New Kid on the Block


Since 2006 I've been a loyal member of the Flickr community. It's been a great place to post my work, view and comment on others work and participate in discussions. I have long had a few gripes with a few things on the Flickr site, but what could I do? It's not like there was another quality photo community to go to. Sure there are other photo sites, but their "free" accounts were extremely limiting, or their look and feel left something to be desired.

Say hello to 500px.com. I hear they've been around since 2003, but somehow Id never heard of them till recently. I checked them out, opened a free account and gave them a test drive. My findings, highly impressive! You get more options with a free account than you do with most paid or "pro" accounts at other sites. But what really put a smile on my face was the sites layout. Everything about it is designed to present your work in the most eye catching manner possible. It even lets you create a portfolio slide show. It's really all quite beautiful and rivals some photographers official websites!

After setting up my account and uploading a few photo's, I began noticing a few things. As I browsed through other photographers galleries, I found there seems to be a high level of work across the board on 500px. It was very difficult to find anything that looked amateurish. Unlike Flickr, there were no profiles where they just used it as a "photo sharing" site and dumped their entire memories cards contents onto their account. No profiles with 5000 photos of a family reunion. No profiles with an endless stream of someone taking self portraits in a bathroom mirror. None of that non-sense, just jaw dropping, amazing photographs. In fact the quality seemed so much higher than most sites, I was very selective in what I choose to upload into my new gallery. The standard just felt... higher.

Now of course there are a few complaints with 500px and even a few notes they should take from Flickr. After all, Flickr didn't become the Goliath it is by accident. But it's their slowness to change or innovate which has led photographers like myself to be open to their options and try new sites. Ok, so here's a short list of dislikes.

• Zero Photo Protection - All these beautiful photos are yours for the taking with a simple right click, "save as". Even Flickr puts an invisible layer over the photos which will only show up as a 1 x 1 pixel when you attempt that same technique. 500px MUST give photographers some options to protect their work. Many deny it but photo thieves are out there and are stealing photos daily. They will publish your work as theirs, they will create websites with your work, they will put together entire portfolios based on your photos if you don't do something about it. I use a light watermark across my photos. Some people say it detracts from the image. I'm fine with that because that's the same thing being said by the person trolling websites for that perfect image for their latest Ad campaign.
• No Lightbox View - When I'm viewing someones 500px gallery, give me the option to go "lights out" and use my keyboard to move from one photo to the next. Its sleek, elegant and really lets you get into someones work. Not to mention looks great. Right now you have to manually click, click, click... ugg. Even Flickr has a series of keyboard commands to control and navigate their site. Its nice.
• Lose the "Dislike" Button - People either click "Like" or just move on to the next photo. I feel like im giving someone a kick in the stomach by clicking "Dislike" before moving on. Not to mention, most photos are so nice I can't say i really dislike any of them. Anyhow, it just seems un-necessary. Save the dislike button for songs I can't get through on Pandora.

Ok, that's all I really have for dislikes about 500px. Im sure these are things they've already looked at and for all I know, might be rolling out soon. It seems like a rather young website still and changing fast. It also appears to be very popular with Russians. haha It seems like 3 out 5 profiles is written in Russian. Which is fine, their work is amazing. Just seems like a high ratio.

Overall 500px.com is visually everything I wish Flickr was. I can see this website growing very quickly. It will be interesting to see if they continue to grow and improve, or stagnate like Flickr has now. I hope they grow and continue to really cater to photographers and not people who want "photo sharing". I was so impressed with what 500px has to offer it only took a quick search to find the promo code for $10 off their pro, or "awesome" account, bringing it to $40 for a year. I felt it was worth it, i'll give the site a year and see how I feel. Oh the promo code is friends. :)

So check it out, see what you think, see if it could fit your photography needs. You can check out my profile at www.500px.com/thorpeland.

Xoom, Xoom!





Where to start? Well, this is a Motorola Xoom. An Android tablet. There are a few Android tablets out now and I'd wanted one since the moment I saw them. I didn't think I'd be buying one quite so soon, but after stopping buy Best Buy for a hands on test drive I was sold. Most of these new tablets are running Android 3.0. Which ill say, is quite a bit different from the 2.x version currenly runing on Android phones. Its a bit more polished and optimized for tablets which really provides a nice experience. If you've used Android at all, 3.0 is even more intuitive and solid feeling. I've had the Xoom for one full week now and this is my opinion and review of the device.

Hardware:
The device has a 10.1 inch screen, dual-core 1ghz Tegra 2 CPU, 1gb of ram with 32gb of hard drive space, expandable to another 32gb via SD card. Really nice specs and actually tops the ipad2 in hardware terms. One of the key features I was happy to see was Motorolas choice to make the screen out of Gorilla Glass. This stuff is incredibly tough and practically scratch proof. So no need for one of those annoying stick on screen protectors. The Xoom is under half an inch thick, so its very easy to carry around. Its light but definitely feels solid and not like some cheap, plastic toy. I really like that it has a micro USB and HDMI out. Transfering files and music to the tablet is as easy as pluging it into your computer and dragging files over to it. The HDMI allows you to connect it to you TV and show movies or photos from it, to the TV. So cool. Do that, crApple. It has a 5mp rear camera with dual LED flash and 2 speakers. On the front its got a 2mp camera for vid chats.....but which doubles nicely as a mirror. :)

Likes:
So, what do I really like about it? Actually lots! It's small, light weight, has an awesomely sharp screen and its fast. I was recently asked if this will totally replace my laptop? In short, no. But it does manage to replace about 80% of what I used my laptop for. Which is what I bought the Xoom to do. Things once handled by my laptop such as email, facebook, twitter, flickr commenting, web browsing and online shopping are now easily handled by the Tablet. But tasks such as working in Photoshop or Lightroom are really best left for a laptop/desktop where you have the precision control of a mouse pointer and a bit more graphic horse power. Not to mention those applications are not available for tablets at this date. But I do love the "instant on" of the Xoom tablet. Being able to hit the web, running in just 2 seconds is very nice. Another thing I like is that Adobe Flash is supported. So when you go to a website that uses Flash for parts of the page, you still see the page as it was meant to be seen. Things such as embedded video's work nicely. If your'e wondering about battery life, you'll be happy to hear its VERY GOOD. I can easily get a full day of tinkering and web surfing in one battery charge cycle. In fact the first few days I had the Xoom I was bringing it to work and doing lots of "show & tells" with it all day. By bedtime, I still had 35 to 40% battery life remaining. Nice! Now, movie watching can change that. When watching a movie I had the screen brightness really turned up and it did eat a good chunk of the battery. But that is expected. Overall I can carry the Xoom around with me during the day and leave the charger at home.

Dislikes:
Now the question, is there anything I DON'T like about it? There are a few rough edges I'm sure will be addressed in time. I think my biggest gripe is Honeycombs (Android 3.0) webkit/browser. Using Facebook is a perfect example. The page loads, but using it is a major pain. You cannot close incoming chat windows. I click the X, but they just don't close. So I now have 5 old chats at the bottom of the screen I cannot get rid of. Frustrating. Typing in text fields are also slightly delayed. Now this only seems to happen on Facebook. Which leads me to think its something to do with the way the page is scripted. I haven't encountered this on any other website. Now, I did download the Opera browser from the Android Market and Facebook performed quite a bit better. Another option is to just use the Android Facebook app. Which works pretty well.

Bugs:
There are still a few bugs with some apps since weren't written for the tablet screen resolution. Some won't download to the tablet. Some will download but won't open. Some will open but crash when you try to use them. It's only a small percentage which do this and I'm sure it will improve in the months to come. I also found myself trying to download all the same apps I have on my Android phone. Then I realized I didn't need some of them. For example, my banking app. I no longer need an app for it. I can now just go to the website. Which really does work better.

