COLIN VINCENT PHOTOGRAPHY

Colin Vincent Photography

2007-12-24T15:05:00.000-08:00

Well wishes to all my friends and supporters. If you haven't already been notified, please note my new and improved blog can now be found at: www.colinvincent.com/blog.

Please visit the new blog for great pictures and updates on my photography!

Anne and Dan's Rehearsal Dinner Party

2007-10-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a weekend!

Anne and Dan are such special people and have equally wonderful family and friends. This was truly a first class wedding that photographers dream of shooting. A beautiful couple and a beautiful house filled with beautiful people on a beautiful day. What more could you ask for?

The wedding weekend kicked off with a cocktail party followed by dinner at the Calistoga Inn, where they were pouring my favorite Chardonnay, Rombauer. Toast after toast filled the room with love and laughter; even some tears. It was a wonderful evening that I felt lucky to be part of. The slideshow says it all...
More coming soon.

Moonset

2007-09-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 6am this morning with the moon shining brightly in my eyes. As I looked through my blurry vision, I knew a beautiful image was awaiting me on the ridge up the street. So I jumped up and headed out the door. Ahhhhh! my tripod is in the other car and my keys are with Alex. Hmmm, I see a stool that looks good enough... I run out the door and up to the spot. In minutes, I have the stool setup and the camera nice 'n steady. Bam! Here it is... and wow, what a GORGEOUS day it is already :)

AK07

2007-09-25T21:08:00.001-07:00

Ahhhhhhh yes. Finally, the movie is ready from the heli trip to Points North in Cordova Alaska last March. You won't believe the Northern Lights show about a third of the way in. Press play.

Love Fest!!!!!

2007-09-25T18:09:00.002-07:00

I was just digging through my archives and found this video of last year's Love Fest. It's happening again this weekend in San Francisco! Too bad I'll miss it. I've got Anne and Dan's wedding to cover. It's a big wedding, so I'm flying Melissa Schwartz of Organic Photographs up from Santa Monica to cover it with me! I can't wait. Anyway, here's the video...

Diffusion and Flash

2007-09-23T18:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing some "pre-wedding" shots with Anne and Dan, the couple whose wedding I'll be shooting next weekend. When I woke up, it was raining and within half and hour Anne was calling me to cancel the shoot. We had planned to shoot outside and she was concerned about getting her dress dirty. I told her not to worry, that we could shoot inside and have a ball; which we did.

I arrived at 2:00pm, just after the rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy, creating a great diffuser for the sunlight. Big tip here - when shooting pictures of people and their faces, if it's sunny, go to a shaded area - no flash necessary. If you must shoot in bright sunlight, you should try manually turning on your flash and seeing how it changes the shot. For all you people who say "but my camera knows when to flash..." not here it doesn't. It's bright as can be outside and your camera sees no reason for extra light. This is what we call "fill flash", because it fills in the shadows on people's faces.

Hats are the worst. Ever get pictures back and you can't see anyone's face due to the shadow of their hat? Try using the flash next time and you'll see, it's like magic. For many of you, seeing this in your own camera for the first time; it's exciting. You might think, "Wow, now I see how this lighting thing works!"

So... with my gear set, I helped Anne hang some sheer drapes on their living room windows and asked her to jump up on the cabinet that runs the whole length of the room. I already had my remote wireless flash on a tripod, off to camera left and that let me make a beautiful fashion shot.

My favorite image was actually without a flash. I just boosted my exposure compensation up 2 stops for a spontaneous vision I had in my mind and we put it together very well(the one of him standing and her sitting, looking up at him)

Another favorite is the one of Anne's necklace that she got from her friend. Take a look at the photos for yourself and you decide.

Sweet Smell of Success

2007-09-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

Suzzanne's POV:
Let me just say, I am a big fan of perfumes, a big big fan. There isn't much I haven't tried and my all-time favorite is Child by Susan Dowens. I ordered Child the other day and in the package was a beautiful bookmark. Now, you might be asking right now what in the world does perfume and bookmarks have to do with Colin's photography. Bear with me, I'm getting there....

