Self Portrait

I've been editing a lot of photos today, decided to take a self portrait and this is what you get.

Technical Info: Canon 5D MKII, Sigma 50mm 1.4 lens, f/2.8 at 1/125sec, ISO 100

Background Color: Maroon wall 

Background Light: none

Distance to Background: 6 feet

Hair Light: Canon 580ex with honeycomb grid on lightstand pointed at a 45 degree angled down towards the back of the head, 1/32 power about 3 feet away.

Beauty Dish Distance to Subject:  2 feet, camera right, angled down towards subject at 45 degrees, 1/8 power

Other tools used:  white reflector on the shadow side of the face to soften the shadows, a silver reflector held by me to reduce the shadows under the neck and a fiance (Ashley) to focus and press the shutter button.

Other notes:  my favorite hat.  having the beauty dish off center adds additional shape to the face with more pronounced shadows.

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Day 30/365

New Bern, NC

Sorry I know I missed two days in a row and it's because I was in New Bern, NC as a second shooter in  a wedding.  New Bern is a quaint town located northeast of Charlotte, NC about 4.5 hours away.  The couple, Greg and Lindsay were really a joy to shoot. 

I manned the photobooth which was soooo much fun, lots of good times.  To me, the funniest people were the elderly couples who let loose once they got their different props on.  I suggest anyone who is getting married to ask your photographer if they provide this service, it is definitely worth it, your guests will love it and you will come away with a ton of cute pictures.

I woke up really early this morning to go down to where they dock the boats in New Bern.  I arrived just before the sun was rising, I set up my tripod, and flipped on the power switch to my camera, only to find out....I left my battery charging in the hotel room.  Smooth.  So, needless to say, by the time I got back, the sun had already risen but I made the best out of it and took some photographs of the boats and such.

Here are just a couple shots from the weekend.

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Day 29/365

Misty Morning

Today I woke up real early and decided to go on an adventure.  Not many times am I up this early to shoot pictures.  I drove out to the Mt. Pleasant area and also midland.  The weather was beautiful and so was the sunrise.  The sun is so beautiful at this time of the morning and it makes everything glow.   It seems the leaves are reaching their peaks around this area and the scenery was beautiful.  I had so many photo opportunites I was pulling off on the road every 5 minutes.  I was in a corn field and a cop stopped to ask if that was my car parked down the street.  He said there were a lot of break-ins in the area and just wanted to make sure that it was my car.  I thought he was going to tell me to leave  but he just kept it moving.

This is one shot at a location I drove past and turned around to come back to.  There was still a little mist on the ground as the sun was rising higher into  the sky.  You can see the sun start to peek through the trees and the sun rays shining down onto the pasture. 

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Day 28/365

Pumpkin carving

Not much time was spent on our pumpkin carving.  My fiance and I collaborated on it, and decided to go classic.  I'm still busy editing and putting together wedding album stuff for one of my brides.

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Day 27/365

Food for the Soul

Is there anything better than some home cooking from your mom?  I think not.  They do it out of love and from the heart.  It's like with any art, whether it be painting, music, or photography, if you are doing it from the heart, it shows. 

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Day 26/365

Slow and Steady

It's no wonder the turtle always wins the race.  He believed he could win the race despite knowing the hare was faster.  The turtle never lost focus and it was due to the arrogance of the hare, that the turtle won.  He made a goal and stuck to it with dedication and tenacity.  Like the farmer planting crops, waiting for his seeds to grow.  He knows the goal ahead and he sticks to the plan, knowing his patience will pay off.

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Day 25/365

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.

If the world is a reflection of us, than what we put out to the world only comes back to us.  You will only get what you put out into the world and it involves everything from your personal life to your business.  If you are only giving 50% of "you" into what you are doing, you aren't going to get 100% back.  So if your business is failing, your relationship is failing, your life is failing, you aren't doing all you can.  Stop looking for excuses and blaming other people for your problems, it starts with you.

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Day 24/365

Be....

No matter how long you travel on the wrong road, it will never lead you to the right destination.  Be purposeful in your actions.  Be compassionate.  Be loving.  Be loved.  Be what you want to be.  Be.

