Brian Cade 4/3/20 Brian Cade 4/3/20

Staying Creative and Other Stuff During The COVID-19 Pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic takes our world by storm, many of my fellow photographers as well as myself have wiped our calendars clean of all photo shoots until further notice. I’ve been keeping myself busy with some re-edits from past assignments, photographing birds and attending online town hall meet ups and forums with other professionals, using the ZOOM app, The 2 I have attend are Fashion Photographers Connect created by renowned fashion photographer Melissa Rodwell , also owner/creator of The Breed and Alice magazine, and lastly the ASMP., Both have been very mentally therapeutic.

XM Radio has given me another outlet to escape, especially with the Marky Ramone: Punk Rock Blitzkrieg channel and the Howard Stern Show, it tears me away from the TV, listening and watching the number of infected and dead grow larger each day, here and around the world.

Even my wife, the avid quilter has been keeping busy with making masks for those that need/want them, in fact the cover image for this blog I am wearing one of her creations. She makes sure I have a mask with me at all times, since I am considered “high risk” because of a respiratory disease that I was diagnosed with in 2012..

Below are the self assignments I had given myself, the next assignment is to get some decent images of our furbabies, some where along the lines of the work by Alexander Khoklov and Veronica Ershova.

Lastly but more importantly, I just wish people would take this pandemic more seriously, social distancing works, staying home works, we need to bend this curve of recklessness and selfishness, NOW!! cause tomorrow may not come for many of us if we don’t. I know this, I want to live.

This image was actually an outtake from the assignment I did last month for this client, I edited it Capture One software

This image of local musician Bo Mcmillion was an assignment I shot in 2011, I reedited the image in Capture One software, converting it to black and white.

We have a few bird feeders in our yard, sometimes I put some out on a table on the back porch, I decided to take advantage of a good situation.

From all the birds that stop by to feed, this one stood out .

Brian Cade 11/17/19 Brian Cade 11/17/19

New Gear : Nikon D800 and Tether Tools

At the time when I had blogged my decision to switch, I was still using my trusty Nikon D200 and D2x, both cameras were not supported by Adobe Lightroom for tethered shooting, Capture One did support my gear. As the months passed, I decided to sell off my Nikon D200, convincing myself I really didn’t need 2 DSLR’s anymore: I was still leaning into the Capture One for tethered shooting;

It’s been well over a year since I had written and decided to switch to Capture One software; I have since had a change of heart.

Well, I thought I was going to keep my D2x until about 2 weeks ago when an had opportunity had crossed my desk that I could not pass up, I found a Nikon D800’s at a very reasonable price and low shutter actuations, around 31k,

Sure the D800’s was a full frame camera with a whopping 36.0 mp, with dual memory card ports and much higher dynamic and color range versus my crop sensor D2x, the main selling point for me was it was compatible with Lightroom cc. So I listed my D2x on eBay the next morning and by that evening it sold; I placed my order for the D800, and headed over tho Tether Tools web site to place my order for my tether cable and a few other accessories.

The D800 arrived first, followed by the tether cable a few days later, I had already set up my strobes for my first real test shoot, using D800, Adobe Lightroom cc, and the newly acquired tether cable and a tether block. (this secures the cable to the camera body with a plate and mounted on my Arca Swiss B1 monoball on the tripod.) This prevents the cable from being jerked out of the camera and cause damage.

First image I shot with the new camera, non tethered, Equipment used: Elinchrom Quadra w/ 1 head in a 35x140cm strip box with grid, Silver 4x6 reflector panel behind subject., Nikon D800 w/ a Elinchron Skyport HS transmitter , 85mm f1.8 , F16 @1/3200 — **First image I shot with the new camera, non tethered,** *Equipment used: Elinchrom Quadra w/ 1 head in a 35x140cm strip box with grid, Silver 4x6 reflector panel behind subject., Nikon D800 w/ a Elinchron Skyport HS transmitter , 85mm f1.8 , F16 @1/3200*

Now the real test shoot came when I connected the D800 to my laptop per the tether cable. communication between Lightroom cc and the D800 took less than a minute (probably less cause I was looking at the prompts that appeared on the screen) I was ready to shoot.

My lovely wife sat for me for this test shoot, which by the way is part of a personal project I have been wanting to do for quite some time. During our session I was quite pleased with what I was seeing on the laptop, I was able to make better decisions on adjusting the amount of light, posing and critical focus.

The 2 images below are from the tethered session, Both images had basic yet minor adjustment done in Lightoom, with the exception of the second image I decided to slightly desaturated just for effect. I kept my set up simple and took full advantage of the high sync on the D800 and Elinchrom'; we shot at F16 with a shutter of 1/3200, using 1 Elinchrom pack and strobe with a socked 17” beauty dish.

And there we have it, this blog was not about one editing software being faster or better than the other, but more about using what I already had with a more updated camera. That’s not to say I wouldn’t want to give Capture one a spin around the block. Who knows, that might be a future blog; Lightroom cc versus Capture One.

Brian Cade 10/18/19 Brian Cade 10/18/19

The Unofficial Wedding Photographer

After 20 years, I tied the knot one last time; 2nd time only in my lifetime. The ceremony was small, simple. A few close friends and family were in attendance. Everyone pitched in to make our day as close to perfect as possible.

Cover Image By ©Sheena Pendley Design and Photography used with permission

I have participated as a “unofficial” photographer at a few weddings over the years, gifting my images to the newlyweds as seen in the 2 images below. So when it came to my own wedding it was no surprise I was to fill the roll as the “unofficial” photographer again, Though I was just as happy with a few smartphone images from our guest,

So I set up my gear for a few intimate portraitures of my own of my bride and her family after the ceremony, with the exception of an extra extraordinary friend and fellow photographer we invited, Sheena Pendley, She provided images of all in attendance; We invited Sheena as a guest, as our friend, It was a huge surprise and an honor she provided us with such beautiful images, making herself the unofficial photographer as I have done in the past.

Following the 5 images I shot, I have provided 4 images (aside from Sheena’s cover image) , along with a link to her professional website and the Facebook link to the rest of the images from our wedding that she so kindly shot for us at the end of this photoblog…..Enjoy...

Our Wedding