CMSgt. Lori Sinclair Retirement Ceremony

This Friday I had the pleasure of documenting the retirement of Chief Master Sergeant Lori Ellen Price Sinclair after 30 years of dutiful service in the United States Air Force, currently serving in the 6th Medical Group, 6th Air Mobility Wing. Lori has been spreading the word about me and is the reason I have shot a handful of retirement ceremonies this year. She originally saw my work when I put together a multimedia slideshow documenting the Flag Day ceremony her Group participated in. You can read my blog post about that slideshow here and you can view the show here.

After seeing the Flag Day slideshow she requested I do something similar for her retirement ceremony. A small version has been inserted above. A large version can be viewed here.

It is always an honor to shoot a military retirement ceremony. The Honor Guard, the Flag Folding, the Flag Passing; it's all very sacred and powerful. Not to mention this ceremony was held on the 66th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Like weddings, retirement ceremonies are full of emotion, tradition, ceremony and family. And talk about family! They came from all over to support her and to help celebrate. There must have been 50 family members there.

Lori and her husband watch the flag as it is passed up the ranks representing the progression of her career. And if you think this flag is getting passed around now, you should have followed it for the last several years. It has seen paratrooper missions, fighter jet flights, several states, the Middle East, D.C. including Arlington, the changing of the guard, the WWII Memorial, and the Women's Memorial, it has flown over the Pentagon and it flew on MacDill's main pole to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11 and more. And I'm probably leaving a lot out too.

The flag begins with an Airman Basic and is passed on through the ranks. Highlights from CMSgt. Sinclair's career are read at the corresponding rank level until the flag reaches another CMSgt. at which point the flag is presented to the retiree.

It can be an emotional ride to hear a narrator sum up the last 30 years of your life. From dorm fires, to best friends, to rescues at sea. From various state in the U.S. to Europe and beyond, to returning home for her last duty assignment here in Tampa, FL.

CMSgt. Sinclair addresses her friends, family and fellow airmen.

A shadow box is routinely given to the retiree that hold various items meant to remind them of their service. There is nothing routine about this shadow box, though. In the audio slideshow, you can the the "ooohs" and "aaahs" from the crowd as it was brought out.

Lori comes from and is part of a deep family military heritage, illustrated here in the ceremony's program.

This group shot represents about half of the family and friends there. And that doesn't include the folks that came from on base. Extra chairs were brought in there was still a standing contingent in the back.

CMSgt. Sinclair has had a long and successful career with the USAF. It was my pleasure and honor to document this special occasion for her and her family.

Lori, I wish you the best of luck in whatever comes next. I thank you and your family for doing so much to preserve the integrity and character of this country.

MSgt. Denby Retirement Ceremony

I had the opportunity last week to photograph the retirement ceremony for MSgt. George Denby at MacDill AFB. He is leaving the Air Force after 21 years of service.

The Honor Guard lines up ready to kick off the ceremony.

This was my first experience with a flag passing ceremony. As various achievements and highlights from MSgt. Denby's career are read, the flag is passed to the next airman of increasing rank.

George watches as the flag passing ceremony progresses. As usual, I was using two camera bodies with different lighting setups to achieve two different looks. This image illustrates my off-camera technique where a flash is positioned on a stand in the back of the room and aimed 45 degrees into the ceiling and toward MSgt. Denby. I was able to change the direction of the light throughout the ceremony to highlight different people or locations on the stage.

The flag is eventually presented to MSgt. Denby. This flag flew over MacDill AFB the very same day in his honor.

George is presented with a lovely shadow box containing various keepsakes, medals and honors earned during his long career.

Before addressing the guests, MSgt. Denby passed his ceremonial flag to his son for safe keeping.

MSgt. Denby's family listens as he thanks them for their love and support. Military families are asked to sacrifice a lot and the good deeds of our nation's soldiers would not be possible without them.

A few details from George's shadow box.

