I work for a great running company, Rogue Running, and they like to put on crazy events to break up the summer doldrums. Last week they put on the Rogue Double Dare Challenge. A timed obstacle course ending in a murky inflatable slip n slide.

First up, Bobbing for Apples

The Second Event is High Knees

Third, Shaving Water Balloons, aka Steve’s Revenge

Fourth, Medicine Ball Reverse Shot Put

The Fifth event is interesting. Whip Cream Pie Pushup to find the Gummi Bear. One pushup per bite.

Sixth up is the Hula Hoop. Guys had way more issues than the Gals on this event.

The seventh obstacle is over and under hurdles.

The World Cup-inspired eighth event had runners weave through soccer cones with a super light kids ball.

Ugh, Dizzy Bat for number nine.

Immediately following Dizzy Bat, the Egg Carry required the exact fine motor skills that Dizzy Bat depleted.

Remember the murky slip n slide? Yep, that is the finish.

And your reward for completing these 11 events? Beer, from North by Northwest!

I know Adam and Dacia through my work with Team Rogue Elite. Last week, I got to meet Adam’s parents and the newest addition to the family – Avaya. Thank you Adam and Dacia for sharing Avaya with us, she is a superstar!

The video that follows was shot on a Canon 1d IV and the stills come from the same camera and a Canon 50D.

Enjoy!

Avaya from Josh Baker on Vimeo.

Seniors and Brides, we can make something like this for you too, give us a call or email AzulOx at josh@azulox.com

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JB

It wasn’t Mr. Toads, but the last few days have been a journey for me, including the 768 miles I drove between Thursday and Sunday. The week started off with some new gear. I stepped up from battery powered strobes to an Alien Bee 800 with a 47 inch Octabox. For those who read this who have no idea what that last sentence means, I now have the sun in my bag. And yes, I did have to get a bigger bag.

Thursday, Headed out to Houston. Scouted the location of my Friday Corporate shoot in downtown. 16th floor conference room that looks out to the former Enron building. Well, it is still a building, just used to house Enron. Wrapped up the scouting, and proceeded to a Mother-Daughter head shot shoot. Had a wonderful time with Natalie, the actress, and Beverly, the corporate speaker. Beverly is from Alice and her family and my family were in a similar line of business back in the day, mainly oil fields and construction.

After the requirements of the shoot were done, we headed outside for a few Mother-Daughter moments.

Thursday night, Bari (friend from wayback), her few month old Max and I went for tacos at 100% Taco. Great little restaurant setup like a street vendor in Mexico. Even had the green taxi in the center.

Friday Morning, Downtown Houston. Corporate shoot for Enite Consulting, Thanks to Neal Hamil Agency for providing our clients and the awesome front desk help of Ashley and Brandon who made our time a breeze. Ashely is in film school, and Brandon does graphic design. Further proof of the creative mind looking to break out from behind the front desk. Another former Seguinite, Andrew, helped me with setup, grunt work, and detail picture taking. Thanks Andrew!

The shoot went great, lots of fun headshots/team shots/stocky shots. Can’t post em yet until the client is happy with them, but they will probably be their own post later.

Lunch with Andrew followed at The Hobbit? down by Rice U. Good blue cheese burger, The raspberry tea? not so much. Best part of the lunch. Guy in table next to us talking to three medical clients, “Don’t ever go into trading lumber futures, you can lose a lot of money in it” ….. What?!, I don’t even know where to begin on that one.

Friday evening, headed back to Austin in the rain. Dropped off the borrowed Vagabond power pack back to Jake North Photography (mine is on backorder), thanks Jake! Friday night was filled with backing up files, spinning hard drives and charging batteries. The glamorous life we lead

Saturday morning up early to shoot the Muddy Buddy Austin race for brightroom in Johnson City. I was the photographer in the “pit”, 40 foot mud pit that the racing teams finished in. After 10 minutes of wearing sandals, it became a barefoot day in the mud. Great race, terrible parking, copious amounts of mud flying. (in my ear, on my beard, on top of hat, etc.) After I had cleaned up a little, enough to get into the wifey’s car, I helped a fellow photog get her car unstuck. Did I say cleaned up? I meant, splattered with mud from head to toe. Melissa, I am waiting for that six-pack….

Drove to Luling to grab some City Market hot links, then off to my mom’s in Seguin for a power nap. Saturday Night, my assistant Kaush and I tackled the wedding of Zac and Emily in downtown Seguin under the gazebo at Central Park. Following a horse drawn carriage ride to the reception area, Emily and Zac partied in the Coliseum of Seguin. All of their photos will be on my zenfolio site here

Drive back to Austin late, recharge batteries, dump files, backup files, catch a few hours sleep. Up again Sunday morning at 5am, picked up Tenille, my favorite Canadian Pro Triathlete, and headed out to Pace Bend Park for the last of the 2010 Rogue Trail Series, The BEND. Interesting course, in that the 10k and 30k racers finished in different directions. Gabe, the trail master, was trying to challenge me I know. Thanks to Minh for bringing me a breakfast beer up to my perch on the 30k course. The sprinkles came shortly after that, had to engineer cover for my flashes, and used a shoot thru umbrella as an actual, yknow, umbrella. Haha.

