Milwaukie Boy’s Soccer
I’ve noticed a trend. People really like my staggered setup, multiple light group/team photos and it seems I’ve been asked to shoot them quite a bit lately, which is ok by me because they are fun to do. When Milwaukie’s coach called me up wanting to take a cool photo for the team, I said no problem. being a former Mustang myself, I always jump at the chance to shoot photos for my Alma Mater. Plus, they are literally 8 blocks from my studio, so the commute is good. :).
When talking about setting aup a shoot time he mentioned they get done with practice at 7pm, which was perfect since sunset was 8pm. I thought it would be cool to shoot the photo away from the high school field and just a few blocks from the school (and my office) is a boat ramp/tiny little beach area along the Willamette River. I thought it would be perfect and it was. Again i used 4 Alien Bee lights and a couple of speedlights, using my now patented “gaff tape the crap out of the strobe and put it on the person’s back” method of getting light where I need it in the group. Here are a couple frames of the setup (that’s my stud intern Nick checking to make sure everything is firing):
I also video taped the whole shoot, Nick told me all the cool photographers video tape themselves and post it online and I want to be cool, so, once I figure out how to edit the video and such I’ll post it. Once again the Vagabond proved to be a true workhorse, firing all the lights without any problem. This time, I hard wired 3 of the lights together and fired three lights on one wizard, to free up pocket wizards for the speedlights. I need more pocket wizards!
After the team photo was done I pulled one of the seniors aside, he had booked with me to shoot his portraits next week, to make a cool photo of him for that. I basically used the same setup as the team photo, just had him stand close to the light I would use as a key and then by happy accident I got some nice fill from the other lights in the setup and it turned out nice. I’m happy.
Craig Mitchelldyer is a Portland, Ore. based freelance photographer who has been working in the region for 10 years. His work has been featured in major national and international publications including The Seattle PI, The Oregonian, USA Today, The New York Times, Newsweek, Outdoor Life, Canada Globe and Mail, Golf World, Sports Illustrated, Athlon Sports Annuals and most newspapers in Oregon. Learn more about his work at www.craigmitchelldyer.com.
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