Beginner's workshop to Calligraphy by Sarah Ku at Wanderwall Space

So over the weekend, Wanderwall Space had their first Introduction class to Calligraphy with Sarah Ku (@artbysarahku). The class filled up quickly by very eager students who wanted to learn this traditional craft of handwriting. 

My game plan was to come in and grab some stock images of the event to use for future classes. In hindsight, I should of spent more time grabbing some lifestyle of the students interacting with each other but there is always next week but I am happy with the shots I got. I kept the images tight to really hone in on the craft aspect.

For this shoot, I grabbed the Sony A7s, Canon 16-35mm 2.8 Mark II, Canon 135mm 2.0 and Canon 100mm 2.8 IS macro. I have been so involved with the mirrorless systems in the past week that when I picked up a Canon 5d Mark III, I felt the DSLR was oversized... (can't believe I just wrote that). I still have a lot of time I need to spend with the A7 system because when a customer returned the A7s from IE Photo Rentals, there was a lot of custom settings put in and I didn't have time to reset it for default use. The viewfinder was disabled so I had to basically shoot live view. You may not understand how big of a deal that is for me because I was such a hater of people shooting like that. I mean who shoots like this?! Luckily focus peaking was on point and it still allowed me to nail focus properly. 

The other issue I ran into was with the adapter. I was using the Metabones adapter which allows me to control my aperture but a customer came in and wanted to rent it so I had to let it go since that was the last one we had at the shop. I ended up using a generic one that had no aperture control so I had to shoot everything wide open. It ended up working out because I was going for an artistic look so the shallow depth of field ended up working out. 

I used the 16-35mm II for the wide shots since the space is very tight. The 135mm 2.0 was used to give those really super thin DoF shots. Worked out nicely for what it was intended for. The 100mm 2.8 IS macro lens was used to get in much tighter and get more details. 

Also, since my buddy Randy was around, we decided to pull him into the shoot. Why you ask? Well the class was filled with women only. Apparently only women are interested in this class but I know back in the day, men did a lot of calligraphy in Asia. All I know is that if you are a man and you like to talk to the ladies, this class is perfect because the woman to man ratio would be extremely ideal. So get on it boys!

Above are all of the freebies you get in the class. Gold foiled tote bag, starter calligraphy pen with two nibs, ink, Strathmore Calligraphy pad, clipboard and alphabet template. Get on it!

Thanks to all of the ladies that made it out today! ^Group photo courtesy of http://www.marthapimentel.photography

Wanderwall Space
http://www.wanderwallspace.com/
Instagram: @wanderwallspace

Til the next one 
​Andrew Manley

A quick California Lifestyle shoot with two teens in a vintage VW Bug

Some time in 2012, I stopped contributing to an agency I was with due to a lot of corporate bullshit that was going on. Sometimes you have to know when to collect your chips and walk away from the game. This was one of the last shoots I did at that time back in Sept of 2012. I accidentally ran across the folder with these images so I wanted to put a little BTS post since people love to see what goes on behind the scenes. 

My original goal for this shoot was to express the young California spirit of these teen girls. I thought an old school VW Bug would fit the bill right so that's what I went with. I asked a buddy of mine who collects vintage Vdubs and found some girls that my old assistant Lloyd knew from High School. 

Due to time restraints I had at the time, my goal was to shoot by the shop but try to pass it off as if we were somewhere that was not Pomona... lol. So shooting tight was mandatory. The girls at the time didn't have much modeling experience which many times is a double edged sword. Double edged because they have little experience and they need a lot of direction but at the same time they have genuine emotions so it feels more "real". 

Normally I didn't have people shooting behind the scenes but that day we had Paul (owner of the VW) out with his camera so that is the only BTS we have. We had the car parked right along the building so that we could utilize the shade as much as possible. The light outside the window were blown out but it ended up working for me since I was trying to make it seem we were closer to a "beachy" area. Is beachy even a word? IDK. Only other piece of gear we used was a large fan to replicate the car moving. Some of the shots are not as consistent with the wind but it worked for the most part. 

Shot with a Canon 5d Mark III, Canon 35L and shot mainly these settings: f/2.8, 1/200th and ISO 400. Easy breezy. This was a short shoot as I had a few other looks I needed to get. 

The images turned out well... this was quite some time ago and I will be bringing some new shoots up in the future that work on the Cali Lifestyle... so stay tuned with that.