The whole family poses for a group shot after the ceremony.

Congratulations on 21 years MSgt. Denby and the best of luck in all your future endeavours! Thanks for choosing me to be there to document this special occasion.

Melissa and Ben

Whew, things have been busy. After settling in with our new daughter it was time to jump right back into things. This weekend I got to second-shoot for Kevin at a very cool wedding in Dunedin. Sometimes it's very fun to be the second shooter because there is no pressure and you get the chance to be creative and experiment a little more than normal.

We started things out in downtown Dunedin which has a small-town, artsy kind of vibe. We had the whole bridal party cruising Main St. setting up shots outside all the cool storefronts. This got plenty of honks from the passing motorists!

This is certainly a shot that would have been missed had there only been one shooter. While Kevin was fine-tuning this group pose I was able to pick out details to accent the final album. This is one of the main benefits of having Tampa Photo cover your event with two shooters.
Kevin was shooting Ben out on the street and the Melissa was chatting with her girls. I took the opportunity to bring her inside Kelly's Chic-a-boom and take advantage of the colorful decor. A snooted flash on a stand illuminates her and her flowers without spilling on to the wall. A second flash is placed on the table behind her to light the wall. This allowed me to adjust the background and foreground independently until I had the balance I was looking for.

Melissa and her flower girl share a moment before the ceremony begins. This is a pretty typical mirror shot but it has a couple things going for it that I like. Since they are interacting with each other you get to see a glimpse of the bride's face on the right instead of just the back of their heads. Also, their backs are lit by incandescent bulbs and their front is lit by window light resulting in the two different color temperatures.

Melissa peeks out from her hiding room right before the ceremony begins.

Ben and Melissa have a little two year old son. He started exploring during the ceremony. This little flower girl didn't hesitate to rat him out to the other groomsmen.

The groomsmen mill about as they arrive at Ruth Eckerd Hall for the reception.

The room was very lovely but posed a few lighting problems. The unique shape of the ceiling made it difficult to bounce flash. I aimed a snooted flash at the center of the dance floor and hoped they would stay in the beam of light. They were a little too far away from the stage but it worked out.

Congratulations Ben and Melissa. Thanks for being so outgoing during your photo shoot! You guys were great! It will pay off in the pictures.

Andrea and Greg, Florida Aquarium Wedding

Andrea and Greg were married at the Florida Aquarium. They decided to have Tampa Photo document their special day with both photo and video. For more info on combining photo and video check out our website. You can also learn more about video and see some sample clips here. The Aquarium is a lovely place to have a wedding! As a nature and animal lover myself, I really enjoy shooting there. Congratulations you two!

Here they are in front of one of the many tanks found throughout the aquarium. Although beautiful, the Aquarium poses some challenges to the photographer. Very dark conditions, little or no surfaces to bounce flash off, the need to balance the subject with the background and the reflective properties of glass all worked together to keep me on my toes! I'll explain my techniques for dealing with these problems later in the post.

During the ceremony, I mixed flash shots with some available light shots. Since Kevin was there shooting video, he set up a few lights in addition to the lights that were on both video cameras. This extra light helped balance the couple with the background. Not a bad place to say your vows, huh?

We were working fast to get all the family and group shots done. Before going off on our own, I snagged a few quick shots of Andrea in front of the big tank with on-camera flash. I just love these surroundings!

Once we were alone and the bridal party had gone to the cocktail hour, I set up a light in an umbrella for some nicer portraits. Since the glass is reflective, I had to shoot at a 45 degree angle to the tank (you can't shoot straight on or you will the see the flash in the glass). The other main problem here is how dark the tanks are. To properly expose the tank I needed to shoot at a very slow shutter speed (between .5 and 1.5 seconds). I had to make sure the subjects were in total darkness (I even had to ask for the video lights to be turned off while shooting portraits). The flash is used to properly light the subject, but then the shutter is left open to allow the tank to slowly burn in to the digital film.

