Soul Stroll 2014

I was at the Soul Stroll, a fitness awareness event in San Mateo. The featured guest was Laila Ali, the daughter of boxer Mohammed Ali and a world class boxer in her own right. My take on the assignment was simple enough: Show Ms. Ali interacting with the crowd. How I did it was up to me. 

Since this was an outdoor assignment, I packed my "outdoor" camera kit: 2 Nikon D70 bodies, along with a Tamron 10-24, Tamron 28-75 2.8, and a 70-300 Nikkor.  Since weight is a factor, I don't carry constant aperture lenses except for the 28-75, which is light enough to justify its inclusion in my bag. There is my usual single SB-800 speedlight, but I added a second flash, a LumoPro LP 180 complete with a Chinese knockoff battery pack. I chose it instead of another SB-800 because its rudimentary mounting foot lacks the "flash present" contact, allowing it to sync at all speeds in the D70. The LumoPro LP will also work with Canon cameras, and safely too. By attaching the supplementary battery pack (it holds 8 AA batteries) the combination has a very fast recycle time. It has neither iTTL nor non-TTL aperture exposure automation, but if one can maintain a consistent camera to subject distance, it isn't as much of a problem as you might think.

Photo #1

It was going to be a few minutes before Ms. Ali took the stage, so I "warmed up" by photographing some of the participants dancing to music provided by a local radio DJ. Even though there was plenty of cloudy-bright morning light, I let the LumoPro add some supplementary lighting on my wide angle shots. (If you look closely, you can see a shadow on the grass). The output was kept low so that it wouldn't overpower the exiting ambient light. I chose to shoot from a very low angle in attempt to get an interesting cloud background. Exposure at ISO 200 was 1/1000th of a second at F 5.6, set manually. This would allow me to keep the sky, a major portion of this sort of composition, consistent from shot to shot. I also underexposed the sky slightly to help accentuate the clouds. I would now simply adjust the flash output to brighten the foreground when needed, which in this shot,  was set to 1/4 power. For the most part, all of these settings were made by eye, not by meter. The result (Photo #1) was a cute photo, but not a keeper.

Photo #2

Shifting to a second D70 with a 28-75 2.8 Tamron allowed me to get tighter compositions by just changing cameras (Photo #2). Here, I could concentrate on expressions that might make for an interesting photo. I concentrated on this young woman, since she seemed to be enjoying herself. The light was pretty even, so I set this body to Aperture Priority and let the camera decide on the exposure, which in this case was 1/400 at an aperture setting of F 5.6. I felt comfortable with aperture priority because the sky, if it appeared in the composition, would not unduly influence the exposure and cause the foreground to be underexposed, as it sometimes happens.

Photo #3

When Ms. Ali stepped to the stage, I managed to grab this shot using the 28-75 Tamron set to about 50mm (Photo #3). I thought about including as much of the "Soul Stroll" sign in the background, and waited until she and I could take positions where this could happen. When she did, I made this shot (Photo #4), and while it did have the sign and Ms. Ali, there wasn't enough context to warrant submission.

Photo #4

Two other people came up to the stage, and Ms. Ali offered encouragement as everyone did their warmup routines. My exposure, set in the manual mode, was 1/1000 at 5.6, which allowed me to keep some cloud detail in the background. The on-camera flash, set to 1/2 or 1/4 power, gave me enough light to fully illuminate everyone on stage, and keep some detail in the banner in the background. When used on-camera, the flash is essentially on-axis fill and will create specular highlights that often hide the 3-dimensionality of the subject's face. But when the subjects are as small as they appear here, it may not be important.

Photo #5

Photo #5 was rejected because the man at camera right is facing out of the photo. This draws the viewer's attention out of the photo, so I waited for another shot. When his position was more "neutral", I made another exposure (Photo #6). Luckily, Ms. Ali was very animated, and happily cheering everyone on. This shot had everything I wanted, so I wrote a caption and submitted it.

