Calanan Photography

My latest drive-by shooting and 1st since moving to Denver

2009-07-13T10:25:00.002-06:00

. ., originally uploaded by calanan.

8th Ave
Denver, CO

Nikon D700
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

[Part of my "Drive-By Shootings" street photography series]

2009-07-07T08:51:00.000-06:00

Cam at WaterCourse, originally uploaded by calanan.

Nikon D700
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

Long story short: We're now living in Denver, CO and some dear, old friends and their adorable toddler happened to be in town just as we took possession of our new home. We had a fantastic time with them, showing them nearby Denver City Park and taking them to WaterCourse Foods for breakfast (Camdan, above and below).

Quinn and Brandon

2009-06-24T00:13:00.001-06:00

Quinn and Brandon, originally uploaded by calanan.

Salt Lake City, UT

Nikon D700
Nikkor 85mm f/1.8

Oh, hi there.

This is from my final photo shoot here in Salt Lake City - haven't you heard? We're moving to Denver!

On the rekindling of my love affair with the Nikkor 35mm f/2

2009-05-21T13:22:00.004-06:00

I bought my Nikkor 35mm f/2 back in my Nikon D50 (a "DX" or crop-sensored DSLR) days and even when I upgraded to the Nikon D200 (also a DX sensor) I just never liked the quality of the images it produced. I can't explain exactly what it was, it just didn't do anything for me. I later bought a DX-sensored Sigma 30mm f/1.4, which is just the bees knees...focuses fast, is sharp and is a great all-around "normal" focal length on those APS-C sensored DX cameras.

Ever since upgrading to a Nikon D700, which is an "FX" or full-frame (35mm) sensored DSLR, the Nikor 35mm f/2 has been a star player! Again, I can't put my finger on what it is about the quality of this lens but, much like the Sigma sang on a DX camera, the 35mm f/2 is singing loud and pretty-like on an FX camera.

Plus McKenna makes it ever so easy to love this lens.

What's your favorite lens?

How I Lit It: vSpring Capital's Dr. Dinesh Patel

2009-05-19T11:44:00.003-06:00

Dr. Dinesh Patel
Managing Director, vSpring Capital
Winner of the 2009 Utah Genius Award

Salt Lake City, UT
Nikon D700
Nikkor 35mm f/2

This is an outtake from an assignment for Utah CEO Magazine but I thought it would make for a good example for my "How I Lit It" series.

These executive portraits are normally short on time as the executives have understandably busy schedules. The last few executives I've photographed had only about 15-20 minutes available for shooting and I've learned both from experience and from pros like David X. Tejada that arriving early (up to an hour if possible) to scout, set up lights and test is highly beneficial. In this case I had about 30-34 mins to find two locations and test lighting them using a mix of available light and my three Nikon Speedlights.

In the above outtake I used a stand-mounted Nikon SB-800 as my key light, which was immediately camera right, shooting through a 43" white shoot-through umbrella and was gelled 1/2 CTO to warm it up a touch to match the ambient color temperature (a mix of diffuse daylight and artificial lights). For a hairlight/rimlight I used a stand-mounted Nikon SB-600 that was positioned camera left and behind Dr. Patel, shooting through a homemade 2" gridded snoot and also gelled 1/2 CTO. Both Speedlights were fired via the Nikon D700's popup flash using Nikon CLS (Creative Lighting System).

Here's a diagram of the lighting setup:

Speedlights are perfect for situations like these. They're light, require no cabling for power or triggering and are quick to setup/takedown - all positives when shooting on-the-go. With Nikon's CLS controlling them it's easy to either dial in manual power adjustments via the camera or just use TTL (through-the-lens) metering to let the camera control all exposures.

My first print ad

2009-05-16T14:49:00.003-06:00

I recently created my own print ad for a regional magazine for which I've done a lot of photography, namely Wasatch Woman Magazine based here in Salt Lake City, UT. It was difficult to narrow down my focus to one theme but in the ended I decided to advertise one of my favorite subjects, maternity and newborn photography.

Based on the recommendations of Wasatch Woman's graphic designer, StephAnn Knotts, I decided to keep the layout relatively clean and simple and I opted to run three of my favorite maternity/newborn photos in black-and-white on a black background. My logo was created by a friend and talented graphic designer, Andrew Lager.