Now it's Andrea's turn. These shots were meant to draw your attention to the subject and just let the background be an accent.

The couple shares their first dance. In addition to some standard straight-flash shots, I worked to capture a few creative light shots to accent the mood. Here, a flash is aimed at the far wall behind the DJ (Tony Lange, one of the fantastic Grant Hemond associates) to give the bride and groom a nice rim light. This technique works great when the bride has a veil.

Mother and son share a dance as the bride looks on. I wish a little more light from my on-camera flash had reached the mother but enough light is hitting her for her expression to be visible.

Ummmm, donut cake. Greg had his own creative take on cake. A huge stack of donuts covered in chocolate. Awesome!

Here is a nice shot of the cake with a lovely backdrop thanks to the giant stingray banner hung above the touch tank in the main lobby.

The house lights on the cake worked pretty well (especially since they were balanced with the lights aimed at the stingray banner) but I wanted a few shots where I was able to control the light a little more. While shooting the cake a young boy approached and gave this wonderful expression. I quickly opened my aperture to properly expose the boy. I hope he got a good look at the cake...

Well, this does happen in real life. Luckily, the couple had already cut it and I had plenty of pictures of it. The guests had lots of donut cake and the staff prepared bananas foster for everyone. A minor glitch that didn't prevent Andrea and Greg from enjoying their lovely reception.

A final parting shot of the Florida Aquarium exterior.

Congratulations to the newlyweds! And thanks for letting me be a part of your special day. All of us at Tampa Photo wish you the very best for many years to come.

More Maternity Shots

Since most of you don't get to see Karen very often I am adding a few additional images from our most recent maternity shoot. Her progression has been very amazing to watch and photograph.

Some of you will like this, and others will think it's total cheese. But it's always better to shoot something you kind of like than to not shoot something you could have loved. Get it? I like it. It might be hard to see, but it's one of our ultrasound images showing the baby's upper body (face is pointed up). As always, you can click on the image for a slighltly larger version.

Karen really liked this lighting setup that just reveals that outline edge of her body. I love how this pose allows the light to fall on her face. Just gorgeous!

Now we switch to the white background. I sometimes direct Karen in terms of posing to get the process started, but it never takes long for her to start busting out those "America's Next Top Model" moves.

Karen and I share a moment. And by moment I mean the two seconds waiting for the camera timer to go off! It was tough to decide whether or not to convert these white background images to black and white. The low-key shots with the black background look best black and white, but I kind of like the original color versions for these. So I included one of each and you can decide for yourself.

That's all for now. Maybe in a week you will see some baby photos! Thank you all for your encouragement and support. We'll keep you posted!

Baby Countdown!

We finally found some time to take some nice maternity shots with real lighting, etc. We love the shots by the beach but Karen knew she wanted some great black and white images. Of course, we forgot to get me in a few shots until we had switched backgrounds but it worked out well.

I like mixing low-key (dark background, dark clothes, emphasis on shadows, etc.) and high-key (bright background, white/light clothes, etc.) to get two very different looks.

Some nice shots of Karen alone. These are shot with the main light in an umbrella off to her side. Another flash is aimed at a reflector on her right side to act as fill and a final flash is up high and behind her to act as a hair light. The "fill" and "hair" lights help separate her from the background.

Now we switch to some high-key shots. This lighting scheme produces a much brighter and lighter feeling image. I might do a "behind-the-scenes" post about this setup later but the background is a white sheet hanging from a frame I built. A flash is fired into the sheet from behind so as to make it look pure white. Some light from the background spills on to Karen, but a light in an umbrella adds the main light on her.

And we remembered to stick me in a few. I still hadn't changed from work (I just took off my shirt) but the white undershirt and light pants worked out great.

We hope you enjoyed some of the latest pics of Karen! I've had a few requests to show some more images from this session so I will be posting them soon.