Matthew Rakola 3/14/19 Matthew Rakola 3/14/19

My weekend in the Civil War

A few weekends ago I was helping out on a video shoot that would play at the upcoming American Advertising Federation D.C. chapter’s Addys Awards gala. No spoilers here, but the video tells the story of one brave lady’s journey through a Civil War reenactment. During some down time I had the opportunity to make some images of the re-enactors. I was incredibly impressed with their attention to detail, ability to take direction and do the little things to make the scene better, and their overall joy with what they were doing. If you ever find yourself with the need for Civil War or just period actors, talk to Guy over at Old Timey Casting.

Shooting Notes: The conditions on shoot were all over the place. We started with snow on the ground and uniform cloud cover. Over the course of the day, the snow melted, the sun came and went (and came and went some more), and the wind picked up. The only consistent element was that it was chilly! All images were made with either a Canon 5Dmk3 or 5Dmk4, and the Sigma 35mm ART, Canon 85 f1.4L IS, or the Canon 24-70 f2.8L. Some of the portraits benefited from a Profoto A1 shot through an umbrella. I had dreams of using the B1’s with a bigger modifier but the weather conditions were uncertain enough that I didn’t want to risk it without an assistant. All of these images were imported into CaptureOne Pro and “mussed up” in Nik Analog Efex Pro 2. If any of these make it to my portfolio they will likely get further worked in Photoshop.

Matthew Rakola 8/13/18 Matthew Rakola 8/13/18

Summer in Maine, Part 1

A summer trip to my home state of Maine is just about the best thing in the world, second only TWO summer trips to the Maine coast.

In Part 1, the Rakolas spent the 4th of July holiday at The Colony, a rental cottage community that's been a Mount Desert Island Institution since just about forever. From there we poked around the Acadia National Park region:

But, why not mix business and pleasure when both are, you know, fun? Betsy and the boys left on a Saturday and I stayed around to shoot a project at the Acadia Institute of Oceanography, which I attended when I was just a wee little lad. So, on a beautiful Saturday morning, we made some images. Here's a sampling:

Stay tuned for Part 2, coming very soon.

Matthew Rakola 8/22/17 Matthew Rakola 8/22/17

Partial Eclipse in the Park

Okay, that wasn't very clever.

Like millions of others across the country, I took to the local park to watch the sun partially duck behind the moon, a feat that still seems improbable at best. I didn't feel like dropping the $200 for a proper filter to make pictures of the actual eclipse (although after seeing some friends images, I kinda wish I had) so I decided to keep my lens pointed mostly to the ground to focus on the effect. So this happened.

One of the effects of the eclipse is that the main light source– the sun, becomes less bright when compared to the surrounding skylight. In other words, the shadows aren't as deep.

The eclipse activated the street lamps around the neighborhood.

Matthew Rakola 6/6/17 Matthew Rakola 6/6/17

Three Shades of Tiger

Alex demonstrates 3 of the many shades of Tiger.

Alex, my oldest, is my muse. There's really no other way to put it. Now four, I've been photographing him intently since the day he was born. While I generally photograph him on the run, I actually got him into my studio this past Sunday to make some pictures of his Tiger facepaint, courtesy the 'Taste of Wheaton' festival. There was some discussion as to whether or not it was actually a Monarch butterfly, but turns out either is cool with this kid.

These little side projects with Alex are constantly pushing me to try new things. While this 'look' is dated, it's fun to push the boundaries a bit and this is a fantastic light that can work in very small locations. Besides– look at that face!

Tech specs ('cause someone always asks): Ikan Piatto PL90 daylight balanced LED light (this thing rocks!) with a handheld Canon 5DmkIV and a 100mm 2.8L Macro. 1/125 @2.8 at ISO200. The slight greenish fill is window light bouncing off some trees outside.

The images were funked up a bit in Nik Analog Efex Pro 2 and only hit Photoshop to make the Triptych. On a related note, Google, who bought Nik a few years ago, just announced that they would discontinue support for the software which makes me feel like this ---->

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My weekend in the Civil War

Summer in Maine, Part 1

Partial Eclipse in the Park

Three Shades of Tiger

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A personal project documenting Wheaton, MD in the year 2020.