Thanks for reading. Share and comment if you liked this post. Appreciate it!

Andrew Manley
Lifestyle Photographer

Olan Mills Styled Family Portrait... taking it way back

#tbt
So for the guys that know me well, know that I am not a "middle of the road" type of guy. Matter of fact, I usually like to do things way over board and I have little regard for other people's opinion. So hence why I created an image like this lol....

Every holiday season, my wife and I get holiday cards from friends and family but I wanted to do something different back in Christmas of 2013. I wanted to give people a good chuckle. 

One day as I was browsing for posing ideas, I saw this creepy ass family portrait. All of us who grew up in the 80's know exactly what I am talking about. I don't know how it became a trend but the entire 80's and early 90's was a big trip. So with this as my inspiration to replicate, I set forth in my conquest of an awesome but creepy family portrait. 

Had to get wardrobe down so I had my wife look for wardrobe at a thrift store. She found me a vanilla colored turtle neck that would be perfect. I was trying to find a wig to go with my 80's sweater but to no avail so I kept it OG. My wife found a velvet like sweater and we put my son in a vest with a turtle neck to match his old pops. 

When I was young, I hated taking photos... I would make stupid faces all the time. I had no care for photos so how does life repay me for all my bad deeds? My son does the same lol... but I had to bully him to cooperating. I guess it worked out since he wanted to make silly faces. Totally worked out in the last frame. (we did take more than 3 frames).

I used a black backdrop and board so that I can blend and hide myself into the tobacco texture. Used a simple two light setup with the key light being about 5 stops brighter than the fill. Just wanted subtle details on the right side of my face. Damn it was getting hot in that sweater, at least that's what I remembered... lol

Chimping... making sure it's all gravy.

Sat down for a quick edit to make sure that the composite is good and boom goes the dynamite. 

and just like that folks, I created magic. Sent it to all our friends and family where most of them died to mass hysteria. I have to give mad props to my beautiful wife for being down for the ride and thank you to my son for being who he is. This is my family, we are different and that's just normal to us. LOL.

Oh I totally forgot about these other two I did until Alec reminded me. I did a set with Lloyd on his scooter. He was so in love with her and that helmet. That hair doe... and then Alec and Mona were committed to the portrait. Look at all the fun these create! Life is all about being a G!

Hope you all enjoyed this one. 

Andrew Manley

Creaminz RWB Widebody 993 in Downtown Los Angeles

My halo shot of the night. Profile shot of the Creaminz 993 RWB. ©2015 Andrew Manley

Southern California is the epicenter of so many sub-cultures and trends, it's no wonder why people keeping flocking to this state. Cool weather, warm beaches, gorgeous mountains, barren deserts... we got it all.

In California car culture, Nakai-san of RWB has gotten a lot of attention and no wonder, if you have ever seen a wide body air-cooled Porsche from behind, you will get feelings in your body you may normally not get when you look at cars. Those wide hips, low stance, beautiful exhaust tips... (sorry I just had a moment) mixed with the unique sounds of ITB's (individual throttle body), you get the same dunzo face from every car enthusiast. Pure sex.... 

So Darren aka Creaminz got his 993 built by Nakai earlier in 2015 and has been seen all over car meets/shows in Socal. I met Darren last year thru Dionne Mascunana when Darren would come to IE Photo Rentals to grab gear for Dionne. Back then, he had a gorgeous Turquoise 997.1 GT3 with a Vollkkomen Kit on it. Recently when he came to grab something for Dionne, I asked him if I could shoot his car as I felt like I could use it for my portfolio. Darren is always down for the ride so we set a date and met up in Downtown Los Angeles.

In a better effort to give you guys better behind the scenes (BTS) footage, I asked fellow car enthusiast and photographer Danny from JDMzipties if he would help out with the candids. He gladly accepted along with fellow car super mechanic, Kristian Wong aka @studytuned who has a great eye for photography. Both BTS are below and will be noted in the description. 