What are your thoughts on the ad? What would you have done differently?

Here are larger versions of the three images, all were taken of a single (fantastic) family, Brandon and Nicki Fuller and their gorgeous baby, Quinn.

Here's Nicki the evening before she gave birth to Quinn - she actually went into labor later that evening/early the next morning!

Proud Dad Brandon holding Quinn

All the posing we did that day tuckered Quinn out

David X Tejada: Buffalo Central Terminal Small Strobes, Big Results

2009-05-08T08:33:00.000-06:00

News flash for my photog friends back in Buffalo, NY:

Photographer David X Tejada will be coming to Buffalo on 28 June to give a Small Strobes, Big Results Workshop at the Buffalo Central Terminal.

From his most recent blog post:

It's official! The June 28th Small Strobes, Big Results workshops has been granted permission to shoot inside the historic Buffalo Central Terminal Train Station. I am very excited about this particular workshop, what a fantastic location to shoot in!

His course teaches you how to effectively and creatively use small strobes, like Nikon Speedlights...from the SSBR site:

You'll learn how to:

• control and modify the quality of light produced from a typical shoe mounted flash;
• properly use umbrellas, soft boxes, snoots, grids, silks and bounce techniques;
• use a single strobe combined with existing light as well as more complicated multiple light set-ups

I've no affiliation with David, just an admirer of his work and follower of his blog, to which the announcement was just posted.

Cheers,

- mike

The indefatigable Mike Terry

2009-05-07T14:19:00.001-06:00

Salt Lake City, UT
Nikon D700
Sigma 30mm f/1.4

Manray and I bumped into Mike while while walking Kerby, thankfully I had the camera with me!

Mike's a fantastic photojournalist, he shoots for Salt Lake's Deseret News and posts much of his work on his blog, what it all looks like. Mike is also on Twitter @MiguelitoTerry (& I'm @calanan).

Check out his work, I guarantee you'll be amazed.

So, you wanna be a photographer?

2009-05-05T16:32:00.002-06:00

(1946) From the Prelinger Archives at Internet Archive.

You might also like this Polaroid Dealer Promo (25 minutes).

Jeepers, creamers...take two

2009-05-04T16:55:00.002-06:00

Ol' Blue Eyes
Denver, CO
Nikon D700
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

My wife, Renee is the latest participant in my Creamer Eyes Flickr Group, a group featuring portraits of folks using creamers as spectacles. :)

The group was kicked off with a portrait of our cousin, Jeff:

And was recently updated with a portrait from a past This Is Their Place participant, Sarah Nielson.

Join the fun and add your own Creamer Eyes portrait to the Flickr Group Pool!

When in Denver...

2009-05-03T22:33:00.001-06:00

Colorado Blvd and Mississippi
Denver, CO

Nikon D700
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

[Part of my "Drive-By Shootings" street photography series]

Meet Christian

2009-04-27T23:43:00.001-06:00

From Wendy and David's Wedding
Magnolia Plantation
Charleston, SC

Nikon D200
Tokina 12-24mm f/4
Nikon SB-800

That is all.

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day

2009-04-27T15:56:00.003-06:00

Some of my favorite photos taken with my Nikon D700 and a homemade pinhole lens in honor of Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.

Finally, a triptych:

More in this in this Flickr gallery/set.

Jessica Petersen

2009-04-21T21:55:00.003-06:00

Meet Jessica Petersen (and her dog, Twink), the latest participant in my "This Is Their Place" portrait/interview project.

You can see more photos of Jessica and her place, and read her story here.

Jessica's place:

Sandy City Dog Park
Sandy, UT

Nikon D700
Nikkor 85mm f.18
Nikon SB-800

.status asthmaticus.

2009-04-20T00:31:00.000-06:00

Salt Lake City, UT

Nikon D700
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

[Part of my "Drive-By Shootings" street photography series]

don't ask

2009-04-14T21:48:00.001-06:00

Salt Lake City, UT

Nikon D700
Nikkor 35mm f/2

Nikon SB-800, snooted and fired via CLS

Test shot for the setup:

Anyhoo...

