Sports Photography Interview/Training

This friday i have an "interview/training" set up with a youth sports photography company. I will be taking action shots of various sporting events all around DFW. Then, the pics get downloaded on-site to one of the "salesperson's" computers and sold to parents on a CD/DVD. They aren't really salespeople, because the company has already been asked to be there, so its not like we go take photos, then try to sale them to unsuspecting parents. They just specialize in the business side of the deal.

This is a paid deal too, so thats a start! Its not a ton of money, but if im making any money at all through my photography then i definitely cant complain. Im really, really excited about this. If i could choose one area of photography to specialize in, it would be sports. Any kind of sports. I just like the action and the challenge of getting the shot and freezing that moment in time.

So it starts with Basketball. I'm not sure if its a high-school tournament, or just younger kids, but it should be fun either way!


Also, i just ordered 1000 business cards to get started. I found a really sweet deal right now where you get 1000 cards, double sided (which i forgot to put a back side on mine... doh!) full color, and all you pay is shipping. So, that worked out to $8.02, shipped to my door! Cant beat that, at least just to have something to hand out. I even got to design them myself. Jill will be making some for her salon move as well.

This is the picture i used for the background. I took it last November at a nature workshop.



I thought it was perfect because the image left a nice spot on the side for text. I included my name, that im a photographer, email, phone number and website.

Hope those work out for me. I think they will be here next week or so.


Well, thats all i got for now. Im sure i'll be writing with all the juicy details from my interview and training on friday. check back soon!

-Brad

New Website!! Come check it out. Let me know what you think!

Created a new website tonight. Spent way too much time doing it. I finally got it looking acceptable. Please stop by and let me know what you think. A ton more pics to come soon, hopefully.

www.wix.com/bephoto/home

As usual when I'm posting blogs, its now bedtime. Please stop by my website and let me know if you think its client worthy, if nothing else just so they have a feel of my work.

Thanks for checking it out.

-Brad

WOW! What a night!

So tonight i got really lucky. I had my camera with me, along with my 70-200 f/2.8L IS at work. I still had all of my stuff in the car from the Bombsquad product shoot the night before. There was no way i was going to leave all of my stuff in the car all day so i brought it in with me. I kept joking around with my bosses that i was going to go walk around with my camera like i knew what i was doing and just walk up to one of the lens ports on the glass and start shooting.

Well.... I never did that, just because i like my job and dont exactly feel like getting fired! One of these days i really am going to do that though...

So, as i was leaving work after the Stars game i noticed that there was a college hockey game about to happen, and pretty much all of the security/ushers from the stars game didnt look like they were sticking around to work it. Hmm... maybe i should try my little trick now. I'll go back to my warehouse, set up the camera and walk around like i was supposed to be there. So i did. I managed to get a great spot on the NE side, by myself right at a port. Shot pretty much the whole game from there. During the second intermission i went up to the media platform where the TV cameras are and shot from there for a few minutes, but the 200mm was just a tad limiting for what i was aiming for. So back to the glass port I went!

I had SOOOO much fun, if even just sitting by myself taking pictures. You pros are so lucky to get to do that on a regular basis. One of these days....

The game was actually very high energy with some BIG hits and a massive fight. It took forever for them to sort it out. Then, when the refs were all deliberating on penalties, THE FREAKING GOALIES STARTED FIGHTING!! I've never seen that before. They were both tossed.

Anyway, here are some of the shots. Click them for a larger image!







Here are a couple of shots of me in action!

Another Product Shoot

Saturday evening I went by the Bombsquad shop to take some product photos for our website. Tanner and Wes mainly run the business, but myself, Doug, and William all put our two cents in as well. Tan and Wes handle the production and shipping however, and it is mostly their deal. We figured it was time to get some professional looking photos up on the site since we just released our first race deck and business is actually booming for those guys. Here are a few from the shoot.

From blah to extremely excited!

I got home from work tonight around midnight and immediately sat down to try and color correct my previous efforts on the product photos i shot. The backgrounds in the last set were all over the place, some a yellowish tint, some a grey tint, and some a redish tint. I was shooting for the classic all white backgrounds. Thanks to a little help from Melissa (mmuhlenkamp) from the Texas Photo Forums, I think i got the exact look i was originally going for! These look amazing, in my opinion. I really hope the guys over at SundaeSkates.com, Robby, Dorian, and Tommy, like them as much as I do. I did a few folders tonight and will have the rest done hopefully early tomorrow.