Thinking about dinner... Danny @jdmzipties

The lightbulb was cold, so Kris took his sweater off for her and warmed her up. Thanks buddy lol... Danny @jdmzipties

Steady... do it again! Slower this time... Danny @jdmzipties

Love Alec our tall and handsome lamp, oh and he gives off beautiful light. Danny @jdmzipties

I don't get to exercise enough during the day, so here I am like a little monkey. Danny @jdmzipties

What an eagle would see if he were perched up. 3 dudes checking out a car. Danny @jdmzipties

We super hard now. Gangstas. Danny @jdmzipties

Use your friends as a method to keep your shots steady. Stabilization at any cost. Danny @jdmzipties

When in doubt, just shoot in the middle of the street. Danny @jdmzipties

Our evening started out with us meeting at 10:30pm. Kristian, Alec and I got to the location a bit early so I could location scout a bit. Every spot I wanted to shoot at had cars coming every 30 secs or so, so that was a bust. Bit by bit, people started to show up which put more pressure on me to perform. So we got back in the CR-V had drove around to see what we could find. 

I didn't want to shoot at a spot that was pretty well known for shooting cars. Why beat a dead horse right? I had a great idea of Darren to be exiting a parking garage but they were either all closed or had security. I like to call them cock blockers smh. So we kept driving until I found this garage that we used to ride our bikes thru years ago. No security, check. Little to no cars, check. Was a win in my book so we headed back and let everyone know about it. 

For the most part, the shoot was almost a straight shooter. Took my Gitzo and RRS BH55 Ballhead out and placed the Sony A7RII and Canon 24-70mm 2.8 Mark II on top of the ballhead. Took a few ambient shots at different exposures and then had Alec hold the PCB B800 monolight with the PCB Vagabond VLX Lithium battery to power the light. Just to have what I needed, we did two types of light paint. First off, we had Alec stand around different parts of the car while I fired the strobe off thru the stripbox. The second round, we ran the hot light of 150watt and light painted with a long shutter speed. The garage bulbs were really bright so Kristian being the gentlemen he is took his sweater of to put it over the light to stomp out the ambient. It was perfect. 

Setting up the shot... love the lines and textures of this spot. Kristian @studytuned

Testing and getting the composition right. Kristian @studytuned

Sometimes with a sea of help, the best person to get the job done is YOU. Kristian @studytuned

Dionne setting up the Sony A7s on the DJI Ronin. Kristian @studytuned

Tsk tsk tsk, video guys have it so tough... didn't have the right cable. Kristian @studytuned

Sitting pretty. Kristian @studytuned

Also double, triple check all your settings. I am just thinking about what to eat for dinner TBH. Kristian @studytuned

Left, more left, I mean right, your right, I mean stage right... lol. Thank you Alec Nguyen for your assistance! Kristian @studytuned

Good thing this boy is tall! Kristian @studytuned

Love this shot, the back lighting adds so depth. Kristian @studytuned

Sony A7R II. I love this thing. Kristian @studytuned

Somewhere close to Pasadena. Roadside. Kristian @studytuned

Dionne noticed a nice long perspective between two garages so that is what we used for location #2. Darren told me his favorite part of the car was the front but I had a hard time getting away from her butt. It's just so awesome. So went with what my heart told me to do. Never let me down lol. This location was perfect cause it had nice long lines, had a staircase if we wanted to get higher up and had sky scrappers in the background. Did light painting with the Westcott Ice Light for this shot. 

Last shot was for Dionne mainly. We were going to get freeway rollers. Good thing they brought a minivan cause it was so much easier to get low shots hanging out a sliding door. Dionne had some mad skills poking his body out at high speeds. Life is so fun! Dionne wanted to nail the LA skyline in the background so we made a few different passes on the 110 fwy. Money!

I had others with dominant skylines but I think Socal freeway signs say CA so well, don't you think? ©2015 Andrew Manley

Those hips don't lie. Andrew @andrewmanleycom

Rolling thru Chinatown. Andrew @andrewmanleycom

More Chinatown. Andrew @andrewmanleycom

110 fwy and street fans. Andrew @andrewmanleycom

110 north heading to Pasadena. Andrew @andrewmanleycom

Inception, picture of a picture taker. Andrew @andrewmanleycom

studytuned's hair. Andrew @andrewmanleycom

Andrew @andrewmanleycom

ITB's... good lawd! Andrew @andrewmanleycom

Open your heart to me. Andrew @andrewmanleycom

Open for all to bear. Kristian @studytuned

Skip, skip, skip to my lou. Kristian @studytuned

Dionne, why so serious? Kristian @studytuned

Yes I know, I need to work out but I swear it was cold and my jacket is setup to have more insulation around my gut, no for reals. Kristian @studytuned

#flossdesign and #RWB. Kristian @studytuned

A pearl

I want to thank Darren aka Creaminz for trusting me to photograph his car even though he didn't know my skill sets. Thanks for trusting. Thanks to Danny @jdmzipties for being primary BTS shooter, Kristian @studytuned for your captures, Alec for being my very hard working assistant and lastly Jasper for helping out Dionne drive the car. Dionne thanks for putting it all together. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this round up. See you on the next.

