Gregory Heisler Interview

I just got out of an interview taping with Gregory Heisler. It was very interesting, as well as inspiring to hear him speak. Mr. Heisler is an amazing portrait photographer who is also extremely humble. This was a great experience and opportunity and I am grateful I was chosen to be able to ask him a question directly! Stay tuned to the Photography Network to see it!

5th Quarter Done!

With our 5th of 8 quarters over at Gwinnett Tech, I have compiled a small video talking about what I have done over the last couple months.

Moving to WordPress??

I am seriously contemplating moving my blog to WordPress. I actually have a personal blog there (that was completely neglected due to trying to keep this one maintained) and much prefer the richness of it. I like the interface and the possibilities it offers over Blogger, such as using a third-party hosting company with your own domain, for free. Blogger reminds me too much of MySpace or other non-professional social networking websites.. And it seems to be rather buggy. With that said, I will probably try to transfer everything from here to a free WordPress blog account, with the hopes of making that my own domain in the near future. I will of course notify everyone of the change here, and if anyone knows how (or if there is even a way) to have this page automatically redirect to the new blog, that would be fantastic!

Get Me Out of GA

With classes coming to an end for the rest of the year, it is time to travel! Lauren and I will be headed up to Gatlinburg this Friday afternoon along with several of the 35 Atlanta staff for the company Christmas party. This should be a great weekend to relax, have fun, and get to know my co-workers! We will get back Sunday evening, and then Lauren and I will be flying to Huntingbeach, CA and LA to hang out for the week and spend some time with her family. I took this picture the last time we were in California at Torrey Pines. I can't wait to get back out there!

Gregory Heisler at Gwinnett Tech

The Photography Network is hosting an interview with photographer Gregory Heisler tomorrow afternoon at Gwinnett Tech. Our school was recommended by Denis Reggie and he has expressed his desire to host many more events like this using our facilities in the future. This is a very exciting opportunity and I am excited about getting to be a part of it, not to mention getting to sit front row to see it!

Photoshop Actions

If you've never used actions in Photoshop, you are missing a very unique and efficient tool that can save you a lot of time. I had to do some simple resizing and jpeg conversion work to about 100 images this afternoon and I made a couple actions to speed up the process. The video above is one I found on YouTube that does a fairly decent job of explaining how to make a simple action.

Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon was a great portrait and fashion photographer who was known for his minimalistic, yet powerful images. He shot numerous covers for both Harper's Bazzar and Vogue and has photographed musicians, actors, politicians, activists, slaves, dancers, and writers.. And that's just a short list. I find his work to be very inspiring because he was able to capture such brilliant emotion, character, and personality without the use of extravagant props, environments, or lighting (not to say that he didn't occasionally venture into that.. such as using elaphants). If you haven't seen his work, I strongly reccomend checking it out, even if you aren't interested in portrait or fashion photography!

Reuben

I worked up another image from the Fashion Assignment I shot with Reuben Bidez and liked the image. It's a little different than the others that I posted to Flickr, so I thought I'd post it here for you to check out.

Bebb Studios

This week's lecture in Advanced Portraiture was over wedding photography. This is obviously of interest to me given the fact that I was recently hired with a great local wedding photography company, 35 Atlanta. If you are at all interested in this type of photography, you have probably heard the name Bebb. Husband and wife team, Steve and Jennifer Bebb, have been labeled as one of the top 10 wedding photographers on the planet by American Photo. If you have not heard about the Bebbs, you should check them out. They also do "lifestyle" photography along with weddings.

Don

I've been working on my pring for the Executive Portrait assignment and this is the one I decided to go with. This is Don, who works in the mailroom at Gwinnett Technical College. You can see a few more HERE.

Jared Roman

Jared Roman, the Lighting and Staging/Scenic Director at Buckhead Church, is working on a "Christmas in the City" set change for this coming Sunday morning. See a few more images HERE.

Fashion/Environmental Video

This is a video I put together from working on my Fashion assignment and Environmental Portrait. It was a day full of driving and shooting!

Fashion Assignment

I shot one of my good friends, Reuben Bidez, for my fashion assignment down in Peachtree City. This was the last of three or so locations we shot at that morning and I think this image is my favorite. It was shot on one of the golf cart bridges there (if you've ever been to Peachtree City, you know exactly what I am talking about, haha). You can see a few more images HERE.

California in the Gulf

I shot this picture of Lauren while I was taking pictures of the boat dock that I posted earlier. The sun was setting and she didn't realize I was pointing my lens at her. Since Cedar Key is in the Gulf, the sun sets over the horizon and this image reminds me of Southern California, where Lauren grew up, so it is very fitting for her!