Finished up Sunday with another power nap, and then a Maternity shoot with my running buddy JP and his wife Vikki. Vikki’s daughter learned how to ride a bike that morning, so we got some snaps of that as well. Pretty powerful to be a part of both of those experiences, the expectation of a new child, and seeing another child hit a great milestone in their life. I have the best job.

To me, the journey of the last week encapsulated what I love so much about the photography business. Meeting new people, reconnecting with old friends for new purposes, challenging one self creatively, jumping into situations that make me feel a little uncomfortable – but surviving, and seeing joy in others as they pass into new life accomplishments.

Stay Thirsty My Friends, and enjoy the Wild Ride of your Lives!

The last thing I posted was all about my workflow, lots of words, no pictures. Let us change that up a bit for you and give you pictures with not a lot of words.

We have already covered some of Emily’s Bridal pictures, the 2 that I could show you. Now we get to meet Zac. Started out on the East Side of Austin, meeting at Progress Coffee on 5th and San Marcos. Then moseyed over to some cool loading docks.

The running joke of the day was to “Act Natural”, as though those are magic words a photographer can say to elicit true emotion.

Hit up the Saltillo Plaza train station for some beautiful flowers, benches, a homeless guy sleeping, and stolen moments

The ran over to Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake. Of course it was Saturday, so a wedding was going on and about 3 other photography sessions at my spot, but luckily I bring my own lights.

Of course, I had to put Emily in front of some graffiti, she pulls this off so well. Emily probably will love it, her mother not so much.

And then right around the corner, I found my new favorite space in Downtown. This cool little alleyway across from a Bank of America (so Emily will know how to get back). I setup a flash as some backlight, and pulled out my low light special – 85mm f1.8. The lightstand almost got run over, but the pictures came out great. I think they are like something out of a forbidden romance movie set in New York.

In honor of Emily’s blue dress we tried to hit up the convention center parking garage, but some other photographers were there with on-camera flash ready to go. I stayed out of their way out of respect.

All in all, we had a wonderful time together. So glad I got to meet Zac, we connected on bad movie jokes and cultural references that made me feel old since Emily didn’t get them. Looking very much to their wedding in May.

For all the images in this set, head over here.

–JB

We live in Austin,Texas. We get to see snow on the Olympics and when we go Skiing in New Mexico or Colorado. But Snow in Austin? Not so much.

Yesterday was a glorious day. Austin received several inches of snow. Two days prior the temperature was in the 70′s. I blame Al Gore.

As a photographer and a Texan, we have to seize rare opportunities. Tuesday was one such opportunity, I posted on Facebook, “Who wants Snow Pictures?”. I got a reply within 10 minutes. Gump and Olivia, some horse friends of my wife, were game so we trekked over to Brushy Creek Park in Cedar Park Texas, an in between meeting spot for us.

My goal was travel light in gear because the snow was occasionally light rain and I didn’t want my gear getting too soaked, so I headed out with my trusty Lastolite Ezybox 24″ and my Orbis Ring Flash. Camera strapped around my neck, I had a hand for each light modifier. Gump and Olivia were willing models, staging a quick snowball fight, and mucking through the mud to get to the prime locations. After my Ezybox toppled twice, Gump and Olivia alternated as VAL’s (voice activated lightstands).

My photography goal at first was Snowing Senior Photos (yes, all caps, it was a main thought). We meandered around the park, using the running trail as a pathway. I was getting some good, some bad, but nothing that I absolutely loved. That is, until we found a sweet spot in the trees with a pathway running away from us. My photography imagery turned to the wood nymphs I have been reading about in the Percy Jackson series (movie? eh, not good). Maybe for its rareness to me, but a good flaky snow just transforms ugly cedar trees into a sweet winter vignette. We finished up the shoot with these fun Girl in the Woods photos.

On the way home, I had to stop off of the toll road onto a sidestreet that dead ended. I had driven past a group of small barn houses in failing condition a 100 times, and decided that because of the snow, today was the day to stop and shoot. I was thinking of my buddy Andy, who jumps fences to get the shot he wants, but I was feeling un-nimble in my snow clothes. The hog wire bottom, barb wire top were daunting to me on this day as the steady flow of cars just feet away were witness to my weakness. Instead, I just used the fence as a compositional element in my frames. I processed the HDR’s by going through Lightroom > Photomatix > Photoshop>Imagenomic>Photoshop.

The sense of urgency and immediacy of yesterday is hard to replicate. The snow that fell was the best snow in this area in 20 years, maybe since 1985. And today? Should be in the 60′s. Grab your camera. Get out the door!

