These two crack me up sometime… Damion had crawled under the train table I bought them to retrieve a fallen train engine and his cousin Xaiver was giving him a helping hand by pulling him back out from under it every-time he was about to reach the toy. It’s times like this that I’m glad I always have a camera of some sort with me.
Photo shot with my iPhone 5s using the standard camera and post processing was done in Photoshop.
Today’s challenge photo is of too friends and fellow photographers, Rennan Quijano, left and Steve King (yes it’s his real name) who are participating in the Spring Photography weekend at Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park here in Dawson Springs, Ky.
Ray wanted to try something different so he bought this large red weather balloon and with Steve’s help, they attached Ray’s GoPro Camera to the bottom of the balloon and tethering it with heavy duty kite cord they filled the balloon up with helium and set it aloft for a time over the lake here at the park. Ray set the camera to take a picture every three seconds and left it up long enough to record over 600 images. After editing them he said he only got about 5-6 that he was happy with, but in my book… for a first time test it turned out great. He’s turned in one of the images in for the contest tomorrow and I’m excited to see what it looks like and how well it does.
Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s and post processing was done in Snapseed.
Today’s iPhone challenge photo is a selfie with two of my best friends and fellow photographers, Tom Wortham, left, and Lowell Mendyk. We’ve known and shot pictures together since the early 1970s! In fact, Lowell was my mentor my junior and senior years in high school and with out the knowledge I gained from him those two years I very well might not be the photographer I am today.
Because of the mentoring I was able to take a test when I entered the Air Force and bypass the photography technical school, which had no openings when I got out of basic, and allowed be to go directly to my first duty assignment as a photographer at Eglin AFB, Fl. The first time I got leave from the Air Force and came home for a visit in 1972 I first met Tom and we’ve been lifelong friends ever since.
This weekend we’re all three at Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park for their annual Spring Photography Weekend. The two of them were the presenters for the program tonight and I’m a participant in the Masters Division. Over all we’ve got 37 photographers that will be traipsing all over the park and forest shooting picture for the competition. It’s always a great time and good to see old friends that come every year for the event.
Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s with the front facing camera and post processing was done in Snapseed.
I found these railroad signals sitting next to the tracks in Slaughters, Ky and decided to do an industrial type shot of them for today’s challenge photo. All bright and shinny just waiting to be installed along the CSX Henderson Subdivision, replacing the older, outdated signals.
Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s with the built-in camera. Post processing was done in Photoshop using Adobe Camera RAW and Topaz Adjust.
Today’s photo is of my GoPro camera setup for my first long-term timelapse production I’m doing for the Habitat for Humanity of Hopkins County. They’re building a duplex and I’m shooting a timelapse on the whole project that will be shown at their fundraising banquet later this year, and other locations I’m sure.
I’ve done short things before, but this is my first long-term project. So far the camera has taken about 22,000 still photos that have been combined into a total of about 9 minutes of video. With the exception of bad weather, (crews don’t work), that represents 8 days of shooting from about 7am till about 3:30pm everyday. Tomorrow is the last day of the blitz, where they get the duplex built, under roof and most of the exterior building work. There’s been a group here called “Care-a-vaners” that go around the U.S. spending two weeks at different Habitat sites doing this. They’ll leave this weekend and local crews will take over from where they leave off.
Since most of the work is moving into the inside, I’ll be placing another GoPro camera inside one of the duplexes to shoot sequences of the inside work as well.
