Ready to Roll - 2009 Playboy Jazz

Well the camera bag is packed, I have my stuff from Playboy... Now I'm just waiting on Saturday and the weather. It really looks kinda crappy outside today! I'm sure that things will clear before Saturday.

Saturday's lineup:

The Neville Brothers

A tribute to Kind of Blue @ 50 - Jimmy Cobb's So What Band

Norman Brown's Summer Storm

Jon Faddis Quartet

The Jack Sheldon Orchestra

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

Pete Escovedo Orchestra featuring the whole Escovedo family [including fine Sheila E].

Esperanza Spalding

Cos of Good Music

New Birth Brass Band

Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Jazz Ensemble

2009 Playboy Jazz Festival – Inside the Camera Bag

I will be covering the 2009 Playboy Jazz Festival this weekend at the Hollywood Bowl as part of the Playboy photo crew. Peter Iovino is my partner in crime. I have covered this two day event for nearly a decade. Over the years, I have brought so many different items in my bag. I even brought remote cameras last year. The more stuff that you bring, the more stuff that you have to carry! I thought that it would be a good opportunity to discuss what will be in the camera bag this year at Playboy.

Cameras

2-Nikon D300 bodies: The DX format is ideal in situations where you need the benefit of a telephoto lens. A 400mm lens on the D300 is comparable to a 600mm on a 35mm camera. During the film days, I would bring long heavy glass to get the same results that I can now get with shorter, lighter lenses.

Glass

300 f/4: Back in the days of film, a fast super telephoto lens was a must. Over the years, I have brought the 400 f/2.8 and the 300 f/2.8 lens to Playboy. This year, my long lens is a 300 f/4. It's a great lens and it only weighs 3 lbs. The 300 f/2.8 and the 400 f/2.8 weigh in @ 6 and 10 lbs. The Hollywood Bowl is a large venue, so weight becomes an issue after the first mile. Plus, I have all access. So, I can get closer to the action, when necessary. I remember the time that I photographed Oscar Peterson @ the Bowl and all media had to shoot from an assigned spot way behind the sound board. I was shooting film then, and a 600 f/2.8 would have been nice.

80-200 f/2.8: This lens usually ends up producing most of the great images on stage. it's really almost like having a 300mm lens during the film days.

Nikon TC-14EII 1.4x: I can use this Teleconverter on both the 300 and 80-200 lenses to get a little closer to the action on stage. The loss of one f-stop isn't really a problem in the digital age; especially with the D300. Image quality at 800 ISO is outstanding.

17-55 f/2.8: This lens is my choice for crowd shots & artist shots back stage.

12-24 f/4: This lens by Tokina is made especially for DX cameras and gives me extreme wide angle coverage.

Other Gear

Sekonic L-558 Meter: I rely on this light meter to get accurate light readings. The spot meter is invaluable once the sun sets, because In-camera meters are sometimes fooled by stage lights.

2- SB 800 Nikon Speedlights: As a rule, the stuff on stage is ambient light only; no flash. The strobes are for shots of the crowd and for artist close-ups back stage.

2- Pocket Wizard Transceivers: I always bring along these remotes because I never know when I want to double light a shot. I use them in conjunction with the Nikon speedlights, but I could also use them to fire a remote camera.

Trek-Tech T Pod: This little tripod is great! There are situations where the monopod is difficult to use. This baby tripod is a great alternative.

Manfrotto 680B monopod: This is attached to the 300 f/4 90% of the time. A steady hand would be nice!

Sony Laptop, Sprint Phone card, 2-300GB External USB hard drives: Speed is critical today! A huge responsibility of the photo crew is servicing media with images; not the next day, but that day.

Here's a quick look at my workflow: Artist A takes the stage, I take a few shots and then head backstage to the computer. I use Nikon transfer to get the images off the memory cards. I then use a program called Breeze Browser Pro to quickly view, caption and tag images. The whole process is repeated for each artist.

The two matching 300GB drives are for safety. Everything that I shoot is backed up on two drives. Several years ago, after an incredible Saturday at Playboy... Wynton Marsalis & Arturo Sandoval on stage, I lost most of what I shot and did not have a backup. Lesson learned!

Once we have our selects for media distribution, I use the Sprint phone card with EVDO speed to upload images directly to outlets on deadline and to a secure online media gallery as well. Playboy publicist, Nina Gordon can then very easily access and send photos.

The most important thing in my camera bag… the knee pads! Most of the shots from Playboy are taken while kneeling on hard concrete.

