Greg Koch Photography

[NOTE: In between jobs, I’m always looking to fill my calendar with personal work.  This blog has generally become an ode to that approach.]

Here in the hills of northern California, I’m surrounded by farms and ranches.  Many of them are small businesses, raising poultry and livestock or growing grapes for local markets.  Many of these properties have a unique beauty seldom seen in wide-ranging publications.  And, perhaps surprisingly, access to these venues is generally as easy as a phone call and a handshake.

So, when I was looking for my latest personal project, it was a no-brainer.  I already had the doodles, and had been playing around with creative titles and bad sketches.  (I often work on projects backward—coming up with a title, then fitting the images to its theme.)  Thus, “FarmMa” was born.

One of my regular casting agents and a good friend, Toni Staniewicz, suggested several people she knows who own land.  Our first stop brought us to Phoenix Ranch, a veterinary outreach facility in Vacaville, CA.  Our talent for this location, Dr. Susan Chen, owns and operates the place, rehabilitating animals and teaching humans to bond with them.  A more empathetic soul you’d be hard-pressed to find.

Our first setup was in the barn with one of Dr. Chen’s Icelandic Ponies.  The animal was content to stand on its mark, allowing us ample time to play with the lightning and the set.

Eventually, we moved into the stalls to shoot a family of cows, including large bull, its young calf, and the calf’s mother.

Later, we moved to the duck pond, where we broke out the bread crumbs and the bubble machine.  Because nothing says “Save the animals!” like ten thousand bubbles blowing across the backs of wild turkeys.

Our final setup at Phoenix was in an irrigation ditch Dr. Chen was digging.  She was game enough to get right back into the mud and manure for our photos.  This is what we call suffering for our art!

Did you know that wild turkey heads have the same texture as a bowl of blackberries?  Here I am, flanked by my bodyguards.  In truth, they wouldn’t leave me alone.  I believe that makes me an honorary turkey.  (My wife would probably agree.)

And here I am vetoing Thanksgiving on behalf of my new brethren.  Note the bubble juice in the background.

After saying our goodbyes to Dr. Chen, we moved to a secondary location, a private property just down the road.  Our talent this time was barrel racer and animal aficionada, Andrea Garcia.  Ms. Garcia has lots of animals, including horses, cattle, dogs, and birds.  I was intrigued by Ms. Garcia’s laidback approach to her otherwise unusual lifestyle and wanted to photograph her in her element.  We decided to use the property itself as a backdrop rather than the animals, and so we shot first in the barn, atop some old hay bales that were waiting to be mulched.

Afterward, we headed out into the field with our rubber boots and climbed atop the old tractor that keeps watch over the horses in the field.

It was a breath of fresh air, getting out of the city, out of the office environment, and into nature.  I could see the relaxation in the faces of Ms. Chen and Ms. Garcia, and while we easily could have continued shooting, our day was quickly over.

I know this project will grow over time, and that these are only the first couple of tests.  And if I’ve learned anything, it’s that there are many voices in this industry that often go unheard.  My hope is that with the FarmMa project, many of those voices will speak to those who might not otherwise have been able to hear them.

P.S. My thanks to cast and crew for all the hard work and crude animal jokes!

Photography by: Greg Koch Photography

Casting/Production/BTS: Toni Staniewicz

Talent: Sue Chan & Andrea Garcia

MUA: Holly Ruth

Assistants: Tessa Zehnder & John Nickerson

As with most of my ideas (and blog posts), this one began with a sketch:

I was doodling on my son’s sandwich bag one morning when it struck me as humorous that “commando” sounds a bit like “burrito.”  I was familiar with the Republic Commando characters from an old Star Wars videogame, and it suddenly seemed fitting that I find every other food of which I could possibly think that sounded similar to a Star Wars character.  Thus, another project was born.

I went through a series of about forty sketches on different lunch bags for my son.  He quickly approved the project and, in fact, gave me many of the ideas, himself.  He even got some camera time.  Here, he’s working on “Queen Almondala”, a riff on Queen Amidala.

And here’s the final shot from that character:

I wanted to keep the project as consistent as possible, so that meant no significant lighting or set changes, beyond the use of gels and food props.  I didn’t even change lenses, shooting everything with a Schneider-Kreuznach 100mm LS, except where absolutely necessary.  I also tried to keep the retouching at a bare minimum.  I briefly considered cutting out the backgrounds and placing the characters in a larger version of their world, but I felt that would detract from the humor, which is really what this project was supposed to be about, anyway.