Happiest dog in the world

2009-04-13T18:18:00.004-06:00

Nikon D700
Tokina 12-24mm f/4
Nikon SB-800 w/ diffuser dome

Renee and I spent our Easter Sunday on a hike with our dog, Kerby in the foothills above Salt Lake City, UT (on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail starting at the Terrace Hills Trailhead). After a few hundred feet or so of elevation we hit the snowline, much to Kerby's pleasure. :)

This photo was also featured today on New West Network in their Images gallery.

Here's a slideshow of the rest of the photos from our Easter hike:

Yaaaaaaar!

2009-04-09T22:10:00.002-06:00

Nick Gilson, salesman extraordinaire

Pictureline
Salt Lake City, UT

Nikon D700
Nikkor 35mm f/2

Stopped by Pictureline today to pick up my Nikkor 35mm f/2 that those greasy so-and-sos at Nikon Repair refused to fix under warranty. It suffers from a well-known problem of sticky, oily - and greasy - aperture blades but thankfully it works just fine at large apertures. And I absolutely love using it on my full-frame Nikon D700.

Big thanks to Nick for pulling a face. He's good like that.

Manny

2009-04-09T00:03:00.005-06:00

She is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

And I can't blame her for giving me "the look" - sometimes I am too free with my photographic liberties.

Salt Lake City, UT

Nikon D700
Nikkor 85mm f/1.8

ISO 2500

(as usual, larger version if you click through to Flickr)

Sisters! Brothers! Small Boats of Fire Are Falling From the Sky!

2009-04-07T22:55:00.003-06:00

J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT

Nikon D700
Nikon 50mm f/1.8

(click through to Flickr to see a larger version)

Inspiration: A Silver Mt. Zion - Sisters! Brothers! Small Boats of Fire Are Falling From the Sky!

I shot a couple of guys yesterday

2009-04-07T17:01:00.003-06:00

Just quick post today. Yesterday I took a walk downtown to run some errands and took a couple of shots along the way.

State St
Salt Lake City, UT

Nikon D700
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

State St
Salt Lake City, UT

Nikon D700
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

Larger versions of those photos are available if you click through to Flickr. Keep on shootin'...

Snowshoeing in Little Cottonwood Canyon

2009-04-06T18:34:00.004-06:00

Nikon D700
Tokina 12-24mm f/4

Over the weekend, Manray and I returned to one of our favorite places to snowshoe, the upper section of the Little Cottonwood Canyon Trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City, UT. Here's a link to a description of this trail (in Adobe PDF format) from Guidebook to The Best Snowshoe Trails of the Wasatch Range.

Our first time shoeing this trail was in January of this year (Flickr slideshow) and we've been itching to get back. This is a wonderful trail which follows and crosses over Little Cottonwood Creek several times and affords some great views of the Wasatch Mountains.

The grade is generally steady and not too strenuous but the trail hasn't been very well used both times we've been there so there's still a good bit of huffing to be done to punch down the snow. And if you like to goo off piste like we do then you'll surely get a great workout, especially if you go after a dump of fresh powder!

Utah's snow is renowned for it's powdery goodness and it's usually very dry and fluffy but on this bluebird day - even at 10 AM - the sun had warmed some it enough for Manray to make a very cute little snowbuddy:

We didn't see many folks on the trail this day, though we did stop and talk with a very nice fellow nicknamed "Lighting" Lane in honor of his surviving what sounded like a very nasty encounter with a lighting strike, from which he endured many months of recovery. Although you'd never guess he suffered for it, he spoke of his experience with great positive attitude and told us that he speaks with Scouts and outdoorsfolk about it during safety seminars.

Though it's beginning to warm up here in the SLC we hope the snow sticks around a bit longer, we really want to visit this trail again soon!

(The gallery at Flickr)

Some recently published executive portraits

2009-04-04T12:58:00.011-06:00

A new client, Utah CEO Magazine recently hired me to shoot a series of portraits for their monthly CEO Spotlight series. In the process I've met some interesting folks and thought I'd share some of their portraits with you.

