September 2012: Roof Shooting


SK recently had the opportunity to assist two seasoned photographers, Mike Riches (PCC darkroom instructor, mentor & friend) & Phil Kuglin (darkroom colleague) with the all-staff shoot for Portland Community College's Southeast Center.  Staking out a plan weeks beforehand, the trio worked to assure the best angle with limited shadows, tree/shrub interference & the most practical organization of 250+ individuals.  With Mike & Phil on an adjacent roof & SK on the ground, the shoot emerged a success, due in large part to these tactics:

Plan ahead (know exactly where to set camera & when [for light measurements] the shoot will occur, how to arrange people & what to avoid)
Know the first row of head honchos is the most crucial in terms of positioning & camera gaze
Set the crowd first, then have the president take three steps forward
Get a police bullhorn to direct crowd because it's powerful & effective
Use walkie-talkies to communicate from roof to partner on ground with bullhorn
Get the job done FAST (the trio clocked at under 10 minutes) 

I learned a lot from you boys, thanks!



(PCC Southeast Center) 
-Ilford HP5 Plus-



(PCC Southeast Center) 
-Ilford HP5 Plus-



(Mike Riches, PCC Southeast Center) 
-Ilford HP5 Plus-



(Photo Taken By Phil Kuglin & Mike Riches, PCC Southeast Center) 
-Digital File-

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your website theme. What is it? I want to make my page look as cool as yours. thanks

SK said...

Really! It's just the basic template with no customizations, no HTML code changes or anything.

I chose the colors (background, text, link, title, etc.) & tried to keep it simple so as not to distract from the phots. I DO wish the images themselves were bigger on the page without having to click on them. Oh well.

Thanks for your comment, I'm flattered. And good luck with your site!

SK said...

Note: This is the 3rd PCC all-staff shoot Mike has done (2004, 2009, 2012). To my astonishment, I learned he DID shoot 1 year using color film. Incredible, since the final framed images are almost 4 ft x 4 ft.

Thanks for always sticking to the tough stuff, Mike!

Mike R. said...

Thank-You, great job.
The picture of me is OK, don't look too fat.