Joakim Soria: Bullpen Patience.

It was a hot day at the "new" K in Kansas City while the St Louis Cardinals were just a few outs from sweeping the hometown Royals. Although it wasn't a save situation, Joakim Soria would soon be seeing action during the 9th inning. Until then, Soria sat in the home bullpen waiting for his warm-ups. Even though I was out there as a fan, I was lucky enough to have my "pocket camera" with me. A lot of us have been talking about the Canon G9 as a pocket camera that still has enough capability to grab shots similar to what we'd expect with our professional gear. The G9 delivered. Here are 3 shots that I wanted to include in this blog posting...I feel like I was making eye contact with Soria, but I am sure his mind was focusing on the upcoming match-ups that perhaps would include Albert Pujols or other Cardinal hitters.

Urban Explorer: McKaela's Senior Portraits

We had a blast collaborating with McKaela on her senior portraits. Tonight was the outdoor segment of her Combination Supreme session. We matched McKaela's personality and fashion with the rough and tumble world of the urban core. Here are a few of our favorites.
Ready to see more? Visit our senior portrait site at www.KansasCitySeniorPortraits.com

Soccer Evening.

It was a beautiful night. And, I had the best seat in the house. Here are a few of my favorites from the evening featuring the dynamic duo of Olathe East Varsity Women's Soccer: Kaitlyn & Claire.

Personal Project: Abandoned Truck.

I found myself walking in the woods near Ozark, MO this weekend and came across several old abandoned trucks. This one caught my eye. The original sky was flat, so I wanted to make it a bit more interesting.

Personal Project: Sins At The Cross

Bring Your Sins...Leave Them At The Cross. from Gregg Riess on Vimeo.

I thought I'd post this here on the Blog. Great service this Easter morning: Pastor Mike encouraged everyone to write down their sins & leave them at the cross. I had my new toy at the service: my Canon G9. I used the G9's HD video capability and then mashed it together with OldFilm and a bit of a soundtrack from Pinnacle Studio HD.

Soccer: Peak Action!

One of my favorite shots from the early games of this high school soccer season.

OBC Leadership Portraits.

Headshot portraits featuring the Olathe Bible Church leadership team.  

Feedback from client:  "These are fantastic.  I have to tell you, we have done this before and no one has been able to capture the personalities as well as you.  You're the MAN.:)  Thank you!!!  I just showed your pictures to a few pastors in the office.  They are PLEASED!!  I am so excited to get these online...WOW...I can not thank you enough.  I hope you had a good time working with the pastors. I know they enjoyed working with you."  

Personal Project: St Louis Sculpture at Laumeier Sculpture Park

"Kansas City has their shuttlecocks, but St Louis has their eyeball."

Here are a few snapshots that I captured as my family toured Laumeier Sculpture Park in St Louis. The weather was nice for mid-March, but the light in the middle of the day didn't provide the best environment...so, I tried to find some angles that would produce some interesting images. The relative size of the exhibits might be lost: for example, the large red sculpture made with oil drums reaches over 60 feet of height. You have to love the large eye sitting next to the park bench. And, the two slides that collide is very interesting as you stand before that sculpture. I experimented with post-shot infrared via Photoshop to emphasize contrast on some of the black/white images. Colors were boosted during RAW processing to avoid a drab look that was otherwise present (the skies weren't that blue until I bumped contrast, vibrance, saturation, etc.).

Miss Kansas City Premier

One of our favorite clients, Kara Adams, was just crowned "Miss Kansas City Premier" -- here are a few of our favorite headshots from our session with Kara.

Flashback: Mr. Buck O'Neil.

We had the great honor of photographing Buck O'Neil for what is believed to be the last formal portrait produced of this great American.   We converted the Negro League Baseball Museum's "field of dreams" in Kansas City to serve as our studio.  The images were to be used in a commemorative poster that we produced for the Kansas City Sports Commission.  It was the session that almost didn't happen, but the 3rd time was a charm.  We first had it scheduled for early April 2006 but I needed to have surgery to help me recover from a BMX race accident.  The next time we were to shoot: Buck was lost.  They didn't know where he was due to some flight cancellations.  He appeared a day later & we captured these images.  

Self Portrait.

I'm a biker, and a photographer.  So, after I rode my mountain bike on the singletrack course along the river in Lawrence, KS in unseasonably warm weather I figured I'd snap a pic.  I used my Canon G9 with a 15-second timer along with a STE2 transmitter to fire an off-camera 550Ex strobe.  I won't say how many takes this took...ha ha.  Afterwards, it was time for some digital darkroom tune-ups to process the RAW file so that I could tweak the exposure, contrast, etc.   I laid down a layer of motion blur with Photoshop so it looks like I'm fast. Then, I applied my secret sauce "DHill" look.  What do you think?

Dancer Promotional Headshots: Augustin

An agency referred Augustin to us for talent headshots to be used for his promotional purposes.  I saw a dancer through my lens making multiple moves at every click of the shutter.  As we're working throught the edits...I'm also seeing a bit of Lebron, Denzel and Jamie in the shots as well.  Here are a few samples.