Andrew Manley
Los Angeles Automotive Photographer

Olympus OM-D E-M5II and Panasonic 12-35mm 2.8 OIS G in Huntington Beach, CA

When I first started photography back in 2003 with the Canon D60 (that's right, the naming conventions were different back then), I wanted to beef up my camera as much as possible. I wanted to look like a "pro". So I got the battery grip cause I couldn't afford the 1D series bodies such as the Canon 1Ds (which was $8000) nor the Canon 1D Mark. However, over the years of shooting, I realized that bigger is not better and more and more I am retreating to smaller and smaller cameras. I guess the timing is right now cause back then options were scarce. With the bigger push with mirrorless cameras and professional mirrorless cameras, the landscape of photography and video for that matter are changing quite a bit. 

My old assistant "Lloyd" was on the M4/3 (micro 4/3rds) game early on and always suggested for me to give them a chance. However it would not be another 2 years before I made the jump. I suppose I was hesitant to get into another system/s cause I had everything I needed with Canon, up until recently. You see, I took a bit of a break from photography because I had to re-evaluate my profession and the agency I was with. Things were going south and I had little control so I concentrated on my other businesses. I am starting to re-enter into the photography game but so much has evolved since 2012 so it is almost like I am re-discovering it for the first time, per say. 

I have talked about my use of the Sony A7 systems in my previous post but they require pro lenses as it is a pro body. You see, Pro equipment is a bit of a diva. She wants to be lugged around in nice cozy cases, wants to be cared for and looked after and want to hang out with other diva-like friends. Sometimes or most of the time, I ain't got time for that. What about the times I want to go out for a weekend trip and not have to worry about lugging around pro gear and her friends?

Enter the m43 systems. Olympus and Panasonic lead the way in this field and they offer features that are not found in traditional DSLR systems. Video guys have been flocking towards the Panasonic GH4 because of it's internal 4k action and the single time I used it, it is a solid camera. Just last week, I purchased the Olympus OM-D E-M5II and soon will be ordering the Olympus OM-D E-M1. I love the fact that the two systems are interchangeable. Can you imagine if Canon and Nikon had the same mount? Open market would be awesome but you know those two will never play that game. M43 world is like living permanently on a vacation resort where people are happy and nice, greet each other and the sun is always shinning just warm enough. DSLR realm is like living in Manhattan where each is trying to stomp the other out of existence... well at least that's what I feel lol. 

My initial thoughts of the OMD E-M5II was that it is tiny! Almost too tiny cause my ring and pinky fingers hang off the body. I am an average sized guy at 5' 7" and medium sized hands. Anyone else larger than me may even have 3 fingers hanging so vertical battery grip would be necessary. When attached with the Panasonic 12-35mm 2.8 OIS G, it's slightly better balanced but I find myself holding it by the lens as it feels more balanced and secure. Since I hate wearing straps, I think something like the Peak Design Capture Pro Clip would be ideal. I tried the PD Clip with a full frame DSLR and Pro zoom lens and I was not a fan of it pulled my pants down. 

The Olympus basically has all the functions you would want in a DSLR system but it is way more compact. I won't go into the specs but you can click here to find out more on it. I think I was most surprised by the HDR mode. On the fly you can click on the HDR button and it will take 3 quick photos at 3 different exposures and spit out a JPG image for your convenience. I thought it would be a worthless feature but I am a fan of it. Works great. I will post some samples below. 

In this short time, I felt very comfortable with this setup. Autofocus speeds are quick and snappy, IQ seems to be clear and it is very lightweight. I would feel very comfortable leaving behind my DSLR for a vacation or getting into venues that don't allow professional gear with a small pancake prime.

One of the down sides is that like most mirrorless, battery life is short so there are features by default that cater towards conserving battery power. This camera goes to sleep literally after 3-5 secs. I know I can change it but given that it was my time to just go out and shoot, I didn't spend all that much time in the menu system (which I feel isn't setup idealistically). It could wake up from sleep mode faster but it's not a deal breaker. 

