Special Events Photographer Brian Collins "A day, week, month, year in the life.."

A year gone, already!

2012-04-23T17:39:00.001-04:00

Okay so maybe more than a year has passed since my last blog. I have been busy mind you but not to what truly matters to me. My music and my photography truly matter to me I have let work inundate me even in my off hours. So here I am wanting badly to get back to it. Bear with me while I make the transition back to updating my blog.
I have not been lax on photography, I have had 5 weddings since my last post. Something I swore up and down I would not do. Thankfully they were not church weddings. So I did them and had a blast doing them. Church wedding (or the Super Formal wedding) photography is best left for the masters such as Web Wright. However I do have some great photos to show you if your interested in looking.

It's all in the details. Everything is in the details. It's the little things that add up. It's where they poured their hearts out. Some things like these little bubble bottles tend to go by the wayside when it comes to everything else and when my customers see that I haven't forgotten even the tiniest of things they just melt.

Even down to the bouquets having been just laid down so they can mingle and dance better makes for a great shot.

Candy Mushrooms, Ferns and Butterflies?!


Cup Cakes instead of a whole cake.

The cake is the most important detail shot next to the rings. Reason: It gets eaten. There is nothing left to remind them of what it looked like after it has been eaten by the guests. except the topper. usually that goes into the freezer but sometimes not.

Details are fun to do and so are some other types of unexpected shots like this next one.

Just after the sun had set I walked outside the tent and looked at the sky and noticed the sunset colors had lingered a lot longer than I had expected them to and had gotten pretty intense. so I walked around the tent and noticed that both the bride and groom went to there seats. Well I just could not pass this shot up. I had to lean against a tree to keep the camera still as possible. I was not going to take the 5 minutes to get my tripod, locate the shoe, remove my flash gear bracket, get back to the spot all the while the colors getting duller by the moment I had to take the shot then. 1/10 second f3.5. Glad everyone was not moving around very much.

Well, and some weddings are just cool. The bride and groom both in multiple bands, both with great musical backgrounds. They just couldn't stay away from the stage.

I couldn't resist myself and was asked to perform as well. what could I say to my friends?


Here I am behind the bongos playing the bass with other highly talented musicians.

So as it stands I will continue with photographing weddings that do not take place in churches. Not that I am allergic to church....LOL

Until next week..
Peace and Love to all!

Ravens Pep rally at Bateman's

2010-09-18T17:56:00.007-04:00

So here it is a week past the event, But! For Monday night football the Ravens managed to pull the rabbit out of the hat and win it. (closer to pulling the hat out of the rabbits a**) Okay so the pep rally was held at Bill Bateman's Bistro II in Glen Burnie. What a wicked time to be had. Even though it was crowded I still managed to get off some good photos again.
Here (below) we have Captain Dee-fense autographing a fans arm. Funny before he did that he asked if the parents knew it was a permanent marker. Such as it is for fan-hood, right?!

Here are some more hardcore fans of the Ravens (Raven nest #33) with Poe and Captain Dee-Fense.

During the rally, inside Bateman's, a whole lot of raffle tickets, calendars, and what not, were being given away and signed. Also a few good looking Jim Beam reps were working the crowd to try the smooth bourbon whiskey. They we doing a great job of it. (below)

And of course in the photo below is what most came to see and interact with.

It was my pleasure to photograph all these lovely women and if you would like to see more of the photos that I took, head over to my website and look under events and the BTS folder to find the rally pics.

Until next time, peace!
Brian

Relay For Life

2010-06-13T16:04:00.007-04:00

American Cancer Society Relay For life

Just one of the many events that had taken place for the American Cancer Society, this one in Linthicum, MD and the very first, and definitely not the last for Penny Z. founder of Breast Savers and survivor. She and many others that have been touched by cancer showed up to help the American Cancer Society find a cure. Many small groups were formed from Nurses stations in hospitals, schools, larger organizations like Sandy Spring Bank, to even the "Police Against Cancer". (BTW, great pit ham guys)

Every time going around the track I kept smelling this awesome food and I could not help my self any longer and had to get the pit ham Sandwich.

I wasn't able to be at the beginning of this event because my beautiful daughter had a dance recital in which I felt I should not miss. From what I was told there were whites doves released at the beginning of the event.

I was with the Baltimore Tailgater Society who dubbed themselves "the Crawling Gators" (photo above) for this event. Sporting water guns to keep cool during this warm, muggy day, they lapped the track many times. Constantly through-out the day people were taking their walk to support the cause. Some were even running or jogging. But they never stopped even with the threat of rainstorms looming overhead. One group even held a dance to help with donations.

Luminaries were bought in remembrance of loved ones and for those who are survivors and laid them out along the inside rim of the track. Jewelry, snacks, raffles, and other items were sold to help benefit the American Cancer Society and for the cure. Rita's and Bruster's Ice Cream among a few other vendors donating as well.
Toward the end of the day, not to be confused with the end of the relay, the luminaries were lit. Once lit everyone stood near their luminaries while Amazing Grace was played on bagpipe. (below) then took another lap around the track. The relay ended around 7 am the following morning.

Hundreds of luminaries were set out along the track and some luminaries were put on the bleachers to spell out the word hope.

Me, I bought a luminary in remembrance of my first wife, Susan, who passed away at the young age of 28 from an extremely rare ovarian cancer. I think I will be doing this every year. However I will take different photos though..LOL

I hope everyone has enjoyed my blog so far.
There is more to come because life just keeps bringing it on, nonstop.

Peace
B

Roof Top Views

2010-05-29T21:15:00.003-04:00

I had always wondered what it would be like to view parts of Washington DC from the air. But the views from a roof top is a bit more down to earth and shows a little more detail. Here, I am in North West DC specifically in the Mount Pleasant community.In the photo below are their roof tops with skylights, chimneys, and painted over copper standing seam roofs.
The fronts of these homes are quite beautiful and elegant but no one ever really gets see the rest. The masses are normally looking from the street side and not the ally side. Not that I would dare to go alley side anyhow. But from up here the view of the other side of the alley was somewhat unexpected. I was surprised to see the beauty in such an historic place where crime usually takes place 24/7.

