Saturday, October 17, 2015

Once upon a morning

I collaborate frequently with my friend Judi Willrich, who not only does great makeup and hair but also shoots a mean Pentax K-3. Professionally she does headshots, portraits, boudoir and promo, especially for bands and musicians.

On this occasion in August we got together in a secret location in Port Credit (in "downtown" Mississauga) and worked with the very energetic powerhouse of a model, Araina Nespiak. About her I will say: if you haven't photographed Araina, you haven't photographed!

I shot this entirely with my then brand new Pentax 645Z medium format digital camera, with the DFA645 90mm macro lens mounted. Mostly hand-held, which is not easy as this combo weighs a lot.

We shot the whole shoot using window light as well. Out light modifier of choice: large sheets of white foamcore.

I cobbled together a group of shots from the afternoon and created a Zivity set from them, which you can see here. Warning: NSFW.




Project: Cabaret

I was inspired to do a Cabaret-themed shoot with one of my favourite models, Dorrie Mack, after our first shoot together produced an image that strongly reminded me of the cabaret look.

So I enlisted designer and cosplay enthusiast Eva Mocek / Gearpunk'd to create some pieces specifically for the project. She recommended her good friend Coral Brandenburg for makeup and hair. Coral loves doing burlesque work and was a perfect fit. And I was able to borrow my wife's assistant Anique Alletson for the day to give me a hand with lighting gear and setup.

Online mag NIF Magazine published the project (NSFW), and UK-based print mag Femme Rebelle published a shot as well.




I shot the project at Peter House Studios in Mississauga. Pentax camera/lenses and Paul C Buff lighting.

Overdue updates!

Wow! Have I really not posted any updates since July 1? Bad Bruce: no biscuit!

I will rectify that immediately.

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Tatters #2



I had the pleasure of shooting with life model Dorrie Mack very recently and I'm busy processing shots from that studio session. So far this one is a clear hands-down standout. Taken in just natural sunlight filtered through white sheer curtains and molded with a black v-flat behind her. Very simple, very elegant.


Saturday, March 14, 2015

Aly

Aly with Statement Necklace
I had a great portrait shoot with Aly Westwood a couple of weeks ago. I borrowed some jewelry from The Trap Door in The Junction, Toronto, for which I have to thank Gabrielle Neveau.

Model, makeup, hair: Aly Westwood
Photo, retouch: Bruce Walker

Lighting: 22" beauty dish boomed C-L, 2x Apollo Strip + 40 degree grids behind, L & R. 3x Paul C Buff Einstein strobes. Cybersync all 'round + Cyber Commander.

Pentax K-3, DA* 50-135/2.8, 135mm, f:11, 1/160th sec, ISO 100.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Gothic Geisha



From an enjoyable creative shoot with designer and artisan Emily Yoshizawa last Wednesday.

Model, hair, styling: Emily Yoshizawa
Makeup: Bronwyn Martens

Lighting: Paul C Buff Einstein in Westcott Medium Apollo softbox, camera-left; Einstein with socked 22" beauty dish on background, camera-right.

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Gandalf

More testing with my new lighting gear has produced one of the best portraits of Gandalf the Russian Blue kitty yet.



Camera: Pentax K-3, SMC DA* 16-50/2.8 SDM @ 39mm, f11, 1/125th sec, ISO 100.

Lighting: Paul C Buff Einstein e640 monolight with 22" beauty dish wearing white diffuser sock, camera-right forward (just feathering the subject); white foamcore sheet camera-left.

Post-processing in Lightroom.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Santa was good to me

I've been needing to upgrade a few bits of gear moving into the new year, so I appealed to Santa and was rewarded with a new iMac and five boxes of Paul C Buff lighting stuff.

Here's me sitting in my (messy) office illuminated by a 22 inch beauty dish fitted with a 15 degree grid mounted on an Einstein 640 strobe. The grid does a fine job of tightly controlling the beam spread.

I did little retouching to this image, I just used a red filter in the black and white conversion (Nik Silver Efex Pro).

Grim? Who's grim?