Road Trip

DanOstergren · Feb 14, 2023

I recently did a road trip with my best friend Vinnie, from Portland Oregon to La Crosse Wisconsin. The reason is because Vinnie is moving to Chicago, so we did the road trip for a good last "hoorah" together until the next time I see him. His family lives in Wisconsin, so we took a long route through several states and then stayed in Wisconsin for a week so he could introduce me to his family, of which they all quickly adopted me as their chosen family. I really didn't want to leave, honestly. Anyways, Vinnie has been my favorite muse for a long while, so naturally I mostly took portraits of him on our various stops along the way, though I did also manage to get a couple of decent landscape shots too. None of these are necessarily planned portraits, more like a bunch of "hey Vinnie, go stand in that spot real quick so I can take your photo" shots, and a few portraits of his brother Robbie once we got to Wisconsin too. I never thought I would love such a frigid area of the country, but these folks make it such an amazing place and I would stay just to be close to them. One of my favorite things about photographing Vinnie, as well as his brother Robbie, is that they are very open about expressing to me how confident and good about themselves that it makes them feel when I photograph them, and to hear that from two people who are so important to me really gives me a lot of joy, making these photos special to me as well. I apologize in advance for the sheer number of photos that I'm sharing in this thread. There are actually several more that I'm not including because I don't feel like I need to post much more than this before I start feeling a bit obnoxious. If they are too large for you to view on your screen, just click the image and the site will automatically show you a full view of the image.

All we shot using a Canon 5D MKIII, with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens and a Canon EF 135mm f/2.8 lens, in natural light.

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Some portraits of Robbie
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And because I was there, I made sure to get a photo of the two brothers with their mom:
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Aaaand, the two landscape photos that I took, since I did mention them. Landscape really is very far out of my experience and comfort zone, but I did my best to at least get a couple that showed even just a fraction of the immense beauty of a couple of the spots we stopped at along the way:

ApertureF11Sniper · Feb 14, 2023

Wow.....LOVE all of these.....So many images in one post is a bit much I think but I'm sure that's just me....And I see I am not the only one who likes to tell the back story.....I think the back story gives the images soul......

DanOstergren · Feb 14, 2023

ApertureF11Sniper said:
Wow.....LOVE all of these.....So many images in one post is a bit much I think but I'm sure that's just me....And I see I am not the only one who likes to tell the back story.....I think the back story gives the images soul......

Thank you so much! Yeah, I'm definitely skating the line of "too many images" for sure. It's hard for me to eliminate any from this collection because I also love them all. There are about 40 more that I didn't include, but then I'd have felt pretty ridiculous sharing so many lol.

ApertureF11Sniper · Feb 14, 2023

Theres no dead line......Try posting just two....Then after a few days you could add two more and so on....

DanOstergren · Feb 14, 2023

ApertureF11Sniper said:
Theres no dead line......Try posting just two....Then after a few days you could add two more and so on....

I appreciate the suggestion, but I think these needed to be shared as a collection.

stapo49 · Feb 15, 2023

Fantastic shots as usual. Really like the "enviromental"portraits, #4 & 5 my favourites. Also # 22 is a beautiful shot. Great stuff.

jeffashman · Feb 15, 2023

Excellent series of shots, and very nice on the landscape shots! Looks like it was chilly.

AlanKlein · Feb 15, 2023

Great shots and portraits. Did use anything but natural light? Reflectors?

DanOstergren · Feb 15, 2023

stapo49 said:
Fantastic shots as usual. Really like the "enviromental"portraits, #4 & 5 my favourites. Also # 22 is a beautiful shot. Great stuff.

Thank you so much.

DanOstergren · Feb 15, 2023

jeffashman said:
Excellent series of shots, and very nice on the landscape shots! Looks like it was chilly.

Thank you Jeff. The landscapes are a new venture for me, but I hope to keep going with it, as well as creating more environmental portraits.

DanOstergren · Feb 15, 2023

AlanKlein said:
Great shots and portraits. Did use anything but natural light? Reflectors?

Thank you Alan. These were all lit using natural light, and no reflector. In some cases the snow on the ground acted as a natural reflector.

cgw · Feb 15, 2023

Just a bit self-indulgent. Nothing wrong with a brief pitch for them on your site. Otherwise...

terri · Feb 15, 2023

Wow! I don't know what is surprising me most - the number of great shots or you including a couple of landscapes.

I remember you saying recently that Vinnie was moving away. The road trip looks like a blast!

I know you rarely - if ever - give us so much of a back story, but this is really such a special occasion, it's great. I'm so happy you felt like sharing all this with us.

Love that family portrait with their mom! They look like good people. :586:

terri · Feb 15, 2023

cgw said:
Just a bit self-indulgent. Nothing wrong with a brief pitch for them on your site. Otherwise...

Otherwise, what? Geez.

This was a big event, a cross country move, and a very rare lengthy post. Tell me, do you ever get tired of being a wet rag? I'm curious. :popcorn:

cgw · Feb 15, 2023

terri said:
Otherwise, what? Geez.

This was a big event, a cross country move, and a very rare lengthy post. Tell me, do you ever get tired of being a wet rag? I'm curious.

Just weary of over-sharing of late--need I say more or give specifics? Thought not.