Wrap up:
In conclusion, I absolutely love the Xoom tablet. The most common question people ask is 'how does it compare to the ipad'? Well, I chose this over an ipad so that should answer that question. You get more tablet for less money. I feel its a better device overall as well. Then again, I'm not sucked into the apple PR machine and tied to itunes. The Xoom does everything I need it to. I am a power user... not a beginner so I ask a lot of a device. Despite going through a few early adopter bumps with the first Android Honeycomb tablet, I see huge potential from the device.

Race Day!



After a months wait, the weekend was finally here. I was headed up to Thackerville Oklahoma to shoot some photos of my good friend JB and his son in a cross country race series they participate in, known as the TCCRA. As the week came to a close, weather reports were all saying we were in for a good soaking the coming Sunday. Perfect. That was race day. Now, most people would dread the idea of doing any outdoor activity in the middle of a thunderstorm. But I knew cross country dirt bike racing takes on an all new dimension when you mix those bikes, with dirt and then throw in a little (or a lot) of water.

JB informed me his race was the first of the morning, starting at 9am. I accepted the reality that I would not be able to get myself out of bed early on a cold, rainy Sunday morning and drive 45 minutes north into Oklahoma to find a rural race track. So I decided to camp out with JB and his family in their RV, at the track. Wise decision on my part. Saturday evening was gorgeous. Warm temps, perfect sunset with clear skies. But at 4am I was awoken by the loud crack of thunder, followed by a torrential downpour which lasted all the way till the race start time. And with the rain came a cold front. Saturday's temperature was a balmy 85f. I stepped out of the RV camper and into windy 40f temps with monsoon-like passing rain showers. The rain held off just in time for the start of the event, which had to be delayed as they re-routed the course because some parts were impassable now.

Even though I had brought a few cold weather clothing items, I was woefully un-prepared for this change in temperature. I layered pretty much everything I brought with me and headed out with my camera gear. The race course was just as I suspected... a muddy quagmire which always makes for some amazing action photos, but would make for a challenging day for me as well. After being outside for just a few minutes, the rain started. I could only stand there thinking, this is going to be a long, cold wet, miserable day. It was just then that JB's wife Diana offered an extra rain poncho for me to use. THANK YOU!! Now I was able to prevent my clothes and camera gear from being soaked to the core. I then moved to the starting line and got on with my day of photographing the event. It's so much more easy to concentrate on the task at hand when you're not shivering and soaking wet.

Now, I want to take a moment for a bit of gear talk. My main equipment for the day was my Canon 7D, with an attached Canon BG-E7 battery grip. I only used two lenses all day, the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L and the Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS. According to Canon all of these items are "Weather Sealed" which was actually a strong selling point for me when I first bought the 7D. But, I'd never truly put it to the test. Today was about to change that. By the end of the day I can honestly attest to the weather resistance of the camera body and lenses. I stood out there shooting in virtually non-stop rain, ranging from light drizzle to a complete downpour. I hid the camera under my rain poncho when not shooting. But it was fully exposed to the elements when I did shoot. I used the sleeve of my hoodie to wipe down the camera body when I could. But other than that, it was pretty much soaked. The 7D didn't even blink. No errors, no lock ups... it just worked. Even the next day after it all dried off, it still operated completely normal. It's a huge relief to know the camera can take that kind of punishment and not fail. So if you were ever wondering what exactly "Weather Sealed" meant, shooting in a steady rain, falls under that category.

As for my cameras set-up for the day, my goal was to freeze this high speed sport the best I could. I wanted to capture as much detail in the bikes, riders and flying mud as possible, but still use the telephotos lens to separate them from the background. For the most part, I kept the 7D set to Aperture priority mode. Focus mode set to AI Servo so it could track fast moving subjects and the drive mode set to high-speed burst. Although the 7D shoots a blazing 8fps, I really only shoot in bursts of 3 to 5 on average. From those shots I can usually pick out the one I'm looking for which best captures the moment. I kept my aperture at f/3.2 for most of the day. A lot of people seem to think you can only get a nice DoF by keeping the lens set on f/2.8. This isn't true with a telephoto and shooting at f/3.2 enabled me to lock focus on the bikes numberplate and get most of the bike and the rider in sharp focus. It also gets the aperture into a sharper range than the wide open f/2.8. But at the same time is a wide enough aperture to maintain a speedy shutter. Obviously, a high shutter speed was important in this type of motor sport and on this very cloudy and very overcast rainy day, I had to really bring the ISO up. I found the sweet spot to be ISO2000. This allowed me to keep a shutter speed of 1/1000 or better throughout the day. Because of the sport and the camera's ability, I wasn't really worried about digital noise which can come from shooting at a high ISO. I knew it would blend in well with the editing style I had in mind for the photos.

Images were shot in RAW and processed in Adobe Lightroom 3. I use a couple presets which I use as a starting point, then I tweak each image for the desired effect and adjust highlights, darks and color tones in order to try and capture the intense, gritty feel of off road racing in bad weather.

I actually left the event a little early. My pant legs were soaked from having no cover from the poncho. My hands were numb from not having any gloves and the rain showers were getting more intense. I had taken plenty of photos and I was just exhausted. After I got home I heard it started hailing before the end of the event. Glad I came home. :) Overall it was a blast to photograph. Big thanks to my friend JB and his wife for letting me crash in their RV the night before the race.

So long... until my next adventure!

Clearance

Clearance, a photo by Thorpeland on Flickr.

A quick, short posting for tonight. I was recently invited by my friend Beau to come along with him to his daughters final track meet of the season. Since Id never photographed a track & field event before, I jumped at the chance! Although I was restricted to the side lines I had a good time shooting and was able to get quite close to the action. One thing about shooting track compared to other team sports is with track, you know exactly where the athletes are going to be and where they're headed. Which made it much easier to photograph than say... ice hockey.

Anyhow, the weather was great and with the event happening with some nice evening light, I was able to capture some nice images. And, Beau was happy to see the photo's I took of his daughter in her final track event of the year.

Just a quick post here to introduce one of my favorite Flickr photographer friends. This is Jennifer Sosa. She is a very talented wedding and lifestyle photographer from New York City. She was recently in Texas to shoot a wedding and we had the opportunity to hang out. I was really happy I got the chance to show here Denton Texas.. where I live. Great seeing you again Jen! Looking forward to getting to see some cool sites next time I make it up to NYC again!

Rock The House!!



This past weekend I attended my first 35 Conferette (No, not Confederate)here in Denton. This is a music event with over 100 bands playing in bars, coffee shops and on stages in the center of Denton over a 4 day span. If you enjoy live rock music, this was not to be missed! Now, I believe this is only the third year of this music events short life. But it grew leaps and bounds from last years when it was known as NX35. Last year I didn't even know it was going on until the coffee shop I was sitting in told me I had to leave because they were about to start a show only for those who had already paid. Um, excuse me?? This year, they had outdoor stages setup, streets closed off and made more of an effort to advertise what was going on. I still don't think many people really knew, because everyone I asked during the week if they were going looked at me and said "going to what"? I have a feeling next years "35C" will be even bigger than this and will get more attention. I really hope so.

