Resilient Hearts the Movie needs donations!

#24 I'm a Director of an Indy Movie! Resilient Hearts!

I'm the Director/Producer/Web Guru for the movie Resilient Hearts!

My wife Bonnie Freeman who is a Nurse Practitioner wrote a book about her experiences while working with a Palliative Care Team. It's funny, sad, awesome! Everyone who has read the book loves it. Getting people to read isn't always easy. So she decided to write a screenplay! After some interest then silence from some colleges and hospitals, we have decided to move ahead full blast! And again we are getting some hospitals that want to help us make this movie! Anyway, we are making it now for sure.

To see how far we have come (we are shooting in August!) go to:
Resilient Hearts Project and once there click the BLOGGER lcon at the top, for even more from Bonnie about the movie!

Yes, I'll add some behind the scenes images and videos!


---Allen

#23 The ICE and WATER Shoot.......

My workshop/shooters group SIDESHOW PHOTOWERKS (Which is apart of the meetup group North County Photographers & Models meetup group) had a fantastic shoot at Wonderland Studios March 18th, 2017!

From my website and Facebook area: 

Please note the following information with respects to the Hair & Makeup done at the ICE and WATER shoot: Sarah Rodriguez had Mallory and Simone for MU//

Moe Artistik had Tricia and Stacey for MU/Steffeney Bonilla Harris had Tori and Lauren for MU//Vanessa Borquez had Bryana and Symantha for MU//Corinne Renee did all dry ice models Hair! 
-----to join: www.sideshowphotowerks.com Lots of classy fun with water in a pool with color gels, and a completely retro fitted dry ice shoot area! Add some fantastic hair stylists, MUA's and models I've mostly not shot before.....and presto! Art! Huge thanks to the photographers that filled up all the spots for this shoot! Special thanks to Kathleen Shumate and Caitlin Litzinger for making it happen! (I helped and created the advertising images....) Shot at Wonderland Studios March 18th, 2017. MODELS: Bryana Taylor, Simone del Mar, Sara Link, Mallory Gutierrez, Lauren Ross, Whendii Farago, Stacey Minette, Catrina Robblee, Tricia Wang, Symantha, and Tori Martinez!

Here are a few of my shots from that wild creative shoot: 

Mumbles the cat at Wonderland!

The setup for the water area!

One of the great hair designs for the ICE setup!

Co-Organizer Kathleen Shumate who runs the NCPMG!

Dry ice!

A little bit of the glow filter effect from Topaz Labs.

A little bit of the glow filter effect from Topaz Labs.

A little bit of the glow filter effect from Topaz Labs.

Here is a little treat.....a before and after of my post work on this shot. There was dry ice around her but I liked this shot before the effect was rolling....so worked on it in Photoshop: 

To sign up for our next shoot go to my group at: SIDESHOW Photowerks if you are in the SoCal area! This shoot will be in Riverside, CA.

See you next time and leave a comment if you dare!

Posting #22 The New Studio Location......

This is s shot of Kaitlyn Rose Hawkins. She found me on Model Mayhem. I usually try and set up shoots with models on MM and they almost always back out for one reason or another. But Kaitlyn who lives about one hour away did show up and we had a nice shoot in my new condo studio setup. We shot with my Alien Bee strobes with beauty dish and strip light with grid. Then we went outside as it was a beautiful day in Rancho Cucamonga. There is a gazebo and some roses growing in a garden right near my door! The best roses were smaller yellow ones along this black rail fencing.

Then we shot back inside with the pink diner seat but other than the one shot at the start of this blog we are holding onto the shots for possible magazine publication. I shot outside with a new Godox TT685s speed-light that shoots high-speed-sync (HSS). This allowed me to shoot wide open aperture on my Sony A7R2 with the Sony Zeiss 55 1.8 and 35 2.8. That was how I was getting the nice blurry backgrounds (bokeh). I have on order Two Flashpoint Evolve 200 model strobes that are a little larger than a regular flash but have 3 times the power! (They will be here on Friday March31st!) I already have two brackets and will configure some of my soft-boxes to a Bowens S type so I can diffuse the new Evolve strobes. 

I also just got a foldable 24" beauty dish soft-box with this S type mount! (Shown here with a similar size regular speed-light in the bracket) The second shot has the white diffuser over the front, you can see it attached on the sides. A snug fit, no velcro. I'm curious if there is a grid I can buy for this also, probably. It's an Impact brand diffuser.

They also can shoot HSS so I can soon shoot indoors and out with the wide open apertures!  And I can shoot up to 1/8000th of a second with these flashes so watch out for some water splashing, flying flour, popping balloons etc....!

Also on order that should ship out tomorrow from B and H Photo: Sony 85mm 1.8 lens. Eager to try that puppy out!

Tomorrow Sienna Schmolesky will be here all day helping me move a ton of stuff out of what will become the costume room! I'll try and remember to get some shots of the progress.

Find me on IN: maknbacon1,  Facebook: Afreemanphotography, Twitter: @maknbacon and new area: @afreemanphotog

My new YouTube learning photography channel is in the works! It will be called "ARTOGRAPHY by Allen Freeman" ....coming soon!

See my posters for sale: AFREEMANARTOGRAPHY

My magazines and calendars!

#21 New Shoots and a Move in Progress......

After I move, Jan 29th to a condo in Rancho Cucamonga (only 4 miles from where I am now in Ontario, CA) I'm thinking of starting my own YouTube show.....reviewing lenses, cameras, etc....

I've been thinking of doing this for a year or so...but I can set up everything the way I want at last. I'll have more room to work everything out. I'll stick to reviewing electronics that I've actually used so I can give everyone a first hand look at the equipment. Since I just switched to Sony (Mid 2016), I'll be able to go over some of Sony's cameras and lenses. I am still shooting with the Nikon  P900 superzoom for fun, but getting some amazing results!

I'll go over how to set up a photo shoot and what to expect and how to set up lights, camera settings, and the lighting gear I use.

Here is my current camera set up:

This is the Sony A7R2 with the 24-240 3.5-6.3 Sony OSS Lens.

I now go to model shoots with 2 A7R2's one with a Sony Zeiss 35mm 2.8, and the other with a Sony Zeiss 55mm 1.8. That way I can shoot wide and get some background in the shots or go more normal tele with the 55. The 55 has some awesome bokeh at the wide open settings. I think it's as good as the much more expensive 85mm lenses. Plus you can use the lens for a bit more if you can back up.

These were shot with the 55 1.8 recently in my studio: 

And here are a few with the 35mm: 

Also recently this year 2017, shot up in the mountains about one hour north of Ontario, CA. Near Lake Arrowhead and Bluejay......a snow queen and viking shoot! Using my 2 camera set up outside for the first time.....

Sony RX100IV

Shot out of the car window with the Nikon P900 superzoom.

Shot out of the car window with the Nikon P900 superzoom.

Just the large beauty-dish.

Natural light.

Just the small speedlight with beauty-dish.

Using natural light.

Natural light.

You can see in this shot of the girl with axe where I used both the large beauty dish  as a front light and the speedlight off to camera right.

Large beauty dish. Fox added in Photoshop.

I had two lights. One was a large stand Paul C Buff Alien Bee Strobe with a beauty dish with a sock over the front to diffuse it. The other was a small stand with a speedlight and a foldable mini beauty dish. Sometimes I just used one or the other, sometimes if I had room, I used both. The small speedlight I used as a backlight or side light. 

More about my move, and the new location in Rancho Cucamonga, CA soon!