Former major leaguer Mike Bordick, photographed at The Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, where the Delmarva Shorebirds “A” minor league team plays, works as a roaming coach for the Orioles minor league system. His title is technically the offensive coordinator, but the former Orioles short stop, who set a MLB record for most errorless games at his position, also helps coach infielders. — a utility coach, of sorts.

This shoot was for the magazine’s “Go!” section, so all the photos needed to be vertical.

And of course, thanks to Jim Surber for the assignment! and Thanks to David Hobby for letting me borrow his ProFotos! What a super-good friend!

My Stunt Double assistant, the talented and gracious Nate Pesce! All the gear would’ve blown over had it not been for him.

oh. and that thing draping across the upper left corner? …it’s a piece of hair (eye lash? beard hair?) that’s stuck on the sensor. weird, huh?

Marriotts Ridge center midfielder Alex Price led the Mustangs to a 13-3-3 record and the girls soccer team’s first county championship.

Here’s the corresponding Howard County Time Article.

I couldn’t have asked for a better sky that day. …the temperature could’ve been better, though. If I remember correctly, it was hovering around 20-ish degrees, plus wind.

The Marriotts Ridge baseball field was going under some renovation, so rather than take Alex to the stadium (where all those gross white banners live in the background) I put her on top of the mound closest to the backstop.

…that way when she kicked the ball it didn’t go too far.

For all you gear heads out there, I used two Alien Bee 1600′s, both unmodified, at max power, powered by the vagabond II (love that thing) flanking her at the 9 o’clock and 4 o’clock position. I also used an sb-800, on the right, to light the ball.

Same Set up, sans the sb-800.

Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin is photographed in the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia, Monday, March 28, 2011.

NOTE: This is a well needed revision of my original post. A few key issues were brought to my attention that I need to set straight.

…and I need to fix some grammar, too.

First off, I should apologize to the Capitals’ front office. After rereading my hasty post I realize I made the Capitals management sound less professional than they actually were with me.

Truth be told, they were very accommodating and so so nice. The PR guy spent a good 20-30 minutes with me before hand, location scouting. And lets not forget he also made sure Alex got to me.

And he made himself available to me whenever I needed him.

So, from the bottom of my heart… I’m sorry . This was a good blog-writing lesson for me to learn.

So, when I wrote “I had literally five minutes to shoot Alex Ovechkin. Seriously…I checked my metadata.” – I should have gone on to explain is that this is normal — especially for high profile athletes.

What made this worth talking about on my blog was that this was the first time I’ve ever only had five minutes with an athlete.

This was his first day back off the disabled list, too, so, the fact that he practiced was kinda a big deal. Although, if he was still resting, I’d have a lot more time with him for the shoot. oh well.

But I did get to shoot him immediately after practice — so he’d have that bad-ass ,worn down, sweaty look. All the game jerseys are kept at the Verizon Center, so I got him in his pads — which one blog reader emailed to me saying she thought it was cool seeing him in his pads. He’s always photographed in the game jersey. Personally, I think the pads are pretty rad, too. I did worry that the good people at the Sporting News might want him in something that said CAPITALS… but, of course, if your read the article, I think you’ll figure out which team he plays for pretty quickly.

Back to the story:

So, Ovechkin barrels into this tiny auxiliary locker room (my make-shift studio), huffing and puffing, skates & all, and as he crashes onto the bench and catches his breath, I put the finishing touches on my set up.

I bang out a few close ups, a few medium shots, move the lights, sit him on the bench, and then make a few funky verticals.

And that’s it. He was gone. — off to a meeting.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with myself. I made a nice variety of photos in very little time.

The one thing I did miss was not getting to really connect with him.

After about the first frantic minute of shooting, I realized I hadn’t properly introduced myself.

So, I pull the camera down, extend my hand, and say with a smile,”Oh, by the way, My name’s Matt.”

He chuckles, smiles back and says “ha. I’m Alexander.”

And we get back to business.