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Day 23/365

Love is in the air

Peak season for weddings and I had the pleasure of photographing (with the help of my assistant/fiance) this lovely couple.  Jon and Ashley have a love for each other that can easily be seen by the way they look at each other, their easiness with how they interact, and the way they smile when they are together.  It was such an easy going wedding, just how you draw it up. 

I didn't take these photographs today but I have been working on their pics all day so I thought it was only proper to post a couple.

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Day 22/365

Sitting quietly, Autumn comes, the leaves fall by themselves

I took a trip out to the Uwharrie National Forest today, I needed a break from editing pictures.  It is located in Montgomery County, NC, only an hour away from Charlotte.  I saw some wildlife there and the leaves were pretty also, I don't think they have reached their peak yet though.  I was probably ten feet from a momma deer and her 4 babies, I have some photos of them I will post later.

This is a photograph of a scene I had passed on my way up to the forest.  I went back on my home and stopped to take this picture. 

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Day 21/365 "Life is a "trip"...."

Down the block

This is a view from our driveway down to the end of the street.  That's it.

Day 20/365

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Fall colors

Back to the lake I have found, I went during the day to get some fall colors in my pictures.  I really want to go to Asheville but I will probably not make it this year before the peak season is over.  I haven't seen any type of wildlife either around this lake besides some ducks and some geese.  I would really love to see some deer and I should eventually because this is when deers have their offsprings.  Time will tell.

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Day 19/365 "Life is a "trip"...."

Back on the Grind

After a long four days I can finally breathe again.  Two weddings and some other miscellaneous photoshoots I can finally update my blog.  I have about 1500 photos to go through, should be a boat load of fun. 

Today I had the itch to get out and see the country side so I hopped in my car and took off.  I went back to this lake I had found and decided to explore more of it and see if I could find a better place to shoot than my previous.  There were absolutely no clouds in the sky so there was not much drama going on.  The sunset was beautiful though and I got some very decent shots.  I'm still searching for the perfect sunset there and I will continue to go back there until I get it. 

Here is the shot I took today.  I shot it with an aperture of f/22 for 25 seconds.  I also used a circular polarizer to enhance the colors and cut down on some of the haze and a neutral density filter so I could use a longer shutter speed to blur the water.  Not much processing was used in this picture, slight sharpening (as you should with all RAW files) and I touched up some dust spots that got onto my lens that was visible in the sky.

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Day 18/365 "Life is a "trip"...."

Gone but never forgotten

I had no time today to take out my camera and take a pic so I used my Iphone.  Was too busy today and tonight.  After picking up my mom from the airport I brought her back to her house.  In a back room is somewhat of a shrine for her dad.  He passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 97.  He was the healthiest man I have ever known.  The only thing that slowed him down was when he fell in the shower and broke his hip two years before his passing.  He was too old to recover from this injury and was basically bed ridden for the rest of his life.  Before his injury he would walk 3 miles a day, cook all of his food and take chinese medicine that he would weigh out on a really old scale.  I miss his smile.

Self Portrait

Just working on a few things I have been learning about editing so I decided to take a few self portraits and work on my craft.  I was working with a simple two light set-up.  The main fill light was above the camera, on a stand, with a softbox.  On my second light I added a grid spot to limit some of the light and that kicker (or rim light) was behind me, camera left, on a stand pointed towards the back of my head to add some seperation from the background. 

In post processing I just did some selective sharpening and some dodging and burning to add some dimension to the face.

Day 16/365

To the Jungle and Back

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”

I went behind the fence in our backyard today with my Canon 85mm 1.8 and a couple macro extension tubes.  These tubes are great if you don't want to spend the money on a macro lens.  You can order them from ebay for about $9, pretty good deal.  They attach to your camera and then the lens that you want to use attaches to the tubes.  Basically what a macro lens does is takes very small objects and makes them life size or greater and is used for close-up work.

There are these white flowers that are blooming everywhere behind my fence so I decided to take a couple of shots of them.  I had no idea that the wooded area was infested with mosquitoes, I got bit at least 50 times on my legs and arms. 

Day 15/365 "Life is a "trip"...."

Multimedia of Occupy Charlotte

Here is the link to the video I was working on along with the pictures as well.  I tried to post it here but the compression of the video was horrific, they murdered my work so I had to take a different course.  This is my first attempt at a multimedia project like this.  I would like to get more into photojournalism and video and get to study this craft a lot more.  I will look into getting an internship somewhere so if anybody has any connects, please let me know because I know it's not easy getting in on just writing an email to someone.  Hope y'all enjoy the video.