Please note that I didn't spend much time trying to be creative this weekend. I just kind of acted like a "tourist with a camera" and captured the day's events. Had some lunch with some fambam and walked around Main St in Huntington Beach, CA. I did shoot Manually of course so I still had to put some work in. So don't get angry that the images aren't so artsy fartsy, ok? The images have very little or no post processing. #SOOC (straight out of camera).

White door with the Letter "D" on it. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/1000th

Polaroids. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/125th

Vintage thangs. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/125th

Waiting at red light and laughing. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/5000th

Walking towards entrance of Cucina Alessa. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/6400th

Smile, laugh and enjoy. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/100th

No HDR button. Things outside are blown out by 2-4 stops. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/250th

HDR button ON. Did a great job with keeping the highlights within spec

Calimari. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/100th

Pasta #1 Tortel Prosciutt. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/100th

Pasta #2 Rigaton Toscana. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/100th

Pasta #3 Conchiglie Gambe. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/100th

Pasta #4 Linuine Vongole. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/100th

Creme Brulee + Chocolate Suffle. ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/100th

Bike n things. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/8000th

Artificial rock and sand. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/8000th

Life guard tower left of center. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/8000th

Pier and stairs. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/6400th

Hoards of palm trees by the sea. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/6400th

HDR button off. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/8000th

HDR button ON. Nicely keeping shadow detail in check.

Bridge from below. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/4000th

Chains of beads. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/1000th

Two new pairs of Chilli Beans Sunglasses. ISO 200, f/4.0, 1/100th

Backpack leaning on cash register stand. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/160th

Harley. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/2500th

Pink Bug. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/2500th

Jake the Snake. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/4000th

Famous Main St and PCH, Huntington Beach, CA. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/4000th

I will definitely be spending some more time with this camera. It did pretty much what I expected of it and I know that there are many other features that I didn't get to take advantage of. Definitely worth a try.

Andrew Manley

White Porsche Carrera (GT3-styled) and Cayman in Orange, CA

So the other day, Dionne Mascunana hit me up about coming out to the OC with some gear for him to test shoot with. He likes to gather at Cafe Lu but I rather be productive and get some work done in the little bits of window I get. Seeing the nice hard working ladies is always nice but I ain't got no time!

So I put some pressure on him to find some cars to shoot that same day. He told me that Phat Nguyen from Royal-Origin was down to meet up around 10pm. So I ended up rounding up some gear to shoot with along with what Dionne wanted. Photographers have it so easy compared to what video guys have to lug around. 

Here is what I packed: 
1. Sony A7R II
2. Canon 24-70mm 2.8 Mark II
3. Metabones EF to NEX adapter
4. Westcott Ice Light
5. Canon 1ds Mark Ii (for backup)

What I packed for Dionne:
1. DJI Ronin 3 axis gimbal
2. Sony FS700R
3. Canon 16-35mm 2.8 Mark II
4. Metabones EF to NEX adapter

The DJI Ronin case is huge. I should have taken a photo of it in the Fiat 500e but I didn't so I apologize. The rest went into my Pelican 1510 Case and off I went to meet up with Dionne and Phat.

We ended up meeting in front of Rod' Liquor in the Orange Circle. When I arrived, there was the Phat in his Cayman and Ashton Carlise in a 997 Carrera with a GT3 kit. Originally my intentions were to shoot it down the street at a self car wash joint but when we got there, it was as great as I imagined it. I took a few snaps there but ended up leaving. 

I will have to find another spot to shoot the car wash shot... one day I willl

I noticed on the way to the car wash there was nice brick work the street before so we just headed that way. It was a nice quiet street so we ended up unpacking and getting the shoot on the way. I shot a month ago down the street with two NSX's so I wanted to break up the shot by having one of the cars looking like its exiting the garage. Ashton's car is so low that it ended up ripping off the front lip from the bumper but we ended up getting it managed. 

Sony A7R II... first time using it on a real shoot. It's looking hopeful

Dionne fiddling with the Sony FS700R since it was his first time using it. He ended up dumping the Ronin since he didn't have time to balance it. So glad I could bring the whole thing out for you to just leave it in the car lol

I have been wanting to really nail down a lifestyle driven portfolio for cars and people but I will let time take its course. In hindsight, the only thing I wish I could have done was shot the guys acting to get back into the cars. Just to add the human element. Since this shot was rushed, I will save it for another day.

