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The official photo blog of J. David Buerk Photography.

Save Me, San Francisco Wine Company

It's not secret that I am a wine enthusiast.  Red, white, I love it all (but mostly drys, if we're being frank...).  With global warming changing vineyards' playing fields, and living in the midst of what has been hailed as "the East Coast Napa," it's a very interesting time to be a wine lover in Northern Virginia.

Today, however, I won't be sharing my latest Loudoun wine discovery, or newest Page County vineyard adventure - I've already Met Virginia.  No; today is about California... San Francisco, California, and a band you may have heard on the radio singing about Jupiter and Angels and Crappy Purple Scions.  Yes, today is about The Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co... colloquially known as Train Wine.

(Do This - Trust me, just do it!  Click here and just let it play in the background while you read this post.  JUST DO IT!)

The first time I heard about a band putting out a wine was ACDC and their "Highway to Hell" Cabernet, "Hells Bells" Suvignon Blanc, along with a few other varietals.  My first thought when I heard about it, and saw it for sale not long after?  "What a damn gimmick."  Let's get that mindset out of here before we go any further: The Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co. is NO gimmick - it's the real deal.  Jimmy Stafford and his bandmates came up with the wine company while touring; the various wines while on the road as their inspiration (and of course, the wine had to be from California).  This is wine you can appreciate even if you don't appreciate the namesake music... but you will surely grin a little wider when you read the wines' names.

There are currently six wines in the lineup, however there were only five when I shot these photos - you'll notice that the newest addition, "Bulletproof Picasso" Sauvignon Blanc is missing.  Even as I write this, I unfortunately still do not possess a bottle of it.  Observant drinkers will also note that the labels have since been refined as well.

Wines currently on the roster include:

While I've tried most of the wines over the past two years, I haven't tried all of them just yet; pictured is the only bottle of "Soul Sister" I have, and I still need to get my hands on "Bulletproof Picasso."  I was both pleased and frustrated when this was announced; pleased because Sauvignon Blanc is my favorite wine varietal, and frustrated because I had already shot the pictures, and it meant I have to wait to have my "Train Wine Tasting" party I've been plotting for a while now.  That's right - gather friends, hold a tasting with all six Train wines, and enjoy a little picnic (perhaps with Train chocolate too - yup, Train chocolate), all while jamming out to Train's discography.  What better way to celebrate my birthday?

For these reasons, I am not writing any kind of wine review or tasting notes.  For now, I will say that overall, Train's wines all have very bold flavors.

You can also now enjoy Save Me, San Francisco wines at any Train concert (although at concert pricing: one glass for the cost of a retail bottle - yikes!!!).  Train is always a great concert, by the way.

Hopefully for my birthday in a few months I will have a bottle or two of "Bulletproof Picasso," and can report back with an actual review / tasting notes on all of these bold, colorful wines.  Until then, I will simply leave you with...

Burberry Bonus

While I had this lighting set up, I also had some fun with a few other products; here is one of them.  In the coming days I will have to share highlights of some of the marketing and product photography I have been shooting for the past year at both Dulles International and Reagan National airports, as they both change their restaurants, and add luxury concessions such as Tumi, Esteé Lauder, and Burberry.

2014 Year-End Film (More Mamiya Super 23)

This film was due back sooner, but I have it now, after delivery was straightened out.  This is only one roll; as you may know, medium format 120 film only takes 8 exposures, since the frame size is so big (LOVE it!).  If you'd like to know more about the camera I am shooting these on, you should read this post about the camera and the first shots with the Mamiya Super 23 Press Camera, as well as my experimentation with different film labs.  I am totally in love with Richard Photo Lab, so these are more photos processed and scanned by them.

This roll is my first trial with Fuji Pro 400H; shot at box speed.

Here we have the very first portrait shot with this camera; I made sure it was of Mr. Munson, my high school geometry teacher who graciously gave me the camera after his father passed away.

1/15th, 100mm, f/2.8:

Fuji Pro 400H is daylight balanced, so I knew this tungsten photo would come out yellow, but it's not as orange as I expected; this is a good thing.

Next is Omar; a man I don't see often enough.  Setting up for this photo taught me that I need to make a few changes to my setup for daytime portraits with this camera; I need to A) buy 100ISO or lower film, and / or B) get a few ND or polarizing filters for this camera's lenses.  This was right after grabbing our traditional lunch feast of buffalo wings.

1/500th, 100mm, f/ 11:

Finally we have David and Spencer.  I brought the camera along on the last leg of their engagement session on the Alexandria waterfront.  The sun had already set, so dusk was well underway, with light fading quickly.  I shot the remaining five frames quickly before moving on to my digital setup with off-camera flashes.  The Super 23 relies on direct lighting to illuminate the focusing reticle - unfortunately it was so dark when I shot these photos, that I couldn't see where I was focusing - all of these photos are back focused... but that's the charm of film: the imperfection.  These photos were for fun anyway, as this was the first time I'd ever used a film camera on a paid shoot, especially since I *knew* I'd get solid photos from the digital, made better with my two-light setup.  I'd use the Super 23 on a paid shoot again, but only during daylight or the golden hour, when there is enough light to properly focus.

You can see the digital photos from this session with David and Spencer here, as well as their later wedding photos.

1/15th, 100mm, f/2.8:

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I do like the blue tones of Fuji 400H, and quite frankly I am more impressed with its tones than the Portra 400 I have traditionally shot with.

