The blog of photographer Justin Fritts originally from Denver, CO living in Richmond, VA
One evening on a drive back from Cardiff we stopped off at the Clifton Suspension Bridge because it was just about sunset on a clear night with a nice orange sunset. I snagged a couple good photos like the one below. Can’t wait to try to go back and get some late night ones as well once the temperatures start to increase.
So it was the Denver Auto Show a few weeks back and while I really wanted to check out the latest from GM, Ford and Mercury (/sarcasm) I kept getting pulled toward the old cars and the super cars. I carried with me my Canon 5D2 but also on this wonderful day I decided to try to kill a role of Kodak 400TX that I had shot up 6 shots on already but had just been sitting around for weeks. Let me just say, I was thrilled with the results and the fun of it, I think I got more looks with the Hassy than some of the cars did, I must have looked like some sort of alien out there. Enjoy.
So I got to spend a little time with Tom Bulleit of Bulleit Bourbon a few weeks back and we got to talking about photos, banners, printing, large format printing, advertising and all that. Well I showed him a few of the product photos I’d done in the past and he was interested. So I took it upon myself to throw one together for Bulleit Bourbon. Always fun to do stuff like this. As always I love to also share the how to. This is actually a composite shot with the bottle of Bulleit on some black-backed glass giving it a nice reflection. I then did some exposures moving the lights around to get rim lighting, lighting on the letters, the label, the reflection, the cap, etc. Then I brought them all together to give me a nice clean image mostly clear of reflections. I can go into more detail if people want me to but that’s the main idea.
Taken with my 5D Mark II (maybe my last product photo with it before the Mark III), my 100mm 2.8 macro, a tripod, a flashlight and a speedlight.
So tonight I got to go shoot for popchips at the Project Runway All-Stars viewing party here in Denver hosted by Mondo. For those who don’t know Mondo is a designer who lives in Denver and was on Project Runway a few seasons ago. Sadly he did not win but got an invitation back to compete with the All-Stars. Well, congratulations to Mondo as he won this time, winning a much bigger and nicer prize package too. Here are a few of the photos from the event although this is just the quick cut for the blog, more to come.
So I got to work with popchips again, always fun, and this time to go get some photos of Fitz and the Tantrums just enjoying some popchips at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, CO. Well, the photos made it into Spin Magazine, or at least on to their website, no word on whether they’ll go into a print issue or not yet. See it here!http://www.spin.com/gallery/outside-lands-gets-crunched-popchips?page=1#main
And a couple more bonus shots. Fitz and the Tantrums were great, nice and relaxed, very cool to meet them.
So originally I was going to do a piece just on going out to the track and show photos and talk a little bit about it. But one thing I’ve learned on this fancy internet thing is that people looking at photography stuff seem to much prefer learning about technique and how they can do something themselves. So with that said I recalibrated my head and instead decided to talk about the actual doing of the photos and show off a little of what I did, although to be honest, I’m definitely no pro at this and really just did it for fun and had to learn as I went along. I’d assume a lot of what I learned would apply to racecar photography too.
o, first things first. My buddy and I went out to the High Plains Raceway and worked the the MRA here in Colorado and got some media passes. It wasn’t too hard to do, lots of paperwork, waivers, agreements, and all that jazz to go through (including who you’re insured by, ouch!). If you are interested I’d suggest starting there, contact your local raceways and clubs that race and see what ones will allow you to get a pass, without one getting the really fun photos will be a lot harder.
Second, be safe, seriously and follow all the rules of the track. You don’t want to end up getting hurt or getting someone else hurt or having your day cut short by getting kicked out.
Now, I’m going to break this blog post here, otherwise it may fill my whole homepage, click on through for more!
So Bulleit Rye (a really delicious rye whiskey) can hardly be found here in Denver right now but it just so happens that there was a wonderful dinner hosted by Interstate Kitchen and Bar here in Denver that I got to attend in its honor. The food at Interstate was very good and and bourbon complimented it well. With that said, let’s get to the photos.
More through after the break as always.
So this is a quick post mostly in response to a call from the Crown Royal Facebook page. They’re asking for some of people’s most recent pics. This is one that I took back in March that I’m especially proud of. I think I like this style and am going to do a few more like it and will post a how to and my completed photos.
So sadly the majority of the snow season is over, probably no more snowboarding for me even though A-Basin is probably still in decent shape. I did get to close the season out in style though at Vail for the Spring Back to Vail Festival which was great! Captain Morgan was on the mountain to help keep spirits high in the dark times of the countdown to closure and to help promote and get the word out about the pond skimming competition on Sunday.
I got to follow the Captain around and get some photos, including one in which he actually got the Captain Pose while in the air, it was great!
Then on Sunday I got to go to the Pond Skimming Competition which was amazing. I’ve never been to one but it’s quite shocking how much skill it must take to do. You hit a jump which launches you up in the air and then you land on the water. Gotta have enough speed to make it the rest of the way and hopefully have some experience with water skiing.
The Captain held a competition to see who wanted to dress up as a Captain and take on the mountain. About ten people wanted to take part and take the Captain’s place. The Captain held a vuvuzela blowing competition, a pose off competition and then a quiz about what you think “your best night out” is. Of course the Captain is all about drinking responsibly and dropped a few hints about it, two people picked up on the hints but Jimmy took home the prize. Jimmy got dressed up quickly by the Captain and the Morganettes in the Captain suit and climbed the hill. If that wasn’t enough he totally succeeded at crossing the pond having never done it before and then pulled the Captain pose when back on dry land! Youtube video here (sorry about the shakiness, it’s my video but no tripod).
Photos of the fun event below.
More from the event after the break!
Alice 105.9 holds a yearly event where they invite bands to come and perform “Au Natural,” acoustic sets here in Denver. It’s a very cool event, this year Hanson, Default, Parachute and Andy Grammer all performed (you can get some audio and more info here).
Outside the event before it started I landed a gig through Pop Chips, which if you haven’t tried, you should. The gig was take photos of concert attendees in front of the step and repeat wall. Pop Chips brought the wall, Pop Chips models and props for people to pose with. It was a lot of fun all around.
Oh and if you’d like to see more photos head on over to the Alice 105.9 facebook page. The ones from the step and repeat are mine, not the ones from inside the show.