We were at this location for 30 mins or so. Just enough for me to get the shots that I needed. I took about 8 different exposures and I light painted for 4 frames. There was way too much light for proper light painting but it was enough for me to get what I needed. 

Since Dionne didn't have a way to stabilize the shot with the Sony FS700R, we decided to do rolling shots. So we all got into a camera car and had the two Porsches follow in the adjacent lane. I wish I had better shots to show you guys but I was driving, Dionne was out the window and there were tons of cops on Main St in Santa Ana. But you can get a gist of what happened below.

Being an artist or being reckless? Only you can decide... lol

Lined up at a red light before they took off and blasted their sweet exhaust notes. 

Somehow we ended up in Irvine off Jamboree. Since I was in the Fiat 500e, my battery was getting low and needed to recharge but nope, the Metro station didnt have one. So we just kicked it at a 76 Gas Station to fuel up. Ended up calling it a night cause these guys had to work in the morning and it was already 1:30am. 

Electric at a gas station?! What in the world?

Here is the shot again so you don't have to scroll up. Hope you enjoyed it!

So the Sony A7RII was spectacular for me. Even in low light, the camera didn't hunt for focus. Had so many more options than any Canon I have ever used. I still have to wait until I can get to know all of the features but I am excited to use them. I think I am converting for sure. 

The resolution is so high that it took me a good deal of time to scroll from different parts of the image. I guess that is a good and bad thing but with the Canon 24-70mm 2.8 Mark II, the image was crisp and didnt suffer any issues that I could see as of yet. 

I like colors and I like contrasting colors in my images. Although it looks close to a render, I am happy with the results. I know some of you are curious about the "satellite" looking thing on top of the building. I could of taken it out like I did with the trees but I like it for some reason. Breaks up the sky so I left it.  I spent 2 hours on the edit, could of done another few hours but time is money and I ain't got no more time. So on to the next!

Let me know what you think in the comments below and share!
Thanks
Andrew Manley
Orange County Automotive Photographer

Initial thoughts on the Sony A7R II at the Aquatic Zone in Corona, CA

Yesterday at IE Photo Rentals we got in the new Sony A7R II along with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 II in stock. The market place for mirrorless is growing and inevitably will be the undeniable future of photography.

The days of analog and digital-analog is disappearing year by year. You can even see it happening in the car industry as a majority of all sports cars, exotics and passengers cars move towards automatic and dual clutch transmissions. Can you imagine a world without a clutch pedal and a manual gearbox?! It is a sad thought no doubt, well at least for me. I am a bit "old school" as some may call it.

I love looking into an optical viewfinder and zoning out everything around me. You see, as cameras continue to move towards the mirrorless realm, my fear was that the viewfinder was somehow gonna get lost in the mix. Mirrorless I believe got the push it really needed from video users and as they continue to advance, I figured they would just remove the viewfinder altogether, especially since digital/electronic viewfinders were fairly terrible. 

Enter the Sony A7R II, just released with a ton of features. I mean 4k video, 399 autofocus points, internal 5 axis stabilization, 42mp, etc. I mean on paper there is a lot to love but trying to convert an old school Canon user since 2003 over to mirrorless won't be easy. Previously I have not spent too much time with Sony cause of their lack of professional lens variety but I am sure it won't be like that for long. Many people use Metabone adapters with Canon lenses to make up for the lack of lenses and that works great for video users since they can manually focus but what about photographers? The autofocus for third party lenses and adapters were slow and clunky. 

I have spent a total of 15 mins with this camera and I can already see a huge improvement with the autofocusing speeds and how fast it can lock focus with the Metabones and Canon 24-70mm 2.8 Mark II that I was using. Although I did run into an issue with the autofocus not working until I turned the autofocus ring manually. Not sure yet if this is an adapter issue, lens issue or camera issue but other than that, it has been pretty legit. 

In those 20 mins, I used it for 5 mins outside IE Photo Rentals taking photos of random things just to get an initial feel for it. Then last night around 11pm, I used the camera for 10 mins to shoot a two Porsches. Took multiple exposures and light painted with the Westscott Ice Light. I will post up another blogpost with the results of that shoot. Then today I took photos of Calvin for 5 mins at the Aquatic Zone in Corona, CA. Note that my perspective is from a photographer's point of view.