I already have another roll of Fuji 400H loaded into the 6x9 film holder, so I will need to shoot this next, however after that, I want to try a 100ISO film next.  I have always liked the rendering of Provia 100F simulated presets, so that film may be my next experiment.  Velvia has always seemed too saturated for my taste, but that is judging from others' photos - I'd really need to try it myself to make a proper judgement.  Same goes for Ektar, although I'd want to try shooting it again, since it's been several years.

The adventure of medium format film continues...

David and Spencer

David and Spencer are a cute couple who met locally but now call Las Vegas home.  Planning their wedding photography was always interesting since David and I share a name; emails from either of us always started off, "Hi David, it's David..."  Their shoots were also made interesting because their Engagement and Wedding Dinner Party were two events I photographed after losing my voice - an experience you can read about here.

Engaged

For David and Spencer's engagement photos, we explored the waterfront along Old Town Alexandria's Union Street, on a cold, but sunny, Winter day.

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Married

Surrounded by family and friends, David and Spencer celebrated their marriage at Restaurant Eve, a French restaurant in Old Town Alexandria.  It was a night filled with joy, laughter, and amazing food, with two families coming together to share in David and Spencer's love and new life together.

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After dinner, David, Spencer, and a few remaining guests descended upon Columbia Firehouse for a few drinks and a small afterparty.

Behind the Scenes

Just a funny BTS; David snapped this photo of me shooting their portraits from an odd spot - through a bush / traffic sign.  So why was I standing in a bush instead of 2 feet forward where I could stand regularly?  Easy: David and Spencer had stopped where they were and naturally were in the moment, and I needed a little more distance to get the frame I wanted with the 85mm f/1.2 I shoot so frequently with.  Rather than tell David and Spencer to move back (ruining their moment) I backed up myself... and shot through a bush / sign.  After a minute of shooting, David noticed and laughed at the crazy spot I had ended up (I've actually shot from much sillier), and had to take a photo.  So this is us taking photos of each other.

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And of course, the photos I originally backed up to get.

St. Louis, Missouri, Winter of 2014

As many of you know, practically all of my family is from or lives in St. Louis, so as I often do, I recently visited for Christmas.

All of this is personal photography, but of course I always take my photos seriously, and never leave home without a camera.  Here I'm sharing some highlights of my trip.  Even though I spent more time visiting with family than exploring the St. Louis metro area, I still got some interesting stuff.

Let's start with the reason for the season; Christmas Mass, which my family traditionally goes to at midnight Christmas Eve.  This is All Saints Catholic Church in St. Peters, Missouri.  It also happens to be the church where my parents were married, and I was baptized.

There are a few Christmas movies I make sure to watch every year.  Early in December I always watch "Jingle All The Way," along with the first two "Home Alone" films.  Come Festivus, I always pay homage by watching Seinfeld's "The Strike" on December 23rd (even when I travel, I still always manage to bring a pole with me - no joke).

On Christmas Eve every year, I always curl up in bed and watch "A Christmas Story;" it's thanks to this movie that my friends and I have developed the tradition of going to dinner at Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church for a fresh Peking Duck at some point in late December - that is what we did for New Years Eve this year, since I was back from St. Louis so late.

After "A Christmas Story" I made some Linguine with White Clam sauce paired with a Sauvignon Blanc and watched "It's A Wonderful Life;" another Christmas favorite of mine.

Christmas morning is of course when we get to see what Santa brought us.

My cousin and his family is also stationed in Alaska, so I set up a FaceTime so they could join in and Paup can not just talk with them, but also see them when talking.

On the other side of my family, Christmas is incomplete without Grandpa's Rudolph.

Everyone who knows me knows I love wine.  Not only did I find this great Sauvignon Blanc (my favorite varietal), but I was also gifted a few bottles.  And what better opportunity to try out my new Fstoppers Flash Discs than this?

Some behind-the-scenes geekery:

Canon EOS 1D X and EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, Speedlite 600EX-RT with HONLphoto CTO gel and Fstoppers Flash Disc, mounted to a Nasty Clamp (these things are the best!), triggered via an ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter.

Before leaving town, my aunt and cousins went to the St. Louis Zoo with me for Wild Lights - the zoo's annual light festival.  All the animals were sleeping, sheltering safely out of sight, but this was more about the pretty lights anyway.  The only animal we spotted was an otter, as they were still swimming about, and just barely visible with the available light.

Soon it was time to hit the road and head home; the morning I left St. Louis, a cold front had moved in, coating the area in a heavy frost and thick fog.

Upon returning home, I got to try out some of my new stuff from Christmas.  Here is the first photo of 2015!  Norah Jones' "Little Broken Hearts" on 180g white vinyl.

In addition to loving all the directions Norah Jones can take her music, I've always admired the cover art to "Little Broken Hearts" - an homage to "Mudhoney."  Norah Jones' cover for "Little Broken Hearts" was shot by Frank Ockenfels III - go check out his amazing work!

If you haven't already, check out the highlights from 2014 in my "Best of 2014" photo gallery, showing highlights from the past year in my photography.  Happy 2015!

Best of 2014

As 2014 draws to a close, I not only want to thank everyone who made this year as amazing as it was, but I also like to do so by sharing with you 50 highlights from the past 12 months in photography.  2014 offered quite a few new opportunities which I am forever thankful for; you can see my photographic journey throughout 2014 in the gallery below.  You may use the Left and Right arrows to scroll through images, and hover over photos to display caption information.

(This gallery may not work in newsreaders, such as Feedly - if so, view on the website.)

Thank you again to everyone who made 2014 such a fantastic year for me and my photography.  Here's to a just as amazing 2015!