With 315 sunny days a year, Boulder is often affectionately referred to as 16 square miles surrounded by reality. It also happens to showcase an amazing location to photograph engagement sessions I love. 

Photographer notes: I paired the PhaseOne medium format rig with the old school Mamiya 80mm f/1.9 lens for this shoot. I dig this an amazing combo featuring shallow depth of field (call it f/1.2 on DSLRs) and tack sharp optics paired w/ IQ 140 digital back, a stellar combination of gear old and new. Manually focusing with such narrow depth of field on medium format has demanded lots of practice with worthwhile results. My editing workflow continues to improve, thanks to the poise and polish Capture One Pro 7 delivers. I’m amazed the capabilities a medium format workflow provides in terms of overall image quality, unsurpassed detail, and a dynamic range which sits right next to film. I chose to not use flash or ND filter on any images despite intense sunny conditions, a testament for any Colorado photographer shooting with hard light.

If you’d like to geek out and learn more about a medium format digital workflow for a mentoring session, or just would love to be photographed and provided with a set images come from an unsurpassed system, contact me for availability.
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You may like:
Shooting Portraits & Weddings with Medium Format Digital
How to Choose a Wedding Photographer
Dealing with Bad Weather on a Wedding

The post Christine & Owen {Boulder, CO} appeared first on Kern-Photo.

We can all benefit from a solid headshot.

“Just one or two images in black and white,” Carla said moments before confessing she really dislikes her picture taken. Carla works for a company that specializes in custom tailored clothing for men oozing with panache and style. I promised her I’d put her in the best light possible, noting her poise and elegance.

Which meant I needed to do my homework.

Carla contacted me in need of an updated headshot for her J. Hilburn website. We began brainstorming the type of look she was going after… similar to the clothing line she represents… clean, natural, lifestyle, bright. Inspiration boards are great when you have a stylist, beautiful location, a lighting crew, and a large budget to work with. No wonder Pinterest has elevated tap water budgets to champagne taste. Therein rests my creative challenge. I wanted to create an image that reflected her personal style, her business acumen, and the J. Hilburn brand:

I admit, I was nervous before the shoot. She was too, I could tell. The tricky thing about headshots: no one really likes them. A headshot session can take 3 minutes. Or just 39 seconds. Or 3 hours (or so I’ve heard from horror stories). At the end of the shoot, the client has to like the final set of images. After all, the headshot represents a face they should wear with pride. That’s where trust and old-fashioned people skills come into play. And small talk.

Drawing Lines and a Greener Bottom Line

“You shoot much fashion?” she asked.

“I’m a photographer,” I re-directed the question. “While I specialize in weddings, I draw inspiration from fashion.”

I shared with her images from a few recent tests shoots slated for the said category including The Impossible Dream, floral headdresses, to a test shoot in the Everglades. Little shoots can build to bigger things.

A corporate headshot isn’t an avant guard fashion shoot. You also have to know where to draw the lines. It’s about setting a person at ease, instilling in them a sense of confidence, and putting them in the best light to sell their wares. To get a good headshot means doing what we all hated in 2nd grade: look into the camera, follow directions, and say cheese. But it doesn’t have to be.

A solid headshot has the power to instill confidence (think: positive therapy) in the subject far longer than the actual sitting. That gain in self-esteem is priceless. And I can imagine has a direct impact for a greener bottom line.

The Perfect Niche Tool

To understand the eye of a fashion photographer, you have to understand: their gear and techniques, along with constraints like budget, time, and equipment. Much of fashion today is rooted in techniques from the mid-eighties (shooting with medium format gear, waist level, on a set). And an excuse to use my trusty Mamiya 80mm f/1.9, a highly specialized lens used for its rendering of shallow depth of field on medium format. There’s a certain ‘look’ I like.

My good friend Kevin Von Qualen turned me on to this lens, and I’m glad I had it as a back-up since the 80mm LS was in the shop for a leaf shutter repair. Whew!

The Final Images

We walked away with images that brought a smile to our face. A simple setup using a 6’ black negative fill reflector to help define shadows which becomes even more important to get a clean black and white headshot like this:

Click here to view the rest of the images.

All this from the 9th grader picked on for wearing dorky jeans with a shirt tucked in.

Interested in an updated headshot to help put your best foot forward? Contact RJ to check availability.

The post Carla’s Headshot appeared first on Kern-Photo.

Green grass doesn’t grow on a beaten path, no matter the side of the fence. My neighbor’s grass, proves it (see above).

When you take time to water your own grass, you end up with:

• Time outside in shorts, flip flops, and fresh air
• A practice exercising patience and your hamstrings
• Better odds for a “Greenest Lawn on the Block” nomination

Despite a slightly higher water bill, the results are priceless.

The longer-term reward? A fresh perspective, a renewed sense of possibility, and eagerness to keep enthusiasm going.

A Blog Sabbatical

While blogging is bloody difficult, I enjoy the rewards. As the blog took a month hiatus, my brain completed Spring Training. Adventure off the beaten path (again, see above) requires time. Opportunity usually awaits.