Below I will put up some samples and 100% crops to give you guys an idea of the resolution, image quality, and noise level. 

Everything at the Aquatic Zone was shot on the same setting: f/2.8, 1/200th, ISO 2500. Shot on RAW and converted to JPG. No processing. 

Shot professional with iPhone 6 lol

f/2.8, 1/200th, ISO 2500. Shot on RAW and converted to JPG. No processing. 

Canon 24-70mm 2.8 Mark II - f/2.8, 1/200th, ISO 2500. Shot on RAW and converted to JPG. No processing. 

Due to it being downsized cause of the web, it is harder to see the finer details of Calvin's eyelashes but trust that it is pretty amazing. Sharp and focus was on point. 

Canon 24-70mm 2.8 Mark II - f/2.8, 1/200th, ISO 2500. Shot on RAW and converted to JPG. No processing. 

Did a terrific job locking focus on a moving subject indoors (granted my son is not a fast swimmer but you get the gist). 

Canon 24-70mm 2.8 Mark II - f/2.8, 1/200th, ISO 2500. Shot on RAW and converted to JPG. No processing. 

Not Calvin but you can see the details in this image clearly. The combination of the Canon 24-70mm 2.8 Mark II and the A7rII is proving to be a nice dual. 

Canon 35mm 1.4 L - f/2.8, 1/3200th, ISO 200. Shot on RAW and converted to JPG. No processing. 

Details in the tail lamp is ridiculous. 

Canon 35mm 1.4 L - f/2.8, 1/2500th, ISO 400. Shot on RAW and converted to JPG. No processing. 

I believe I can read the white text in the bottom right if I tried hard enough lol

Canon 35mm 1.4 L - f/2.8, 1/160th, ISO 400. Shot on RAW and converted to JPG. Adjusted exposure +1 stop. 

Slight CA in the Canon box and black lettering but it was stopped down two stops. Wide open, the glass picks up a lot of CA.

I will have up some photos from the Porsche shoot in the next few days. I will be interested in seeing how the final composite makes out on that shot but stay tuned for that.

So I have spent just enough time with this thing to know that I am interested in finding out more. I can see myself being a believer and even converting over from Canon. I think for most things (cars, travel, product, landscapes) I would use a camera like this but for shooting weddings or more speed based photography, I would still keep a Canon in my bag. 

See you on the next. 
Andrew Manley
 

Newport Dunes + RV

I have been fortunate to be surrounded by so many great people in my life. Family sometimes are out of our control and you have to deal with circumstances which can make your life difficult. That's why when I look at my immediate family, I am so truly blessed to be surrounded by an amazing set of brothers and sisters. I couldn't have asked for more.... and when you combine great people with great times, for me that is the definition of the Good Life. 

Yesterday, Methuse, Calvin and I headed to Newport Dunes (http://www.newportdunes.com) for a day in the sun. My brother in law Billy and sister in law Marlene picked up a 36 foot 'Class A' RV a few months back and they have been living it up vacationing everywhere. I am getting the bug for this lifestyle and have been looking into a RV but time will tell if we eventually get one. 

I brought out my trusty and simple setup, Canon 5d Mark III and Canon 35L. The 35L has been my favorite focal length since 2004 and has never let me down. When I travel or go anywhere for that matter, I like to travel lite as bulk is never a friend of my joints. Especially at the tender age of 35... yes I said tender! lol

Since I didn't bring my 24mm TSE with me, I started to play with the idea of detaching my lens from the body to give that tilting effect. Not too bad for my first attempt.

I tried these water obstacles last time... looks fun but takes a great deal of energy so this time I passed easily. lol

It's hard to get children to stand in front of a camera for more than 3 secs so I will chalk this one up as a win... caught them in a moment of sweet summer bliss.

I have always be infatuated with trying to lock down a technique where the subject is slightly out of focus. The photo above is not a sample of this per say since I tilted the lens by unmounting it but there is a beauty in things not perfect. I will try to work on that some more in the future. 

I like how people react in front of the camera... like many photographers, I also act strange when a camera is pointed in my direction and make strange faces as this young lad taking my credit card information for the kayak rental. 

Racks on racks of Kayaks... must be nice. Shot this one at f/1.4 at 1/8000th ISO100.

A photographer's life is tough... all my vacation photos look like my wife is a single mother... lol I know a lot of you have this same issue right?

