The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

Chase Jarvis is the man. Not only is he one of the most highly regarded commercial photographers in the world, he lives in Seattle and is a pretty friendly chap. On Monday night he hosted a photo session that I was lucky enough to secure an invitation to. About thirty of us met up at his studio and walked over to Inner Space, an indoor skate park in Seattle. Chase and his crew had rented the park for the night, hired models (read ‘skateboarders ready to shred’) and outfitted the space with six Broncolor lighting setups. After doing a quick demo where Chase shot a Nikon D3 tethered into a MacBook Pro and 30” Cinema Display, he turned us loose with PocketWizards, 3200 w/s packs, and all the kick flips and mute grabs we could shoot. Having gotten my start in photography 10 years ago by shooting aggressive inline skating, I was stoked to ‘get back to my roots.’

I worked primarily with Bobby who lives in Capitol Hill. Bobby is 20 years old and has been skating for half his life. He’d never done a shoot like this before, but you’d never know it—dude was totally a professional. In addition to killing it in the park for nearly 2 hours, Bobby indulged me by posing for several portraits outside. I grabbed this shot with my Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens and one of Chase’s Broncolor Mobil packs outfitted with a beauty dish.

Shooting with the Broncolor Scoro A4S pack was easily the photographic highlight of the night. I was able to throw my D300 into cH and let it rip at a full 6 frames per second while still getting a full flash pop with every exposure. Siiiiiiick.

After the photo sesh Chase invited us all back to his studio to tap a keg and hang out. Not only was it a great opportunity to pick Chase’s brain on everything from iPhones to music, I got to chill with his really cool staff and chat with a bunch of talented Seattle photogs. I even got to try the Chase Jarvis Inc. signature cocktail, Possum Hunt—which can only be made with a particular vodka sold exclusively in New Zealand.

A big thank you to Chase, Scott, Mikal, Dartanyon and Kate for setting up and hosting this event. It was some of the most fun I’ve had with a camera. Also, thanks to the folks at Inner Space and all the skaters who tore it up while being blinded by strobes.

More photos on Flickr.