Looking back at these images from 2005, most of my best shots were taken with the 80-200 f/2.8 lens. The shots of Joe Lovano & Joshua Redman were taken with a 400 f/2.8, but it was a lot of lens to carry around all day.

Super telephoto lenses aren't cheap either... The 300 f/2.8 @ $5,099.95 & the 400 f/2.8 @$8,999.95... make these lenses necessary purchase items for sports shooters only. I usually rent these items from Samy's, but the replacement cost is on my mind every time that I sit these babies down. I personally cringe during football season every time that I see a player run into a photographer on the side lines.

A message to young photographers: The one thing that I have learned over the years is that you can bring a lot of stuff or you can bring the right stuff. Size up the assignment, and then leave the dream lens or lights at home... Keep it simple. It took me a while to figure it out. My back thanks me daily!

These shot of Poncho Sanchez, taken a few weeks before the 2005 PBJF, show the Nikon 300 f/4 at work.



I'm hoping to do a few live blog updates on Saturday & Sunday from backstage @ The Hollywood Bowl and give a little more insight. I will also be on Twitter & Facebook. I get most of my breaking news info today on Twitter. So, I'm hoping to share the energy of Playboy with jazz fans everywhere via Twitter.


Playboy Jazz is an incredible event! Thanks Hef for your vision back in Chicago... circa 1959, when you gave birth to the Playboy Jazz Festival. Your baby is still packing them in.

UPDATE: Just rented a Sigma 170-500mm lens for Playboy Jazz. The Nikon 80-200 is about the same size & weigh, but the zoom ratio of this lens is crazy! it will be a real asset during day time shooting. The f/5-6.3 variable f-stop may be a problem though at night. Most of the night shots come from the stage pit anyway.

Lesson Learned

I tried an experiment yesterday during the wedding of Marsha and Joshua… Could I share their wedding day with friends, near & far using tech? Well, I left home equipped with my Blackberry, laptop, Sprint phone card and excitement.

WEDDING LOGISTICS — the Challenges

Wedding: St. Timothy’s Catholic Church / Reception: The Sofitel Hotel, Beverly Hills

I knew going in that the church would be the X factor. Most churches have rules of engagement. Some Catholic churches are especially tough to work in. In this case, I could not use flash and I had no access to a frontal view of the couple during the service. I brought along a remote camera, but I could only place it in the balcony. It was pretty dark inside this beautiful church, so the 50 f/1.4 lens was my lens of choice. I ended up using a 50mm f/2.5 lens on the Canon remote from the balcony. I would have used something wider, if I were covering a church service there. Very few wedding couples have the deep pockets to fill the seats of a big church like this for their wedding day.

The Sofitel sits across the street from the Beverly Center. Celebrities hang out there, so hotel security was on my mind every time that I entered public areas. I get Paparazzi treatment sometimes at venues like this. Maybe, that's why the lobby is so dark... lots of black walls and tones to help the stars hide. I saw rap artist Heavy D in the valet area when I was leaving. By daylight, the hotel restaurant is pretty low key. When I left, the velvet rope was up, and bouncers were turning away people from this spot.

It’s a beautiful hotel, but cell service is pretty spotty inside. I encountered a problem uploading images during the reception and asked about securing Wi-Fi… no Wi-Fi in the ballroom. Solution… I moved the laptop closer to the window.

A quick note on ambiance: A beautiful location like Jamaica... this church & hotel are best viewed with light. Darkness, or challenging light make it really difficult for both photographers and videographers to tell the story. I used remote strobes fired by Pocket Wizard remotes to shoot most of the reception. It was still pretty dark. People in the room will remember how fab the setting was, but a dark setting will rob distant friends from sharing in the experience.

TECH CHALLENGES

I was able to post images and updates flawlessly using my Blackberry and UberTwitter to both Twitter and Facebook. The nice part about UberTwitter was the ability to geotag the photos.

I also used Tweetdeck from the laptop to post a few images. One problem… the tiny URL led to a photo of a moose instead of the wedding image that I selected. Care in typing is critical when adding a message to a tiny URL posting. I probably changed one character in the tiny URL by mistake. I had to pull that posting from Facebook quick, once I found out... Thanks Isidra!

SmugMug rocks! I had created a SmugMug gallery for Marsha and Joshua on Thursday right after our session at Manhattan Beach. I sent that link to Marsha via email and posted it on her Facebook Wall. I made sure to add a note with the posting that I would be updating the gallery on the wedding day, so friends and family could follow. During the reception, I was able to add photos quickly using the laptop/Sprint card. I added video today.