I think that little gesture made a world of difference. Beforehand I was just some camera jockey, but after that little gesture I was some camera jockey named “Matt.”

One of the things I love about shooting portraits, in general, is the back and forth I get with my subjects. I didn’t get all I knew I could’ve gotten from Ovechkin. I hear he’s a pretty fun guy.

Maybe next time…?

To see more photos visit here.

Last November I got the chance to make a few portraits of Baltimore Ravens’ defensive back Lardarius Webb for The Sporting News. — thanks to my good friend Jeff Furticella.

As expected, I wasn’t given too too much time with Lardarius. I had 30 minutes, but I was able to make a few different looks. The frame above ran. which I was so excited for!

…but I like the images below, too.

Why oh why do I love this picture?

Everything about this shoot makes me roll my eyes. First of all, I’m breaking one of my cardinal rules! I HATE HATE HATE making portraits of people holding books, or whatever it is the writer decides the story is also about. So, I don’t do it. If I can make a book or a photograph, or whatever the subject made into a detail photo, that’s what I’m gonna do. — especially with authors. It’ll probably help the layout, and add an extra “click” to the website. This woman, however, is a faux finisher. Rita Melnick’s is a featured artists in the resource book “Modelo by Design, Volume 2,” — which is what she’s holding — and that’s pretty much what the article was about. Ugh! This newspaper article reads like a website bio. I could talk at length about how this assignment isn’t really journalism, but I think y’all are smart enough to figure that out.

So, why in the world do I love this image? Well, on the one sense, Rita was super pleasant to deal with, and got what I was going for. She was up for anything. …and why wouldn’t she be? We’re giving her faux finishing business free advertising! But this image (not unlike the article) is just ridiculous, isn’t it? I could try to make a heady analogy about faux paint/fake news/faked enthusiasm blah blah blah.

…but the fact is, every time I look at it I chuckle.

I get something out of it.

And hopefully the readers do too.

when I see this I think… POLITICAL CENTAUR!

@lopossay

Scott McIntyre

The world is funny, isn’t it?

Or at lest that how it seems to me. …but then again, I’m the guy who laughs too much during movies.

This is the second installment of my Best Runts of 2010. The first is here.

Can I first start by saying I can’t stand lifestyle images. You know what I’m talking about — Beautiful people laughing for no reason. …maybe holding a glass of wine, or frolicking through a field of wheat. It’s cheap high-gloss stock. Sure, there’s a semblance of a story being told, but it’s trying too hard to be perfect and beautiful. …but it lacks substance. What ends up happening is none of that joy those beautiful people in the photo translates to the end user — the audience.

Me? I roll my eyes.

…well, I sometimes chuckle. but it’s usually because a miscreant blacked out one of the boring hot chick’s teeth. …you know the one. She’s about to eat some spaghetti.

Now that’s funny. …at least to me. Like I said in Runts part 1, I like to celebrate the imperfect in life.

And I’m starting to realize (and I’m kinda cringing while I write this) that Happy is Boring.

…at least in photography.

Sure, if some kid is opening a birthday present and he’s making the craziest face in the world — like OUT OF HIS MIND HAPPY — because he got the most bad-ass toy robot ever, then that’s good stuff. That’s an emotion we can enjoy through someone else’s experience. But laughing on the beach FOR NO REASON isn’t entertaining. Those are passive photo. It’s like the white bread of photography. no nutrition.

To be clear, there’s a difference between BEING happy and trying to make a picture of happy. People smiling for no reason is void of content, void of purpose, and void of personality. It’s the quirks and our imperfections we, as individuals, are loved for. And so, I look for those when I’m out making pictures. Ultimately, I want the audience to relate to the subjects and stories in my images. …and rather than show them pictures of people laughing, I’d rather them enjoy a chuckle or two. Enjoy!

My mom got married to a wonderful man, Rick, this summer. They have so much in common, such as not liking bubbly. You gotta give em’ props for trying, right? So, lets raise a glass and wish them well! She finally found a good fit for her.