Ok so my experience. It ROCKED! I'll admit, wrist bands (which give you access) were a bit on the pricey side compared to a normal Denton music festival. Yeah I know all you 35C die-hards are screaming "But SXSW is like $200!". Well, this isn't Austin and this is nothing near or like SXSW (South by Southwest). So paying around $95 after tax for the 4 day wrist band is a shocker for those who aren't college kids in the know, or die hard indie rock music fans. But, I still really wanted to experience this event and get some photos. I bought a one day pass ($73) and headed out with my camera gear at noon, determined to make this a marathon day of music and photography.... and by George get my monies worth! :)

I arrived at the Denton town square, picked up my wrist band and a band schedule. The first band started playing shortly on the "Square Stage", I had no idea who they were but started snapping a few shots anyhow. I quickly realized how many of the bands start times were overlapping and if I wanted to get photos of all or most of them, I'd need to really hustle. So, I spent from noon till somewhere around 1:30am bouncing from stage to stage all over central Denton. I was tired, sweaty, pretty stinky and even a little sore. But it was worth it! I discovered some really great music and captured some good images from the day. I got to meet up with some good friends and even made some new ones. Most of the day my ears were ringing and I was bounced around by dancing crowds, but that was fun! I ended up shooting somewhere around a 1000 photos, which later narrowed down to a few dozen I was really happy with. This can really be an epic experience for those willing to really get out there and enjoy live music at its best.

Now that I know what the event is all about and how it works, I think im going to try to make all four days next year. I think one of the positive results about the event price was unlike other Denton music festivals, at this one I didn't have to fight my way through an endless traffic jam of family's pushing baby strollers and dragging their kids in-tow. It was really a crowd of true music lovers and people who really wanted to be there for what it was. Which was nice. Now that its said and done, I can honestly say this was the best music event I've been to in Denton since moving here and by far the most fun and memorable. Im already ready for next years 35C!!

Check out my flickr for a few more images from the day.
http://tinyurl.com/4da5kf9

Photowalk Meetups are one of the best things you can do with other photography friends! The only problem is, such an event requires lots of time, planning and schedule arrangements. Or does it? Enter the wonderful world of photographers and Twitter. This particular photowalk meetup was arranged in a matter of a couple hours, less than a day before it occurred. It was Saturday evening and while driving I saw the tweet come through from fellow photog Kevin Hail (@khail) asking who would be up for such an event the next day since the weather here in Dallas was to be beautiful. Immediately replies began to fly back and forth as everyone interested tweeted their availability and interest. Just two hours later the event was a "GO" and my Sunday afternoon now had plans. Not an email sent, not a phone call made... not even an Evite created. Just awesome.

Many of my friends laugh at my use of Twitter and say they just don't understand it. Today's event is a prime example of its power and usefulness. In such a short amount of time on a very short notice, photography friends scattered all over the city were able to arrange a fun event. Let this be a note to those not in the-know. It works. ;)

And a fun day it was! With temps in the mid-70's and clear sunny skies we all met up in the Deep Ellum area of downtown Dallas. Kevin was nice enough to bring out his rolling suitcase of photography gear, which included flashes, a softbox and reflectors. Virtually everything you need for a mobile studio! But, not only did he bring the gear, he brought a his wife and model/photographer, Amanda. We all spent the afternoon just wanting the streets, stopping to shoot whatever caught our eye or for Amanda to pose when we found an interesting backdrop. The streets of the Deep Ellum area scattered with artistic colorful walls and painted murals. Literally a photographers dream. And we weren't the only people with this idea. All day long we must have seen 20+ other people wandering the streets with cameras and some doing actual photoshoots for clients. The area was really buzzing and it felt so nice to finally get out and shoot in good weather.

Well I'm really looking forward to our next meet-up. As we begin to enter the spring time, so many more locations open up as options. Stay tuned as I am sure I'll be posting photos and blogging about the day.

Dallas Photowalk, Hosted by Brian Braun!



While browsing the DFW Metro flickr group last week I came across a photo by local Dallas photog Brian Braun promoting a photo walk he was organizing. I'd been itching to go on one of these so I jumped at the chance of course! Being that it was January and the weather has been a bit dodgy lately, I wasn't sure if we'd get to hold the event or if we did, how many would even show up. With a light rain falling, I loaded up my gear and drove down to downtown Big D determined to take photos even if I had to wonder the streets by myself!

To my pleasant surprise, I pulled up in the parking lot to see a few other photogs already gathering. I quickly recognized "The Braun", organizer of the day as he flashed his friendly smile and a peace sign as I got out of my car. I then knew the event was on! Shortly after I arrived, quite a few others began to pull up and park. This was turning into a decent sized turn out and I knew it would be a fun day. Just as I had hoped.

With no real destination, our group first made our way to a multi-level parking garage with the idea of getting to the top floor and shooting some scenic downtown shots. A thick low fog made this difficult and most of downtown was engulfed in it. So after a few minutes we all headed back down to the ground floor. We were met with a surprise. The garage security gate had closed, trapping us inside! We were just about to all start climbing through the side of the gate, when a car pulled up and the gentleman had an access card. We were saved!

We continued our walk for another couple hours, moving to various location, stopping to shoot for a while at each. By the end, this group of strangers all felt like old friends. I guess thats not a difficult task when everyone has such a common interest like photography. From what ive seen, everyone came away with some really cool photots. One thing about photowalks which always fascinates me is how we all will shoot the same scenes, but everyone has their own take on it. Different angles and different ways they post process gives each photo a life of its own.

Big thanks to Brian Braun (http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianbraun) for putting this together. And a friendly shout out to all the great fellow photogs I met yesterday! I hope we have another one of these in the coming months as it warms up. It was definitely a blast!

Here's a few of the photo's I took during the event. Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thorpeland/sets/72157625708366251/

Long, Dusty Road

Long, Dusty Road
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

I recently accompanied my good friend JB to the cross country race series he participates in. I always try to come out and shoot the action if they are racing somewhat local to me. This race was only about 30 minutes from me, so I packed up the gear and headed out for a day of dirt, 2-stroke fumes and race action.

Unlike the past events of this type Id shot, i wanted to shoot this with a bit of a different perspective. Not just shoot the riders going by and jumping. But this time include an artistic element into action photography. These past months Ive been inspired by an excellent professional sports photographer who in many ways I consider a mentor. His name is Ryu Voelkel and he truly is a master of his craft. In his words, he strives to "... Make sports photography more beautiful". I kept this motto in mind as I spend the day shooting the race event. Always looking for unusual angles and perspectives, breaking away from the ordinary and including more of the environment in frame. Ryu has really opened my eyes to a new way shooting action sports. And while he mainly shoots soccer (football), his photography philosophy really can translate to any sport. You can see some of his work here--> http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryusha/ . Not only has "toksuede" motivated me with his photography. But he's a super nice, down to Earth guy who has always been nice enough to respond to every email ive sent him, answering all my questions. You won't find many full time pro photogs willing to do that. So I am eternally grateful for his patience with me. :)

So, I spent the day laying on my belly shooting, hanging off of tree's to get more over the track, firing away with the camera up in the air trying to catch something unique and analyzing my photos in post for interesting crops. Its really changed the way I think of shooting action sports. I think everyone should find a mentor in the type of photography they want to do. It gives you new goals to reach for and helps you see things in a new light. And right when you think you've shot that same old subject to death and nothing can make it look anymore interesting, your mentors work will have you going back through all your old shots to see what you could have done different.

I can't wait to shoot other sports and apply this same type of thinking. I really believe it's the key to expanding my photography skills and opening the door to a new level of work. I feel a lot of great photography opportunities on the horizon for 2011 and many great photo's to come out of them!

Need a Lightroom 3 Kickstart?

xequals
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

I was recently asked by Brandon Oelling from Xequals to have a look at their new Lightroom 3 mini-guide and talk a bit about my thoughts. Sine I've been a long time user of X-Equals Lr presets and a reader of their website, x-equals.com, I was happy to ablige.

What the guys over at X-Equals have done is taken a deeper look at Lightroom 3 and give us some insight into their workflow in this new version. Then, they've compressed it into this 52 page mini-guide with easy to follow screen captures and step by step instructions. Now, I've been an Adobe Lightroom users since pre-version 1.0, back when it was in beta. It's easy to say I use this program on a daily basis. So as I began reading through Brandons latest guide, I wasn't sure how much I'd learn from it. But surprisingly I found I'd fallen into a bit of a rut in my editing workflow, always doing things the same way from Lr version to Lr version. So this guide has turned out to be quite an eye opener to the many new options and ways of doing things.

