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. :-)
Friday, October 30, 2009
Gouls, Goblins and Cross Dressers!
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!
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!
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!
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!
Friday, October 02, 2009
Summers Last Gasp
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
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...
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.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A Looming Storm
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!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Another Year...
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!!
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!!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Senior Portraits!
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.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
People in My Life - Portrait #11
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!
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
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 $$$ on my 70-200mm f/2.8. And Oliver, you were right... I don't regret it for a second! hah Getting to meet Oliver in person, in real life was a lot of fun. Its always great to get to finally meet a Flickr friend in person. Hopefully I'll meet many more as time goes by.
In this meet-up, Oliver took me down to the Queensborough bridge where we were given an amazing view of the river and bridge. it was a small park, accessible via a small sidewalk. Its this kind of place that only a local would know how to get to. Another reason its great to have a photo buddy in any city im going to visit.
Oliver. Over a year ago it was his 365 self-portrait project that helped convince me to start my own 52 week project. He's always been a great Flickr contact, commenting on my shots, replying to my comments to his photos and answering any questions I had. I also blame him for the final push i needed to drop big $$$ 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.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Head East Young Man!
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?!
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?!
Friday, July 31, 2009
People In My Life - Portrait #9
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.
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.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Let's Paint!
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
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
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Shooting in the Dark
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!
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!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
It Had Been Too Long
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. :-)
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. :-)
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Driving North
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!
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, June 21, 2009
Sunday Action!
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.
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.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
A Day At the Air Show!
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.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Summer 'Ballin'
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.
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