One of the first images I shot for the project was Darth Baker.  Here he is being outfitted properly by his minions:

And here’s the final photo:

Several people have asked why Darth Baker has a sprig of rosemary if he’s baking.  I can only attribute this to the nature of the Dark Side.

In the following image we see Java the Hutt being prepped for his shoot.  I had a lot of fun going down to my local Starbucks and asking for the nastiest leftover beans they had.  They were kind enough to give me four pounds, which I dumped across the table in much the way I might imagine the real Jabba would fill his palace with clutter.

The entire series, comprising sixty images, was shot over the course of a couple months.  I had to put the brakes on the project not because I ran out of ideas for puns but because my son ran out of shelf space in his room for all the toys.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the series:

I don’t really know why, but I find the modern concept of Vikings quite funny.  I think it’s because they have such a strong identity in our culture, having been used in countless photos and movies through the years.

And really, what’s not to love about a bunch of hairy, carnivorous dudes…especially when they’re running around on a hot day trying to quench their (and your) thirst?

Thus was born my idea:

To me, Vikings are not necessarily bloodthirsty savages.   Well, at least they’re not savages.  The two dudes pictured above, Sven and Rathgar, are actually considered quite friendly in their own village.  Sven loves to write epic poems about eviscerations, and Rathgar can turn any enemy’s bone into a piece of fine jewelry.

You probably see where I’m going with this.  The point is that they’re not characters who are mean and nasty in their own right; they’re only considered that way when they’re removed from their natural element.  Thus, when Rathgar decides to help a young kid sell some lemonade, he’s not trying to trick people into violent clashes; he’s just interested in proffering a refreshing drink in exchange for a small payment.

Of course, the back-story is really all academic.  For the shoot, the first thing I needed was a lemonade stand.  I went down to my local lumber store and convinced them to let me root around in their debris pile.  I walked away with half a dozen pallets and didn’t pay a dime.  For this concept, I knew I wanted the stand to look pretty gnarled, so I wasn’t going to build a proper one or paint it or anything.

After construction of the stand was complete, I needed to get a good Viking.  I knew of, and had previously worked with, a local actor named Erik Braa.  He was the first person in my mind when it came to this character.  He’s large, funny, charismatic and, to top it off, a consummate professional.

Because of my background in writing, I tend to think of photos from a narrative point of view.  As such, I wanted to explore the idea of a kid selling lemonade when a Viking approaches.  At first the kid is scared, then the Viking helps him sell the product, but with his own unique twist.  In the end, the kid becomes something of a Viking, too.

The way I see it, a Viking wouldn’t just sell lemonade.  He would sell something much more hardcore.  In fact, he would sell you the blood of your enemies…and he’d do it for free!  Why?  Because he’s a Viking!  That’s the key to the piece, I think.  It’s not that the Viking is selling lemonade, it’s that he’s selling his version of lemonade.  Rathgar doesn’t think about whether or not you want a sugary drink on a hot day; he thinks only about how he can offer you something that makes you feel good, and in this case it’s the blood of your sworn enemy.  See, Rathgar isn’t bad, he’s just taken out of context.  For me, that’s the hook of the humor.

Soon, he gets the kid in on the action, too: “Rathgar teach you how to crush enemy skull like rotten fruit!”

“But first, you must take off your shirt to let the battle rage through you!”

In the end, Rathgar has converted the young boy and the lemonade stand is now complete.

But the question remains: Would you buy what these guys are selling?

As usual, this idea began with a drawing:

I’ve always been drawn to fish-out-of-water scenarios. It’s deeply meaningful, and funny, to me to combine two elements that wouldn’t normally go together. Plus, eating corn with a 36-volt cordless drill seems somehow appropriate, given my latent redneck tendencies.

Because this is a simple concept, I wanted a simple execution. There are no fancy lighting setups, no stupendous costumes. Just the wife and a good old ear of (non-organic) corn.

The thing about any photo project is that almost universally your original vision does not convey the problem you will face when executing on that vision. In this case, I quickly learned that the placement of the corn on the face can greatly affect the overall efficacy of the final image, as can be evidenced from this test shot.