As I said, the guide isn't too long at 52 pages in pdf form. Which is perfect for me since I normally have the attention span of a knatt...on crack... sipping Red Bull. But it not only kept me reading but taught me a few things. This really isn't a guide just for experienced Lightroom users. If you have the program or are thinking of trying it out, I can definitely recommend this program as a tool to give you a bit of hand-holding as you learn what is what. You'll go from beginner to novice Lr3 user very quickly with the help of this mini-guide. And being that it's in PDF format, you can quickly search it for what you're looking for. Now, this of course isn't a full length, in depth Scott Kelby Lightroom book. But it's not meant to be. This is the quick and dirty, get you importing, editing and exporting in the most efficient and least amount of time. And it accomplishes that goal very nicely.

The mini-guide sells for $7 over on their site. Considering most books on Lightroom run $30 to $50, this guide is well worth it for the amount of information inside it. Big thanks to Brandon for allowing me to review this guide! It's been an enjoyable and educational experience.

You can find and purchase the X-Equals Lightroom 3 Mini-Guide right HERE.

This Old Opera House

This Old Opera House
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

While taking a recent walk around the Denton town square, I was looking around the old Opera house/Recycled Books & CD's building, trying to find an interesting photo. It has just finished raining and the skies were a flat grey. Nothing I shot seemed to really be of any interest to me.

I walked around the square one more time looking for new subjects. But as I came back around to the Opera House building, the clouds began to break and cracks in the clouds began to let a little sun glare through. I immediately knew this might give me some nice ominous clouds as a back drop to this intriguing old building. I attached my Sigma 10-20mm and got as close and as low to the building as I could. Shooting almost directly up and almost on the ground, I snapped off several photos. I then looked at my camera's LCD screen to better see what i'd captured. When I came to this photo, I knew I had one I liked.

Now, of course it wasn't this foreboding in person. But after a little work in Adobe Lightroom 3, doing b&w conversion and quite a bit of burn & dodge, I was able to create what my minds eye saw.

After it was complete I did my normal routine of uploading to Flickr and adding it to a number of groups for viewing. A couple days later I was pleasantly surprised when I was contacted by the group admin Stephan Becker of KERA.org. One of the groups I had submitted the photo to, Art & Seek, is a sub group to the KERA Art & Seek website. They highlight art, music and culture in the Dallas and North Texas area. He notified me that my photo had been selected as Photo of the Week and would be displayed on their site. Oh, exciting! So go have a look. The photo should run on the site until Tuesda, Oct. 2nd.
http://artandseek.net/2010/10/27/flickr-photo-of-the-week-101/

Pull, Girl... Pull!!

Pull, Girl... Pull!!
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

This little ferocious pup is Zita. Most of you who follow my Flickr stream already know this. She appears quite frequently. She is after all my best friend. She follows me around the house, hangs on my every word, misses me when I'm away and goes berserk when I come home. She wags her tail when she licks my face or when I say "Zita, daddy loves you very much". She ignores most others commands to obey, yet *mostly* hears mine. She loves cheese and spaghetti sauce.... together or separate.

In this photo we are doing probably her most favorite thing... tug-O-war. She's had this two foot long rope for a couple years now. But it's still the first thing she runs for when she's let out into the back yard. The phrase "Get your rope!" means game-on for her. And every time we play this game, I end up laughing my butt off as she pulls with all her might... growling and snarling, trying to sound as big and tough as possible. Yet I know behind all that noise and teeth is just my little teddy bear.

Most people when they meet me don't understand the bond I have with Zita. Through happy times and tough times, she has been there. Always. No questions asked. No looks of judgement. No wavering feelings or doubt. No change of heart. I am her world as much as she is mine. Ive grown up with dogs, cats, horses, goats and other pets my entire life, but never have I had such a close bond with an animal.

We truly are, best friends.

Heroic

Heroic
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

It's that time of year again. Cool weather rolls in, leaves fall from the trees and the State Fair of Texas goes into full swing. I finally got down there to it on its last weekend. My friends and I had a perfect day for it weather-wise and the crowds weren't horrible. We had fun taking photos, eating the classic fair junk foods and seeing all the sights.

For those who have never been, the State Fair of Texas is a HUGE deal as far as fairs go. Its a month long event held in Fair Park near downtown Dallas. You can see everything from livestock, new expensive cars and ride all kinds of crazy rides. And then of course there's the food. The fair vendors pride themselves on coming up with new things they can deep fry. Most if it I cannot stomach. Deep fried bacon is just too much. If they can think of it, they'll deep fry it. Its interesting for sure.

Needless to say the State Fair is a photographers play ground. Everywhere you look there are interesting people to photograph and exciting scenes unfolding. Kids on rides, people trying new foods, the Fair Park architecture around the stadium or the animals in the livestock exhibits. The creative eye will have a feast with the camera lens.

I hadn't been to the fair in about 4 years. I hope to make it again next year and shoot even more photos. In the past I'd taken my full camera/lens bag on my back. This year I limited myself to my camera and the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens id rented to try out. This turned out to be the perfect combination and all I needed for the day. Its low light abilities and "normal" field of view were perfect for walking around and shooting what caught my eye.

Overall a very fun day at the fair. We were exhausted by the time we got home!

8\100: Nife

8\100: Nife
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

My 100 Strangers Project slowly rolls onward. This past weekend I met Nife, a University of North Texas Engineering student from Morocco. I tend to be an opportunist when it comes to shooting my strangers. Some i have done cold walks up's to and explained my project. Others are people who have engaged me in conversation for some reason. While I have their attention, I use that as an ice breaker to grab their portrait. This was the case with Nife. He was introduced to me by another friend at the bar and I knew he'd be a great subject. He was very outgoing, friendly and very willing to help with my project.

We were all at the bar that night to watch a Burlesque show. Now, Id never been to one before but I knew what they were about. Nive didn't really know what to expect. I think he was a bit taken back at the amount of skin exposed that night. haha He also asked if it was normal for women in this town to dress as they were that night in the bar. What he meant by that was the 1950's era clothes they were all wearing. I explained to him, no... that's just kind of the theme of the night. He was amused. It was a fun night, everyone enjoyed.

The Long Road Ahead

The Long Road Ahead
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Sometimes you find a photograph where you didn't expect one. This photo is a prime example of that. I recently went for a photo drive, which is where I get in my car and try my best to get lost out in the country. Hopefully to find interesting photos along the way. I had been driving for about 45 minutes not finding anything that peaked my interest. The sun was dropping fast and I knew I probably only had 25 minutes or so of good "magic hour" lighting left in the evening. As I drove I kept my 7D camera with 24-105mm lens attached, sitting in my lap. Id followed this dirt road for about 15 minutes and was about to turn around. Then, I crested a hill top and saw this scene infront of me. A pickup truck had just sped down the road ahead of me kicking up all that dust. I slammed on the breaks and thought "whoa", this is a shot! I was still parked on the top of the hill in my car as I snapped away. I took several shots as the dust cloud slowly drifted away like a morning fog. Everything seemed to just fall into place... the hill top, evening lighting, tree colors, dust. Everything to make my drive that evening worth while.

Photo-drive = Success.

The 100 Strangers Project

1\100: Collin
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

After a few months hiatus from blogging, I'm back. Ive finally found a project I feel is worth posting about. It's called the 100 Strangers Project. The goal is simple, yet very challenging; meet and converse with 100 strangers, then take their portrait. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. One of the reasons I've taken on this project is to help conquer my fear of talking to strangers and taking better street photography of those I do not know.