Howard County Times girls soccer player of the year, Marriotts Ridge senior center midfielder Alex Price.

This was a big year for me. …2010 is my last year as a newspaper staffer.

In this post I’m showcasing the images that I think would easily be considered my “best” images from 2010. These are the images that will most likely help get me work in the future. They’re important for that reason — they’re hopefully testaments to my skill as a portrait and documentary photographer. I think when you look at these photos you’ll probably notice they rely pretty heavily on one visual aspect or another: DRAMATIC LIGHTING, VISUAL HUMOR, SIMPLE BEAUTY, OR SUBTLETY. Some are quirkier than others, but these are the images everyone will like.

I like them.

I like them a lot. But, I can’t help but think, that they’re all relatively safe images, too. There’s nothing daring about them. Personally, I love the “off moments” in life — and in pictures.

So, I’ve given this post a weirdo sibling. In that post I highlight the best images of what I affectionately call my “RUNTS.” They’re the ones that not everyone likes or gets. They’re the ones that fall short, when coupled with my “GOOD” work. Usually, they’re the “outs” when I get advice on an edit.

Having said that I’m extremely proud of THESE images — in this post. I don’t want you to think I’m discounting them. Like I said, I think they’re good.

2011 will be an interesting year. I’m on my own. hooray!!! …but I have to maintain and buy my own gear. Getting work is up to me. But I’m excited about that. Marketing is fun. I’ll finally get to work on projects I’m interested in, and I won’t get into fights with editors. “No” doesn’t cary as much gravity anymore. In my new life, editors are clients, not my bosses. I’m no longer an employee and that feels great! When the photos I like don’t run, it’s won’t feel personal or politically motivated anymore. …besides, I have a blog. So, they’ll be seen. AND I CAN RESELL THEM!!!

I don’t regret being a staffer. The Patuxent Publishing Company is one of the best photo papers around. And it was an amazing bootcamp. …but it was better when I started there. We had a bigger staff, more leadership support, more money, more space. Heck! We ran photo essays weekly — sometimes 2-3! But times have changed — DRASTICALLY for newspapers. …and for me.

So. lets celebrate this new beginning with my best photos from 2010. Thanks so much for looking.

Wilde Lake senior linebacker E.J. Gilman, the 2010 football Defensive Player of the Year, helped lead the Wildecats to a State Championship.

Dinosaurs seemingly try to escape the Ice Age at the Old Pro Golf course on the 6800 block of Coastal Highway in Ocean City in the off season Sunday, January 31, 2010.

Branches protrude form the frozen waters of Lake Kittamaqundi during the preliminary snowfall Friday, February 5, 2010.

Dr. Barbara Feinstein, of the Cat and Dog Hospital of Columbia, plays the part of patient while concerned Greyhound “Dr.” Moosh takes her pulse for the Best Veterinarian of Howard 2010 issue shoot Tuesday, September 28, 2010.

Oakland Mills’ coach Jon Browne calls junior Kerry Bethea, senior Greg Wittington, and senior Joe Kiely, the “Big Three.”  The trio are photographed in the Oakland Mills gym Wednesday, November 24, 2010.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill attends a Conference of Bishops addressing the increased demand for exorcisms at the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott in the Harbor East area of Baltimore City Friday, November 12, 2010.

Chris Coons, Democratic candidate for Delaware’s Senate seat vacated by Vice President Joe Biden, poses for a portrait at the New Castle Library Thursday, October 7, 2010.

Centennial senior Sam Brostrom is the volleyball player of the year. She is photographed at Centennial High School Wednesday, December 8, 2010.

Corinne Zahlis at Historic Savage Mill Sunday, October 17, 2010.

Owings Mills tackle Donovan Smith, 6’5″, 280 lbs, has been offered 22 scholarships to play football in college. He is photographed at Owings Mills High School’s football stadium Wednesday, September 1, 2010.

Wilde Lake sophomore golfer Tyler Silberberg tied for 11th in the state and is the boys golfer of the year. He is photographed at Hobbits Glen Tuesday, November 30, 2010.

