What we’re up to

Spending the morning catching up on this week’s shoots.    Tuesday morning we able to help out McAllen’s IBC Bank as they kicked off Bank Teller Appreciation week.  They hosted an event that honored the teams and  included a proclamation announcement by McAllen Mayor Jim Darling. 

In this digital day and age do you still need a studio to take a good headshot?  I think it comes down to the photographer, everyone has a system and there’s no right or wrong way of doing it.  We’ve been blessed and had the opportunity to hit the road and visit with our clients where ever they’re based out of.  This time we spent a cool Thursday morning visiting an oncology clinic in Harlingen and pretty much taking over their break room.

When I started doing this, it would take me about 30-40 mins.  Flash forward a few years and a lot of mentorship we’ve been able to set up and shoot in about 15 mins.  Just to give you a quick run down on what we’re doing, I know there’s a few photographers out there that follow commercial setups and like #BTS stuff.

I’m using a Profoto B1 and B2 system with an Westcott Eyelighter 2 Reflective Panel to push light back in the talents face.  The background isn’t anything special its actually a HUGE collapsible 2-in-1 muslin background that fights me every time I try and use it. It reminds me of Charlie Brown’s kite eating tree as it’s the ONE thing that I never know if it’s going to cooperate with me.  Now don’t get me wrong,  I do have a back up system but I’m looking to set up as quickly and quietly as possible so you give a little, you take a little.

Finally we shoot a Sony A7III, we retired most of our Canon gear a few months ago.  It’s been a change leaving Canon after 20 some years, but they couldn’t keep up with Sony and we’re always looking for the best.

To quote Han Solo: “Not a bad bit of rescuing, huh? You know, sometimes I amaze even myself.”

Talk about a blast from the past.  I went into to Best Buy in McAllen looking for some USB drives and I *had* to go to the camera section, (It’s what I do) and I found this guy right here.  My grandmother had one just like this one and she used it all the time!  It was a big deal taking family photos and just waiting just a bit to see how they looked.  It beat having to take the film roll down to fox photo or Walmart and playing the waiting game.

Anyways, it was big and made of 100% plastic from I see.  I took a bit of video, you can usually catch my adventures on Instagram Stories just look for #themcallenphotographer.

I can’t believe it’s been eight years.

Last week I was minding my own business when Linked In sent me a message that a few people had sent DMs to wish me well and congrats for the eight years Abel Riojas Photography as been around.  At first I had to double check, there’s no way eight years have passed since I left the partnership.  But I remember setting up my Linked In account because of what Gary Vee had said and sure enough, it was right.  I’m not one of those people that lives in the past nor do I like to fire up the “remember when machine” but this has been a fun ride.  

It really has.

I don’t think I’m going to go to the gym today. I’m REALLY thinking I’m just going to head off to a local bakery and pick up a box of Pan De Polvo. #foodphotography. No real the struggle is real.  I know there’s a ton of social media videos showing how they make fake hamburgers and prep fake food.  There wasn’t anything fake about this shoot, not even the calories. 

I love large light sources, especially natural light.  I’m still on vacation for a few more days but it’s been the first time that I actually had a chance to look though last week’s photos. 

Tonight I present another little gem from the #Austin photography workshop.  This time around I didn’t attend, I helped out in the background (helping move people around, a little bit of instruction here and there, and set up sets). What I liked about this one was the big window light that was just pouring in from the background in the old house.