Indiana: Action

Here are some action shots from my Indiana Trip this year.

Gigi getting pulled up

Dahlia

Dahlia mid-wipeout

Mark

Gigi

Gigi mid-wipeout

Mocha

Of course, I didn't shoot this picture, but that's me!

I very much enjoy shooting water sports - getting a super-fast shutter speed and freezing all the water just tickles me. I shot all these on my 80-200mm f/2.8 zoom at f/4, which provided me with a decent compromise between a shallow depth of field and sharpness. I probably should have been at f/5.6 to get things a little sharper. Oh well!

My Indiana Trip

I spent some time yesterday whittling down my 800+ images to a final 40 keepers.
All 40 of these will go up at www.mattbeaty.net in the next couple days, along with the other stuff I shot during June.

Until then, here are some teasers.

I'll do a separate post with action shots in the near future.

Questions? Critiques? Concerns? There's a Comment box for that!

Back from Indiana!

Over the course of the last 7 days I took 822 pictures. My computer *just* finished going through all of them and I'm about to start editing.

The vast majority of my photos are action, simply because I shoot at 8 frames per second and I'm trigger happy.

Highlights to come later this week!

VACATION!

Hey there.

I'm on vacation in LaGrange, IN - wakeboarding, swimming, jet-skiing and generally enjoying life sans-technology.

 My buddy Kitt, hanging at our place on Oliver Lake in 2006

Don't worry, I have my camera. I actually have two.

While I packed, I had a decision to make. To bring, or not to bring my computer.

I've got about 16gb in CF cards... which I'm confident I could fill over the course of a week of fun in the sun. At the same time, I don't want to be distracted by Facebook and the other modern conveniences that I'm trying to avoid out here.

As such, I chose not to bring my computer. I'm going to fill my CF cards, and then spend a few days in Boulder doing a whole bunch of editing. This way, I can enjoy photography for the sake of photography - at least until I return to reality.

I figure if I fill all my memory cards, I'll just start shooting film... though it might be less expensive for me to just buy more cards. Hmmmm...

If you'd like to get a general idea about what I'm up to, click your way through my past Indiana trips at www.mattbeaty.net - Here, I'll even provide some links for you.

2009
2008
2007
2006

That's what I'm up to this week.

If you behave, and eat your vegetables, I just might do a blog post with some of the highlights from my trip.

Have a great week!

Carrying again...

The last two years of my high school career, I had my camera with me wherever I went. It was ridiculous. I took an insane number of pictures each day. Most of them sucked, but at least I was shooting.

Then I got the D300, and I stopped carrying my camera all over the place. It's huge and expensive.

Finally, after two years of not carrying my camera, I'm starting again. On weekends.

Here are a few shots I got last weekend.

Coming soon: the ridiculous looking bag I conceal my ridiculously expensive camera with.

Have a great day!

Flying with Sean

My buddy sean was kind enough to take me flying the other day over Boulder.

Here are some of the shots I got.

Have a fantastic day!

Self Portrait

I mentioned in the comments of my last self portrait that my goal was to do one every week.

True to my goal, I got one done yesterday.

Right now I think all my self portraits will be in black and white... perhaps by the end of the summer I'll have a decent series.

Previously un-named project

You may recall that I posted something in the recent past that indicated I had done a shoot, but couldn't reveal it for one reason or another.

It turns out that the shoot in question took place in order to produce a birthday gift for my dad, who has been a volunteer firefighter for the last bazillion years (or so it seems).

The photo turned out like this:

The subject is my dad's Ford Excursion, which serves as his primary response vehicle when he isn't driving one of the real firetrucks.

The process behind the photo is fairly simple. I waited until my dad left town, took the truck up to a moderately scenic view of North Boulder and waited for the light to do what I wanted.

While I waited, it started to rain. This ended up being quite a blessing, as the truck was far dirtier than I would have liked and the rain helped hide that to some extent.

Long exposure to get both sides of the light bar lit up at the same time.

I ended up spending some serious time in photoshop to get rid of some powerlines and other distracting objects. The selective color - usually a look I avoid - is fairly simple  but I think it works pretty well.

