Sarah Baker Photography

Thanksgiving for a New Year's Resolution

2009-01-02T08:47:00.001-08:00

So I can't say that I'm really into the New Year's Resolution thing, but there are somethings that I've been meaning to change and now seems as good a time as ever. For one, I need to work/ practice my lighting and processing techniques. Fortunately, fate has provided me that opportunity with my impending surgery next week. As luck would have it, I'm going to have a lot of off-time to work on that commitment.
So, here goes my first post of the new year, with hopefully many more to come.
As I like to share my techniques hoping that others may find it useful and make improvements/ changes to their own work, here is the full disclosure of the set up. Very simply set up - one gold reflector camera right. The background is just a neatly colored building as we were shooting in an urban area. The eye-lashes and eyes really were that crazy beautiful. I didn't do any sharpening to this photo....the make up was just very well done. I did do a little liquifying, dodging and burning in the post-processing (and of course a mega vingette).
Hope this is helpful to you all and have a great New Year.
Sarah

A night to remember

2008-08-20T21:36:00.001-07:00

Ok...so we lost to NE Revs. They suck anyway. The "four time loser" chant from the last MLS cup really says enough. The real highlight of the night was getting to watch the game in the presence of greatness - Ben Olsen, Zach Wells, Rod Dyachenko, their significant others and the die-hard fans which make being a proud DC United supporter all the more fun. I could go on and one about how I miss Ben on the field and if only my physical therapy expertise had a crack at his ankles...... :0) Or how I don't have any discontent with Crayton, but simultaneously think Zach got an undeserved bad wrap. Really it doesn't matter. The fact is that our guys are our guys no matter what. We love 'em. We love cheering for them and we love hangin out with them.
We look forward to seeing this weekend's match against Colorado and really look forward to the meet the team event for Screaming Eagles fans. Personally, Sean and I got hooked up with some press passes (FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!) and are really pumped. We've even went and rented some SUPER awesome camera equipment befitting of an MLS press access pass. We sincerely look forward to a good match and great pics.
For those of you that our new to our blog... a sincere thanks for visiting. Please enjoy more of our photos at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahandsean/collections/72157603180503303/
Since the Screaming Eagles is a non-profit organization, we provide all pictures taken during DCU events at absolutely no charge (yes DC guys - this applies to you too). Just send us an email to info@twicebakedphotography.com and we'll be more than happy to provide you with a full resolution picture for your personal enjoyment :0)
VAMOS UNITED!

Will Chang at the Swimming pool - DCU v Gaudalajara

2008-07-19T20:16:00.001-07:00

I think the highlight of this game was watching Will Chang throw back a cold one at the baby pool! After that it all kind of went down hill.
We had a great crowd and a heck of a rivalry going on, unfortunately DC just didn't have it all together to win the match. Sure, you could talk injuries, the fact that Superliga doesn't count for much.... but the wind fell out of our sails when Moreno missed the PK. That was the end of the game for the guys on the field and the crowd felt it. It was a bad set up for more beatings to come.
Hopefully DC will get their stuff together and come back into the last half of the season with some gusto because we lack a sense of urgency. We lack the "give a shit." We lack heart. There were a few moments of fiestiness from McTavish, Thompson, and Cordeiro. And for that, I sincerely thank you guys. Their aggresiveness needs to become infectious.
Vamos United

Good luck Natavia!

2008-07-09T15:27:00.001-07:00

Sean and I have been privileged enough to work with Natavia a couple of times now. She's amazingly coordinated and very professional. This weekend, she's going to be auditioning for America's Next Top Model and I wish her all of the best!

