Klyment.com - Journal

The single biggest day of shooting for this issue of the magazine. Over a dozen models and over twenty people at the shoot location at some times.

Being a model is hard work but sometimes it can be fun.

The cover of Bridal Fantasy - the Album. Hahah.

One of Evan's photos of Matt Hanson. I think we have consensus that Matt looked like Brad Pitt in the movie Meet Joe Black during this shoot. Congratulations, Mandy.

Samantha and the lamp. Lighting balanced with a Lightrein 100x140cm soft box and Lighttools 50degree Soft Egg Crate in the front and one 12 x 48" Lightrein strip light with 40degree Soft Egg Crate on each side. All three strobe light sources driven with a Lightrein 600W/s digital monolight.

Matt's interpretation of the lamp shot.

And Evan's.

Jonathan and I were commissioned to shoot for a few hours the morning of October 28th, 2006. The day before, we meet with Darrell at the residence. It was an opportunity for us not only to drop off gear but to scout out the location and understand the potential we had available for making some of the first photos shot for the magazine. Throughout the tour we saw that the home had enormous potential for photography. Crosshatch-painted walls, exquisite decor and art work, and characteristic natural light bathed the entire building which was once used as a studio.

The morning of the 28th may have been the only shoot time that went according to schedule throughout the entire series of Bridal Fantasy shoots. We arrived and set up lights. Jonathan had his own setup a few meters away from mine. Yura and Leanna assisted on the shoot. All of my shots were lit with a Lightrein 600W/s digital monolight and a 60" Lightrein octagon controlled by a Lighttools 50degree Soft Egg Crate.

The two girls. I can't remember their names.

Here they are again.

Gage - Jeff's and Richa's (Elysium) son. Leanna really liked his hair.

Not Jeff's and Richa's son.

As the 2007 Spring/Summer issue of Bridal Fantasy Magazine rolls off the press I would like to preface a series of blog entries which I am publishing today. I'll be posting many production photos and also many non-production photos that may never be published except here. Virtually all of the photos to be published were selected without my involvement despite my offers to help and only three of the photos used between the Derks Formals 2007 catalogue and the upcoming issue of Bridal Fantasy Magazine were edited by me. Most of the photos are being printed published unedited. These entries are my attempt to justify the time I spent away from other projects and I only hope that those who judge me by my work do so after seeing these entries and not just from what they see printed in the magazine. I will be making some prints to keep at the studio and I welcome anyone to book a time to come and view them and discuss them.

While I'm responsible for hitting the shutter release for many of the photos, so many people contributed time and energy into the shoots and to the assembly of the final publication. I'll be crediting the photos as best as I can when I post them in separate entries but I would like to credit everyone before I begin. I would like to thank the following people:

Artistic Direction: Gay Derk and Mandy Bilous

Photographic Team: Jonathan Puckrin, Evan Will, Yura Sklyar, Sarah Chung, Bill Minsky, Iraleigh Anderson, Rodrigo Egana, and Aaron Yakem

Styling: Sterling Derk, Landon Derk, Gay Derk, and Mandy Bilous

Hair: The hairstylists of Elysium Hair Body Spirit and Pure Elements of Sherwood Park

Makeup: Pure Elements, Paula Bilous (Mandy's sister . . . not sure of her last name . . . Business manager for Christan Dior), Elecia Ellis,  and Candace Jensen

Models: Sheena, Samantha, Anna, Lacy, Leanna, Julie, Rachel, Cale, Cindy, Matt, Matt, Matt, Alex, Landon, and Sterling

Locations: Gay and Darrell Derk for the use of their home and the Derks Formals warehouse, Jonathan Puckrin for the use of his studio, Kelly Goetz for arranging the booking of Red Strap Market, and Bruce Kirkland for the use of the Lexus of Edmonton showroom.

Lighting Consultation: Lighttools, Lightrein, and Production Lighting

Lighting Sponsorship: Stephen Pilby of Lighttools

Graphic Design: Mandy Bilous, Shelley Smith, and Kurt of Quality Color

Colour Management for Prepress: Matt Ridell

Press Operators: Ken, Jacob, and Nelson

Special thanks: Yura Sklyar for scouting Matthew Laird and Rachel Cairns and Cayley Jensen for hooking me up with Julie Gillespie's agent Sabrina Notte and her agency Deja Vu Modeling and for Julie's parents for bringing her up to Edmonton repeatedly to shoot with us. You've all helped made what could have been the most contentious photos from the shoot series possible. Also special thanks to Leanna, my girlfriend, for understanding why I can't see her for a week or two at a time and why I'm always distracted on the phone in the weeks leading up to the magazine's printing.

I'm compiling a list of stores that provided flowers, wedding gowns, and accessories for the shoots and will hopefully update this entry with that list soon.

All photos were shot with the Nikon D2X or D200 with either the 60/2.8 Micro-Nikkor, 135/2 Defocus, 17-55/2.8 DX, 70-200/2.8 VR, or Sigma 30/1.4. All photos were lit with combinations of Lightrein 600 and 1000W/s monolights and softboxes, Bowens QuadX 3000 packs and Quad heads, Balcar AQ Pack and Iris Heads or Balcar Nexus pack and Power Z and Iris heads. Lighttools Soft Egg Crates used to control most softboxes. Some Plume Wafer softboxes were used. Raw photos were processed with Phase One Capture One Pro 3.7.6. Colour management was done for some shoots with GretagMacBeth Profile Maker and their ICC colour target sheet. The displays used to view the photos were colour managed with a GretagMacBeth Eye One Pro UVcut. Some proofing was done at my studio with the Epson 9800 and the Xerox Phaser 7400.