On Location Photography by Drew Gardner BTS video

Drew Gardner Workshop at Bert Stephani HQ Belgium from drew gardner on Vimeo.

 If you don't know who this guy is yet, then you better drop by his excellent site and blog now!  Drew is one of my favorite photographers and was the inspiration for the Mythology shoot I did a month ago.  I grabbed this video from his site, which is also available in Bert Stephani's blog, who himself is an excellent photographer and one of my faves as well. Drew had a on location photography seminar in Belgium (where Bert lives) and the video was a little behind the scene look at how Drew works.  Drew has done a series of photos with a forest theme which are absolutely my favorites.  Here's a  BTS video of some of his recent Forest shoots:


Drew Gardner Zebra Shoot Teaser from drew gardner on Vimeo.

You'll see in the video that he uses a fog machine, some big light modifiers and real animals (that's right, animals).  I love that look, but I don't have any of the above mentioned gear (not counting that he uses a $10,000++ phase one camera), so I just added my fog/smoke in Photoshop. Here's some more of Drew's forest photos compared to my Mythology photos:

Drew:

Copyright Drew Gardner

 Me:

Drew:

 Copyright Drew Gardner

Me:

 



Drew:

Copyright Drew Gardner

Me:

Okay, I know that my photos are way, way out of Drew's league (in all aspects), but the point is the lack of gear shouldn't stop you from trying.  After a few Photoshop "fog tests", I was happy with the results then applied it to the photos.  And besides, during the seminar in Belgium in the top most video, it seems that they just added the fog/smoke in Photoshop as well. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that you're happy with your results.  Have fun shooting!

Related:

Drew Gardner's Site and Blog - favorites are the Epic Fashion series, as well as the Fairy tale themed ones
Bert Stephani's site - very informative and very cool "strobist" related videos

Shooting with a Concept

For any shoot I do, may it have a concept or not, I visualize what I will shoot and sketch (terribly) what I see will be the final image. This is sort of my goal lists of the shots I wanted to achieve.  I normally sketch around 20-30 shots, hoping to get at least one that would work.  I may tweak it a little bit on the actual shoot, depending on the situation, but I'll try to get it as close as possible. (Please bear with my sketches :) )

 

I also sketch the lighting set up for each shot, even if it's just the sun lighting the whole picture.  This helps a lot during the shoot, as it helps me visualize and direct the subjects better.  Sometimes it also helps "break the ice" when I show them the sketches and have a laugh about it.

The shot above was from a couple of weeks ago in the open areas of Clark, Pampanga.  This was a former US military service base that now houses the Philippine military (I think).  It's a beautiful place with a lot of open fields and woodland areas perfect for the mythology themed shoot.  Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating with us.  We waited for the rain to slow down a little, and then started the set up.  Just before shooting, the rain started pouring again, and we were so wet that we decided to pack up and try again on a future date.  On our way back the rain stopped, and we saw this beautiful area with the setting sun lighting it.  It was around 4pm and the sun was going down fast.  

So I jumped out of the car, took out the gear as quickly as I could and had my set up ready in a few minutes.  This is where the sketches came up useful. Prior to the shoot, I have discussed to some of the subjects on what I wanted to do.  It also helped me get to know the subjects better, even though I only met them.  For those that I wasn't able to talk to, the sketches helped me visualize the set up that would be suitable for them.  The time I saved was priceless, as I was able to get as many shots that I needed.  I was shooting until it was so dark that my camera couldn't focus anymore.  Also by using portable flash units, I was able to create my light, even if the sun was going down. Here are some of the other shots for the day.

 

 It was a lot of fun and adds up to my learning.  I guess sometimes it takes a little challenge (rain) and some preparation (sketches) to make amazing photos. 

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