Needless to say, the last two weeks have been exceptionally busy at the Indianapolis Star.  Everybody has just been wildly busy, as we were the forefront of coverage on Superbowl XLVI.  The last week I’ve been on loan to the Information Center  side of things.  Normally I shoot advertising, marketing and Custom Content at the paper, but this last week has been all about news; and my assignments have varied greatly from my normal day to day work, but It’s been a great honor to have been a part of the festivities, and the Editorial team assigned to cover this great event in our great city.

(Nikon D3 at 1600ISO set to Multiple Exposure mode to accentuate the moon’s size over the stadium.  The first exposure was with a Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2 and a TC14eII racked out to 280mm to make the moon as large as possible in the frame with an exposure time of 1/400th@F8.  The Second exposure was with a Nikon 28-70mm @50mm to make the stadium as large as possible in the frame from where I was.  Exposure settings were 1/50th@F8.  The Nikon Multiple Exposure mode is fantastic, and you can take up to 10 frames all into a Nikon NEF file, allowing you to do things like this completely in camera.)

Shot that last night, right as the game was starting.  My assignment last night was coverage of festivities in Superbowl Village as the game progressed.  My counterparts at the paper, who are hands down the best sports shooters and photographers in general that I’ve had the fortune to know were inside the stadium doing what they do best; recording history.  I had been outside on the streets for about 6 hours at this point and I had envisioned the shot above about a week prior, but was never down town at the right time for the shot to work.  My only complaint on that one is that I wish I’d have had more lens for the  moon.

(Nikon D3, 320ISO Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@70mm.  1/400th@F6.3)

That little girl there is named Mary Kennelly, and she’s actually the daughter of one of the Giant’s athletic trainers.  She was a little too light for the zipline it seems and got stuck in the middle.  It didn’t take the Ziptek folks long to rescue her; a matter of minutes in fact as they were prepared for such a contingency (as one would hope).  The crowd was pretty good actually and a lot of the people standing on the street below her called to her, letting her know everything would be fine.

 (Nikon D3, 900ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@200mm.  1/320th@F2.8)

This young lady is from a band called “Holistic”.  Unfortunately I have no other ID than that, as It took quite a bit of effort to figure out who the band even was considering they weren’t on schedule for Game day at the Pepsi Stage.  It turns out they were scheduled for Friday where there were numerous injuries thanks to overcrowding.  Turns out they were rescheduled for Sunday, and I managed to catch them as they started their show.  If I hadn’t caught them when I did, I wouldn’t have been able to shoot them as I didn’t have a “PT” on my media tag, allowing me into the Photo Trailer to get me my wristband allowing me Photo Pit access.  The spot I got was the next best thing; on the railing outside the photo pit.

 (Nikon D3, 2500ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5@18mm.  1/30th@F3.5)

The streets were packed.  For 10 days Indy might as well have been times Square.  Not quite as many flashing lights, or even naked cowboys but quite a few people to say the least.  Reports say that a million people actually went through Superbowl Village last week, and I’d believe it as I was in the thick of it a few times.  First experience for me was a week ahead of time when we sent our one and only Bob Kravitz down the zipline, which for the record was the longest temporary zipline ever constructed.

(Video shot on Canon 1D Mark IV, 7D, and 5D Mark II with a Veriety of Canon EF Lenses.  Contour Helmet cameras, and I believe there is some iPhone footage in there someplace too.  Edited together by Bob Scheer with Final Cut Pro, shot by Bob Scheer, Michelle Pemberton, and myself).

The rest of the week after that was a blur.  Tuesday I was at Media day on the field with all of the Patriots and the Giants doing their little song and dance for everybody that had any random questions including but not limited to comparing Tom Brady’s hair to Justin Bieber’s.  It only took about 9 bag checks to get into the stadium, and then back out (yes they checked our bags again after we left the stadium and re-entered the media drop off point).  This was my view:

After that my week was just as everybody assumes the lives of photographers in superbowl week are are.  Filled with Celebrities and parties.  Ok there were celebrities, but not as everybody would think.  Met Adam Sandler, Joe Montana, Joe Theisman and a few others.  Photographed Ludacris on the Red Carpet at Maxim’s party, as well as spent all week on Radio Row doing video to recap all of the celebs and athletes to come through.

(Radio Row Videos shot with a Nikon D3s, and a variety of Nikkor Lenses, and edited in Final Cut pro)

It was a busy week.  Very busy.  70 hours kind of busy to go into last week.  Loved almost every minute of it in fact.  Hardest part was being away from Shannon constantly, and really only seeing her in my dreams.  The last night down in Superbowl Village, Shannon came out to run around the crowd with me.  She hadn’t seen the village, and I can’t imagine what she must have been thinking since I had been gone almost day and night the entire week.  Obviously she had to wait outside a few places that I had to duck into while getting a few fan shots, but either way it was great to have her there with me for at least a little bit.  I didn’t make it in to shoot the game, but maybe someday.  Until then I’m going to keep the memory of having covered Superbowl 46 close as it awesome, even if i wasn’t on the field.  Until then, check all the galleries here. As mentioned previously, the Photographers at the Indystar are the best photographers I’ve had the pleasure to know and work with and it’s an incredibly humbling honor to be considered a part of their team.  Take a good look at the galleries, and as always.  More Soon.

