Tampa

Cars & Couture 2012 Tampa International Jet Center

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Ferrari 458 Italia & Ferrari FF at Cars & Couture 2012 event in Tampa - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable release

  • If I took your photograph at this event, CONTACT ME for your portrait!

I was given a media pass to the Cars & Couture 2012 event at the Tampa International Jet Center that was held to benefit the charity Autism Speaks.  Being an avid supercar fan, I was very excited to have the opportunity to photograph some of my favorite cars in a cool setting.  In the above photo, you can see my absolute current favorite car, the Ferrari 458 Italia on the left.  This was also my first chance to get to see the new Ferrari FF (on the right) in person.  I thought the FF looked smaller than I thought it would being a 4-seater with ample cargo space.  

An Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione looks out over the Tampa International Jet Center airfield - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable release

I arrived at 6pm as the sun was getting low in the sky allowing me to catch some of the sunset mixed with the hangar location of the event as seen in the above shot of a very rare Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione.  I like the design of this Alpha quite a lot.  It was given the best spot, perhaps because it arrived late!

Cars & Couture 2012 in Tampa featured private jets too! - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseI must say that an airplane hangar makes a great venue for showcasing cars and allowing guests to have both an indoor and outdoor experience, especially when there is a big view of the Florida sky at dusk as a backdrop.  It was a little hot inside the hangar though as even this late into October Florida refuses to acknowledge that it is in fact autumn.

NASCAR was even represented at Cars & Couture 2012 in Tampa! - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseI had a great time at this event and am very thankful I was given a press pass.  My supercar itch, is for the moment, somewhat scratched!

Flower Arrangement Photography Lesson in Tampa with Gopal

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Getting things setup to photograph flowers using an industrial light system in TampaI have taught over 200 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons to people who were mostly hobbyists wanting to get better at making photographs for themselves.  However, I am increasingly teaching people who want to get better at photography for improving their own business.  These are what I call Commercial DSLR Photography Lessons.  Such was the case when I went over to Tampa to teach Gopal (holding camera above) how to photograph flower arrangements using the lighting and gear he currently had.  

I still began the lesson like I do any other, by teaching Gopal my step-by-step processing for setting the camera in order to procduce a well exposed and sharp image in any given shooting condition.  From there we went to using his very specific setup in the same room he would be photographing the floral arrangements.  I gave advice on where to better position the lights and how to manipulate the exposure to produce the darker overall tone to the images that he wanted.  

In addition to this shooting process we also covered a little bit of digital editing workflow.  I look forward to seeing his final images using all we covered that afternoon.

Florida Governor Rick Scott at Office Depot Foundation children's event in Tampa

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Florida Governor Rick Scott at Office Depot Foundation August 2012 - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/100th SB-600 @ 1/2 power hotshoe mountedPeriodically as a Tampa Event Photographer I get to photograph government officials and politicians ranging from the Mayor of St. Petersburg all the way to the U.S. Secretary of Labor.  This afternoon I had the opportunity to photograph Florida Governor Rick Scott when he appeared at the Office Depot Foundation event celebrating its charity work giving away backpacks full of school supplies to Tampa Bay area children.

Florida Governor Rick Scott back row left with school children - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 @ 1/2 power hotshoe mountedThis was my third time photographing an event for Office Depot who I am very glad to continue to have a very good business relationship with.  Shooting these events helped me to learn the real world efforts Office Depot puts forth that directly help the local community any particular store is in.  

Young Tampa girls getting to meet Governor Rick Scott of Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 @ 1/4 power hotshoe mountedPeople of all ages were excited for their chance to shake hands with the Governor and have a little chat with him.  I was frankly surprised that these girls showed up early to the event just for their "grip & grin" chance as it is called in the industry.

Everyone in attendance with Florida Governor Rick Scott (center back) - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 @ 1/2 power hotshoe mountedIt was a bit of a tight fit, but everyone honored at the event was able to be fit into a single photo.  I stood up on a chair to be able to make this shot, guessing that standing on the floor right in front of them may not be enough.  The event took place right in an Office Depot in a small area prepared for less people than the many that actually came!  It was nice and cozy though.

Everyone competing for Governor Rick Scott's words.I was by no means the only photographer there.  Plus, there were several camera men.  So I had to compete for space and positioning most of the time at the event, as well as predict where the best angle to photograph the Governor would be as he mingled throughout the store.  It was a fun challenge and kind of cool to be around the local press and media.  Thank you again to Office Depot for the opportunity!

UPDATE:  see me (left side) in action in a photo taken by the Governor's official photographer

1974 Jaguar E-Type Series III V-12 Convertible Tampa Car Photography

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1974 Jaguar E-Type Series V-12 Convertible photographed for RM Auction in Tampa - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/200th tripod mounted with cable releaseIn June I was hired by RM Auctions to photograph a 1974 Jaguar E-type Series III V-12 Convertible.  I was not allowed to publish any of the photographs I made of the car until it went to auction.  I was happy to see that it sold for $82,500!

The interior of a 1974 Jaguar E-Type Series III V-12 Convertible in Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/40th Strobist: SB-800 in brolly above car & SB-600 in car facing dashboard

I was given a shotlist by RM Auctions of exactly the exterior angles that wanted photographs of.  However, with the interior I had a little more freedom for choosing details to highlight along with the required engine and ID plate shots.  Thankfully the car was in an air conditioned room to start with as I had to photograph the Jaguar around 1pm in the afternoon on a hot Florida Saturday afternoon.  

