Iced Purple Sandcherry

Iced Purple Sandcherry, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

#icestorm2013

Decorating

Decorating, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

On a cold, sunny day in November

On a cold, sunny day in November, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

From a creative shoot with photographer-turned-alt-model Atalanta Fugiens. She wanted to add some lingerie and nude work to her modelling portfolio and I was ready to try nudes for the first time, so we got together on a cold, sunny day in November ...


Model/makeup/hair: Atalanta Fugiens MM# 3197882
Photo/retouch: Bruce Walker MM# 1440574

Lady of the Lake

Lady of the Lake, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Model: Sophie Cugliari
Lighting assistants: Megan Cugliari and Olivia Bowe

This was taken fully 45 minutes after sunset, looking out onto Lake Ontario from east of Port Credit. Just proves that it's worth waiting for those deep colours.

Lighting: 30" umbrella softbox with Pentax AF540FGZ flash, on monopod right. Bare Pentax AF540FGZ flash, handheld left.

Steampunk Warrior

Steampunk Warrior, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

From a creative shoot with photographer-turned-model Atalanta Fugiens. She approached me to get some experience on the other side of the lens to help with her own photography. I borrowed an idle exercise space, enlisted Yurie Oka, a talented MUA and hair stylist, and out came the corsets.

Model: Atalanta Fugiens MM# 3197882 Atalanta Fugiens Tumblr
MUA/hair: Yurie Oka MM# 2347096
Photo/retouch: Bruce Walker MM# 1440574

Elegance

Elegance, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

From a creative shoot with photographer-turned-model Atalanta Fugiens. She approached me to get some experience on the other side of the lens to help with her own photography. I borrowed an idle exercise space, enlisted a talented MUA and hair stylist, Yurie Oka, and out came the corsets.

Model: Atalanta Fugiens MM# 3197882
MUA/hair: Yurie Oka MM# 2347096
Photo: Bruce Walker MM# 1440574

Therapy Ball

Therapy Ball, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

From a creative shoot with photographer-turned-model Atalanta Fugiens. She approached me to get some experience on the other side of the lens to help with her own photography. I borrowed an idle exercise space, enlisted a talented MUA and hair stylist, Yurie Oka, and out came the corsets.

Model: Atalanta Fugiens MM# 3197882
MUA/hair: Yurie Oka MM# 2347096
Photo: Bruce Walker MM# 1440574

Gabrielle Neveu

Gabrielle Neveu, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Gabbi is the owner of The Trap Door in The Junction, Toronto. She sells clothing and accessories "for the artistic professional".

I shot this portrait with one light, a 30" octa umbrella softbox with a Pentax flash, left.

Will work for a brush

Will work for a brush, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Gandalf the Russian Blue

He's helping me test my DIY backdrop support, an under $10 IKEA hack you can read about here ...

Lighting: Pentax AF540FGZ flash in Westcott Medium 28" softbox, right.
Bare Pentax AF540FGZ flash hair/kicker clamped to background stand, left.

DIY backdrop support for under $10

If you need a way to hang a photographic studio backdrop, don't have an official backdrop support system but do have a couple of lightweight lighting stands spare, here's a way you can do it for under ten bucks. This will handle a roll of seamless (five feet or nine) or a sheet of muslin like I'm using.

And see the last section for an even less expensive ($5), though less portable, option.

What you need

Head over to your nearest IKEA and pick up,

• two Betydlig curtain rod hangers
• one Hugad black curtain rod, 210-385 cm (six to twelve feet)

From a hardware store you will need,

• two 1/4-20 nuts
• two 1/4" flat washers

You'll also need a small rat-tail steel file, and a way to clamp the curtain rod hangers. I recommend a bench vise. (You won't be able to just hold them in your hands while you file, unless you have a grip of steel.)

The mod

Using the file, you must file a one quarter inch "keyhole" into the slot in one side of both the Betydlig curtain rod hangers, to fit them over the one quarter inch threaded bolt on top of the light stands. I recommend doing this to the shorter slot closest to the corner, which you can see to the right, with the curtain rod support in place. Expect to spend about 5 minutes filing each hole -- it's kinda tedious.

By the way, the 1/4" bolt (stud) on the top your light stands may be hidden inside a black plastic knob that you unscrew to reveal.

Assembly

After you have enlarged the holes at the end of the existing slots and verified that they fit over the light stand studs, assemble the Betydlig curtain rod hangers as you see in the picture above. Be sure to stick the thinnest rubber grip (included with the hangers) into the curved hanger bracket.

Using the 1/4" nuts and washers, attach the brackets on top of two light stands, as shown to the right. If you substitute wing-nuts for the hex nuts you'll be able to add and remove this from your stands more easily by hand.