I must say it’s been an enjoyable break– for a few reasons:

• I’ve spent quality time with family, a priceless commodity, including time to photograph my grandparents.
• I’ve learned to sail.
• To reflect on amazing creative learning experiences. I had an amazing time with my mentors John Michael Cooper and Anna Kuperberg. I’ve taken tons of notes and really wanted to digest what I had learned before putting it into practice.
• To incorporate Shoot-Q into my workflow from managing leads, booking clients, signing contracts, sending out questionnaires… all now much more simplified and streamlined. The 40 hours of work invested has already paid off.
• Guest blogging on The Photo Life on “Photography for the Professionals,” a book written one 37 years ago, I wrote about 10 Truisms that still remain true today.
• Carved out time to take lots of notes on Joey L’s Commercial Portraiture course on Creative Live.

Feeding Instagram has been a hoot. I share everything from a mini-review of the PhaseOne IQ260 to battles with squirrels in our attic. It’s the perfect micro-blogging platform which allows me to focus more on life and less on proof-reading. I highly recommend it if blogging isn’t your bag.

What’s New:

I’m the new Pictage User Group (PUG) leader in Minneapolis. Whoop whoop! As a long-time user of Pictage (since 2006), I accepted the leadership torch for the Minneapolis PUG from Stacy and Jason Thon this week. I’m eager to share my enthusiasm with the Minnesota photography community and this group (meeting on the 3rd Tuesday of each month).

Each month we’ll be focusing on a different aspect of creative photography. As photographers, creative topics are fun to learn, and from my experience, are the events that tend to draw crowds. I’ve talked with several experienced PUG leaders like friends Jensen Sutta and Katie Van Buren in Colorado and Jody Lewis in Seattle who seem to agree. I have appreciated their time sharing their wisdom and lessons learned.

Come jump off the beaten path and join us at our next meeting (free to attend):

Who:     Creative Photographers
What:    PUG Meet-up topic on using negative fill light (think black reflectors)
When:   June 18, 2013 from 6:30-8pm
Where:  Pershing Recreation Center, 3100 43rd St. W., Minneapolis, MN 55410
Why:       To learn, create, and share

Sub sandwiches, snacks, and beverages provided. Bring your camera.

Questions? Contact me or visit the Minneapolis PUG Facebook page.

Each meeting, we’ll take a group photo, emphasizing input and collaboration from photographers. With school almost out, here’s our quirky group photo:

The post Blog Sabbatical {I’m back!} appeared first on Kern-Photo.

I’m giddy to share Tim & Cat’s wedding album! When they originally booked me, they decided to hold off on ordering an album. However, once they saw their finished Red Rocks wedding photos, they knew they needed to order an album.

Click here to see Tim & Cat’s full album design. The completed 90 page (45 spread) album will be 18” x13” when open, much larger than on screen. They were married on April 13, 2013. Their wedding album is completed and now in production in Italy. That’s less than 5 weeks from start to finish! Why so quick? I want happy clients to share their album with friends and family and enjoy their memories sooner than later!

I’m loved the look of their final album album design and can’t wait to see how the PhaseOne medium format wedding images look in print! Stunning, crisp, sharp with amazing detail!

Cat & Tim opted for a First Look as low key way to start their wedding day and spend a bit of quiet time with each other before the ceremony, which means they could enjoy their cocktail hour and spend more time with guests.

A James Bond-inspired spread:

My “Impossible Image” made it as grand finale spread. This personal project is a self-imposed creative challenge to create an image that challenges some sort of notion of tradition, ideology, or in this case, gravity (we brought an air mattress along as a prop for a smooth landing). This unique piece of art they can hang proudly on their walls to commemorate their wedding in style:

A few more of my favorite spreads from their wedding album (which are 2 facing pages with a seamless gutter in the middle of the page):

I love the visual cacophony of the reception… so much fun to see guests getting down with the get down!

Click here to learn more about my brag-worthy wedding albums.

Are you engaged and looking to book a wedding photographer? Contact me and let’s connect!

The post Cat & Tim’s Album appeared first on Kern-Photo.

Willy’s third seizure on Christmas Day reminded us that pets don’t live forever. Love them as much as you can, while you can.

We drove 2,000 miles to make Willy’s Trip To The Ocean epic, I hired Anna Kuperberg to document the experience at Fort Funston near San Francisco (see her blog post here). I’ve admired her work for years and its a real treat knowing she was on the other side of the camera, grinning. I’m proud to call her my photo sensei.

Photographers, if you want to treat yourself and learn a lot, get your picture taken once a year by someone you admire. It’s a worthwhile opportunity.

I brought my easel and mirror to help for a personal project. The easel broke, but we used it any way.

Special thanks to our wedding coordinator and kindred spirit, Kevin Omura at Kuleana Design, for your friendship over the years and willingness to join us on this amazing adventure!

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