I also created a gallery on Facebook. That gallery was still empty when I got home from the wedding… nothing but problems. Java this… error that… The Facebook uploader would not work for me from the hotel. Fortunately, the SmugMug link was on her Facebook page already and it was working.

LESSON LEARNED

I knew going in that there would be a few challenges. I’m pretty pleased though with the results. I was able in the end to harness the internet and use it to broadcast emotions and images of the wedding to distant family… not the next week… not the next day… but, during the wedding on the wedding day.

I will be using this technology during June from the Playboy Jazz Festival and also from Chicago when I cover the NAWBO national convention. I plan to even use my blog to post profiles of women in business during the NAWBO event. I’m loving tech right now!

CAMERA BAG – TECH STUFF

2- Nikon D300 bodies / 4 lenses / 6 SB speedlights
1 - Canon 40D / 50 2.5 Macro
A few light stands, umbrellas, 2- Lumedyne power packs, 4- Pocket Wizard remotes, & a Sekonic meter. I brought a tripod along so that I could set up a remote camera. I also had the Canon G-9 in my bag for video. I’m not a videographer, but I thought that a few clips would be a nice touch.

Making The Sale

The last time that I created a headshot for local realtor Janice Mills, the California real estate market was booming. These are very different times! The good news according to Janice… “Things are getting better for first time buyers.”

Well Janice was in need of an updated headshot, so she stopped by yesterday. Thank you Janice for allowing me to use this image to provide instruction for young photographers.

I used 4 Nikon SB 800 speedlights to create this image. The main light [1] is bounced into a small 32 inch umbrella. You still can’t beat the light quality and portability of an umbrella. The fill light [2] is fitted with a LumiQuest Ultrasoft. It’s like having a small soft box on the strobe. It attaches quickly by Velcro and fits nicely in my camera bag. I used a new item, the HONOPHOTO grid on my hair light [4]. It gives you a focused beam of light, which is the surest way to avoid lens flare from a hair or kicker light. Finally, I used a LumiQuest Pocket Bouncer on the background to provide a little subject separation.



The last time that Janice and I got together, the Dynalight light system was my lighting option. But these small speedlights, triggered by Pocket Wizards is growing on me real fast. Let's see... fifty pounds vs. less than twenty.

I’m heading to Chicago next month for the National Association of Women Business Owners [NAWBO] National Conference and I sure would love to leave the Dynalights at home.

Again, thank you Janice. Check her out if you need a local realtor. Just a closing thought... Even during the Great Depression, farmers were fertilizing and planting seeds. A new headshot... social networking... blogging... or just trying something new... can reap wonderful harvests!

Janice J. Mills

A Little Planning Pays Dividends!

I photographed finance guru Mellody Hobson on Saturday at the AARP Financial Freedom Tour stop in Los Angeles. She is simply amazing to watch! More on that in a minute.

A few portraits and group shots are required at most events. The plan Saturday was to take these shots before the event in a small meeting/green room. Most meeting rooms are boring. So my plan was to find a spot close by that could work better. Fortunately just five steps outside the room was this wonderful location

It was near the pool, but private enough. There was a small overhang above the area that could work well for bounce lighting. So I first took a reading of the ambient light with my light meter… f/5.6 @ 1/60 sec. @ 400 ISO. I set up one SB800 on the ground behind the subject position for a little kick on the background. To complete the lighting, I bounced one SB800 from the overhang and had another SB800 in the hotshoe.

Sure, I could have used on camera strobe… and I could have taken the photo in the small meeting room. But I was looking for something just a little different. Plus, that option was already available in the event that my client didn’t like my preferred option. I’m sure glad that things worked out! The lesson here for young photographers is to look for other options and be prepared if they don’t work out.

Now a few words about Mellody Hobson… First of all, she is brilliant! I listened while she talked finance to an AARP group and was mesmerized by her insights and life story. Then she showed images from her school [Ariel Community Academy] in Chicago where the students are taught about finance. The results are amazing! Before ending her address, she spoke about an upcoming special on ABC, “Unbroke: Everything You Need to Know About Money,” to premiere May 29 where everyone from Will Smith to the Jonas Brothers will join forces to talk money. The most touching moment for me though was when she went into the audience to give hugs to a few people. Smart, beautiful and down to earth.

The AARP Financial Freedom Tour – Next stop NYC on May 9, 2009