Jumping for Joy

2008-06-30T18:12:00.001-07:00

....and yes we were. Jen was a fantastic model to work with. She was punctual, friendly, and had absolutely no "diva moments" whatsoever. She was willing to trudge through the woods in high heels. Making no fuss of jumping over creeks, rocks, and fallen trees. When we stumbled across a turtle in the brush, she actually got excited to hold it and make it a part of the shot. At one point she puckered up and planted a big one on it's shell. Lucky for her boyfriend, the turtle didn't turn into some handsome hunk. Poor guys was so scared he never even stuck his head out of his shell. But for those of you that are concerned, there was absolutely no harm done to turtles during this production!
But before I digress, I did want to mention that during a break in the shooting, she showed us her legs... hmmmm.. let me clarify. She was showing off her battle scars where bugs had left multiple dime sized welts on her (and she never even complained!)
Not surprisingly, having a good model = good pics. We were also able to try a couple of new lighting techniques and found they really worked! Thanks Jen for a great shoot!!

NOW WHAT?!?!?

2008-06-07T11:21:00.001-07:00

Well my brother Dan has finally done it....he's done "gadiated." So with a Vanderbilt degree in engineering what wonderful and exciting life is he going to fashion for himself? That's a great question. In fact, that question is so good than even old Dan-o is still stumped. Oh well, enjoy the summer man and study hard for the MCATs.
As for the graduation itself - wow. Well done Vandy! It was a really classy shin dig. The ceremony kicked off with every single graduate and their families outside in the Vanderbilt square. After some opening remarks and music from the national symphony, the group splintered off so that the individual schools could have smaller and more intimate ceremonies.
Things flowed pretty smoothly, but trying to get good shots late in a May morning in Tennessee heat was a little tricky. The lighting was harsh and could have been better, but I guess I can't complain. I'll take natural light any day over nasty green fluorescent lighting.
I hope it wasn't seen as rude, but as soon as Dan walked the stage, I and the rest of my pale skinned, freckle laden family members beat feet into the shade for the remainder of the ceremony. I had to appreciate that some of the graduates even took off their gowns while they were waiting - and no joke, kicked back so that they could more properly tan themselves! hahaha. I guess that's the South for ya.
I had to laugh at the brilliancy and simultaneous cruelty of the national symphony playing the "Hoe Down" song, also commonly referred to as the "Beef - its what's for dinner" song, to conclude the graduation ceremony. Why they chose that over the usual pomp and circumstance stuff ... I have one guess. The quickest way to clear out the main square of thousands of hungry people during lunch time is to remind them of how freaking hungry they are and hope they go find a restaurant. But those who stuck around campus were treated to a strawberries and champagne reception. There is nothing like a mimosa, fruit, and finger foods to make a graduation official.

Natavia - Brookside Gardens

2008-05-25T13:04:00.001-07:00

This was our first time shooting with Natavia, but I expect there will be more great shoots ahead in the future. In the interest of time...and that fact that we've been slammed with work and photography lately, I'm going to jump straight into the good stuff - the lessons learned.

1. Google Maps This is only the second time I've had a model drive out and meet us at the shooting location. And both times, the models have gotten seriously lost and hence showed up seriously late. Now, before you think this is some screed against models, let me set you straight. Natavia is an organized, driven, and responsible model Directionally challenged? Yes. Flake? Definitely not. Moral of the story, get directions from google maps. You can even customize it online to include any notes, pin point meet up locations, and include the driving time/distance and then email it to the model. Rarely does google maps steer you wrong.
2. Recon when possible. We knew exactly where we were going to shoot and about how long it would take to walk the park. Even with the late start, we were able to get everything in that we wanted to.
3. Brookside Gardens was a great location to shoot. There is a variety of places to go, tons of color, and the park is always changing as the plants change. I've been there multiple times, and I have yet to see the same park twice.
4. Dress for success Due to the time crunch, we didn't get to have any outfit changes. It would have made for a much more interesting shoot if we'd been able to do that. Mental note for next time - either have a boat load of time to plan for mishaps and wardrobe changes or dress in layers so that the model can "strip" and be in a new outfit. I'm talking about using a jacket or different jewelry, etc. Obviously we don't want our perfectly toned models to look like Michelin Men because they're wearing so many clothes. So use your common fashion sense. (Men - if you're confused...ask a woman.)
5. Message to Models To be a versatile model, you have to practice your looks at home. Don't wait until you get in front of a camera (which you're often times going to be paying top dollar for) to explore what moods/ looks or poses you can do. DO THIS AT HOME with a mirror or grab a point and shoot camera and teach yourself how to morph at the blink of an eye.