Mpix did a great job printing and delivering right on schedule. It looks like I've found my new favorite for high-quality prints.

I've been shooting a bunch recently - I'm finally carrying my camera around with me everywhere I go. Unfortunately, I have not been making much time to blog. I'll see what I can do to fix that.

Have a great Monday!

The Power of MUSIC

I'm straying a bit from my usual topic today... Hope you don't mind.

Music has always been a powerful part of my life. I started singing in 5th grade - a soprano along with all the girls and most of the other boys in the mandatory choir/music lessons. I continued to sing in choir throughout middle school and most of high school. I was the classic freakshow choir kid depicted by the montage in the TV show GLEE. You name it, I wore it. Jumpsuits, trenchcoats, capes, leopard print, everything. I dyed my hair a variety of colors. I had acne like you would not believe.

None of that really allowed me to express myself the way music did, and still does. I sang in choirs ranging in size from 7 people (if you can call that a choir) to over 100 people. It was tough, but I don't regret one minute of it.

Eventually I stopped singing soprano (because my director wouldn't let me anymore) and moved to the next-best thing - Tenor 1. I actually chose my high school based solely on the fact that it had the best choirs I had ever heard. Fairview High School still has the best high school choirs I've ever heard.

Music still holds an extreme power over me - nothing gets me to tear up like a well-performed song. I don't even care about the lyrics most of the time, all I want to hear is that the singer has *heart*.

As such, the show Glee was an absolute blast for me. Sure, I spent a fair amount of time trying not to sob all over myself and my companions, but it also took me back and made me realize that I learned a lot of the same lessons that the characters on the show did. I learned many of them the hard way, and I did it with music.

At the time, I don't think I realized what I was learning. I was just singing because it was fun, because it was tough, and because singers are truly some of the most amazing people I have ever known. Thinking back though, I realize I have learned a lot from music and the people involved with it. Middle and high school are tough on kids, regardless of their upbringing or social class.

Me with my choir teacher, Ms. Keeler and the ever-talented singer and bassist, Nalani - 8th Grade

There came a time, however, when I had to choose between my two passions. There simply was not enough time in the day for me to be in the three choirs I wanted to be in, while still taking photo classes and shooting for the yearbook and the newspaper. I chose photography over music... but it was a tough choice and I spent the vast majority of my junior year battling back and forth.

Eventually though, a choice had to be made. I don't regret choosing photography; I'm a better photographer than I ever was as a vocalist. I did OK as part of a group, but I was never much of a soloist.

The point of this long-winded and reminiscent rant?

I honestly don't know...  but this being my blog, I can write whatever I want. There doesn't have to be a point to it.

But I guess if I dig a little deeper, what I'm trying to say is:

Thank you.

To anyone and everyone who encouraged me to continue with either music or photography. To all the choir teachers I had, to the photo teacher (singular) I had, to my parents and friends. To anyone who continued on and still makes amazing music.

Thank you so very much.

Self

I haven't done a self portrait in some time. Not one worth looking at anyway. Not one that was any different from all the other iSight pictures everybody posts on Facebook.

Yesterday though, I took the opportunity to do just that.

Inspired by the shower sequence in the movie "I, Robot" where Will Smith can be seen in a similar position, except you get to see a bit *ahem* more of him than you see of me. I'm fine with that, and I'm guessing you are too.

Fairly simple setup. My bare SB600 is on a tripod close the the ceiling in the back of the shower (away from the water) bouncing light in my general direction. I would have preferred to do this with a set of AB800 strobes, but I've got to wait a few weeks before I amass enough cash to purchase them. I expect I'll have a simple set by the middle of July.

When was the last time you did a self portrait that was even a little out of the ordinary? Give it a try! I expect you'll like the results.

June Background!

You've seen both these pictures before - but now they have been formatted to fit your screen!

After last month's simple black and white background, I've opted for options that are much more alive and colorful.

Enjoy!

Also, I updated www.mattbeaty.net with photos from May. The vast majority of these photos have been on the blog already, but I included a few bonus shots as well.

I updated Flickr as well - If you haven't been over recently, check it out!