For those friends of mine that are wondering about how I powered this camera for so long without using AC power, it’s because of the battery you see on the pole here. It’s a Allpowers 20,000mah Power Bank Universal External Powered Backup Portable Battery Charger that’s designed to charge cameras and phones using a USB cable. I bought it off Amazon for $25 and it does a fantastic job of keeping the camera and WiFi batteries fully charged as the camera works through-out the day. It has five LED lights on it to indicate it’s power level left and I think the longest the camera ran for was 9 hours straight and the lights only dropped to three, which indicates that I still had 60% of the power left. If you use a GoPro to do timelapse and are looking for an alternate power source, this really works. However, the battery isn’t waterproof. I covered the battery with heavy plastic on the days rain was in the forecast. I used a underwater housing from GoPro and had to modify it (cut and opening) so I could plug-in the USB cable from the battery. After plugging it in I wrapped duct tape around the plug to insure that rainwater didn’t get into it. It worked like a champ as it’s rained on the camera and battery several times during the shoot so far.
Here’s a link to the battery: Amazon
After all the shooting is done and the video is edited, I’ll be sure to post it here on my blog.
Photo shot with the iPhone 5s and post processing was done in Snapseed.
This morning I stopped by my sister’s to kill some time as I was waiting for another Veterans Portrait appointment. I wanted to post a train video I shot yesterday to Facebook and my nephew Damion of course wanted in my lap because I was “watching” a train. It warms my heart to know that him and his cousin Xaiver both like trains a lot. Of course I may have something to do with that, but hey, I’ve got to keep the railfan fires burning. Just wait till the girls get old enough and I’ll start in with them as well!
He was sitting there watching intently what was happening on the screen and I got my iPhone positioned and ready, then I said his name and he turned and looked at me… love that expression! I think he knew what was coming as he’s used to me sticking a camera in his face. I can’t wait till he’s old enough for me to get him his first “real” camera. I figure about 4 or 5!
Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the built-in camera. Post processing was done in the Snapseed App.
I love it when I find a “new” old chair in my travels, especially when it’s up against an old brick wall. I found this one in downtown Historic Hanson, Ky today as I was wandering around looking for something that might make a good shot. The overcast and rainy day helped give the scene nice even lighting and I used my iPhone 5s with Hipstmatic. I selected the Tinto 1884 lens and the D-Type Plate film to give the photo that old-time tintype look.
Today at church we had a Derby Hat Day and everyone was encouraged to wear their favorite hat to help celebrate the Kentucky Derby. We all had a great time as always and these ladies were gracious enough to pose with their hats for today’s iPhone Photography Challenge picture. They are just a sampling of the many hats that were worn by women, men and children alike. If your church has events like this then I’d encourage you to take pictures of them to help document the life of your church family.
Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s with the built-in camera and post processing was done in the Snapseed App.
My great-great nephew Damion loves his hats and I love pictures with him in those hats! I grabbed this shot today after I put him in his car seat on our way to church. When photographing kids you never know when you’re going to grab one of those shots that just tugs at your heartstrings so always be alert for those things that make for great memories. I don’t know if he’ll like or love hats as he gets older, but at least we’ll have a record of it in pictures.
Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatc App with the Lowy lens and Claunch 72 Monochrome film.
This is my photo for this weeks photo challenge with the topic of “Uncertain” and I think Elaina’s face says it all, while Adriana seems to care less and is perfectly happy. This was both of their first trip to the Easter Bunny, at least that they can remember perhaps. I figured when she was placed in his lap for the picture that there would be some sort of reaction along these lines so I just waited for the picture to occur and then snapped the shutter. I got off three shots before she decided that things were OK.
Details: iPhone 5s with the standard camera, post processing was done in Photoshop and Topaz Adjust. I actually opened this JPG as a RAW file in the Adobe RAW Plug-in and did most of the editing there first, including the cropping. Then I opened it Photoshop as a 16-bit file and applied a bit of sharping and clarity in Topaz Adjust.
Man, photographing kids at this age can be really tiring! Today we took, Xavier, Adriana, Elaina and Damion to a “Relay For Life” Easter Bunny fundraiser event hosted by a fellow photographer, Laura Armstrong here in Madisonville, Ky. Hopefully she was able to capture a shot of all the kids with the rabbit, but for me this is my favorite shot.