Photo #6

Everybody started moving to the starting line, where an archway made from balloons had been installed. The official photographer was already arranging a shot, and interestingly, asked that everybody put down their cameras until after he was finished, just as I might have done. When he was finished, I decided I'm make one too, since the crowd was in good spirits and could be cajoled into smiling without a lot of effort. So I gave them the "Let's all cheer on the count of three" routine, and this is what I got (Photo #7).

Photo #7

The result was a fun shot, and I could have easily submitted it. Unfortunately, what it gains in spontaneity if loses in context, since there isn't anything that remotely ties it to the event. I've seen worse shots published in the Community Section of the paper, but no matter how interesting the photo, it still doesn't project the spirit of the event. This shot could have easily been improved somewhat by asking Ms. Ali to take a few steps toward the camera. I decided not to take up any more of their time, so after two quick shots, they were on their way, and so was I.

Veterinary Vision

Photo #1

One of the high points of my shooting year is the complimentary eye exams given to registered service dogs by Veterinary Vision, which specializes in eye care for animals. Leaving nothing to chance, I thought it best to schedule a shoot when they would be examining several dogs at once, allowing me more opportunities to get a suitable shot. It happened that I fell in with Warrior Canine  Connection, a group that helps place service dogs with veterans who could benefit from an appropriately trained service dog.

Luke was not too excited about the whole process, and backed away from the veterinarian preparing to check his eyes. He began to back up, perhaps too distracted to notice that he had backed into the space between my legs. Luke's handler thought this would make an amusing photo, so I handed her my second camera body equipped with a wide angle lens so she could make the shot. I held on to my other camera and looked down at the dog, just in case the photo was needed in the future. With a camera in my hands I'm a photographer, not somebody who happened to be in an examining room.Photo #1 was the result.

During my visit to Veterinary Vision, a total of four service dogs from Warrior Canine Connection were present. For the most part, photographing dogs from an adult eye-level perspective is a little bland. But when you get down on the floor and photograph them from their vantage point, the view is quite different. You can see more dog from a lower shooting position but you will have to endure more sniffing and doggie kisses, so come prepared with some cleaning wipes and a change of clothes.

Photo #2

Photo #3

All of the dogs were moved into a single examination room. Because there were three golden retrievers (2 can be seen in Photo #2), I needed to find a way to make sure I could properly identify them. When the first dog was examined, I wrote down its name, and shot away. When it was the next dog's turn, I made a quick photo of the ceiling as a separator between dogs (Photo #3). You can see, there wasn't much space to work, but a wide angle lens makes it look almost palatial. Nearly all of the work was done with a Tokina 11-16 2.8 lens, set to 11mm for most of the shots. Because the lighting was so even, I went with aperture priority, ISO 1600, F 2.8, and a shutter speed of whatever, but somewhere around 1/100 of a second.

This is Miss Bea, the second dog to be examined. She was a little nervous, so both her handler and the veterinarian gave her some extra attention to calm her down. When the situation changes this quickly, I usually fire as quickly as I can and I won't stop to chimp (examine) the images as I take them. 

With several photos to choose from, I examined each one, looking for the one shot that had the most visual interest. On first glance, all of the images are essentially the same. But if you look closely, You can see the images 3, 4, and 5 of the composite show the dog in a more relaxed position. The technician's left hand is flat in the second image, suggesting that the dog is being slapped. There were subtle changes in technician's face, which would influence the choice.

Photo #4

I decided to submit the fourth image in the sequence (Photo #4), as it combined good facial expressions, along with a hand that suggested gentle scratching. If you look at the photo long enough, you might convince yourself that Miss Bea is actually smiling!

I guess working with these wonderful dogs is the high point of my shooting year. If only my human interactions could be as simple and straightforward as those I have with these wonderful dogs. 

Color: For the most part, florescent lighting in small rooms can be a real nightmare. Add to that the contrast from top lighting and color contamination from the walls and furniture. Not much you can do about that. Also, the images were converted from Adobe RGB to Screen RGB, and by the time they finally get published (in print and online), the colors look even worse. I'm sure that when I get my final photo assignment, it will be a photo essay on purgatory, made in a room with a blue floor, green walls, and a random selection of old and new florescent lights!