Capturing the moment numero tres!

Happy 4th of July everyone! Today marks my 3rd and final entry into this week's "Capturing the moment" photography starring Jeremy Morgan. Sit back and enjoy the rest of your flight!

Our final shot in this series takes place at the historic landmark known as Fort Mason. This fort was once an active military defense post for San Francisco and it served the city for over 100 years. Now it's just a tourist attraction for the outsiders. For us shredders though it serves as an incredibly fun, yet risky skate spot (you can receive a ticket here). The top sections serve as perfect pyramids, banks and hips...all of which we skaters fancy so much (yes fancy is common word among us street riders).

This particular bank sits at the edge of the old bunker. I spotted it and asked Jeremy to pull a flip for me. Jeremy obediently obliged (good boy) and pulled several flips on it's short, sharp surface. The result is what you see below. Pretty fantastical (skater lingo) air he caught wouldn't you say?

For the editing I actually made a significant amount of modifications. I tweaked every color you see individually. I adjusted sharpness and shadows. I twitched the lighting, cropped it's original wider perspective and modified the contrast on several different levels. I even got a second opinion from my photo advisor Liz Hanowsky. In the end Jeremy's trick (the focal point) maintains it's vertical feel and the photo becomes more lively with the color enhancements.

You guys and gals all know the routine so I won't repeat myself. I'll just say: speak up like Danielle did and earn your kudos for keeping it real on rudysolis.com. Til next time - peace

Capturing the moment.

For those that have been keeping up with this site, my apologies for not sharing photography from Carnaval, but in all in honesty there wasn't anything there I shot, worth sharing. I attended the event with a focus on particular styles of composition. This event didn't do it for me to say the least. So if any of you are that interested in seeing footage then I recommend checking out David Yu's photo gallery here .

So in today's post I'll be sharing a photo I shot of Jeremy Morgan. Not only is he one of my best friends, but he is also one of my favorite subjects to work with. He is flexible, patient and most importantly..willing.

As you all know I'm an avid skateboarder here in San Francisco and the only other thing I love doing if I'm not skating at a spot is capturing skating at a spot. It's not easy, but when you're passionate about anything, I believe the learning process can be enjoyable. Especially since you're fuled by eager determination.

The main thing to keep in mind is your angle and of course proper camera settings. The delightful thing about this shoot is Jeremy is an excellent skater. In fact he is a former amatuer pro. Morgan undoubtly has great control and as a result I didn't have to worry about taking any licks from him or worse the board. The trick you see here is a "backside tail slide" and he landed about 80% of them. When you're working with a sport such as skateboarding, it pays to be as close as possible for these types of shots. Jeremy's skills stick out like a sore thumb and it's a privilege to work with a great skater. Many thanks to my good friend, I look forward to our next shoot.

This shot below was taken at 3rd & Army, one of San Francisco's famous skate spots that is (thankfully) still alive. I kept the editing simple with this one. All I did was fiddle with cropping, color, lighting and shadows. Now if San Francisco had late afternoon sun as this picture illustrates, then we'd be in the same pollution boat as Los Angeles. Having said that I humbly thank you photoshop.

Stay tuned this week as I bring you more of my work! This week will also feature more of my subject: Jeremy Morgan. As always I encourage you to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below. Til next time - peace