Hot Imports Night - The Pre-Party

2008-04-26T23:00:00.001-07:00

All I can say is WOW! Well let's first explain how Sean and I even got this gig. On Thursday a casting call went out on Model Mayhem (modeling website) looking for 2 photographers to shoot TFCD (for free) for the Hot Imports Night (HIN - car show) pre-party. If you look at these girls like we did (considering we've only been shooting for 8 months), we thought, "wow, these girls are totally out of our league." But what the heck. We'll throw our names in the hat for this casting call and see what shakes out of it. Sure enough, we land the gig just hours after we replied. SWEET....I mean SHIT....we don't have nearly enough lighting equipment for this = one quick trip to PENN camera to rent the Monty Kit (lighting equipment). It's only 50 bucks to rent the lighting kit, and it's something we'd been wanting to do anyways before we seriously considered buying it. So we figured it was money well spent. Take a look at the pictures and tell me what you think.
Overall, we had a great time and got some great photos. The place they had us set up for pictures was definitely less than ideal. The bottom half of the wall was white reflective plastic, there was a wooden trim, and then the top half of the wall was bright orange. Yikes! I'm already thinking....these shots are going to take a LOT of photoshop (PS) to get the backgrounds looking alright. The women on the other hand took little if any PS....well...because they were all freakin gorgeous.
But I'll get down to the nitty-gritty and post our lessons learned:
1) Go for it! You can't get better if you don't try and push your limits. Sean and I had never shot a club scene before, we had never used a real soft box (other than my ghetto home made one), and we definitely had never worked with models as experienced as these ladies. All that being said, we knew our limitations/ capabilities, felt confident we could get good shots despite our lack of experience in this arena, and consequently put ourselves out on the line to get the job. Worst case scenario - they say no, or you start sucking with the shots and you flip your camera to P mode and get busy. So know yourself and seek opportunities for improvement. Just please keep in mind that I don't advocate completely getting in over your head - this goes back to knowing yourself.
2) Renting is good. The monty kit (CFLs with soft boxes) worked well enough for this job, but I would never buy them. The put out enough light for a small group (3 people or less), but the lacked the power to do anything larger. Sean and I found these lights brought out some weirdness in our subjects - ie enhanced veins and made what at the time seemed like flawless skin appear rather splotchy. The guy we talked with at Penn Camera seems to think this might have more to do with people being flushed from dancing, drinking, general clubbing. There's probably some merit to this line of thinking, but I wouldn't think these problem would effect EVERYBODY the same. However, if you ignore the CFL and power component, I LOVE softboxes! The difference in the quality of the lighting is HUGE. I can't wait to own one (or more) Bottomline - These lights were great in a pinch, but like I said earlier, I'm glad we rented before we just bought them.
3) Clubs are hard to shoot. The hard part was communication. It's dark and the music is so loud you can barely hear yourself think. I loved the DJ, but trying to get a model to slightly turn her head or otherwise change her pose when she's 10 ft away from you is darn near impossible except for body language. Sean and I think that if we were to do this style of shooting regularly, we'd have our own sound set up with a wireless hands-free mic so we could direct models better.
4) Be professional. I know this sounds like common sense, but I wanted to hit on a couple of things from the business aspect. We were well prepared with model releases and took our time explaining them to anybody that was interested in hearing the details. These are agency represented models and it could have made things very complicated to post their pictures without a written release. Also, we took studio style as well as photojournalistic pictures throughout the course of the evening. This was a fun and lively bunch to work with. There are some pictures we've posted that are provocative. I'm ok with that. These are very sexy women whose purpose at this party was to have a good time and to be sexy. There are some moments of this party that I chose not to capture. There are other moments that we did capture that would get great internet fame, but probably at the embarrassment of my subject. Those photos will never be published/ distributed (if I haven't deleted them already). Use your professional judgment at all times. Make your subjects look good.
5) Corissa, Baby_T, Linda, JP, Justene, Randi, etc FREAKIN ROCK! I'd highly recommend any of these models. They're amazing and they really know how to work the camera. I sincerely hope to work with them and the rest of the HIN crew again.

