This past weekend Sherri and I attended an epic battle between…well…evil and evil.  The nation’s capital was the battleground chosen by the silent but deadly Ninja clans and the equally deadly but sometimes vulgar and always rum-drunk Pirate crews.  Ninja vs Pirates was on!

Sherri and I chose our sides, she joined the crew, me the clan.  She even dressed for the occasion which I enjoyed very much as she makes quite the vision in lace and knee high boots.

The evil forces faced off in feats of skill to show off their killing proficiency by participating in games such as Simon Says, Tug-of-War and Capture the Flag.  In the end it was a draw.  As the sides gathered their wounded and retreated to safer ground they both vowed to meet next year and continue the blood feud.

I can’t wait.

Lets get the pirate photos out of the way first…

Ok, enough of that…now on to the elusive Ninjas (btw, I risked life and limb to obtain these extremely rare photos of real live Ninjas).

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This is definitely not the type of post or photos you’ve normally seen here.  After years of shooting macros, landscapes, city skylines, events, and candids I was recently presented the opportunity to step outside my photography comfort zone.  A model, let’s call her Sherri, approached me with the idea of shooting an artistic portrait set.

Of course I hesitantly said yes.  My experience with off-camera lighting is minimal, mostly assisting with other photog’s shoots.  The more I thought about it though I became excited with the idea.  I figured if we were going to do this though that we’d do it right, not in a house but in a real studio with real lighting equipment.

I was a nervous wreck the week leading up to the shoot.  Sherri remained calm and confident and helped to raise my own confidence.  We spent hours on the internet researching photographs of the type we wanted and taking notes.  We created a shot list of 3 outfits with 5 poses each and I printed out some photos of the poses we found.  This ended up being a great idea even though we didn’t follow the shot list to the letter.

We arrived at the shoot with butterflies in both our stomachs.  Luckily it was Labor Day weekend and we had the space all to ourselves.  While Sherri prepped her makeup and outfits I set out to prepare the studio.  We used The Studio at Dulles which maintains a good supply of props, from various couches, clothing and backdrops to all the lighting needs you’d require.

I ended up using two Alien Bee strobes, one overhead as the main and another on a stand to highlight her face.  I also used a Speedlite when needed to highlight the background which is a tip I picked up from Shawn Duffy.  This can be seen in the photo above where the Speedlite was providing reflection from a red backdrop.

Of course the photos looked outstanding on the camera but as soon as I got them on the computer I saw some improvements that should have been made with the lighting.  Even so, I’m pretty happy with how these turned out especially for this being the first attempt at this type of photography for both of us.  So much so that I cannot tell you which is my favorite though I’d like to think I saved the best for last.

A very special thanks to my lovely wife Sherri for having the trust and confidence in me to give this a try.  I hope these shots help you to see what I see every time I look at you.  Lets do it again real soon!

Big thanks to Chris Maxwell of The Studio at Dulles for the use of the facilities and to Shawn Duffy for turning me on to them along with the advice and constructive criticism he provided.

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I know the last day of summer is September 21st but the weather here has already started tilting toward fall.  I’m not ready for 60 degree temps but guess its inevitable.  Here’s hoping the next 6 months fly by but a couple more 90+ degree days this year would be nice.

This shot was taken in June on an 80-something day at Lake Anna, VA.

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Part of the fun on our 4th of July outting was being able to share some photography fun with a friend’s 6 year old son.  Its always fun to share a hobby like photography with an interested child.  I let him borrow my point and shoot while we walked through the crowds looking for shots.  He spotted this puppy below and asked it’s owner if we could take some pictures.  After finding their seats the owner decked out puppy with a hat worthy of the holiday.

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We learned this weekend that our favorite spot to view and photograph fireworks in front of the Netherlands Carillon is not a very big secret. We counted over 100 tripods with cameras and lenses of various sizes set up to capture the same images as ours. I even had the pleasure of running into local photog David L. Crooks who found his spot at the top of the hill.  He was flanked in his spot by at least 20 tripods.  Here’s a couple of shots showing that everyone was getting into the action.

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Camera specs; Canon EOS 40D fitted with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens, f9.0 @ 1/125 a second, ISO 400 at 70mm.

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Camera specs; Canon EOS 40D fitted with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens, f2.8 @ 1/8 a second, ISO 400 at 80mm.

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Taken on a warm summer night at the Reston Town Center.

Camera specs; Canon EOS 40D fitted with a Canon EF-S 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens, f5.0 @ 1/5 a second, ISO 1600 at 65mm.

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A worker taking a break before the opening of the newly renovated Eastern Market.

Camera specs; Canon EOS 40D fitted with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens, f4.0 @ 1/320 a second, ISO 400 at 200mm.

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What do you get when you mix a lot of open space, some great weather, a late afternoon after the workday ends, and a bunch of young congressional staffers looking for something to do?  A game or sports activity might break out.

Thats what I found out on a late afternoon stroll down the National Mall.  There were at least 4 softball games being played on the congressional side of the mall.  I spoke with Kyle, one of the players and a staffer, who told me there were at least 75 teams in various leagues that play there.  Most are made up of staffers that support the state they represent.

The mall is the place to be to work out the job stress at the end of the day.  Not only is softball found but you can usually see a football or two being passed around, maybe a kite flying, some frisbees, and a ton of joggers and bikers.

Here’s a few shots from my stroll:

This ball got knocked out of the park.

“Good game”s all around.

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