Police Shoot
PhilCollum
Registered Users Posts: 111 Major grins
I've spent the last year working with this great group of true heroes, and they asked me to take a group photo to memorialize our squad. This is a fairly common practice in our workplace, but most of the photos are simple snapshots taken in front of a police car. (Can you say boring?) I told my team that I wanted to do something different, and hopefully create something they could hang on their wall if they wanted to.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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It took us a week to choose a location that would work for our group (there were 20 people, one car, and one canine). Once we found a suitable location, I spent the next several weeks trying to plan and stage the photo, test exposures in the early morning, sketching lighting plans, mapping out the placement of subjects, and generally organizing the arrangements.<o:p></o:p>
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The shot took a total of four strobes, which were mounted on stands and concealed out of frame or behind trees. All of the flashes were fired wirelessly. The camera was also fired via remote. It took quite a lot of trial-and-error to adjust and feather all the strobes, to try and get all the faces evenly exposed. Luckily I had several weeks of preparation in which to experiment, and I came close.<o:p></o:p>
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In the end the photo looks very close to what I had imagined. A few of the faces are a bit overexposed, and I wish we had some more interesting sky to work with. But it feels pretty satisfying to spend a lot of time working on creating this image, and having it turn out pretty close to what I had planned!
If you're curious, I'm the guy kneeling second from left. You can actually see that I'm hiding the camera remote in my right hand.
After the group photo was done, I offered to take pictures of smaller groups or individuals. Here are a few selections.
1. Me, my boss (the executive officer for the shift), and my partner. My partner are I are sergeants, and are responsible for supervising the rest of the squad.
2. My corporals (two stripes on their sleeves). They're like acting-supervisors when I'm not around. The guy on the right is another photog, and helped get a lot of this set up.
2. The "Westside Crew". This group works the busiest, most crime-ridden sections of our city. They're a bunch of highly-motivated and highly-professional individuals, and they somehow manage to always come to work with a smile on their faces.
3. Officer Ditomaso. He's a gritty street cop who always seems to find and arrest some of the most hard-core bad guys around. But it's remarkable how gentle and caring he can be with a victim or a child.
4. Officer Tugashov is a native of Russia, and speaks fluently. He's a hard worker, and recently won an award for recovering the most stolen vehicles in the department. He's a canine officer, and is pictured with his partner, Wolf.
5. Officer Tugashov and Wolf sharing "a moment".
6. This is Officer Longoria, and she's the smallest officer on my squad. She stands about 5-feet tall or less. I actually had her stand closer to the camera to make her look taller. But don't judge a book by its cover! She can hold her own with the worst of them!!
EDIT: I forgot to mention it, but comments (and especially critisisms) most definately appreciated! Thanks for looking.
<o:p></o:p>
It took us a week to choose a location that would work for our group (there were 20 people, one car, and one canine). Once we found a suitable location, I spent the next several weeks trying to plan and stage the photo, test exposures in the early morning, sketching lighting plans, mapping out the placement of subjects, and generally organizing the arrangements.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The shot took a total of four strobes, which were mounted on stands and concealed out of frame or behind trees. All of the flashes were fired wirelessly. The camera was also fired via remote. It took quite a lot of trial-and-error to adjust and feather all the strobes, to try and get all the faces evenly exposed. Luckily I had several weeks of preparation in which to experiment, and I came close.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
In the end the photo looks very close to what I had imagined. A few of the faces are a bit overexposed, and I wish we had some more interesting sky to work with. But it feels pretty satisfying to spend a lot of time working on creating this image, and having it turn out pretty close to what I had planned!
If you're curious, I'm the guy kneeling second from left. You can actually see that I'm hiding the camera remote in my right hand.
After the group photo was done, I offered to take pictures of smaller groups or individuals. Here are a few selections.
1. Me, my boss (the executive officer for the shift), and my partner. My partner are I are sergeants, and are responsible for supervising the rest of the squad.
2. My corporals (two stripes on their sleeves). They're like acting-supervisors when I'm not around. The guy on the right is another photog, and helped get a lot of this set up.
2. The "Westside Crew". This group works the busiest, most crime-ridden sections of our city. They're a bunch of highly-motivated and highly-professional individuals, and they somehow manage to always come to work with a smile on their faces.
3. Officer Ditomaso. He's a gritty street cop who always seems to find and arrest some of the most hard-core bad guys around. But it's remarkable how gentle and caring he can be with a victim or a child.
4. Officer Tugashov is a native of Russia, and speaks fluently. He's a hard worker, and recently won an award for recovering the most stolen vehicles in the department. He's a canine officer, and is pictured with his partner, Wolf.
5. Officer Tugashov and Wolf sharing "a moment".
6. This is Officer Longoria, and she's the smallest officer on my squad. She stands about 5-feet tall or less. I actually had her stand closer to the camera to make her look taller. But don't judge a book by its cover! She can hold her own with the worst of them!!
EDIT: I forgot to mention it, but comments (and especially critisisms) most definately appreciated! Thanks for looking.
0
Comments
-Marilyn Monroe
Excellent planning produced an excellent picture! I bet it will be a wall hanger!
EDIT: Nevermind, I found it.
Phil Collum Photography
San Diego, CA, USA
Equipment list in my profile
Thank you, that's very nice of you to say. It's not perfect by any means, but I'm very happy it came out like I wanted. It's pretty rewarding when you work hard for something like that, and are satisfied with the results.
Phil Collum Photography
San Diego, CA, USA
Equipment list in my profile
Thank you, Heather! They are a great group of people. I've probably supervised a hundred different people throughout my career, and this group is truly unique. I've been honored to be working with them.
While I was getting everything set up for the group photo, they were all shuckin' and jiveing with each other, laughing and having a great time. It's par for the course for these folks. I really wanted their personality to come through in the picture. Knowing them personally, I think it does. When I look at them closely, even some of the slightly different body postures and facial expressions seem to genuinely match their personalities.
Thank you for your comments.
Phil Collum Photography
San Diego, CA, USA
Equipment list in my profile
dak.smugmug.com
i like the photo too.. great shot
Phil Collum Photography
San Diego, CA, USA
Equipment list in my profile
Awwww shucks you guys are making me blush. Thanks for the comment, Jane.
Phil Collum Photography
San Diego, CA, USA
Equipment list in my profile
www.adamdaley.com
www.fdphotos.net
Cuong
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Great work! I'm very impressed!
Also, did you get a permit to park on public land?
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"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
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As for the type of trees, someone told me the name last week but I've already forgotten. I will find out and get back to you. Believe it or not, the flowers were actually brighter than they appear! I deaturated them (very slightly) so they didn't distract too much from everyone's faces.
Phil Collum Photography
San Diego, CA, USA
Equipment list in my profile
Thanks again for the kind words. The trees are Coral Trees.
Phil Collum Photography
San Diego, CA, USA
Equipment list in my profile