Ultimate Gym Selfie

So 'selfies' are the thing, everyone's taking them, they're a cultural phenomenon. I'm not a fan.

At least the Kardashians are using the rear camera...

I sort of understand the mirror selfie, the best camera on your handset will generally be the rear facing camera. But using the front facing camera you'll end up with blurry or grainy images of yourself that you want (probably) to be flattering.
I mean, of course I've taken a few selfies, I do occasionally use Snapchat and I will use the front-facing camera on my phone when necessary, but I really don't understand SELFIE STICKS!

When did it become appropriate to carry the 'Wand of Narcissus' around with your phone bolted to the end of it?
While I appreciate that most smartphones have capable cameras these days, they're still PHONES! How can you effectively make or receive a call with a meter long pole attached to your handset?!

Photo courtesy of The Huffington Post

Sadly, whether I like it or not, selfies are a thing and the selfie stick seems to be the winter 2014/15 must-have accessory.

With that in mind we set out to make a testosterone-fuelled ULTIMATE GYM SELFIE, complete with the manliest selfie-stick ever!

If you can't beat them, join them!

Armed with some pro camera equipment, pro weight lifting equipment and the man-tank that is William Wayland, we headed to mi-gym to create the Ultimate Gym Selfie!

The concept was simple, Wayland would be holding an Olympic Weightlifting bar with a DSLR (complete with big lens) attached to the end of it. Simple, right...?

Well an Olympic bar weighs 20kg before you've added a weight to the it, the ends also rotate so the lifter doesn't have to let go of the bar to re-grip. Finally, how were we going to attach a DSLR to a smooth, round patch of metal?

We opted to use bandages to attach the camera (what's more manly than bandages?!) with a solid amount of gaffer tape to stop the bar from spinning.
The camera that was strapped to the bar was a Canon 7D DSLR with a Canon 24-70 f/2.8L attached to it - that's about £2500 worth of my kit being swung around on a metal bar.

We added a 5kg weight plate to the end that Will was holding, this added to the manliness of the image and gave him some counterweight to offset the weight of the bar and camera.

Wayland and Mossy trying to figure out the pose

It truly is a thing of beauty

I wanted the final images to be dark and gritty, sticking the MANLY theme. The subject was lit with 2 Nissin Di622 MkII flash guns that were set off with Godox wireless triggers.
All images shot on Canon 5D mkIII with Canon 16-35 f/2.8L lens.

Here's the finished picture.

THE ULTIMATE MANLY SELFIE STICK

As a bonus we decided to mock up what the pictures taken on this ULTIMATE MANLY SELFIE STICK would look like.

Look at that duck face!

MANLIEST SELFIE STICK EVER

The shoot was definitely one of the most fun photoshoots we've ever done, we were all laughing the whole morning.
Always a pleasure to work with William Wayland and once again thanks to mi-gym.com in Chelmsford for letting us play silly games in the gym.



All images copyright Brad Wendes 2015

Dani Studio Shoot

Dani Studio Shoot.

Another studio shoot this week, very different from the last one.
I had done a very 'male' shoot last week with harsh lighting that produced images with a little 'punch'.
So this week I wanted to shoot a much more feminine subject and produce images that were much softer in tone.

Once again this was a 3 light setup, one softbox to the left of the image (300w set to 1/2 power), one lamp with a reflective umbrella to the right of the image (300w set to 1/3 power) - both lamps in front of the model, pointing back towards the backdrop.
The third lamp was behind the model and off to the right of the image (300w at 1/3 power). This was to add light to the side of her and add the highlight and 'halo' to her.

The images where she is laying down was a 2 lamp setup. One softbox set high and slightly to the right of the image, pointing down above her head. The other used a reflective umbrella and was at her feet, slightly off to the right with the light aimed up her body. This was a great way to avoid shadows under the eyes. For these shots both lights were 300w lamps set to 1/2 power.

Big thanks to Dani for putting up with me giving orders and getting herself into all the requested poses.

I set out to produce images that were a stark contrast to the shoot last week, I like to think I succeeded in that.

Here's my favourite images from the shoot:

mi-gym.com photoshoot

This week a very good friend of mine, Jamie Hammond, brought his studio setup along to mi-gym. We didn't really have a specific photographic agenda, just wanted to experiment with the lighting and the venue to see what we could create.

We shot everything on my Canon 550D and used 3 lights to get these shots.

Huge thanks to mi-gym.com for letting us use the space.
All the equipment featured is from Jordan Fitness
It goes without saying that the shoot was powered by Superlife Nutrition

Rachel from mi-gym

Train hard, play hard

Close up of Brad Wendes

William Wayland of www.powering-through.com

Jordan resistance band

All fun and games at mi-gym

Jamie the photographer trying to lift

Brad Wendes - gymnastic rings

Box fit

Brad Wendes barbell curl

Brad Wendes - Kettlebell goblet squat

Brad Wendes hanstand

Brad Wendes & Kelly Stevens

Loving the Superlife Nutrition Super Protein