These are images and clips from the April 17, 2011 Farmers Market and Easter Egg Hunt on High Street at CityCenter of CityNorth near Desert Ridge in North Phoenix, AZ. The kids had a blast hunting for Easter Eggs and at all of the other children's activities. Take a look.
Innah of Innah Dance was in Phoenix this past weekend and performed with Shahrazad Dance, who recently opened for Arizona Opera. I heard lots of compliments about both performances. We were lucky enough to have Innah come into the studio for some dance portrait and video shoots. Here is one of my favorite shots! I hope you're not tired of seeing all these lovely dance images.
The images below are of Teresa and Jordan, two of our models from the "Back to Basics and Beyond AZPPA Photographers and Lighting" workshop. Participants were shown three different types of lighting including indoor studio lighting, location reflector lighting and location lighting with Elinchrom Rangers, full powered battery operated on-location studio lights. Participants took turns shooting the models as we worked in groups at Studio ADT and the Tempe Center for the Arts. I instructed on the use of my Elinchroms, as shown in the images below. Here are a few comments from photographers who attended:
"Just a quick note to tell you how much I enjoyed the training session last Sunday. Great information, easily understood, and very applicable to my work. Obviously you put a lot of time and effort into preparing for the event. Really appreciated."
"I attended the Lighting Seminar this past Sunday, and I wanted to tell you that this was an OUTSTANDING class. Clearly a class that could be held a couple times of year. The instructors did a tremendous job of putting this together and working with all of us."
"It was a fantastic program that you developed which covered all levels of attendees. You did an outstanding job and I greatly appreciate all your hard work and commitment to AzPPA."
"What a fabulous program that you all provided. It was wonderful to demonstrate three different lighting situations and allow the attendees a hands on experience. I heard many great comments from the attendees and also asking for more program opportunities like this. I greatly appreciate the time you all put into coordinating the front end of the program, the day of and I know the work to provide the models their photos."
We have been working with the Shahrazad Dance Co. creating individual portraits and troupe photos. Below you will find one of our favorite images of Jadeh taken in our studio. This image will be used on some of their promotional material when the troupe opens for Arizona Opera this weekend. You can find out more about Shahrazad Dance Co. at their website Shahrazaddanceco.com. The Shahrazad Dance Co. performs Egyptian and Oriental dances known for their authentic modern and family-friendly performances. The troupe provides a glimpse into the beauty of these colorful dances as well as providing classes and costumes.
This video contains samples of many of my location lighting shots from various sessions. I will be one of three photographer instructors for an upcoming AZPPA lighting workshop, "Back to Basics and Beyond AZPPA Photographers and Lighting". The workshop is coming up March 20th, from 12:00 to 4:00 pm. I will be showing how I use my Elinchrom Ranger Pack, battery generated on-location studio lighting system. Check out the video and let me know what you think.
I wanted to share with you some awesome images of a young lady we just had in the studio. Her name is Taylor and she is a Junior at Metro Arts. Taylor is into contemporary dance and theater. She's definitely a free spirited independent life traveler who is wise beyond her years. I am still impressed by the fact that she created her own hair style (which is so cool - I love it!) that you see in her images. I hope you enjoy her images.
Here are three images that won awards this past weekend at the Arizona Professional Photographers Association Convention in Phoenix. The western portrait is called "Cowboy Coffee" and won First Place in the Open Portrait Division, a kodak Gallery Award and was chosen for the Loan Collection. The image of "Jason Gerardo, 108 Beads" won First Place in the Open Commercial Division. The lovely fairy portrait called "Moment of Reflection" also won a very high score and was a favorite of print judge and photographer Woody Walters who individually scored it 100! Woody is a well known photo artist who has some of his work on display in the Vatican and worked with Ansel Adams. I also received an AZPPA Apple Award for Photographic Excellence. I hope you enjoy these images and thanks to all those who helped make these happen!
Here is a personal message from photographer/print judge Woody Walters regarding my images from the print competition:
Allen;
I was so pleased to award you my judges ribbon, to who I thought had some of the best images I had the pleasure to judge. Your lighting is spectacular and your sense of composition, subject and background relationships are so well thought out and executed. It does my heart good to see images like yours; you give me hope that there will always be art in the field of photography.
Woody Walters