Beyond the usual considerations of wardrobe and lighting design, character expression became quite important. Though the storyboard above called for a happy-go-lucky face, the idea just seemed more…manic to me. So we played around a bit until we found the (ahem) sweet spot.

This whole shoot, in fact, was made on the details. Eyes open or closed?

Two hands on the drill or one? Tongue or no tongue?

Eventually, we arrived at the proper combination of lighting, wardrobe, facial expression, drill placement, and set dressing.

Ear’s to a good day at work!

Do you like axes?

Summer is often a down season for me, and I use that time to catch up on personal work. Case in point.

I like bringing together disparate ideas and looking for the humor in their co-mingling. We’ve all heard of lumberjacks. But I’d personally never heard of a Lumber Jill, a modern girl who is smart, beautiful, and charming…and who just happens to keep a 3.75 horsepower chainsaw in her purse. She can chop down a corporate ladder as easily as she can climb it, and she can break through glass ceilings with her double-bit axe. She’s the capable, confident Everywoman, with a bright smile and a penchant for sharp tools.

It all began with one (bad) illustration.  From concept…

…to reality!

PRODUCTION NOTES:

At first I wanted to shoot this in a coniferous forest like those found in the eastern California mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe. Eventually, though, the idea felt more at home in a redwood grove.

After much deliberation, we found a great little plot of private land in western Marin County, just north of San Francisco.

The idea grew into this whole thing where Lumber Jill does all the same stuff a normal woman does, except that she can’t stop thinking about cutting down trees, chopping kindling, and grabbing her axe. She paints her nails brown like the color of bark, she shaves her legs with a shearing knife, and she cuts her steak with a chainsaw.

Speaking of steak-cutting, my concept sketch isn’t nearly as graphic as the resulting photo. For any of you who has always wondered what dog food mixed with spaghetti sauce looks like when shot from the barrel of a leaf blower, your wait is over. But vegetarians, beware!

To me, there’s something very funny in taking an otherwise normal situation or idea and giving it a twist. And I like funny a lot. If I could spend all day being silly, I would.  This is just another example of that.

I mean, come on: What isn’t hysterical about a person who treats his or her work tools like babies?

In the end, it’s pretty simple: Take two things that one wouldn’t expect to be found together, and mash them up.

So, once we’d established the location, we found a great model, Jaime, who was eager to take on the role of L. Jill. As you can see, she is as comfortable in a dress as she is in work boots and gloves.

And speaking of boots, here she is trying on a few different ones:

And here we have the tools of the trade:

Plus some diffusion:

Now a quick fitting:

Oh, and here’s our offending steak before Lumber Jill gets a hold of it:

And the aftermath of “lunch.” I think we missed a spot.

But in the end, everyone was still smiling, and that’s a good sign. My heartfelt thanks to my cast and crew:

Lumber Jill…………………………….Jaime Cornell

Producer……………………………….Toni Staniewicz

MUA………………………………………Chanel Fu

1^st Assistant…………………………..Michael Sorensen

2^nd Assistant………………………….Jordan Givens

3^rd Assistant………………………….Tessa Zehnder

Prop Master………………………….Paul Nickerson

Stay tuned for more craziness in the coming weeks!

I can’t claim that my ideas are high art. I can’t even claim that they’re funny. But that doesn’t stop me from chasing after my own weird sense of humor. Case in point, this personal photo shoot.

I had the idea of shooting an icon as he’s never been seen before. Superman usually conjures images of bending steel, fighting off space aliens, and flying through the clouds. But what does he do when he gets home from all those hunger-inducing activities? Presumably, he has a super-appetite. And…well, yeah. You can see how my brain works.

It all began with a bad storyboard.

There were several moving parts to this shoot I needed to tackle before pulling everything together. First, I needed a costume. A quick stop at my local Amazon store and I walked away with an Under Armour Alter Ego Compression shirt.

The next item on the shopping list was a location. I searched far and wide for an appropriate kitchen setting, but it wasn’t until visiting an online photo group that I learned of The Producer’s Loft (www.theproducersloft.com) in San Francisco.

Finally, I needed soup. Sure, I could have added everything in Post-, but it’s much easier for me to do it in camera. A quick trip back to Amazon and I loaded up with 390 cans of Campbell’s classic Chicken Noodle. In hindsight, I probably should’ve done some of it in Post-….

