blairbunting

With the release of Nikon’s new mirrorless camera and the impending release of Canon’s competitor, we are seeing the future of photography as we know it. However, in the response of some we are also seeing the demise of the community as a whole.

I'm not usually one to talk about celebrities that I keep in touch with from photo shoots. Some of this comes out of professional courtesy, and another part of it is that I'm a bit of a private person. However, a current project and fun day in the studio has made for some new images and behind the scenes video that I think you will all enjoy. Here's a look at the shenanigans that take place when I share the studio with my photographer friend (who plays football), Larry Fitzgerald.

I was sitting in my dorm room at Arizona State University. To my left I had my XBox on (as it was pretty much 24/7) with some racing game on pause. In front of me I had my future, for I was entering a photography competition that I believed would make me famous and rich beyond my wildest dreams.

There is a progression that takes place in the journey that is our lighting knowledge: ambient light > on-camera flash > bouncing that flash > off-camera strobes > gels.

Remember in the movie Top Gun, when Goose and Maverick go canopy to canopy with a Russian jet, and Goose snaps that Polaroid? Advertising photographer Blair Bunting wanted to find out if it was possible... so he convinced a jet team to let him try it.

Some aspects of photography are easier to teach than others. Photographing an advertising campaign alongside of a TV production is not one of them.

There will always be photo shoots that test your creativity, and sometimes there are campaigns that seem to just give you incredible images. Deadliest Catch is definitely a campaign that lends its hand to stunning visuals… at the cost of your comfort.

There are deadlines and then there are deadlines… this is the latter.

Arizona State University’s advertising campaign is one that I have now shot for 10 years. It is one that I always use to push the logistical boundaries that I had previously been inflexible towards, for the sake of art and knowledge. Photographing it is a practice in embracing the unknown and evaluating previously conceived notions of what is possible and what is not. This year’s photoshoot existed well within the impossible…

I can’t remember when it happened, but there was a point in my career that I started to ask the question: "Who could my photography help?"

It wasn’t that I had made so much money that I didn’t need it. It was because the idea that someone else’s life was better because of what I did meant so much to me. Perhaps it is the progression that is a photographic career, but my portfolio seemed less important than my legacy.

This is the story of how I had to deal with a panic attack during a recent three-day photo shoot. Day three… oh day three.

With much of the shoot behind us, day three was a victory lap of sorts. The shots were more controlled and the environment allowed for great creativity. The first two days had worn us physically, but the crew, client and I had become a well-oiled machine that knew how to work a shot to be exactly what was needed. What could go wrong?…

With this week’s announcement of the new Nikkor 24-70 VR, I wanted to take a moment to look back on what its predecessor, the 24-70mm f/2.8G, has meant to me.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would begin 2015 by shooting a Super Bowl commercial. Even further removed from the unlikeliness of shooting said commercial is... well... shooting said commercial in seven images. Not seven scenarios or seven videos -- seven photos.

As photographers, writers, illustrators, actors, musicians... As creatives, we create the world that we exist in, we create the world that the rest of the world sees.

This is a gift, it is our gift and it is the soul of the saying that we “are gifted.” While many are brought up to view doctors and lawyers as having greater intellectual prowess, the truth of the matter is that it takes a VERY strong mind to visualize and then create our art.

But what happens when that mind turns against us?

Part of understanding is the ability to admit when one is wrong. Here and now I need to admit that I was wrong.

Very few people ever have the honor of flying along with the Thunderbirds. However, Blair Bunting, a fairly new Nikon Ambassador, managed to do just that at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona after shooting one of the Thunderbirds' newly-painted F-16 beauties.

I have sat staring at the computer monitor for the last hour and words refused to appear on the screen. Even in times of stress I can write out a quick blog, but the current situation with Aaron Hernandez has proved tough.

It is important to me to be respectful of the man that was killed and the ongoing investigation, as well as tell about the photoshoot and the side of Aaron that I met on set. With that said, please read this as a story about a shoot and not the lobbying of an opinion over the current investigation.