This was a portfolio shoot with quite a few firsts, or at least they were firsts for me. It was only Sophie's second time in front of the camera and while portfolio shoots are a regular event for me I did have a few new items to test out along with my new model from Vivien's. The studio now has a 'new' vintage Strobe City 5000 flash unit; and for those who are not familiar with the history of studio flash equipment.. The English Strobe brand is the brand of flash that lent its name to all flash equipment being referred to as Strobe! This unit (picture below) comes with a huge soft box mounted on its own mast and boom, the power console and boom all rest on a trolley so you can wheel it around; the whole thing is adjusted by ropes and pulleys very much like a sailing rig; its all pretty cool to work with and has a stunning light quality.
The other 'first' was using my new black canvas background that I had made the week before. I love the look and feel you get with a canvas background; a few folds and bumps, the texture and the ability to shape the background too. Its quite a bit different to working with paper rolls. The other 'new' thing was my recently acquired vintage Nikkor 105 lens which I used on the shot below, this is a lens legendary for its sharpness and its great to see it worked very well indeed on my digital Nikon camera.
Of course none of it means anything at all if you don't get the shots. It was a real pleasure working with Sophie and I think together we came up with some pretty great shots with the kind of classic black background studio feel I was looking for.
And here's a daylight shot of the set on the day with the Strobe City 5000..
I'm looking forward to doing a lot more work with this fantastic new set-up!
Photography - Kent Johnson
(61) 0433 796 863
kent@artcommunication.com.au
www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au
www.streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com/
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