Ron Shoots

Krista, our awesome production coordinator, set-up an excellent shoot with a 1946 classic “Gar Wood” boat at a lake in Northern Minnesota earlier this week. We’ve been looking to do a shoot like this for several months. Finding a good boat, the right talent, and the perfect location require lots of effort and a bit of good fortune (we prefer to call it the “good karma” bank).

For a few of the scenes, Luke and I sat in the back of the boat while we cruised around the lake. Luke worked the flash while I tried to find the best angles from our rather limited position. We also used a ladder to shoot the top image from the dock.

Here’s 2 more of the images. The models were also the real owners of the boat which made for a convenient shoot. We also added other older models for a demographic variation.

(In a North Dakota wheat field. Gray and Alex toss, Luke is the lighting guru.)

Just finished up a road trip from Southern California to North Dakota with more than a few great shoots along the way. Throwing lawn chairs into the sky just seemed like the thing to do. Lawn chairs and summertime just go together. Lawn chairs are festive and fun. And, who doesn’t remember getting their skin pinched in the scratchy webbing at the family reunion? [read more]

We’re continuing our exploration of all things farming in North Dakota! Sunflowers are certainly the most spectacular with acres and acres of bright yellow fields. While the sunflowers follow the sun in the early part of their growth, their heads are now all pointed to the east.

Here’s a few of the shots:

We’ve been carrying a 6 foot ladder for this trip- helps give that extra few feet of height for different compositions, and getting above the crops. The handheld Quantum flash is popping in some extra light on our model since we were shooting at the midday sun. The flash has a 12×12 mini-softbox atachment to soften the overall look.

We’re up in the northern part of North Dakota shooting harvest for the next week. Krista, our coordinator, set-up some great shoots with farm that has been working the land since their great-grandfather came from Norway to homestead.

Setting up these shots is probably like conducting an orchestra! For one of the shots, we had 3 combines and another tractor that all needed to be lined up. Fortunately, these guys really know their stuff and we were rolling in no time at all. The days out here are long, and both the RCS crew and farm workers deserve a ton of credit for really long days… The sun comes up at 6:15am, and doesn’t set until almost 9:30pm.