Here are a few of the pics, now redone how i originally intended.










As always, it seems to be in the 4am hour when i'm posting these blogs, so it's definitely time for bed. I've got a lot of post processing to do tomorrow! Night.


Brad

A little blah today

After doing the post-processing on 200 some odd pictures yesterday, i learned that my monitor was not quite calibrated correctly, so all of the backgrounds that look a nice bright white at home are actually not so bright afterall. All of the pics i posted last night, along with the other couple hundered are going to have to be redone. On pretty much every monitor but my own, the pics all have varying background colors, and only one or two are actually a pure white color. Blah. Most have a greyish, or yellowish tint.

I know what i need to do to fix them, but its going to take a lot longer per picture than i originally thought. This is all part of the learning process, so i'm taking it in stride. I've got a 13 hour workday today, so its unlikely i'll get to them tonight, but tomorrow i can spend all day fixing the problems. I'll try to do one or two tonight, just to get the technique down so i can hammer them out tomorrow.

Just needed to rant. I was so excited last night with my results, only to be shot down when i viewed them anywhere else but my house. Oh well. It's all part of learning.


Brad

First Product Shots

I made the drive down to Austin on Monday (with Jill along for the ride) to take the product shots for SundaeSkates.com. This is an online longboard store that will be opening in the very near future. It is ran by my buddies Robby, Dorian, and Tommy. I figured it would be a great time to build the lightbox, seen in my last blog, and get some professional looking product shots.

Between shooting all of the decks outside and doing the accessories in the lightbox, we took a lunch break and went to a place called Terraburger. This place was incredible. Everything they serve is 100% organic and all natural. I got a Hill Country BBQ Burger that was to die for. Everything inside the store is made from recycled materials, including their counter-tops, tables, chairs, and pretty much everything else. They even recycle their cooking oil into bio-fuel. If you are ever in Austin, you have to check this place out. I was a little iffy going in, since those of you that know me personally know that im a stupidly picky eater. But i have to say, seriously, probably the best burger i've ever eaten. And to think its somewhat healthy for me too! I hear they are going to be opening stores elsewhere, but for now i think they are just located in Austin. I sure hope they open one here!

I shot with Robby and Dorian most of the day and left to head back to Arlington at around 9:30-10pm. Not long after we left I started feeling really dizzy and nausious. I ended up having to stop about 3 times on the way back to get fresh air, and eventually just let Jill drive the rest of the way home. I took a quick peek at what I'd shot and then promply fell into my bed, with my head still spinning.

When my alarm went off at 7:30am this morning, nothing had changed. I still felt lightheaded and nausious, almost like i was motion-sick. I got up and let the dogs outside and got a little fresh air to see if that would help, but unfortunately it didnt. I let my boss know i wouldn't be making it in today and crashed back into my bed for a few more hours, still feeling like the room was spinning. And no I wasnt drunk. I havent had anything alcoholic to drink since Vegas last May, and I cant even remember before that.

Once i finally climbed out of bed today, sometime in the early afternoon, I started to work on the post-processing. All of the lightbox pictures came out really good in my personal opinion, but im still a little so-so about the outdoor pictures of the skateboard decks. I'll have to do some more work on them later.

I finally started feeling better this evening thankfully. Maybe my body went into shock after actually eating something that wasnt full of grease and fat for once! It's been way too long since that has happened! :P

Back on topic, here are some of the pictures from my shoot. As always, click them for the full size shot. More can be seen on my Flickr page.

Edited to remove old pics.



Robby told me when I got there that he had been quoted somewhere around $3,000 by a local guy to shoot their entire inventory like I did. I cannot believe product photographers get that kind of money left and right!! That's crazy. I know the market that i need to enter into now, geez. Forget sports photography! :)

Time for bed. 13hr workday tomorrow.


Brad

Homemade Lightbox!

I've got some products to shoot for my buddies down in Austin so I figured I'd make a lightbox to give them a more professional look. I made it out of a cardboard box, some tissue paper, poster board, and a couple of worklights. For someone with zero studio and lighting experience, i'd say the couple of test shots i took came out okay. The sides of the objects are a little hot, but i'm working on positioning the lights to eliminate that.

Here is what my setup looks like.


Here are a few of the test shots taken tonight. I haven't had much time to dial anything in, so these are just the first round of tests. I'm hoping to make it down tomorrow to go take their pictures. If i do, i'll definitely be posting the results here.








Well, its way past my bedtime so im heading off. I will update as much as i can!


Brad