Prior to the shoot I did my homework and scouted the location, noted the time of day for the best light, looked at the weather forecast for a day with nice clouds, pre-planned the lighting, and even sketched the shots I wanted to capture.

While the clouds never quite materialized as hoped for (which is not too unusual here in Colorado), the planning did pay off and we ended up with a selection of very nice images.  These are my two favorites and will definitely make it into my portfolio.

Huge thanks to Caroline for the time and effort to make this shoot happen.

Photographed last week, Lisa and Zeb enjoying a late afternoon trail run through Alderfer/Three Sisters Open Space park up here in Evergreen, Colorado.

Profile of Zeb

I love photographing this little guy.  Note the drool on his lower lip…I put a treat on a chair next to him. That’s about the only way to get him to stand still for a second or two!

Technical Details: For lighting, I used two Elinchrom Quadra Ranger A Heads with the Quadra AS Pack.  Key light on the upper left, fill light on upper right, both with their standard 13.5cm reflectors and diffusers on Manfrotto 5001B Nano stands.  The rim light was a Canon 580EXII Speedlite with a Sto-Fen diffuser.  The backdrop is a large white Westcott Reflector.  To trigger the lights I used an Elinchrom Skyport transmitter for the Quadras(which come with the lights), and a set of Pocketwizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5.  I stack the Skyport transmitter on top of the MiniTT1 to trigger both Quadras and Speelites.  This setup works great as long as the Pocketwizards and Speedlite are set to “Standard” and “Manual” mode, respectively.  (I set all of my Pocketwizrds to ControlITL Transmit/Receive on C1, and to Standard Transmit/Receive on C2.  This allows me to switch between ETTL and manually controlling the Speedlite.  It also allows for combining the two lighting systems using the C2 channel.)

Shot with a Canon 5DM2 and a Canon EF50mm f/1.4 @ F/8.

If you have any questions about combining the Pocketwizards with he Skyport systems feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment below.

Zeb in the April/May 2011 issue of The Bark Magazine

This is very cool!  It is exciting to see my photographs published, but even more exciting when it’s a picture of my own kid.  Such is the case in this month’s The Bark magazine (April/May 2011 issue).  One of my two Weimaraners – Zeb – made a full page appearance on page 2 of this magazine.  If you are a dog lover you should definitely check out this hip publication of canine culture.

My Sierra Designs tent under the Wyoming night sky.

Late last summer, my friend Chris and I went fly fishing to a fairly remote section of the North Platte River in southern Wyoming.  After a long day of fishing, a lot of sun, and a few (too many) beers, we stayed up late and photographed the Milky Way and star trails.  This star trail shot is a one hour and eight minute long exposure taken with a 17mm lens.  I strategically placed a couple of Canon 580ex II Speedlites inside the tent, and popped them remotely with a set of PocketWizards.

Jody enjoying some deep powder on Berthoud Pass, Colorado

This morning I met skier extraordinare Jody Grigg at Berthoud Pass for some skiing action.  It was snowing and overcast  most of the morning.  But we did have a couple feet of fresh powder, enough to snap a few shots.