Quick Shoot
Most of the time I only get a few minutes to shoot my business assignments.
Most of the time I only get a few minutes to shoot my business assignments. Today's shoot was a good example of the time crunch. These dentists were 15 minutes behind schedule and had patients waiting, so I only had time to make 25 images. They were happy that I worked quickly, but most importantly they really liked my images. In years' past, I would have been freaked out to have so little time. My experience has taught me to to just roll with it.
Top Attorneys
During the hottest part of the summer, I had an assignment to photograph 31 of the top attorneys in the Sacramento region for Sacramento magazine. This is my 4th year working on this project and it has become one of my favorites. This assignment is certainly not without some challenges.
During the hottest part of the summer, I had an assignment to photograph 31 of the top attorneys in the Sacramento region for Sacramento magazine. This is my 4th year working on this project and it has become one of my favorites. This assignment is certainly not without some challenges.
Firstly, trying to schedule that many attorneys is no small task. They are extremely busy and when I do photography them, I often only have a few minutes. I think my shortest session was about 7 minutes long.
Another challenge I have is finding a good spot in the offices to make the images. Often the offices don’t have a lot of light, so I have to bring in lighting and try my best not to disrupt their normal operations. I was fortunate with a few locations to have some really big windows with lots of natural light. In those cases, I only needed a reflector or scrim to control the light.
The last big challenge is one I mentioned earlier and that is the crazy HIGH temperatures this summer! Trying not to show up a sweaty mess was always a struggle, especially when we had 110+ degrees on some days. I packed a few extra shirts to help with this task.
In the end, I was really happy with the style and execution of the year's section in the magazine. Most importantly, the clients were all very pleased with what I made, which is always my goal.
Friday Night Lights
I’m so excited to have football back! Along with photography, fitness has been another huge part of my life. This year I was asked to help with strength training for my son's varsity football team. I grew up in the gym starting at age 13, picking up weights for a membership and am still there several times a week. So, I was very happy to help the team and share some of my experience. It's funny, because when I was in high school and training for football, we used medicine balls, climbing ropes, and pushed my friend's truck in a parking lot. Fast forward to today and we are using the same stuff, except we switched the truck for a sled.
I’m so excited to have football back! Along with photography, fitness has been another huge part of my life. This year I was asked to help with strength training for my son's varsity football team. I grew up in the gym starting at age 13, picking up weights for a membership and am still there several times a week. So, I was very happy to help the team and share some of my experience. It's funny, because when I was in high school and training for football, we used medicine balls, climbing ropes, and pushed my friend's truck in a parking lot. Fast forward to today and we are using the same stuff, except we switched the truck for a sled.
My boy #17
Anyway, I was very pleased to see the boys come out on Friday's game and dominate physically! I hope it keeps up. The big test will be in the next few games.
Final score from Friday was Casa Roble 56 - Bella Vista 0.
A few Minutes with Mayor Darrell Steinberg
When I received the assignment to photograph Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg for Sacramento Magazine, I was excited to not only photograph him but to meet him as well.
When I received the assignment to photograph Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg for Sacramento Magazine, I was excited to not only photograph him but to meet him as well. One thing I've learned over the years is that working with politicians and city leaders, you don't often get a lot of time for the shoot. This proved to be the case with the mayor. There were three scenarios we hoped to do with him, but we ended up with two. I was able to use Old Town Sacramento and the City Chambers. For the first shoot, I only had 20 minutes to work with Mayor Steinberg. In that short time, I found him to be very warm and gracious. He was also an easy subject. It was interesting to walk and hear people’s reactions to our shoot. The mayor seems to really be in touch with the residents of Sacramento.
I really enjoyed my session with Sacramento Mayer Darrell Steinberg. Photo by: Kody Pickern
Portrait with the mayor.
Another out take from the shoot.
Ethan Engle
Today marks a big change in our family. My oldest son Ethan graduates from high school. It's a very odd time for me. He's my first boy I have 2 daughters older and 1 boy younger than Ethan.