(The game view from the Tilted Kilt Indianapolis.  Nikon D3, 1800ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@200mm, 1/160th@F2.8)

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 50ISO, Canon EF70-200F2.8IS@100mm, 1/160th@F16.  Dynalite 1000xl with pack set to Full Power shot through a 24×24″ Softbox from above left of Phil B to give the white background some Grey Falloff.  Light triggered by Pocketwizard Plus II Transceiver).

Phillip B. Wilson here is one of our loved Colts reporters.  you can check out his Twitter, and Blog on Indystar to see what he has to say.  The man has no filter.  During the shoot we talked about different Sports issues, his opinions on players and Colts staff, as well as a few of his own personal life tragedies that he has finally taken humor in.  Great guy, great reporter.  He has no filter, and his writing shows it.  You may not agree with everything he has to say, but at least he says it; which is more than a lot of people would do.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 50ISO, Canon EF70-200F2.8IS@200mm.  1/160th@F4.  Single Dynalite 1000xl shot through a 24″x24″ softbox above and in front of Phil B set to 1/4th power.  Light fired by Pocket Wizard Plus II Transceiver.)

Had plenty of time to shoot any number of things with Phill B.  He was into it, and it showed.  Got a lot of good stuff from his shoot.  Have lots of other writers on the list as well, and in fact that afternoon also shot Bob Kravitz for the same style ads.

(Canon 5D Mark II, 160ISO, Canon EF70-200F2.8IS@200mm.  1/160th@F10.  Single Dynalite 400JR set to 1/8th with a 30 Degree Spot grid above Bob to the left slightly to give a moody Shadow look, while providing a dark grey falloff for the white background.  Dyanlite triggered by Pocket Wizard Plus II transceivers).

You an check out Bob’s Writing also on his Blog or Twitter.  Bob here steps on toes.  He knows that people read his writing not by the people that come up and say they like it, but by the amount of hate mail he gets every week.  Legend has it that he’s even received hate mail from his wife regarding some of his writing.  Really nice guy, he just knows how to push a nerve.  He is yet another person that makes his living saying the things that other people don’t, or won’t.  He talks about how much he loves sports and doing his job, but then talks about how he goes home and has to fight with his daughter regarding sports teams too.  These guys live and breathe this stuff.  At the Indystar, “This is who we are, and what we do”.

That’s the Ad set that ran in last Sunday’s paper.  It’s funny because I can tell the photos haven’t been touched, or photoshopped at all.  It can be an annoyance but even though I’m in advertising I’m really not allowed to touch my images much for the paper.  Reasons being that when I’m out covering events for even the Marketing or Advertising side of the paper I can’t Photoshop things to look better than they are.  I have to make them in the camera as best I can, so in the moment that I can’t do those things I automatically wont.  Not to say that my images don’t get Photoshopped (sometimes by epic proportions even).  I’m just not the one that does it.  The images that ran in the paper last Sunday weren’t as I’d have run them, thanks to complications in the studio.  The ads look good though.  Look for more in the future, as well as for these to be appearing on billboards around Indy, as well as look for Terry Hutchins, Mike Wells, David Woods, and many other already photographed sports reporters to be featured in the future.    Also look for these guys take on the upcoming Superbowl.  They will be there; along with the Newspaper’s Full force.  Lots of people have asked if I’ll be at the Superbowl and I keep giving the same answer.  Right now, I don’t know.  Only thing I do k now, is that my paperwork has been sent in for some currently undisclosed assignments for that week.  What does that mean?  Who knows.  More Soon.

Last night I finished updating the gallery pages on my website, so head up to the menu up top and check it all out.  I have lots more images on my iPad, but I put some key ones up here.  It’s the first of a few changes in the pipe to be made to the website, but I wanted to entice people to go take a look.  Some of the changes that I’m working on include a gear page, as a lot of questions that I get are regards to the gear that I use.  Shannon added the ability to buy prints of any image you see on here, and dang is it swell!  I still need to work on the pricing with the company that’s helping us with it, but otherwise it’s a very cool feature.  Now I just have to shoot some stuff people want printed….  Also we are going to put some variation in the galley pages at some point.  That just means that there will be more images to look at, but they will be better categorized so you can find more easily what you’re interested in looking at.  (IE, Lomography, Art stuff, or Light Painting underneith the Personal Category).  Some of the already updated images like the one above are older, and I dug them out as I like them; feeling as though after a few years of not looking at them they should be included.  Images like the one above a lot of people have seen before.  Some images I couldn’t put up yet, as the products that they were shot for aren’t yet on the market.  Then there are images like the one below that people generally haven’t seen:

Guaranteed there’s some new stuff in there that’s not been shown on the blog, or on my facebook page though; so it’s worth taking a look.  The images here on WordPress look great as compared to how they sometimes appear on Flickr, or on Facebook.  In some cases it’s because I upload them larger than I’m supposed to, and you may have to wait a few seconds for them to come up.  Sorry about that, but I want the images displayed a certain way and in order to do that you may have to wait that extra second.  I can’t thank Shannon enough for all the work she’s done on my site over the last year to keep it up and running; despite any sort of kamikazi style web posting that I might do.  Turns out just running in and placing files all over my webspace wherever it’s convenient for me isn’t the right thing to do…. Like I said; Shannon puts up with a lot when it comes to me and I’ll forever be thankful.  I love her and she knows it.  Maybe someday I’ll understand the workings of the interwebz in more of a capacity than that of a monkey understands brain surgery.

