Photography Challenge, Motorcycle on the Beach

Photography Challenge, Motorcycle on the Beach

This week presented a challenge, off to the beach for to photograph a motorcycle. Shooting a motorcycle or car at a beach is typically very difficult. The biggest challenge is the motorcycle will sink into the soft sand of the beach. On a soft sandy beach I would need bury a layer or two of plywood just below the surface of the beach and then smooth it out after placing the bike.

Next challenge is timing as the tide will be moving either in or out, and depending on the location this can be a foot or two, to hundreds of feet if the slope of the beach is very gradual. One of my favorite beaches the low and high tide lines are tyically 200-300 feet apart. The smallest tide swings on at the half moon phases.

And of course waves will also present a challenge as they roll in and out. Salt water is very bad for vehicles, so keeping them dry is a priority. I would recommend wearing a helmet before you try this out so make sure you read motorcycle helmet reviews online.

Of course, no one likes to think too much about getting involved in an accident while on their motorbike, but mistakes can happen and therefore it is crucial that you take steps to ride safely. A friend of mine recently went on a motorcycle trip to Las Vegas and he told me that in las vegas motorcycle accidents are unfortunately very common. He also said that these incidents sometimes lead to lawsuits and personal injury cases. Consequently, please do as much as possible to avoid getting into difficulty when on your bike. Especially during a photoshoot.

In this case the beach had a hard area that was not sandy at all in this area. Being hard and dry the bike could stand on its own. The area was sheltered enough and the sea was very calm, usually mornings are the best time to find this calmness.

Motorcycle Photography

In the end, everything came together. When things were set-up, I liked where the sun was, creating a good shadow, the tide was moving in slowly to position and the sea was calm. With the addition of some supplemental lighting to fill in and create some sparkle, it came together as I had imagined.

Orcatek Automotive and Motorcycle Photography – Phoenix


Maternity Photography for the whole Family

Your pregnancy is a very special time for the entire family.   And a great way to show this is to involve the entire family in the maternity photographs.  The sample here shows a future big sister posing with her future little sister.

Sister with Baby

Everyone in the family is looking forward to the new baby’s arrival.  Featuring them in the photo session makes the day fun and special for everyone.  Children always seem to come alive whenever they are asked to pose with their future sibling.  They often have their own ideas of what they want to do, so I always take a few minutes to shoot a few of those frames to keep the enthusiasm going. 

A proud father always makes for a special photographic moment.  The love that you see when the father and mother pose together makes for an amazing photograph.  Capturing this emotional time for the couple creates heirlooms that will be remembered forever.

So consider bringing the family for part of your maternity photography session.   Or maybe do two session, one with the family and one to feature just you.

Orcatek Maternity and Pregnancy Photography – Phoenix


Sassy Sarongs Product Photography

This week the most fun I had was as the photographer of product shots for Sassy Sarongs.  A great company which produces an amazing variety of sarongs.  Lisa is always great fun to work with on her projects.  Each time she gets a new batch of sarongs in, she calls her favorite photographer – me.

We started the day with some photography of Lisa for her marketing materials.  Her sarongs made for some very colorful and interesting shots.  She was a great sport about trying various things to get a large variety of photographs to work.  As usual, my photographers eye saw some great opportunites to create some amazing photographs.

After the headshots were done, we moved on to the product photographs.  The shots were targeted for her website catalog along with some printed materials.  Once again there was a large variety of sarongs to shoot.  The colors and quality of these sarongs is amazing.

We ended the day by shooting the full body promotional materials.  These photographs will featured a beautiful model posing in a gentle breeze.  Getting the sarongs to behave in the breeze to was a challenge, but as a photographer I’ve learned a few tricks to get it to work.  The final photographs will be used in magazine, posters and other marketing materials.

I look forward to working with Lisa and Sassy Sarongs again on their next project.

Orcatek Photography Phoenix


Bodyscapes for Fine Art Maternity

This week I had one of my most enjoyable shoots, a maternity photography session.  A woman’s pregnancy is such a special time that it really needs to be captured in a way that will create a lasting memory.  I have found that using non-traditional techniques for pregnancy photography gives my clients something different.

Bodyscapes are a style that I find is very effective for capturing maternity photographs.  Traditionally this style is reserved for the fine art nude community, it makes an excellent way to capture the magic of pregnancy.  My favorite technique is to use a rim light to really show off the shape of the belly. 