From here trees seem to grow from above the garages but they aren't. Also to put more perspective to the view I am on top of two stories and those house across the ally way are much higher than I. From the top you can count the stories, 5. Three for the house and two for the garage. For some odd reason I find this to be far more interesting than the fronts. However for up here the fronts aren't to bad either!
I hope you have found this to be an interesting blog, short even in its descriptions.
Until next time.
Peace,
B

A Stick Burning Party

2010-04-25T19:29:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine had a thought to have a party and revolve this party around burning sticks as well as a party to usher in spring. I think it is ingenious. Invite your friends to help gather sticks and branches that fell during winter pile them up and have a party to help burn them and of course to keep an eye on the fires as well. In the photo above is one of two piles that were used to burn these said sticks. A very cute firebox with stars and moons.

Getting together and having a party is always awesome but to bring live music to it makes it even better. To have lots of musicians as your friends - priceless! I was one of those musicians and out of 20-30 some odd people more than 75% were musicians who brought instruments with them. I brought my Michael Kelly 5 string acoustic bass with me but it was drowned out by the acoustic guitars. Good thing someone had an upright and I brought my camera so things worked out for the best.

To capture the essence of fire is a bit difficult. So many parameters to consider. One being how to focus on something that's not quite there yet or is dancing around like crazy. Having a small f stop is pointless to make sharp focus problematic. Making sure the flames don't overpower the embers in the belly of the fire is a lighting problematic. So waiting for the fire to "cool down" yet keep it's height was a 10 minute ordeal. I was able to freeze the essence of this fire with one shot at the right time at f1.4, 1/1600 sec. @ ISO 3200. In the larger photo one can see the embers just as well as the detached flames at the top of the fire column.

In the above photo a "fire tender" resting after stoking "burning sticks". Fire does tend to make for some very interesting shadows and highlights. Here I positioned myself to use the light from the fire as more rim lighting than trying to light the subject as a whole and to keep the other faces in as having full lighting on the face .

Macro is the "bomb"! The photo above was taken with a 105mm f2 macro lens. And yes, it was very hot. I thought I would loose some knuckle hair on this shot. I didn't have very much time to compose, focus, and shoot. I didn't want to loose my lens after all. This was shot through the fire box on the top photo.
All in all I had a good time at this party taking photos of the fire and the people, conversing with other musicians and photographers. Thanks for the invite Jenn!
Well now I hope you enjoyed another post on my "A Day,.... in the life..." Till next time - Peace!
B

Assateague Island at the end of Winter

2010-03-26T12:18:00.009-04:00

Well here it is another month has gone by and I have only one post to show. Winter can be so limiting on your creative flow. So, enough of that and on with the post. Assateague Island as most of you know in on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It has some of the most beautiful wild horses living on the island.
These guys have some very long eyelashes (eat your heart out Maybelline girls). The long lashes developed because of the blowing sand. Just as camels have these long lashes as well.
The most disturbing thing about these horses are the humans that visit them. We are not supposed to get close to them and pet them or feed them. Even if it's the grasses they feed on. They can and have been know to "defend" their space by rearing up and kicking. Signs are posted everywhere and with warnings of fines. But still while I was there, people were coming up to them and getting within their personal space. What is it about "wild" do these people not seem to understand. Certainly they have disregard for nature as well as the law.
Enough about the goofy humans. I did manage to see more horses this time around on the island then ever before. I think around 25 different horses were in view on my short excursion. Oh there were other animals coming out to feed as well.

Take this rabbit (actually don't) for example. It was foraging around the base of these thick bushes looking for some new green growth to feed on. Good luck rabbit. He/She stayed in this one spot until all the people and cars disappeared from sight, including me. I came back no more than 10 minutes later and it was gone.

Now this gull can read. It was only standing after all....There were plenty of these flying around , getting annoyed at me for intruding on it's territory or for just not having any boardwalk fries.

And this guys was just so annoyed with me He kept yelling and fly around me. Guess he thought I was after his horde of female cardinals that were very well hidden in the brush. Wow, like ease up dude! He would not let me get any closer that this and i didn't have a 1000mm lens either. Would be nice though.

Now, dunes are created by the wind, sand and, other things like plants and fallen branches for example. A grass tuft grows in the sand. The wind blows remove the sand from in front and deposits it at the back Some of these can get very large. I've seen, in the past, 20 feet high or so. But they are very fragile and one should not walk on them. The photo above has these little pieces of debris on top of these miniature dunes. Very cool to look at. You can tell which side the wind was on. But in this instance the wind wasn't strong enough to move that little tiny piece of wood on top nor the sand under it, but was strong enough to remove the sand around it.

These photos and more are on my zenfolio website, under Assateague Island, listed to the right of this post

Until next time, Peace!
B

MSP Polar Bear Plunge Event Photographs

2010-02-01T13:27:00.007-05:00

Well now I know it has been a while since my last post but I will make it up to you guys.
This post is about the Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge which took place on Saturday Jan. 30th at the Sandy Point State Park. The plunge is to help raise monies for the Special Olympics of Maryland, and from my last look, over 2 million dollars was raised.
Although I did not take the plunge myself, I was on the beach at the waters edge. It was the coldest day of the week and to top it off it started to snow at around 10:00 am and by 11:00 am there was enough snow coming down that walking around was difficult at best. However, I managed to get some good photos of strange people (they're all strange and crazy to go plunge at 24 degrees) and a few of the states best.

As you can see in the photo above a few people have a few cloths on. This one was very excited, but not sure if it was the beer doing most of the talking.

Here we have a Ravens Roost or Nest bus who came to show their support. As you can tell there is a considerable amount of snow coming down. Very fine flakes and some ice mixed in as well.

