We have been on holiday... sheesh, after about 90 or so jobs already this year, I'm totally done. Not really, we still have 40 or more left to do in these next remaining months!
Have you noticed less posts on FF? I have, no doubt. Why? Well, honestly Ive been seeing LARGE numbers of copycats out there, which is to be expected I guess if you give away your shoot concepts, lighting setups and locations. Where is the originality folks?
Lets face it, we shoot in some seriously exotic spots. If you dig back in history, you will find very few (if any) other photographers prior to 2006 who were commercially shooting and publishing material found in the same spots (specifically cenotes) in the Riviera Maya other than del Sol Photographers. I'll be honest. NOBODY inspired me to take a bride into one of these locations, It came right out of my original box of tricks. While I can't blame others for exploiting these awesome spots, I can blame myself when their work mimics mine...ouchy.
While we can obviously not claim ownership of the idea to shoot in a cenote, we can ask for photographers out there to try and PUSH the limits on their work. I follow lots of forums and see LOTSA posts by brides and other photographers with "hey look at my centoe shots" and just about every one of them looks like a del Sol shoot (off camera flash, multiple flashes, red gel, bride in water, etc)... I guess I had it coming. Anyway, copycats are inevitable and I'm sure just about all of us can identify as somewhere or somehow, you have likely felt another photographer steal or swipe your idea...This is just the way the things go.
So how do we curb this copycat syndrome?
Write a check, of course! (Just kidding, this is what happened to us after our recent brainstorm on changing it up) For many of us, gear acquisition seems to be a disease. We buy stuff for the sake of buying it. Will that new double rotary table and custom engineered portable track and dolly system earn back the near $2500 spent? Probably not. But will anybody else have products like this in the region where we are working? Nah.
You will start to see underwater off camera flash (lots of underwater flash and creative lighting) and HD video coming from the underwater arena. We have purchased underwater breathing systems that are lightweight and allow for better dexterity than the traditional SCUBA system (yes we are SCUBA certified). Aquatica 5d II housings, multiple flashes and underwater studio equip, cables and just about everything we could think of to STEP IT UP. Holy cow, underwater strobes (controllable ones) ain't cheap ($900 each)... especially if you need 3 or 4 of them... Housings, OMG...costs more than my camera. and I need arms, cables (they are pricey too!)do-dads, switches, brackets, weights, bla bla bla... All in all, we are investing 5 figures into this system.
We just want our work to be unique... hopefully, we can change the face of the TTD work we have been doing with this new gear list! Stop by our new blog: www.delsolphotography.com/blog to see recent work!
Here is a photo of the new underwater breathing system:
Photo courtesy of Aquatica's Website
Aquatica has been very helpful so far helping me design the perfect system. Jean Bruneau, Aquatica's Technical Advisor has given me LOTS of advice and also asked me and any others interesetd to submit an email requesting the development team at Aquatica to BUILD A UNDERWATER HOUSING for the pocket wizard. Crazy idea eh? I'd love to play with this, although radio doesnt work super well underwater, I have had some success using this system in a makeshift housing triggering from above water.
In addition, Ikelite has also been very helpful with answering questions!
Expect some fresh new stuff from del Sol this upcoming year, count on it!
Saludos
Mateo
Our simple low power burst behind the copter for a back-light to give us a scene setter.
Thanks for sharing. My favorite picture is the 3rd picture. I like the expression of the couple.
In number two it looks like there was a massacre inside the helicopter :) At least at this small size it seems that the windshield is covered with blood… ;) Other than the gore it’s very cool :)
Excellent shots! The one with the red-gelled backlight is particularly nice…
Thanks :) It was fun to pick up this big elliptical light and aim it in the sky! PW in the shadow...ooops!
Nice solution.
funny to see the pocketwizard in the 4th picture.
Realy lovely light. I mean the condition were thougt. Pressure and not enough time to put exactly the light like in a commercial shot, so I think that you do a great job.
Pretty cool bud!