These were all shot with an 85mm f/1.8 lens on a Nikon D700 and a 24×36 softbox. I love the combination of big light and crazy shallow depth of field.

I mentioned in my last post that Jenn had competed in a recent UFE competition and placed fifth. Well, she one-upped herself this weekend by placing first in her category at the OPA competition. Congrats Jenn!

Meet Jenn Watt! Jenn recently competed in UFE’s Spring Bash and placed 5th in her category of 25 competitors! And dig those crazy tattoos. Aren’t they awesome? These were shot about four weeks before competition, so you can imagine how fantastic she looked on stage. More photos of Jenn coming soon!

Does she look ready for the cover of Oxygen Magazine or what?

And because no one can shoot with me without putting on a bikini:

It’s been nearly three years since my last shoot with Kelly Boone, in December 2007. Because I shot her before I started this blog, I’ve only ever posted one photo of her. But now that’s all gonna change…

Meet the new and improved Kelly! As you can tell from the photo, Kelly has her sights set on the world of fitness modelling, and plans to enter her first competition in the coming year. There’s lots more to come from this shoot, which was my first time shooting this style of fitness (I’d previously done some in a gym).

The lighting here was pretty simple (that’s how I roll), with Kelly being lit by an Alien Bees 1600 in a medium softbox to camera left, an SB-900 in a shoot-through umbrella for a wee bit of fill to camera right, and an Alien Bees 400 to light up the white seamless and also provide a bit of spill to highlight her backside.

This is a previously unseen photo from my September 24, 2008 photoshoot with Brandi Latimer. This was three days after Brandi’s first fitness competition. Much like this September, the weather was amazingly hot when we shot — I somehow think this is Mother Nature’s way of rewarding us for our hideous winters.

Swimwear: Mayra Collection.

Fitness STAR put a call out for photographers to come and shoot the show, on the condition that we give Fitness STAR a number of images they can use for promotion.

Late in the day, a photographer sat down next to me and asked what camera I was shooting with. This is a common question — photographers are constantly trying to one up another with their toys or the size of their lenses. I told him I was shooting with a Nikon D200. He then remarked, “Wow. If I’m not getting paid, I’m not going to bother bringing my good camera or trying very hard. That’s why I only have this XTi. [A mid-range Canon model]”

This struck me as odd. He was basically saying that he has no interest in making a good impression. What if the organizers are looking to hire someone to shoot the next competition, come across your lousy photos, and immediately dismiss you as a result? All because you weren’t getting paid. Which makes me wonder — why were you there in the first place?

Photography is a business like any other, which means that marketing is crucial. Some businesses donate money to charity, some give away coupons for discounts or free products or services, some partner with other local businesses… and it’s all done in the name of promoting your enterprise. Essentially you’re sacrificing something for the goodwill and sales that you’ll reap the benefit of down the road.

Right?

Above: Justine Munro in her first-ever fitness competition. She won in her category (Level 1 Athletic Tall).

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of Brandi from Saturday’s Fitness STAR competition in Toronto. Brandi placed first in her category (Level 2 Athletic).

It was a hot — nay, sweltering — day in June and we were shooting at high noon which only made it worse. Mid-day sun is also the worst for photography, creating harsh, unflattering shadows on the face. Jodi’s tanning spray, necessary for the bright stage lights of the competition, had already started to melt off her skin after just a few minutes in the intense 31°C heat.

My equipment at the time was modest: I set up a Nikon SB-800 flash on a tripod close to Jodi, and used my Nikon D70 to trigger it wirelessly using Nikon’s awesome Creative Lighting System. Under the right conditions, this system works fairly well. But under the challenging conditions described above, it was much more of a chore to get everything working as it should. Any wireless flash system that relies on an optical trigger will often fail if there is an abundance of bright light, such as the sun. What this meant is that I couldn’t be much more than about five feet away from the flash, otherwise it wouldn’t fire properly (or at all!). I had to use a lens with a fairly short focal length (for me, anyway) since I was standing so close to Jodi. The 85mm lens that I chose meant a lot of 3/4-length shots and not much else — full-lengths were out of the question since I couldn’t move away from the flash.

Jodi’s yellow bikini top ended up being overexposed in most of the photos due to my inability to properly control the light in the difficult conditions. The SB-800 did an admirable job, filling in all the harsh facial shadows.

A photo from this series was eventually published in the January 2006 issue of Maxim magazine, which is awesome considering the difficult constraints we faced in terms of time and light. Despite what the Maxim headline reads, Jodi was not my girlfriend, but that’s a story that I’ll share in the future.

Today, Jodi has transitioned from model to big-shot people photographer. I’ve assisted her on many weddings over the last three years or so, and she does a phenomenal job photographing families and kids. See for yourself at Jodi Renee’s blog and her website.