Dancer Headshot.

Cassie is a professional dancer, and a respected dance teacher based in New York City. We were pleased to collaborate with her on this professional headshot. As a dancer, we put special emphasis on her bone structure higlighted by her collarbone, neck and chin.

Model Test Shoot: Jessica.

Here are my favorite pics that resulted from our Model Test Shoot with Jessica.

Photo Illustration: Carrot, Egg or Coffee?

Here's a photo illustration from our archives.   We shot this one rainy Saturday morning with my two boys after calling my wife ("Honey, how do we boil eggs?").   

The concept was a point that an IBM sales executive was making during a keynote address about adversity.   The story is told: put each item in boiling water, and what is the result?

Each of these objects had faced the same adversity...boiling water.  Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting.  However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.  The egg had been fragile.  Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.  The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. "Which are you? When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"  

Grandpa Victor Bopp.

My Grandpa Bopp, forever the farmer, put his earthly body "out to pasture" today. He will be missed. But, I'm forever grateful for the opportunity to call him my Grandpa.

Read his obit on-line here.

View the FindAGrave entry here.

Victor W. Bopp, 88, died at 1:31 p.m. Monday, Dec. 22, 2008, at DePaul Hospital in St. Louis.
He was born Feb. 14, 1920, in Batchtown, son of the late Herbert and Mable Bopp.
He married Maleta (Lane) Bopp May 2, 1953, and she died April 6, 1999.
He was a retired grain and livestock farmer and also did orchard work.

He was a member of Batchtown United Methodist Church.
Surviving are a son, Larry Hauger of Stoughton, Wis.; a daughter, Wilma Riess of Florissant, Mo.;

six grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild;

two sisters, Lillie Martin of St. Peters, Mo., and Stella Jewell of St. Louis.
He was preceded in death by his parents, wife and a daughter, Ann Heffington.
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 26, at Hanks-Gress Funeral Home in Hardin,

where funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 27.

Phil Grable will officiate.
Burial will be at Green Pond in Pearl.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to

the Batchtown United Methodist Church or the Calhoun Ambulance Service.

Simone 2008: Someday There Will Be An Award Named After Bowe

Hey sportsfans, welcome to the Simone 2008 Award ceremony. It's actually about 6 ceremonies in one...all for the same low price! It's all about high school football in Kansas City. This is our 5th year collaborating with the Simone folks, and it's always filled with lots of great fun & emotion. This year we found ourselves at Blue Springs South to honor Blaine Dalton (headed to Mizzou) as the top player in the metro. The part that was most memorable is Dwayne Bowe playing-up to the audience and declaring that "in 20 years there will be an award named after" Dwayne himself. Time will tell as to what that award should represent! Stay tuned.

MetroSports: All Hands On Deck.

It's "all hands on deck" because Gregg Riess Photography LLC is setting-up shop in the MetroSports studio here in Kansas City. It was time to gather these popular, highly polished, and beautiful people (and that's just Rich Baldinger and his entourage!) for a group shot. We did a series of shots featuring the entire team, and then focused on the analyst group separate from the primary on-air talent. Lots of fun trying to make this feel not like grade school picture day. I was hoping we could mix it up a little so we didn't have 2 simple rows--but this is exactly what the TimeWarner Cable promotions department was looking for in a group shot. Hey - you don't want to argue with the promo department, and you don't want to keep these former elite athletes from making their next appointment, right?

Late Nite At The Phog.

It's Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas hosting Univ of KS basketball "Late Nite At The Phog." This time was special...this time it was a chance to again celebrate the national championship with the KU fans while kicking-off the 2008-2009 season. Fun stuff. Seems like Bill Self was very thoughtful while he watched the new banners on display. You have got to believe that all of the recruits in attendance are pumped about the opportunity to play for this crowd. Strange to see familiar numbers on the backs of un-familiar players (was that Chalmers? Or, another new guy named Mario!?!?!).

Talent Headshot: Natalie Moultrie

You've seen her before on KMBC-9, and now you'll be seeing her again. It's Natalie Moultrie! One of the most recognized television personalities in Kansas City. She's traded everyday news for the excitement of sports at our client Metrosports & TimeWarner. Welcome home, Natalie!

FEEDBACK FROM NATALIE: "Gregg, I wanted to follow up and let you know how much I appreciated the time you took during my photo shoot. The way you invited my input and involved me in the decision making regarding what I wanted to portray in this photo really made a tremendous difference. When I've had head shots taken before it was always about what the photographer wanted to portray, and not really about what I wanted. Some may ask what difference that makes, but I say it's the difference between a head shot that doesn't really "look" like me, and one that captures the sparkle in my eye, that connects to my inner-self--or the real me, it's the difference of letting my personality shine through in a photo, or having a canned expression. So thanks very much for the time you put into the photo shoot! It really was fun and I'm very pleased with the end result! Thanks!"