Baby Belly Bodyscape

I have an elevated table for the mothers-to-be to lie on so they won’t have to face the challenge of getting up from a low bed or casper mattress or worse,  the floor.  A single step up and they can easily lie down on the padded table or return to standing.

When I mention I would like to shoot some bodyscapes to my clients they often have no idea what I mean.  But once they see some sample photographs they are sold.

 Orcatek Maternity Photography – Phoenix


Boudoir Photography – Chicken Soup for the Soul?

This week I received an unexpected e-mail from Ellen, a woman that had a boudoir photography session a few months ago. She talked about how much she her husband still loved the book we created, but she also wrote about something else the book had done for her.  Something she had not expected, but it was something she could not thank me enough for.

Ellen was my typical client, a real woman – in her late thirties who didn’t live in a gym.    She only did the book as her husband had been raving about how much his friend loved the one he got from his wife. 

She said I could quote part of her very personal letter here:

“I never really saw myself as beautiful.  I always felt plain or average.  Whenever I would look in the mirror I would focus on what I saw as my flaws.

But now my life has changed.  The boudoir photographs you took brought out all my best features and made me look more beautiful than I had ever imagined.  I have found a new confidence that came from seeing myself they way Dave has seen me.  He has always told me that he loved the way I looked and now I see it too. 

I just didn’t know where to look for my own beauty before the session.  I was blinded by my own point of view.  Now when I look in the mirror I give myself a quick look and do a little turn and there I am, SEXY Ellen.  It sets my mood for the entire day, confident and proud.

Thank you so much for finding the real me.  Dave says thanks too!”

It made me feel good to get this letter and know that I had an impact on someone life.   Good luck Ellen, you deserve the best!

Orcatek Boudoir and Glamour Photography – Scottsdale


The Girls Come to Town

This week was an extra fun week in the photography studio. A group of 3 wonderful women came to town for boudoir / glamour sessions. They were a referral from a prior client whose book that had seen and decided they all wanted to do one too. They liked how sexy yet classy the photographs looked.

The group had scheduled just over a month ago so I was able to find a time where they could all shoot on the same day. Groups like this are especially fun for everyone. They help each other with changes of outfits and encourage one another with their comments. The fun of doing the photo shoot with friends creates a party atmosphere.

The decision on who gets to go first is always an interesting group dynamic. This time the decision was easy as Beth was ready first. I always start by doing my “warm-up” set on the first outfit. It is a quick set to see how the woman responds in front of the camera and to let her begin to develop her comfort level. The set runs through some standing, sitting and laying poses and allows me to quickly show them how good they look.

Beth was a bit nervous to be first, but after about 5 minutes Jessica was ready and began to watch and encourage her with comments on how sexy she was looking. And just a few minutes later Sharon was ready too. The two of them continued rooting Beth on through the warm-up. I then did Jessica’s and Beth’s warm-ups too.

The ladies were all now really getting into their grove as we progressed onto their next outfits. This time Sharon went first. As the others finished getting ready they came to watch and would often comment on how they wanted a shot just like the one I just shot. As their turns came up I made sure to get those shots they had requested.

Each girl typically will get a set of similar poses, but not the same as I like to work with the flow as I shoot each of the women. I see how she moves and what looks best for her body type and adjust as needed to bring out her very best. I never want my boudoir photography to become boring or formula. Each shoot needs to be different to bring out the special something that makes each woman unique.

This group had two who wanted to do some nudes, whereas Sharon had said she didn’t think she wanted any. I prefer to shoot my nudes low-key and in black and white, but depending on the mood of the shoot will stray away from B&W and the low-key set. Today it ended up being a mix of set-ups as we moved between the different sets in the studio. Jessica saw the implied nudes, which most of my nudes actually are, and decided since she was actually covered in the photograph she wanted some too because they looked so sexy.

Jessica ended up being the star of the nude session. Once she started to see some of the images she really got into the mood and did an amazing job. Something just switched on and she became so relaxed and her photographs showed her new confidence. It’s almost as if she realized how sexy others would see her as, something as if she was a star of an adult film and she realized the guys would want to watch more, in a sexually confident manner.

We continued the day through various outfits and sets. Each one of them ended up with a wide variety of looks to choose from for their books. There are going to be a lot of very happy men next month when they get their books.

Orcatek Boudoir Photography – Phoenix


Glowing Maternity Photography

There’s something incredible about East Brunswick maternity pictures – whether you’re taking them or the one being captured. Capturing that magical look that pregnancy brings to a woman is such a rewarding type of photography. I really enjoy working with pregnant women to document this time in their lives. These photographs will become heirlooms that the family will treasure through generations.