Here at the beach we have the states divers just getting out into the water. From there they will go father back and create a line to prevent plungers from going any further back. The US Coast Guard has tugged in a crane to hold The US flag.
Here everyone behind me was waiting and shivering, dancing around to keep warm. Keeping the snow off my lens and camera was quite the challenge considering the wind kept blowing the snow at right angles. However I was smart enough not to keep it inside my coat because if I had the lens would be constantly fogging and freezing. Unfortunatley I did not have my plastic bag covers for this kind of weather. My camera is doing fine even though getting it back into the back pack it started to condensate. Thank you Nikon for having done a great job of sealing it. There was no condensate on the inside, all outside. Yeah!

Finally -
It did not take long for people to run in and then run right back out. Some just got their feet wet while others dove right in. You can see the line the divers made. A lot of what I heard was the "Oh my God, its so freaking cold" I think this phrase was used more than several hundred times. It's for a good cause so it's worth the little bit of cold.

Here is another one such strange individual. Sporting a lifeguard swimsuit and a blonde wig this plunger went all the way under.

A lone diver keeps a vigilant eye at the very edge of the plunge area. The Bay bridge is in the background while a police boat waits patiently in case of any emergency. Notice the divers are all wearing thermal dry suits...They're not crazy by no means. Very few people had to have emergency services out of the all who showed up.
There were three set times for plungers. The first was the power plungers at 11:00 am and the second was at 1:00 pm. The third plunge was supposed to be at 3:00 pm but was canceled due to inclement weather...Wait! What! Inclement weather. Not sure if that really made sense or not.
I was with a group of plungers that raised over $6,000 called the Baltimore Tailgators Society.

Well now, I hope that made up for some of the lack of posting on my part. Hope you enjoyed this.
Until next time -
Peace,
Brian

Baltimore Tailgators Toy & Coat Drive

2009-11-08T19:26:00.004-05:00

I was recently invited to attend a toy/coat drive by some friends of mine that I knew from my band. Actually they were neighbors of the drummer and I've known them for at least 7 years or so. They are part of the Baltimore Tailgators Society Inc. In fact they are the founding chapter of the society. So I decided to attend the drive and brought my toy and of course my camera. Now yes I did ask if it was okay for me to photograph the event and of course the answer was yes. I knew that but still I needed to ask. A problem with photographing at a place like this is how far back can the flash get without blowing out the front. That would be called being inventive the cieling was matte black so there could be no bounce. I had to adjust my flash so the angle would match that of the ceiling. With enough light to reach the back the extra light from top of the flash head falls downward and on the front of the scene. This resulted in a scene well lit throughout at least twenty feet deep.
The drive took place at the Glen Burnie location of Bill Bateman's Bistro II and during the Ravens game against the Bengals. The toy and coat drive was a success. At least 6 bags of coats were collected and several bins were filled with toys. The Ravens, well, they'll pick their pride up off the field and get it together sooner or later.
The deal was that if you brought a toy or coat to donate then you can eat at the buffet that was set up. The Baltimore Tailgators Society is focused on several things. One being to help promote interest and activities that are related to the support of athletics and another to help coordinate certain activities and fundraising events to benefit the needy and other local charities. For more information you can visit and/or join them at Baltimore Tailgators. As far as Bill Bateman's Bistro II where the event took place they have some very good food. I suggest that if you're in the neighborhood to drop on by and get some good eats.

I stayed the entire time the game was on and got some good photos of the members of the society. They were very nice and some funny as hell. Anyhow, I had a great time and am looking forward to their Polar Bear plunge (to photograph it anyhow)

So, Later and Peace!,
B

Just another day!

2009-11-02T21:47:00.005-05:00

So here is Sunday and I'm on my way to my parents house to return and get stuff. A downrigging event was taking place in Chestertown. However it was it's last day and there were just 2 ships that I saw on my way through. Not having too much time to shoot I didn't spend the time to actually scope out a good place to shoot from. Apparently there were, during the peak of the event, at least 8 major tall ships and a slew of smaller schooners and other masted ships were at the city docks. most of them were available to sail on.
I love the looks of these ships. I thought to myself this is really the first time I've actually seen one of these at sail and moving down a river. Oh sure I've seen them docked but never in motion. And I have been on a schooner before while in Belize (which was awesome BTW) but not an old school ship. Quite a feast for the eyes. All that rope just boggles the mind. How does anyone keep it all straight and not if the more traditional "spaghetti look" that most of us seem to get rope of any kind in to. LOL

The craftsmanship that goes into these ships is just amazing. I've only seen this level of workmanship on some of the million dollar homes I used to trim out. The day was shot for the most part because of the rain and as you can see by the white tarp over the main deck in the first photo. So I didn't stick around and on to my parents I went happy that I, at least, did manage to get a shot or two in.

While at the house they had a pomegranate sitting on the counter which their friends gave them. I inquired about it and was assigned the task of opening this little wonderfood. Okay maybe not so little it's about the size of a softball. The proper way to open one is to cut the top off 1/2 inch below the crown. Okay, no problem, I cut it and of course I get a little splash from the process (all over the place). the next thing is to score the skin at the sections. So the directions say. There were supposed to be about 4 to 6 sections but I seemed to have counted at least eight. This time I concentrated a little bit more on the cutting as to not cut through and squirt out more juice. Done, so the next thing is to open it up kinda like an orange on the sections and then loosen the fleshy seeds into a bowl full of water. Okay now that really didn't work out like planned. Loosen is not the term that should have been used. More like use your fingers to remove the seeds from their white puffy sheets of whatever type of membrane you want to call it. The water is to separate the white stuff from the seeds. Needless to say we got all the seeds out and free of white membrane ready to eat.

Hmm.. Now I tried a spoonful and found that the seeds made the whole thing a tiny bit bitter. Si here I go and take a metal strainer and proceeded to use a spoon to squish the seeds into releasing their juice. Oh they did, everywhere on the counter and on my shirt. I only did half of the seeds. Seems my father likes the seeds so he now has a bunch to eat for himself. Off went the shirt and into the washer before the stains could set borrowed a shirt and cleaned up the mess. After all that hard work I got exactly three shots of pomegranate juice. After tasting a good dose of it we decided to add Citroen vodka to it and that really set it right. Nice tasty full of anti-oxidants with a lemon kick. Yummy.. Next time I'll just buy a press to press the juice out. That was an hour worth of work for three tasty shots. No wonder the stuff is expensive.

