Just what does it take to shoot 31k portraits?

You may recall I blogged about Diego Huerta's quite brilliant and heartfelt project to photograph '31K Portraits for peace'

The genius of it is it was more about the sheer quality AND quantity.

Check the website out and find your favourite.

But what does it take to shoot 31k projects in a year?

Well, apart from a ton of determination the right gear.

Diego has posted this excellent photo description of all the gear he used.

Would it have been my pick of gear? Well not exactly but darned close.

I was truly inspired by the sheer effectiveness of his set up after shooting an image for 31k in my back yard, it was a multi handed operation which was not entirely successful, though the pic did work out well in the end.

Have a good look at his set up and I would be very interested to hear how your setup would differ.

In the meantime , let's raise four glasses to this fine human being and all he has done with his remarkable project.

Living the dream -31k Portraits for Peace by Diego Huerta

Earlier this week I blogged about Diego Huerta and his highly ambitious and remarkable '31K Portraits for Peace Project'

And yesterday I conducted an interview which him and his producer Dany Gutierrez via Skype where they describe their remarkable journey, share how Diego lit the portraits and how to carry on when people are firing automatic weapons into the ground at your feet...(no joke)

So, brave as well as talented.

Remarkable project, remarkable people, and some really damn fine environmental portraits.

If you want to be truly inspired and learn a photographic trick or two, take time out to watch the interview.



The exhibition opens tomorrow at the Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, Texas at 7pm

I just see that perhaps modesty prevailed and they neglected to mention that they have been announced as finalists in the SXSW Interactive Awards

Accolades come no higher.

They are looking for more exhibition space at the moment in Europe and the rest of the world too, if you can help do get in touch with them, and be part of something truly special.

Diego Huerta 31K Portraits for peace project

I first became aware of Diego in July 2010 when he shared a link with me of his excellent set of pictures of Monterrey in Mexico, which was hit by hurricane Alex.

A great peace of proactive work, getting of his backside and recording the efforts of his community.

If you have not seen it, do take a look, truly inspirational.

Well, he has been at it again, this time on rather a grand scale with '31k Portraits for peace'

In Diego's own words

'With the objective to counteract the negative impact of more than 31,000 deaths in the last four years in Mexico, Diego began a project of a lifetime on February 14, 2011.

In order to accomplish his objective, Diego traveled the 32 states in Mexico and was able to photograph 31,000 people with a blue paper dove in their hands named “La Huasteca”.

Hopefully, by doing this, he would achieve one of his goals; to change people minds and turn their negative thoughts into something positive. In addition, the message of “Peace Starts by Believing” to every single person he met.

A mammoth and gargantuan task.

But it's not just about the numbers, using his own one man lighting set up he has taken some truly excellent portraits.

These are just two that jumped out at me.

If you want to learn some great one man lighting field craft have a look at the videos at the bottom of the page.

All of this will culminate in at least one exhibition in Austin, Texas.

I do not have the date to hand.

Diego aso invited me to shoot an image for his remarkable project, I have to admit I was a little slow at shooting it....it took me nearly a year to get round to it.

But this weekend i did it, a portrait of my daughter Georgie, aged 9

It was a windy day, so my technique was a variation of Diego's

I used a Canon 5d Mk1 (my MkII's are of at the cleaners) with an 85mm F1.2, using a Lee 0.9 ND Filter to cut down the ambient light it enabled me to expose the image (hyper sync with Pocket Wizard TT5) 500th/sec at F1.2, and lit Georgie with a single Canon Speedlite 550EX with a solid white vinyl umbrella.

I focussed the camera on a tripod on my Manfrotto 057 Tripod and Manfrotto MH057 tripod head

Holding on to the light so it would not blow over and triggering the Canon with the TC80-N3...arm outstretched.

Processed in Capture One Pro 6....with no adjustments at all.

I'm very pleased with the shot....but I am biased.

Support Diego in any way you can, spread the word, and see what you can learn from him and his remarkable project.

I hope to conducting a Skype interview very soon.