We arrived on set early because I knew it would take a while to set up all the cans. We all pulled double-duty, taking turns stacking everything neatly, messing it up, then restacking it all. In the end, the set looked pretty good. I wouldn’t have minded another 2000 cans of soup, mind you, but I think we rocked it with what we had.

I instructed our model, Enzo, that he was not so much portraying Superman as he was portraying Clark Kent. The idea was that Clark, back in his bachelor pad, was making dinner. Superman is who Clark is when he’s performing. Clark is who he naturally is, hence we only have a hint of his costume. Superman is perfect; Clark, on the other hand, can afford to be messy.

Personally, I’m far more interested in the human side of superheroes than in their super sides. I don’t much care that they can fly and shoot lasers out of their eyes; I want to know how they interact with people on the street, how they drive cars, work at desks, and make food for themselves.

Here’s our workstation for the day. Yes, that’s hospital-grade material. Safety first!

I can’t tell whether I’m having too much fun or not enough.

Interesting things going on behind the scenes or are they just ignoring the model?

Actually, we ended up balancing the strobes for the tungsten lamps built into the kitchen set, the reason being that the small tungstens had a lot more character than the big flat strobes. Could I have lit everything with strobes to match? Probably, but it would’ve taken a long time and quite a few more lights. Most of the time, the easy answer is the best one. So, in the photo above the crew busies themselves changing bulbs and applying gels.

Another walk around the set gives us Soup-ception!

First, the lighting test:

Next, the taste test:

Popping another can:

Winding down with a full belly. Fortunately, Souperman never gets bloated.

And the final image:

When we wrapped, I gave the soup to a local food bank.  Pay it forward, boys and girls. That’s what Souperman would do!

A big THANK YOU to several folks:

• Enzo Costantini (model) – www.enzocostantini.com
• Lisa Zomer (M/U) – www.lisazomer.com
• Si Sommerfeld (BtS) – www.biggerthantexas.com
• Ken Brown (assistant) – www.kenbrownart.com
• Vic Ferrer of The Producer’s Loft – www.theproducersloft.com
• Benoit Lacasse (set manager)
• and Wendy Kuo (PA)

Finding oneself in Miami Beach is seldom a bad thing. Waking up to a sunrise over the water, feeling the imminent heat and humidity, hearing the waves on the sand…yeah, I love my job.

Today’s shoot was with EJ Manuel, quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. He was training here in town, so my client flew me in to pull it all together.   I decided on MAPS Production House (easily one of the best-looking places on Miami Beach), pulled together some rental gear, and went to work.

My assistant for the day, TJ (not to be confused with our subject), wrangled more strobe packs, stands, and cords than I would’ve thought possible.  We ended up with six Profoto 7As. Rim lights, key lights, hair lights, background lights…you name it and we had it. We built two sets, a high-key on a white cyclorama and a low-key on some framed Duvetyne. I wanted to have the option of stepping between both sets at a moment’s notice—it makes the process more efficient and the client and subject happier!

Here’s a shot of the studio in which you can see TJ moving faster than the shutter on my phone’s camera.

As is generally the case, I hadn’t previously met my subject before our shoot. Thus, I didn’t know quite what to expect.  Having made it into an elite organization such as the NFL, he was no doubt a consummate professional, but even professionals can get nervous around a camera.

When EJ rolled in, however, he was all smiles and ready to work. Six-feet-five-inches of camera-loving dude-ness. Yeah, it was definitely proving to be a good day! While he unpacked his wardrobe, we spent about ten minutes discussing the nature of the session, the types of images we were looking for, the wonders of south Florida, etc., then picked which specific outfit we wanted to start with. As the following images show, EJ is a fashion mogul, so I knew we weren’t going to have any trouble making him look his best.

But I couldn’t get lazy, either.  Here, EJ reminds me to stay on my toes.  You ever been drilled by 60MPH of flaming pig skin?

TJ gets ready to dive for cover.

After we got through the required images, we should’ve stopped for a snack.  Apparently, models get hungry from time to time, and here EJ digs into the only thing he could find.

We have fun on shoots.

The great thing about collaboration is that you never know where the next idea is going to come from.  Case in point: someone decided EJ should jump in the air. At first I thought we might need a trampoline. Then I remembered whom we were working with.

