LA Shoot This! Star Wars Theme

It was a Sunday afternoon.. with scattered clouds and moderately cool temperatures, as we gathered on the grass at UCLA. A small group of photographers with LA Shoot This! had gathered for a Star Wars themed photo shoot.  Joelle Leder, the founder and leader, had organized this event. We had several Star Wars characters from the 501st Legion who were dressed up in authentic costumes ranging from Storm Troopers to Darth Vader himself. In addition, we had Amanda Goraleski, Lindsey Cloud, Sarah Hathaway and Alex Cranmer as models to incorporate into some photos. Chris Diset, Doug McNamee and Kerry Garrison were also there to lend assistance.

This was a fairly casual event, although I did hear some grumblings that it was a bit disorganized since photographers were just taking models to shoot with no defined grouping. As a result, most photographers simply wandered around and took shots as they could. I did a fair bit of wandering around as well. It was amazing to see the 501st Legion. I spoke to the person who was wearing the Darth Vader costume and he told me how originally, when he bought the costume, it was around $800 dollars. He then modified it to be the exact replica of Darth Vader in Episode 3 which made the costume now worth over $4000 dollars. He had worn the Darth Vader costume the previous night as well as he conducted the Pasadena POPs orchestra as they played the Imperial March. Not that many people have that time of dedication and time to put into making these intricate costumes. It was truly an honor to have a photo shoot with these guys. They were very professional and easy to work with. The location at UCLA gave us a more futuristic look since in contrast to the rest of the campus, these buildings were not made of brick, but rather grey concrete.

In addition to those mentioned, the following also deserve credit.
Sponsors -
Canvas on Demand - http://CanvasOnDemand.com/
FolioMojo - http://FolioMojo.com/
ProPhotoBlogs - http://www.ProPhotoBlogs.com/
ShootQ - http://web.shootq.com/
KISS Wedding Books - http://www.kissweddingbooks.com/

Makeup - Doris Lei
Hair - Amanda Goraleski
 
Here are some shots from the shoot:

 Group photo by Joelle Leder...

The rest of the photos are located here.

LA Smugmug Meeting

Last Thursday was the one year anniversary of the LA SMUG (SmugMug Users Group). The speaker was Garrett Delph who co-owns ShootDotEdit and is the leader of the the San Diego SMUG. The topic of the night was regarding 2nd shooters. How to become a better 2nd shooter as well as how to determine if someone is a good 2nd shooter. It was a very informative meeting. Garrett shared his experiences in his many years of photography and gave tips on planning and working with 2nd shooters during a wedding. Afterward, some photographers and I went to Bob's Big Boy for a late dinner.

Cowboy Casanova - SoCal Photog Shootout

Last Friday, I was able to attend the SoCal Photog Shootout Event that was themed "Cowboy Cassanova". It was bright and sunny afternoon. A long drive where I was from and even farther for others. The location was TCR Ranch in Temecula. It was actually quite warm while we were in the sun however, once in the shade, it got cold really quickly. Fortunately, I had a jacket with me to keep up with the rapid changing temperatures. Like other shootout events, we were quickly divided into groups, with each group being led by a photographers teaching different topics. Gavin and Erin Wade discussed the fine art of white balance and manual shooting. Matt Saville talked about harsh lighting and how to deal with it. We did have some pretty harsh lighting that afternoon so it was great to have hands on in dealing with the light. Yvonne LeBrun talked about posing and working with the models along with Teale Landstedt. Dana Grant talked about making friends with your clients. And Derek and Sarah Frenzel discussed composition and posing. For each group we had various models. They were: Allyson Hoehl, Ashley Gregory, Crystal Leland, Kristin Keating and Eryne Shan. Hair Accessories by: Heather Lynn Wilging Molina. Hair and Makeup by: Melody Rachunok, Brandie Bedell, and Kacee Geoffroy. Dinner was catered by the Taco Guy and afterwards, Rob "Ninja" Nicholson, gave us a talk regarding observation and planning strategies in order to achieve better business success. It was a great event and I really learned a lot.

more photos here