My first assignment was to meet and photograph the CEO of Ogio International, Michael Pratt. His story can be found at Utah CEO Magazine | Michael Pratt (free registration required for the full articles).

Nikon D700
Nikkor 85mm f/1.8
Nikon SB-800 and 43" white brolly, camera right, fired via Nikon CLS

For the lighting geeks: I love shooting a mix of ambient/available light and using Nikon Speedlights as fill rather then using them as the main, or key lighting. In this case I shot in manual exposure mode and exposed for the warehouse's available light. I then placed CTO (color termperature orange) gel over the SB-800's business end to try to color match it's white balance, which is just a bit color-warmer than daylight but much color-cooler (bluer) than to the very color-warm warehouse lights.

Ogio, located in Bluffdale, UT is a "bag designer [and creator of] top gear and technology for golf, duffel, travel, messenger, skate, moto, bmx, street, travel, snow, girls, and more." Their connection to the extreme sports world is strong and it shows. Upon entering their offices you'll find samples of their gear, television screens showing clips of their gear used in various extreme sports competitions and there are even the remains of an Ogio-sponsored motorcycle used to jump a cliff into the Grand Canyon.

Michael Pratt was warm and welcoming, and very passionate about his business. He took a lot of time out of his busy afternoon to give me a tour of Ogio and to introduce me to his employees, for which I was extremely grateful. When it came time for his portrait, Michael confessed to being camera-shy but you wouldn't have guessed it once I started hitting the shutter! Not only did he scout a great location in his warehouse for his shoot but he came up with some great poses, even including using some of his company's gear as props. Here he is hamming it up a bit:

Michael's other outtakes can be found in this set.

It's always a gift to have some extra time to spend with a subject, to have the ability to get to know them better and build a rapport definitely helps me capture their personality!

My next assignment was to drive to Provo, UT to photograph a student in BYU's MBA program, Jessamyn Lau who is focusing her post-MBA work on social entrepreneurship. Her inspiring story can be read at "Capitalists for Change".

Nikon D700
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Nikon SB-800, on-camera, bounced into ceiling

For the lighting geeks: Again, I shot in manual exposure, exposing for ambient light and using a Nikon Speedlight for fill. As this location was so crowded I didn't want to set up lightstands and umbrellas so I opted to leave the flash on-camera and shoot quickly in various locations.

I met Jessamyn at her favorite student lounge, where she and a group of fellow students were busy working on a project. I took some time to scout a quiet yet interesting location in her building but quickly realised that our options were limited as every place I had in mind was already occupied by either working students or faculty. Upon returning to the lounge I decided it was truly the best location for her shoot, especially since she told me she had spent countless hours there studying!

My hesitation in shooting in the lounge wasn't due to any lack of visual interest, it was just so busy that I didn't want to interrupt the other students. Of course once we started shooting I immediately drew the attention of everyone in the room, who were not at all put off by the shooting but in fact were quite supportive of Jessamyn's new-found celebrity. It turns out Jessamyn is quite popular in her department as verified by all the accolades - and posing instructions :) - she received. A fun shoot indeed.

Finally, I had the pleasure of photographing Dean Hiram Chodosh of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. His story can be found at Utah CEO Magazine | Hiram Chodosh.

Nikon D700
Nikkor 85mm f/1.8
Nikon SB-800 and 43" white brolly, camera left, fired via Nikon CLS
Nikon SB-600 with diffuser dome, camera left, fired via Nikon CLS

For the lighting geeks: The Dean's office was lit mainly with florescent overhead lights, which wreak havoc with white balancing off-camera lights so I opted to shoot with a fast enough shutter speed to overcome their power. This also meant that the Speedlights would be doing the heavy lifting when it came to lighting the room but with a single subject in a smaller room I find the Speedlights to be more than capable. I decided to use an SB-800 as a key light, shot through a white umbrella and to use an SB-600 (with a diffuser dome) as a rear fill/hair light.

As you can imagine, Dean Chodosh's time was very limited - we had about 20-30 minutes to shoot - and we quickly decided that a shoot in his office would work out best. While I was setting up my Nikon Speedlights I spoke with the Dean about his work and we shared stories about each of our relocations to Salt Lake City. It's so important to get to know your subjects and try to build a rapport and when time is limited it's important to continue talking with your subject even when setting up.

