About a month or so ago I shot a few portraits of Jane Rah, a high school golf rock star who has already played in the LPGA tour. Here are some of my favorites and a few set ups. Sorry, I dont have more. It was a rush to get all the photos we needed in before the sunset. We met around 6:30 so we wouldn’t have to deal with such harsh light. I brought along my awesome assistants Chris and Brian to help trek the gear around the golf course. Luckily when we showed up we had a golf cart waiting for us to load up. (This was the first time I ever drove one of these bad boys and I must say I just may take up golf after driving this thing.) We brought along two alien bees AB800 lights with a beauty dish and a softbox umbrella (brolly box, I think is what they are called, I may be wrong) I used the beauty dish for the majority of the shooting. I also had my trusty Alien Bees Vegabond II battery pack. (which is awesome, I just picked up second one.) We had to make five different photos for the magazine so I already had some in mind because I scouted the course before hand. Our first location was with the golf cart on the first fairway but later I wished I would have taken the first photo with out it because I feel it distracts or maybe just move it so there is more separation between the two. (that maybe just me)

-1D Mark III 16-35 at 22mm The beauty dish was the main light (off camera right) and the sun acted as the rim light (notice the warm glow on her arm and face) Settings ISO 50 1/250 F10

-1D Mark III 16-35 at 16mm Sun was main light. Alien bee with just a reflector was rim light. It was behind and to the left of the golf cart. Settings ISO 100 1/320 F6.3

-1D Mark III 16-35 at 16mm Beauty dish main light off camera right, sun rim light Settings ISO 100 1/320 F8

Canon 1D Mark III 85mm 1.2 Natural Light Settings ISO 100  1/5000 F1.2

Next I went to the hole on the course that overlooked the ocean. Canon 1D Mark III 85mm 1.2 Beauty dish main light (and sun) off camera right. Alien bee with a brolly box camera left behind her for a rim. Settings ISO 100  1/125 F7.1 On the way to the sand trap I wanted to go to I noticed the sun was almost done and thought it would be a great silo of Jane if we stopped and shot it.

Lens (mm): 35 ISO: 50 Aperture: 8 Shutter: 1/160 Temperture white balance 10k  (in camera) Once we got to the sand trap I started I hustled to get the lights in place not only was the sun almost 100% gone Jane’s parents were waiting for here. Oops! I dont remember taking this shot, but Chris is standing in with a “flag” (black cardboard from walmart) and Brian is standing there forgetting to turn on the other light (beauty dish).

The other light is off to the left cross lighting Jane. This is the shot I envisioned the entire time and was waiting for unfortunately they don’t always turn out like you want them to. Turns out its hard to hit sand up and someone and not blink every-time, but its OK. I still like the photo. I also had the coach throw in the ball from the side so it didnt hit me in the face.

Lens (mm): 16 ISO: 200 Aperture: 10 Shutter: 1/320

I laid on the ground side ways and shot underneath a small piece of plexiglass so the sand wouldn’t hit my camera (and face!) I also had a towel over my head. I looked pretty sweet Im sure. Next, I got up to shot the same shot but this time of her coming out of the bunker.

Canon 1D Mark III with a 70-200mm 2.8 Lens (mm): 95 ISO: 200 Aperture: 9 Shutter: 1/320 Two lights cross lighting, one in the front more than the other to hit the face better.

I had a lot more good ones but will put them up later if anyone wants to take a look at them. Thanks again for looking and like always feel free to ask questions! *UPDATE* This article is now featured on www.askthephotographer.com

The other day I got to witness history at the Los Angeles coliseum a place they haven’t played in 50 years. To top that off there was over 115,300 people there! It was insane. I left 5 hours early just to get into the place. Also, make sure you check out the left field fence. It was only 200 feet long. I felt like i could have hit it out.

In this shot, I went to the top of the stadium at the begining of the game and waited until the sky got a liittle darker but light enough so you can still see LA in the background.
Then pieced together 7 photos to make this panoramic shot.

I got to go on a road trip recently to the San Francisco bay area and shoot a basketball game and some portraits of Australian basketball players from Saint Mary’s college in Moraga CA.

To top it off, the night before I shot a basketball game at UCLA which ended at 10 then I went straight to san fran after that and didn’t get to my hotel in (scary scary) Oakland until 4am in the morning only to wake up at 9 to get ready for the portrait, FUN!

Seriously, I had a great time. I had the help of a pro and some fun guys to shoot.
Thanks for looking!

This is the one they picked for Sports Illustrated.

During games I try to take a few minutes from shooting the normal stock action and focus on other things. For this shot I was at the USC versus Oklahoma basketball game. I found a hotspot on the court (from the lights) while I was walking around the arena on the top level. So I grabbed my 70-200 and 1.4 extender, exposed for the hotspot to make it silhouette the players and turn their shadows black. (iso 200, shutter speed 1000, and f5.6) The color in the floor is a color shift from the lights.
If you have any questions about the shot, please leave a comment or email me.
Thanks for looking.

The hotspot on the court

Here are some other general shots from the game, mostly OJ Mayo…actually all four.

I had to take a photo of OJ Mayo’s Shoes for work.


OJ Mayo as he is announced in the starting line up. (They lowered the lights and put a spot on him, I layed on the ground underneath 3 giant bball players to get a shot.