Until I understand things Web, I’ll continue to attempt to understand things Photography.  Aside from the new SB-910, The Nikon D4 was announced last week and I’ll be the first to tell you I’m going to wait on it.  Seems to be a lot of that going around for whatever reason.  Seems like a pretty solid update, but for the moment I’m just going to hold tight.  I’ll see what I can do about getting an evaluation copy to write a few words on (if anybody’s interested), but otherwise my NPS priority purchase email was primarily to tell me I need to book more gigs this year.  Sometime later in the year the Guys at Roberts will find one for me Refurb or someone will buy it and fire 400 shots through it, in which case it will then become mine.  Until then I’m not planning on worrying about that kind of a purchase, much less about when or where I can buy XQD memory cards….

It’s another year alright.  Another year to start wondering where the jobs will come from, and if you’ll get paid in a timely manner.  Another year to hope the gear doesn’t break, or that someone doesn’t release “the next best thing” that you’ve got to go run and spend a buttload of money on if you want to consider staying in this game called Photography.  Another year to take lots of pictures.  Good or bad, being able to snap those frames or make those photos is a blessing.  I thank my Grandfathers and my Photo Professor for all they did for me in getting to this point and this upcoming year I’ll be attempting to return the favor.  I’ve given quite a few presentations and demonstrations, but Ivy Tech has decided to take me to the next step (in a sense).  Starting this Thursday, I’m teaching Photo 100 for Non Majors.  Back to the basics.  Things like Framing, exposure, Photoshop, Light painting……. Field trips to the park for the love of the craft.  Very excited about it.  Not sure how people sign up or if anybody is going to continue to show up to the class or not; but excited about the opportunity.  Just like all projects you start in life; I guess we’ll just see where it goes.  It’s a little late, but welcome to 2012….

More Soon.

(image courtesy of Contour’s website)

That’s the little guy right there.  It’s what’s called a POV (Point of View) Camera for attaching to places where you normally couldn’t see things from.  A good friend of mine from college got a GoPro hero, which he puts on his mountain bike from time to time.  None of his footage is posted anyplace though as he only edits his footage on an Asus eeePC, which is like trying to use a tack hammer to nail in a railroad spike.  I digress though, as the Contour+ isn’t your standard POV camera; it’s considerably better.

Before I get too far into it, I’d like to mention that no; I am not paid to write what I’m going to write about the Contour.  Neither Roberts or Contour have had any effect on what I’m saying about the camera, and have not compensated me in any way.  (Except for that Klondike bar that one time… but that was for something else completely.  Thanks again Jody!)

The camera itself has a pretty solid list of features, including that you can have up to a 32gb Micro SD card, external Audio via a 1/8th inch stereo jack on the bottom (with included cable), 1080/30i and 720/60p resolution with a 170 Degree field of view 270 degree rotatable lens, as well as one of my favorite features; wireless bluetooth viewfinder.  Just to name a few important features.  Wait, what was that?  Wireless Viewfinder?  Yup.  Think about it, what’s the hardest part about using one of these POV cameras?  You never know what you’re going to get until after you do your recording, and then you’re lucky if you get what you want.  Thanks to the Contour that problem is done and gone.  It’s awesome.

The camera comes with a 2gb MicroSD Card which honestly is pretty good.  I happened to have an 8gb card from an old cell phone that I slapped in there to make sure I could record as long as the battery lasted (which was about 2 hours).  This is where my association with the Naptown Roller Girls comes into play as Jody and I agreed that it would be very cool to see some clips as to what it looks like to be in the middle of the pack during a Roller Derby bout.  A bout wasn’t possible, but a practice scrimmage a few weeks ago was, and that’s where I shot the still above to demonstrate the wireless viewfinder.  Our skater?  Katya Lookin, of Naptown Tornado Sirens fame, as well as that of Vital Skates in Fountain Square here in Indianapolis.  That wasn’t enough though.  I also contacted my friend Alan Young with Hardcore Sportz, who rides Flatland BMX.  Check out a quick FULL 1080HD compilation of the two with some absolutely horrid royalty free music:

Wow was I impressed with the Contour.  What a Sweet little camera, especially in low light. One of the things that I’ve noticed is that you constantly see a lot of these POV camera’s footage in extremely sunny days, which I had not single one of during the time that I had it.  It definitely did its job in full 1080 HD, and not only that, but it performed beautifully in one of the darkest venues that I know of: The NRG Practice Space.  The Practice space is so big and dark that I set up three, 1000w flood lights and ended up shutting them off before the filming because they didn’t make any difference.  The contour pulled through though, like a champ.  Not only that, but the helmet and modular mounts that I had were no brainers.  They attached to the helmet, and to Alan’s Bike super quickly and easily.  The camera is Durable; if you wait until the very end of the video you’ll see that Alan took a spill that caused us to stop shooting.  The bike fell right on the camera and not only did it keep on recording, but it was unfazed by the fall.  I’ve never used a Hero GoPro, but I do know the features of the upcoming Hero GoPro 2, and I must say in all honesty that I’d choose the contour.  The Wireless Viewfinder does it for me.  The GoPro gives you a similar feature, but you have to buy an extra component in order to make it work where as the Contour works with the Android, iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad that you’ve already got! Not only that but you can adjust the settings of the camera on the fly; without a computer.

