On the newsstand this week is my portrait shoot of Über-DJ David Guetta photographed for the London Observer Magazine shot when Guetta was headlining the Ultra Music Festival in Miami last month.
Day 1 began with a portrait shoot of the DJ+Producer made famous when his Black Eyed Peas hit song “I Gotta Feeling” blew up on the charts. We had the rooftop of a Miami Beach penthouse suite to ourselves. Like a lot celebrity shoots it was a case of ‘hurry up and wait’ – we set up your shot and then sat back and waited to Guetta, I mean get, our star. Yet you never complain when that gives you the best light of the day. Then he arrived on the windy rooftop, Guetta was concerned about the wind on the roof deck. We did everything we good to block it before deciding the best course was to just go with it. He’s lit with one Octabank from left weighted down with the pack + 2 assistants holding it in place so the wind doesn’t send it out to sea and shot it with my favorite camera set-up for portraits a Sony a900 with a CZ 24-70/2.8 lens. Our portrait shows Guetta doing his best DiCaprio from Titanic.
Day 2 took me back-stage at the Ultra Music Festival where I was told they would allow me onstage with Guetta as long as I stayed out of the spotlight. Wearing all-black, I did my Ninja best to hide out of sight, I held my NEX-5N camera above the speakers or sound board and composed off the LCD which was tilted down toward me capturing Guetta with the massive crowd behind him. I gotta admit it was a blast to go to my photojournalism roots and shoot a bit of reportage again – all the while in the back-stage company of Lil Jon and Paris Hilton.
My thanks the London Observer’s wonderful photo editor Kit Burnett for the gig, to writer Luke Bainbridge, to SONY EMI’s Paul Guimaraes for the access, and to David Guetta for making our shoot Titanic!
Tagged as:
Camera,
CZ 24-70/2.8,
David Guetta,
London Observer,
Magazine,
Music,
Photojournalism,
portrait shoot,
Sony a900,
Sony EMI,
Ultra Music Festival
Q: Hi Brian, Are you able to tell me what camera was given to the contestants on the x factor last season? I’m currently looking for a new camera and am looking for a good recommendation – amberellen85
Sure Amber, The X Factor finalists all got a SONY NEX-5N. It’s the same camera I used to shoot these portraits of them.
Marcus Canty photographed on The X Factor
Tagged as:
Camera,
SONY NEX-5N,
The X Factor
Q: Do you always have a camera with you? Even if you are running out the store? Or do you only shoot when you have an assignment?
A: Well, now that an iPhone is considered camera category, I’d have to say yes I do. Beyond that I tend to either take along a Cybershot or Sony’s sweet little compact Sony NEX-5 with me when I don’t want to carry something bigger. Here’s what I’m talking about. The most surreal experience I’ve ever had was walking onto the red carpet at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner between Marlon Wayans and Adrian Grenier. Given the company, it’s an enormous understatement to say that no one was there to see me. But it did give me an opportunity to see things from a different point of view. So with my handy and discreet Cybershot I captured the red carpet the way the stars see it.
Mingling with the stars is best done without calling attention to yourself. Instead of a big camera and flash, my tiny Cybershot was just the thing to snap a couple frames of Tracy Morgan looking all Presidential in The New Yorker’s hospitality suite. As the saying goes, the best camera you can own is the one you actually have with you.
Tagged as:
Camera,
Cybershot,
iPhone,
Marlon Wayans,
Red Carpet,
Sony NEX,
The New Yorker,
Tracy Morgan,
White House Correspondent's Dinner
by Brian Smith on February 5, 2012
in Gear
by Brian Smith on July 14, 2010
in Gear
Sony has launched it’s E-mount NEX-VG10E camcorder, the worlds’ first consumer-grade HD camcorder with interchangeable lenses. Although appearing under Sony’s Handycam brand, rather than Alpha, it retains a lot in common with the Alpha NEX series. It features the same 14.6MP Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor but is capable of recording 1080i video at a higher, 24mbps, bitrate. The NEX-VG10E also features an electronic viewfinder and ‘Quad Capsule Spatial Array Stereo Microphone’ that uses four microphone elements to provide better channel separation and cancel unwanted noise. In every other respect it is essentially a NEX 5, featuring the same user interface (though with more external controls) and both SD and MemoryStick storage. It will sold as kit with image-stabilized E18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS lens and will be available a suggested retail price of $2000.
* 14.2 effective megapixel ExmorTM APS HD CMOS sensor (19.5 times larger than conventional camcorder) for stunning HD movies with beautiful background defocus
* Accepts E-mount interchangeable lenses plus A-mount α DSLR lenses (via optional adaptor)
* High quality audio with Quad Capsule Spatial Array Stereo Microphone and external mic input
* 7.5cm (3 inch-type) Xtra Fine LCD and electronic viewfinder
Tagged as:
Camcorder,
Camera,
E mount,
Sony,
Sony NEX,
Video
Does this look fun?
Fame is a funny thing. A lot of notions about fame and celebrity are based on which side of the velvet rope you find yourself.
There’s a great scene in Barry Levinson’s “PoliWood” where two actors shoot down any notion that Hollywood celebrities are motivated by the desire for photo ops.
Sure, it’s a necessary part of the business. Red carpet photo ops are one of the ways motion picture studios promote their latest releases. Just those 4-color flyers for your local hardware store.
But fun? I don’t think so…
Imagine running a gauntlet of this on your way into the movies.
Actually, to quite honest, the photographer who blasted me with his flash was extremely nice and quite personable. We ended up having a drink together. We were at a party, after all. If he seems more dapper than you’d imagine for a paparazzi, there’s a good reason for that. It’s actually actor Tim Daly giving me my 1/15 second of fame…
Tagged as:
15 Minutes of Fame,
Actor,
Barry Levinson,
Camera,
Celebrity,
Fame,
flash photography,
Hollywood,
Paparazzi,
Photo Op,
PoliWood,
Privacy,
Red Carpet,
Tim Daly
by Brian Smith on October 22, 2008
in Hype
Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees shot with Sony a700 and Sony's Zeiss 135/1.8
Brian Smith has been named as one of five photographers to launch Sony’s new professional photographer program, The Artisans of Imagery, which showcases five top professional photographers who have been using their Alpha A900 DSLRs and lenses from Sony. Brian Smith joins Andy Katz, David McLain, Christina Mittermeier and Matthew Jordan Smith. Their photographic works were on display at the PhotoPlus Expo held in New York October 22-24.
Tagged as:
A900,
Alpha,
Andy Katz,
Artisans of Imagery,
Brian Smith,
Camera,
Christina Mittermeier,
David McLain,
Matthew Jordan Smith,
Photographer,
Program,
Sony,
Sony Artisans of Imagery
