Big Storm
I had the great pleasure of trying out the Hasselblad 907x this weekend, what I've previously called the cutest camera ever made (full review in next week's newsletter). All of my official assignments were mid-week so I had the whole weekend to play around with it. Stormy conditions prevented me from checking out Lillian's booth at the Wells Maine Plant & Pie(& Craft) Fair, which is what I was originally going to write about this week.
Lilly got done slinging her craftywares in the afternoon and I saw a tiny little window of time between rainfalls to go take some test shots with the 907x. I went to my current go-to beach to try some oceany long exposures.
One of the things I like about the 907x is that you have to be slow and intentional as you work with it. I was taking my sweet-ass time and I was trying to ignore the ominous clouds coming in.
I knew it was going to rain but this looked pretty intense compared to the drizzly conditions that we had been experiencing that day. I wanted to get a few more shots in but man, those clouds were serious.
I have serious doubts about the 907x's weather-proofing, so I figured that I should high-tail it out of there.
I was carrying almost $10k worth of gear that didn't belong to me so I should have been cautious but I couldn't help but stop and take more shots of easily the coolest looking storm clouds I had seen in years. I wasn't the only one who had to get some shots.
After taking this shot I noticed a person peacefully sitting cross-legged in the middle of the now empty parking lot. It was quite a sight. I picked up my tripod to walk over to ask if I could take a picture of her sitting there but I noticed that SHE was taking a picture of me first. This made the always nerve-wracking process of asking to photograph strangers a little easier. She was cool with it and I got a couple of shots before I felt the first raindrops fall.
Seconds after getting back in the car the rain started to dump and we had a pretty serious thunder storm. It was cool.
My assignments this week were a vineyard wedding and The Hillside Boarding School Graduation. The wedding was fun...
...and then this happened.
Yeah that's a first.
The Hillside Graduation was an interesting assignment. It's definitely a vibe shift to go from shooting excited newlyweds to photographing nervous, Ivy League-bound 9th graders. I shot coverage of the ceremony and 40 grad portraits (then spent a full hour editing out pimples once I got home).
Keynote Speaker Thom Mayer, MD, a guy with a wild resume. Command Physician at The Pentagon during 9/11, Medical Director of NFL Players Association, etc. He quoted Camus TWICE.
And finally on sad note we said goodbye to Scarlett this week. I'm not sure exactly how old she was but she was definitely old enough to drive a car. Orange cats are tough and magical. RIP