(Click to biggify)

You can’t use the viewfinder while you’re recording, it’s kind of a either/or situation which is fine with me, and I found that the horizon line on the front of the camera didn’t quite line up when I rotated it to level.  I’m guessing my eyes are just crooked as opposed to there being something wrong with the camera.  I recorded a little bit of 60fps footage, but none of it looked cool slowed down so I am not posting it.  No point in making someone watch roller skating at 60fps when there’s not a fall or a hit to partake in right?  The F2.8 Aperture of the Contour made sure there was enough light that shooting even in the NRG Practice Space was possible without any problems.  Any complaints?  The only complaint that I have is that the Contour+ (as tested) is a $499.99 camera that wasn’t waterproof.  It is Water resistant, but it couldn’t take a quick dunk and survive; which honestly for that kind of money on a POV camera I’d hope it to be more than just water resistant…

Either way, the camera is awesome and I kinda want one…  Know all those Visa Gift cards you’ll get for Christmas from the strange relatives that you never hear from except around the holidays?  CONTOUR CAMERA!  Robert’s website says they are out of the + model at the time of this posting, but call down there to ask.  In total, they have the Plus, GPS, and the Roam which is Waterproof without a special case.   All of these have the wireless viewfinder ability, but the Roam and GPS require the Connect View Card to do it; which at $29 is an easy addition.  Plus, you could probably fit both the Connect View Card, and the Contour into a loved ones stocking without any problem.  Ever wanted to capture their face while they are opening their gift?  POV cam Baby!  More Soon.

I really just scratched the surface of the features and potential of this little guy…For more information on the Contour, visit Contour’s Website.
If you’re interested in Purchasing, buy where I get almost all of my gear: Roberts Distributors.

(Nikon D3s, 400ISO, Nikon 105F2.8VR Macro, 1/200th@F20.  Single SB900 zoomed to 200mm set t0 1/4 power aimed at Shannon’s eye to give the harshest light possible for creating the ridges in her eye, as well as providing a quick enough recycle to make sure that her pupil was contracted for a few frames as opposed to dilated.  Speedlight triggered by a Nikon SU-800 on the cameras hot shoe.)

A few months after we completed that project, Toni called me and Tom up again to work on a knitting project that was supposed to come out looking a lot like a dance scene out of the movie Suckerpunch, except with knitwear.  To do that we went out to a factory space that was owned by one of Toni’s customers in Franklin Indiana, and started coming up with things like this:

(Nikon D3s, 400ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@98mm.  1/40th@F5.  Single Nikon SB900 set to 1/2 with a theatrical red Gel zoomed out all the way to 14mm on the floor about 25′ behind where Shannon is standing on the metal press.  Single SB-900 to camera left set to 1/4th zoomed to 135mm on a 15′ stand shot through a 32″ umbrella.  Single SB800 set to Camera right zoomed in to 105mm, set to 1/8th power shot into the side of a red toolbox to give Shannon the red effect glow on the right side of the frame.  All Speedlights triggered by Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 Radios, with a MiniTT1 on the camera with a Nikon SU-800 on the hot shoe.)

The purpose of these images was to go to on a website known as Knit Picks, where the patterns and all sorts of yarns are sold.  The Photos that were taken to go on there are just eye candy, to show in some cases what the inspiration for the patterns were, or just to market towards people that want things based on  how cool a photo set is.  So we have a photo like above, with a detail shot as shown here:

(Nikon D3s, 400ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@180mm.  1/40th@F5.  Single Nikon SB900 set to 1/2 with a theatrical red Gel zoomed out all the way to 14mm on the floor about 25′ behind where Shannon is standing on the metal press.  Single SB-900 to camera left set to 1/4th zoomed to 135mm on a 15′ stand shot through a 32″ umbrella.  Single SB800 set to Camera right zoomed in to 105mm, set to 1/8th power shot into the side of a red toolbox to give Shannon the red effect glow on the right side of the frame.  All Speedlights triggered by Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 Radios, with a MiniTT1 on the camera with a Nikon SU-800 on the hot shoe.)

This pattern featuring the lovely Shannon isn’t up on Knit Picks yet, but it was test printed last week and should go up very soon along with the pattern there and on Toni Carr’s website as well.  There are all sorts of patterns of all shapes and kinds on Toni’s website as she has two books, owns an online knitting store, and is just an all around badass when it comes to Roller Derby, Cofee, or things knitting related.