Hope you have enjoyed reading about my day as much as I had having it. Till next time,
Peace!
B

Fungi in the Park (underfoot jewels)

2009-10-25T20:59:00.006-04:00

Sometimes when we walk we really don't see whats underfoot.

During an excursion to the preserve I noticed that I was paying attention to what was further away, at me eye level, and above. Of course I was looking at the path to where I was headed but wasn't paying attention to what was actually there on the ground. Sure I saw leaves and grass and rocks and things but it was a given that these things were there. I have a tendency to walk fast so I don't really see what there is on the ground except what might trip me. Fortunately something had made a noise just yards from me so I froze in my track to concentrate on where it was. Probably some squirrel for all I know. But as I looked down to continue I did notice something that didn't look right. There was a little group of mushrooms right where I was going to put my foot. So instead of continuing on I decided to start photographing these little jewels that were underfoot.

Knowing they will not be around for very long they, at the least, will be preserved by a photograph. Anyhow the rest of the day I spent looking down and focusing what was underfoot and looking up to make sure I wouldn't get whacked by a limb or run right into a tree. I did manage to find several areas that had mushrooms and other sorts of fungi but most of what I saw were plate or shelf fungi. A few of which I took to add mass to my excursion. I am sure there is a time at which these mushrooms and fungi are abundant and I am pretty sure it wasn't right then and there either.

Well so much for a day in my life. I learned that looking at where you're going to be on the path ahead isn't as exciting when you don't pay attention to what's holding up your feet. Enjoy these three photos. There are more on my zenfolio site under the Fungi in the park gallery.

Peace!
Brian

Silpada Event

2009-10-18T22:18:00.004-04:00

Silpada jewelry party. Now the mirror says "it's a girl thing" but they have jewelry for men as well. But the just didn't have the single earring collection for men. Hmmm! Oh well can't win them all. I was surrounded by some very beautiful woman of all ages. The food was good too. Helps to know the host very well to get feed like I did.

Shooting a jewelry party with all the shinny highlights of the sun when a flash is bounced off them was not a picnic at first. So I broke out the extra flash and a mini softbox to lighten up everything else. I had it pointed up toward a white ceiling so a flood of soft white fell upon everything nicely. That way my on camera flash, that was off camera by a cord and a new flash bracket, would not blow out the highlights.

There were some very nice jewelry at the table. Most of it is silver but there was turquoise and black onyx among other gems like garnets. At first the party was all about getting the food and conversation. And like most parties when it rains outside everyone tends to be late. So I had some time to take other photos of the jewelry before everyone showed up to try it on. Now when enough people had shown up I started my rounds looking for the admirers to try something on. But wait was something I wasn't into at that point in time so I urged some people. I said to a few that they should try some jewelry on and I'll take their photo. After a bit they started alright and the party got rolling. Everybody was laughing and having a good time.

The above photo is one of those very pretty ladies I mentioned before. We decided to have a bit of fun with the pose and I did a little post production effects after I got home. I have other photos on my Zenfolio website if you care to look at them. The link is to the right. Click on it and you'll be whisked away (well, not really).
More to come in a week. Maybe some more nature shoots.

Peace!
Brian

A Walk in the Park

2009-10-11T19:51:00.007-04:00

Taking a walk through the preserve does a minimum of two thing. One, being that you get lots of exersive and you don't even notice it until the next day. The second, if your eyes are open to your asurroundings, you can find some beautiful and out of the ordinary things. The above photo is a bit of both. The steel cabling that used to block off a section is rusting and left to continue. The post it has been put through is not a normal post but almost looks like it was not a completely fabricated wood post. Of course it's deterioration through the years could make it look like a regular dead tree but nope it's in concrete at the bottom.

Now this photo sort of cracked me up when I saw it. An apple tree. Okay so more like an apple in the hole of a tree but you get it. One of those things that just make you chuckle out loud. Out of the ordinary for sure. I actually went to two different places. One off of Governors Bridge Road in Bowie, MD and the other in Woodwardville, MD. This photo came from Woodwardville.

On continuing with my walk this bridge connects two areas making somewhat a shortcut with a large pond to the right and a small feeding creek to the left. Dozens of turtle sit on the logs and banks of this area. From the looks of it this is a bridge to nowhere. there is no real foot path evident here with the overgrowth. But it sure is inviting.

This last photo was taken shortly before the bridge I was standing on another bridge, just yards away from the one in the photo, looking out at the ponds seeking turtles or waterfowl. For the whole ten minutes I was there, catching my breathe from the 4 mile walk through the woods, this leaf was just inches away from me. I started to walk away but then I realized it was there. Kind of like a ton of bricks saying hello at the last second.
Anyhow just some pretty and strange photos for you to enjoy. There are more like it on my website.
Oh yes my website, I have a new one http://bcollinsdigital.zenfolio.com and go to the "A walk in the Preserve" gallery. Then just browse around you can even purchase any photos you like and you can leave comments too.

Thanks for looking and as always please leave a comment.
Peace,
Brian

3 places, 3 shots

2009-10-04T16:16:00.005-04:00

Well, I had a very busy busy weekend. Go to the B&O Museum with my family, shoot a private party and meet up with some friends afterward.

The museum was very well worth the effort to go. Parking was horrendous but the museum was great. This shot was of the museums main roof structure. After having collapsed a number or years ago they had the daunting task of rebuilding the unique roof system. I'll give them credit they did a fantastic job of it. Yes, of course the trains were awesome too but I was more interested to see the roof, - as well as be with the family, of course.. Uhm right anyhow... lol..

