page on their site features an amazing video of the rig with six PocketWizards they hoisted 90 meters into the giant trees.
©National Geographic
Located in Ontario, Canada, Rick Denham likes to break rules. Like many young Canadian men, Rick was once a hockey player. He now finds himself either shooting photos from the other side of the plexiglass, or away from ice rinks altogether as he builds his reputation as a wedding photographer of note.
© Rick Denham
Although photographing sports of all kinds gives him thrills, working as an in-demand wedding photographer pays the bills. Sample photos from the latter category prove there’s no lack of emotion or technique in his deeply saturated and outstandingly composed shots. Shooting primarily in a photojournalism style, Rick still delivers photos with wedding parties positioned in ways which would’ve made many Renaissance painters weep with envy. Prospective customers intrinsically know this, and are often fooled by the end result.
© Rick Denham
“When a bride and groom meet with me, I always hear, ‘We want candid photography, we want journalism photography,’” he reports. “The first thing I have to explain to them is ‘most of these shots are set-up.’ It has to be set-up. You can’t get a candid group shot of twenty people and expect it to not be set-up.” A rule-breaker at heart, Rick believes whatever feels natural is the best approach. He encourages wedding parties to behave naturally as he shoots, until it comes time for some informal positioning used in his trademark group shots.
© Rick Denham
© Rick Denham
Attracted to low-stress situations, Rick loves the digital revolution and the benefits of shooting more exposures with more cameras, including remotely-fired cameras, which continue to play a growing part in his work.
© Rick Denham
Along with composition, Rick’s saturation is one of the hallmarks of his photography. “I bump my saturation up in my cameras, especially at weddings. Weddings, to me, are colorful. People like color. They pay to have lots of flowers. Even in classic weddings, that’s what I like to see. Even in my black and whites, I like to see a lot of contrast. I like my blacks black.”
© Rick Denham
Multiple lights and cameras are part of Rick’s arsenal. He typically carries four Canon 580EX II Speedlites, three MultiMAX units, three PocketWizard Plus IIs, and a 16-35mm wide angle lens, which he always keeps on one of his two Canon Mark III’s. In addition, a softbox, Honl grids and snoots, and two light stands are at the ready on most shoots. He also brings a Magic Arm and Super Clamp. Often these are employed low to the ground, where he says, “no one thinks of using them there.”
© Rick Denham
© Rick Denham
There are a few subject areas Rick has plans to branch out into, along with corresponding business plans. Although we’re unable to divulge details at this time, we can be sure Rick will be bringing his sense of composition, rich tones, and PocketWizard gear to these new endeavors.
Rick’s blog: http://rickdenhamphoto.blogspot.com/
Rick Denham Photography: http://www.rickdenham.com/
Charlotte, North Carolina-born Jamey Price has a lot on his plate. Currently in his senior year at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, Jamey is a History and International Relations major. Competing as a steeplechase jockey, a triathlete, a varsity college swimmer, and a cyclist, Jamey finds himself drawn to the emotion in sports. At a recent summer internship with the Charlotte Observer, Jamey fused his passion for athletics and photography.
On assignment to cover a local protest by Iranian-Americans voicing their displeasure with the Iranian government, Jamie was personally moved by one individual. A protesting woman thanked him personally for helping raise awareness to her cause and the plights of millions. Although extremely emotional and gratifying, the downsides to this type of photojournalism include protestors angry at having their photos taken. Jamey found a sweet spot in photojournalism when covering sporting events. The intensity of emotion, struggle, endurance, and his own love of a sports challenge all came together when sent to cover races of various kinds. “There’s emotion in beating someone in sports. There’s artistic talent in it. Everyone is charged,” he says.
©Jamey Price
Jamey’s photography and sports were fused at the 2.8-mile Booty Loop in Charlotte. The 24 Hours of Booty is the only 24-hour cycling race in the country. Many riders log more than 250 miles benefitting the Lance Armstrong Foundation and local cancer charities. This year, Jamey had a stroke of genius with the idea of building a rig to photograph the event from his own bicycle. His materials consisted of
©Jamey Price
©Jamey Price
Jamey’s blog provides details about his rig. “Nothing about the bike experiment was staged,” reports Jamey. “These are candid, natural shots which happened within the action of the race.” The impressive results have caused other photographers to clamor for information on building similar rigs for themselves. “No one to my knowledge has done a non-staged photo essay from mounted on the back of a bike.” As his photos prove, Jamey’s rig enabled him to photograph the event looking both forward and backward, documenting riders from different angles in 672 exposures.
Nothing broke on his homebuilt rig. With one PocketWizard in his hand, the other PocketWizard was mounted on the hotshoe of the D200. It came off once while biking at about 25 miles per hour. After pulling over, stopping traffic, and retrieving it, the PocketWizard still functioned perfectly. Aside from a small amount of paint coming off his beloved training bike, the entire rig was removed without permanent damage. “It’s a durable product, definitely,” declares Jamey of his PocketWizard.
©Jamey Price
With his internship at The Charlotte Observer over, Jamey now has his sights set on a career as a professional photographer. Although protests and disasters may not be his events of choice, documenting the hardship and glory of competitive sports will likely be found in his viewfinder after graduation.
Blog: jameyprice.wordpress.com
Web site: www.jameypricephoto.com
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©Mark Rebilas
You know, best songs of 2008, best books of 2008, best….whatever. Mark Rebilas, no stranger to the PocketWizard blog, has put together “Best Random Sports Photos of 2008” and they’re creative, powerful and even funny. Not all the photos needed remote control of camera or strobe, but it’s well worth the visit noneteless.
Happy Holidays!
Kevin Eddy got himself into the NM Penitentiary, but alas, it was abandoned. What’s a photographer to do? Well, in Kevin’s case he pulled out his trusty strobe with a PocketWizard attached and set up a downright eerie shot . On the Flickr site, you’ll also see how other photographers rated the shot (a ten out of ten, it seems). Check it out here. Well done!
If you are looking to bone up on how to do amazing things with flash off-camera, consider visiting Strobist.blogspot.com
This website is about one thing: Learning how to use off-camera flash with your dSLR to take your photos to the next level.
Here, you’ll find everything you need to know about how to more effectively use your small speedlights. There are more than 1,000 articles about lighting. Over a million photographers from around the world have learned small-flash lighting techniques from this site. We’re thinking you can, too.
David Hobby started this blog to share his knowledge of creative problem-solving for lighting and now has an absolutely huge group of enthusiastic photographers that take great joy in shooting, learning and improving. And, you’ll find lots of PocketWizards doing interesting things with remote triggering!
You may also want to head over to their Flickr group, which at the time of writing this has 28,920 members and 111,044 photographs in the group pool.
And if that’s not enough for you, the blog is also translated into Spanish, Italian, German and Danish!
Get your creative juices flowing! Great site, great people.
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