[ddk632]

[ Note: I know some of you have seen a few of these photos in the snapshot thread, but I wanted to make a thread for this because why not and I'm excited! ]

(Post 1 of 3)

I'm pretty excited about this --

For the first time (ever), my work is hanging somewhere other than my house or my office.

Here's the backstory,

A buddy of mine and his business partners recently opened a new retail store, called GC Vapes, or Good Clean Vapes. They had their grand opening here in South Florida (in the city of Delray Beach). It's a vapor/e-cig/hookah products business.

Exciting for me because they decided to print 8 of my shots and feature them on the main wall inside the store. My photos of the store are also featured on their website. They will print more and rotate them out over time to keep things fresh.

I went down to do a few shots of the store the day before the grand opening, so I thought I'd share the shoot here, with some comments.

These are shot with various lenses for effect and to showcase the store as well as details of some items and displays.
Camera used is Canon 6D. Here's a breakdown of the lenses I brought and their uses:

- Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L Tilt-Shift - used for full store architectural shots and some of the counters
- Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye - used for creative shots of the walls and logo
- Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake - used for all of the close-up detail type shots

Most of the TS-E and Fisheye shots were shot on a tripod, while all of the "pancake" detail shots were handheld.

1 - Large logo on wall creative shot (EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye @ 8mm, off camera flash)

This shot is a crazy 8mm fisheye shot of the GC Vapes logo on the wall. I wanted to highlight it with off camera flash (like a flood light) and used a green gel to match the store's ambiance. The flash was a 580EXII laying on the floor under the tripod, controlled by an ST-E2 transmitter mounted on the camera hotshoe.


GC Vapes Logo Extreme Fisheye by ddk632, on Flickr

2 - The Store Shot (TS-E 17 f/4L, slight shift upwards from low angle)

So far 8 prints at 24x36 adorn the wall, this shot is with the TS-E 17, on tripod set up in the corner of the store, slightly shifted upward. You can see the beautifully designed store and counters, as well as the 8 photos on the left wall heading down the corridor.


GC Vapes Store Showcase by ddk632, on Flickr

3 - Inverted Hookah on display (EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake)

GC Vapes Inverted Hookah Display Detail by ddk632, on Flickr

4 - Large logo on wall (EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye @ 15mm)

GC Vapes Logo Fisheye by ddk632, on Flickr

5 - Product detail shot (EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake)

GC Vapes Product Detail by ddk632, on Flickr

6 - My photos on wall (EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye @ 8mm)

This shot is a fisheye detail of the wall and 4 of the photos. You can see some reflections of myself (bottom left, white shirt with Ducati logo), and store co-owner Casey and the in-house interior designer in the bottom right photo.


GC Vapes Photo Wall Fisheye by ddk632, on Flickr

[ddk632]

(Post 2 of 3)

Additional photos of the store from the GC Vapes set:

1 Fisheye view of the main wall (EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye @ 14mm)

14mm fisheye shot of the photo wall. I wasn't sure about keeping this one but kind of liked it in the end. The circular distortion works, I think, in this shot. In addition to the 4 large photos framed over the couch, you can see 4 more photos hanging on the wall down the corridor leading to the back door. That's all 8 of my photos. I need to go back and get detail shots of the other 4 without reflection.


GC Vapes Photo Wall Fisheye 3 by ddk632, on Flickr

2 Product counter detail (EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake)

The GC Vapes store is designed to have a sort of earthy feel, and the attention to detail shows through in the carefully chosen artifacts interspersed in between and below the various product displays.


GC Vapes Counter Detail by ddk632, on Flickr

3 Display detail (EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake)

Detail shot of the corner of one of the counters, bird's eye view. Everything has its place and is laid out professionally and perfectly. Makes for easier shooting - no staging required!


GC Vapes Display Detail by ddk632, on Flickr

4 Product counter further away view (TS-E 17 f/4L)

Detailed view of the really well done counter showcasing products available for purchase.


GC Vapes Product Counter by ddk632, on Flickr

5 Product detail (EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake)

Detail shot of the very nice shelves behind the counter showcasing various vapor product refills.


GC Vapes Product Shelf Detail by ddk632, on Flickr

6 Photo wall fisheye, one more! (EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye @ 8mm)

Another 8mm fisheye view of the cozy couch and wall photos. It's really a beautiful space.


GC Vapes Photo Wall Fisheye 2 by ddk632, on Flickr

7 Another shelf detail (EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake)

A detail shot of some of the product offerings in the GC Vapes store.


GC Vapes Product Shelf Detail 2 by ddk632, on Flickr

You can see the full set on Flickr here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidkh...7637229642924/

[ddk632]

(Post 3 of 3)

I thought it would be cool to post the actual images that are printed in the store so far. You can see 4 of them relatively well, so here are those 4 plus the other 4 from the back of the wall in the corridor.

You may have seen some of these in other threads I've posted them in.

If not, I hope you like them.

The store owners wanted to use photos that were from local places down here in South Florida, in particular recognizable landmarks. And they liked my hookah photo, which fits in with their business model.

