Camera: Nikon D700 Exposure: 4 seconds Aperture: f/11.0 Focal Length: 24 mm (Tokina 12-24mm f/4) ISO Speed: 200
I don't know why I haven't tried this before, to start with it was actually pretty easy to dial in exposure settings. There was quite a bit of ambient city light (orange sodium vapor streetlights) so I ended up keeping the shutter/aperture low enough to knock down the ambient yet just long enough to catch some full bolts of lightning.
Once exposure was set, I locked in the view I wanted with my wide angle zoom, locked the tripod down and took sequences of 4-second-long shots and crossed my fingers that I caught lightning.
Have you captured lightning on film? Share your links (and tips) in the comments!
I recently photographed the McDermott family at the Denver Zoo, where they spent a couple of hours viewing the animals while I tagged along and took candid "day in the life of" photos of their adventures. At the end of their visit took a series of formal portraits against a backdrop of greenery and flowers.
I love this combination of candid photojournalistic photography and posed, on-location portraiture as it takes advantage of my ability to capture those special moments while challenging me to think fast to compose photos in a way that tell a story. My work as an editorial assignment photographer in the magazine industry taught me how to find interesting portrait locations, and to make the best of natural lighting and portable artificial lighting (like small SLR flash units). Likewise, I also learned how to quickly build a rapport with strangers to try to make them feel comfortable so that their natural expressions show through in their photographs.
If you're in the Denver area and would like to book me for a "day in the life of" session please contact me for details and booking at info@calanan.com or 303 335 0348. Mention this blog post and I'll discount your session by 10%!
Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing the marriage of a wonderful couple in a stunning location in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
On June 5th, Sarah Czajka and Eric Mitchell wed at The Secret Garden Bed & Breakfast in Ouray, Colorado. Ouray is billed as "The Switzerland of America" and this bold claim is certainly not without merit. The town is located just shy of 8000' elevation and is situated in a bowl encircled with beautiful mountain peaks rising 2000'+ above it.
Here's a photo of Sarah, taken at an overlook just a few miles out of town while we were scouting for a location for her posed wedding photos:
Sarah's bouquet was one of the prettiest I'd ever seen:
Finally, here's a group photo taken at Sarah and Eric's rehearsal BBQ at Angel Ridge Ranch B&B and Equine Sanctuary near Ridgway, Colorado.
Congratulations, Sarah and Eric. More photos soon!
I recently had a portrait session with an elderly client named Dene who wanted a set of wallet-sized photos to mail to his family and friends. I found this so endearing, that in an age of digital photography (be it digital SLRs or even cellphone cameras), e-mail, Facebook, etc., Dene wished to invest in an in-home portrait session so that he could have physical prints of himself to give to others.
Dene hadn't had a portrait taken in many years, in fact as he gave me a tour of the memorabilia in his gorgeous Craftsman-style home the most recent professional portrait he has was one taken of him in his 20's!
After spending some time talking with Dene to both get to know him and to determine the look he was after, I set up my equipment in his living room and posed him in front of his Grandmother's antique - and still working - Seth Thomas mantel clock.
Here's the portrait that Dene selected:
And here is one of his alternate takes...
...as well as a more relaxed portrait that we made before he donned his colorful, giraffe-print bow tie and suit coat:
Technical info:
Nikon D700 Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 Nikon SB-800 + 43" Westcott white umbrella, 1/2 power Nikon SB-600 + grid spot, 1/16 power (Speedlights triggered by Nikon CLS)
Yesterday evening the Xcel Power Substation several doors down from our house exploded in a fireball that shot up 70-100 feet into the stifling Denver sky.
I was in my house when I heard the first of two booms, and ran to the window to see what happened as I saw my neighbors (who had been gardening) looking towards the explosion with horrified faces. As I could only see their reactions from my vantage point I had no idea what happened and wondered if a plane had crashed.
My neighbors then screamed and immediately started running down the block in the opposite direction so I ran out to my porch to look in the direction they'd been looking when I heard the second boom and saw a 70-80 foot mushrooming fireball looming over my house. Just moments later I was hit by a wave of heat.
I was frozen, for a moment wondering when the fireball would stop growing, wondering if it was going to consume me.
As the flames burned off the thick, black column of smoke continued to rise I ran back into the house, grabbed my camera and headed towards the burning substation.
Despite the raging fire, the growing heat and possibility of further explosions I moved closer to the substation and took photos from across the street until the heat became just too intense.
As I moved back, the smoke and particles triggered a localised rain of wet, black deposits (which I hope were carbon and not PCBs).
I ran back in to my house, washed off what I could and headed back out to continue photographing and to assess what might happen next.
Just then remembered that I had my cellphone and, after what felt like an eternity, forced my shaking hands to activate the video capture and shot this short video:
At first only a few people ventured outside...
...but eventually a flood of onlookers, fire trucks, and media filled our street as chaos reassembled into some sense of normalcy.
Neighbors were interviewed...
...and remnants of the substation rained down on lawns...
...and on cars.
Power was eventually restored by about 1 AM, which I thought was amazingly quick, I assumed we'd be without power for at least a day. My hat is off to those Xcel workers who made that happen. I couldn't fall asleep so I headed back out to take some last photos of the event. Here, the substation continued to smolder into the night...
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