Last weekend while I was shooting Matt & Lydia’s Wedding I scoped out this GREAT old building that I wanted to shoot Matt & his Best Man Brad at, so as I got there first and they were walking down the road towards me, I started to laugh my ass off, because this is all I could think of! I told them of my Vision, and said “Just wait till you see this & you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about!” I’ll let you be he judge!
I’m STILL Laughing!
A scene that has captivated me from my childhood to today. So tonight on my way back from my Sunday Wedding Rehearsal, I finally shot it, and then played with it a bit.
You know where this is….. I know you do!
I shot B.B. King, Live in Concert – Clemens Center – Elmira, NY 01/31/98
A Legend….May you & “Lucille” Rest In Peace…
I still remember this shoot, I shot it for the old Chemung Valley Reporter in Horseheads, and B.B.s folks would only let the Press shoot from behind the Audience Seats, way up at that back wall. So for that reason….being a MILLION Miles away, Plus still using FILM (anyone remember what that was?) These aren’t as great as I would have wished for…but hey….I got to shoot the Blues Master Himself! And the even bigger miracle here? My being able to fairly easily find these negatives!!! OCD has it’s rewards I guess!
Spent Saturday after the RANGERS big WIN envisioning, brainstorming and building the set & lighting for this coming weeks Studio Shoots in my awesome, modern, ground floor Professional Studio. The past couple weeks I’ve been searching for old, rusted out, used, corrugated tin roofing. No one seemed to have any, and a few old barns recently torn down, well I just missed nailing some by just a week or so…till BINGO, my buddy Bill Baker of Photographers Tech & Training Solutions in Elmira, NY, stumbled upon some on Craig’s List at a place up in Ithaca. The perfect amount of rusted roofing at a great price at a place called FINGER LAKES RE-USE CENTER which is located in the Triphammer Marketplace just off the Triphammer Road/ Rt. 13 exit. Imagine every single rummage sale, garage sale, and auction that you’ve ever been at, coupled with all of the remodeling & building hardware that you have ever tossed out in your lifetime in a huge storefront. Electronics, housewares, tools, books, furniture, doors windows, molding, electric & plumbing fixtures, lumber, bath tubs, sinks, toilets, lumber. All of it reclaimed (Hey, It’s ITHACA!) and just waiting for a new life. The prices are very reasonable and they have so much product that they have some of the overflow stored outside in huge shipping containers. So remember, if you are ever looking something off the wall and are just coming up dry, you might just want to check this place out. Like I said, they do advertise lots of the inventory on Craigs List.
Here are a couple shots while I was getting the lighting tuned in, being assisted by my ever present Studio Lighting Model, the Prince of Darkness Himself, Dick Cheney!
A while back I posted this original image from my recent shoot of the Horseheads Fire Department. Since then I received a couple of requests by family, to see if I could add Brother & Father Dick into the mix. Not one to back down from a challenge, I figured this would be a great way to show off some of my Photoshop skills! I did it in a couple of versions…one where he looks real and where he was actually a part of the shoot, and the other is a more spirtual looking version. Let me know what you think, and which one you like the best?As many of you know Dick Sullivan was the Past HFD Fire Chief and he passed away very unexpectedly on 04/05/06.
“Damn, I’m Good!”
This Beautiful Girl and I spent some special time yesterday afternoon, and it’s pretty amazing how many miles traveled actually went into bringing us together! My client works in Elmira, saw some of my previous work, and actually works with another client of mine. Well, after hearing good things, he chose me to shoot a special Birthday Gift for a very close friend of his. Steve started out at his home near Jamestown, drove across the state almost to Kingston to secretly pick up & kidnap Jasper from her babysitter, while her owner was at work. They then drove to Horseheads where we met, started out with some Studio Shots, and then ventured across the street and over the RR Tracks and into the Swamp, where Jasper and the colors of Spring just Perfectly Meshed! Then after our shoot back in the truck they hopped for the 2.5 hour trip back home before Mommy gets home from work! We did GREAT you two! Well Done! Thanks for the opportunity you two!
For the past month I’ve been working on a members shoot for my neighbors across the street from the Studio, the Horseheads Fire Department. Nice winter project before Weddings kick in soon! S0 I finally posted the Galleries tonight & they came out really nice! Of course we did the standard Class A Uniform shots, but I really loved the way all the Turnout Gear shots with the Smoke & Post Production effects turned out! Each Firefighter had a personally designed card created for them. HFD gang – e-mail me to get the Gallery Access Password to view your images. And Artie, because we are buddies I can say this! Don’t you just love how on your card I gave you the “I’ve Seen The Light!” beam coming down on you???
And members of other Local/Chemung County Fire Departments….please feel free to contact me if you might be interested in setting up a shoot & having YOUR Dedicated Members Captured in all their glory! 607-398-2122 or info@rickbacmanski.com
My favorite shot from this afternoon’s Studio Session.
I’ve been busier than hell the past few days with the beginning of a week long portrait shooting session of ALL the Members of the Horseheads Fire Department…my buddies across the street from my 211 Studio. Having formerly been both a Horseheads, and a Town & Country Fireman myself, this shoot provided me with the chance to greet and catch up with many old friends, as well as to meet and get to know a bit, many of the newer members that have joined the ranks in recent years. Speaking of old friends, this afternoon I had the privilege to shoot my lifelong old buddy, HFD Chief Artie Sullivan, along with his two nephews, Kevin & Patrick, both of whom I have known since they were little boys. In my opinion, this is one of my all time favorite, meaningful, family portraits.
So what do you think? Is this shot SMOKING HOT, or what???