Here‘s Brent Kennedy’s season wrap up.

In case you’re curious, there are two more photos after the jump.

Let me first say that David Hobby is an SEO powerhouse! When he pimps me out my analytics look like a big mountain is stuck in the middle of a desert. So, after getting hit with well over 500 page views within an hour of @strobist ‘s tweet, a few reached out, asking for a post explaining the lighting set up in my initial post showcasing Tyler Maizels’s weight lifting skills. With all this attention, I figured no action would be rude. By the way, if you’re reading this, thanks a ton, David.  Oh! Before we start, I should let you know, this post is less about the specifics of this lighting set-up and more about technique and approach. you know, less numbers… more brains. and I used all I could. I think that’s why my head hurt the next day.

The above photo is one of my initial “test shots.” And if I’ve learned anything in my eight years as a pro, is that “test shots” can just as easily become your “A” shot. I quite like this photo. Depending on your school of thought, this photo skirts the line of success or failure. On the one hand, the mood, subtlety, setting, body language, are all working really well. If you wanna get all heady with the right slogan this image is a best-selling motivational poster. …am I right? high five!

Now, if you’re in the camp that thinks the shadows in his midsection are too dark, and for that reason alone, the photo is unusable, then, you probably need to do some soul searching. …that is, you need to find your soul. Remember, a lit photo is so much more than the sum of its lighting technique.

Tutorials can be all about the lighting,

…but photographs need to be all about the content.

But this is a tutorial… so lets talk BEAUTY DISH!

I recently bought an Avenger boom arm which was a game changer. Now I can do things like

hang a beauty dish over 11-year-old weight-lifters’ head and not worry about his barbells breaking anything (lightbulb, my foot, his head). The idea is simple. I wanted to light him brighter than the rest of the room. BOOM! (hehehe see what I did there?) over head beauty dish! It’s like one of those cool lights you see at a wrestling match. Fall off was inevitable, (thus the midsection shadows), but that was okay. I had like two to three more Alien Bee’s to play with. Aside from varying power settings and angles, the boom never changed stage position. It was always to my left and above Tyler.

So, if any of you read the Strobist blog you already know about his love for “on axis fill lighting.”

While David usually uses a ring-flash (or a speedlight close to the axis of his lens to fill in the shadows) I opted to go the big-dumb-light route to fill in my shadows/the rest of the room. I used a HUGE umbrella. And like my boom set up, it also never really moved its stage position. It remained set up on my right at like 2:30 o’clock position. I don’t know the specific dimensions of the ubrella, but I know it doesn’t fit in my light case. Oh, and I’m also shooting through it. The original idea was to have it behind me — you know — classic on axis fill style. But the room was a little too small to accommodate both of us on the same plane.

I think we can all agree the big-dumb-light flattened-out the moodiness from the first photo. The light’s a bit more normalized, which isn’t something I necessarily wanted, but I saw the usefulness in it. In hind-sight perhaps a ring-flash might’ve been a better way to “light the shadows” on Tyler. …but I don’t have one. Don’t worry, it’s on my buy list. In the future I’ll probably use the speedlight-under-my-lens trick.

The shot still needed some pizazz! Don’t you guys think? So, I messed around with some power settings, changed the directionality of the big dumb umbrella and introduced some contrasty side light. I first used a grid, because I didn’t want the spill off to make gross shadows in the background, but I think I ultimately abandoned the grid and just powered down my AB 800. I think I also flagged the light with something. My next purchase will probably be some barn doors.

So, I like the composition of this image. Well, I like way the weights look. At a glance, the lighting looks fine. …fine-ish. Okay, so there are some gross shadows I wanna get rid of. At this point I totally messed my lighting up. I think I powered down the big dumb umbrella light a little too much. Bare with me folks. It’s been a while since I shot this. I also think I maybe angled it too severely, defeating any semblance of the “on-axis” effect I was using it for. I also think I powered up the overhead beauty dish a bit too much, too. And rather than point it straight down, using it like a bad-ass, directional key light, I think I angled it to much. So, as you can see it’s lighting the background a bit better than Tyler, who has shadows underneath him again. I’ve also introduced the “pizazz” side light to the right of Tyler.

heh. pizazz fail. . See how gross the shadows are? It looks like bad stage lighting.