This is going to count as my day 14/365 "Life is a "trip"...."  These 2 weeks have went by so fast, I can't believe it.  Keep Dreaming.

Occupy Charlotte

I have never been to a protest or a large gathering of this sorts before.  I have always wanted to and since I had the day off, I figured I might as well go ahead and get my feet wet.  I went downtown with really no expectations of what I was going to see.  I had seen clips of the protests in NYC and saw that some of those demonstrations had become violent but Charlotte is a different city. 

I ended up downtown in front of City Hall where about 300 or so people were gathered.  There were about 5 main people in charge and they took turns talking about the rules and that they expected there to be no violence at all.  There were people from the ages 5 all the way to 80 with signs with various slogans on them.  From there they marched to the Bank of America building and were shouting different chants all the way there.  There was police in heavy force making sure nothing got too out of control.  People would drive by and honk to show support and the crowd would go crazy.  After about 2 hours of chanting and shouting everyone made their way back to City Hall.  From here the leaders spoke again and they formed different groups who would lead certain tasks like:  fundraising, food, shelter (for the people occupying the lawn), writing letters, etc.... 

Here are some pics of the event that I captured, tomorrow I will have all of them edited along with some video.  If you would like to find out more about their causes and what they are protesting, here is a start, Proposed List Of Demands.  Or you can google "occupy" and you will find tons of stuff on the topic.  They have been protesting in NYC for almost a month now, who knows how long they will be protesting here in Charlotte.

Day 13/365 "Life is a "trip"...."

Charlotte's web

Charlotte:  The autumn days grow short and cold; / It's Christmas time again. / Then snows of winter slowly melt. / The day grows short, / And then... / He turns the seasons around, / And so she changes... her gown: / Mother Earth... and Father Time.

Charlotte:   How very special are we... / For just a moment... to be... / Part of life's... eternal... rhyme.

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Day 12/365 "Life is a "trip"...."

Juicing for health

I'm not sure if a lot of you are familiar with juicing and I'm not talking about the Barry Bonds type of juicing.  Basically it is taking raw vegetables, and some fruit and using a juicer to extract the juice from the fruits and vegetables.  This is a good way to get all of the super-nutrients that vegetables and fruit have.  These super-nutrients fight disease, cancer, heart disease, is good for your skin, your colon, and mental health.  You can't lose.  It is better to eat vegetables raw or juice them because then you aren't losing any of the nutrients like when you cook them.  I usually will drink a glass first thing in the morning when I wake up and one before I go to bed. 

I have been doing this for two months now and I have to see that I feel a lot more healthy.  I used to get headaches a lot and now it is a rarity when I do.  I have a lot more energy during the day and my colon is definitely cleansed.  I was eating a lot of processed food and there is really no nutrients and substance in that kind of food.  I have changed my diet and am cooking almost all of my food now and eating a lot more raw vegetables and fruit.  It takes a little more time but the way I look at it is, a little less time in the doctors office later. 

I first came across juicing when I watched a documentary called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead."    It really opened my eyes to what I was putting in my body and what effect it was having on my body.  I suggest everyone to watch it and see how it has changed these people's lives.  On the website they have some good recipes and I usually use the "Mean Green" one but there are a ton out there.  A decent juicer will run you about $100 at Walmart and better ones for about $190 here on Amazon.  It is a great way to lose weight and stay healthy at the same time.  A small investment for a healthy mind, body, and spirit. 

Day 11/365....feeling good

No more monkey on my back

It's tough being a coach, you are a hero when you are winning and the dumbest person in the world when you lose.  Everyone has opinions and they aren't afraid to express them, maybe not to your face, but none-the-less, they are there.  I always hear chitter chatter on the sideline from parents when I am photographing the games and it makes me laugh when they are criticizing the coaches.  If they really only knew how much preparation and work goes into a game, maybe they would be more sympathetic....maybe not.  Not everyone can hold that position of coach/mentor/role-model/disciplinarian/friend/motivator.  It's not easy and I definitely wouldn't want it.  Some people are made for it, others aren't. 