As each year passes, I feel myself getting marginally older but when I see the faces of these loves of mine, I know I am getting old. Grade school, middle school, high school are all around the bend. ugh

Another father-less capture lol... Cal is a classic example of a person who loves all things water. His love fuels my love. 

I believe in exercising but damn it is a lot of work isn't it? The burn is real. Finding a good rhythm is a must when multiple people are paddling. Remember that next time you go on a multiple person kayak. 

Jazmyn paddle boarded the entire hour like a champ. So proud of this one... the family the rows together....

Bishop being the athlete he is also handled the waters like a champ. The smile says it all doesn't it? 

Even though it wasn't a holiday, seeing the good ole red, white and blue made this day appreciative. Thank you to all those that serve and have served. 

Lead the way Jaz!

Now selfies I don't do often but I got tired of the father-less portraits so I had to get one that I could remember... no worries, it only took me 42 shots to nail this one. SMH

BBQ + Beach is always a must

You know an Asian family is close when....

So out of nowhere, Calvin started to do backflips underwater after watching Jaz and Bishop do it a few times. His love for water is deep... I am proud of you my boy.

Innocent looking but a ruckus is a-coming

Splish splash

This one will bring me smiles for years to come. 

Deep into the night they run

After the kids have settled down, we take a moment to remember the day. The fire burns with passion.

I hope that all of you have been taking the time to enjoy your summer. I know as we get older, the days, weeks, months, years all pass by so fast. We get caught up in the routine of life and that ultimately kills us slowly. Decades later, we wonder where the time went. Break up your routine. Do something out of the ordinary on a Tuesday because every Tuesday should feel like a Saturday shouldn't it?

Thanks for inviting us Billy, Marlene, Jaz, Bishop and Addy... We love you guys truly!

Til the next time
Andrew

Engagement: Martha + Frank - A moment in Mt Baldy Mountains

I believe that every relationship should be mutual. There should be a natural flow of things and when all the elements come together, magic will happen. Kind of like the photo above, the water flows down river. 

Martha and Frank are a great example of a natural love cause it is so easy for them to be who they are without any hesitation. That in turn makes it easy for me to capture them because the chemistry is good for everyone! 

You can see their engagement photos by clicking here: Martha + Frank

I like to try and show what went down behind the scenes as it gives you a glimpse of what it is like to work with me. I am a free spirit and I am a pretty RAW individual. So it is natural for me to have fun with my clients because I think when you guys are relaxed and having a good time, your photos will be relaxed and engaging as well. 

Martha + Frank were naturals in front of the camera. It was almost like we weren't there, I had to keep reminding them that we were so they knew what was up. 

Jokes... you got jokes? These two got jokes for days. 

I don't mind posing for my clients... sometimes people can tell that I have modeled in my past life or something so I give them what they want. It's apart of the service I provide

Sometimes while finding the right light, we like to throw in extra bodies into the frame to make sure that it looks good from multiple angles. Light check

While we had a moment, I snapped this profile shot of her with a cool mountain breeze that swept through. 

Had to close off the shoot with a Boys Only photo. Nothing like boys chillin' on a rock for no good reason. 

Thanks for stopping by to check out the blog. Still working on getting you guys a more comprehensive blog post so bare with me in the meantime!

Thank you
Andrew Manley

Southern California Wedding/Portrait Photographer 
Serving Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino County + Destination.
http://www.andrewmanley.com

Farewell to Liz...

About 10 months ago, we found out that an extended cousin of ours was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. As you can imagine, everyone was terrified but Liz was a fighter and she had so many things to brave the fight for. Her teen daughter and her eldest son were on the top priority list but this woman being as loving and generous as she is, made it her goal to help everyone else during her fight with this ugly disease. 

If you ever met Liz, she was so warm and genuine to everyone she met. It's hard to find that quality in people these days and that is probably the reason why she had so many people show up at her funeral service today. At the end of July, Liz breathed her final breathe and left this earth in peace next to her loved ones. They say that she gave it her all to the very end. 

Today at the beautiful Covina Hills Forest Lawn, everyone was dressed in white to celebrate her life the way she celebrated her own life every single day. It was an amazing ceremony and very symbolic of Liz. She even rode cloud 9 over during the outside burial to make sure everyone was too hot. The light was so soft and allowed me to snap the photo of the doves being released the way it was shot. 

RIP Liz, we know you got lots to do behind the scenes.