We never were able to get Damion to pose that well next to the bunny, even though his mom and I tried. All four of the young ones are my great-greats and I went along to capture a picture for today’s blog post and to take part in the adventure! After all, taking part in moments like these make for great memories.
We were able to get Damion to give the Easter Bunny high fives, point to all the parts of it’s head such as the eyes, nose, ears, ect… as he knows all those quite well, but anytime we wanted him to stand next to the bunny he wasn’t having anything to do with it, which is comical in it’s own way as he sat on his lap last year and as most of you know they all are very used to having their picture made.
You just never know what kids are going to do and when it comes to photographing them it’s important to remember to go with the flow as even though you may not always catch the picture you thought you wanted. I just love the expression on Xavier’s face and how Damion is looking to his mom for protection and comforting and then you have the two girls that could care less about the whole thing.
Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s using the built-in camera. Post processing was done in Snapseed with a touch of work toward the sharping in Photoshop using Topaz Adjust.
While I was waiting for one of my interviews to show up today, for my Veterans Portrait Series at the Joseph “Eddie” Ballard Western Kentucky Veterans Center in Hanson, Ky, I captured this scene. This is the chair that four veterans sat in and told me the stories of their time of serving their country. It was an honor to listen to them today, as it has been for all the vets I’ve photographed so far.
Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s using the Pro HDR App and the post processing was done in Snapseed and Photoshop.
I’m a big sucker when comes to storms, clouds and especially lighting. While I didn’t get out in the driving rain last night to shoot the lighting, I did capture this scene I like this afternoon between Madisonville and Richland, Ky. I like how the road leads your eye off into the distance and then the dark clouds of the impending rain. Clouds are one of my favorite things to shoot using High Dynamic Range (HDR) which is what this is.
Shot with the iPhone 5s using the HDRPro App and then processed using the Snapseed App.
Ok, so it’s not really Kermit the frog, but it didn’t give me it’s name so perhaps…
I was sitting, watching TV tonight, when I noticed this little guy on the door that leads out to my deck and thought he wanted to be photographed. I got up and turned on the outside light, moved in close with my iPhone, got it framed and in focus finally, ready to take the picture and he jumped off the door. Go figure I thought and I went back to set down. After a few minutes it was back on the door! I repeated the above three times, before Kermit stayed put long enough for me to get his picture. I don’t have a closeup lens for my iPhone, so I was pushing the limits on how close it would focus, but still, not a bad shot or story I guess.
Sometimes you have to be persistent when it comes to capturing the picture you want. If you don’t like what you’re getting, try coming back again or at different times of the day. Keep clicking!
Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the square format and processed in the Snapseed App.
This month’s film challenge photo is of veterans Ronnie Winstead and his son-in-law Terry Trapp here in Madisonville, Ky. The two are subjects in my Veterans Portrait series I’m working on and after I finished photographing them with my Nikon D800 for the project I shot this photo of them outside, along with Terry’s daughters, I think. Either way the girls were gracious enough to hold the flag for my pictures, which helped to make the picture.
I shot this with my “Lomography Sprocket Rocket” which is a 35mm plastic camera that will allow you to shoot photos that include the sprocket holes of the film as part of the photograph, in panoramic format. Focus is basically two choices, close and far, set shutter speed, not sure what it is though as the f/stop is either cloudy or sunny. I’m guessing about 1/125th of a sec at f/16. Lens is built in and plastic. To learn more visit their website at http://shop.lomography.com/us/cameras/sprocket-rocket-family
Post processing: Film scanned using Silverfast 8 interface and then opened in Photoshop as a RAW file and edited in the RAW plug-in before opening in Photoshop. I then did some dodging and burning and fine tuning in Topaz Adjust.
I’ve been working on a timelapse video of a Habitat for Humanity build that’s going on here in Madisonville, Ky and today I just had to shoot a portrait of Barbara Delgado from Winnsboro, Texas. She’s part of group known as R V Care – A – Vanners that travel around the country together and work on building homes for Habitat. A great group of folks.
