The fun of photographing and meeting celebrities

Over the years, I’ve had the joy of photographing thousands of incredible people—families, individuals, and professionals—for everything from personal milestones to business portraits. Just a couple of weeks ago, someone asked me if I’d ever photographed any celebrities. As I started listing a few familiar names, it inspired me to dig through my archives. I thought it would be fun to share some of those moments with you.

Lets start with Steve Wozniak, as he is both a legend for inventing the Apple Computer and also a personal friend. I have photographed Woz numerous times, and this photo was taken at one of his surprise birthday parties.

Drew Carey is best known for his TV shows and comedy but also happens to be an avid photographer and friend of Steve Wozniak. I photographed him at the same birthday party and we had a good long talk about the passion of photography.

Of course, I have photographed countless Olympic athletes over the last 20 years, with too many to even count.

Here is a photo of Katie Ledecky showing off some of her medals from the Tokyo Olympics. She had just finished giving a press conference, and I asked her to hold up her medals for this shot.

And then there are the musicians... I have always loved music, and really enjoy going to concerts and photographing the artists. 

This is a photo I took many years ago of the amazing singer, songwriter and pianist, John Legend while he performed at a private event.

Kid Rock is a real "interesting" person and musician. I photographed him many years ago, back when he was known more for his music than his antics.

This photo was taken at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN as Charlie Daniels played his most famous song, "The Devil Goes Down to Georgia". Even at his older age, he could still belt it out.

I have a client who is from Florida, so naturally she had to have Flo Rida at her birthday party. I remember that he put on a great show, and I also remember one of his people spilling a drink on one of my Canon flashes. That flash was sent into Canon Professional Services for a major cleaning. :)

You might remember the hit songs by Christopher Cross. He was best known for "Sailing" and "Ride Like the Wind" from the 1970s. I photographed him as he performed at a private concert for one of my clients.

That same private concert featured the one and only Lionel Richie, who proved he can still perform at the highest level. 

He was gracious enough to let me photograph him on stage and let me have free reign wherever I wanted to go to get the best photos of this legend. 

Another client of mine hired Charlie Puth to perform at one of their private events. 

A couple of years later, that same client hired Meghan Trainor to perform at another personal event. 

In 2021, one of my clients had a party in their backyard and told me that they had hired a well known band for the event. As is usually the case, she wanted to surprise me and not tell me who it was until the last minute. When I got to their home, I had to ask and she told me that "Imagine Dragons" were performing that night. I had to ask, because when I capture these private concerts, I need to talk to the band manager to determine the best places for me to be on stage, without interfering with the band or technicians (as well as the placement of the pyro boxes).

They were absolutely fantastic and I had fun photographing them, and listening to the music as well. I have always enjoyed their music, so this was a real treat for me.

And even though I am much more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, I still like getting my photo with these celebrities.

Me with Drew Carey and Steve Wozniak.

Me trying to be cool with Flo Rida (and probably not succeeding).

Laura and I with Lionel Richie.

Me with Meghan Trainor

Me hanging with the guys from Imagine Dragons.

Click on the image above to watch this funny video

Oh - and I almost forgot, I photographed for Jonathan Goldsmith and his family many times. But you would know him better as "The Most Interesting Man in the World".

I have these and many more on a new celebrities web page.

I have been very fortunate over the years to photograph some really unique and fun events, and even though not every one of them has famous people, they are all entertaining in their own way.

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• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Alaska and more.

• You can purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
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The latest presentation at B&H is now online!

Last week I did a presentation called "Photographing the Olympics Over the Last 15 Years: How Technology Has Changed Everything". It was a totally new presentation that I created for this event, and while I was building the presentation, even I was amazed at how much has changed from my first Olympics in 2008 until now.

And even though most of you won't be photographing the Olympics, all of this information is pertinent to everyday photography.

You can see the video HERE or by clicking on the image below.

I hope you enjoy the presentation!

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• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• You can now purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa Costa Rica and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.

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A NEW B&H presentation next week!

It has been a while since I have done a B&H Event Space presentation, but the wait is over. Next week, on May 8th at 3pm (EST) I will be presenting on a new topic. This time around I will be talking about how technology has changed since covering my first Olympics in 2008 and how that affects the way I capture the photos, the way I work, and the overall images.  

I am really excited to share this presentation with all of you, as I think it is fascinating to see how fast technology has changed in the past 16 years. 

You can thank ProGrade Digital for sponsoring this presentation, which means that it is FREE for you to watch. All you have to do is register HERE.

I hope to see you next week!

Jeff

__________________________________________________________

• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• You can now purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa Costa Rica and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.

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Shooting for USA Water Polo: New environment - new challenges - new rewards!

On Friday evening I photographed an exciting match for USA Water Polo at Stanford University. It was the second of three meetings between the American men and the Italian team.  I thought I would take you through my photographic thought process, since this was different from the Olympics.

The game was televised on ESPNU, and my good friend Greg Mescall (@GregMescall) was doing the broadcast along with Chris Dorst (Two-time Olympian and Silver Medalist). Since most water polo games are not televised, I wanted to get images of them doing their national broadcast, since I knew they would want them. 

In the days leading up to the game, Greg told me that it was a sellout crowd. I knew that this was a big deal, so I made sure to go up into the stands to get images of the fans. I took my Canon R6 with the Canon RF 24-70mm lens for these shots.

I waited for the stands to fill before taking images of the packed house. I shot to my right since the stands to the left were half in light and half in shadow. Not great for photos.

As I always do, I looked for fans with good signs and emotion.

After getting images to support the "full house" story, I went back down onto the pool deck to switch cameras and lenses, preparing for the action shots. I even ran into some clients of mine down on the pool deck. 