My boy Oneill Palmer got his first win today as head coach and Matt Shinall as defensive coach and I hope the weight on your shoulders is a little less.  It's hard taking over a coaching position when in the previous season they had went undefeated.  There is a lot of expectation with that position.  As well as I know him though, he will pull through and come out on top win or lose.

I have to say, the defense killed it today, something like five turnovers with like three of them being returned for touchdowns.  This pic here is when Henry Ryan rushed the quarterback, made him fumble, picked up the ball and ran in for a touchdown.  At that time the score was 7-6, Cavaliers.  The touchdown made the game 14-6 and to me, it was the turning point of the game.  They ended up winning 41-6.

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Day 10/365....life is good.

Oh Gini

I met Gini Linnabery Swancy through a mutual friend, the one and only, drum roll please....Tinesha Matthews.  Tinesha also claims to be my pimp because I get so many referrals from her.  Well pimp on big pimpin', I ain't mad atcha. 

I arrived at Gini's house around noon and when I got there we were both trying to figure out where to do her shoot at.  She wanted some pictures for her website that she will be starting shortly and she needed some basic headshots and such for her webpage.  I had purchased a green screen a couple days before and was going to use that but it was much too large for the space.  All we really needed was a white background and she told me that she had a big white box that she used to photograph her clothes in when she owned her own boutique in St. Louis.  So she pulled out this collapsible box from the garage and we opened it up right in the drive way.  I have never seen such a thing so big, it is called a Cubelite and it is a translucent box that is 6ft by 6ft and the subject stands inside.  It gives great even light even in midday sun.  I also used my 30" x 60" softbox from Paul C. Buff attached to one AlienBees B800 to add some fill light to the front of her.  During one of her wardrobe changes the box did blow over so I do suggest if you are interested in one of these and the wind is blowing, find something to weigh the bottom down. 

Whenever I photograph someone new, I always seem to walk away like a just made a new friend, and today was no exception.  Thank you Gini for making my job so easy and even though you were a little uncomfortable in front of the camera, you did a great job.

Here is just one pic that I have edited so far.

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Hope y'all are enjoying the posts, day 9/365 on my "Life is a "trip"...." project.

Never too late with Micky A

I know it's past midnight but I'm still up so it still counts as my day 8/365.  This is a lot harder than it looks posting a pic everyday when you are so busy doing other stuff as well.  I got to see my friend Rasjah Chiles perform at The Wine Up tonight.  You can check his music out here at Reverb Nation.  He even threw the Gone Ape shades on to show some love, good looking out.  A real stand up guy with a good heart and some smoothe flows.

Here is a pic from the show.

Precious

Today I had the great privilege to photograph the Delaney family.  I was greeted at the door by their son Grant.  He was a little shy at first which is normal for any 2 year old, but that soon changed.  While he was warming up to me, we decided to take some pictures of their daughter Stella.  A gorgeous baby girl who is only 5 weeks old.  It is imperative that you keep a baby warm while you are photographing them.  I had Holli(mom) use a warming blanket underneath a blanket that we were using to lay Stella down on.  I should have told her before I came over to get one ready so it would already be warmed up, but it had slipped my mind.  If you don't keep the baby warm they tend to be a little more moody.  When photographing kids, it is a must that you be patient, you are on their time and not the other way around. 

I took some photos of Stella and then moved my way over to Grant's room.  From my experience with kids it is always better to get on their level, don't hover over them and make sure that you are not pushy at all.  I don't really like to pose kids because at this age you really want to capture their personality.  Grant is an energetic, bright young boy.  It didn't take long for him to open up and start calling me by my name.  When my job was done, I said my goodbyes and got a nice big hug from Grant.

When taking on the job of photographing a family, don't look as it as just another job, look as it as a privelege.  Hopefully the pictures you take will be shown for generations to come and that is why I always try and get people to print their photos because there is something about a printed image that takes on another life.  It's ok to post photos on facebook to share with your family and friends but more than likely, facebook will not be here hundreds of years later and that printed photo you have will.  I always go back and look at my pictures when I was young and I wish that I had more of them.

Here are a couple pics from today.  Day 7/365 "Life is a "trip"...." project

Sneak peek, Gone Ape

I have a fashion show to help run.  If you are in Charlotte, NC and need something to do tonight, come out and holla at us at the ECHO fashion show and Art Gala.  Here is a sneak peek at one of our new designs for the fall.

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day 6/365 "Life is a "Trip"...."