The funnest, most chilled shoot ever.

One of two things needs to happen... Well, this isn't really an ultimatum, i was going to say: I need a website for file hosting, or i need to be more critical in my image selection. Out of the 300ish photo's we shot this day, i have narrowed it down to 21 that i really love and would be stoked to put my name on. 21 out of 300+?. Thats still a lot. And I do need a website soon if im going to start getting paid jobs for myself. So both actually need to happen. Also I spent alot of time in Lightroom with these, where usually I figure out a specific look that im going for, with these, every shot was so different in terms of dynamic, feel, setting, lighting and exposure that almost every scene we shot needed individual tweaks.

The concept of the shoot was..... there is no concept. I just felt like shooting something colourful and fresh and something with a bit of life. I managed to convince a friend quite easily. All was set. We had great weather and great light to shoot. The wait for the evening light really paid off. Next challenge is to get up super early to do a sunrise shoot some time aswell.

The girl you are looking at is the lovely Ms Daniella Puccini. A friend of mine who also has never posed or been photographed seriously before. Very cool vibe's shooting with her, as she is very laid back, easy going and open to all ideas. My assistant for the shoot was my buddy Jason Matthews, who did a rad job of holding umbrella's, changing lenses, setting strobe power etc... Very cool working with friends. Mental note: Rather hire a friend with less photo knowledge and good vibes than a gear-nerd with no personality or creativity.

I have loads of editing to do from the weekend, and loads more cool photo's to show. So without further waiting, here is Ms Daniella Puccini.

SPECIAL PLUG: 


Daniella - You are a star. Your insight and good vibes make this possible. Thank you so much.
Jason - We have worked together a few times, apparently you film school education is paying off. Thanks so much dude, you're my go to assistant in Cape Town.

 

Wakeskate at Rietvlei

Awesome weather today, perfect for a day messing around in the water. I made a mission to a lake kinda vibe with some friends to have a little wakeskate session. My buddy just got a new 40HP Yamaha on his boat, considering it was a 15HP before, this things MOVES now!!! I've wakeskated a bit before, but today i almost landed a 360 second go. SOOOOO close!!! Next time i'll get it.

These friends of mine have had loads of time to practice in my absence, so they where hitting this rail and busting 50-50 shuvit's and boardslide's off it no problem. This also meant i could chill on the bank with my 70-200mm and just snipe away.

Anyway, Im starting to realise the disadvantage of being the photographer all the time when doing cool shit like this. I never get cool photo's of myself. But was still pretty cool to shoot this session. Enjoy the pics. N.

50-50 shuvit out, this is what it looks like when it goes right.

This is what it looks like when it goes wrong. 

Portraits

Shot some portraits of my brother and a friends of ours last night. Just a quick setup with my speedlite and a white shoot-thru. No planning, no prep, just playing around. Kinda like shooting like this, without having to direct and check everything. Just set it up and shoot. I love the ivy against Jason's face. Such a cool contrast. Hopefully will be shooting some more skating later today. Sweet. N. 

Jason Mathews

Herbert 

Slippin' and Slidin'

Its warm, not uncomfortably, but just warm enough that I justify lying on the grass in the shade waiting... I wait patiently, always checking my meter, making sure my exposure is right, that my composition is good, that I have control over the mayhem that is about to unfold.

Dean flies past first, not so much sliding, but smoothly controlling the drift around the 90 degree corner, followed very shortly by my brother who is tucked down into an almost drop-knee stance. The motor drive is working overtime now, 8fps to capture this madness frame for frame. Love that sound.

I love shooting fast moving stuff. Skating. Climbing. Surfing. This is a great day. Tomorrow will be even better. Next time, less motor driving, more sniping. N.

                                      

First snow...

So i made some changes to the layout of the blog, its a bit wider, which makes it a bit easier on the eyes, ive also enabled commenting for anyone, so you can comment on anything or give me feedback without having to login or register as a user. Im also looking for a cool template and background to freshen things up aswell.

Yesterday was the first snow we saw in the city... Pretty cool and pretty shitty at the same time. Its all melted now, so its just wet and miserable. At least if it snows constantly its dry and pretty to look at, but it was cool to have a taste of the winter again.

Counting down the days to go back to SA now... SO CLOSE!!! Kinda putting together some stuff that i'll hopefully get to shoot before i leave. Also making plans with agencies, people, places and events for next year. Everything is a bit on/off right now, but we will see how it pans out... Still got some cool ideas.

On Wednesday at 6pm they announce the winner(s) of the Qatch me if you qan comp i shot for over the weekend... Holding thumbs!!! Would be awesome if I won... im sure you'll all hear about it if i do!!!

In the meantime, here are some snapshits i took with my iPhone recently. Cheers, N.

Large Format beast I saw at an exhibition a while ago...
Cant imagine the size prints this monster makes.

Little bit of snow just outside my apartment

Photo competition...

Word up... Interesting day, i got myself involved in a photo competition this morning. I was trolling the local 2nd hand market for photo gear and i saw the ad for this competition, so I thought, why not right? The prize for the national winner is a new special edition Canon EOS 60D, and the grand prize is a brand new Nissan Qasqhai. So either way, I've got nothing to lose....

You can check the gallery of all the other entries among mine here:

http://www.qatchme.no/subpage/?lang=no&gallery&page=0

If youre on facebrick, you could check the gallery out and "like" my photo's, and if I win, I'll take you for a spin in my new ride.

Otherwise, got some cool other stuff lined up for next week, mostly some editorial stuff i want to... ive got loads of idea's and inspiration at the moment, so im just going to keep shooting.
Hopefully i also get to shoot some stuff for TREND Models. Would be cool to do a studio session...

I played with an EF 35mm ƒ1.4 today....OMFG!!! Possibly the sexiest prime lens ever. I was originally looking at the EF 50mm ƒ1.2 because of its background obliterating aperture of ƒ1.2, but on my 7D, which has a 1.6X crop sensor, its kinda "tight". The 35mm is actually closer to 50mm on crop. But optically still 35mm, and its ƒ1.4.... Going to have to work some serious O/T....

Anyway, here are some of my pictures i entered for the Qasqhai Qatch me if you can competition. Laters, N.

Portraits, Lingerie, Fashion featuring Erika.

Word up interwebs... The drama, the sense of pride, the despair, the frustration, the nerves and the disappointment of it all. Just some of the things i have been dealing with over the last couple of days. If that sounds a bit too manic, there is one thing i did right. And that was shoot more photo's. Some pretty cool ones actually.

I kinda put this whole shoot together in +-2days, only finding a location about 2hours before the first speedlite fired. So overall, im well stoked with the end result. This series of images doesn't quite tie into anything, and they dont quite tie in to each other for that matter. From de-saturated portraits that are cold, stark and crisp to warm, contrasting lingerie shots, the spectrum here is fairly broad.

The girl that i shot has never modelled before, but together with a bit of discussion, imagination, and a bit of continuous work all of us involved, we made it work. I think she did fantastically well for a first time.

SPECIAL PLUG:
Elise from Brukbar/SUPA - You are a legend, thank you for saving my ass! This wouldn't have happened without you and your kindness.
Ida "burger" Berge - Thank you for your assistance with hair and make up. Much appreciated.
Erika Bjørndahl - The star of the show. Thank you so much, you were great.

And here we go, something different for your viewing pleasure. N