As for that setup, my editor had already asked to shoot an environmental portrait that would best depict Dean Chodosh in a scholarly atmosphere so I decided to use his office library as a backdrop for his portraits. I also took a cue from photographer Ryan Brenizer's excellent portraits at Columbia University in NY:

...and asked the Dean to use a book as a prop. The Dean wisely chose not just any book but his own, "Global Justice Reform: A Comparative Methodology". :)

After shooting the main portrait that my editor had requested I still had a few minutes left to shoot so I asked the Dean if could take some more candid photos. He agreed, however he truly did have some e-mail to read before heading to a meeting so I shot a small series of him working and asked for one last glance at the camera before ending our shoot.

Dean Chodosh's other outtakes can be found in this set

Ignite Salt Lake 2

2009-04-02T10:38:00.006-06:00

Ignite Salt Lake held it's second round of presentations on 26 March 2008 at Brewvies Cinema Pub in Salt Lake City, UT and Calanan Photography was proud to sponsor the event! The schedule of events is listed below - links go to YouTube videos of each of the presentations:

Make Contest - Tallest Tower using only masking tape, straws and wooden stir sticks.

Session 1

Jason Alderman - What is Ignite?

Eric Hamilton - How to do ANYTHING YOU WANT and get paid for it: Inside the Wheels of Steel Photo Book Project

Alen Peacock - A Robot Brain for to /Not/ Destroy Humanity

Jessica Petersen - Experience Design: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly of Everyday Interfaces

Kyle Mathews - Building social networks for learning

Jeff Jordan - Video on the Web: Big Freakin’ Deal

Benjamin Kimball - Internet Explorer 6, the Bell Tolls for Thee!

Grant Sperry - Salty Punks

Intermission

Powerpoint Karaoke - 3 contestants presenting an Ignite style presentation on a slide deck they've never seen before for prizes!

Nashlah Boyayan - Bacon as an Art Medium

(We're sorry to say that this is the only Powerpoint Karaoke that our camera man caught. The others were wonderful as well and we thank all the contestants for being brave enough to do this)

Session 2

Rachael Herrscher - Who's Your Mama?

Louis Borgenicht - The Last Laugh: Nuclear Humor

Matthias Shapiro - I Once Was Blind: Building Information Visualizations That Mean Something

Angie Jantz - The Story of a Rebel and His Bike: Why Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is the greatest movie of all time (or at least 1985)

Robert Marc - The Twenty Senses

Jason Lutes - Top 8 Reasons Why Base-2 Logarithms Are Quintessential 4 Working with Computer Graphics

Daren C. Brabham - Crowdsourcing as a Model for Problem Solving

Jeremy Hanks - Blowing Minds and Melting Faces

Some of my favorite photos from the night:

And the full slideshow via Flickr:

StoryCorps in SLC: Photos from Opening Day

2009-03-30T13:47:00.003-06:00

With the help of local NPR affiliate KCPW and its StoryCorps sponsors (including Calanan Photography) the StoryCorps in SLC team kicked off their 6-week stay with a recording of local businessman/celebrity Ken Sanders and his interviewer, Scott Carrier:

A crowd (including a class on a field trip from Realms of Inquiry) gathered to hear speeches from KCPW's Ed Sweeney:

...from SLC Mayor Ralph Becker

...and from the StoryCorps team of Whitney Henry-Lester, Anna Walters and Jeremy Helton. Here is StoryCorps MobileBooth Site Supervisor Whitney Henry-Lester being interviewed by Salt Lake's local Fox affiliate:

StoryCorps in SLC's second recording was of Anna Zumwalt, Gretel Zumwalt and Troy Hart - here they are waiting for their turn in the MobileBooth with KCPW's Andrea Ashbridge:

...and here are Gretel and Anna in the booth, sharing a moment just before their recording began:

Here's the StoryCorps MobileBooth:

Here's a slideshow of my ongoing photo gallery of the StoryCorps stay in SLC - I'll be adding more to this over the course of their 6-week stay:

Finally, the Deseret News has a story on this event at "StoryCorps adding Utahns' tales to touring collection".