Gavin Smith Photography

Detroit Red Wings 2009 Year Book Cover.

2009-03-05T17:48:00.006-05:00

After a long wait (we shot this months ago) its out! The 2009 Detroit Red Wings Yearbook cover w/ Nicolas Lindstrom. It was a cold Detroit Dec. morning when we rolled into Joe Louis Arena at about 8:00am for the shoot and its no secret that I am anything but a morning person, so morning shoots are hard for me! I had a good crew with Brooke making sure everything stayed on task and Andy lugging gear around and helping me set everything up! The set was in a small little corner of the Joe right near the Zamboni. It didn't take us long to set up at all maybe a 1/2 hour. The lighting was very simple I was going for hard shadows and so I just used two silver umbrellas and a hair light to light Lindstrom, then two lights on the white seamless... thats it. The shoot only lasted about 15 min., then it was on to the hard part... picking the pose and the 8 hours I spent photoshopping and laying out the cover. It was fun though I don't always get to do the photography and the layout from start to finish. More often than not its thanks, the photos look great, now hand your babies over to the art department for them to do what ever they want with them! All in all it was another great shoot! The guys at the Wings are always a blast to work with...

A new year with new gear ( Thank you Nikon )

2009-02-01T16:06:00.004-05:00

Yes its true! After a long 10 year run as a Canon photographer, I have made the full switch to the dark side... With much help and support from everyone at Nikon I am starting the new year with all new gear! Including the new 25 mega-pixel Nikon D3x.

My new video

2009-01-27T20:46:00.004-05:00

I never in a million years thought being on the other side of the camera could ever be this hard! So after shooting footage of myself for about 3 hrs, I realized three things, A. I have a face for radio B. My voice sounds like a surfer C. I never ever want to be in front of the camera again! Here is the video that Vidcam Productions help me produce.

Reel Big Fish House Of Blues Chicago.

2009-01-14T12:58:00.012-05:00

Why is it this winter that every

shoot has to be in horrible weather? So why would this trip to Chi-Town to cover theReel Big Fish concert be any different? After getting about 3 hours of sleep the night before because of another shoot, I headed out to Lansing MI. to pick up my ast. Andy. We fueled

up, picked up the usual road

food candy bars and

Taco Bell and we were off... The ride there was uneventful until the GPS and I had a little disagreement downtown Chicago & after that was settled we checked into the Hyatt and went right

to the House of Blues to get

our credentials and got some dinner. From dinner it was straight to work as the open band Tip The Van was getting ready to go on... beside getting the usual token beer spilled on me and getting kicked in the back of

the head by a crowd surfer, the show went pretty good & the new Nikon D3's were amazing in the low light! After the show everyone was talking about the blizzard warnings for Chicago and MI so Andy and I thought long and hard about leaving for home right to be safe, but opted for sushi instead :) At RA , one of my favorite sushi joints. After a belly full of sushi goodness it was into the cab back to the hotel. We again thought about leaving to beat the storm but then decided that sleep sounded better than safe driving conditions... after a few hours it was time to leave c

hicago behind and drive straight into the blizzard that we had been warned about. So with a ten pack of Taco Bell taco's

in hand we drove 35 miles in hour in white out conditions & made the 3 hour trip more like 4 hours. All in all it was a good trip with good images !! :)

Working on the New Website...

2009-01-05T18:53:00.011-05:00

Set t0 drop in the next week is my new website... With a little well needed down time over the holidays I started designing and working on some changes to our site. Keep checking back and let us know what you think of the changes.

Female Student Athlete Portrait In 45 mile per hour winds

2008-12-30T22:03:00.005-05:00

Wow what a portrait shoot! A few hours before the athlete was due to arrive at our studio, I got this crazy idea to move the portrait shoot outside after looking out the window at the ominous clouds that had rolled in with some severe weather. The wind storm and a cool 30 Degrees made the shoot a little hectic at times!! I used a local basketball court at a elementary school about 3 blocks from my studio. I think both Brooke ( the Girlfriend and who runs the office at the studio ) and the athlete thought I was a little nuts. Brooke & I grabbed every sand bag we had in the studio, 3 lights and the trusty generator and headed out.

What a year!

2008-12-30T21:26:00.001-05:00

I have had such a fun year... I've covered the ESPN X-Games, been to the Playboy Mansion, shot for to many Magazines to list, been in SI 3 times, shot the cover of the 08 Detroit Red Wings Yearbook, spent weeks on end getting sunburned while shooting boat catalogs, chased classic race cars across North America on the Great American Race, saw 20 NFL games with the Lions, and opened a new studio in my home town... Bring on 2009 :)

Welcome to Gavin Smith Photography's New Blog

2008-12-28T19:49:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Gavin Smith Photography's new blog! I am always on the go and thought this would be a fun way for friend's, family and clients to see what I'm up to whether it be local or somewhere half way around the globe.

This year has been great for me with the introduction of my new studio in Grand Blanc, MI. I was amazed to see the demand for a high end studio here in the greater flint area. Now with an ever growing client list including General Motor's, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Time Life, Detroit Red Wings, Crest Pontoon Boats, Manitou Pontoon Boats, and being selected as the new team photographer in 2005 for the Detroit Lions, I felt it was time to ground myself by building a state of the art studio. In addition, to my pro sports and magazine work I now offer high-end portraits ranging from seniors, newborns/children, families and weddings.