I’m personally a big fan of the invisible defensive linemen. Here, EJ hurdles some menacingly transparent aggressors.

Did I mention that this is one cool cat?

It was a lot of fun working with EJ, and I’m looking forward to the next time.

My thanks to EJ Manuel for being a great sport and for bringing such incredible energy to our shoot.  Also, a big thank you to TJ Blum for the amazing assist–you’re a true warrior.  And finally, thanks go out to Mia at MAPS Production House for all the location work.  I highly recommend MAPS to anyone on the beach in need of a great rental space.

I spend an inordinate amount of time coming up with weird ideas for photo shoots. I don’t do it on purpose, mind you, it just kind of happens. Case in point: today’s post. I’ve no particular affinity toward teeth or brushing (at least not anymore than the rest of us), but I do like crazy, silly photo shoots. In fact, I keep a long list of funny and wild ideas, and I was deep into that list when this idea popped into my head one evening while, you guessed it, I was standing in front of the mirror brushing my teeth.

As far as I know, there isn’t anything inherently amusing in brushing one’s teeth, at least not aside from the obvious act of staring at a your reflection with your mouth agape.  But that night something just clicked. I’ve learned enough to follow my gut when it comes to crazy ideas.

It wasn’t long before I put in some calls and pulled together the cast and crew.

We prepped the studio with all the essential gear, plus the addition of a large plastic sheet. This proved to be essential.  In hindsight, a spittoon would also have been nice.  Word to the wise.

While working on all the preparations for the shoot, I spent a lot of time considering the direction I intended to give the subject, Yusef.

He is a comedic actor and so I knew I really only needed to point him in the right direction and he would run like a thoroughbred. The idea, as I saw it, was that he was an ordinary bloke who awoke one morning and was going about his bathroom ritual when he realized that the tooth-brushing experience had somehow changed.  No longer a boring, utilitarian act, this brushing episode was euphoric, tantalizing, sensuous.  Here, I’m explaining a bit of the process without making eye contact.  (That’s important when working with models.)

And here is the result.

As we progressed through the shoot, I asked Yusef to go deeper into the pleasurable sensations of running sharp bristles back and forth across the enamel-covered blocks in his oral cavity.  After that, it was just a matter of evolving the emotions through each shot.

During pre-production, our M/U artist, Lisa, struck on the idea of using baking soda and vinegar to enhance the visual experience.  We had started with toothpaste, but soon made the switch and, within about two seconds of application, Yusef was foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog.  I had difficulty shooting the pictures between fits of laughter.

This is the beauty of personal shoots. The only limits are one’s imagination. Below, I’m saying as much to Si, who was shooting our behind-the-scenes material.

Here you can see some of the expelled foam. Don’t look too closely; it’s not pretty.

At some point in the process, we switched out the baking soda for whipped cream. It proved not to have quite the necessary consistency, but it was far more palatable to Yusef, which I believe he appreciated.  Here we see Lisa sticking it up his nose, because this is what we do to models on our sets.

Then again, some times the models get hungry.  Here, Yusef feeds.

In the end, it was a day of laughter and messiness and fun images.  I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Of course, collaboration is key.  Without my incredible cast and crew, none of this would’ve been possible.  Thus, my thanks to Ken for the assist and the behind-the-scenes photos; to Lisa for the M/U, baking soda, whipped cream and wonderful feedback; to Si for the BtS footage (to be released on my main site soon); to Jason at Two Dark for the studio space; and to Yusef, for helping us to fulfill every dentist’s worst nightmare.

All of my images begin as ideas with varying degrees of vagueness. Whether the genesis is a product of the client’s vision or my own, I always try to see the image in my mind before the day of the shoot. Story boarding helps a lot.  Even with substandard art skills.

In the case of this shoot, I was working on a personal fitness project (thus, no client) in which I’d be shooting trainers working out. I ran through several ideas of what I wanted to focus on.

(Something having to do with a rope, no doubt.)

(Uhhh…I don’t know.  I think those are supposed to be arms, but I might have been doodling too late into the night on this one.)

Having worked with one of the trainers, Creig, in the past, I knew that I could pretty much ask for anything I liked. That’s a pretty cool—and fairly unusual—freedom to have.  It’s also why I love personal shoots so much.

