Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association

Dan and I shot videos and stills for the FFVA at five different farms over a two-day period in December of 2012.  The print material was designed by "Say It Loud" in Orlando.  It was a whirlwind of locations and challenges, but we got some good shots and the client was happy.
Steve Williams photography and video.

 

 

Citrus Memorial Hospital

Shooting actual surgery is very cool--and sort of creepy.  They just go about their business as if it's just another Thanksgiving Day turkey, but then you realize...there is a human in there somewhere.

Shooting Planes

I've never shot a plane before, well, not a regular plane for a friend.  I did shoot some interiors for a corporate client of a jet interior.  But when Richard asked if I could take some photos of his Beechcraft, I said "sure".
It ended up that they liked them so much they made giant enlargements for their hanger and home.

Solar Ad--First Green Bank

Sometimes it's interesting to see how a photo gets used (or abused) in the final layout.  This was an ad I shot for First Green Bank.

Here's the initial photo:

and how it was used in the ad:

 

 

 

Old Dog--Mickey Carroll

My old friend Mickey Carroll has a new CD out called "Old Dogs".  It's really wonderful, and I had a fun time creating his album cover with the help of his daughter, Jessica.  We shot the photo in Mickey's outdoor bathtub here in Mount Dora. 

QmedRx Video

This is a new video I directed and shot for QmedRx, a custom compounding lab.  Editing and voice-over by Candace Crowe Design in Orlando.

Head Bangers

There are times when earplugs come in very handy...this was one of them.

 

 

 

UCF Foundation annual report

I shot most of the photos for the University of Central Florida Foundation annual report, which had a theme of showing the diversity of people who give and what those funds create.  UCF is also my alma mater, so it was nice to be back on campus.

Rollins College

Rollins College called me in to photograph an old tradition at their school where incoming students attend a ceremony where they all hold up candles (now electronic) in a beatuful, but very dark, chapel.  I could have made it much brighter, but the key was getting the feeeling of the event where everyone was only lit by the glow of the candles.  My new Nikon D800 has an amazing ability to shoot in very low light conditions with incredible sharpness--still, not an easy shot.

Galley show in Mount Dora, FL

I've created a few photo books for my upcoming gallery show at the Gatehouse here in Mount Dora.
Let's see if this link works for the "Places & Things" book:
http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/interests/black-portfolio-8757569?vk=qXDa8vUQMk

or this embed:

| Start your own Photo Books | Create custom Christmas Cards

Oh Cool, it worked.  Here's the "Bodies" book:

| Start your own Photo Books | Create custom Christmas Cards

And the third one, "People":

| Start your own Photo Books | Create custom Christmas Cards

Pat Burke and the Lilliputions

Pat Burke is a former NBA player who now runs a basketball camp for kids here in Mount Dora.  When Pulse Magazine decided to do a story on him, I came up with the idea to make him a true "larger than life" character with some of his students.  Realizing that this was far beyond my abilities with Photoshop, I enlisted the help of Ryan Jacobson at www.ryandigital.com who did a great job.  We spent a lot of time talking about how to make this work and I could not have have done it without him.
I first had to draw a sketch of where I wanted to place the "miniature" kids on Pat to make sure it was visually balanced and physically possible.  The other thing is that the kids had to be photographed at the same angle as if they were hanging onto a 14 foot tall man.  This required us to shoot from the same angle as Pat (from the floor) and hang the students up high off of a ladder so that we were looking up at them.

Here's the final shot:

and here are some variations we went through in retouching:
This is what bad retouching looks like--it's the quick test I sent Ryan for placement.
We decided it was better balanced with the boys separated.

This is Ryan's better version on a black background.

We also considered using a basketball court background, but it just got too busy looking.

And these are some of the shots of the kids that went into the final.

Big thanks to my assistant Bill and great help from Kevin too!

Our "rappelling" girl

Knowing that it would be reduced down to basketball size, we had our model hand on to a large ball.

We had to shoot her hanging legs separately

Pat was a great sport, and seemingly up for anything, even though I'm not sure he knew what he was getting into at first!  Thanks Pat.

Grand Canyon Rafting

This was an 8-day trip on a large, motorized raft on the Colorado River through 280 miles of the Grand Canyon.  My friends Lucia, Mike and Kyrie went with Grand Canyon Expeditions  http://www.gcex.com/ and highly recommend them.  We had great guides, wonderful food and an adventure we will never forget.  As Mike says, “It’s hard to describe in words and difficult to show in photos”.  For those of you who have been up on the rim of the Grand Canyon and looked down to that tiny little river at the bottom—that’s where we were. 

At the beginning of the trip, you can drive to the river, just a few miles downstream from Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell.  We got in the boats there at Lees Ferry and got out 280 miles later (and 1500 feet lower) at Pearce Ferry, the beginning of Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.  In between those, the canyon rises up on each side to a height of almost a mile.  In some places it’s very narrow and you get a sense of the height of the walls, but down in the middle with all of those tourists up at the top it’s 7 miles wide, but still incredibly beautiful.  Since the water is released from the bottom of the dam, the temperature is around 50 degrees—so cold my feet could only take about 30 seconds before cramping.  As you go down river it gradually warms up to a balmy 60 degrees and is almost bearable after a hot but dry 100 degree day.  Interesting note:  there are “tides” on the river.  The height of the river varies a foot or so, depending on how much water is released by the dam, which depends of how much electricity they’re making—more during the day, less at night.   

Each day we got up early, maybe 6am, I’m not sure, as thankfully our phones had no reception for the entire trip (for you catastrophisers, the guides had a satellite phone in case of emergency).  Coffee and a hot breakfast were made for us, we’d pack our bags, form a line to get everything on the two boats, and off we’d go down the river.  Each day had numerous stops for hikes up side canyons or to waterfalls, and always for lunch.  We were lucky to have a great group of people, 15 in all, on our boat.  Besides the four of us, there was a group of Australians, three generations of women and lucky for us, a geologist.

I always thought that the Grand Canyon was carved by the Colorado River over billions of years—not quite so.  The canyon as we know it is fairly recent—maybe 20 million years or so.  As the earth was lifted in this area, the water kept following the lowest part, and yes, it did do some of the excavating, but if the land had not risen, it would be just another river.  You can see rocks at the bottom that are over one billion years old, and distinct layers from way before the Dinosaurs.  I found it endlessly entertaining and was always asking our geologist dumb questions.  One day we came across a group of rafters who were fundamentalist Christians, explaining to their large group of children how all of this was only 6000 years old and largely formed by the Great Flood.  They had a pamphlet which explained the whole thing that I found very interesting.

I highly recommend the trip.  I did the first half in a non-motorized raft 30 years ago, and I’m glad I got to see the whole canyon this time.  It’s not for everyone, as Rachel wisely knew.  It’s camping.  They bring everything out, which includes the communal toilet.  You eventually get used to peeing off the boat or into the river in front of each other.  It’s camping.  There are no tents, as there are no bugs to speak of and no rain this time of year.  You just lay down a provided sleeping bag on your tarp and look up at the endless stars, all put there 6000 years ago.

Here’s the link to my Grand Canyon Rafting photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/100957696235748014455/GrandCanyonRaftingTrip#

Be sure to see the video of us going through a large rapid—it’s at the end of the photos.

Steve

Yoga teacher and studio

This was a photo shoot for Veronica at Good Vibrations Yoga.  She and her business partner Toni got into some amazing yoga positions, and I'm telling you, I got tired just watching them!  They are truly amazing athletes and wonderful people. 
Big thanks to my assistand Dennis for staying on that boomed hair light!

It's really NOT the size of the lens that matters.