Pearce Hanley

Recently a Brisbane Lions AFL player Pearce Hanley came into the office studio for a shoot. As he is Irish I had to incorporate the colour green but did'nt want it to be to over the top and wanted it to be subtle.

I thought I'd have another crack at some painting with light with this shoot so I made a wand type thing with a string of LED lights and then wrapped some green gels around it. Once we got to the studio I got him to stand in position and pose. I put the camera on Bulb with a cable release and off we went. I fired the camera and then fired the flash. As it was about a 2 minute exposure I walked over in total darkness and held the LED's behind him and waved them outwards. I wanted to create the effect of speed so moved the lights to one side.

The total exposure was a few minutes at about f14 with a 24-70mm lens.

Firebirds Photo Shoot

Ok, so I had this idea about 2 years back.  I have been shooting the Firebirds quite a bit of late and thought I would try to get my pic idea into action. 

I asked the Firebirds if they would be up for a shoot with a background of flames, of course they said yes as they happen to be fantastic to work with and are really happy to help.  So the next day I put a call through to a contact at the Queensland Fire Service who helped put me in touch with someone who would make it happen.

We arranged a date and time and started the wheels in motion.  The Firebirds players were all organised and then I got my hands on two portable packs of lights and soft boxes.  We arrived at about 5pm and were escorted down towards an area at the fire training facility near the Brisbane Port.  The firefighters walked me around this large structure of metal that created big gas and kerosine explosions.  We set up the lights and did some test shots.  Once the girls arrived at the location we hosed down the concrete to help get some reflection on the ground.  Then I stood the girls in place and the firies turned on the flame.  It made this large howling noise like a jet engine and made giving instructions a bit more difficult.  The shoot was quite quick so we had to work quite fast.  The shoot was done with a Canon 1D mark 4 and a 16-35mm lens on f14 at about 160th.  The apeture was high becuase I had to expose for the really bright flames behind.  The shoot was great fun and worked quite well.  With the help of the QLD fire fighters and the Firebirds.  Oh and my mate Rob Maccoll.  Thanks Robbie

Laura Geitz Shoot

I recently had a photo shoot with Queensland Firebirds player Laura Geitz. I wanted to do something a little different so I thought I'd do something funky with lights etc.

I got my hands on a 2m length of LED lights. Bought a netball and some black stocking. I covered the netball in 1 piece of stocking to make the ball black. Then I wrapped the netball in the LED lights. As the lights were sticking up I then put another layer of black stocking over the LED's and ball. This piece of stocking I kept a bit longer so i could spin the ball from something.

The pic was shot in a dark studio at an aperture of about f14.  I got Laura to stand perfectly still in the position I needed, I fired the camera shutter on Bulb mode, walked over in the dark and then spun the ball and turned on the LED's for about 4 seconds.  Then I turned the LED's off and walked out of the frame and then fired an Elinchrom flash to light Laura up. 

Quite a simple shoot really.  It took some time and several goes as the ball moved a bit and Laura's hand would be different in each shot.  Eventually we jagged it and turned out to be a funky shot.  The final image was about a 40 second exposure. 

Photographing Bon Jovi

So finally I got to shoot one of my favorite bands ever. Bon Jovi. I've been lucky enough over the last few years in my work to have shot some of the biggest bands in the world from Coldplay, U2, Pearl Jam, Metallica and Bon Jovi. By far, the guys in Bon Jovi were the best. Really animated and nothing but 110% for ther audience. We only had 2 songs to get our images of these guys so we were under the pump but thankfully they gave their all and nice pics were not hard to come by. We had lots of freedom to move about which makes it much easier. With U2 we were held in just one spot which made that concert a bit tough to shoot.

