Parkour Photography - Indoors

Last Friday night, I got invited to Urban Evolution in Manassas, Virginia, to photograph an indoor parkour workout. (Click Here) to see what Urban Evolution is all about.

 

Here is a shot where I got the chance to set up multiple wireless flashes. I didn't get it just right, as you can see the backdrop flash at the bottom of the image, but otherwise this one worked well:

 

I shot the entire evening with my Nikon D700, with the exception of a few fisheye shots I made with a Lumix DMC-GX7.

 

The workout was not particularly organized, so after making the shot above, I had to just move around amongst the raconteurs and do my best. Most of these were made with a single flash (SB-800) mounted on the camera hotshoe.

This final shot was made with rear curtain shutter, at 1/15 second exposure. I like the combination of motion blur and sharp image captured when the flash fired.

 

I am encouraged by the first shot, which shows that I can light a scene well with planning. I will try to work with this group again in a more organized fashion, where I work with them to set up a few scenes and light them very carefully.

 

I also figured out that shooting up close with wide angle lenses works very well in this situation. Here I used my Nikkor 28mm f1.8 AF-S and my 20mm f2.8 AF-D lenses quite a lot.

 

I learn something every time I get out to photograph.

 

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Some Old Friends Play Purcellville

Some of my friends in bands got together for somewhat of a reunion last night in Purcellville, Virginia. I knew most of the people in the audience, as well as in the bands.

 

First, Jake and the Burtones opened the show.

Jake and the Burtones, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF-D Lens

iso 3200, f3.5, 1/125 sec.

with SB-600 flash and Gary Fong diffuser

 

Then, Timmy (Tmoney) Griffin and his band SpaceCanoe took over. Tmoney has moved to North Carolina for college, so we don't get to see him so often. A true creative, Timmy has been busy writing new songs.

 

TMoney, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikon Series E 100mm f2.8 Lens

iso 3200, f2.8, 1/60 sec.

with SB-600 flash and Gary Fong diffuser

In addition to his original tunes, Timmy and SpaceCanoe played some carefully-selected covers, including one of my favorite Grateful Dead tunes, "Brokedown Palace." I actually requested that song years ago, and Timmy worked it out for me! Awesome.

 

SpaceCanoe, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF-D Lens

iso 3200, f4, 1/60 sec.

with SB-600 flash and Gary Fong diffuser

This was a very tough show to shoot, even with my shoot-in-the-dark Nikon Df and 50mm f1.4 lens. Using the Nikon SB-600 and Gary Fong light diffuser saved the day (night). I was quite pleased with the results, given that the stage lighting was so poor (non-existent).

 

I'm especially pleased with the second image, which I made with my recently purchased, inexpensive, Nikon Series E 100mm f2.8 lens. Manual focus, in the dark. That's right. I'm proud of it. This lens will be in my travel bag in Japan; it's very sharp and oh so light compared to the also amazing 105mm f2.5 AIS Nikkor.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Self-Portrait at 50

I posted a self-portrait yesterday. Here's another. This one was harder for me, and deals with the fact that I've just turned fifty. There's symbolism in the cards, and no attempt to hide my age in my face.

 

Self-Portrait at 50, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 35mm f2 AF-D Lens, Nikon SB-600 Flash

iso 200, f8, 1/60 sec.

 

You'll notice there are only two cards left in my pocket, and one's the ace of spades. The other fifty say something about the years behind me now. The queen of hearts is still there, close by.

 

I shot this by setting up my Nikon Df on a tripod, pointing straight down at me as I lay on the floor on black background material. The SB-600 flash is pointed in exactly the opposite direction, bouncing off of the ceiling. Twenty second self-timer, just enough time to get the cards in place.

 

Again, the inspiration for doing self-portraits came from the Photographer's Playbook. See the Amazon link below if you want to know more about that book.

 

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Self Portrait

I've been referring to the Photographer's Playbook (see Amazon link below) for some inspiration. Self-portraits come up multiple times in the book.

 

It was a very cold Sunday, so I decided to set up and try to make one that I had in mind. Here's the result:

 

Zen Circle, Self-Portrait, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 35mm f2 AF-D Lens, 3-stop ND Filter, Nikon SB-600 Flash

iso 200, f11, 2 seconds

 

I hung up a black backdrop, put the Df on a tripod, and connected the SB-600 flash with a remote cord and mounted it up higher on a second tripod with a small softbox over it. Using a 20 second self-timer setting on the Df, I was able to get situated before the shutter opened. With a 2 second exposure, I had enough time to make the circle with a small flashlight I held in my hand. It was my intention to leave the circle unfinished as it is. The flash was set to rear curtain sync, so that it froze my position at the end of the exposure. I also like how the preflash left an impression of where my arm was at the beginning of the exposure.

 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this. I have a couple of other self-portrait ideas that I may try next.

 

If you think it's easy to do a self-portrait, you should give it a try. I find it quite difficult to get an image of myself that I don't hate.

 

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