Those who follow my photography over at my flickr stream know I've completed the 52 Week Self Portrait Project. This was to help me get over my fears of being in front of the camera. It did really help me. I now can take a decent self portrait without looking like a complete dorkus. Hopefully this project will give me the confidence the 52 week project gave.

So, this is my first Stranger portrait, Collin. I went with some friends to Lee Harvey's in Dallas to watch a very interesting band perform. As I was shooting photos of the band, I noticed Collin also taking pictures. He had just the unique look to convince me he had to be my first Stranger portrait. I approached him as the band was still playing and screamed "Hey man can i take your picture!?" Yeah I know, kind of insane. He looked at me with a half smile and said Ok. We worked our way through the crowd, over to the bar where the lighting was better. I explained the 100 Strangers project and introduced myself. I had him pose in front of the bar and I fired off two or three photos. I was most happy with this one. I then handed Collin one of my cards instructing him where he could see his photo. A quick hand shake and we were both off into the crowd to continue our band photography.

Big thanks to Collin for helping me out!

Just People Watching

Just People Watching
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Ever since buying the 7D ive been so caught up in mastering the new photo advancements in the camera. Its amazing how far camera tech has come since I bought my previous camera, the Canon 30D, just 3 years earlier. While the principals of photography remain the same... shutter, aperture and ISO, the advancements on what you can do with them have come a long way in the 7D.

The one feature I had been ignoring was the camera's ability to shoot full HD video. I started out as a video guy. Coming out of college my degree is in Broadcast Journalism. I spent hundreds of hours in the editing bay and with the video equipment. I enjoyed photography at the time, but dreaded film developing or the expense of it all. Digital photography just wasn't affordable like it is now. Anyhow, i enjoyed working with video and figured thats where id stay. Funny how a decade can turn that around. So I found myself with some free time last night and decided it was time to give the 7D's video a good test run.

I headed down to the main square in Denton, knowing it would be buzzing with activity. There's always people out shopping, hanging out, going to the coffee shops, playing music or just people watching. Like me. A perfect scenario for a little street videoagraphy. Using a variety of lenses ranging from the 70-200 f/2.8 to the 50mm f/1.4 I walked around the square capturing people, un-noticed. After a couple of hours of gathering footage I came home, unloaded everything into Sony Vegas 9 and started piecing it all together. The music I used was called "Vale of Plenty" from the soundtrack of Blackhawk Down. I felt it gave the scene a relaxing mood, yet put a slight tension in it, showing the scene is alive and could change at any moment. If that makes any sense? haha

So here it is, my very first video made with the Canon 7D. I think its a good start. I'll probably do a few more just for the fun of it.

December Racing

December Racing
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

One of my favorite events to photograph has to be moto-cross or enduro off-road racing. Recently my friend JB asked if Id like to come out and take some photos of his upcoming race. Being that it was early December, it was cold, rainy and very muddy that week. Of course i wanted to come out!! I knew the weather would make for some excellent photographs. Its these tough conditions which bring out the drama of the day, the emotions of the riders and look awesome when frozen in the right moment.

There were several places on the track where I could tell would be perfect for what I was looking for. After a bit of a hike along the track, I came across this large flooded area in a field. The course took riders directly through it, no way to avoid it! I setup where I could shoot riders as they approached me and went past. As they began to notice me, some would hit the water with extra throttle to show off a bit for the camera. This kid was one of them. But as he nailed the throttle, he almost lost control and bit it. haha He did recover and rode out of the mud. But when i saw this shot on my camera LCD I knew i had a good one. This is probably one of my favorite shots of the day.

Stand By For Lift Off

Stand By For Lift Off
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Finally, getting a chance to add some posts to the blog. I'll start with this November shoot I had for my friend Paul. He recently bought a 2010 Chevy Camaro and approached me about getting some photos done of it. Id always wanted to do add some automotive photography to my portfolio, so this was the perfect chance to shoot a sharp looking car.

I had him wash it good and show up at a local rail yard in town. I felt this made the perfect backdrop for this car. I think it seemed to work well, adding a gritty, tough feeling to the images. The car looked great and was fun to shoot and later edit. I learned a few things and realized a few things I wish id done differently during the shoot. But overall im happy with the results. And so was Paul, which is what counts since it is his car. haha It wasn't difficult to make this car look mean and lean. And the photos really showed its color and body shape off well.

New Gear!

Pavilion -Side
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

For those who know me, they know photography is a huge part of my daily life. Most of my college buddies remember me as the guy who had some type of camera always with me, taking pictures, (some incriminating) of our daily lives. It's ingrained in me.

Well for the past 3 years I had used a very reliable Canon 30D. As time wore on I began to outgrow it. Not to mention camera technology began to really make it look dated. It was time to upgrade. For the past 6 months id been watching rumors of a new line of camera from Canon. Then it was announced, the Canon 7D was real! I pre-ordered mine as soon as I could.

Well finally after almost two months of waiting, it arrived! What a beast. Thats the best way of putting it. I kind of feel like someone who had been taken from the 1970's and dropped down in 2009.... in terms of camera tech. haha I know, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But people who had been shooting with more recent models, like the Canon 50D, might just think "ok the 7D is cool and all". But to me, its a massive jump in every aspect of photography. Everything I had wished the 30D could do, the 7D does. It man is it fast. For example, a long exposure shot of say... 30 seconds, would sit processing in my 30D for at least another 30 seconds. So i would sit and look at the little dark screen, watching the red buffer light flicker. With the 7D, the shutter of the 30 second exposure closes and in roughly 1 second the image appears! Thats the dual DIGIC IV processors doing their job. Sweet!!

Its body feels very similar to the Canon 5DMKII. Those who have one will feel like their holding their 5D when holding the 7D. Even the controls are similar. Its very comfortable to grip, feels solid, but not too heavy. Ive got the BG-E7 battery grip on mine, which does increase the weight a bit, but I'm so used to shooting with a grip I don't think I could go back to not using one. Its really nice.

One of the first things I noticed when taking the 7D out for some night shooting is its sensitivity to light. Its SO much better than my 30D was. I was shocked. I can shoot at a slightly lower ISO than I could with my 30D to get the same result. This is good because it means less "noise" from a long exposure. Im also in love with the large view finder. I didn't realize how much the 30D was cutting off from the eyes view. I look through the 7D's view finder and I feel like im suddenly looking through a full frame camera's view. I know im not, but I can see that much more! Its really.... eye opening. hah Another feature new to me is Live View. My neck likes this feature. As now I can take low to the ground shots without having to either lay flat on my stomach or painfully bend my neck to see through the view finder. Its real easy to look at the bright 3 inch screen and compose my shot.

Anyhow there are so many bells and whistles on this camera its mind boggling. I could go on and on about it, but I'll just close by saying I have zero buyers remorse over this baby. Its an investment in my photography and has met all of my expectations. If you're on the fence about getting one and you don't mind shooting with a 1.6x cropped sensor, get this camera... NOW. Oh and dont worry about digital noise. Its even beating the Nikon D300s in noise tests! Really kicking it in the nuts at ISO3200 and higher. I love it!

As you can see, im happy with this camera. :-)

Gouls, Goblins and Cross Dressers!

Friendly Skull Dude
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

There are few places I could go which would fit that title. In this case it was the Oak Lawn Halloween Block Party! If you're into people watching, this was THE place to be. I would have to guess there were at least 10,000 people packed into a 6 city block radius. In the epicenter of this mass of humanity was the center attraction... the runway. On the Runway, participants line up and take turns having their character introduced to the jam packed crowd on each side of the barriers as they make the walk down the path. The crowd in this area is crushing to say the least. It wasn't easy to move even a few feet and trying to do it while wearing camera gear was that much more difficult!

While at the block party I think I saw every type of costume there possibly could be. And even some of the most creative ones id never thought of. It was my first time this event. Id been invited a few times in the past but never made it. I'll definitely have to go again next year. Big thanks to Craig and Bex for the invite. It was a blast.