When looking for things to photograph look for the things in your daily life… they’ll help keep the memories alive of your life’s journey.
Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App with the Lowy Lens and Claunch 72 Monochrome film setting. Post processing was done in the Snapseed App.
I love all the lines in this photo. It’s a picture at a local cemetery here in Madisonville, Ky and the simple lines of the steps leading up to it, with the nice sky with a touch of clouds all work together with the shadows to make for a nice architectural photo that I think is clean and easy to read. I would have liked to have a person walking through the scene as I think it would have added to the photo, but it didn’t happen.
When you figure out how you can improve a photograph that you’ve taken, don’t be afraid to go back and shoot it again.
Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App with the John S lens and Ina’s 1969 film setting.
Elaina and Wes Alford had a great time today before church and I couldn’t resist capturing this photo of them playing a form of peek-a-boo! Everyone at church enjoys her and Damion both and gravitate towards them when they are at church with us. The nice thing about having a good camera phone with you is that you can capture these moments no matter where you are at. Admittedly not all cameras on phones are created equal, but any picture is better than none at all. Take Pictures!
Shot with my iPhone 5s and post processing was done in Photoshop.
Today’s challenge photo is of an amazingly talented man, Garth Gamblin. We worked together for about 12 years at The Messenger Newspaper here in Madisonville, Ky; he a reporter and myself the photographer. Today I captured him as he began to work on an editorial column, that he’s done what seems like forever, called HUH, USA. If you live in Hopkins County, Kentucky then chances are you’ve read something by him. He’s been retired from the newspaper for a few years, but still keeps his column going. He recently moved into a new place and wanted a smaller computer so he’s now setup and running using a Windows Surface Tablet and this is a shot of him beginning another column, since he hasn’t been able to do one for a couple weeks.
He’s won many, many awards for his journalism excellence over the years from The Kentucky Press Association and many others, has a scholarship named after him, is a Kentucky Colonel and so, so much more. So, if you don’t know Garth you’re probably wondering what makes him much different than all the other reporters gathering the news out there over the years? Well, the fact that was born with cerebral palsy and despite all the medical and physical issues that he has had to put up with, I’ve never ever heard him complain or let it stop him from doing what ever inspired him or follow what ever story he was on, for over 25 years as a reporter.
The days are starting to catch up with him now and even though he moves slower than he used to, his mind and finger are still sharp and inspirational to all those who know him. He still has all these stories and columns up in his head and heart, such as a book he recently finished called “God, CP and Me.” It’s his life story and I for one can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. It will be available sometime this year and I highly encourage you to buy a copy when it’s available… that is if you want to be inspired.
Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s with the standard camera and processed with the Snapseed App.
Today I photographed Whity Hawkins, a subject for my military portrait series, and he told me about this old Schwinn bike in his backyard and I just had to get a picture of the two of them together.
When he was about fourteen years old he started delivering The Messenger Newspaper with this very bike. He paid 2 1/2 cents per paper and charged the customer a nickel, so he had a 100% profit and for a kid just entering high school it was good pocket change. Of course working for the same paper for 17 years I just had to get a picture of him and his bike for today’s blog post. Paperboys are a thing of the past now… sometimes I miss those days and others I don’t.
When looking for things to photograph, either just for a single picture or perhaps a long term series, try capturing things today that may not be around in 10-20 years.
Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s with the built-in camera. Post processing was done in Photoshop and Topaz Adjust.
When photographing children always try to capture milestones in their life, such as this photo of my niece Elaina clapping. Over the past few days her mom and mamaw have both been working on getting her to clap when they say yeahhhhh! She did it a few times tonight while I was there and I was able to capture this photo of her clapping. While it may not seem like much now, it’s a moment that she and her kids will love later in life.
Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App with the Lowy lens and Claunch 72 Monochrome film. Post processing was done in Photoshop where I changed it to true black and white as I liked the look a lot better.