The second part of my day was to photograph a birthday party that was more than a birthday party. Twins - one was having radiation treatment for the last time (we hope) and so it was a more than just a birthday party. The property was like a sanctuary for the soul. Every bit of it was well though out. there wer paths and bridges over littl man made streams a sitting area off the edge of the deck that was a semi-circle around a tiny pond. a mix of trees that added to the flavor of the grounds Everything was just peaceful. So during my shoot I managed to get a few shots of the grounds and this frog was one of the inhabitants of one of the ponds.

At then end of the day some of us meet up and talked a bit about this and that. I was near the destination when I noticed a red sky to the west and thought to go down to the water and get a shot before it disappeared. The sun had already gone below the horizon but the last light left was this red-ish orange-ish glow. The mask of night was creeping along at the top of the photo and a few starts were just coming out. This photo was time lapsed at about 1.5 seconds, long enough for the water to become silky.

That was my Saturday. I will continue to post these on a Sunday eve for now. Hope you have enjoyed these photos as I have had taking them.

Peace,
Brian

No Flash Allowed

2009-09-26T23:03:00.010-04:00

Friday September 25th I help lay a good friend to rest. I was asked to be the first reader. I was very honored to do so. The reading was about people dying at a young age. Sometimes people are given tasks to do by God and some people just happen to be able to do them at an early age. This passage I read hit home for me, for my first wife was taken at the early age of 28. Now clearly the people in charge of assigning these passages did not know me even by name. Yet it was intended for me to read this for the family of my friend, his friends, and also for me.

When all was said, and my friend laid to rest, I left a different person. Home I went, sat down , and starred at a black computer screen. With no intentions of turning it on what so ever I get up to do something that I can no longer remember I hit the power button while setting my phone on top of it. So I sat right back down and waited till it came up with the intent to power down but no I hit the email just because it felt right. My editor for the newspaper I photograph for had left a message for me wanting me to take a few photos of a concert because another photographer bailed out.

I called him up asking if anyone else volunteered for the assignment and no they didn't. Come to find out the concert was inside a church. Okay so now I say to myself "Another church to go into today, the first was hard enough" I show up at the church to find that the concert was not a typical concert but that this person or persons who, giving the concert, are composers of the music your hear in just about any church with a band you go into. So here's where it get interesting. A few of the songs that were performed had a lot to do with the situation I had been through with my friend passing away early and what he had done in his life to help others that needed help. And to top it off a few people who were at the funeral walked into the church. Well I stayed for the whole thing even though I needed only a few photos I obviously needed more than photos.

Let me ask you. Do you think someone (ahem!) was trying to send me a message?

Peace,
Brian

Annapolis

2009-09-18T23:30:00.004-04:00

5:00 AM comes early for me. I am by no means an early person. But I wanted to get out early and try to shoot a sunrise in Annapolis and that I did. Even though it isn't a great sunrise photo and it wasn't going to happen that day. The sun was going to blow out the scene very early this day So i salvaged what I could from what I did shoot. In the photo you can see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the towers that loom over the defunct David Taylor Research Center. Maybe next time I'll get a really nice sunrise but maybe I'll just take a trip closer to the ocean for it.

I walked along the main street trying to salvage the rest of the day pondering what I should shoot. The water was starting to move about a bit more than when I first arrived in Annapolis. But it was still enough for the photo above. I really like the angles here. The reflections of the masts in the water instead of above like something normally seen. This was shot facing north were the sun has yet to saturate the scene. I actually stood there for about ten minutes just watching the reflected masts change its vertical shape, flowing in and out, drawing me in the direction of the current. I'm sure someone looked at me nodding my head as if I were agreeing to some one or as if I lost it. Might could have this early in the AM...

Walking along the Eastport draw bridge I stoped to look at the sailboats moored in the creek and there was a shot I could not pass up. The moon was setting as the sun was rising, and the angles were just right as well. The golden hour had just begun during the time I was starring and nodding at water on the other side of the bridge. So by the time I had ventured to this side the beautiful golden hue was blanketing the entire area. The moon is more visible in the larger photo. Which will be up on my website in the next couple of days.

Hope you've enjoyed my little sunrise trip to Annapolis as I did walking it.
Don't forget to comment.
Peace,
Brian

Community Labor Day Party

2009-09-11T19:38:00.005-04:00

During the last weekend I had photographed a community party for labor day. A small community but with some of the nicest people I've ever met. Ross (photo above) was very busy checking his traps for crabs up and down the private dock pulling out some very nice sized Chesapeake Blues. This one tried to escape to no avail.

These two were a bit comical in trying to get the dingy out to the traps. However they managed to get there without too much trouble. The weather was a bit questionable the entire day. As you can see in the above photo what looks like heavy fog is actually a good rain. We may have gotten a few drops here and there. The cloud cover did manage to bring about excellent conditions for photography. No harsh shadows.

Here (above) I tried to get everyone in the photo but not everyone was here. Sometimes it's strange that when a large group of people get together they break up into smaller group of 3 to 5 people and each group lasts about 15 minutes before a few leave and a few more arrive. If I had setup a time lapse you'd see that each group moves around and changes people. Maybe next time I'll do just that.

The food was awesome. Kudos to the Paella cook! Crabs, fish, chicken, paella, beer and wine and of course some very nice company - who could ask for more. How about another photo of the Paella.

Here you are. Hungry yet?

Thanks for looking and don't forget to comment.
Peace,
Brian

Said the Spider to the Fly

2009-09-04T21:09:00.011-04:00

" Will you walk into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly, "Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy; The way into my parlor is up a winding stair, And I've a many courious things to shew when you are there. "Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "to ask me is in vain, For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again ......"
- Mary Howitt

Well now here's a tid bit of info for ya!
For those that are squeamish about spiders, please don't hit your monitor with your shoe, I wont be held responsible and it will still be up on this web site.
Down at the in-laws house there was this huge web and a huge spider in the center of this web. So out came the camera, of course, and the 105mm macro lens. I love this lens even if it isn't a Nikkor lens it is still a sharp lens. Back to the web in the photo above. This was accomplished using a flash off camera to the left to get the web to seriously stand out.
If you look you'll see little tiny fly's that got trapped. The sun was getting ready to set and the clouds were getting ready to roll in.

