Oct 30, 2009 | Random Thoughts
We were at this very special place that my good bud Joe McNally told me about here in ME. He threw me a lifeline bless him, and at first, I didn’t grab it. But in that process of throwing me a line he also threw me a challenge, get a portrait of Andy. Why was that a challenge, well you need to know Andy to understand that. At first, Andy turned me down cold. Being a guest at his very cool place, I didn’t push which is staying in my comfort zone. I was going to do a brief flash lighting demo for the class using it to teach light more than flash. The demo was scheduled for 5PM, I had 90min to get ready.
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After dorking around outside, I headed in to see what a couple of the students were doing. I found Sharon and my MMW assistant in the “shop” talking with Andy. I stopped, thought about what I’ve learned from Joe and the challenge and engaged Andy in conversation. He had in a back room a old radial plane engine and I asked what was the story. He told me it was from a B-29, that he used to have two and sold one and kept the other one because his dad flew in a B-29 in WWII. I asked where, and he said in the far east. I said my dad was in a B-29 at Clark, and asked where was his dad stationed. In Saipan. We instantly formed a bond talking about our dad’s WWII exploits. I made contact with my subject on a personal level, right out of McNally’s playbook. As you can see, I got Andy for 3 min (and made a new friend!) and it was the best 3 min of the day!
The photo itself is pretty straight forward. I have minimal lighting gear with me, SB-900, SD9 & 24″ EzyBox with SU800. That’s what Andy is lit with. Jim in the group had a Tri-Grip & SB-800 with 1/2cut CTO so that lit the back left truck. Another Jim had another SB-800 and that lit the other side of the truck. Not happy with the highlights on the tank. The last flash was an SB-900 was set to 200mm to light the truck globe behind Andy. All TTL driven, pretty darn simple, the 3 min portrait.
Thanks Andy and thanks Joe!
Photo captured by photographer with head reattached
Oct 29, 2009 | Random Thoughts
Had a killer opportunity and rather than seizing the moment, my mind went to mush! I hate it when I can’t get out of my own way. The problem, so much too shoot and rather than pushing for something new, I settled for what’s easy. Stupid, stupid stupid! See what I mean….
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[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP4785.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
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Sucks, sucks, sucks!
My only saving grace was meeting and befriending a very genuine person, a craftsman and character and then having just 3 minutes of his time. That of course came as a gift from another dear friend who pushes me thank goodness to go outside my comfort zone. MTC!
Crappie photos captured by space cadet!
Oct 29, 2009 | Random Thoughts
We made the drive last night to Portland Lighthouse which I had photographed just a month ago. The one thing about this iconic locale is that at sunset, at that exact minute, you have to leave the park. We obtained permission last night to stay late and man, it was worth it. We had a great storm and the images were killer.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/plhmmw.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
What you see here is our class lesson that I just finished from our shoot last night. This is by no means the finished image. I learned something last night standing there in the rain watching the light beam which really is messing with my mind. I’m throwing this up to just plant the seed and I will next week add water to it to see what grows for all of us. I want to thank the gang for going along with the crazy instructor who drug them all down to this lighthouse in the rain. They had to go on faith there was a reason to the madness and I appreciate that!
Photo captured by D3x, 45PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 26, 2009 | Random Thoughts
What are you going to do? I’m not sure why, but folks seem surprised when they cross my path somewhere in the wilds of North America, and that I can be out looking with no more intention then to just be out looking. Here’s a perfect example. It was a bald sky day – I’ve lamented about how I think they suck more than once on the blog. The majority of the time, they just don’t lend any drama to our landscapes.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP3809b.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
How do I know this image sucks (besides the final visual)? It required more than two minutes in the digital darkroom to get this far, that’s a really bad sign. There was no drama to the light or the scene and none could be created in post, it’s just a “here’s a lighthouse” photograph which in my book is a loser.
But my intent for the day was not to make some great image. Sharon & I went to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse yesterday in the rain, a completely opposite lighting situation from today. I have seen a couple of cool images of this lighthouse shot right after a snow storm. I really like them so I did a 360 around the lighthouse and its cliffs looking at the light, thinking through where it would be at sunrise and sunset and the pattern that would be created. I took a number of set shots so if I came back again in the right light then I’m all ready to go. I was simply playing tourist and came away with that kind of photo and that’s just fine.
Photo captured by D3x, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 13, 2009 | Random Thoughts
For snow. Yeah baby, it’s snowing here on the Eastside!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP2754.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Jan 4, 2009 | Random Thoughts
Lexar’s UDMA USB Reader
I want a multi-slot single reader!
