A Ribbeting Experience

ArtsLIVE 2012 PEOPLE PROJECT –
A RIBBETING EXPERIENCE

Saturday, January 28, 2012, 284 men, women, and children
hopped into Leap Year art in the fifth year of ArtsLIVE’s People Project near the Bedell Family Y of Spirit Lake, Iowa. The 145-foot frog was designed by Deidre Rosenboom, graphed by Beck Engineering, Inc., hosted by Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, Friends of Lakeside Lab, and photographed by Judy Hemphill Photography and Midwest Flying Service Inc. For more information see www.artslive.com. Ribbet.

Taken Saturday, January 28, 2012, as part of Iowa Great Lakes
University of Okoboji Winter Games
Photo credit: Judy Hemphill Photography and Midwest
Flying Service Inc.

Avenue of Flags, Clay County Courthouse, Spencer IA

Thank you, veterans, for your service!

One way Spencer, Iowa, honors veterans is through the display of over 1300 memorial flags in its Avenue of Flags.  A few are installed on the Clay County Courthouse lawn for Veteran’s Day.  The entire Avenue is used at the Courthouse and in two cemeteries for Memorial Day.  This Veteran’s Day was perfect for rippling, gently snapping flags.  Walking among these symbols of freedom is humbling.  Each pole is labeled with the name of the veteran honored with that flag.  Most of the tags I checked today indicated the person had served in World War I.  Blessings to each family which has chosen to share these icons.

copyright 2010 Judy Hemphill all rights reserved

Last April our family spent a few days exploring Grand Canyon. Brennan, seven-months-old, created quite a stir in her preppy backpack. Just entered this image in an animal photo contest. Quality varies, but there are some fun and some artsy portraits to peruse.  Past winners, people’s choice, and new entries are available.  Have you taken a photo of your best friend lately?

You’re invited to the seventh big year !

JH Gallery

217 Grand Avenue, Spencer IA

This weekend        Fri., Oct. 1st, 4 pm – 8 pm

Sat. and Sun., Oct. 2nd and 3rd, 9 am – 5 pm

WIN $30 in Gallery Dollars!

Also:  SIMPLE imPERFECTIONS

Fall Open House

Thurs. and Fri.  7:30 am – 8:00 pm

Sat. and Sun.  9 am – 5:00 pm

Please join us to enjoy sights, scents, and flavors!

Prints and cards by Judy

Buttered maple syrup candles burning

Caribou coffee brewing and cookies baking Zena Gingerbread Chai Tea steeping

Zena Gypsy Tea Tasting      Fri. and Sat. 9 am – 10:30 am

Desert View Watchtower copyright 2010 Judy Hemphill all rights reserved

http://www.judyhemphillphotography.com

http://www.artisansroadtrip.com

early snow at Stolley Park, Spencer IA, Oct. 2009

Need something else to think about besides moving all the snow that’s accumulating?  Here’s information from Bruce Morrison’s Prairie Hill Farm Studio blog.  I’ve added some links which I hope will help folks decide to participate.  Sat., Feb. 20, 2010, should be an exciting, rewarding day for all attendees.

“In February a public workshop titled “Midwinter Thaw” is being sponsored by Iowa Lakes Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D), Palo Alto County Conservation Board, O’Brien County Conservation Board, and Clay County Conservation Board. This is a workshop open to the public and its goal is to encourage more people to get outside and become involved in nature during the winter.

“The announcement for this winter photography workshop reads in-part that there is a dramatic upswing in wildlife and nature viewing locally and throughout the country, and that nature photography is often the next step for many people as they become interested in our natural resources.

“The number of people interested in learning about taking good nature photos is growing. Topics like picking out the right camera equipment and its proper use, and marketing and selling your work will all be covered in the Nature Photography Workshop.

“There will be four professional photographers presenting at the workshop:

“Don Poggensee of Ida Grove, Stan Buman from Carroll, Dan Ruf from Spirit Lake, and me, Bruce Morrison, from rural Hartley. All are from the northwest Iowa area and each has had much experience in this field. These photographers will provide insight into how they achieve success in nature photography.

“The program is also highlighting the Watchable Wildlife website and project that will eventually include 13 counties in NW Iowa.

“The workshop will be held at the Emmetsburg Iowa Lakes Community College campus on Saturday, February 20th. There will be a $20 registration fee to cover presenter expenses and lunch. Registration is required so plans can be made for food and materials.

“To register or ask questions about the workshop contact the Iowa Lakes RC&D office at 712-262-2083.

“My part in the workshop will be to emphasize the beginning aspects, equipment and field techniques. Something to think about or check out in February!”

If you’re near NW Iowa and interested in photography, I encourage you to seriously consider making time to soak in the knowledge these amazing artists will share.  I hope to see you there!

Even if you can’t attend the workshop, the four artist Web sites should help you while away some of these wintry hours!  Enjoy!

Poggensee,  Buman,  Ruf,  Morrison

“ArtsLIVE People Project – Chad Branham’s cardinal will sing at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory during Okoboji’s 30TH Annual Winter Games.

The third time is the charm. The first year it was a turtle, last year a dragonfly, and for the third annual ArtsLIVE People Project it will be a cardinal.

Chad Branham will design the hundred-foot bird on Saturday, January 30, on the ice in Miller’s Bay at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. This ephemeral art project will line people up on the ice in the shape of a local aerial favorite. His design will take over 100 people to complete. Once everyone is in place the cardinal will be photographed from an airplane by Judy Hemphill. Participants are asked to come to Peace Corner at 11:00 a.m. and ride a bus to the project site at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory.