Now here is the huge spider that I got too close even for myself, we're talking only about 6 inches, close enough for it to jump and take a bite. It was not happy I was there taking is photograph to begin with. Through all that it was very interesting to be able to get the rest of the web to the left lit up enough to show. The web was about 3 foot in diameter and it's body is alost 2 inches long. So here it is sitting in the middle of it's recent creation waiting for a meal. Funny thing is the right side of the web is attached to a swing chair and on the arm which goes up to the caonopy is, yep! a fly. This fly was sitting there on the arm and didn't even budge when I got close enough to photograph it. Two times, 4 times, it moved when lightning stuck up in the clouds above us. Here is that fly.

Now fortunate for the fly , unfortunate for the spider these storm clouds made a little wind and rain and destroyed the web. I've gone to look for the spider but with no luck.

Well now I hope you all have enjoyed my little story. Of course comments are always welcome.
Peace,
Brian

A Gig Photo Gig

2009-08-26T23:50:00.007-04:00

Bassist for Red Rockin' Wolf
Ed Caramanico.

I get the chance every so often to photograph bands during their gigs. I prefer to be able to get audience participation with the band but sometimes it just really doesn't happen or when there are circumstances that prevent it from being photographed. Such was the case at this gig. For this gig I was set out to capture a bit of action and emotion. If the members aren't jumping in the air or doing something extreme that can show movement then the task becomes harder and I have to find a way to fulfill my task. Here, in the photo above, the bassist clearly has his fingers on the frets and has the bass propped away from his body. This shows that there is some type of action going on. Of course the bass is normally against the body so one would figure there is movement and in their head and conjure up the thought that he is shaking the instrument for effect.

Normally I do not use flash But have come to the conclusion that during these gigs that are on the ground floor (no stage) it is safe for me to break out the flash. I would not want a musician to fall off the stage because of a blinding flash I popped off. So I decided that if I have to use flash I am going to use gels. First reason being the lights on these performers are gelled lights being around 200-300 watts each. Plus there are strobes as well. Pretty blinding to begin with, right? So in order to keep with the colors I used 2 flash units. The background flash has a CTB (blue) gel on it and the main flash had a CTO (orange) gel. And I set my camera's white balance to tungsten which makes the light from the orange color corrected to white and the blue bluer. I made it a point to keep the flash at a low output so my ISO is still high enough at 400 but not so high that noise becomes an issue (Where's that D3 I want, will beg, work for, for my birthday). However this is enough to get some very good photos and I don't blind the performers.

Drummer
For RRW
Gil Walters

Normally I will setup the blue to light up the background. and take the CTO with me on either a small tripod or just lay it on the floor if nobody is going to crush it that is or I'll have an assistant. I try to keep the main flash between 45 and 60 degrees off my center with the subject.

With the above photo I was looking to get the sticks up but found it difficult to capture even though I am an experienced musician myself. It was quite amusing to me that this just didn't happen and so I started to laugh out loud. Good thing I caught myself doing that people were starting to wonder. So I looked for some emotion in his face. Here he has his eyes closed and a slight smile along with his hand positions denoting a sweet spot in the rhythm just before the hit. And that shows he has a bit of groove going on.

I hope y'all enjoyed this post. Please tell me what you think by posting your comments below. And I will get back with you next week.
Peace,
B

Smoke Anyone?

2009-08-18T23:11:00.018-04:00

Smoke. Smoke is as seductive as the fire that comes behind it. But smoke is something else. It has a dance like fire, but it goes farther than fire. It warns you that fire is right on it's tail. So its dance is different.

I've taken the pleasure of photographing smoke lately and seem to have gotten the knack for it. The photographs shown and all that have and will be taken of smoke are not about the smoke itself. That is too boring really. It is the image of what it creates that captures the imagination is what I'm after. Take a look the first image. It almost looks plain but if you think of the complex shapes that are involved you'll start to see a different kind of shape, almost a ghostly shape at that. To me it looks like the bottom of the torso of a young woman in her ghostly form rising from someplace unknown to us. You can't see her face, bust, or shoulders, but her arm is defined and even the whisp of smoke at the central region seems to define where the hip might be. Her arm is slightly bent up as it seems she is starting to reach up. The brains power of imagination is great, isn't it?
Capturing the smoke can be a daunting task. For one a room with still air is hard to come by even with vents closed any movement from you even the heat of a flash set close has an impact on the smoke. If the room is too hot the smoke will have a short straight line up before it bunches into a cloud. Even your breath has an impact. Keep in mind that too much smoke will not look good at all. It will begin to look just like smoke. yuck! Focusing is a tad tricky but having measured the distance as close to center of the column and setting a small aperture will yielded great results. Having a black background helped as well. I had set the flash close enough to the incense but not so that the remnants would fall onto it.

The photo above is very interesting because the smoke went from a single round column into a flat one and then all the sudden it wafted, I saw the dip in the smoke and hit the shutter button. The flat column suddenly just curled itself under as the shutter opened.

I got myself a seat and diligently watched the smoke dance around. There were certain tiny eddy's in the air that would make it jump, twist, bow, and reveal other weird shapes that made the smoke column look like something else. If the air is still enough you can also manipulate these eddy's by putting something beside the column and the taking it away in such a manner that not much air is moving. So a light touch was essential when performing this trick.
In the photo above the smoke was dead straight up when I felt a hair move on my neck. Just as it did the column kind of wavered, straightened up and then poof like a mini tornado, click went the shutter and viola! I was happy when I saw that on the back of the viewfinder.
These photos and a few others in the series are on my main website just go to the people, places, and things then look at the bottom for the link. Ethereal Vapor is what I have called the series (thanks to a few friends for the ideas).