In use

Set your light stands with shiny new backdrop hangers an appropriate distance apart, eg 6 feet for 5-foot seamless or 10 feet for 9-foot seamless. Raise both stands to about head height. Thread the roll or muslin through the curtain rod and extend the rod a little longer than the distance between the stands. Lift it up and settle it into the hangers.

Now you can lift first one side, then the other up to the ceiling or the maximum height of your stands. You might need an assistant to help you in raising a heavy roll of seamless.

You should use the tallest stands you have available to avoid having the top of the backdrop be visible in your shots, especially full-length standing shots. 8-foot would be great.

Be careful to make the stands as stable as possible. Orient their legs so the longest one is under the weight of the backdrop material and pointing forward into the room. This will avoid the stands falling when you roll out the seamless or tug on fabric. You may want to sandbag the stands for additional stability.

Results

Now shoot away. You should end up with something like this nice picture of Gandalf, my Russian Blue.

Hint

You can still use the stands for holding some lights by clamping grip gear to the vertical posts. For instance in my cat portrait I attached a bare flash as a kicker/hair-light using a Lowel Tota-Clamp and an umbrella mount on the left backdrop stand.

Even cheaper: under $5

Thanks to a suggestion I received from Lumigraphics on Model Mayhem, you can do it for under $5 with a piece of ten foot EMT thin wall conduit and two HDX 2-inch clamps from Home Depot. Sit the clamps on top of the stands pointing up and drop the conduit into their jaws. This isn't portable, but it's sure cheap.

Industrial Design

Vanessa Furtado, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Also Vanessa Furtado - Events Coordinator, Metropolis Factory

Lighting: Pentax AF540FGZ flash in 30" octa umbrella softbox, right.
Bare Pentax AF540FGZ flash behind chair, pointing straight up.

Pentax K20D, DA* 16-50/2.8 @ 50mm/f:6.3, 1/15th sec, ISO 200, handheld.

Chairman of the board

Chairman of the board, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Marco Pecota - Partner/Owner and creative force behind Metropolis Factory

A one-light portrait: a single 30" octa umbrella softbox right. I got lovely rim lighting from a number of north-facing windows above and to either side of my subject. I dragged the shutter to 1/40th sec to take advantage of that, and bring up the background just enough.

Nico Skellington

Nico Skellington, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Nico Skellington is one of the multi-talented folks at Metropolis Factory in The Junction Triangle area of Toronto:

Metropolis Factory is housed in an old power station where they create industrial themed furniture and sculpture from recycled, vintage and found materials. Besides workshops and showrooms, the building is also a large event hosting space.

K20D, DA* 16-50/2.8 @ 31mm/f:5, 1/180th, ISO 640.
AF540FGZ on camera with StoFen white diffuser.

6-in-1 reflector

6-in-1 reflector, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Taffy is seen here treating my photo-gear with respect. She also demonstrates that this 5-in-1 reflector is actually a 6-in-1 reflector.

Artisans of the Metropolis

Artisans of the Metropolis, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Part of the interior of Metropolis Factory as seen during their Artisans of the Metropolis event. It's a fascinating place with strange and wonderful vintage industrial artifacts, original and repurposed, everywhere you look.

http://www.metropolisfactory.com/

Sophie

Sophie, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Shot on location in my sister's living room.

Strobist: Pentax AF540FGZ flash in Westcott Medium Apollo above-left; AF540FGZ in 30" umbrella softbox, behind-right; bare Pentax AF200 on background; silver reflector right; aluminum baking dish handheld below for fill (ran out of reflectors!).

Dead All Night

Dead All Night, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Louise and I met and interviewed three of the cast and crew of the just-released (August 2013) Canadian independent short film Dead All Night, a science fiction post-apocalyptic action thriller.

L-R: Bethany McLeod - Art Direction; Christopher Giroux - Director, Writer, Producer; Kyle William - actor: The Veteran.

Dead All Night on IMDB

Louise handheld a bare Pentax AF540FGZ flash camera-left.

Sophie

Sophie, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

A straight-forward "studio" portrait of my niece, Sophie. Shot on location in my sister's living room (she's a champ to put up with me rearranging the whole thing).

I was also testing my latest money-saving invention: $10 IKEA background support system. Ingredients: One Hugad black curtain rod, 210-385 cm; 2x Betydlig curtain rod brackets, top-slot filed out to fit 1/4" stud on top of light stand; use with two cheap 8' light stands.

Technically, this is Paramount short lighting with reflector fill and hair light. Pentax AF540FGZ in Westcott Medium Apollo above-left, key; Pentax AF540FGZ in 30" umbrella softbox, boomed, behind-right, hair; 42" silver reflector (Westcott 5-in-1), right.