So, until next Halloween Oak Lawn... I'll be back!

It's a Parade!

It's a Parade!
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

On Saturday October 17th I headed up to Whiteboro Texas to catch the annual Peanut Festival. This small North Texas town has held this even for something like 70 years (from what im told). It had been about 10 years since I had been and I had a free Saturday, so I packed up the camera gear and drove north.

I was surprised to see how much the festival had grown since my last visit. Back when I last attended, the booths' filled Main Street and that was really about it. Fast forward 10 years and the festival now fills Main Street and extends 2 street deep on each side. Not to mention the crowd, it seems, has about tripled! But this was a good thing for me as a photographer. With the parade, the old west gun fighters show and plenty of people to observer and take pictures of, I knew it would be a good time.

I started out the morning by taking my spot on the parade route on Main Street. I had to really jostle for position with a bunch of cub scouts, but I found a spot! As the parade vehicles rolled by, I was able to get a number of really fun shots. The photo in this post was one I really felt captured the day. An old war vet riding in the back of a pick-up truck waving to the crowd. The Peanut Festival and Whitesboro are really classic Americana and this parade showed it. I think if anyone from another country was to be visiting here and attend this parade they would be thinking "this is what I picture when I think of small town USA".

After the parade I walked up the street a bit and found my seat again for the Old West Gun Fight. It was really entertaining to watch the 6 actors dressed in the old west theme act out a dispute, settled with riffles and revolvers. Ah.. America!! ;-) Watching the reaction of the people in the crowd as the guns went off was almost as interesting as the gun fight itself.

I continued to walk the street after the fun fight and found myself infront of Eye of the Storm Photography. It had been so long since Id last been to Whitesboro, I didn't even realize someone had opened a photo studio right on Main street! That someone turned out to be a friendly fellow photog named Mike (I can't remember his last name!). We immediately started talking shop as he showed me around his studio. It was a real treat that I didn't expect to find up in "the boro". Mike's a super nice guy and a great photog, so if you're ever up in the Whitesboro Texas area, stop in and say hi.

I left the festival around 2pm with a memory card full of photos. I had a pretty good time, better than I thought Id have. I may just have to venture up there for no real reason at all. There's some great photo opportunities!

Summers Last Gasp

Summers Last Gasp
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

As I pulled into the garage last night while coming home from work, thunderstorms were really building up and rains were coming down heavy. But it was odd because the sun was still shining through the north end of the clouds where the storm had not reached yet. I looked out over the back yard with the sun shining towards the house, I got the idea for an interesting shot. Even though it was fall season, it felt like a warm summer shower. I grabbed my camera and laid down on the kitchen floor with the back door open. This allowed me to shoot slightly into the sun and the falling rain, using some un-mowed weeds around the back porch as a subject. I really thought the glow of the sun through the cat tails with streams of rain coming down really captured the feel of the moment. It was nice.

The Night Shift

The Night Shift
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

This past Tuesday night, with nothing going on after work, fellow photog buddy Rocky and myself decided to head North out of Denton and into more rural parts. Our original plan was to experiment with some light painting techniques and see what kind of interesting photos we could come up with. After about an hour of trial and error, neither of us were getting anything we thought worthy of keeping. We began to wander around in the dark shooting anything that captured our interest. Across a crop field and the distant high way was what appeared to be a cement mixing station for some local construction. With a full moon over head and the glow of big Dallas on the southern horizon, I had the idea for this shot. A 15 second exposure to fully capture the feel of the night. I liked the tilted horizon, as the telephone wires lead the eye across the scene. Anyhow, it was a perfect night for shooting. Cool fall temps, barely a breeze blowing and great weather. I'll be doing more of this for sure. And maybe I'll even get a light painting shot im happy with.

Last One Out...

Last One Out...
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Sometimes the weather here in Texas just doesn't cooperate. Or sometimes im really busy. Or... sometimes im just not in the mood to load up my gear and go out shooting. So, I dig through my archives for favorite photos that I never made public at the time I took them. This would be one of those photos. I liked this one the moment I took it. But for some reason or another, it got shelved for other shots from the day. This old shack sat on the back side of the abandoned farmhouse property. The summers sun was dropping in the background casting long shadows across the grown up weeds. This was a fun location to shoot. It was remote, silent and interesting location. My buddy Rocky was shooting with me at this location as well. He and I both enjoy finding these forgotten, rural locations and capturing the feeling of abandonment they leave behind. I called this photo "Last One Out", because my eye was drawn to the front door of this shed. Laying in the grass in the same place it had fallen when its old rusty hinges gave out, it made me think of the phrase "last one out, close the door". Well, it was easy to say the last person out left that property at least 30 years ago. No one is returning to close that door.

A Looming Storm

A Looming Storm
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

This is a photo from the archives. Lately I've been quite busy and the weather hasn't been the greatest. So I started going through older shots that didn't make the cut the first time around. I had completely forgotten about this photo. Which is one I did like after returning from this road trip to the Wichita Mountains in Southwest Oklahoma. I had been wanting to work on landscape photography and knew this wildlife refuge would be the perfect place. After returning from the trip, I chose a series of other photos and filed this one into the archives. Im glad I got the chance to go back into them. With a little work in Lightroom and Photoshop to get the exact black & white tones I wanted, I was pretty happy with this. It seemed to give it an almost surreal feel to the scene. The crisply focused boulder in the foreground, the soft mountains in the background, with menacing gray and black skies over head. It was a really fun day of shooting. I really need to go back soon!

Another Year...

Another Year...
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

I swear i just had a birthday last week! I tell ya, these things go by too quickly. This past year literally flew by. Its been full of highs and lows. It has taken me on travels and opened my eyes in many ways. Through these past months I have discovered a lot about myself... about my past... current life and future to come. But overall it was a good year, so I can't complain too much.

And so it goes. Today, September 12th, 2009... I turned 38. Thats odd. I don't feel 38. I don't think I look 38. But, I am. I guess I have to accept that and move on. As a very good friend has told me many times in the past, "Dont worry about age... age is just a number". I have to agree with that. I often joke with my friends that while I may be 38, I have the mind of a 17 year old. Ha! Id rather spend time laughing, playing practical jokes and hanging out with friends than worrying about real serious matters. Life is too short to be stressed all the time. You've gotta have fun!

So... what will the next 12 months bring me? At this point in time, its very hard to say. But being the eternal optimist I am... I can only say the glass is half full and this time next year I'll sit here making a post on flickr... with a smile on my face. Im sure I'll travel somewhere, meet new people, take some incredible pictures and do my best to enjoy life. (knock on wood!)

A big thanks to everyone who visited my flickr stream to wish me a Happy Birthday. Its really great to see my real and online friends stop by and take the time to leave a comment. I smile and laugh at every single one of them! I consider you all, my friends. Thanks!!

Senior Portraits!

Jessica
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

As August rolls to a close, school looms just around the corner. And with it High School senior portrait season. This past Saturday morning I had a great photo shoot with Jessica. I met up with her and her mother at the Old Alton Bridge, which is now a local historical landmark and no longer in use by traffic. We took about an hour taking a few hundred shots, making use of that great morning light. We got so many good photos, this shot being one of my many favorites. Jessica was a great model and her photos came out really nice.

People in My Life - Portrait #11

People in My Life - Portrait #11
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Another day in NYC and another chance to meet a long-time Flickr buddy! This is
Justin. His 365 day project self-portraits have always inspired me to be more creative with my own. Not to mention they've always been very entertaining. Justin and I even got the chance to trade prints of each others favorite photos. He's a great guy and i was really pumped to get the chance to meet him in person on this trip to NYC.