So, why am I explaining all this failure? So, you know how it works. At this point in the shoot I realize I have shadow problems and now I gotta fix them! It’s important for photographers to know mistakes are awesome. I’m still learning. Every setting is different. The more mistakes — and this is key — and the faster i learn to correct them — the more versatile and faster I’ll be at making rad photos. And isn’t that what we all want? …Rad photos?

I would like to say that I still think this photo works. The composition is clean-ish — at least where it needs to be (head, feet, weights, body). The setting and the subject matter are still interesting. Right now the image ruiner is the lighting. My fault. I need to fix it.

And I did. The lighting set up in this photo is the same as the lead image in my original post. Sure, there’s still some shadows, but they’re more defined. The background is darker. He’s brighter and more evenly lit. There’s an unfortunate shadow on his face. It’s a product of the weight eclipsing part of the side light. When you have so many moving parts in a photo, something’s gotta give.

But here’s the thing, I didn’t not choose this photo because of the shadow on his face, I chose the other photo because his face had a better expression. It was more interesting.

To be sure I worked hard to achieve this somewhat underwhelming lighting scheme. And I think the photos are more effective because of it.

Before I left I tried a quick “dramatic” lighting set up on Tyler’s mom, Pat.

Admittedly, it’s sloppy. Of course, if i put more time into the design I think it has potential be a really slick photo. But, here’s the thing I notice right off the bat — to me, the photo all of a sudden becomes more about the lighting, and the mood I’m creating. It’s almost discounting the the built in charm this room came with. And that big hot light on her face distracts from those awesome socks she’s wearing.

Do y’all get what I’m saying? (yes I said y’all. I’m a Georgia boy living in Baltimore). Sometimes its best to use lights only to accentuate awesome places. I’ve certainly been guilty of juicing the natural charm out of a setting. Of course it’s important to keep your ambiance creating skills sharp. Sometimes you’ll be called to make an office look interesting and, maybe even, otherworldly.

The bottom line is, it’s important to build up range in your lighting skills.

For this tutorial I used 2 AB 1600′s 1 AB 800, a beauty dish, a BIG umbrella, a grid spot, light stands (duh), a boom arm, and pocket wizards.

(photo by Matt Roth)

Tyler Maizels, from Parkton, is a nationally ranked bronze medalist in his weight lifting age division.  The eleven-year-old is photographed at his family’s home gym Thursday, August 12, 2010. He and his mother Patty Maizels competed in the Maryland State Championships August 16-17 in Frederick, MD.

You can read the North County News story here.

I’ve certainly been guilty of letting my lighting set up do all the work when shooting portraits. That’s a habit I’ve been trying, not necessarily to break, but to become smarter about. Lighting doesn’t sell the photos — the content does. I’ve made and seen what I consider expertly lit photos, which fall flat. Why? The subjects have been lit lifeless. There’s no soul. I’ve known that for a long time. Moments, subtleties — interesting stuff… Those are elements that make photos effective, and compelling.

So, for this shoot I decided tofocus on three major elements

1. Moments.

2. Showing the setting, while not “showcasing” the setting.

3. Technique. …specifically his.

I’d be a fool to let this background go unnoticed. So, yes. I need to light the background, too. But if you notice, I was mindful of making sure Tyler is still the brightest element in the frame.

Of course the setting is practically identical in each frame, but the moments convey something completely different. And each image would set a different tone for the article.

And a little humor never hurts…

And here’s Tyler’s mom.

Pat Maizels, from Parkton, competitive weight-lifter and mother of four is photographed at her family’s home gym Thursday, August 12, 2010. She and her eleven-year-old son Tyler competed in the Maryland State Championships August 16-17 in Frederick, MD.