Boat Dock

Here is an image I took while in Cedar Key of an old boat dock that is falling apart. This was actually a popular photo years back when there was a dock running out to this. My dad had taken pictures of it then, and this is one of mine now!

Smile!

This is an image I took of my dad over the Thanksgiving holiday. Although, nothing special in terms of the image, I really like it because my dad is smiling. My dad is a happy person, but it can be hard capturing a genuine smile from him in a picture!

Sunset in Cedar Key

This was the sunset last night here in Cedar Key, Florida where I am spending my Thanksgiving break. I shot this from the porch of the second story condo we are staying at. You can see a few more images of this beautiful sunset HERE.

Driving to Florida

I am down in Ceder Key, Florida right now for Thanksgiving and I had planned to pull off and take some pictures of Lauren in the cotton fields near Tifton. However, all the ones I would have liked to use were "harvested" already... So, as the sun was coming up I just snapped a few off the side of the road. I wish I had used a little fill flash, but this was one of the better shots I took in my opinion.

D Is For Don

Here is Don. He works in the Mailroom here at the school. This was the last shot I took of him during the executive portrait session yesterday morning just goofing around.

Executive Portrait Setup

We shot out exuctive portrait assignment today and I had the pleasure of working with Don who works in the mailroom here at Gwinnett Tech. He was a great subject and easy to work with. This is the setup for one of the shots I did of him in front of the mailboxes.

Jeremy Cowart

This is an older photo by Jeremy Cowart, taken in Africa. Jeremy is a phenomenal photographer that is based out of Nashville. I first heard about him a few years ago when he shot some of my best friends, a band called Unhindered. Since then, I have followed him fairly closely and greatly admire his work. Jeremy started his career as a graphic designer and has now developed himself into a extremely well rounded photographer. Check him out, and keep an eye out for his upcoming book called "Awakening" that will showcase the work he did with the Passion World Tour.

Teddy and I

We are in the middle of shooting Holiday Portraits now and today was my first day of shooting. We were not very busy, but thankfully Rosira let me shoot her family so I could at least get something. Here is a shot of myself and my friend Teddy. Come out and get your portraits done! See when you can stop by HERE.

Color-Managing Firefox

In the quest to make the internet make sense, I have learned a way to make Firefox a color-managed browser! Most web browsers ignore color profiles, witch the exception of Safari. As some of you may have noticed, Safari is much better displaying colors correctly than Firefox. However, this is about all that Safari is better at (for instance, Blogger is extremely buggy on Safari, and much better on Firefox). Without getting overly complex here, this all has to do with how the web browser you are using handles embedded ICC profiles. While this solution does not fix the issue for the general Firefox (or other non-color-managed browser user), it does allow me to work on my blog and see a mostly color-accurate image without having two browsers open. Color management is available in Firefox 3, but must be enabled. It is supposed to be done by default in future versions of the browser, which I am looking forward to, for the the sake of my viewers! Below I will list steps on how to convert Firefox 3 to accurately handle ICC profiles, but you can find out more about this by checking out this article...
To convert Firefox:
1. Point your browser (Firefox) to about:config in the URL address bar
2. If a warning message appears, just tell Firefox that you do indeed know what you are doing (even if you don't)
3. Scroll down to gfx.color_management.enabled (or type that in the "Filter" bar at the top to save some time)
4. Double click on gfx.color_management.enabled to change the "Value" column to read "true" instead of the default "false"
5. Have fun looking at images that actually look somewhat like what you uploaded!

Once again, if you have any questions, feel free to let me know!

Getting Ready

This past Sunday, as part of our 1 year anniversary, Lauren and I went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Being a contract lighting and sound guy, this was quite possibly the most jaw dropping show I have ever seen or heard of. I just wish they would have let me bring my camera! Anyway, this is a shot I took of Lauren getting ready for the evening.

Yummy DOF

After all the rain the past few days, I wanted to play with my new lens some more, so I shot this messing around with the depth of field. I have fast glass (I also use the 16-35 f/2.8L and the 50 f/1.4 lenses), but the focal length from this lens just does beautiful things to the background if so desired. I am really excited to get to try it out shooting some people!