Justin is just as much a great guy in person as he is in the online world. Friendly, personable and enthusiastic about photography. And I don't even hold it against him that he shoots with a Nikon. :D Anyhow, I definitely know if I was someone living in the NYC area, Justin would be one of my photog buddies. I'll surely be calling on him again if I ever get to re-visit the Big Apple in the future!

People In My Life - Portrait #10

People In My Life - Portrait #10
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

This fellow photographer is my good Flickr friend
Oliver. Over a year ago it was his 365 self-portrait project that helped convince me to start my own 52 week project. He's always been a great Flickr contact, commenting on my shots, replying to my comments to his photos and answering any questions I had. I also blame him for the final push i needed to drop big $$$ on my 70-200mm f/2.8. And Oliver, you were right... I don't regret it for a second! hah Getting to meet Oliver in person, in real life was a lot of fun. Its always great to get to finally meet a Flickr friend in person. Hopefully I'll meet many more as time goes by.

In this meet-up, Oliver took me down to the Queensborough bridge where we were given an amazing view of the river and bridge. it was a small park, accessible via a small sidewalk. Its this kind of place that only a local would know how to get to. Another reason its great to have a photo buddy in any city im going to visit.

Head East Young Man!

Crosswalk
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

With Emily having a work related conference in Philadelphia, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to photograph some of the great sights on the East coast! So we made plans to spend a couple days in Philly, then take the train up to New York City.

While in Philly we climbed the "Rocky steps", walked through Edgar Allen Poe's home and found our way to the haunted Eastern State Penitentiary. I was able to get some great shots and I was like a photographer in a candy store. Well, visually speaking. :-)

From there we caught a 1.5 hour train ride north and arrived in the Penn Station in NYC! The city is overwhelming at first. So much to do and see... so many people to watch. With only 3 days there, I could tell this was a place I could spend a couple weeks in, exploring and photographing. Definitely worthy of a future trip back. We spend the days exploring the streets, seeing the sites and taking it all in. I was able to meet up with a few of my best Flickr photo buddies and do some shooting with them. Oliver, Justin and Jenn... great to finally meet you in person! We packed so much into just this one week trip, it felt like i was there a couple weeks.

I'll definitely be returning to the Big Apple in the future. As a photographer.... how could I not?!

People In My Life - Portrait #9

People In My Life - Portrait #9
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Meet Warren. As the owner of a local flower shop and the Oxide Art Gallery, Warren was the first gallery owner to give me the opportunity to show and sell my work. Since my first showing at Oxide, he has taught my a lot about the business side of art (pricing!!), framing, representing/promoting myself and working with a galleries needs. Warren is a great benefit to the local Denton art scene and a real nice guy. Warren agreed to let me take this portrait, if I sent him a copy for him to use on gallery literature. Deal!!

These photo's are a part of a new Portrait Series I am working on in 2009 in efforts to improve my portrait shooting and editing skills. Its also a great way to include the people around me in daily life in on my photography.

Let's Paint!

580EXII Product Shot
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

The technique of light painting has always intrigued me. For those not in the know about what I'm talking about; light painting is when you set the camera for a long exposure, then use a flashlight to literally "paint" your subject with light. You can really get creative and produce some very interesting results.

Most people go outside and light paint shapes of people, or hearts, or write their name. While on Flickr looking at all the uses for this technique, my first thought was to attempt to use it as a way of lighting a product. I needed a techie gadget that would work well for this. So, I grabbed my 580EXii Speedlight flash and set it up as my subject.

I setup my Canon 30D on the tripod with the 24-105 f/4L lens zoomed in fully. I then setup my wireless remote so I could fire off my shots without touching the camera. The camera was set to f/8, 10 seconds at ISO100. And the lens was set to manual focus, because the cameras IR would hunt for what to focus on once the lights were out in the room. The 580exii was set on a black laptop with a black shirt draped over some things behind it to give it more of a totally black studio look.

I then sat in a chair next to the flash gun, wireless remote in my left hand, LED pen light in my right. I pressed the shutter release button on the remote and began counting slowly to 10 as I used the pen light to paint smoothly around and over the Canon flash. I did this several times, painting more from different angles or spending longer lighting one area of the shot. I was finally happy with this exposure. It seemed to have the best "studio" look and feel to it.

Once I was done shooting, I unloaded all the RAW images into Lightroom 2 and narrowed my choices down to this image. I adjusted the exposure and fill light slightly, then increased clarity and reduced digital noise slightly. Then exported to CS3.

Once in Photoshop, I did notice there was still a bit of digital noise, caused by the long exposure. It wasn't bad, but for a product shot you want zero if possible because people will try to study the object closely, looking at the details. I then applied Smart Sharpen at 5.5% Then using my pen and tablet, I carefully created a selection around the flash and chose Selection--> Inverse. Which caused my selection to now select everything around the flash. I chose Filter ---> Blur --> Gaussian Blur. And set it to 4.5 pixels. This gave it a softer look in the lighting and really hid some of the noise. Once I had the noise pretty much gone, I used the healing tool to remove some obvious dust particles that were sitting on the flash and the laptop surface. Finally, one pass through Noise Ninja to remove any remaining noise and I was happy with the final product shot.

I guess if I ever need/want to sell my Canon 580EX II, I have a nice photo of it to post. heh

Shooting in the Dark

Oso Closo
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

I got the call to photograph a local musical event here in Denton. A night of three bands ranging in styles and sounds, but surely to be a fun time. It's always a bonus when I get to see live music and also photograph it at the same time. Its always exciting, always technically challenging and always fun stuff.

This photo was the lead singer of local band Oso Closo. A true rock band that really had their act together. And it showed, as the crowd really got into the show. It was also the most crowded act of the night as I had to really fight for space to shoot from. It was all good though! Everyone was having fun and rockin out. And I came away with a bunch of nice shots for the evening.

This particular shoot was for the Denton music scene website www.mydentonmusic.com . They promote the local music and review bands playing in the city. A great resource for all the local talent coming out of Denton Texas. Be sure to check them out!

It Had Been Too Long

The Rest Stop
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Yeah, its been waaaaay too long since I uploaded any new photos. I believe my last upload was just before the 4th of July. It had been a combo of not really having any shoots lined up and not having anything I felt was quality enough to post. Im pretty picky and critical of what i choose to upload. What people see online is probably 3-5% of what I shoot in total.

Anyhow, I decided to make myself shoot last night. I grabbed the camera bag and headed out on a photo drive. Wandering back roads and highways, just looking for whatever looked.... interesting. As the sun started setting I came across this highway rest stop. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere, but when i saw those Texas flags on the picnic table area's, I knew there had to be a decent shot in there somewhere.

I shot for a while at different angles using various lenses. Then the idea hit me to incorporate this little pavilion, the flag colors and the setting sun all in one shot. Doing so of course is a very challenging exposure to nail with the camera. So I bracketed my shots and created this HDR image of what I saw. I feel the end result gives it a look.... and feel that really grabs the eyes attention. And that's whats important to me, being able to "feel" a photo when viewing it!

I took somewhere around 200 photo's during my evening drive. But only 3 made it to my flickr stream. Probably only this one will make it to my website (www.thorpelandphotography.com).

See... im picky. :-)

Driving North

Fireworks Stand
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

It's late June in Texas and that means the heat is suffocating, nights are muggy and fireworks stands are popping up everywhere. This combination of season and events gave me the urge to get in the car and drive North out of the city and into the rural areas of North Texas. A quick call over to my fellow photog buddy Rocky and i was off to pick him up to ride along. The plan was to drive straight north on Hwy 377, stopping at each little town along the way up and back to take photos. With about 2 hours of day light left and then lots of interesting stuff in the night to shoot, we knew this would be a fun drive.