Please feel free to comment, yell, scream, complain, its all good....just leave a comment....below...Click on the word "comments" below....
Thanks and peace,
Brian

Concrete, at Night

2009-08-14T14:29:00.005-04:00

This is the Lehigh Portland Cement Company in Union Bridge, Maryland.
I have been, for some time now, eager to photograph industrial factories and such at night but never found the time or the right conditions whenever I went. In Baltimore there a quite a few places but I never found somewhere where I could actually do it without a police escort or it was raining, too foggy or whatnot. Yeah, yeah I know excuse,s excuses.. I just so happened that I was cruising through Carrol County to the west of Westminster and Tanytown that I saw a large tower. So off I go to investigate and to my surprise I see the factory. So immediately I hit the gps to get my fix on the place.
I had thought to photograph the place during daylight hours but the dust and setting sun were against me. Even with a UV, haze, or even a Polarizing filter the results were not very good. So I set my sights on coming back at night like I really wanted to do.

5 days later I return but the weather wasn't exactly cooperating (my luck). However it was clear enough to get a decent photo of the place. In the first photo above I used my 85mm 1.8 at f9 for 4 seconds at 100 ISO. although very hard to see here, the photo shows several layers of black from the hills and trees. When this is printed it is more prominent. And for some odd reason I see lines cutting across my photo...Ughh! But you get the idea.
The next photo I took from near one of the entrances. I decided to go B&W with it. Seeing as in the were only a few red lights showing in the wrong places. And everything here is gray anyhow.
even though there was sort of a humidity issue it wasn't that bad and I believe it makes a nice impact on the photo helping to spread the light to the structure.

Here is a closer view of the photo. The detail is so much better when viewed at the proper size. The lens is the 18-70mm 3.5-4.5 Nikkor at 30mm 5.6 for .6 seconds, 100 ISO. A very nice lens a little soft on the edges but still nice. In this I like the truck on the right bottom. It has a rim light made up from all the other lights marking its silhouette in the frame. Above all, the detail is so in your face you can't stop your eye from moving for very long.

As of yesterday Aug. 13th the plant was in the local news over a mercury issue. Or more to the point about how much is actually coming out of the plants smokestacks. And what they're going to do about it. Unfortunately mercury is in the limestone rock naturally and is released as the temperature of the limestone reaches from 200°C and 700°C. Gotta have concrete, going to have to filter the mercury out somehow. Now to just zap it out of existence.

As usual please leave a comment for me. Tell me how I'm doing. Give suggestions, or criticism. Everybody has different tastes and I would love to hear about them. It also helps me to become a better photographer.
Thanks again and CYA next week!
Peace!

A Past Event

2009-08-08T13:02:00.006-04:00

I’m Back!

Hello again my avid readers (all 3 of you). This time I actually have a few event photos with me to share. These are from a Microbrewery festival. Hmm…Beer. Awesome!

These were taken at the Union Mills Homestead in Carroll County, MD. Of course it was held well after the beautiful sunrise and ended well before the beautiful sunset so no golden hour to have to help with the photos. Okay so anyhow I needed 6 photos for the spread. I know it’s a lot but that what they wanted and so that’s what they get. Here I am only going to post 3.

I figure that I would need to show people coming into the cordoned off area and I really didn’t feel like showing all the pretty yellow tape with bold black letter stating “DO NOT CROSS” upside down as well. My first thought is to have the people face me as they come in through the gate but then the yellow tape just really ruined it for me. So I go over to the gate and looked around for a good shot to no avail until I turned around. I saw a road leading away from me….at an angle…and people are walking this road to get to the business end of the festival. Even though you can’t tell here that this is a beer drinkers festival but with 5 other photos to take they will fortify that yes they are going to taste beer! So I compose, meter and click. Nice shot, not to busy with people up front and your eye is lead to all the tents and hustle and bustle of people in the background.

This was a bonus I never thought that a cigar maker would actually be at a beer fest. Let alone one that is actually rolling a cigar from scratch. Nice, very nice. Nothing like sitting around chewing the fat and smoking a good cigar with friendswhile tasting some of the best beer in town. As tempting as it was I held off my urges to taste, taste, taste, until I was done I don’t believe using the power of the press to gain access for my personal pleasure. Makes a bad image for the rest of the real press out there and me of course. So I held off.

Sometimes you can manage to meet some interesting characters out there. This was one of them. Interesting colorful tattoos, interesting persona, and a love for a good beer and laugh. Other photos that were taken were of a large still type setup under a tent with lots of people hanging around to get tips on how to make your own brew from these guys, people getting their beers, and the people pouring them.

I am sure by now your asking "where are the photos of the brewing setups, or the beer trucks?" Well that would be too obvious. Of course I took those photos but to be more specific you have to look at everything. For my assignment I have a 6 photo spread to shoot for so I can't have all beer trucks and brewery's in it. I also have to concentrate on people. That is they want for the spread the people of the county that most likely read the publication. There are other things to focus on during these events other than the main reason and people. This helps tell a bigger story. Thankfully I have a 6 spread shoot to shoot for. Otherwise this guy above would have been in a shot with a brewery and all it signage with one of the pretty little (not really little) bartenders pouring the beer skillfully into his plastic mug while a dozen others wait patiently in the sun.

Again as usual please feel free to comment. I mean it, really I can take it.

Peace,

New Jersey (pronounced "Joysey")

2009-07-26T22:10:00.013-04:00

Nikkor 50mm 1.4 @ 2 sec.
F16, ISO 100
D2Xs

I had just been on a recent trip to New Jersey to help out a family member with some cabinets and whatnot. Night was the only time I really got out to see what was going on. So out I trekked over to the beach at Seaside Heights around 10:30 at night and find that it wasn't overly crowded. Awesome, no one to get in my way or to fear having the tripod tripped over. So I got to the end of the boardwalk at Sampson Ave. set the camera on the tripod and looked about as if I were dumbfounded by what to take a photo of. Well duh! it took me a second but it did manage to creep into my head(it was a long day). So I set up in the middle of the walk facing off center. I thought to myself that I could feather the top of the scene to bring up the foreground and keep the lights down but thought nah better to keep it just the way it is. I find it very interesting that 3 figures in the photo are very blurred and the people farther back and walking toward me are pretty much not blurred Seems to make it a little on the ghostly side. Which is fine by me. At 2 seconds exposure this is what happens.

