June 2012

Another post that I’ve been trying to catch up on. Shot with Destinee a month or so ago. Told me right off the bat that she loves the camera. So I knew it would be a fun shoot. It always helps when your subject is very at ease in front of your lens. She was awesome and it was very cool to watch her practice. Very controlled and precise movements. Not an ounce of wasted energy. The definition of a professional athlete. She also might be the only person with longer/skinnier legs then me. Extremely tall and extremely lean. Thanks to her great attitude, the whole crew had a great all around time on this one.

As for the actual photos, I wasn’t left with a ton of options on this one (the usual). We shot in an enormous warehouse facility in LA that must have had 75 volleyball courts in it. Each one separated by floor to ceiling nets. Not exactly a clean background. Didn’t want to do the typical stand next to the net shot, so this is what came of it. It’s different and I actually like it. Her long body and attitude carry it though I think. Been on a kick for a while, where I use strobe flare in the shots.

TAGS: Destinee Hooker, U.S. Olympic Volleyball, Woman’s Volleyball, Professional Volleyball Player, Olympics, Olympic Athlete, London 2012, Athlete, Sports, Portrait of Destinee Hooker, Los Angeles, California, Rob Hammer

Apologies for the severe neglect to this blog. The past couple weeks have been really fun and jam packed with travel. Miami, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and finally back home for a quite couple weeks. I’m at least 10 blog posts behind, so there will be a lot to come in the next few weeks.

This is from my most recent shoot in D.C. with NBA All-Star big man Roy Hibbert. He currently plays for the Indiana Pacers, but like most big league contracts, that probably won’t last. Roy was a blast to shoot with. He worked his ass off and had a lot of fun. Did a lot of lifting and a lot of drills. For a 7 footer that can’t be easy. Even at the end of the day, he was throwing out ideas of images he wanted to make. Which resulted in the shot of him with the chalk. Thanks Roy.

This was one of those shoots where I was extremely lucky to have (LOTS OF) time to set up. The shoot was at a Georgetown University practice facility, that was less then photogenic. Thankfully the other part of our crew was shooting video, so I had time to try out different locations before Roy jumped in. This was probably the 4th spot I tried out that morning. No assistant or stand in. Finally I dialed this in about 30 seconds before he walked in. Love the old gritty look to this gym. Not sure why I didn’t go right for this spot. Lesson learned.

TAGS: Roy Hibbert, NBA All-Star, NBA, National Basketball Association, Portrait of Roy Hibbert, Indian Pacers, Professional Basketball Player, Basketball Player, Center, 7 footer, Go Pro Workouts, Georgetown University, Rob Hammer Photography

Down in Florida shooting a MLS player. The heat is out of control. Why would anyone choose to live here? Trips like these that further cement my view of San Diego being the greatest place in the country to live.

Our gorgeous hotel

Check out this mobile application featuring some of my images. It’s a cool thing to have for all you fitness freaks.

http://fitplayapp.com/

TAGS: FitPLay App, Fit Play, Mobile Application, App, App Store, IPhone, Fitness, Fitness Photography, Fitness Model, Athlete, Sports, Training, Workout, Power, Strength, Muscle, Advertising Photography, Rob Hammer

Needed to scratch an itch last night. Had to climb some hills and jumps some fences to do it. Scratched.

TAGS: Freeway, San Diego Freeway, 805 Freeway, 805, 8 Freeway, On-Ramp, Highways, Travel Photography, Rob Hammer, Nikon

Took a last minute solo trip out to Joshua Tree National Park recently. Was really bored and felt like shooting something different. Afterward was thinking about continuing on to Monument Valley, but didn’t. Now I’m pissed at my self for not. Either way this was a really fun trip. Met some really cool people that were doing the same thing I was. Packed up all my camping gear, and ended up just sleeping in my bag at the location I was shooting. Great experience. Had never done that before. Went to bed around 1-1:30 and got back up around 3 to shoot some more and stayed up from then on. I was shooting from the top of a huge rock that aloud me to see over most of the park with the moon light. Unfortunately the moon made it nearly impossible to make any strong star trail images. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. Right before sunrise I heard one coyote start howling which snowballed into packs of howling coyotes all over the park. It’s like they were singing to each other. Awesome.

If you look at the panoramic shot below you can actually see where I was sleeping. Far to the left of the frame underneath the sun flare is Arch Rock. Kind of looks like a girls bikini top. Underneath that is a white object. That is my pillow.

TAGS: Joshua Tree, Joshua Tree National Park, Desert, Rocks, Arch Rock, Landscape Photography, Advertising Photography, Long Exposure Photography, Star Trails, Rob Hammer