McTavish and Mediate supporting Chartity: Operation Second Chance

2008-04-26T21:52:00.001-07:00

We saw the last minute email sent at midnight trying to get people to come out to Cleveland Park for a charity event called "Operation Second Chance." The charity benefits military service members and their families that have been injured and are now located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Although I was in desperate need of catching up on photo-processing (as you can tell by the tardiness of my posting), I decided I couldn't miss the opportunity to go out and support the troops. Well, that and the fact that I have a soccer crush on McTavish :0) There is this guy with a Scottish accent that sits behind me during the games. His famous phrase now, is "Give to McTavish!" said every so Scottish-ly since McTavish's is one of the team's leading scorers. I had a great time getting meet the folks from Operation Second Chance as well as McTavish and Mediate. I was also surprised to learn that McTavish had a little interest in photography too. Maybe in the off season he can get some free time to come out and shoot with Sean and I :0) As for Dom, I had no idea he was from TX. Moreover, his brother is graduating from Baylor University on May 17th just like I am. Since I have the opportunity to go to graduation and Dom doesn't, I'm going to have to see if I can bring him back something cool from BU. We'll see how long the lines are at the bookstore :0) To wrap things up, despite the small turn out, Operation Second Chance had huge success with the fund raiser - totaling near $1000 to support the troops. Yet again Screaming Eagles prove that we do way to much charity work. Isn't that right Paul? Good job guys.

DC United vs. Pachuca

2008-04-26T21:24:00.001-07:00

We knew going into this game it was going to be a big one. Not only is Pachuca a force to be reckoned with in a holistic sense, but they have several Mexican national team players making the individual play even more lethal. And this is to say nothing of the fact that this game was for the semifinals of the concacaf champions cup. Bottomline - they have a solid team, to say nothing a solid fan base that was sure to pack the stadium and rival even the best of cheering from the DC supporters groups.
To start with, somehow these Pachuca fans got seats in front of us IN THE SCREAMING EAGLES FAN SECTION! And we sit in the 3rd freakin row! As it turns out these guys were very respectable fans. They cheered their team, we cheered for ours. There was a little bit of trash talk, but that quickly subsided when another Pachuca fan started getting out of hand. Shoot, these guys even acknowledged the BS game the ref was calling and shook one of our member's hands to congratulate us when we scored the winning goal. How classy is that? Getting back to the solo Pachuca idiot, this guy was sitting in the sideline seating in front of the fan club section taunting the fans and being an all out boob.
Well, apparently, boobs come in pairs. I'm sad to say that one of our fans metamorphosed from a boisterous Screaming Eagles fan into a drunken boob - hence the pair of boobs. In an attempt to hit this Pachuca boob with a beer bottle, I got pegged in the back. Yes - both my camera and I got soaked in beer. Yes - it freakin hurt. Yes- Sean snapped and pulled a Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde. Yes - the guy came up to us and personally apologized at the end of the game. I'd like to say that everything is cool now - and for Sean and I, it totally is. However, I haven't seen this fan at the past two games and I sincerely hope he didn't give up on DC United just because of one silly mistake.
Back to the game. Somebody better be monitoring the ref's bank accounts in Switzerland. I sincerely hope he (Jose Aguilar) at least got paid for calling a game that bad. That would actually sit better with me, because I'd hate to assume it was all stupidity. This was easily the worst professionally officiated game I've ever seen. We started the first couple minutes of the game strong, and then petered out from there. Five yellow cards (against) and 76 minutes into the game, Pachuca finally scored. With only 14 minutes (plus stoppage) on the clock, things did not look good for DC United. I have to admit, although we kept singing for DC United, the wind was taken out of our sails....until Dyachenko came into the game at the 78th minute...and scored in the 85th. Good substitution Tommy! We ended up putting one more goal in during the 90th minute by Niell (whom I and the fans surrounding me affectionately refer to as Mighty Mouse). Unfortunately, we won the battle, but not the war. Pachuca beat us on total aggregate of points, therefore advancing to the finals to play Costa Rica's Deportivo Saprissa. We still walked away from the game please with our team.

