My amazing wife serves as the most efficient voice-activated light stand in Norway, who also happens to speaks the language.

What do photographers create when they become a client? They create personal work where money isn’t at stake, much like the impossible test shoot.

And the process to get 100% backing from your spouse? That’s the magic formula. Folks, it makes the epic occasion even sweeter. And this is one of them.

Travel Hard, Play Hard

Travel allows our creative brains to workout, hard. Yet with little timelines to play with gear. Which means more time run up hills, greet animals, and chase light in pursuit of a sophisticated animal portrait.

After all, why NOT shed a limelight on deserving hooved animals? They don’t waste time in hair & makeup.

Just as my professional work progresses, so does my pursuit of personal work. I find it is important to take time to explore one place. Not just days, but a couple of weeks is a luxury beyond belief. It’s almost like a sabbatical for creative senses… the kind of trip that will land on the Top Ten list in your decade-in-review.

We return home, exhilarated and exhausted.

The Bonus of Personal Work

Travel forces us to slow down, explore, experiment. The result?

Our creative senses thrive for months! It allows us to put aside the: mail, bills, and humdrum of routine. An argument could be made that we don’t need it. The same could be said about visiting the dentist. Yet, if you go a year or two without one, you’ll feel it. And it’ll cost.

Personal work is selfish, I admit. Yet when it is incorporated into our professional lives, it inspires our ability to create for others/ourselves. As an artist, that’s priceless.

Commercial Animal Portraiture

I’ve been drawn to the work of Sharon Montrose and Joey L for years. Both commercial photographers who use medium format equipment and traditional lighting techniques to create their dramatic images. A good friend of mine Scott Stebner understands not only the photographic tools and techniques, but is an equal master of the animal sciences (He’s earning a PhD at Kansas State currently). I fused the inspiration of all three into a project I call “Animal Portraits.”

At first, the project sound simple: scurry the countryside to find the subjects. But balancing the weather, with varied and interesting terrain proved the challenge. I spent countless hours scouting locations for the right landscapes and light. Most images didn’t make the cut due to circumstances beyond my control such as the weather and animal locations. There’s no animal trainer here, folks.

Shelpping the countryside with my PhaseOne IQ rig and strobe, I set off to create portraits with animals. They didn’t speak my language, yet we shared something in common: They had no schedule, nor did I! Gear didn’t matter, but perfect subject approach did. Chasing them doesn’t work. Approaching them does, I learned after a few dozen failed attempts.

With longer focals lengths to get the same angle of view, the PhaseOne offers subject isolation with a 3-D look, especially when viewed at 100% or in print regarding subtle tonality, rich detail, and clear sharpness. I trust you’ll appreciate the roundness, the depth to the images which is consistent in all my work with this tool.

It’s been a long process to finesse. The .IIQ PhaseOne files are a marvel to process with CaptureOne and Photoshop. I used the PhaseOne IQ 140 paired with a 645DF body and a 55mm LS lens for your enjoyment.

Fun and humor  serve me well in the field, even on personal work. Use wisely.

You might also enjoy reading:

Landscape Photography in Norway with the PhaseOne camera

Pros and Cons of shooting Medium Format Digital

12 Commandments of shooting MF Digital