Project 52 ... 39

This is Ben. Ben joined us as a Year Out student in Architecture this summer.
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D200, Tamron 17 - 50mm f2.8, Sb800 shoot thro' umbrella camera left,

Vivitar 285 gridded behind Ben

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We take in students most years during their studies. Ben has spent a lot of the summer doing door and window schedules and drawing up plans on the computer.

Thanks Ben for being a good sport!

To learn more about brick sizes...

Project 52 ... 33

Say hello to Ria...
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D200, Tamron 17 - 50 f2.8, SB800 shoot thro' camera right, Vivitar 285 to rear

Ria joined our office for the summer to help out on our ever increasing workload... A great young lady who became a valuable member of the team. We shall miss her when she goes back to university.

She is seen here holding a wake board, not something you use after a funeral, but part of the extreme sports set and it has these strange boots fixed to it (no high heels...)! I am always amazed to see these surfers throw themselves around on boards that barely float and dice with the waves! Amazing!

The shot was taken with an SB800 in a shoot through umbrella, partially blocked to form the main light and a gridded Vivitar 285 to give the hair light. Thanks Ria for being such and  extreme sport...

Project 52 ... 29

Meet my little brother, Paul.
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D200, Tamron 17 - 50 f2.8, SB 800 shoot thro' umbrella, Vivitar 285 + gridspot

I have wanted to shoot Paul since we were kids... only kidding. He is the best brother a man could have. Here he is holding a samurai sword called a katana that was awarded to him on receiving his First Dan black belt grade in Wado Ryu karate. He is also sporting his yakuza style tattoo. Paul and I first started learning karate in the 70's when the Bruce Lee phenomenon hit the big screen. You couldn't get enough of Kung Fu or Karate. It was everywhere and everyone wanted to be a part of it. We both kept it up, Paul studying Wado Ryu in Ireland.

I wanted to make this photo a gritty hard edged one to show something of the karate-ka that is Paul. Unfortunately this cannot show you the blood, sweat and tears that goes into the dedication required to gain this level of achievement in karate, but believe me its there. I lit Paul with an SB 800 in a shoot through umbrella level with the camera to camera left and a Vivitar 285 directly behind Paul and about 10 feet away from him with a grid spot to control the light. I also draped the umbrella with the black/silver cover to limit the spill of light through the umbrella. The lights were in a linear formation; with Paul in the middle forming a straight line.

Both flashes were triggered with CTR 301 P, Ebay remotes, which have fired every time for me so far! Thanks Paul for a wonderful meal that night and for having the patience to sit (stand) while I took the shot.

Project 52 ... 24

Meet Cathy. A wonderful lady I met in my Spanish class!

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D200, SB 80, shoot thro' umbrella to camera left

Cathy spends half of her time here and the other half in sunny Spain. Where her excellent grasp of the language no doubt comes in handy! Her she is amongst one of her vices ... handbags! We've dealt with shoes ... sort of ... I guess its a natural progression to handbags

This was a first for me - the first use of a shoot through umbrella. The flash was set to 1/4 power and, as usual, I dropped the ambient about a stop or so. Camera setts I don't remember, but about 1/250 or so.

Thanks Cathy for being a great sport! The shot took about half an hour to set up and get right and thanks again to my VAL, Katy.