U2

Recently the band U2 was in town so I put my hand up to photograph their show. We were told to be there nice and early to set up and get ready. I got there nice and early and decided I'd photograph to first act being Jay-Z. Its always good to shoot the act before so you can get the lay of the land and also get a gauge on the lighting you will be working with. After Jay-Z we were shuffled to a stadium gate and waiting for a lady who was working with the bands promoter and the a group of security gaurds. We were escorted into the stadium about 20 minutes before U2 would be on stage and all told to stand in one little platform where we would be shooting from. Its quite exciting to see 55,000 people all standing behind you. As snappers we do get the best seats in the house even if its only for 3 songs. As the band came on stage there was a massive roar and we began shooting out brains out. 3 songs came and went, the lighting was nowhere nearly as good as the Metallica concert I shot only a month earlier. Good shots were hard to come by at this show. We have video cameras in front of us and poor light to work with campared to other concerts but it was still a really awesome and fun night of shooting.g.

Olympian Emily Seebohm

Before the recent Commonwealth Games I had an idea of photographing a swimmer behind some water drops. I waited till I knew who might be in contention and got in touch with Australian Olympic swimmer Emily Seebohm. She was a big medal hope so we arranged for her to come into the office where our studio is. I prepared the lights and backdrops and waited for her to arrive. We had her for about 20 minutes so got cracking. Did one shot with her standing on a blue background which was just the stock standard and then I did the other pic i was wanting to do. I got Emily to lay on a blue background on the floor and then I got a piece of glass held just above her (about 2-3 feet). I then put some water drops on it and shot it with a 100mm lens using just 1 softbox as my lightsource. I used and reflectors to fill the shadows a little aswell.

Metallica

I recently shot Metallica (frame above) in Brisbane during their tour of Australia. Got 3 songs and had a ball. Great to photograph. Very animated and got a few nice shots. Normally when we shoot big bands we are escorted by a PR person and get a reasonable amout of freedom. With Metallica we had heaps of freedom to move about. The guys knew the cameras were there and played up a bit for them which was sweet. There's not much to it. Can be a pretty intense few minutes as theres no second chance. Awesome fun but

State of Origin 1, 2010

Just wrapped up the State of Origin camp for game 1. This years first camp was at the Hyatt Coolum on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. The guys are generally not to bad to work with but dont make it super easy either. Just thought I'd share a few pics from the first camp. ranging from their golf, training, days off and the game.

Olympian Lachlan Hay

Olympic Ice Skater Lachlan Hay

During a recent job for the paper I work at I met Winter Olympic ice skater Lachlan Hay. I organised with his coach a quick photo after his final training session in Australia before he left to compete in Vancouver. I got some lights ready and went out to the ice rink (or is it ring?) where he was training. I got the gear and lights ready on the side and then we began. I exposed for the flash only hence why the lit up arena had gone dark. For the horizontal shot I got his coach to hold a Elinchrom Ranger light above his head and slightly forward which gave a nice downlight and a nice effect on the ice. For the shot of him in his ready pose I put a small softbox to the left and then put another light behind to just give a bit of highlight and shape to him. Worked nicely I thought. This was a 15 minute shoot and not at all easy on the ice on your own. I think I would get an assistant to help with the lighting next time because of the time moving backwards and forwards on the ice to adjust lights.

Karmichael Hunt

Canon 1D Mark 3

24-70mm lens

100iso 250th/sec at f-13

Just this weekend I was asked by Australian, Queensland and Broncos player Karmichael for a nice shot in the studio with a white background. Very simple straight forward stuff for his upcoming web page. They have turned out ok considering they were a quick job and really great to work with.

Broncos

The Brisbane Broncos modeled their new strip they would wear for the Lance Armstrong charity Livestrong. I set up an Elinchrom Ranger pack with 2 lights to light it from both sides. The guys came out and I shot them as they lined up. The pic was run as a poster in the Courier Mail.

Sports Portraits

Canon Mark 3

24-70mm

Canon 580 flash for the lighting

I've been shooting the Queensland State of Origin team over the last 2 months during the Origin football series and have been shooting the normal boring stuff but on the odd rare occasion I have tried to get something a bit more interesting.

During a recent media day I shot a picture of Johnathan Thurston (second image) and just shot him up against a concrete wall. I just tried to make it look a bit more exciting with the shadow. Its nothing new but hey its a bit different. In the first image I walked into a storage room at the hotel there was nothing but a large mirror. With the team photo on the following day I asked to take the player Billy Slater into the nearby room for a photo op. I moved the mirror a little to one side and sat my Canon 580 flash on a chair to the left and took 4 frames before the player had decided that was enough. I like it because its different but feedback was not so positive. Each of these pics were taken in less than 2 minutes so the results are ok considering.

