Here’s my photo of Stevie that Skateboarder used for his Tuesday 25.

My new website is up. It has much bigger photo previews as well as some new portfolios. Go check it out!

www.asmith-photography.com

Here’s the photo from Ryan’s most recent Dekline ad. This was insane!! No joke did this second try. It’s always great for the skater to land something quickly but never good for the photographer. I always end up liking something I changed up halfway into a session. Luckily, I changed things up a little bit for his second and final try and ended up liking it. Still probably goes down as one of the gnarliest things I’ve shot. 

Here’s the photo from Josh’s newest Pig Wheel’s ad. He did this 50-50 across and down pretty easy. The hardest part was just to be able to ride down the whole way. Josh is a champ and did it and made it look amazing!

Ryan Spencer - boneless

Nick Merlino - backsmith

Nick Merlino - backside noseblunt

Nick Merlino - switch flip over the rail

Pat Burke - backside flip over the rail

Ryan Spencer - frontside wallride over the door

Chad Tim Tim - switch backtail 

Nick Merlino - 360 flip

Pat Burke - switch 360 flip

Pat Burke - noseblunt

Chad Tim Tim - switch ollie

I shot some photos of the Dekline team for Woodward a few months ago. This was a place I had always wanted to go to when I was a kid. Still pretty crazy to be there. 

I feel confident in saying that photographers and videographers all have one thing in common, they are “Gear Heads”. Even if you just shooting with a hand-me-down 35mm camera and are against the digital world, you still most likely enjoy taking a peek into someone else’s camera bag. It’s like going into a Toy Store when you were a kid. You see familiar items, ones you’ve longed for, and ones you didn’t even know existed. I love it. 

A few days ago I shoot a portrait at my house and had most of my gear out after. I decided today was the day I’m was going to take that iconic “Gear Shot”. Also, I’m hoping this will cut down on people asking me what equipment I use (2 birds dead). So here you go Gear Heads! This is almost everything I use and where to get it online. Eat your heart out. 

Left to right top to bottom from top picture:

(1) Calumet 7300 Tripod, (4) Manfrotto 368B 11-Foot Light Stands, (3) Sunpak 622 Super Pro, (1) Nikon SB 800, (1) Lumedybe Adob Softbox, (2) Lumedyne 400 Watt Flash Heads, (5) PocketWizard Plus II, (2) Lumedyne 400 Watt Signature Series Power Packs with Medium Batteries, (2) Lumedyne Mini Batteries, (1) Photek Umbrella Softlighter II, (1) Canon 5D Mark I, (1) Canon 15mm Fisheye, (1) Canon 50mm 1.4, (1) Canon 7D, (1) Canon 24-105 f4 L lens, (1) Nikon D2H with 10.5mm Fisheye, (1) Holga, (1) LCDVF LCD Viewing Aid and Magnifier, (1) Hasselblad 501c with 80mm lens, (1) Sennheiser MKE 400 microphone, (1) Hasselblad Polaroid Back

I don’t use any rigs. The image stabilizer on my 24-105 lens works great. I use a Sennheiser MKE 400 - microphone but I don’t like it at all. My next buy is a Rode Microphones VideoMic Pro . Video is a whole different world. I’m still getting into it and honestly not the guy your should be asking ha. There’s tons of guys out there that are doing a far better job than I am. Those are the people I look up to and would ask. Hope this helps a little.  

I’ve been an avid coffee drinker since I was a kid. When I say kid, I mean kid. Around 10 years old I was pouring my self a cup of coffee along with enough sugar to make my stirring straw stand straight up. My tastes have changed since then but my love and enjoyment for coffee still stands strong. 

I recently came across this article on Scientific American entitled “How to make really good coffee” written by Summer Ash. I read the thing and finished inspired. I knew I liked coffee but now I feel I have a better understanding of the whole process. I would recommend any coffee lover to set down and read this little article. Either enjoying it with a cup of coffee or wait till your finished and inspired and go make one. 

Sample text:

Coffee trees grow primarily in a belt around the equator in remote regions at moderate altitudes with mild climates. The beans themselves are actually the seeds inside the fruit of the coffee tree, known as the “cherry.” Unfortunately, coffee cherries don’t all ripen at the same time between trees or even between branches. They must be individually inspected and hand-picked. The cherries are put then through one of two processes, dry versus wet, to separate the beans from the pulp of the fruit. Once dry, the last protective layer around the bean, the husk, is removed and the beans are sorted, packaged, and shipped to commercial customers around the world. Upon reaching local distributors, the beans are then roasted and delivered to retail clients such as coffee bars and cafes where they are finally transformed into your beverage of choice.

Coffee drinks generally take two forms: espresso based or brewed. A shot of espresso is ‘pulled’ by forcing hot water through coffee grounds at 135 pounds per square inch. From beginning to end, water is in contact with the grounds for all of 30 seconds. Contrast this with brewed coffee, which requires upwards of five minutes depending on the number of cups being brewed at a time. The grounds are poured into a filter and the requisite amount of water is added. Then you wait. Drip by drip the water makes its way through the grounds under the force of gravity alone, dissolving the grounds in its path. Cafes tend to brew up to a dozen cups at a time in advance so they add a large amount of water all at once to use the weight of the water to speed the process. However, neither of these methods allow the barista full control over the extraction process.

Hey Ruben,

Thanks for the kind words! Your stuff looks cool and interesting. Not sure if your taking these with film or just processing them to look like it, either way it creates a timeless feel. Right now it looks like your just documenting your life, which is great! Keep doing that. That will help focus your “eye” and let you experiment with different compositions, lighting, and angles. Also, you will love to look back on these images. 

I never really want to tell anyone what to do or which direction to take with photography. I think it works best organically. Just keep doing what your doing and experiment. The best way to advance your photography is to look at someone’s work that your like and analyze the hell out of it. Understand why you like it and what makes it good. Realizing these things will greatly improve your own photography as well as your personal style. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.