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.