Family are Guinea Pigs!

Well, firstly I'd like to apologize to those of you out there who have been checking back here periodically to see if I had posted anything new. School, family and life took the driver's seat and I haven't had as much free time as I would have liked. On the bright side I have a nice backlog of photos that are just dying to be shared. Now, less talk-y more post-y!

Read more after the jump!

You may be saying to yourself after reading the title to this post: "that's kinda, rude.... I like my family", but for the most part, they normally like you too. Maybe, too much for their own good! Family are the best for when you want to try something new with your photography because as a subject, they'll put up with your experimenting much longer than your typical model... and when you are trying something you have never done before, that extra patience WILL come in handy!

My youngest brother is always willing to try something new- and being an avid athlete it bothered him that he did not know how to skate yet. At the end of last winter my girlfriend and I taught him to skate, and this year he was determined to get better at it! Now that he is comfortable skating on his own I thought I would seize the opportunity while he wanted to skate forever to try some new techniques.

Mounting my Ultra-Wide-Angle I decided to try some different angles, panning, and to top it all off, with a off-camera speedlite to not only illuminate the scene, but also freeze the action. So, first-off, to get a different angle I mounted the camera body to the end of a monopod, rigged with a remote shutter release. This set-up was in one hand while the other wielded a SB-28 which was triggered by radio triggers. The monopod allowed me to get the camera at very low or high angles while panning along with my skating brother. I was hoping for some nice light trails in the background but did not end up with anything as dramatic as I was expecting as there were not many lights nearby! Oh well, experimenting, right?!

So get out, grab someone who loves you... and take advantage of their patience! Try something new!