I switched to my Canon R3 (because of the fast focusing and faster frame rate) and chose the Canon 200-400mm lens, which is my go-to lens for water polo at the Olympics. I looked at the light conditions and determined that the west side of the pool was less reflective, so I moved there to shoot.

I set the Canon R3 for the fastest burst mode shooting, IO Servo focus, and then determined the best ISO to get a shutter speed of at least 1/1000 sec. That ISO started at 1200 and went as high as 2000 as the light dropped. The one thing I forget to switch before the game started, was the focus point. For water polo, because the athletes come so high out of the pool, I need to lower the focus point so I can focus on their faces but still have the "head room" for their arms and the ball.

Then it was time to capture the action...

I have all my cameras set for double back-button focus. This means that one button on the back of the camera is set for face and eye detection (AF-On) and another button (*) is set for IO Servo single point focus. I would change modes depending on how much of the athlete's face I could see at each moment.  There are times when the face detection won't lock on, like this moment where the water was in front of his face. In situations like this, I find that I have a better chance of getting focus with the single point.

As you all know, the job of a photographer is to tell a story with our images. When photographing sports, the fan reaction is as important as capturing the athletics. When Team USA would score a big goal, I would quickly point the camera up and try to grab the peak of energy at that moment.

I tend to follow the player with the ball, since it yields great shots...

When photographing the teams at the Olympics, there are no mascots on the pool deck. So I saw this as a unique moment for the team and me. Unique for the team since they had a huge crowd at the event, and unique for me since the Olympics would definitely not allow a mascot from any particular country on their deck. I asked "Shieldy" to pose for me and got this.

Another difference from shooting an event like this, is that I could move around pretty freely. Not at the Olympics! This allowed me to capture images from different angles.

At one point, as I was walking around looking for unique photos, I realized that I could stand right behind the goal and get a wide angle shot from there. I used the Canon R6 with a Canon RF 15-35mm lens, prefocused on the goal tender, and then raised the camera over my head to get this shot. I kept my eyes on the ball, since it is not uncommon for the ball to come over the net and straight at me and the camera! I love this shot because it shows the action in the pool and the crowds in the stands. 

I also went across to the other side of the pool and saw a diving platform that was roped off. I asked for permission to climb that for a shot. and took this one facing the Stanford scoreboard.

Then it was back to the action...

For those of you who want to photograph water polo, I have a great tip for you. Keep an eye on the shot clock! I watch the shot clock and when it gets down below 6 seconds, I assume that the opposing team is going to shoot. I prefocus on the goaltender and wait for the action to unfold.

This allows me to get a nice sharp image of the goalie even with all the water splashing in front of them. 

The sun had dropped from the sky but the lights at the Avery Stadium at Stanford were quite good for capturing the action. 

And then yesterday I shot the same two teams at Santa Clara University. This was the third of three exhibition games and each team had one win. This was the deciding game. This time I decided to travel lighter and use the Canon R3 with the Canon RF 100-500mm lens. 

My friend, Larry, insisted that I get a photo of me with Shieldy, so...

The game at Santa Clara started a little earlier (7pm) than the Stanford game (7:30pm) and was in a much small venue. This meant that we had more direct sunlight on the pool for a period of time.

As the sun got lower in the sky, I started getting a combination of sun and shadows on the athletes. not ideal, but...

For the 2nd and 3rd periods I took most of my photos at the far end of the pool, where the sunlight remained.

I love capturing the "peak of action", that exact moment which tells a story. This shot shows the goalie clearly blocking the ball away from the net.

Half of this team were returning members from the Tokyo Olympic team, but that meant that half were not. I did my best to isolate shots of each athlete for the team. 

In the 4th quarter, ESPN went to commercial. They came back to the broadcast showing my images from the Tokyo Olympics and Greg Mescall was kind enough to give me a shout out on this nationally televised event. Thanks Greg!

This was a key moment towards the end of the game, when the US seemingly locked it up with a great goal. I got that key moment even though it was in really mixed light. We all thought the game was over at that point, but the Italians got two quick goals to send the game into overtime.

Since the sun had dropped and the lights at the pool were barely visible, I had pretty much stopped shooting. There was a break while each team decided which men would take their chance at the shoot out. During that time, I decided to bring the camera back out to shoot this. I pointed the camera towards the men in the pool and laughed. I would have to shoot at ISO 10,000 and even then I would only get them at 1/320 sec. I typically want at least 1/1000 sec to freeze the action, but I thought that this was give me a new challenge. 

I got lucky on this shot and caught the face of the American goaltender really sharp with motion of the oncoming ball (which he did stop by the way). I also love this frame since it shows all the guys on the bench watching intently to see how it would turn out.

This next sequence shows what happens when shooting at a slower shutter speed. There is more motion in the arms, the ball and the water. but I really like it. 

The key is to try and get the face sharp while having motion everywhere else. This means that the photographer has to focus correctly, hold steady and the athlete can not move his head too much.

One last shooter and it was a winning shot, for the team and me.

As soon as both games were over, it was crunch time for me. I delivered 60 retouched images to the team from the first game within 30 minutes of the end of the game. I should mention that this was the first time using the new 165GB CFexpress card from ProGrade Digital. This card is less expensive than their previous CFexpress cards. It is designed for photographers like me who do not shoot video, just stills. It is still wicked fast and more affordable. 

This card is combination with the ProGrade Digital card reader, the new MacBook Pro with M1 Max chip, Photo Mechanic, and Photoshop software really help to get that done in record time. 

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Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!
__________________________________________________________________________
If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
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Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Cuba, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours. 

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