Today marks a big change in our family. My oldest son, Ethan, graduates from high school. It's a very odd time for me. He's my first boy. I have 2 daughters older and 1 boy younger than Ethan.
What I have done for the past 20 odd years has been driven by being there for my kids. My father was at every function or activity I did and I remember how great it was to look up and see his face in the stands or on the field. So one of the many things I took from my father was to always be there. As a photographer, I make my own schedule and I have been fortunate to be able to be my boy's track coach for the past 7 years, as well as be on the sidelines making images of the boys playing football.
7th grade Ethan and Senior Ethan
Ethan has grown into an amazing young man and I'm so very proud of all he's accomplished so far. I'm so excited to see what he does in the future, but I will definitely miss all the times we spent togeather at his activities.
Ryan, me and Ethan
Our Wedding
I'm very pleased to have been selected for another cover and editorial for Our Wedding magazine. This is my second time working with them. Spending the day shooting with an amazing team is about as good as it gets.
I'm very pleased to have been selected for another cover and editorial for Our Wedding magazine. This is my second time working with them. Spending the day shooting with an amazing team is about as good as it gets.
The planning took us about 2 weeks, starting with inspiration images sent by the art director. Christine and I then sat down and sketched out the lighting plan we felt would fit the look and style requested. I tested two weeks before the shoot, and was really glad we did! The original lighting plan was about halfway there, and it took testing it beforehand to really get it right. The next part was to give my Cyc wall some love. Shooting day to day can really beat up the wall, so I had to sand and give it three coats of paint to get it ready. That was a 4 day process. Taking the time to prep the Cyc wall was important because had I not, there would have been a large amount of additional photoshop work to make the wall look clean and fresh.
The most challenging image requested was the image with the mirror. It presented so many issues. First, how to light it. I couldn't use the same lighting I had on the other images. I ended up placing a soft box high over head and using a big silver fill. The next issue was how to position the mirror so that it displayed the right background and didn't show me. This was pure trial and error.
In the end everything was on schedule and looked amazing! The model Aine is someone I have photographed a few times and we were lucky to have her for this project, she is one of the best I have worked with!
Now on to the next!
CREW
Art Director: Debbie Hurst • @hurst.comma.debbie
Production: Christine Alward • @Christinealward
Stylist Dacy Kolsky, Poppy Fashion Stylist • @orangeater
Makeup: Sherri Morris of Brushworx Makeup
Hair: Tina Romo, hair stylist at Alchemy Salon • @tinaromo1
Model: Aine McMulle • @aine_mcmullen
Cast Images Model & Talent • @castimages
Jewelry Designer: Pam Tuohy Novinsky • @2etnjewelry
Here is a little BTS video of the day.
Stormy Weather Shoot
I've always enjoyed shooting pictures of the sky when it has lots of cloud textures and shapes. It's always been a goal of mine to make portraits with clouds as the background. It took me a while to work through to the style that I have now. In looking back, I may have over thought how to accomplish my goal
My friend Frederick Van Johnson asked me to make some new portraits of him for his 2017 marketing. On the day we shot, a storm was rolling through, so we took the opportunity to make some dramatic portraits with the clouds as the background.
I used one AlienBee 1600ws with a Vagabond battery. I had a 20 degree grid on some of the shots and strip box on others.
I've always enjoyed shooting pictures of the sky when it has lots of cloud textures and shapes. It's always been a goal of mine to make portraits with clouds as the background. It took me a while to work through to the style that I have now. In looking back, I may have over thought how to accomplish my goal.
For this image I used my Nikon D810 at ISO 31, F14 at 1/60sec
My approach is kind of simple, I make an image of the sky to determine the correct exposure. Once I'm comfortable with that exposure, then I add in my subject and strobe. I start with the strobe at 100% power and depending on the modifier, move the light to the subject until I get the balance of sky and subject that I want. Once all those elements are set I'm free to move around and find the angles that I like. It's a fun process and I always look forward to when the weather conditions are correct to allow me to do this.
