Historic Springfield Main Street Car Cruise

I haven’t been a car enthusiast since my high school days.  I happened on this event last summer when my good friend and photographer Woody Huband told me about a car cruise on Main Street in the historic Springfield community.  The Cruise is held the 4th Saturday of each month and depending on weather there’s no telling the variety of vintage cars you might see.

Last summer when I photographed the Cruise I didn’t know what to expect but gained some knowledge so I could hopefully capture some different images this year. The Main Street strip is probably a 1/2 mile four lane street with a median.  Cars cruise up one side and down the other.  The cars also park in the empty lots so the spectators can view them up close.  This year when I went on a Saturday, June 22, it was the first year anniversary of the cruise.  Spectators tailgate along the strip, there is usually a live band playing, and the restaurants are open.

All of the cars are not vintage as seen above.  But, you will see everything from Model T’s to Jeeps, Vans, hot rods, etc.  Some cars even display elaborate sound systems.

This year I wanted to do something different with the night time photos. Woody and I figured that if we could set up multiple flashes we might be able to make the cars stand out a little better in the dark.

After the sun set ( not much of a sun since it rained all day) I set up a flash on the ground across the street so it would backlight the cars.  To help fill in the front of the car I set up another flash on the curb slightly in front.  I used a Pocket Wizard TT1 transmitter with a AC3 Controller to trigger both flashes that had Pocket Wizard TT5 receivers.  I set both flashes on manual at about 1/2 power which helped save battery power.  I was able to control the output of each flash from the AC3 Controller on my camera.  My camera was a Canon 5D Mark 3 which was a perfect fit as it got completely dark and I had to ramp up the ISO to 3200.  At 3200 iso there was very little noise.

If you’re in the area on the 4th Saturday of the month you might want to travel over to the Springfield district on Main Street around 6pm.  Bring a lounge chair, cooler and walking shoes because you will want to walk around and get a close up look.  The owners are very gracious in letting you look at their pride and joys up close.

I never was a car enthusiast, but a night out at the Springfield Cruise will leave you drooling for more.

Hope you enjoyed the photos.

Gray

Jacksonville Engagement Session – Christina and Ron

I had the pleasure of photographing the engagement session for Christina and Ron last Saturday in the Riverside District of Jacksonville.  It was a cool morning but we got an early start so we could get a few photos of the couple drinking coffee and watching the sunrise over the St. John’s River.  Mission accomplished.

After the sunrise and coffee we worked our way up the boardwalk stopping in several locations for photos. We had gorgeous light which made for some nice photos.  The couple loved the pictures and are eager for their friends and family to see them.  A special thanks goes to my assistant Veronika who battled the wind all day while holding a reflector.  Great job Veronika.

I hope you enjoy viewing the photos as much as I did taking them.  Good luck to Christina and Ron for many years of happiness.

 

 

 

 

Beach Portraits: Johnson Family

I had a fun time at Jacksonville Beach shooting beach portraits for the Johnson Family who flew in from California, Texas and Pennsylvania to visit their parents.  We were able to get everybody together for a family photo at Jacksonville Beach on a cool, windy day.

For a group of 12 the shoot went very smoothly and orderly.  The families really enjoyed the prints and I’m sure they will offer some great memories.  Thanks Johnson family!!

Please contact me for family for corporate photography.

Baseball Portraits: Spruce Creek Baseball-MaxPreps Preseason #1

UPDATE:  February 26, 2013 – Unfortunately, Spruce Creek dropped a game in the first week of the season and has moved out of the top 25.  I’m sure they will rebound with the long season and strong pitching staff.

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I’ve shot high school sports (mostly football) for MaxPreps, a CBS Company, for the last 6-7 years.  MaxPreps is the “go to” internet authority on high school sports across the nation.  They supply statistics, rosters, schedules, professional photographs and video for all high schools. Parents and athletes can purchase professional photographs from games.

MaxPreps releases a top 10 national preseason ranking for each sport.  This year they knew Spruce Creek High School from Port Orange, Florida would be in the top ten and they assigned me to do a portrait shoot of the team.  MaxPreps did not tell me or the team where they would be ranked when we did the shoot but we had a good idea they would be ranked highly based on the returning players from last year.  The countdown began with MP naming a new team each day starting with #10 and counting to #1.  Spruce Creek ended up preseason ranked #1 in the nation.  It was a privilege to shoot portraits of the #1 team.

L-R, Zach Spivey, Jordan Brown, Coach Goodrich, Kyle Marsh, Austin Hays
Backrow-George Hutchinson, Chris Hopkins

Coach Goodrich was very accommodating by having his team out on the field on a Saturday afternoon. The session lasted about 1 1/2 hours and his daughter provided assistance with the lights and equipment.

Head Coach Johnny Goodrich

Lighting & Equipment: Here are the lighting details for those interested.  We started in 4pm sun which was setting down the left field side.  The sun provided a nice side light but created a need for some extra flash power to fill in the shadows and help separate the players from the background.  I used a Canon 580 EXII in a Lasolite EZ Box on the right side to fill the shadows.  I wanted to provide a kicker light opposite the bright sun to give a little rim to make the player separate from the background so I used a bare Canon 580EX on a stand and that seemed to work ok except the shadows caused by the baseball caps weren’t getting filled in enough for my liking.  That’s where the assistant jumped in and held a silver reflector to bounce some more light up and under the caps.  I used the same set up throughout regardless of their postion on the field.  At times I used a third bare speed light to help compliment the softbox.  You could say I had a 5 light set up with 3 speed lights, the sun and a reflector.  It sounds like overkill but it worked.

I shot the session with a Canon 5D Mark 3 and 24-70mm, 2.8 lens.  I used Pocket Wizard TT5’s on each light with a TT1 and AC3 Zone Controller on the camera.  I shot mostly in manual mode with the lights and adjusting them from camera with the Zone Controller.  The Pocket Wizard Flex System is really great to work with.

A huge thanks again to Coach Goodrich and the #1 ranked Spruce Creek Baseball Team for their hospitality.