nikon

What's In My Bag?

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Here is what's in my camera and flash bags.

Camera Bag (Think Tank Retrospective)

Lighting Bag

Other

Everything is linked via my Amazon affiliate links, if you decide to buy from amazon please use my links! Everything I own has a purpose. I don't own 15 lenses because these are the only ones I need for my style of shooting. I always will have a 50mm lens (read about why here) and something a little wider, like a 35mm. When the job calls for it I rent whatever is needed. Currently toying with the idea of switching to a Sony A7RII or Fuji X-T2 for the addition of 4K video.

Click here for all the gear that I recommend

Mike Vance

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Last week I had an opportunity to photograph Mike Vance. Mike is a cinematographer based out of Louisville. You can check out his work here. We did three different looks. My setup was pretty simple:

One Phottix Indra500 through a Photek 47in Softlighter v2 (camera right) with a reflector on the left.

Camera Gear:

  • Nikon D600
  • Nikon 50mm
  • Capture One Pro 10
  • Tether Tools Cables

All retouching and color grading for this shoot was done in Capture One. Here were my favorite photos from the session.

Neema Gahima

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Today, I had the pleasure of photographing Neema. She is one of my wife's friends and a refugee from the Congo here in Louisville, Ky. In 2004, after the Second Congo War (also known as the Great African War), violence was still rampant throughout Africa. Neema and her family were directly affected by this and she lost both her parents that year. After walking back from collecting water with her sister, she witness both her parents get murdered. Neema's aunt moved their family from the war-infested Congo to Tanzania to survive. They traveled by truck and lived with her father's friends for three years until they moved to Kenya in 2009. 

Life was not easy for Neema and her family in the refugee camp where they lived. It was hard to get food, water, or places to sleep. Neema grew up with Christian parents, however, there was severe discrimination against non-Muslims in the refugee camp.

In Kenya, Neema, applied to move to America. She had to go through classes to learn about America and go through interviews and medical tests. She was assigned to Louisville. Once she came to Louisville the most shocking thing about her move was that the trees were different colors in the fall and the weather was significantly colder here versus Africa.

Recording Studio Portraits

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Today I shot probably one of my favorite shoots so far this month. I had the opportunity to photograph in a tiny little studio on St Catherine Street in downtown Louisville. Most of the photos were taken in the vocal recording studio. I had my strobe positioned just outside the little window (Check out the photo to the left), pointed down to not be so harsh. All the images were shot a Nikon D600 and color graded through the new Capture One Pro 10. I absolutely love all the new updates to Capture One, it makes my editing more intuitive and powerful. 

Gear:

  • Nikon D600
  • 35mm
  • 50mm
  • Phottix Indra 500 & Odin II system
  • Photek 47in Softlighter v2
  • Capture One Pro 10
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