With the sky as the limit, I knew I wanted to show athletes in training, as opposed to standing around with their arms crossed. I wanted dynamic visuals that not only would say something about the subjects but that would also showcase the type of work I really enjoy. I also knew I wanted a very dramatic lighting that highlighted the energy and appeal of these fitness professionals.

While the trainers were getting suitably warmed up and sweaty, my awesome assistant Ken and I rigged an 8’ Profoto Deep Umbrella with a silver lining.

Here’s Ken on an early lighting test.  (Sorry, dude–I had to do it!)

I already knew I wanted to avoid diffusion; my goal was a hard light with a bit of specularity that would show the trainers in their edgy environment. We also placed two lights with standard reflectors on either side of our subjects and slightly behind them, giving them a nice rim light. The last light was an overhead Profoto Softlight Reflector with a 20 degree grid that would act as a hair light. Halfway through the shoot I swapped it out for a larger 1×6 gridded strip as I changed out the 8’ umbrella for the beauty dish.

I generally step into a session slowly, and this one was no exception. I like to give the subjects time to warm up to me and vice versa. The initial back-and-forth serves not only to break the ice but also to solidify our vision.  Since every shoot is a collaboration, I asked the trainers what they were interested in doing. Because they know their own strengths and weaknesses better than I, their ideas were incredibly valuable, and they helped rein in my otherwise extravagant wishes. That said, I knew Creig had at least one special move in his pocket—he could do a backflip. After getting the lighting tests out of the way, we went for it.

A high shutter speed speed (1/1600^th) coupled with a short flash duration allowed us to capture the shot with no motion blur. This was key. I wanted a precise look to each image, as if it were cut with a knife.

Following that amazing display of antigravity, Creig showed me something called the “Bulgarian bag”.  I still don’t know much about what it is, but I know it’s heavy and it looks cool!

Of course, no fitness shoot would be complete without cold iron.  So, we grabbed the barbells and got to work.  Rocco started with a dead lift, then moved into a clean-and-jerk.  Here’s a Before and After comparison.  Initially, I’d seen this image as a squat, but Rocco’s personal touch led us elsewhere.

We finished it off, naturally, with some good old fashioned curls.  Another Before and After.  (…I think I really need to work on my drawing skills.)

At one point, I adjusted the key light and in the process turned it off. I neglected to turn it back on while Rocco was doing some shoulder presses and…well, let’s just call it a happy accident.

My next victim–I mean “subject”–was Cheri.  She was a lot of fun to shoot because she was so genuinely excited to be working out. You could see it on her face.  Here she is just jumping rope with all the giddiness you’d expect of a schoolgirl.  She couldn’t stop laughing as she did this.  I really enjoy meeting folks who love what they do!

Here, Cheri is explaining to me how she can handle any weights I can throw at her.

When I asked her what she wanted to do next, her eyes lit up and she answered with two words: “The sled!” I had no idea what this meant, of course, but soon enough she was stacking plates on this big metal beast and shoving it around the floor, grinning from ear to ear.  There were several points where I couldn’t get the shot because I had to stop to laugh (laughing is permitted during personal projects).  As you can see, we applied liberal amounts of chalk to the scene, with Ken and Creig standing just out of frame and throwing it over her head.

Hard work has never been so much fun.  But that doesn’t mean that I don’t lie down on the job every now and then.  Thanks to Ken for the unflattering photo–I guess we’re even now, huh, dude?

Next up was Zack, who had the unusual ability of balancing on a ball while throwing ropes. Can you say “core strength”?  Unfortunately, a lot of dynamic moves don’t naturally look good in a photograph because they’re movement-based.  But, with a little work and some more flying chalk, I think we came away with something pretty cool.

Last up was Creig’s encore performance. I’d had this idea of people jumping in the air while throwing around a medicine ball. Why?  It was just one of those strange visions that popped into my head. Creig was willing to play along with my odd requests, though, so we stacked some crash pads while Ken threw the ball over and over…and over.  (How’s that shoulder, buddy?)  In the end, though, it was all worth it.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes shot that, of course, dispels all the magic.

My thanks to Creig, Rocco, Cheri, Zack, and Ken.  A shout out as well to ClubSport Fremont for providing the venue and the personnel.