The bookmark was made out of a very interesting material. It had this cool kind of rubbery, velvety feel to it. Just plain sexy. Well I decided I wanted that material for the new business cards I'm designing for Colin. But, without knowing what it was, I really didn't know how to outsource for these cards. So I emailed Susan Dowens directly. I didn't really expect a response from her directly, but why not give it a shot? And guess what? She personally responded to me and offered to see what she could do. I couldn't believe it. We begin to chit chat via email and of course, I shamelessly promoted Colin's work. Later that day she emails me to say she went to Colin's website and that she "loved, absolutely loved" the "Shipwrecked" image (see below) and that it moved her. Now that's the sweet smell of success....

Networking Fun

2007-09-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

I just poured myself a tall glass of milk and added some Strawberry Quik. Terrible, I know, but sooo good. Mmmm. I keep stirring it to get all the goodness up to the top as is settles a bit.

Awesome things that are happening around the growth of my photography business. Watching the sun go down outside my bedroom window, I just took a picture of it and am including it here for your enjoyment.

Today's blog is about an experience I had at the Dwell on Design Conference in San Francisco last Sunday. As I passed by Concrete Works , I noticed their striking cement pieces and the large format photographs up on the display wall. Something prompted me to ask an important-looking guy about their photography. He winced and said it's an area in which they are lacking. I made the connection and look forward to sharing some of that work with you in the near future.

Then I went outside to catch up with my friend Adam Wise, and he's talking to the owner of the Evergreen Lodge in Yosemite . It's a secret that now appears to be out of the bag: the place was booked solid all summer. Turns out he used to lead backpacking trips and still does on occasion, so I told him to contact me if he ever wants to do a backpack photography workshop. He responded by asking me if I'd like to lead workshops at the lodge!

Then I went over to the Picture Wall booth and met the owner, Erik. I inquired about getting into his image bank, and he said "Maybe in 6 months, but what kind of work do you do?" I pulled out my iphone and showed him some examples of my work. As he slid through the images, he asked, “Do you know Deborah Ayerst ?” When I said No, he said, “You should.” Turns out she's an artist rep located in San Francisco.

Once I connect with her, that will be an awesome 4 contacts in just 1 hour. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon stroll.

Talking It Up

2007-08-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the launch party of my friend Joel Templin's new company HatchSF. The party was really enjoyable, especially the delicious cabernet I found myself going back for again and again.

Always one to share, I recommend the cabernet to the couple standing next to me. The gentlemen smiles and then promptly introduces himself as Craig MacLean, of MacLean Wineries. Yes, I had been silly enough to suggest he try his own wine! He was very gracious about the whole incident and appreciated the fact that I enjoyed his wine. Needing to shift the focus off my faux pas, I promptly introduced him to Colin and began showing him pictures on Colin’s i-phone. Needless to say they loved the photos and suggested Colin shooting Craig and the MacLean wineries in Napa. How exciting!

Tidbits

2007-08-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

I've been working with Colin now for about six months, and it's been a truly exciting time for both of us. I've had the privilege of knowing Colin for 10 years now and have been a big supporter of his work. I looked forward with anticipation to his weekly updates by email that almost always included a photograph of his latest work.

Only when I began to work with him did I realize that those weekly pictures were just the tip of the iceberg of the imagery this friend of mine had accumulated over the years. As part of my new job, and most definitely the most difficult, is to help him start selecting pictures to showcase in his soon to be open art gallery. I thought it would be so easy, but the truth is I'm finding it extremely difficult to narrow the selection down at all, there are so many beautiful images to choose from.

While Colin and I spend our time narrowing down the choices, I thought I'd let you enjoy a little slide show....

Welcome To My Blog

2007-08-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Colin Vincent Blog. I started this blog as a place for me to share my journey, my work, my progress, my adventures, and any other interesting things as I come across them!