–JB

Some friends of mine got married this weekend.
These are the photos.

The event was held at Shoreline Grill in Austin, Texas on Saturday, Feb 13th.

Small Wedding, Big Emotions. More than one tear of happiness was shed.

The full gallery is here

Enjoy.

(From left to right: Adam Perkins, Joe Thorne, Darren Brown, Kyle Miller)

First up, I remembered to take some setup shots so that I don’t have to draw cheesy diagrams in photoshop.

Second, these Team Rogue guys are F-A-S-T. I asked Coach Sisson if they would be moving quickly through my lighting zone. He said, “well, you won’t be able to tell the difference between their hard and easy, from 4:10 to 4:30 pace.” That, my friends, is hurtling through the bi-pedal atmosphere.

This weeks workout was at Zilker Park in downtown Austin, Texas. I wanted to get more essence of place than last weeks non-descript track. The skyline of downtown Austin would be awesome. The fog and haze prevented a clear view, but at least my strobes weren’t working overtime like last week.

The runners were coming by from both sides of the road, running an out and back course. So I setup a modified triangle lighting. The flash to left had a 1/4 cto on it, and the middle side light had a blue gel. I should have put a warming gel on the far right side. The middle light was for rim lighting, and at some point I moved it across the street into the same position.

Not having an extra person around this week, I had to self test the light to make sure I had a decent exposure.

I know that David Hobby uses his hand for this type of thing, and I usually do too, but I want to see how the gels would play on my noggin first.

When the guys and gals started their workout, I wanted to go low with a wide-ish angle and get close to get the feel of speed and still get some of the Austin Skyline. It worked okay for a single runner, but for the guys in the groups, the person closest to me would look good and the others would become obscured. The point of these photos is the team, so I switched to my trusty 70-200 and captured the Rogue’s as they came around turn 1.

Lots more from this group to come, including my favorite composite.

EDIT: HERE is the video link from the workout

JB

Geoff “Ham” Hammond and I are now podcasting a 2x monthly show about photography in Austin. Our first episode is up at oxandham.com. In it, we talk about Cedar Allergies, When is the right time to hire a pro photographer?, and the World’s Greatest Dad T-shirts.

I would tell you more, but then you wouldn’t listen, so give it a spin and let me know what you think.

We are still figuring out all the niceties of producing a podcast, so if you have any experience in it, let us know in the comments.

–JB

I often ask my wife this question, which to her means, how many bags of my camera gear should I bring. She is a good wife, and knows me well. After asking this question on Saturday, my sister had the best unknown response. “Well, if Josh is coming, I don’t even bother bringing my camera.” I guess that answers it.

So this weekend, it was several days of me bringing my camera along. First up was Mark and Debbie leaving Austin for Ft. Polk, LA. Mark is a Captain in the Army and a super fast runner, who shares my sick sense of humor. Debbie is a joy to run with as well, although we have seen less of her lately. We are saddened to see them go just as Mark was adjusting to living in Austin. Hopefully they will be back in a few years.

Saturday, I went an volunteered a little time to “Scare for A Cure“. A haunted house experience that raises money for local charities. Some of my friends are heavily involved with this group. I figured it would make some interesting images and shine the spotlight a little on the people that make it happen. This year they are raising money for Breast Cancer Resource Centers of Texas.

The people putting on Scare are top notch and I can already recommend that you either donate some time, or go out and experience the “SCARE” for yourself. Also, its being built inside a half built castle on Lake Austin. Pretty cool.

Saturday evening, it was off to Seguin to celebrate my oldest sisters birthday. Dad cooked some awesome Tilapia, and I did my best to eat a pan of it by myself. Nice to have both my sisters and all the husbands, nieces and nephews there to socialize with. Got to play “Tag” with the youngins’ – did my best matador with a pair of sunglasses.

Dad built a bonfire that would have been even more awesome the night before, but summer decided to return to Central Texas for the weekend.

Did I mention the heat?
Sunday morning, our team rogue roadrunners ventured down “south” – ie. downtown to run the Silicon Labs Marathon Relay. Hot was the word of the day, in fact, you could hardly tell that they have moved the event from 4th of July to late September. Felt about the same.

I was running the last leg for my team (Coyote and the Roadrunners!), started about 10am. Pretty brutal. My pictures are pretty much before the event through the first three legs, as I had to warmup and get ready for my part.

It was great to see a lot of my running friends, Donnie, Joe, Jill, Angel, Tori, Kelly, Rebecca, Bill, et al. A lot of old Wilco runners. I love the Austin Running scene, just a ton of good people being good folks. warm, inviting, bonding in our own suffering.

I ran a good time, about 22 minutes. Felt like my blood was going to boil. I would have liked to just document the race, but some one had to run the anchor We finished 11th out of 150 teams in our division, not too shabby.

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