All I can say about this shoot was wow. I had a previous shoot with Danny Boy Stephens , an incredible Mi’kmaq warrior, back in January (see www.flickr.com/photos/brosha/4298799422/ ) that I didn’t think we could out-do….but this morning – this incredible, beautiful morning – I think we did it.

This series was photographed over about an hour (between 5:15AM and 6:30AM) on the shores of the Great Slave Lake outside Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Technical/lighting info: I initially brought down all the studio strobes only to realize I forgot my Pocket Wizards, which basically rendered them useless. I sent my assistant, Andrea Nilson , back to the studio to get them, but didn’t want to lose the incredible light, which I knew would change dramatically, and quickly. So the first few shots were improvised (and still turned out nicely) with a single off-camera Canon 580EX speedlite, model left (and about 10 feet in front of him), triggered by a 550EX speedlte, on camera.

Once my radio transmitter arrived (thanks, Andrea, for the speedy turnaround), I switched to a single Elinchrom strobe, bounced off a silver umbrella, for the remainder of the shots….with the exception of a few natural light frames which included some of the details (the intricate feathers) and silhouettes…which I can’t resist.

Definitely one of my favourite shoots, and despite the regret I initially felt when my alarm went off at 4AM this morning, I am proud of our collective effort, and extremely happy with the results.

Dave

One of This Land - Canon 580 Speedlight, camera left.

"Dawn's Last Stand"

"Warrior Dawn"

"Call To Action" - used a 3-stop GND filter on this one to hold back the brighter horizon light.

"World Walker"

"A Warrior's Soul" - this was one of my favourites of the shoot.

"Heartbeat"

Call of the Sun

"Ascent" - this was shot, unlike the others, in the direction away from the sun. There were some really cool, dramatic clouds lit by the morning light.

Sun Warrior

"Fire Warrior" - Danny, you're a rock star.

"A New Dawn"

This is somewhat of a behind-the-scenes shot; you can see my speedlight, mounted on a lightstand, on the left edge of the frame. It gives you an idea of my general positioning of the lights - whether speedlights or studio strobes - through the shoot.

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