Jeff Scher's Photo Blog

Thursday
Jul142011

Intermed Building in Portland

The Intermed building on Marginal Way in Portland always catches the last rays of the setting sun and often the light cast upon the building is brilliant.  Tonight after my Parks Commission meeting, as I was walking to my car this view caught my eye and luckily my camera was handy.  This building has quickly become an iconic part of the Portland skyline.  The views from the upper floors that face West provide an unbroken line of sight to Mount Washington in New Hampshire, approximately 70+ miles away.

Thursday
Jun162011

Fog Signal Building at Two Lights

A project I am currently working on for a local client is to create a portfolio of local landscapes from the Portland area.  My list is pretty specific but last night as I was scouting a location, I saw this shot I had not noticed before.  I have been to the Two Lights area in Cape Elizabeth dozens of times. After another couple of days of rain I was happy to see the sun shining. The light was in just the right spot, the fog signal building seemed to rest nicely into the landscape and with Casco Bay on the horizon and a blue sky, the composition naturally fell into place.

Tuesday
May172011

Pro Bike Racer Linnea Koons

In the Fall of 2009 as I was covering the Verge New England Cyclocross Series I had photographed Linnea Koons during numerous Elite Women's races in the region.  The competition during the races is fierce and the type of photo you get during the race has such an intense feel to it.  I had hoped to be able to capture a different side of some racers off of the race course.  With this in mind I contacted Linnea earlier this Winter to see if we could get to together for a portrait session in the Boston area.  Linnea is originally from New Zealand and holds a racing license from that country.  Linnea is sponsored by Emborcation Cycling Journal.  Racing Pro in CX Mountain bike she is hoping to make selection for the world championships racing for NZ. 

With our photo shoot scheduled I decided that Hammond Pond Reservation in Chestnut Hill, MA would be a great location.  There are some large cliffs and huge boulders that would make a prefect backdrop for the mountain bike part of the shoot.  I scouted a white brick wall in an underground parking area near what used to be the Women's Bloomingdale store for the road bike shots. Linnea was great and just lit up for the camera and made my job easy as I ran around and managed all of the gear in the 25mph wind gusts.  Linnea was great to work with and I look forward to seeing her racing this Fall on the New England Cyclocross Circuit.

 

Tuesday
May172011

Ultra Runner Jeremy Bonnett

Canon had sent me at my request a few lenses to demo, a 35MM F/1.4 and a 70-300 F/4-5.6L IS.  I had to get the lenses to Fed Ex Thursday afternoon.  But with overcast skies, I really wanted to get one more shoot in with them before they shipped.  I called Jeremy to see if he could squeeze in a quick photo shoot.  Jeremy rallied and met me at the Fore River Sanctuary in an area I had been wanting to shoot in for quite some time.  The forecast called for a 30% chance of rain and as luck would have it, it immediately started to rain once I hit the trail to the location.  I am not one to put the camera away just because the weather is not cooperating.  With a light drizzle I set up the lights and got to work.  Jeremy had a small window to shoot in because he was off to a 15 mile trail run after our shoot and he was really doing me a favor by squeezing this in.  Jeremy is an amazing athlete and turned it on for the camera like the pro that he is.  Thanks Jeremy!

Tuesday
May172011

Pro Mountain Bike Racer Andrew Freye

Equipped with a brand new (never been ridden) Trek / Gary Fisher Superfly Andrew and I met at Winnock Woods for an athlete portrait photo session.  Andrew and I had never met before but in our small bicycle community we had both known of each other though the network.  A quick message on facebook about the shoot and few back and forth emails and we were good to go.  The past few weeks has been busy with four different athlete photo shoots between Boston and the Portland area.  All of the shoots have run the same way, a quick scout, light weight strobes and then diving right into the shoot session.  With the first black fly bites of the season drawing blood we were able to squeeze four different shoot location in an hour and half including setting up lights and composition.  All shots were captured with a Canon 5D MK2, Canon lenses 16-35 F/2.8, 50 F/1.4, 24-70 F/2.8 and a Canon 70-200 F/4 IS.  Lights included a Quantum Q5DR and a Canon 580EX shot through and Lastolite EzyBox.  Andrew did an awesome job and because we were so efficient, even had time to head up to Bradbury to hit the trails for some more time in the saddle.