1 YEAR LATER

Time truly does fly.

Approximately 1 year ago on March 25th, 2010, I took a deep breath, shelled out some dollars, started a website and thus began GRAYSCALE PHOTOGRAPHIC.  I want to give a huge thank you to all of those who took a chance on the new guy and gave me the confidence to market myself as what I am...........a professional. 

Know Thy Rights

Looks like the Atlanta Police Department got a little lesson on photographers rights in public places.  A very similar incident to this occured nearby on the Southern Illinois University campus a few years back.  Wether you own a $5000 DSLR or a $50 camera phone, you have more rights regarding photography in a public places than you may know.

Crazy Burning Man Strobist

Just when I think I may be starting get the hang of this creative photography strobist thing, I see someone who takes the term "strobist" to the next level.  Eric Schwabel is a professional photog who decided to take some serious photographic hardware to Burning Man.  Burning Man is some crazy art gathering in the middle of an ancient dry lake bed in the desert (that is a horrible explanation, but it's all I got).  Temps hover around 107 F, and the dust is enough to make my weather sealed Pentax K7 beg the almighty for forgiveness within minutes.  Regardless, this guys getup is too much for words, as are the amazing portraits he captured.  If you've got 5 min., it's more than worth viewing.

How'd They Do That?

You ever see a really cool pic that was taken by someone who obviously knows what they are doing and think to yourself "how in the world did they do that?".  If your anything like me, it happens all the time. 
I often browse the flickr pools and photography forums looking for images that make me mutter an involuntary "wow" for the sole purpose of trying to recreate in my mind how said image(s) was pulled off. 

Well, if your constantly trying to figure out lighting schemes of the "big boys" in order to take your photography to the next level, I have found a very helpful tool.

Meet my new bible (just kidding Jesus).  I have just ordered this little $20 gem of a book based on several rave reviews from different sources.  You can visit the website here.

Here is a quick excerpt from the product description:

"Learn to light your photographs creatively using small flashes and other lighting gear with 24 inspiring examples from contributors to David Hobby’s famed Web site, Strobist.com. On the reverse side of each photo you’ll find a lighting diagram and helpful tips. Tear out individual cards and take them with you for quick reference on your next shoot.
Printed on thick card stock with high end UV coatings, each photograph has been carefully reproduced at the highest image quality. There is one gallery worthy image on each card with insights and lighting diagrams on the flip side. Edited by Nice Photography Magazine's Zeke Kamm you can be sure these cards will help you raise your game and entertain you, too."

This is exactly the kind of nuts and bolts descriptive info I crave.  Volume's 1 and 2 each contain 24 images printed on card stock.  On the flip side of each image is a complete diagram with setup info on how the photographer was able to get the shot.  Anyone who is into using off camera flash would be crazy not to want this kind of information from such established photogs.

I plan on giving a full review of the book in the near future after I have played around with reproducing some of the images. 

Any volunteer models out there with a samuri sword willing to help me out?  If not I guess I'll have to recruit my 5 year old daughter again...............kidding...............sort of.

Tootin My Horn

I always cook breakfast with a cat on my shoulder..........who doesn't?

I like to think I'm a fairly modest person.  But sometimes you need to give yourself a little pat on the back and share your accomplishments (even the small ones) with others.   Follow the jump for more.

WHO DAT? Nawlins Bound

Last week I was a pretty lucky guy. 

I got to spend 4 days smack dab in the middle of the French Quarter in New Orleans eating beignets, sucking crawfish heads, and trying to figure out if that lady who had just come on to me while I was walking down the dark end of Burbon St. was really a lady (no, I didn't stick around long enough to find out, and no, I doubt "she" was a lady).  Oh, and this whole trip was paid for by someone other than me. (thanks SIH!)

  I was chosen to take this adventure with approx. 20 of my fellow healthcare cohorts to attend a conference on healthcare service excellence.  The conference was really pretty engaging and entertaining, and I definately came home ready to service treat anyone and everyone in a particulary satisfactory manner.

When it comes to my photograpahy, though, this trip was just what I needed.  I spent almost all of 2010 taking images of people, mostly posed, mostly for paying clients.  That was great and I enjoyed every minute of it, but being in New Orleans and having a decent amount of free time gave me a chance to do some photography that I had not done in a very long time.  Follow the jump to see. 

Time Lapse Coolness

First of all, let me say sorry that I failed to produce any type of pitiful excuse for a blog post last week.  I was stuck in New Orleans due to business most of the week, it sucked ........................................SYKE, I was in New Orleans on business, but it was totally awesome and I really want to go back some day.  I was too busy drinking hurricanes and listening to motivational speakers to write a silly blog post, and since there are only like 3 of you who regularly look at my blog, you'll forgive me right? 

This week I have yet another very cool video to show you.  It's a time lapse video made by a member of a forum that I frequent.  It chronicles a trip he took to china this past summer.  Very moving video.  I encourage you to watch.  Oh, and I promise to actually produce something original later this week.........I promise.  In the meantime, enjoy this awesome video:

Light Painting Warfare

Every now and then you come across something that is so freaking cool and creative that you want to share it's awesomeness with anyone and everyone.  I ran across these videos in the Strobist blog some time back and given my laziness and lack of new years motivation this week (and that full time job and family I have to pay attention to every now and then), I thought I would cop out of my blog creating obligations this week and share these awesome videos with you.  Trust me, these are far more awesome (for real, how many more times am I going to say awesome?) than anything I would be able to come up with this week.  The first one is a behind the scenes "making of" video which I recommend to watch first. 

Light painting is a very cool technique wich basically involves taking long exposures of say 30 seconds or more and during that time, you can actually move around in the scene with a flashlight, speedlight, penlight, whatever, aimed at the camera.  The cool thing is that as long as you are constantly moving, you will not be seen in the final image (provided you are not being lit by anything).  You could do something like:  Start your camera exposure with your camera on a tripod.  Walk into the scene and start drawing all kinds of images in the air with the light pointed back at the camera.  When the exposure is finished, you will just see whatever images you drew with your light.  You also need your scene to be fairly dark if you don't want to be seen at all in the final image.  If you want to be seen in the final image (see videos below) you could either stand still for several seconds to let the camera sensor "aquire" you, or you could do what these guys did and just pop a flash on yourself. That is my short and totally uneducated explanation on how to light paint.  The guys in this video definately took light painting to a whole nother level with a full length stop action lightpainting "Warfare" video.  This is the kind of stuff that makes photography so cool.  Enjoy.

Kirsten Senior 2011

Meet Kirsten.  She is a very cool kid and I had the honor of taking her senior pics this past weekend.  We had an awesome session which consisted of mostly studio work, but since it was a balmy 30 degrees outside, we thought "what the hey", lets take this show outdoors.  Follow the jump for more.

Get a Little Closer

Happy new year everybody!

Well, with a new year comes new resolutions.  One of mine was to update my blog religiously every Monday and Thursday....................................yeah.......................well.........................I'm not very big on resolutions anyway.  So, I'll say it right here and right now:  My goal is to update this bad boy twice a week be it Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, whatever.  I'm still going to shoot for Monday's and Thursday's, but, I'm a realist who has no problem admiting my faults and when it comes to faults and strengths, timeliness and consistency definately fall into the "faults" category.  Now that we've cleared the air...........let's do this.

I was planning to use this post to give a rundown on my most frequently used gear and how I specifically utilize it, but when going through my camera bag, I stumbled across a cool little accessory that I hadn't used in quite some time and thought some people may find it interesting due to it's conversion capabilities and very low cost.  Follow the jump for more.