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Subaru WRX STI

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Here are the final photos I took of my buddy's Subaru WRX STI. First off this car is an amazing machine. Just hearing this thing race down the highway is incredible. We wanted to make a short video and a set of photos that looked like they belonged in a car magazine or could be used for promotion from Subaru. 

*Disclaimer: I was not paid by Subaru for these photos, this was just a test shoot*

This first shot was the biggest composite and took the longest. This was shot on top of a parking garage rooftop late on a Sunday night. Security was nice enough to let us setup a "commercial" shoot in there garage. I wanted to highlight the front of the car closest to the camera. I took a couple base images with different exposures and settled for a slightly darker exposure. Then used a Phottix Indra 500 through a 7-foot softbox to highlight each part of the hood, bumper, wheel and side. I composited the photos in photoshop then applied a color grade. 

I did the same composite method for this one. This was shot in the parking garage. This wasn't my favorite of the two composite photos, but it still turned out pretty cool.

This last one was shot on our second run of shooting on the new bridge. Check out the video below to see the first run!

Subaru WRX STI - Teaser

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Last weekend, my buddies and I shot a car commercial and some promotional photos of a Subaru STI. We shot a rolling shot on the new bridge in Louisville, Ky and some photos on a parking garage roof. I'm still working on the photos so be on the lookout for those. Here is the final video.

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.

Derby City Crossfit

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This past week I did a test shoot at Derby City Cross Fit with a friend who coaches there. I was looking to expand my portfolio a little and add some fitness/sports photos into it. I like to do test shoots to add some more work to my portfolio without the pressure of delivering photos to a paying client. I walked away with a few good photos to add. I had never shot anything like this and went it hoping for a least one solid photo to add to my portfolio. 

I feel like I can get tunnel vision one photoshoots and focus only on one look or one setup; test shoots help to relax me and help me master different lighting setups. 

Equipment Used:

  • Nikon D600
  • Nikon 50mm
  • Nikon 35mm
  • Phottix Indra 500 + Odin II system
  • Photek 45in softlighter v2