All posts by Mark Wallace

Mark is a traveler, photographer, and writer.

First Shoot in the new studio

We’ve been busy moving all of our equipment from the old studio to the new studio.  We’re still waiting for the new furniture and a bunch of odds and ends before we call it finished.  I took a “break” during our busy weekend and shot a few photos for my portfolio.  Since Diane was busy working on a shoot at ASU I asked Caroline Diep to come along and assist.  She did a fantastic job.

Our model, Angela, was terrific to work with and we got some stellar shots.  I’ll post a few once I’ve finished with the post-production work.  Here are a couple of shots from my iPhone.

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With 60 feet of shooting space we were able to add some color to the background and drop it out of focus for a quick and easy glamour look.  I had a bunch of lights shooting toward the camera so I had to use a lot of flags.

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My super helpful assistant, Caroline, who is normally in front of the camera.  She’s a Ford Model and it was a trip having her help out.  Thanks Caroline!

Remodeling

The construction crew started work on our new studio today.  The front area is being converted into our new classroom space.  This requires the crew to remove a few walls, fix up the ceiling, and put down new carpet.

We’re also having a new door installed in the bathroom so it can be accessed from the classroom or the studio.  This is no small task since it requires all of the plumbing to be updated in the wall where our door is going in.

We’re also having a 4–ton A/C unit installed in the studio so our clients and models stay cool during the hot summer months here in Arizona.  Of course we need the A/C unit to be out of the way so that means the existing lighting has to be moved so the ducts can be installed in the correct locations and kept to a minimum height of 12 feet.

I snapped a few photos with my iPhone while I was meeting with the contractor today.  We expect everything to be finished in about 10 days.

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Workers begin tearing out the walls.

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Don, the supervisor, instructs the air conditioning company about our needs.

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Workers trying to figure out how they are going to install our new bathroom door.  The problem is all of the plumbing in the wall that attaches to the sink and hot water heater (hidden from view).

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Progress on the wall removal.

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This guy was re-routing all of the electrical that used to be in the wall.

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This trailer was inside the studio and was used to store all of the material they were ripping out of the front room.

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Although it looks small the studio is actually 60 feet front to back.  It’s going to be nice having a bit more space.

Signing The Lease

Diane signing the lease

We spent some time at the bank today signing our lease and having everything notarized.  All of the paperwork has been filed, our deposits have been paid, and we are officially moving!

Special thanks to Matt Fredrick of Lee & Associates for all his hard work.  We had him running all over Phoenix looking for a terrific location.  If you ever need some business property in the Phoenix metro area give Matt a call: 602–912–3532.

Our new studio is located at:

3815 E. Grove Street, Suite 5
Phoenix, AZ 85040


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Fun Video

The last class in our 8–week Digital Photography workshop was last night.  I’m bummed that this workshop is over because the group of students was just so much fun.  We learned a lot from each other and I saw some terrific photography.

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Rose in front of the green screen.

After that class I asked if anyone could stay after to give their impressions of the last 8 weeks.  Almost everyone had to zip home but Rose was able to stay after and give us some feedback.  I’ll be catching up with other students in the near future to get their feedback but I’m happy about the little video we shot last night.  Thanks Rose!


Digital Photography 101 Testimonial from Mark Wallace on Vimeo.

Digital Photography 101: May 6th

Our next 8–week Digital Photography course begins May 6th in our new studio!  Come join us for 8 weeks of learning.

Click here for more info.

This eight week course will give you a solid foundation for creating quality photographs. Each week the instructor will give you creative guidelines as well as technical instruction.

You’ll learn the “math” of photography: ISO, aperture, shutter speed, resolution, pixels, etc. You’ll also learn the “art” of photography: Elements of composition, framing and cropping, point of view, motion, panning, cropping, and more.

The class meets once a week for two hours. The first part of the lesson will be reviewing the previous week’s assignment, getting peer input, question/answer, and discussion. The second part of each lesson will be learning new material and getting the next week’s assignment.

Please Note: A digital SLR camera is required. Please contact us if you have questions about your camera.

Kalen

I had a quick shoot with Kalen today.  It’s been almost 2 years since we last saw Kalen in our studio and it was great to see her again today.  We’ll be working again on another project in a few weeks.  It’s always great to have top notch models in the studio.

Diane did a great job with all of the styling and makeup.  Here’s a quick comp of one of the shots from our session today.  Great work Diane and Kalen!

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© Copyright 2008 Mark Wallace/SnapFactory

Corporate Video

I spent the day helping Intel shoot a little training video. They had cool toys and I was able to learn a few things that will help improve the quality of our Digital Photography 1 on 1 videos. Here are some iPhone snapshots.

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Jeff setting up one of two Vericams.  Jeff is a former student of mine and has helped us a lot with our Studio Lighting 1 on 1 videos.  Jeff shot all of Episode 6 for us and has loaned us his personal lighting equipment on several occasions.

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Lighting was a mix of Kino Flow and Arri.

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Actors Gene and Natalie rehearsing in the foreground.  In the background is Jeff (DP), Kristi (writer), and Michael (Director).

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I was operating one of the Vericams and shot this between takes.