Maternity PhotographyWhen I shoot maternity photographs I take my experience from glamour and boudoir and apply those techniques. The softness desired in glamour photography creates very beautiful maternity images. The future moms are prefect for this type of look.

Also, I find the lighting techniques from glamour and fine art come into play. Using the light and shadows to contour and hi-light the shape of her belly takes an excellent knowledge of lighting. In my fine art work I shoot what are known as bodyscapes, and pregnancy creates some amazing opportunities for this type of photography.

Often the father and/or siblings will pose with the mom to be to show the family’s newest member in their first “portrait”. And of course there are plenty of fun maternity poses such as baby blocks on the belly and hand hearts that are always fun.

As always I am looking forward to my next maternity photo shoot. I know that it will be a joy working with the pregnant mom to be.

Orcatek Maternity Photography – Phoenix


Shoot cars at The Studio

This week I had the chance to shoot a car in my new studio.  Having done a lot of automotive photography, I knew just what I wanted as the new studio was created.   As I moved the test car into the studio I could see that everything had come together perfectly.

The lighting was everything I had hoped it would be.  This shot gave me just what I wanted using the standard configuration.

BMW Z8 it The Studio 

I plan on doing a lot more automotive photography in future in the studio.  Location work falls off so much here in Phoenix during the summer due to the heat.   Now I can do the shoots in the studio while I enjoy the air conditioning.

The only thing that I will be adding is some hydraulic car wheel dollies to make positioning the car easier.  With them if the photographer needs to rotate the car and inch or two it is a quick job to do as opposed to trying to drive the car back and forth to get it perfect. 

The Studio is available for rental to other photographers.

Orcatek Photography

The Studio – Phoenix


The Studio is now open

The Studio is officially open for business.  We built the Studio so that photographers could rent a studio with the features to create amazing work without paying for all the flashy stuff that doesn’t pay the bills.  With today’s tight economy, photographers need to watch their budgets very close.  The Studio is the answer to their needs.

We have four primary shooting areas available for rent.  Each bay was created to fit the varied needs of a photographer.  Why rent what you don’t need.  Of course if you need more we have that too.

The first bay is a large cyclorama which is 20×36.  Plenty big for photographing cars and large groups.  With two cove corners to allow the photographer to work with ease.

The second bay is a small cyclorama which is 18 feet wide.  The bay extends back 23 feet.  Perfect for fashion photography.

Bays three and four are what we call our standard bays.  They are 18 feet wide and 23 feet deep.  Bring your own backdrops or rent our seamless papers.

 The bays can be draped off for privacy as needed.

 Located on the Tempe / Scottsdale / Phoenix border, it is the perfect location.

It took a lot of time and effort to build The Studio, but it was worth it.  We have already had photographers come in from Los Angeles and they said it was just what they needed – affordable quality and functionality.  Exactly what we had in mind.

The Studio – Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale and the rest of Arizona


Studio Construction Continues

Studio construction continues as we race towards a May 1 completion. Painting is scheduled to begin Wednesday on the main studio. The lobby is scheduled for paint today. We could, of course, have opted for some peel and stick wallpaper to cover the walls, but for what we plan to use the space for the paint makes a little more sense. Still, something for a future project, perhaps?

Construction Continues

So many things to get done, power, internet, alarms, audio systems, new locks, moving equipment, new furniture, permits, etc. We also need to get in touch with a welder to finish off some of the metalwork in our new studio. A friend of ours is a welder and has just purchased some weldpro multi process welders for his welding company, so I might have to give him a call to see if he could help us. I cannot wait to see how everything comes together. This has been our most audacious construction project to date, truth be told. That being said, our construction project was made a lot easier through the use of construction project management software. Keeping on top of all the different tasks involved in a construction project is not always simple, but using software can make a big difference, as well as implementing the right safety practices during the construction stage. This is incredibly important in cases like these, we need to make sure that everyone involved is safe, that is why checking out a safety sign supplier in the UK/US was on our to do list, we needed to label everything just so we could hopefully avoid any injury, and we still hope we can. Slowly but surely it moves on. We have our first scheduled shoot for May 2, sure hope we are ready!

Cycwall

BTW, if you need a great drywall guy in Phoenix, message me and I can hook you up.

Orcatek Photography – Phoenix