Grande Finale

2008-04-26T20:43:00.001-07:00

After two disappointing losses during away games, DC United pulled their stuff together and obliterated Toronto. Props to the event coordinators who did a really awesome job at making this game a great regular season opener. Personally, I'm a huge fan of fireworks. I don't know what it is about them. I think I've completely attached fireworks to the Forth of July and all of the pride and patriotism that surrounds that day. (I'll just ignore that fireworks are oriental in origin all together.) So to look at the final score board with the American and DC flags flying in the background, all illuminated by victorious fireworks really made my heart swell a little bit. I'm just a sucker for this kind of stuff!

DC Drum corps

2008-04-26T20:36:00.001-07:00

I have to apologize. I've gotten completely behind on the blogging. I hope that tonight and tomorrow I can catch up with all of the photo craziness that has transpired over the past month.
To kick of the awesome-ness, yes I just made that up, of this past month, DC United took it to Jamaica's Harbor View Team in the RFK 2008 christening game. It was a total blow out with the final score being 5-0.
To top things off, my brother in-law made the trip over from Cincinnati to spend his spring break with Sean and I. This was his first introduction to DC United/ Screaming Eagles and I couldn't be happier with the way things went. I'm extremely proud to say that he left DC as a DC United Fan. Moreover, he left DC happier than when he came here, which means more to me and my family right now than you'll ever know. I want to thank DC United for leaving it all on the field. Additionally, thanks to all the Screaming Eagles, la Barra Brava, etc who make these games what they are - frickin' awesome!

Strobist Cherry Blossom Meet Up

2008-03-30T06:34:00.001-07:00

This was an amazing shoot! Not only did we manage to rally 7 photographers at 6:30 on a Saturday morning, but we also got to be a part of Diana (Model Mayhem #677879) and Charlyn's (One Model Place # 328037) modeling debut. With two shooting locations (with a force march in between led by myself), and absolutely biting wind, we weren't able to get all the shots we wanted. But the group worked really well together and I sincerely look forward to our next shoot with these models and photographers.

Lessons Learned:
1) Have a map of the area on you at all times! Our model's got a little lost and I really wasn't able to help them. Fortunately, Hennessey and Steve were able to step up to the plate and really save the team with their DC driving savvy.
2) I need to find some weights for my stands. Although these things suck to carry around, they are absolutely necessary for shooting with wind. Fortunately, we had a lot of great photogs/ friends out there to help each other out with holding reflectors, stands, and what not.
3) Vadim has the most awesome home made beauty dish made from IKEA stuff. I need to go to IKEA and I really need to get Vadim to give us a beauty dish making work shop.
4) Don't force every shot into a "strobist" shot. When you have great available light, don't miss the obvious. KISS - keep it simple stupid!
5) I LOVE my new reflectors! This was also my first time using the reflectors I mentioned from my previous blog entry. These things are amazing.
Perks- incredibly light weight, 6-in1 gives a lot of versatility to the type of light you want in the shot, no batteries required!
Pit falls - requires a little bit of tweaking to get the light the way you want it. can't comment about the stand get because mine arrived broken due to shipping.

My first paid gig!