(Nikon D3s, 640ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@98mm.  1/60th@F5.  Nikon SB-900 Speedlight with SD-9A battery pack zoomed to 200mm set to full power shot through a 32″ umbrella about 10′ to camera left on a 15′ stand angled slightly down at Summer.  Single SB-900 set to 1/4 power bare bulb on another stand zoomed out to 50mm shot directly at Summer about 20′ to camera right.  Single SB800 set in a pool of grease that I didn’t see when setting the shot up, zoomed to 105mm aimed straight up at the ceiling set to full power with a 1/2 CTB to fill in the machinery and the ceiling.  All Speedlights fired by Pocket Wizard TT5 Radios with a Pocket Wizard TT1 and Nikon SU-800 Commander on the camera. )

There are detail shots of Summer on the Fork lift up on knitpicks too, and the shots that Tom did of Jeana are up now too.  We also did a large group photo inside of the warehouse/factory as well that you’ll have to wait to see on Knitpicks.  Like I said earlier, the shoot was inspired by the movie Suckerpunch; but due to lack of time I have yet to even see the film to know how well it did in that comparison.  It was supposed to be close, but not really close for obvious copyright reasons.  Even if it isn’t quite Suckerpunch-esque because they didn’t go through all kinds of Post Processing like the film did; I’d like to think they still work as an Industrial Dance/Knitting type thing as-is.  What do you think?  Leave a comment and let me know.  More soon.

]]> http://www.lebryk.com/factory-knits/feed/ 4 http://www.lebryk.com/count-the-blessings/ http://www.lebryk.com/count-the-blessings/#comments Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:39:17 +0000 mlebryk http://www.lebryk.com/?p=1703 Read More]]> Every day we all roam through life worrying about things we need, or things that need to be done, or things that we can’t do.  Things that we’ve done that were wrong, or things that we have yet to make decisions on, or things that we are doing that we shouldn’t be doing.  Decisions that could be hard, but rewarding, or decisions that could decide the fate of a pet or cherished item.  Really though, the hardest thing of all those things would be to think for a minute as to all the things that we do all have, or have all done to get to where we are right now.  Not in a pessimistic sense, or a look back on the bad run of luck that got any individual to this particular juncture; but   just the things that we do have that make our lives what they are because no matter what happens, everybody needs to remember; the whole world isn’t out to get you, and things could always be a bit worse.  No matter what.

This year has been good to me personally, and for that I am thankful.  My inspirations such as Joe McNally, Dave Black, David Hobby, Bill Frakes, and many more.  People who I can say I’ve really never met in person or more than just in passing, or even care that someone like me exists; but have influenced countless photographers across the world with their style, passion, and skill.

I’m thankful for all the guys and gals over at Robert’s Distributors who have not only managed to make me overspend time and time again, but have always had whatever I’ve needed to complete my assignments on little to no notice.  From the calls that they give me to tell me they have something I’ve been looking for in their used case, or just calls asking me to demo equipment for their blog; I can easily say they have been great to me and I’m thankful that I haven’t let them down.  (At least not to my knowlege).  It’s because of one of them that I was set up with Pocket Wizard’s last year to beta test, and it was one of them that has had me out to lecture at Ivy Tech, the Art Institute, and IUPUI here in Indianapolis.  I am also thankful that they didn’t laugh  me out the door earlier this year when I went to them and asked about sponsoring the Roller Derby by hanging lights for their tournament.  It was then that I am thankful that Manfrotto stepped up, and sponsored the whole project with their Dado units.

I am thankful for the Roller Derby.  That sounds odd, but it’s true as without the Roller Derby I ‘d probably still know very few people here in Indianapolis.  It’s not just the Naptown Roller girls either.  I mean the Derby in general including, NRG, Circle City Derby Girls, AARG, and many many more.  Meeting and getting to know derby photographres like Bob Dunnell, Axle Adams, Phil Peterson and others has been an amazing experience.

I am thankful for the technology that I have in both my Nikon and Canon cameras.  Having the full time experience that I do with both systems has been absolutely invaluable and has most definitely made me a much better photographer; even if it has caused me to wear my hair like a  mad scientist in the hopes that eventually a photo that I take will work out on the first try as opposed to the 48th.  Both Canon and Nikon make amazing pieces of technology, and I”m thankful that I am skilled enough to do enough work that I own an entire Nikon camera kit personally.  Not borrowed or rented from anyone.

I am thankful of all the folks that read this blog.  Different sources say different things as to how many read, but the internet says that people read from all over the world.  I hope that I’m not teaching anybody bad grammar in another country, because I get heckled enough for having bad grammar and spelling here.  I’d hate to have people know my bad grammar over photos that I’ve taken…  I am thankful for family that has supported me in not only this blog, but also in my photography in general.  As well as I am also thankful that even though this is the first thanksgiving without my Grandfather Gabe, he is now in peace.

I am thankful that the Indystar has kept me around as long as they have.  They continue to find assignments to send me on, requesting only that I bring them back the best media that I can.  Time and Time again, I go out into whatever environment they send me with no budget and a deadline that has already past; and I am thankful that I can provide what they need.

I’m thankful that people continue to call me as a photographer.  I don’t always answer, requiring that I call back and sometimes I look like a zombie sleeping at my desk; but people continue to call.  People continue to ask and pay me to do some of these things that in some cases I would pay to be able to do.  Last year I met Neil Gaiman while shooting a book for Toni Carr, and in fact now have a large photo print on canvas hanging in his house.  I’ve traveled almost 50,000 miles this year so far via plane, car, van, or bus for assignments.  I am thankful and honored that people call and ask me to document and experience some of the most important moments of their lives via a wedding, or even the birth of a child.  I’m thankful that I was able to take Shannon on a lot of these adventures because never being around is no way for me to tell her that I love her.