Of these 8, 7 are shot with the 6D and 1 (the first one below) is with my Rebel XTi.

1 Hyatt Pier 66 - Fort Lauderdale, FL

This is one of my all time best/favorite shots (in my opinion), shot with the formidable Canon EF-S 10-22 UWA lens.

View of the Fort Lauderdale skyline as seen from the top of the Hyatt Pier 66 hotel, with reflections of the 17th Street Bridge in the windows.

Shot February 7, 2009
Canon Rebel XTi (400D)
30 second exposure
f/8
10mm
Minor / almost no PP except standard LR preset when importing.


Pier 66 View of Fort Lauderdale 2 by ddk632, on Flickr

2 Hookah Bokeh! - Boca Raton, FL

It was pretty dark in the Hookah Hut and the 6D loves the dark. Shot at ISO 10000 with the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM "Pancake" lens which makes that smooth, creamy bokeh!


Hookah Bokeh by ddk632, on Flickr

3 Clouds of Haze - Kings Bay, FL

Early morning haze at Deering Estate, south of Miami, in Kings Bay, Florida. This is a long exposure with great reflections. This bay opens up into the ocean. The sun was still in the early stages of rising, and was severely blocked by the weather, which contributed greatly to the mood of this photo.


Clouds of Haze by ddk632, on Flickr

4 Miami Bayside Architectural - Downtown Miami, FL

The view of Biscayne Blvd from Bayside Park in Miami, just as night behins to set in. Shot with 6D and TS-E 17, using Fotodiox Wonderpana kit 3-stop GND filter and circular polarizer. Some light painting of the foreground as well.


Bayside Miami Architectural by ddk632, on Flickr

5 Lightning Stikes the Sea - Downtown Miami, FL

A lightning strike in the distance can be seen from Bayside Park, in Downtown, Miami, Florida. This is my first successful attempt at capturing lightning. Here's to many more!


Lightning Strikes the Sea by ddk632, on Flickr

6 Conversation with a Fan - Homestead International Speedway, Homestead, FL

Not exactly a conversation, and not the type of fan you'd think. After a race, on a hot Florida summer afternoon, that fan is worth its weight in gold. Racer Garrett Funkhouser (CCS #66) recuperates after one of the day's races at CCS motorcycle race weekend, Homestead Miami International Speedway


Conversation with a Fan by ddk632, on Flickr

7 Beauty and the Beast - Cutler Road, Miami, FL

This was a shot worth waiting for. I had my tripod set up, TS-E 17 manual focused perfectly on the bike, 580EXII flash with light green flash gel pointed at the trees for a forest effect. I just needed to wait for the perfect vehicle to pass by and be in my shot. I was hoping for a sports car or a motorcycle. I got a bike, some random cars, a BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe, and a Panamera. Happy with those, as I was about to pack up, I see a white Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Roadster coming up. I ran to position and snapped this shot just in time! Love it!


Beauty and The Beast by ddk632, on Flickr

8 Middle of the Pack - Palm Beach International Raceway, Palm Beach, FL

This turned out to be a lucky shot. Was basically trying to get closeups of the group on the first lap of this race. Even at f/14 you can see the DOF is pretty thin due to the distance.

CCS #85 came out from the rest of the pack in this photo. Monopod-mounted 100-400L w/2.0 TC for total of 800mm using manual focus.


Middle of the Pack by ddk632, on Flickr

There you have it folks, I'm damn excited and proud that my work gets to hang on a wall in a real place in the real world. Now I want to do more!

Seriously, if you're in South Florida, stop by the store in Delray Beach to see my photos on the wall and get some Vapes

[Twix]

Eff me some of these shots are gorgeous. How long have you been shooting for?

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by Twix

Eff me some of these shots are gorgeous. How long have you been shooting for?

Thanks a lot, really appreciate the kind words man!

I guess technically I can say I've been shooting for over 15 years, but the truth is I went for long periods during that time without shooting much at all, due to work and life stuff.

I was heavy into it for a few years in the early 2000's with a film SLR, when I traveled a lot and did a lot of skiing. Used to ski with my camera backpack and bust out the tripod in the middle of the slopes

Then got back into it in 2007-2008, but I was so rusty it felt like starting over. I went to Iceland and was kicking myself for being out of practice, and look back on those shots now and know how much better they can be. I mean, I was literally reading Understanding Exposure while I was in Iceland, then shooting. I had a cheap tripod and no idea what I was doing, but still ended up with some decent shots.

Finally got back into really shooting all the time about a year and a half ago and haven't really stopped.

Most of the images that I consider my best and don't criticize as much as my older work are from the past year or less, with the exception being that first image of the Hyatt Pier 66, which was shot in February 2009 (nearly 5 years ago) with my Rebel XTi and I have yet to find a shot I like better.

[dcstep]

Nice thread and lots of great images.

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Nice thread and lots of great images.

Thanks Dave!

[druu]

Very cool, always good to see that other people outside of yourself and your internet forum friends enjoying some of your work.

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by druu

Very cool, always good to see that other people outside of yourself and your internet forum friends enjoying some of your work.

Thanks man, totally agree!