The V-12 engine of a 1974 Jaguar E-Type Series III Convertible in Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 in brolly above frame left & SB-600 under the right wheel housePhotographing an engine with lighting just from above, no matter how powerful, was not enough to bring out all of its details.  So I placed one speedlight right on the floor under the engine (beside the tire).  Again, it was nice to be in a climate controlled room as I worked out the best lighting setup.

Profile view of 1974 Jaguar E-Type Series III Convertible in Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160thMoving the car outside for the exterior shots of course very quickly became hot work, especially since the car was not in running condition and needed to be pushed.  Plus, there was a very finite amount of space to use so I could not simply just walk around the car in a 360 getting the angles RM Auctions requested.  For each shot the car had to be pushed around again, and the top taken up and then down.  

Steering wheel of 1974 Jaguar E-Type Series III V-12 Convertible Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 in brolly above right & SB-600 in passenger footwellI used three different lenses to photograph the Jaguar.  For this detail shot of the steering wheel, I put on my Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro f/2.8G lens to go for maximum detail and very shallow depth of field.  This was one of the shots where I had a choice on which interior features to highlight.

Trunk emblem of Jaguar E-Type V12 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 in brolly to frame rightIt was exciting to work for a high profile client like RM Auctions, whom I have seen featured on car shows I watch regularly like Chasing Classic Cars.  There is not much I like to photograph more than a great car.  I hope they have more cars in the Tampa Bay area for me to photograph for their next auction.

Ford GT supercar in black Tampa Car Photography

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Making the most of an opportunity to photograph a rare Ford GT in Tampa, FloridaWhile on location in Tampa for RM Auctions to photograph a 1974 Jaguar E Type (photos cannot be published until July), at the end of that shoot I had an opportunity to take a few shots of a Ford GT also on site.  This supercar could not be moved and was just parked along side a building with about a third of the car in shade, the other two-thirds in direct afternoon Florida sunlight.  I knew to get any kind of detail and exposure worth having I would need to make it an HDR shot, and I went all the way to the max of 9 exposures that my Nikon D300 does automatically in bracketing mode.  I was for the most part pleased with the results of the HDR process (which does nothing for the reflections in the paint, unfortunately), but still did not like the foreground nor the background.  To get the foreground like the above I Quick Selected it in Photoshop CS5 and burned and underexposed it, also cloning out a few stray pieces of debris.  I repeated that process for the background and just painted it completely white.

In the above sequence you can see the difference HDR makes and then how cleaning up the foreground and eliminating the background puts the focus on the car itself.  Now about the reflections in the car, there is nothing I can do about those.  Small reflections can be cleaned up, but entire body panels cannot.  Still, I am happy with the results and glad to have the chance to photograph a Ford GT, a car made famous recently by Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear who purchased one himself.

Tampa Model Portfolio Shoot Train Tracks

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Model Katie posing on train tracks in Tampa - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/2000th 

The above image featuring model Katie is from my archives.  A few years ago I was not posting about all the shooting I was doing since at that time I was only a part-time photographer, not the full-time professional I have been the past two+ years.  This train station is near downtown Tampa and we had to ask if it was ok to go out onto the tracks for a few shots.  I do not even think these particular train tracks were in use anymore, or if they are the platform could use some major rennovations!  

Katie was a great model that day in a wardrobe I thought matched the train track setting perfectly.  It was almost effortless to photograph her as she seemed to instinctively know on her own the best pose.

For this shot I got low just below her eye level and chose to make as shallow of a depth of field shot as the location provided.  It turned out to be my favorite of our model portfolio shoot that day.

Downtown Tampa Architecture & Landmarks in Black and White

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Sykes Building downtown Tampa Florida black & white - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR on tripod with cable releaseAfter shoots for specific client requests I often find I can create a subsequent set of images from the remaining shots.  Such is the case with these black & white photographs featuring downtown Tampa and surrounding areas and landmarks.  The client wanted landscape orientated shots for a use in an existing website template.  Still, while out making those images I did rotate my DSLR to produce a few portrait orientated ones just in case the client might have a need for them and also just because I thought they would make cool shots and did not want to leave any unmade photographs that I saw the potential for.

Tampa Theater marquee in black & white - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/11 ISO 200 1/25th single exposure tripod mounted with cable releaseThe client actually chose the above image of Tampa Theatre, which did not standout to me personally in my initial culling, but after editing and convesion to black & white I kind of liked it because of the below eye level composition.  I closed my tripod's legs to use only about half of its full height shooting from just around my own waist level.

The new Tampa Museum of Art with krew on Hillsborough River - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th single exposure tripod mounted with cable releaseThe new Tampa Museum of Art building is very modern looking in person.  However, I thought in the photograph above its rectangular architecture made it look more like buildings from the 1950s, especially in black & white.  I saw the crew rowing team and waited for them to come into the shot to make the composition I wanted.

Tampa First Baptist Church with traffic in black & white - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseI had no idea the above building was the Tampa First Baptist Church.  I saw people coming and going from it while I was in the area over the course of the afternoon and thought it was a courthouse or some other type of government building.  Even while editing it I never even noticed the largest FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH engraved on top of the columns.  I had to look up which building it was in Google to surprisingly find out it was a church.  

Tampa Downtown Skyscraper Skyline View in black & white - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThis last photograph is of a much more familiar and oft-photographed subject matter, the downtown Tampa skyline featuring the unique skyscraper in the center, the cylindrical Sykes Building.  The moon can be seen rising in the upper left of the image.  

I encourage everyone to go through past shoots and see if you can find a whole different photo story than the intended purpose of the shoot from the remaining images.  Be sure and post a link to it in the comments below.