People are encouraged to dress warmly and, if possible, to dress in red. “Even if you don’t have a red coat, you can bring a red towel and throw it over your shoulders.” said Branham, “Just come and have fun. And if you can whistle like a cardinal, you will get to be in the beak.” For information about participating in this year’s ArtsLIVE People’s Project go to their website at artslive.com. The photo will be taken at noon this year, so that people can participate in more of the Winter Games activities.

Chad currently works at Bogenriff’s Glass Studio in Spencer. This summer he was the Lead Set Dresser on the independent horror film “Underground” shot in the old Maytag factory in Newton Iowa. He and his wife Marta Barnard are the co-directors of Willow River Arts, an outreach art organization that brings theatre, dance and film to schools and organizations in the mid-west.”

When controlling exposure you have three main aspects available as tools.  A balanced exposure needs to have these aspects remain in balance.  If one control aspect changes at least one other also needs to change in order to maintain the balance.

ISO:  controls sensitivity to light

Expressed as, for example,  100 speed,    200    400    800

Aperture:  controls depth of field

Expressed as, for example,  f/1.4    f/2.0    f/2.8    4    5.6    8    11    16    22

Shutter speed:  controls subject motion

Expressed as, for example,  1/4 of a second,   1/8 sec.,   1/15   1/30                     1/60   1/125   180    250

Among the contributors the math can be confusing.  Here’s a helpful, simplified explanation of their effects:

ISO:  As the number increases the sensitivity to light increases or the number of electrons activated on the sensor.

Aperture:  As the number increases the depth of field increases:

YouTube video from MichaelTheMentor.com

Shutter speed:  As the number increases the ability to freeze motion increases.

Michael Coles has an extensive explanation of apertures, f/stops.
His “favorite analogy for exposure is filling a bucket of water.  A bucket is of fixed size and needs a certain amount of water to fill it” in a given period of time.   This is like a digital camera sensor recording an image.

“To fill your bucket, you can pour a small stream of water for a long time or a fast (BROAD) stream of water for a short time.  Either way, you end up with the same amount of water.  In photography, the size of the stream of the water is analogous to the f/stop, the length of time you pour is analogous to the shutter speed, and the size of the bucket is analogous to the film speed (ISO).  Broadly speaking, from the bucket’s point of view, it doesn’t matter which combination of stream size and length of time you choose as long as the right amount of water ends up coming in.  Film and digital sensors are the same; within limits, they are indifferent to the combination of time and amount of light as long as the right amount of light eventually arrives.”

Another exposure analogy some people may prefer is to a teeter totter:

YouTube video from Dan Feildman at ClickHerePhotographyTips.com

To try to understand the effect of aperture and shutter speed we’ll maintain the ISO at 200.

Sunny 16 example:   The “sunny 16 rule” means that a normal outdoor exposure on a bright, sunny day would use an aperture of f/16 and a shutter speed to match the ISO, or in this case 1/180 sec. which is close to the 200 ISO.  If you wish to have more of the scene in focus, to increase the depth of field, you may increase the number of the f/stop to, say, 22.  To balance that, you’ll need to slow down the shutter speed to 1/120 sec. or 1/90.  If you’re in Iowa it may very well be windy.  You may wish to record a moderately moving subject like trees or tall grasses, to increase the ability to freeze motion.  In that case you could change that original shutter speed of 1/180 to 250 but you will need to then change the aperture to f/11.

To return to Matthew Cole’s bucket analogy, to fill the bucket in the same amount of time (the balanced photographic exposure) you’ll need to keep the size of the stream of water in balance with the speed of the flow of water (the relationship of the aperture to the shutter speed).  The Internet offers several handy exposure calculators.

Here are a couple of samples.  These images were taken at the Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum in Arnolds Park IA (USA).

The camera was on a tripod with 28 mm lens (45 mm 35mm equivalent), ISO set at 100, and focus set on the gold-trimmed motor.   For the first image the camera chose a shutter speed of 1/6 sec. and aperture of 3.5.   For the second image I manually set the shutter speed at 3 sec. and an aperture of 13 (six stops different for each).

shallow depth of field from aperture of 3.5

deeper depth of field from aperture of 13

If  you’re new to photographic exposure control I hope this is beneficial.

To those of you with experience, do you have an explanation that works for you?

Happy snapping!

Heart rocks at the 2009 Clay County (Iowa) Fair

Earlier today Jason White of Spencer Municipal Utilities (SMU) filmed a Cultural Connections segment of Jim Schooley interviewing me about photography.  We used the Clay County Fair setting as a reference point.   I’ll post the broadcast schedule when it’s available.

SMU does a dynamite job capturing video of nearly every athletic and special event in town.  The fair keeps them extra busy.  Jason told me about their re-cap of 2009’s record-setting Clay County Fair.  It’s outstanding. Thanks, SMU!  Enjoy, everyone!

Just about there

Wednesday the crew had only a few hours on site.  Here’s their second day of assembly on the spinning roller coaster:  Crazy Mouse.  For the Clay County (Iowa) Fair, 2009 is this thrilling ride’s first appearance.  The blog post software does an auto crop on the thumbnails of gallery images.  To see the full frame of those below, click on the photo.

How do you like puzzles?

The 2009 edition of the World’s Greatest County Fair runs Sat., Sept. 12, through Sunday, Sept. 20, in Spencer, Iowa, USA.

Twilight nears on the first day of Crazy Mouse set-up

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Excitement builds on the countdown to the start of the 2009 Clay County Fair.   Here are some early steps in the set-up of the world’s largest traveling roller coaster, Crazy Mouse.  It’s on the very northwest corner of the Merriam’s Midway.  These are quick edits so you can share in the anticipation.  To see the full frame of an image, click on the cropped thumbnail.

Friday evening, Sept. 11, from 6 to midnight there will be preview rides!

The fair runs Sat., Sept. 12, through Sun., Sept. 20.

More  Thursday!