I was pleasantly surprised to come home from church camp this week and see the August issue of Kentucky Living. I had put a lot of work and mileage into the August and September issues of Kentucky Living. While September is still on the editing table, August is in the mailbox with Kentucky Fiddler and music historian John Harrod gracing its cover. I did the shoot with John and his wife Tona at their home, on a beautiful, green ridge in Owen County. Their home is the epitome of sustainable living with rain barrels, compost, a garden, and solar panels in the works. The house on the hill even comes equipped with a separate library, and John’s vast collection of Kentucky traditional music. In his early years, John was a Rhodes Scholar from Centre College, even making the basketball team at Oxford.

I pretty much pulled out all of my lighting gear for this shoot. I did a Joe McNally special on the outside shots, including the cover shot, with several smaller speed lights, then I set up three strobes with beauty dishes, and a spot grid for the inside shots. For the outside shots, I ramped up my shutter speed to darken the background, and then darkened the corners even more in Lightroom. It had just rained that morning, and the overcast skies made it easier to use my lights, because I wasn’t fighting with the sun or shadows.

As a Kentucky deer hunter, I looked forward to making this trip to Owen County, because it’s the deer hunting capital of Kentucky. By the time I left, I had spied eleven deer.