Rangefinder Magazine

December 2000

The Rams and the Wedding Photographer
by David Bentley


As a photographer for the past 25 years, I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in many St. Louis community projects. When we were contacted this past summer to provide the photography for the 2001 St. Louis Rams / Missouri Humane Society calendar, we knew this would be a once-in-a-lifetime project (unless, of course, the Rams repeat!). The color images of the Rams players had to be made in a very short time period at a variety of locations, based on the schedules of these very busy people. I believe we were chosen for this project because of our reputation of being able to work effectively with animals, i.e. dogs, cats, horses, groomsmen! Of interest is the fact that the equipment and techniques used were standard-issue wedding photography!


The image of Defensive End Kevin Carter, his dog, his hog, and his Super Bowl ring was made in a grassy area adjacent to his home. The location was selected because of the beautiful depth behind the main subject. Too often in outdoor photography, our clients think a solid “wall of green” is what we are seeking for a background. As photographers, we all know that just the opposite is the case. We are actually looking for a situation with several layers of color and depth. Of course, the time was near noon (every photographer’s favorite time of day!).
We used available light and one candid strobe to make the exposure. In order to have an acceptable light pattern on his face, Kevin was positioned under the overhang of a tree. The main light was sunlight from camera right with most of the overhead light blocked by the overhanging branches. I liked the composition of the white fence on the left and the white dog on the right. To balance the light levels on the dog and motorcycle, a Quantum strobe was set to camera left, firing into an umbrella and triggered by a Quantum radio receiver. A Mamiya RB-67 camera (we shoot our wedding portraits and candids with this camera) and various Kodak Portra films were used for the entire project. In this situation, ISO 400 film was used and was exposed at ISO 320 in the highlight.

In the course of shooting this calendar, we learned to carry many different speed films with us because the shooting locations were often changed at the last minute to a new spot not previously scouted. Kevin was a delight to photograph, and his Great Dane, Zeus, was ready to play at the snap of a football. Interestingly enough, we found we had to do very little posing of the players. They are great athletes and seemed to be always in a balanced position. This also meant it was no problem to make all the images look unique because, in most situations, it was not our pose—it was uniquely theirs.

Quarterback Kurt Warner was photographed at the Rams Park indoor training facility on the 30 yard line (there is no end zone). We were scheduled to photograph outside that morning, but a torrential downpour forced a total change of plans. With limited indoor equipment at hand, Kodak high speed color negative film saved the day. In fact, the entire calendar was made on the same type Kodak color negative films as we use at weddings, Kodak Portra films. Whether we used ISO 160, 400, or 800 film, we knew all the prints would color match for the printer. As with most animal photography, the trick is to control the situation so the dog is attending to the photographer. A subtle sound will then freeze the dog for the instant of the exposure. Tasha, Kurt and his MVP trophy were lit with two strobes firing into umbrellas with a generous amount of shutter drag to bring in the background. I don’t have a clue as to the color temperature of the overhead lighting, but the film handled it well. The diagonal field striping added a feeling of motion to an otherwise static composition.

The lighting setup for Wide Receiver Torry Holt was one of the most complex we used for the project, but it still involved only four lights. We walked into the gym for the first time one hour before the shoot, and it was dark in there, really dark! I kept telling myself there was no problem—I could light the place in an hour and besides, I have ruined more photos with too much light rather than with too little. Two Photogenic monolights with umbrellas lit Torry and boxer, Dexter. A bare bulb Quantum Q-flash was on the ring floor behind them for separation, and one additional monolight was positioned to light the rest of the gym. All the lights were fired with Quantum radio receivers.


Running Back Justin Watson and his friend Apollo met with us in the Rams Park Training Facility weight room. We spent as much time watching for reflections of our equipment in the mirrors surrounding the room as we did lighting our subjects. Looking through the camera while firing the strobes with your radio transmitter will enable you to see any unwanted reflections in the mirrors. What looked like windows behind Torry were actually the reflection of the windows behind me! The final lighting setup was three strobes and daylight. Bringing in the Rams logo (in Super Bowl colors) on the floor is an example of the fun and unique things to look for in location work.

Running Back Marshall Faulk with a half-dozen Humane Society kittens was scheduled for photography on a putting green at a local golf course (Marshall is an avid golfer). The location was scouted and a time agreed upon by Marshall, the Humane Society representatives, the director of Rams Public Relations and me. Everyone was on the same page of the playbook at last—except for the weatherman—rain! The Rams Park Training Facility was our best alternate, except for one minor detail—there was a closed practice session in progress. So it was: 1) in, 2) set up, and 3) out in 20 minutes—or else! To the casual observer, the scene might have looked like chaos, but, in fact, it was chaos. Our biggest concern was kittens—everywhere! This was definitely a broken play. In our brief session—we were interrupting a Rams practice with kittens—we brought in Marshall’s golf bag, had a Rams sideline golf cart positioned in the background and rounded up three of the kittens to do whatever they wanted. The combination of strobe, mercury vapor lights and daylight was the least of our problems, and Kodak ISO 400 Portra film reproduced the mixture with no problem.


Cornerback Dexter McCleon was photographed at the Humane Society Farm with “Bonnie”. They were positioned under a tree to control the overhead light. A Quantum Qflash and an umbrella provided fill light, while the strobe’s ready “beep” signal attracted Bonnie’s attention for the exposure. Our Mamiya was on a tripod and I was on a ladder. Horses and football players are big!

Tackle Orlando Pace is truly a gentle giant. He had a 314-pound weight advantage over Humane Society Chihuahua, Squeaky, but graciously shared the spotlight (actually umbrella light) in the Humane Society’s Gift Shop. The background was lit with a combination of Photogenic and Vivitar 283 strobes. Both Orlando and Squeaky were lit by one White Lightning monolight firing into an umbrella. The white walls of the gift shop provided perfect fill. This session was magic—we made 20 exposures at this location, and the Humane Society told us later that all 20 were usable for the calendar.


Defensive Tackle D’Marco Farr invited us to his home to photograph him with his two gentle friends, Great Dane, Caesar and “the big” dog, Duke, an Old English Mastiff. The dogs enjoyed wrestling with D’Marco and eating popcorn. By this exposure, near the end of the session, the popcorn was gone and the dogs were starting to eye us—we finished the session of these three big guys and we were gone!


Basic Skill Set
We were honored to be selected to make the images for this calendar. The skills we used in these sessions were the very same skills we use every weekend at our weddings:
* Work fast (many of these sessions were 10 minutes or less).
* Be adaptable (if it starts raining, move inside and shoot away), because for many assignments, there is no “come back tomorrow.”
* Depend on small, lightweight strobes triggered with radio receivers.
* Use medium format cameras with plenty of negative area for final cropping or unexpectedly large prints.
* Depend on films of various ISOs, knowing the color will match print to print.
* Try to “get it on the film” so no expensive custom printing or Photoshop work is needed.
* Wedding photographers, like wedding musicians, are sometimes not thought of as being quite at the top of the creative food chain.
Tackle Orlando Pace

For over two decades Bentley Studio, Ltd. Has been recognized as the source for artistic photographic imagery. David and Susan Bentley are nationally acclaimed photographers and have both earned the national degrees of Master of Photography and Photographic Craftsman. David’s area of specialization is in portraiture, with a major part of his acclaim coming from his wedding and family photography. He is frequently published in the leading photographic journals.