Honk Kong... Surreal

Stef and I landed in Hong Kong 5:30 am Saturday. The flight was way too long... 14 hours. I slept and watched 4 movies in between, and walked the length of the plane on either aisle. On the ground, Customs and Immigration Departments were easy so we were out of the airport by 6am. We had a connecting flight at 3pm so we decided to make use of the day. By the way, the overall flight time to Bangkok is 22hrs for us, with several stops. LA - Hong Kong was the longest.

Hong Kong was pretty glum, and smog covered the place. It took a while for the sun to break thru, then it was also overcast. A pretty dull morning. We walked around much and had breakfast at a coffee shop on Victoria Harbour

Then we took a tram up a very steep hill to the Tower which had a great view of Hong Kong.

Transcending To Parenthood...

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

~Elizabeth Stone

Orville & Samrika at 8 months pregnant with their first child. It was great working with them, even with the very conservative Samrika...

Shot with My Nikon D300 & Nikon 24-85mm Lens. Desaturated in Aperture first then added more contrast and sharpening in Photoshop CS3

Vertigo!

 Yesterday I got a call to take some aerial photos of landfills across the island (Jamaica). I have never done aerial shots before so naturally I was all excited. So today we arrived at JDF Air Wing at 10am, got the safety briefing, donned our head sets and boarded the helicopter. I was really hoping for an 'open-door' experience as I figured this would give me more flexibility to shoot from better angles, even almost vertical, and not be hampered by the windows. Lift off was shaky, I guess that's what it is normally like but this was also my first time in a helicopter.

We flew to Mobay's land fill first, did some rotations while I shot from all 360˚. On the way back we did Moneague and Riverton. I got sick though after the rotations at Mobay. I really got cold but sweaty and my stomach felt queezy. I think I was experiencing the effects of vertigo. Deep long breaths and good thoughts helped me to settle. All in all it was a great ride. A whole 1hr and 45mins.

Below are some of the other shots I took of our beautiful island, just incase I never get to do this again. Shot with Nikon D300, with a 24 - 85mm lens, ISO400 in RAW. The inset photo was taken with a my phone by one of the passengers.

Premier League

I have gained the utmost respect for Sports Photographers. There is no way I could totally follow the action of a football game while being glued to the camera's eye-piece, hoping to get that shot. The shot that depicted the intensity, the drama and the excitement of the game. I failed miserably.

The Digicel Premier Football League showcased Arnett Gardens FC versus Portmore United FC. It was hosted at the AGFC stadium, smack in the middle of the 'inner city'. A vast number of the patrons came from that community, and I have never experienced such hostility being vented. Threats and profanities flew at the referee and linesman whenever the whistle was blown for an offense committed by the host side, Arnett Gardens.

I kid you not... between watching the game and trying to catch a good shot, I was very cognizant of my surroundings, ensuring I had a good escape route, just in case 'bokkle start to fly'

Chairman of the Arnett Gardens Football Club, Dr. Omar Davis, MP



My main purpose there was to shoot photos of the event for the AGFC website, currently under construction, but as much as I tried to get flattering photos of AGFC in action, the ball was dominated by the guest team for most of the match, and AGFC subsequently went down 1-0.




I shot with my Nikon D300 with the battery pack, ensuring a higher fps rate as I hoped to capture much action. I used my Nikon 80 - 200mm f/2.8 lens as the evening quickly turned to night and the stadium lights weren't all that great. My huge problem was white balance, which I just could not get right with the flood lamps. I also shot at ISO800 at the beginning of the match then had moved up to ISO1600 by the end. The wide shots were done with a Sigma 10 - 20 f/4 lens.

Its A Family Affair...

Meet Mike, Fiona & Sidnee. We totally enjoyed this session. The mood was good and Fiona carried the vibe. She is a natural! Her excitement about being photographed pregnant made my work sooo much easier. Mike was a good-natured, more laid back person who followed directions very well. The session took place in Andy's Basement Studio. A really cool guy with a great photo studio set up!

For me this shoot was also to depict the support of family during this period. Pregnancy is a family affair so I was glad for the inclusion of their daughter Sidnee. I shot a close up of the belly with each person's hand touching, signifying support and perhaps, anticipation...

Shot with my Nikon D300 and a Nikon 24 - 80mm lens. For lighting I used a 40" x 32" Soft box on a Bowens Esprit Gemini 500 as main light, and another with a snoot as back light. I also used a pair of Bowens Pulsar wireless triggers for enhanced flexibility. Thank God Andy didn't take out his Nikon D3, its presence probably would have affected my D300 performance... heheh. ISO200 was constant, but toggled the shutter speed and aperture settings. I did some editing in Apple's Aperture 2.1.1, including the b/w conversion.

Hol' Donkey!!

Tropical Storm Gustav dropped gallons of water on Jamaica over a 3 day period. With the advent of previous hurricanes like Ivan and Dean, Jamaica was in no shape to face even a tropical storm. And Gustav sat in our faces and ensured he did some damage, like his predecessors.

The bridge at Harbour View, which is a major thoroughfare crumpled under the torrential rain, cutting off St. Thomas from Kingston & St. Andrew. We Jamaicans are very enterprising, and some fellows saw it fit to help stranded people cross the river on their backs... fi $3Bills!! Some of these 'donkeys' took on more than they could manage, and unloaded their precious cargo in the muddy river. Am sorry but I had a good laugh, no matter the adversity.

Shot with my Nikon D300 and a Nikon 80 - 200mm f/2.8 lens

Nikon D300... And Counting

Portrait Session With Alyssia

Working with Alyssia proved to be much fun, she being good natured and full of life. Yes, besides being stunningly beautiful. With Charlene on the make-up and Howie on the reflector, we shot a few rounds, until UWI's Finest (Campus Security Guards) came and issued a 'ceased and desist' order, as we did not have permission to be shooting on campus. Hmm... It was a good day anyway, and Charlene, Howie & Alyssia did well... as expected.

Shot with my Nikon D200 camera, and interchanging the Nikon 80 - 200mm and Nikon 24 - 85mm lenses for varying focal lengths and compositions, we used a range of aperture and shutter speed, but a constant ISO200