Sunset by the sea

Sunset by the sea, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Same evening as "Getting some air". Taken 30 minutes after sunset, it was cold and gusty, but the most marvelous colour.

Getting some air

Getting some air, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

My niece Sophie doing some athletic leaps down by Lake Ontario last evening.

The title also refers to the fact that it was a very unseasonable 13
degrees C with 50 km/h winds where we were shooting on a spit out in
Lake Ontario. One assistant, Sophie's friend Olivia almost sailed away
with the monopod'ed softbox. Luckily my assistants and models are
typically Canadian, made of stern stuff and we all survived the
ordeal.

Dancer: Sophie Cugliari
Assistants: Megan Cugliari and Olivia Bowe

K20D, DA* 16-50/2.8 @ 19mm/f5.6, 160th sec, ISO 200;
AF540FGZ in fleaBay umbrella softbox, left; AF540FGZ bare & handheld, right;
Lr + Ps + Nik.

Zoey Adams

Zoey Adams, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Of the jazz group Paper Moon. With Tony Quarrington guitar, vocals and Tony Laviola upright bass. At Toronto's Gate 403 restaurant August 4, 2013.

Portrait of an Echinacea

Portrait of an Echinacea, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Sombrero Salsa Red Coneflower
Echinacea x Hybrida 'Balsomsed'

Strobist: Pentax AF540FGZ in 31" fleaBay umbrella softbox, above left;
Pentax AF540FGZ gridded with Honl 1/8" Speed grid, background.

Two Owls

Two Owls, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

From a Lavishy jewelry and handbags shoot for a blog article.

Model, MUAH: Iryna Dzhumak
Photo/Retouch: Bruce Walker - Model Mayhem # 1440574
Assistant: Gerrit Visser
Jewelry: Lavishy

Golden

Golden, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

From a Lavishy jewelry and handbags shoot for a blog article.

Model, MUAH: Iryna Dzhumak
Photo/Retouch: Bruce Walker - Model Mayhem # 1440574
Assistant: Gerrit Visser
Jewelry: Lavishy

Red shoes

Red shoes, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

One for the foot enthusiast. :-)

Northern Spy

Northern Spy, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Another one from the Temptation: A Girl And Her Apple shoot.

I'm pretty sure the apple is not a Northern Spy variety, by the way. I just like the name. :-)

Ontario Grown

Ontario Grown, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

I was out location scouting for the Tres Amigas shoot when I bumped into my neighbor Iryna who I had done some portraits of way back in July 2011. She said we simply must shoot again this summer, so seizing the carpe by the diem, I arranged for her to come over on Monday.

Sadly, I didn't think to take a BTS of the setup for this. Iryna was literally boxed-in: her back is to sheer curtains with a Pentax AF540 flash behind, three white foam-core boards inches to either side and chest-high below her, Apollo 28" softbox firing down from in front and slightly above into the "box". Me shooting under the softbox from a tripod.

Pentax K20D, DA* 50-135mm/2.8 @ 135mm/F8.0, 1/160th, ISO 100;
2 x Pentax AF540FGZ flashes + Cowboy Studios wireless triggers;
Lr + Ps

Model, MUAH: Iryna
Photo/retouch: Bruce Walker

Ivory silk, obverse

Ivory silk, obverse, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Casting a different light.

Ivory silk panicle in a blue vase

Ivory silk panicle in a blue vase, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

The Brawley

The Brawley, a set on Flickr.

I shot these for The Brawley Restaurant and Lounge newly opened in Etobicoke, Toronto. They'll be used for their website and promotional material.

The Brawley page on Facebook

That smell! What did they do to you?

That smell! What did they do to you?, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

On delivery

On delivery, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

More street photography in Toronto's Junction area.

PDML Photo Annual 2013

The Pentax Discuss Mailing List, or PDML, of which I'm a "member" (as much as one can be a member of an anarchy) produces an annual collection of photos and humour. This is the 2013 edition, and it's the best yet.

By ordering one for yourself and even some for your friends and family you'll be contributing to a great cause (childhood cancer research) but also spreading joy by way of shots from some very talented photographers.

So follow the links to the Blurb ordering page and go for it!

http://www.robertstech.com/pdmlbook/

Kanzan Dusk 2

Kanzan Dusk 2, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Celebrating our flowering Kanzan Cherry tree last week. With recent cold weather and rain the petals are all starting to fall now.

I lit this with a Pentax hotshoe flash (AF540-FGZ) off-camera in a 36" umbrella softbox. I added a green gel to the flash and colour-corrected in Lightroom. That increased the reds & pinks in the sky.

Dark roast

Dark roast, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.