After several stops, we can across this fireworks stand outside a small town called Tioga. We figured it would be best to leave the cameras in the car at first, rather than get out snapping pics. So we walked up to talk to the folks working the stand and even bought a couple fireworks. We then asked if we could snap a few shots. They were more than happy to play along. After about 10 minutes of shooting, we said by and loaded up in the car for the ride home.

Overall a very fun and productive photo drive. Its nights like this one that remind me why I was attracted to photography in the first place. The excitement of shooting photos, capturing the local feel of my surroundings and sharing them with people thousands of miles away who've never experienced a hot summer night in Texas. I guess its like sharing a window into my world. So much fun!

Sunday Action!

Keeping Pace
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

This Sunday it was off to the small town of Boyd Texas to shoot the TCCRA race event. Id heard this was a good track to take photo's at. I'll have to say, I was not let down! Tight turns, large jumps and berms all within walking distance made this photographers job easy stuff. Accompanied by my photog buddy Rocky, we spent the large part of this Sunday afternoon shooting thousands of action shots. Looking for just a few quality keepers. We quickly learned we were going to have plenty of great shots to take home.

I had two friends participating in the race, which always makes it more fun to photograph. My friend JB, who was racing in it, was sure to give me a card with all the plate numbers of his buddies also in the race who'd want some action shots. So our work was cut out for us.

The weather was classic Texas. Hovering near 100F by afternoon, some riders struggled to keep cool and stay on their bikes. I saw more than one rider pulled off the track, sitting on the ground, drinking water to re-hydrate. We saw many others drive by their fans and get dosed with water, in efforts to stay cool in the heat. What makes it worse is once the riders enter the woods, there is no breeze or wind. Just stagnate, oven-like heat.

Overall it was an awesome day of action photography. Im still working my way through all the images, but its well worth the time. Its days like this that remind me what makes photography so fun to me. Being there, in the moment, in the heat and dirt, capturing exciting images for others to enjoy.

A Day At the Air Show!

A New Perspective
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

This Saturday was the long awaited Denton Air Show. Featuring many military and civilian aircraft. With an expected turnout of 10,000+ , there were more than a dozen aircraft on the tarmac for people to an up close look at . Followed later by aerobatics performed by prop planes, formation flying by WWII era fighters and later a real speed show by an F-16. The day was hot, but that didn't let that stop my fun! My friend Rocky joined me and we arrived early to get some good photos of all the aircraft on hand. We even ran into a few fellow local photographers out there, which is always cool. The show wrapped up around 4pm, with the F-16 giving everyone the final ear drum blowing performance of the day. I later found out a few aircraft canceled and backed out just before the day of the show. The massive cargo plane, the C130, an F-16 flight team and the A-10 Warthogs were unable to make it. Bummer, because those are all some of my favorite to see each year. Overall, a real fun Saturday.

Summer 'Ballin'

Summer 'Ballin'
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

With another warm evening here in North Texas and a lot on my mind, I decided to set out with the camera to do some shooting. Nothing particular, so I made a stop at Eureka Park on the South end of Denton. Its always fun to get out the 200mm lens and do some people watching. Since the weather was perfect the park was full of people out enjoying the evening. People playing volleyball, basketball, jogging, kicking the soccer ball around. Even some guys practicing Parkor on some nearby walls and benches. No shortage of interesting photos to be taken! Of all I took this evening, this one was my favorite. Showing some decent vertical and a nice hook shot, these basketball players made for some great pics. Sports being one of my favorite things to shoot, I think the park will provide a summers worth of nice photographs. I see many more evening trips out there.

Ready For Launch

Ready For Launch
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

I was recently asked to shoot some fun themed photos from the Denton Water Park, for an upcoming marketing campaign. Id always wanted get in there with the sole purpose of shooting pics, so I grabbed my camera gear and moved out. It was close to 100F this past Sunday during the shoot. And lugging around camera gear and a pack made it feel like 150F! But after a couple of hours of snapping pics I was happy with what I had. It was a fun day with some really fun pics. I enjoyed the opportunity this gig provided.

A New Self Portrait!

"She thinks that happiness is a mat that sits on her doorway"
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

My last self portrait was taken back in like February, when my 52 Week Project ended. At that point in time, I was SICK of seeing any photo's with my face. Well a few months have gone by. I kind of missed taking them now and then. So when I was home for lunch last week, the urge suddenly hit me to take a new selfie. Partially because my photo stream has been a bit slow the past couple weeks. No events going on and not much free time to get out and shoot. So, a photo of me it is! I was actually pretty happy with out this photo came out. I think I took the pic and processed it in Lr2 in about 15 minutes total. Which makes it the best kind of self portrait. The kind where little effort was put into it. Now... onward to shooting photo's of things besides me.

Spencer, Senior Portrait

Spencer, Senior Portrait
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Occasionally I break away from photographing animals, landscapes and sports and take on some portrait work. This was such the case with graduating high school senior, Spencer. Before the session I was talking to his mom, asking if she thought he'd have a hard time relaxing infront of the camera. She laughed and said "No way, Spencer is a crack up!". She wasn't kidding. He did a great job and was really comfortable in front of the lens. Always laughing, cracking jokes and smiling.... made my job easy! In fact, a few times I had to make him be serious so I could get some shots without a huge smile plastered across his face. But it was great having a subject so at ease and wanting to have fun on the shoot. His laugh and smile are contagious and I think made me a more relaxed photographer as well.

Congrats Spencer!! Off to bigger and better things. You'll go far my friend.

The John Cowand Band

The John Cowand Band
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Got to shoot another band last Friday night. This time, The John Cowand Band. Kind of a rock, bluegrass mix. This was another show that I really enjoyed shooting. Great music and atmosphere at their show. The small'ish crowd really seemed into it and I was actually surprised it wasn't a larger audience. Those who did show up did seem to be familiar with who he was and his music. A few times I caught myself watching and listening and not snapping the shutter on my camera. Then i'd snap out of it and focus on shooting again. That's a sign their a captivating group. Id like to see them again if they come through Denton in the future!

Enjoying the Dog Days of Summer

Enjoying the Dog Days of Summer
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

This past Saturday was the long awaited Dog Days of Summer festival in downtown Denton. Id missed the past 2 years of it because I always had something going on, on the exact day of it. But not this year! I was ready and waiting. Emily, Zita and I were to meet up with our friends Beau and Sarah with their Golden Retrievers and small dog at around 10am. Of course this event would provide a wealth of photo opportunities! I wanted to travel light since I knew I'd have Zita's leash in hand as well. So no big camera bag with multiple lenses this time. Bummer. No worries. I removed my battery grip from my 30D and selected my 28-70mm f/2.8 Sigma lens as my only lens for the day. I figured it would give me all the range I should need for doggie shots and the wide f/2.8 aperture would be perfect for portraits.

There were a couple times during the day when I wished I could have switched over to the 200mm. But, I made it work out alright. I managed to get several quality shots I was happy with. Although the one thing that annoys me about this lens is how it handles sunlight when its anywhere but directly at my back. For some reason this lens creates sun flares more easily than any lens I know. And it also seems to blow out images with lots of sun, easier than any of my canon lenses. Getting a decent shot in normal sunlight often requires really stopping down to f/6.3 or smaller. And thats when shooting even at ISO100 with a polarizing filter. Overall the lens is "alright". I can see myself selling it and putting the money into the upcoming Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 IS lens being released in a few months. I suppose this is the classic case of "you get what you pay for". This Sigma lens runs about $300. The Canon lens im waiting for will run around the $1200 range. Ouch... I know.

Anyhow, back on topic. The Dog Days festival was a blast. Our little Heeler, Zita, had a ton O fun and was exhausted when we got her home. Went to sleep on the floor ASAP. Another great thing about this festival is the free stuff. Frisbees, chew toys, snack and doggie bandana's are handed out to all. You can bet we'll be looking forward to next years as well!