Crystal Lucas-Perry

For those of you who saw us running around Saginaw Valley State University the other day, here is the low down.

Meet Crystal Lucas-Perry.

She will be applying to graduate schools for theater. These are a few head shots she will be adding to her portfolio. Her personal website is: http://web.mac.com/socrystalclear/Site/Gallery/Pages/Head_Shots.html

Busy.

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would make sometime before I go to bed. I have been really busy editing weddings and shooting for Saginaw Valley State University. There are a lot of cool and exciting new things coming up.

1. I am getting married.

2. I will be launching a new website very soon, everything will be changing including this blog. (sneak preview at the new logo above).

3. Video project will be starting this weekend!

4. Lots of cool, never before seen photos will be launched with the new website. That is why I have been dragging my feet at updating the website and blog.

In the mean time, here are some photos that sum up the post few weeks.



The lens used in the above photo was a Canon 45mm f2.8 tilt/shift.

Hang Wedding

This past weekend Emily and I traveled to Madison Wisconsin for the Hang Wedding.

900 miles
15 hours driving
bathroom break in downtown Chicago
$14 per hour parking
over 3,000 photos

...and new friends.

Here are a few shots from the wedding...I haven't been through them all but there are alot of nice shots! Im pumped.

Oh yeah, i will be launching a new website soon so stay posted.

Sneak Peek...

Ryan Trevithick and Krista St.Aubin. Utica Wedding.

It was sometime last year when I had to shoot Ryan's portrait for a publication at Saginaw Valley State University. We got talking about photography and how he was engaged and on the look out for a photography.

Long story short. They hired me.

It was a rockin' wedding! Here is a little preview.

Bay Valley Christian Church

Not your average church service...

I have been attending Bay Valley Christian Church on a semi regular basis since my travel schedule has been crazy lately. However, I have had the opportunity to get to know a lot of people around there and take one of their discipleship classes.

They have been moving and shaking the community with really cool outreach and support programs! I give them mad props for the "Light in the City" program. This program buys and collects household goods for local families in need. In this tough economy when everyone is cutting back, this program is definitely going against the gain.

Awesome.

Anyhow, they can tell you more about it.

Last Sunday they had their church service outside...in the middle of downtown. Here are a few shots from the service.









Oh yea, and Pastor David Ferranti recognized all the people serving our nation! On their behalf we had representatives from our community go up and receive a gift that serve in the military, schools, law enforncement, government offices, fire, and ems.

Great job Bay Valley Christian Church and staff! Thank you.

Behind the photos...

This week I have a photo featured on the cover of AmericanProfile magazine.


A few month back I got a call from the Art Director of the magazine who asked if I wanted to take on an assignment. There were running a feature story on Centurions areas America. One of these centurions was Fred Sheill from Au Gres, Michigan. He will be turning 101 years old this year and still runs his 10 acre daylily farm.

The shoot:

cameras:
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon Mark III

lens:
Canon 24-70 f/2.8 (cover photo)
Canon 135 f/2

lights and misc:
Canon 580EX II
2-Pocketwizards TTL Flex5
EZ Box 15x15 softbox
Sunbounce reflector
Cheap 4' diffuser

We got there about 9:30am and had some nice cloud cover. However, as soon as we were finished scouting the location and pulled the gear out we were blasted with the sun. The harsh sun light brought on the harsh shadows, so we pulled out the diffuser and reflector and soften up the portrait. Here is one of the first test shots with the softbox, no reflector or diffuser.



After adding the diffuser and reflector and finally got a nicely exposed shot. This one would end up running as the cover photo (photo at the top of the blog). Fred used his tractor to get around the 10 acre farm but what was strange was a gaggle of geese followed him around.

We couldn't get very close to the geese but Fred feeds them everyday. Seagull also started to which was pretty hilarious watching the geese chase them off.

We were there for about 1.5 hours and shot 251 photos. We set up 3 different portraits of Fred in different locations of his garden which was in the shape of an "L". The rest of the shots were just documenting how Fred gets around and tends to the farm.

Full Moon

Lately I have been struggling trying to come up with new fresh images of campus. After I got out of class tonight there was a nice full moon. I decided to try some different stuff with back lighting the fountains with the moon. I used a Canon 5D Mark II with a Sigma 50mm f1.4.

One of the shots is HDR. Any thoughts?