Portero Luxury - Fur Shoot 09'

Hey Guys! If you haven't seen me in action yet, here's your chance. Here is a shoot we did at our warehouse for Portero.com

Photo News: Leica M7 Hermes Edition

Leica announces the special Edition M7 camera with Hermes accents.

Leica M7 Edition Hermes” comes in silver chrome with calfskin leather accents in two colors, “Ètoupe” brown or Hermès’ signature orange,just 100 of each colour will be made available.

This camera is worth approximately $15k!

The "Cousins Shoot"

"Sometimes it's good to look no further than family" (not quite my own, but close enough.)

Pre-Production:

My long time girlfriend Jenna and I were discussing my plans to build my portfolio. Jenna suggested I use her cousins as models. It was a good excuse to have some fun be productive at the same time. I teamed up with Joesph Andre Photography and his talented wife Stephanie on make up to do this shoot.

The Shoot:

We arrived at Joe's house at around 10 a.m. to start make up. Stephanie had all the make up you could imagine and the excitement in everyone was building. There was a relatively vague demand on clothing and accessories so you could imagine what it looked like when 4 girls came in with arms full of clothing. As the girls got ready Joe and I set up our shooting area and tested the light. As the girls got done with there make up they came in one by one to model in our "living room studio" space. I must say I was impressed with make up and the cousins especially because they are not professional models.

Once we were done shooting in the studio set up it was time to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. The back yard had some nice late season foliage. The lighting was soft due to the overcast conditions which allowed me the opportunity to shoot with and without the strobes with ease.

Set up and Equipment:

I brought in my 600 w/s monolights from Interfit with a 39x39 inch softbox as my key light. I used my other light with a small reflector as an edge light and two speedlights in the back of the models for a hair light and slight edge on the other side. I stuck with my 18-200 VR lens for the inside studio shooting so I was able to have a wide range of focal lengths. I try to use this lens too much because it's a 3.5-5.6 lens but in this case I was shooting above 5.6 so it didn't matter.

For the outside set up, I switched to my good old 70-200 VR lens (god i love this lens!) We got an extension cord and ran it from and outlet and created a similar set up from inside. Since the overcast lighting was so soft I began to shoot like I do as a photojournalist on weddings. I used the background details - shooting at F / 3.2 at long focal lengths to make the background go very soft. I shot low to get some of the fall colors from the trees.

Photography - James Katt Photography

http://www.jameskatt.com

Photography - Joesph Andre Lombardi

http://www.photobyjoesphandre.photoreflect.com

http://www.photobyjoesphandre.photoshop.com

Make up - Stephanie Mirro- Lombardi

(631) 486-5283

Final Words:

Everyone had an amazing time and we all can't wait to do it again. The make up came out amazing, Joe was very helpful with posing and providing a location for us to shoot at. If you are interested in getting some head shots like these email me at info@jameskatt.com

Test Shoot - 11/1/09

"What a perfect day, perfect location for a photoshoot."

The weather was overcast and a bit chilly (pretty normal for a November day) and our location was amazing! Rich Dodge of RD Visuals called me up to join him on a test shoot down by the water in East Islip, N.Y so of course I jumped to the chance.

We were fortunate enough to get a hold of a 63' Plymouth.

Kristy was our model for the shoot. She was tough and held up in the chilly weather! Sonia did Kristy's hair which came out great (especially without any electricity on location).

Pre-photography:

Rich called me up and asked me to join him on a shoot so of course I agreed since I have not really seen him since college. We discussed the location, props, model, and set up a date and time to shoot. Rich was able to plot out his two location choices with detailed descriptions on google maps. The street view was helpful in surveying the location without having the first hand scouting.

The Shoot:

We arrived at our location - it was overcast, windy, and a bit chilly, but our excitement kept us going. Sonia and Rich were setting up a spot for hair when we realize the one outlet we had was not working! After Rich and I discussed our location options we settled on a really cool "back roads" kind of area that ha tall golden weeds and a long shabby road filled with puddles.

Once our model was on set. We focused on propping her with the vehicle we were blessed to have access to. Rich and I were sort of seeing things a bit differently, but in a good way! When I noticed Rich was using alot of my angles, being the photojournalist that I am, I didn't say a word, worked my way around it, and took my ideas in a different direction. I love to photograph product and love the idea of photographing people with products (which you will see more of in blogs to come). Alot of times I see things cinematically and I used this to my advantage in creating a story for my shots of her heals.

Equipment:

Most of my shots were on the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens because I wanted to get the compression of space long lenses will give you. I've always loved the way long lens shots looked so of course my instincts told me to pick up this lens (too bad it's so heavy)! I used my pocket wizards and attached one to Rich's Canon flash (model currently unknown). The pocket wizards allowed us to have wireless freedom, equal compatibility, and up to 1600 ft. range! Here's a shot of Rich at work.

Final Words-

After taking a variety of shots there was a sudden break in the clouds. The tall golden weeds seemed to illuminate and create a warm glow from the low angle of the sun. With a deep blue sky and some natural light on our model, we snapped away and got some extra shots in that we didn't anticipate. We shared alot of laughs and had a great time doing the shoot together. I want to thank Rich Dodge of RD Visuals, Kristy - our model, Sonia - our hair stylist. A special thanks to the owner of the cool ride, he was a very cool guy and made it even more of pleasure. Check out one of the shots from when the sun came out and also an outtake from the shoot that was kind of funny (not sure what Kristy was doing)? Thank you for reading my first blog ever! Be sure to leave me comments and check out my website.

http://www.jameskatt.com

http://www.jameskatt.com