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It’s been awhile since I’ve posted work up on the blog. I’ve decided to dig back into some of my older shoots and show you some of them. Will Tigley, a senior editor for Mabuhay Calgary asked me to photograph Gilmore Junio for an article he was writing. I gladly accepted as I love working with Will and the Mabuhay Calgary team.
We arrived early and I was able to photograph some of his practice at the word-class speed skating facility here in Calgary, the Olympic Oval. The Olympic Oval was built for the 1988 Winter Olympics and has since been deems as the world’s fastest ice. Speed skaters from around the world revere this place. Calgary’s own Gilmore Junio is no exception.
The shot below consisted of a 60″ reflective umbrella half closed. It was right above Junio to give it a dramatic feel. Will was kind enough to hold the lighting rig for me the whole time. Thanks Will!
I had brought along my 50″ x 50″ Westcott Apollo soft box as I wanted to try it out for the first time. I had used it initially for the head shot photo which started out the shoot so I reused it here. I wanted the shot to feel isolated and cold.
This shot was taken right after the umbrella shot on the stairs. I wanted a softer look so I converted the umbrella to a shoot through and just used it as a soft box. The 60″ convertible umbrella is so versatile. Whenever I get asked what lighting modifier to get first I always tell people a 60″ convertible (shoot through / reflective) umbrella.
Here Gilmore and I were joking around about not shaving for the photo shoot. I asked him to cover his mustache (it was November so he was growing it for Movember) with his skates.
Another dramatic pose using the air vents for some shape in the background. He got really cold after about a minute so we moved on.
This shot I’m quite proud of and was happy that they used it for the article. Here I had Will position himself 45 degrees from Gilmore’s head off to the left. I used the 60″ umbrella again (reflective side) half opened to feather the light. I wanted his head to be lit the most while the rest of his body would have quite a bit of light falloff. After a few shots I wasn’t liking it but I noticed I was getting some glare from the wall because of the blue glossy paint. I re positioned Gilmore to have his head right in front of the glare to make it look like I had a spotlight behind him. What seemed like a doomed composition became my favourite shot of the whole day. Gilmore was a good sport as he had to keep that pose for a few minutes. Ouch!
Here is what the publication looked like.
Here are a few more images from the shoot.
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