The Australian Backline

I last week had to shoot a portrait of the Australian Rugby League backline. Seven of Australia's best players for a front page photo for the Courier Mail. The whole team photo was being shot downstairs from the pool deck (which overlooked the city) of the hotel they were staying at. I got there half an hour early and setup my lights and postioned them ready for their arrival as I knew this would have to be a very quick shoot. After the team photo I hurried the guys into a lift to go upstairs. I put them in their spots for the pic (ideally I would have had them all lined up together with the city behind but it did not lend itself to a vertical shot aswell). I shot about 10-15 frames before the guys started to play up a bit and this meant of all the pics only 2-3 of the were any good. Its always a challenge shooting footy players but luckily it was well organised by the media guy and my journo. So in the end I was happy with the pic. I've done a bit of photoshop for fun but hink it came up ok.

Darren Lockyer

Canon 1D Mark 3
16-35mm lens

Thought I might put some info up about this shot as I keep getting emails about it and how it was shot. The image is of Australian Rugby League captain Darren Lockyer and he was nice enough to come into our office at the Courier Mail newspaper for the shoot.It took me a few months to organise a piece of toughened glass for him to stand on. Perspex was my first choice but really expensive and not in my budget. The glass was toughened and thicker than I needed but I wanted it strong. It was 1 metre x 1 metre square and 12mm thick or half an inch thick. I set up for the shoot on the roof of the office and used 4 saw horses to set the glass on. Each saw horse was about 1 and a half feet high. 1 horse on each side. this was very secure and stable but not as high as I would have liked. If done again I would want the level of the glass at least 3-4 feet high.Lighting was a little tricky. In lighting his feet I ran into the problem of reflection from the glass. To beat this I draped black velvet everywhere under the glass and poked an elinchom through a hole in the velvet off to the side. I then put a 1 metre square softbox at the glass level in front of him slightly tilted upwards. This worked well. Then finaly I simply squeezed between the sawhorses and poked my lens through the velvet to take the shot. See simple. Lots of fiddly work for this shot but it works well. The image was then cleaned up by a retoucher who did a sweet job.

Shadows

I have been doing a side project on shadows. I'm trying to keep them sports related. Here are a few of the shots so far. I'm aiming for about a dozen nice ones by years end.

Australian PGA

Here are some shots from the Australian PGA golf at Coolum at the Sunshine Coast. Most were shot on a 400mm 2.8 of a Canon Mark 3 and Mark 2n. Its my favorite sport to shoot next to rugby league. I like the idea of so many places to shoot around a course and you are not as pushed for time and deadlines so much. There is one hole on the course that has a group of kangaroos on it and as the crowd follows the group the roos hop out onto the fairway. Happens nealy every year. This year there was a stand off with golfer Peter Lonard and a small kangaroo. It provided a nice shot.
Geoff Ogilvy in action.
John Daly in action.
Geoff Ogilvy hits an iron shot with Mt Coolum in the background.

Jed Adcock

Just a random photo here of Brisbane Lions AFL player Jed Adcock I took this week. It was shot with an Elinchrom with a small softbox. I used my canon 1D Mark 3 and a 16-35 mm lens. It was quite a rushed shoot and only had him for about 2 minutes. I have done some desaturating in photoshop and some dodging and burning. Nothing to exciting but its a nice enough profile shot.

Water Drops

During a day at the races at Eagle Farm I was shooting pictures to illustrate the wet and rainy day. I had been shooting people with umbrella's and mud covered jockeys etc (all been done before). During the day I noticed the water drops on the rail so I went to get my macro lens from the media room and waited for the horses to come into the encloser.

The image as you see it is actually upside down. It was a little confusing with upside down horses so I rotated the image so the horses would be the right way up.

It got a cool run and was something totally different to normal.

Its always good to see stuff you think would not get run get used well.