On Sunday I hopped a plane to Michigan to share what I know about off-camera flash with the Professional Photographers of West Michigan (PPWM). The folks in this group are super cool so if your a photographer looking to network in that area then hit up PPWM‘s website. They have monthly meetings and workshops to keep you learned so join their group!

I had just a few minutes with our senior model and decided to take advantage of beautiful Lake Michigan while I was there. These are some of my favorites. The two below are out of chronological order. The photo on the right was lit with one strobe at half-power using PW’s and I metered off the trees in the BG. We could have slapped on a 1/4 CTO gel to match the light but I didnt’ want her white shirt yellow (plus we didn’t have any) The photo on the left was shot in natural light (my preferred light). She was pretty brave. One foot behind her is a 20 foot fall. She totally rocked it though!

This one’s a little too cool, but I wanted to bring out that water a bit.

Can you believe she’s a senior? Crazy.

I haven’t shot in this way for some time but to me it’s like riding a bike. One strobe camera right 5 ft away at 3/4 power. Ttriggered with PW’s, and metered off of the hills.  I think it was something crazy like F/10. Although this looked good on the cam it was actually a half-stop under so we could have opened up to F/8 but would have blown out the sky. I bumped it up a half-stop in LR and that was it.  As it sits his shirt it borderline being blown out. The dynamic range on the Xti is craptasitc! FWIW this is the LAST photo that will ever be taken on this camera.  After three years I am finally retiring them (actually Max is getting one , as I eagerly await my 7D that ships on Oct 11th. I am going to sleep with that camera. He shall be my friend. I shall call him squishy.

Here’s a couple of photos from our little family vacation to Austin/San Antonio. I didn’t take that many photos because it was a challenge making sure Max didn’t fall into The Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio.  That thing is evil.  Whoever designed it didn’t think about folks with strollers and wheelchairs.  We found like one ramp, but the majority of the time was spent carrying Max in his stroller up and over walkways to get to the other side of the Riverwalk.  Talk about a workout!

Here’s Max with his little “Monkey Leash” attached.  It’s like a backpack and the tail is a leash.  It’s a cool thing because this one time he tripped and almost fell but I saved him from the eminent ground smack by yanking on the monkey’s tail.

So because I didn’t get a photo of Max and the Alamo the first time we went, the next day we went back (like not even 1/2 mile walk from our hotel) and Max just wasn’t having it.  Max is the best kid in the world but man when he get’s mad his face looks worse than a constipated fat man the day after Thanksgiving.  The whole time all he wanted was my camera.  I can’t blame him.  I’ve had this thing in his face since he was born.

Overall we had a blast and I can’t wait until he get’s just a bit older so we can do some really cool stuff like Schlitterbaun!