Embed An Audio File

Okay, so the task of embedding an audio file into a blog without any annoying advertisements proved to be quite a challenge. Mr. Jones and I have signed up for countless hosting sites, giving nothing but frustrations. After finally coming across Boxstr, we thought there might be hope, but alas, there was either a cheesy ad or you were forced to download the file. After perusing the coding of the embedded player, I removed the reference to the image for the advertisement, and here is how you can do the same:

1. After uploading your audio file to Boxstr, go to the file's page (from the home page, go to "Files" and then "Manage Files" and click on "Share" next to the file you wish to share.
2. About half way down the page, where it says "Embed This Player" there is a line of HTML code. Copy that and then paste into your blog post using the "Edit HTML" tab.
3. Now we need to remove the ad image. About 2/3 into the coding, locate the part that says this:
"&image=http://boxstr.com/templates/default2/images/icons/boxstrmusic.gif"
4. Highlight and delete that text from the HTML code (be sure to leave one of the "&")
5. Publish the post
6. If Blogger gives you an HTML error message, check the box under the error and hit "Publish Post" again.
7. You should now have the full audio file in an ad-free embedded player on your blog!

If you have any questions about this feel free to ask me!

Interview with Josh Kelley

This is a quick interview I did with Josh Kelley, a fellow photography student. You can see his blog HERE.

Got my lens!

I got my 70-200 f/2.8L IS!!! I picked it up from my fiance just a few minutes and snapped this picture real quick to play with it, but I wish it the weather wasn't so crappy. I am really excited to have this lens! I love finally having a lens longer than 50mm and being able to seperate the subject from the backround like this!

Fill Flash

This is the image I will be turning in for my fill flash assignment. It is a shot I took of my brother on an overpass near downtown Atlanta. He was a good sport while I tinkered with my flash!

Adam

This is a quick portrait I took of Adam, who does all of the front desk work for Kolo. I shot this as another posibility for my fill flash assignment as he was trying to rush to the post office before closing.

Holiday Portraits Part Deux

We start shooting Holiday Portraits this week and this is the final set design. It has come a long way and we are all proud of our hard work! Be sure to come by if you get the chance to check it out and get a portrait done! You can see more information about the Gwinnett Tech Holiday Portraits HERE.

Kolo

Lauren and I went into Kolo in Lil' 5 Points to change the jewelry in one of her peircings. I shot this of Gigi switching it out and it is a possibility for my fill flash assignment.

Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS

This is the Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens and is one of the most popular lenses for Canon users. It offers fantastic image quality, great zoom, weather sealing, 3-stop image stabilization, and a constant maximum aperture of f/2.8, making it very fast. Another great thing about this lens... I should have one by the end of the week and I am stoked!
See a review HERE.

10 Free Business Cards

When I upgraded my Flikr account to Pro status a couple weeks ago, I received an offer from MOO for 10 free "Mini-MOO Cards" with my choice of image on the front and text on the back. Not wanting to turn down free business cards, I decided to give it a try. Well, they came in and I am fairly impressed. They are of pretty good quality (thicker card stock, not flimsy junk). They are small, measuring about 1" tall and about 3" wide, and I think when I actually make and order business cards, I will go with the standard size. These are nice and fun though. On the back it just has my name, blog URL, and contact info. Simple and gets the job done... Good work MOO!

It's Fall!

I went to Lenora Park this afternoon by request of my mother. She wanted a picture she could use for a Thanksgiving card. Not having much experience in "nature photography" this is what I came up with.. You can see a few more HERE.

Obama Campaign Office

Mrs. L. Willis puts in her share of work cleaning up the Downtown Atlanta campaign office for Barak Obama the morning following their victory in this years presidential election. You can see a few more images HERE.

Lauren Got Her Shoes!

Yesterday, Lauren picked up her shoes that she will be wearing on our wedding day, so I decided to take a few shots of them to show everyone! You can see a couple more HERE.

Canon 5d Mark II

In September of this year, Canon officially announced the new 5d Mark II as the successor to the very popular 5d. Canon has already won over many photojournalists and wedding photographers with the original 5d due to it being not only the first compact full-frame DSLR, but also by being remarkable in its features and image quality. The new 5d Mark II looks to blow the first 5d out of the water. Boasting a full-frame 21 megapixel sensor, 3.0" Live View LCD, ISO expansion up to ISO25600, and full 1080p HD Video recording just to name a few, its near impossible to see how this camera could disappoint! I can't wait to get my hands on one to try it out, and I intend on picking one up as soon as I can sell my soul to the highest bidder! Check out the quite extensive, in-depth preview on dpReview or read more from Canon.