Speaking of Shannon.  I am certainly more than thankful for her.  She puts up with my shenanigans, my crazy hair when I haven’t gotten it cut for 6 months, the fact that I don’t sleep much and every now and then get a craving for a burrito so strong that the term “Body by Qdoba” becomes more of a slogan than just a saying.  She deals with the fact that I’m always adding things to the calendar on nights and weekends, and she deals with the fact that sometimes I’m done later than I expect.  (sometimes by a lot…).  She deals with the fact that in order to do what I do, I have to do these things so that I’m not forgotten and people stop calling.  She deals with my paranoia that nobody will call me ever again because I didn’t get a shot right within the first 100 frames.  She deals with the fact that I killed half the grass in the front yard, and tried to feed tuxedo the cat beer.  She deals with the fact that my computer desktop has 435 Icons on it; none of which are organized in any way.  She deals with the fact that my Desk has 436 pieces of paper on it with once again zero to little organization.  She has dealt with people that I hardly know leaving me crazy Facebook posts out of left field for no reason.  She deals with my website, and the spammers and hackers that assault it from time to time causing it to go down.  She deals with me playing with the cats at PetSmart using the laser pointer’s I find in the store.  I am thankful that our cats are happy, and that she enjoys the three of them as much as I do.  (Even if Tuxedo does in fact like Beer).  I love her, and things wouldn’t be the same without her.

More Soon, but until then.  Count your blessings.  Happy Thanksgiving.

]]> http://www.lebryk.com/count-the-blessings/feed/ 1 http://www.lebryk.com/to-the-skies/ http://www.lebryk.com/to-the-skies/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:01:13 +0000 mlebryk http://www.lebryk.com/?p=1697 Read More]]> Every now and then I get an assignment that I’m truly excited about, in more than just normal excitement.  That sounds confusing and it should be unless you realize that I’m pretty easily excitable in most ways.  You can ask Shannon as the other night I was overly excited about a Burrito to the point where I ate one 3 meals in a row.  Not just the jump up and down excited because you get to meet someone famous excited, but like Going To SPACE! an opportunity that you get that could be wicked cool kind of excited.   Several weeks back I had just such an opportunity with the Lifeline at IU Health for a story that the Indiana Nursing Quarterly was doing on Helicopter Nurses.

(Nikon D3s, 100ISO, Nikon 24mmF1.4.  1/6400th@F1.8.  Nikon SB-900 zoomed to 200mm on a Sandbagged Stand shot through a 16″ Umbrella to camera left set to Epic Full Power.  Speedlight fired by a Pocket Wizard TT5, with a Pocket Wizard TT1 and Nikon SU-800 on the camera’s hotshoe.)

I’m sure you’re thinking of all the cool things that you would have done if you were out there too right?  I was amped.  The crew at the Indianapolis Heliport was incredibly helpful, and didn’t even balk when I asked if we could move the helicopter so that I could see the skyline.  Being a modern day newspaper photographer though I knew that my time was limited.  Gone are the days where a photographer could spend an entire day someplace to make sure they got the shots they needed to tell the story the best way possible.  Only people like Time, or National Geographic can do things like that anymore.  In some aspects I feel like maybe it makes newspaper photographers better because they have to learn to see or imagine things more quickly, while in other ways it makes me feel cheated as to some of the cool things that could be seen or photographed along the way.  For this assignment the skyline was very important to the story as it needed to show that this was very much Indianapolis and not some stock photo so most of the photos that I took have the skyline in them in some way.

(Nikon D3s, 100ISO, Nikon 28-70F2.8D@28mm.  1/160th@F11)

Of Course Photography can sometimes be like a Thriller at the movies, because you never know when a twist is going to take you in a direction you weren’t expecting.  That’s the Chopper crew preparing for takeoff.  If I had all the time in the world I’d have put a light in the back of the chopper to light up the crew a little more for photo purposes, but that’s where the twist comes in.  I’d like to say that frames following this one were me loading onto the chopper to go with them, but they aren’t.  An actual emergency arose about 40 minutes after I got there, and aside from a few chopper interiors and the Portraits that I took like the one above the shoot was pretty much over before it started.  During this time I learned quite a few things though.  For instance; everybody thinks that helicopters are the fastest way to the hospital, but that’s actually wrong.  Helicopters are the fastest way to transfer patients between hospitals, or to get people out of traffic wrecks where ambulances can’t leave; but for a regular accident a helicopter can actually take longer to get you to the care you need.  It took 10 minutes for the helicopter and crew to be ready to take off, as opposed to just hopping in and going.  It’s definitely some food for thought for the next time I stick a fork into an outlet to give myself that “Mad Scientist” hairdoo.