2008-03-23T07:51:00.001-07:00

I have to share my excitement about recently getting hired as a second shooter for weddings. I can't wait to shoot with my new boss/ co-worker and learn as much as I can from her. Also for Easter/ graduation (I'm done with PT school YAY!), I got a ton of photography stuff. Here is what I got:
Lightroom
Lightroom for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby
5 in 1 reflector kit with stand
6 in 1 reflector kit from Westcott
The Adobe Photoshop CS3 book for digital photographers by Scott Kelby
The Moment it Clicks by Joe McNally
The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature: Layers by Matt Kloskowski
My next issues of Digital Scrapbooking
And Sean found another flash from Craig's list he's going to buy us

Bottom line...I have a crap ton of reading/ experimenting/ learning to do! I can't wait to put all this stuff to good use! As I finish books and use my new gear I'll post reviews. Perhaps reviews from a newbie will be helpful to other newbies rather than getting reviews from the greats. Just because they're so good they might forget what it was like struggling just to remember to take your lens cap off. hehehe

Call the Nurse!

2008-03-10T03:14:00.001-07:00

This is a shot from our first Photowalk this past weekend. It also highlights one of the things I just love about DC...you never know what's gonna happen next. Sometimes that means ridiculous traffic, sometime that means people walking down the streets of Adams Morgan in costumes. But the unexpected is almost a standard here, and I love it. I really want to thank Jeff for organizing this photowalk. If you guys want to learn more about what a photowalk is, check out Jeff's site http://www.revellphotography.com/blog/?p=441

DC/ Baltimore/ NOVA Strobist Meet up 3/2/2008

2008-03-04T17:24:00.001-08:00

Sean and I had an amazing time at our first local Strobist meet up at a member's farm. We got to meet some awesome people and attempted to improve our lighting skills. This is one of the shots I was really happy with. Our two models, Noelle and Kate, were absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to work with them again!
The lighting set up for this shot was pretty easy. The time of day was not ideal for an outdoor, non-shaded shoot, but I positioned the model directly in front of the sun and then placed a bare vivitar 283 flash to the model's left, at a 90 degree angle to the sun. The shot turned out pretty with straight out of the camera, but a little photo-shop action really made the pic a winner in my opinion.
Sean also got some great shots which can be found on our flickr site. If you have any questions about the set up or PP, just let me know. And please check out the work of my fellow strobist's at http://www.flickr.com/groups/dcbaltimorestrobist/ There were a lot of cool people there with really good photography skills.

Fresh Start and Continued Improvement

2008-01-25T14:20:00.000-08:00

Isn't that what the new year is all about? I'm not talking about new years resolutions... I'm talking about a fresh start on photography. I started shooting in September at DC United games when my darling hubby bought me a camera for my b-day. But now that we're in the off season, it's time to really step up my game for next year's soccer season and my photography as a whole.
We started off by shooting with the CAWOS -capitol area wide open shooter at the national building museum and the national law officer's memorial. And then followed it up with a trip to the wheaton regional park / botanical garden. Feel free to hit me up with critiques and comments about the shots and/ or post-proccessing.

MLS Cup 2007 Pics DONE!!

2007-12-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

After many hours at the computer post processesing....we have finally finished and posted all of our MLS Cup 2007 photos.

More pictures

2007-11-19T17:03:00.001-08:00

Sean here. Since our photos are combined on flickr, Sarah asked me to put up a note that I've uploaded another 30 or so images which I took this weekend. All are mixed into the same sets linked in the post below, so take a look and let us know what you think.

MLS Cup Photos

2007-11-18T19:21:00.001-08:00

I've uploaded the first (of many) photos we took this weekend during the MLS Cup festivities. We had a great time and of course took lots of pictures, so check back over the next week or two as I add more. I'll write more later, but for now ... sleep.

Welcome

2007-11-16T15:16:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my first attempt at a blog. I'll post more things here as I have them to talk about, but in the mean time, please head over to flickr to see some of my pictures.

And if you're a Screaming Eagle, we'll see you this weekend!