Check out an amazing video shot by Vince Laforet on YouTube HERE
And an interview with Vince by Calumet on YouTube HERE

Holiday Portraits

Holiday Portraits are just around the corner and we worked on the set more today. There's still a few things left to work on, but it's coming together very nicely! You can enlarge to image above to see some more details for when you can stop by, or check out the GTC Holiday Portraits Blog! Here is a quick image I shot this morning of the set so far:

Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens

Last week, I picked up a copy of the recently released documentary about Annie Leibovitz. This DVD very efficiently follows Annie's career from the very beginning through her most recent work, from childhood to Rolling Stone to Vanity Fair. Through commentary from subjects, collleagues, family, and even Annie Leibovitz herself, the viewer recieves a remarkable insight into quite possibly one of todays most influential visual artists. Personally, I am a great fan of her and her work and was very motivated after seeing this documentary and would reccomend it to anyone, photographer or not, that is interested in learning a little bit about what makes Annie Leibovitz. You can learn more about Annie Leibovitz HERE or by clicking on the image above to see the PBS page about the DVD, and you can buy the DVD at Amazon.

Fun in Tifton?!?

I went to Tifton today with Lauren, my fiance, and my mother to meet my grandparents for lunch.  This was the first time Lauren has had a chance to meet them, so I wanted to take a few pictures.  We got my grandmother to not only wear a hat, but to wear my hat, and I had to capture that! You can see a couple more HERE.

James Nachtwey's TED Wish

Well-known and influential photojournalist James Nachtwey won the TED Prize last year, and as part of his award, he made a wish for help - help in bringing a story to light that he felt was important and underreported. The subject of this story is a new, dangerous type of tuberculosis called Extreme Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, or XDR-TB. Tuberculosis is both preventable and curable, but inadequate treatment has been driving the emergence of XDR-TB, especially in developing nations. Tuberculosis is not a disease of the past - in 2007 alone, 1.7 million people died from TB - it is the leading killer of people infected with HIV. Nachtwey's wish was that he could break this story, and demonstrate proof of the power of news photography in the digital age. For all of the photos, and much more information about XDR-TB, please visit xdrtb.org. (Article)

MAC-On-Campus

Yesterday we had the MAC-On-Campus demonstration, where a representative come and talks about a wide variety of gear and then let's everyone get a little hands-on with it!  The MAC group consists of many of the top manufactures of equipment in the photo industry including Mamiya, Profoto, Sekonic, and more.  They also offer a nice student discount on most of the stuff!  Here's a little bit of what they brought to show us (pictures taken with phone):

I'm Hired!

So, as of a few hours ago, I have been hired as the new assistant for 35 Atlanta, a group of GREAT wedding photographers. I will be hired as an assistant, but trained as a lead photographer so I can potentially be promoted next year! I am very excited about the opportunities this will provide me and look forward to working with the fantastic people at the company. Check out my audition video that I made as my application for the position (standard procedure for them):

Opa!!

Restaurant owner Nicola Ayoub entertains his patrons during the intermission of the Jahara Pheonix Dance Company's belly-dancing performance.  This is the image I am using for my Feature assignment in Photojournalism.

Living Green

This was an image I shot a couple weeks ago.  I liked the colors of both the building and the light and the weeds sprouting up through the sidewalk in front of this lifeless storefront, so I slapped on the wide angle lens, got on the ground, and took this!

Surf's Up

I shot Josh for my High Key assignment this past week (see set-up shot below).  Turned out pretty well... Check out a couple more on my Flickr, HERE.

What's That?!

I posted a few other images from the session with Libby.  At one point she became quite intrigued by the softbox!  You can see the other shots HERE.

Cocked and Loaded

This is from my Pet Portrait assignment.  I shot my mom's cocker spaniel, Katie.  She was pretty camera shy, but overall not too bad to work with!  You can see a couple other images from this shoot HERE.

New Flickr

I have started a new Flickr account and my first set of images is a group of around 20 images that were my favorites up to this point.  This is one of those, which I shot at Southside Church in Peachtree City, GA.  You can see the other images HERE!

I'm a Lumberjack on the Side

Here is a picture Peggy took of Josh and I working on the Holiday Portrait set... You can see more about our Holiday Portraits HERE, and stay tuned to my blog for some updated pictures as well!

Yummy in My Tummy

I scanned in some of my 4x5 chromes from last quarter for an assignment and this was one of my favorites.  This was for the fruit and vegetable shoot.

A Little More of Columbus

Here's another shot I took while in Columbus this past weekend.  I saw this semi-circle YMCA building and shadow and had to shoot it!