(Nikon D3s, 125ISO, Nikon 28-70F2.8D@65mm.  1/640th@F5)

The head pilot happened to be piloting this chopper to wherever it was they needed to go.  He agreed to let me stay out on the pad while they took off, along with the nurse that I had just photographed.  (Who primarily stayed there only so that if I blew away she could watch to try and find me).  I managed to fight the urge to run out there and grab onto the feet of the helicopter like James Bond or Ethan Hunt so that I could photograph the crew while on their mission long enough to watch the helicopter ascend into the sky and become small.  Then the shoot was over just as quickly as it started.  While I did get a few static shots inside the helicopter, within an hour and a half I had the coolest shoot I would go to all that month began, and abruptly ended.  While there was another IU Helicopter that can be seen in the frame above, it was not in any condition to be photographed as they had repair guys crawling all over it.  Ironically enough, about 20 minutes later as I had everything packed up the Helicopter retunred after experiencing a Rotor issue.  Not sure how they didn’t discover it in the pre-flight, or what happened to whatever emergency they were going to; but that’s ok.  My time limit on the Tarmac was up and it was time to go.  From there I went on the rest of the afternoon thinking about my time at the heliport and what I could have/should have done in the time I had before I was interrupted.  Of course none of that mattered as I was on deadline, and spent the rest of the afternoon shooting photos of pizza; as I’ve done so many other times before.  More Soon.

]]> http://www.lebryk.com/to-the-skies/feed/ 0 http://www.lebryk.com/empire-state-studio-show/ http://www.lebryk.com/empire-state-studio-show/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:18:28 +0000 mlebryk http://www.lebryk.com/?p=1678 Read More]]> A few months ago I was given what I considered to be the opportunity of a lifetime; which was to submit work to a gallery show for display up in New York City.  I never thought that my work would be accepted, but then I got word that it was and wow was I blown away.  Shortly after I had the 9 images printed on Chrome Metallic paper and Framed via MPIX, and then drop shipped them out to NYC.  Then of course last weekend the lovely Shannon and I took a trip to NYC.  The exhibit happened to be called the “Scars and Stripes, American Roller Derby.”  Needless to say, I was pretty stoked; except of course for the prospect of a 13 hour drive.

(Apartment Halloween-ified on Long Island)

Shannon and I got on the road early on Thursday and went straight there.  The trip was more of a vacation than work as the only things we HAD to do while we were there were to go to the gallery closing reception, and take the prints home in the car.  A few weeks prior my friend Jason was in town for the Monumental Mayhem, Regional Roller Derby tournament, and he sold me an old Polaroid Land Camera that he converted to Pack Film.  Shannon took Lensy, and I sported the Polaroid for the weekend with about 5 boxes of Fuji 3000ISO Black and white film.  Great little toy, been shooting a photo or two every day with it as I’ve been keeping it in the front seat of my car for; “Just in case”.

(Seagulls on the roof of a warehouse near Merrick Street on Long Island NY)

Not all of the prints turn out perfect (as seen above), but what can I say? It’s film for goodness sake…  Plus it teaches me to slow down a bit, and not just fire a few frames for the sake of doing so.  I’ve found that I take one photo of something, and that if I don’t get what I want, I move on.  The photos aren’t terribly sharp, but I am required to think about the frame beforehand as it’s only in Black and White, as well as I can’t just go back and fix things easily.

The hotel was nice, not too far from the gallery and really just about anything else anybody could want within walking distance.  Restaurants, Bars, Shopping…. We had it all close at hand, and it was great as there were a ton of people to meet and things to see or do.  Only thing that could have been a little different was the view out of our hotel room; which was subsequently a solid white brick wall.  Not the first time I’ve had such a view from a hotel.  Won’t be the last time either, but lets face it; vacations are for going out and doing things right?  Not for sitting and looking out the hotel window.

(Checking out the “Solid” View at the hotel)

Friday night we went to the Gallery reception, which had apparently been cancelled to only the knowledge of the Curator.  It wasn’t the end of the world for Shannon and I, nor the other folks that had gone out to NYC to see the show either.  Everybody kind of did their own thing out at a restaurant, bar or other.  Saturday afternoon/evening we went to the MRDA National Championship in Long Island  where the work was all supposed to be hung as well.

(Skates print hanging at the Big Apple Beat Down)

Good friend and Fantastic Derby Shooter Bob Dunnell was there, and also had some stuff in the show.  Shannon and I sat next to Bob at the MRDA championship as his St. Louis team, the Gatekeepers, was in the running to win it all.  The shot above is a shot of mine that was hung in the gallery and at the MRDA tournament.  Wish the gallery was displayed a bit differently, but it was nice to have work in print hanging for people to see. The Metallic prints looked great, I couldn’t have been  happier.  At the end of the day Shannon and I packed up the prints of mine that were on hand (there are a few that are going to be mailed back to me) and put them in the car for the following day’s long journey home.  Over all, we had a very nice weekend; seeing the sights, spending some time off, and seeing the show.  I think that Bob and I agree that we would have done a few things differently at the show with the presentation, and the general running of the show; but we weren’t running it.  I can only hope that everything is perfected for next year when this is hopefully done again.

