VAL's Voice Activated Lights

(VALs) can go a long way. a great video from the BYU shooting team shows some great lighting techniques and VALing with a monoblok Video

Talking to Strangers

Zack Arias an Atlanta based photographer was in New York City last September. While in NYC he took some time out from his busy shooting schedule and gave himself a little shooting assignment. He decided to take 10 portraits of 10 strangers in 10 hours. He found that most people can be receptive while others are scared of his glass.

Take a look at his work and how he approached his subjects. He includes a video so you can see as he put it "His Dork like approach". Here is the link to his Blog post: Street Portraits :: NYC 09/2009 :: Video + Stills

BLACK FRIDAY…

I dreaded the holiday shopping season as a retail employee. In celebration of “Black Friday”, and that I haven’t worked retail for over 150 full moons, here are some shopping ideas for the photographer in your life.

1. Books are always a good idea. How to’s: for better technique. Amazon.com com has a great selection of photography books. Some great authors are Scott Kelby, Joe McNally, and Annie Leibovitz. Also, some other books are the Photo Workshop series.

2. Magazines are another gift that keeps giving for at least 12 months. There are a plethora of Photography or Photoshop magazines. Most of these can be purchased or ordered from the websites directly. Popular Photography (PopPhoto) is a great general magazine.

More specific are magazines like Photoshop User or Layers magazines. National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) puts out these magazines. NAPP also has a membership that will not only get all the Photoshop User issues for the year you also get discounts to buy gear and on-line tools and training.

2. Glass Blow Ornaments are always a good stocking stuffer. Here are some VINTAGE CAMERA ORNAMENTS.

Another great gift resource comes from the guys at NAPP and Layers Magazine. It’s the Gonzo Holiday Gear Guide. You will have to navigate to different pages to see the entire gift guild, but it worth the looks. This is the 2007 Gonzo Holiday Gear Guide. The 2008 Gonzo Holiday Gear Guide version has been released, but you will need to purchase the Layers magazine to see this years toys. Stay tuned for an update.

Now if you haven’t noticed already, everything I posted can be had over the internet. I try to do most of my shopping this way. I hate having to deal with holiday shoppers and the nastiness it brings out in the average Joe.

If you know what you are looking for and have a good idea what retail is for items, you can score some good deals on-line. Warning, be smart and wise and make sure the product and company is reputable.

That’s if for me. I will be braving the crowds at the Apple Store today. Apple usually has a one day sale on “Black Friday”. Apple is notorious for never selling anything under MSRP, except for “Black Friday”.


Good Luck and may the shopping be with you…

The Wordle Around Me

The Wordle Around Me, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

It was a slow day at work today (Oct. 3). While I was sitting at my desk, I remembered a conversation I was having with Magellan. She asked me if I had ever used Wordle? I said that had not, but I knew what the program was…

While I was sitting at my desk I thought It would take a stab at Wordle. I thought it would be interesting to take all the tags that I have used in Flickr, Zoomr, SmugMug, Photosig and all the blogs I had contributed in the past year.

This is what I came up with, and I titled it “The Wordle Around Me”.

I did the blending of the two wordle.com pages in PS CS3 along with combining the shot Magellan took of me in Alcatraz Island, San Francisco. I did all the PS work on my flight from Oakland, CA to San Diego, CA

Trash the Dress...

I barrowed this from the Strobist blog. This great a photo shoot on the beach. Some very clever ideas and great inspiration for location portrait shots.

I really like the kite camera setup for the Canon G9. I would like to know how they did that?

Have a great weekend, mine started today. I off to hunt the allusive Great White Snail, also know as Abalone. I will post some shots from our trip.



Chasing Sunset - Part II from Pieter Van Impe on Vimeo.

Thanks to Didier Jouret, who sent me a link to this video from a Pieter Van Impe "Trash the Dress" -type shoot.

This one is not so much about lighting, but it does include all of the typical stuff: Beach, sunset, trippy beats, happy couple, some champagne, a little nipple pinching, a kite-mounted Canon G9 for overheads, ... wait, WHAT?

Dude, I so want that G9 kite mount. He uses the G9 on a monster light stand, too.

Related links:
:: Pieter Van Impe ::
:: Tom Museeuw ::
:: Bridseye Kite Aerial Photography ::
:: Didier Jouret :: (Videographer)

Happy 4th of July...

"Pig" Would like to wish everyone a "Safe & Sane" Happy Independence day.

This photo was taken at the Alameda County Fair on Monday. Magellan and I had a great time talking with the students in the 4-H Live Stock area.

The students were of all ages and very eager to share their knowledge with us. Some of these kids were barely 80 pounds dripping wet and their "Pets" were six to nine months old and out weighed them by several hundreds of pounds.

They we're all busy cleaning, feeding and practicing for the show and auction. It was told to Magellan, by a very energetic young man (that reminded her of a Nephew), that a pig went for several thousands of dollars in last years auction. Whoa, that's an expensive piece of bacon.

We went camping. See you when we get back. Have a great holiday.

Box Lunch...

A few weeks ago I posted some images of the chicks that my wife’s third grade class hatched. The next day I went back to the classroom to see the rest of the hatchlings and to take a few more pictures.

What a difference a day makes. The night before with the fresh hatchlings they were more then content to let me poke and prod, move and pose them exactly how I wanted. 24 hours later they have become less then compliant. I couldn’t keep these chicks still even when I stapled their feet to the table… Just kidding I didn't do that, but the thought did cross my mind.

I finally decided in order to keep these chicks in one place I needed to put them in a box. So here is a photo of four of the chicks in the only box I could find. The little black chick is being suppressed by the rest and is hiding under the lid.

Chicks...

What is that “FOWL” smell? I now know what that means, and where that phrase came from Domesticated Fowl…

Over the past month my wife has been conducting a 3rd grade classroom experiment. Part of their science class they had to hatch something. They had a choice of Butterflies or Chickens. They chose the latter.

She and her classs for the last 21 days have been brooding over their 30 something chicken eggs and one duck egg.

On March 12, 2008 she and her 3rd grade class became proud parents of two baby chicks. Just in time for Easter. First came Root beer, and then came Boots. Root beer is a brown color and Boots has feathers on his feet, fuzzy like Ugg Boots. They should have named Root beer, Sarsaparilla instead.

By the time I showed up at the school that day, another chick had hatched. Another little brown chick. This little chick was still in the drying phase of the ordeal, and couldn’t be picked up. This one we named Grace. Grace isn’t very sturdy on its feet.

We set up a video camera and my wife was able to get some video of the hatchings. Before my wife left from school that evening, three more chicks had hatched. I guess when they say 21 days they really mean 21 days.

When she arrived at school the next day, she greated by the peeps of 11 more hatchlings in the incubatior. The duck will need to cook for a few more days before it hatches. They are cute but noisy, peep, peep, peep. Even at only a few hours old they stink. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday of Root beer and Boots.

農曆新年...

農曆新年 is the traditional Chinese charters for the Chinese New Year. 2008 celebrates the year of the Rat 鼠.

Last year in 2007 was the year of the Pig 豬. My wife and I made the trip from southern California to San Francisco for the Chinese New Years Parade. The parade takes place on the last night of the Chinese New Year.

Last year I tried to capture a few images during the parade. It wasn’t easy. Low light, big crowds and moving targets. Plus once again I didn’t have a tripod. Do you see a theme here? Me without a tripod in times I need it most.