Nikkor 85mm 1.8 @ 10 sec.
F14, ISO 100
D2Xs

I also saw that the mist and moisture from the ocean waters were coming in very fast. A bench next to me was getting dew soaked and started getting a little shiny. So I quickly popped off the 50mm in exchange for the 85mm and took a couple of shots of the bench from a couple of different angle, this one I liked the best. I like the lines of the boardwalk and the bench being at differing angles from the frame leading to nowhere adds a bit of tension.

Nikkor 50mm 1.4 @ 4 sec.
F8, ISO 100
D2Xs

Now, I haven't been to the Jersey shore in a long time so when I looked at the booth in the the photo above I was a bit taken aback by the fact of having to pay to get on the beach. Has it gotten that bad that we have to fence mother nature up to keep her beautiful? It may have kept out the Riff-Raff here but it sure as likely increased it somewhere else.
Anyhow, I had wanted to be able to get inside and place a flash but it was locked and no-one was around who could help out. I liked having the chair lift in this. If I had put the flash on the outside behind the booth it would have caused the dark background to lighten up with an ugly large halo around and would have spilled over to the chair lift and the light from the lamp to the right. Using a flag or something to limit the light would have shown up because of the amount of mist in the air. Fortunately the lamp to the right of the booth was far enough away that it cleared up just enough to keep the misty glow from overtaking the photo.

On my way home I managed to stop at the Barnegat Light lighthouse and took a few shots. I liked this one best. I used a high f-stop and a wide angle lens to keep a lot in focus. The focal point was figured on the hyper-focal distance for the lens.

The water current coming around the lighthouse is so strong the smaller boats have to go full throttle sometimes just to get through. This animated gif shows how fast the water is actually moving.

Until next week!
As always please feel free to comment.

A Plastic War

2009-07-17T22:55:00.014-04:00

Hello everyone.
As having been a little boy quite a number of years ago I had always enjoyed the company of little green army men. Of course some will say I haven't yet grown up and to some extent will agree with that comment. When I married my current wife she had a boy from a previous marriage. He had little green army men strewn throughout the house and lawn. Those that were so called "lost" weren't actually lost . They were out on assignment, a recon mission for an indefinite period of time. This was about 11 years ago and to this day we can find one or two under the dirt in the front yard.

The story goes:
About a couple of weeks ago my stepson was out with his grandmother shopping at some store somewhere and he came across this package of little green army men. He said he looked at the package and it had a stealth fighter, a helicopter, flags, sandbags and barbed wire fencing in it. Oh, now he never got that in his army men packages before. Hmm, now I recall some 37 odd years ago that I got tanks and planes (no jets) in my packages of army men.
Well he looked at his grandmother and said he wanted a refund for his childhood. His grandmother picked up that package and paid for it unknowingly to him and at the end of the shopping trip, back at home, his grandmother pulled that package out and slapped it on his chest and said here's your childhood refund.
About a week later I was cleaning up around the house (a rare event) and I found these army men with their helicopter, stealth fighter and fencing just laying around under stuff. I said to myself that I should get him to make use out of these things. This is when I heard the story.

I had promptly told him that he should set up a scenario for me to photograph for him. He did with a little bit of reluctance. of course it didn't help that we were teasing him about playing with plastic men. He took it in stride though. And so I proceeded to photograph a series of 15 frames and put it in a package and called it "A Plastic War" The now teenager with his childhood refund was very happy with the results and his refund. The whole series can be viewed on my website.

It took 4 flash and strobes to create the lighting. Two of them had the Cactus V4 receivers by Gadget Infinity, one for the background with a red gel on the left up high, one for white light directly overhead with a snoot, one with a CTB gel in front and right just below the horizon to cast shadows and spill over to the background to create more than one color on the background and one to the left with a CTO gel set about 3 stops darker. Here everything is dark. It is intentional, it sets the right mood for the recon mission and having the front light spill over to the background creates 3 different colors from red to blue. Red being the firefight and bad, blue being the "good" or "homeward bound" (for lack of better descriptions)

As usual please feel free to comment and thanks for looking.
Next week New Jersey (pronounced "Joysey")

Hello world!

2009-07-17T20:04:00.009-04:00

This is my first attempt at a blog of any sort. So forgive me of my ignorance as to what to write and how to write it. However as my title suggests it is just another day, week, month, or year in my life. This blog will cover more about my photography than anything else. But rest assured, I will throw some things in that will be about anything.

Okay, so about the photography. I have one blog that I follow, actually 2, the blog of David Tejada and Strobist. This guy is awesome in my opinion and that is where I would like to be. Doing the same thing as he is doing. But I am a long way off from that, for now. I choose the photo above for several reasons. The first being that I used 2 flash units for the photo and second being the recent activity on the so called "end of the world" scenario as depicted by the Mayans a long, long time ago and its correlation with other religions and beliefs.

For this shot I used a Sunpack 383 super for the background light. A snoot with a honeycomb attachment and a red gel was used on it to get the effect. as you can see the light is not exactly flat but has semi-wavy property to it close to a red-hot ember. The calender itself is lighted by a slave with a built-in snoot (the type that retracts to save space when not in use) plus a flag to help keep light fall-off away from the background. The use of the flag is because of the closeness of the background.

Now for the second reason. Most people believe that December 21, 2012 will be the end of the world because the calender stops on that day. This is not true and if anyone were to look at the information a lot closer they'll see that it means an end to an era. For the Mayans a 5125 year era, I believe that's how long the calendar is before it starts over again. The end of the age of Pisces. The beginning of the age of Aquarius. How about that.

This is also the date that our solar system crosses the equatorial plane of the Milky Way. I believe there will be some things that will happen that won't be pretty. But, it will not be the end of the world at all. However it will be the end of the world as we know it now. So people will just have to be prepared to help each other once it begins. This is why the background of my photo is red but the calender is as neutral as it can get. By the way it is made out of bone..Hmmm

Next week - "A Plastic war"