In terms of the MRDA tournament; unfortunately the GateKeepers did about as good of a job in the tournament as my Polaroid did at capturing Derby action.  Not to say they didn’t try, and do a fantastic job (they were in the national championships after all right?), they just didn’t play as well as they could have and ended up being upset by a much lower seeded team.  Towards the end of the tournament I only had 1 shot left in my Polaroid, and I turned to Shannon and told her I was going to wait for the right moment to finish my pack of film for the day.  This is the shot of the New York Shock Exchange that came out of it.  It was a Hail Mary holding my camera above the crowd of photographers (that I wasn’t supposed to be a part of for a change).  Can’t say I’m too displeased.  More Soon.

(MRDA National Champions)

The event was to be held in the Indiana convention Center here in downtown Indianapolis because of the location.  There are hotels, food, fight clubs, entertainment, and everything a roving derby girl could want within walking distance.  The major problem that I had with the Convention Center was a very intense lighting situation that can be experienced with this set of photos from the last time we held an event there.  The light was abysmal the last time.  6400ISO at 1/400th of a second kind of abysmal.  Almost no light at all.  This is where my friends at Roberts Distributors and Manfrotto came to the rescue.  I approached Robert’s about possibly sponsoring the Tournament by hanging sport lights up in the catwalks which they could rent out during the bouts.  I must have thrown the correct number of pennies in to the fountain that week because they agreed, and provided 8 Elinchrom Style 600S heads, safety cables, power cables, and Pocket Wizard Multimax Transceivers, superclamps, and more just to make it work.   Manfrotto came to the rescue when we encountered a problem with hanging the lights and provided us with some DADO units, which then allowed us to hang the lights at a single point, as opposed to have to hang all the lights individually.  The lights, the Dado’s, and the Pocket Wizard Flex Units I love so much all worked together Flawlessly, as you can see below.

(Nikon D3, 800ISO, Nikon 70–200VR2@200mm, 1/320th@F4., Lights triggered by a Pocket Wizard TT1 on camera, and Pocket Wizard TT5′s on the lights I had each day)

That’s Blue Messiah from the Naptown Roller Girls whom I normally shoot regularly for here in Indianapolis.  This occasion though I had the honor of shooting for the WFTDA’s Big 5 Blog Recap (and other marketing) along with the Naptown Tornado Sirens, so I was not only doing double duty; but I was also assigned to shoot all 17 bouts.  To put 17 bouts into perspective, that’s sitting on a concrete floor for roughly 17 hours, as each bout is made up of two 30  minute halves with a 15 minute halftime.  Total for the weekend it appears as though I shot a little more than 7,000 frames of all these bouts, and the final results can be seen here.  Even though Shannon was there with me for a lot of it, and Nick and Moxi from Robert’s were there too; it was still a heck of a long weekend of shooting and Epic Roller Derby.  

Hanging the lights was the hard part; especially since the Elinchroms weren’t the only ones up there.  Dynalites and Speedtrons also made it into the mix, which caused us to have quite the power outlet issue.  Once all that was resolved, the weekend went off without a hitch.

That’s the lot of it when it came to the gear.  Here’s a better shot of the Dado in Action with 2 out of 3 lights attached:

All the shots in the blog are using this lighting solution.  It enabled me to cover the entire court with light allowing me to shoot skaters anywhere, as well as including very tightly if I wanted.

(Nikon D3s, 3200ISO, Nikon 300mm F2.8DII with a Nikon TC20eIII taking it out to 600mm.  1/500th@F8.  Lights triggered by a Pocket Wizard TT1 on camera, and Pocket Wizard TT5′s on the lights I had each day)

Not only was there Epic Derby, but it was great to finally put some faces with names as there were a lot of people that I had heard of in the Derby Photo community but had never met.  There are still some of the greats out there that I’m very much looking forward to meeting in the future as well, but one step at a time right?  I’m still needing to settle down from all of the amazing derby that I saw last weekend, along with all of the photos that I took and now need to deal with…

(Nikon D3s, 2000ISO, Nikon 300mmF2.8DII with the Nikon TC14eII taking me out to 420mm.  1/500th@F5.6.  Lights triggered by a Pocket Wizard TT1 on camera, and Pocket Wizard TT5′s on the lights I had each day)

The weekend was a definite success when it came to the lighting, the tournament itself, and the fact that Naptown will be headed to Denver to play in the National Tournament: Continental Divide and Conquer.   Shannon and I will also be headed there with them.  We can’t wait to cheer the team on while they play at their first National Championship.  I’m excited becuase even though last weekend was the best derby that i’d ever shot; I’m also expecting to shoot Nationals which will be yet again the best derby I’ll have seen to date.  Not to mention the fact that I’ll get to meet some of the great derby shooters out there that don’t venture out this way much.  It’ll be a big weekend for everybody, including my old College Roomie who happens to live in Boulder now, and has never experienced roller derby before.

Special Thanks to everybody out there who was responsbile for making this tournament Happen.  The folks at WFTDA for being gracious in their busy time, and all the cool people at NRG who are too numerous to list.  None of it could have been done without all of them working together to the tune of being awesome.  Congratulations goes out to the teams that made it to the Monumental Mayhem Regional Roller Derby tournament, and even more congratulations to Windy City, Minnesota, and our own Naptown Tornado Sirens for making it to the national tournament.

]]> http://www.lebryk.com/monumental-mayhem/feed/ 0