Vault Photography - Blog

The Search for the Perfect Camera Bag

2012-01-29T10:29:00.001-07:00

Hello world.
Welcome to another episode of The Search for the Perfect Camera Bag!

Since I started shooting in 2006, I've gone through a fair number of camera carrying and storage systems. As my photography needs change and evolve, so do my requirements for camera bags.

For the last 4 or 5 years, I've been using the LowePro CompuTrekker AW Plus II bag. It's big, it's bad and it *barely* fits carry-on requirements. By barely, I mean I have to use my feet to shove it under the seat in front of me and flight attendants scowl at me when I do it.

Anyway. The main zipper on the LowePro bag started freaking out a few months ago and finally failed outright two weeks ago. That bag served me well for a long time - I figured I might just replace it with the newer version of the same bag, until I realized the cost. Upwards of $200.

Ouch.

Still, if a bag like that lasts me 5 years, I'm only paying $50/year or so, which isn't all that bad.
Just in case a better deal could be found, I decided to cruise Amazon.com for alternatives.
I found one.

The AmazonBasics Backpack

It's smaller than the LowePro but it still holds all of my essential gear. This forces me to be more careful about the gear that I carry and what stays at home. It also provided me with the opportunity to go through all my crap and discover some of the junk I have been carrying around for years in forgotten pockets of the LowePro.

It feels solid, especially the zipper, which is high on my radar after experiencing the zipper failure on the LowePro. Granted, I have only been shooting out of it for two weeks, so in four years I may be experiencing another tragic zipper malfunction, or perhaps something worse. Something about the feel of these zippers inspires confidence though - and I am optimistic about this particular bag lasting me a long time.

Best part? All this functionality for $40! (the price I paid two weeks ago).

Here's the old gear list, showing which items I removed for the fit into the new bag.

18-55mm kit lens
Rain cover
50mm f/1.8 lens w/ lens cloth
~~28mm f/2.8 lens w/ lens cloth~~ (sold)
SB 600 flash and ~~Polorizing filter~~ (never use it)
Nikon D300s Body with grip
BlackRapid R-Strap. RS-5 It carries an extra D300 battery as well as all of my Lexar memory cards
On the camera is the 35mm f/1.8 lens.

3x PocketWizard Transievers
~~Portable USB HDD - Right now it's a 250gb Seagate. It will soon be a 500gb Seagate~~
70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens
A spare pair of socks. Gotta have 'em
Backup Camera Body is my Nikon D300 that recently had its shutter replaced to the tune of nearly $500
2x Spare En-El3 battery

In the top pockets I have a n~~otebook~~, zipties, and a bunch of spare Mini and Micro USB cables for HDDs/cameras/phones/ etc. I also carry a card reader, ~~nail clippers, my old media pass and a flashlight~~. You never know.

Some of that gear has moved on to better homes, while some of it has been moved into a different carrying system. The hard drives and my computer now have a proper briefcase that I picked up at a thrift store, along with blank model releases.

I anticipate continuing with this setup for some time to come. If anything drastic changes, I will (of course) write a post for you, my loyal readers.

Stay tuned for images from yesterday's photoshoot with a new face to the Vault Blog...

Models in the studio

2012-01-23T12:04:00.001-07:00

I spent yesterday with my compatriots Andy and Taylor in the studio photographing a few ladies who are relatively new to modeling. Here is what I came up with:

Chloe

Danielle

Angela

A righteous good time working with each lovely lady. I hope to photograph all three of them in the future and I encourage other photographers to do the same!

My only real concept for the day was the shoot-through-fan deal, which I actually executed with a hot-light while Taylor used the strobes for one of his concepts.

Fun stuff: This Sunday tvC is hosting our first Photowalk in downtown Flagstaff with cameras and maybe models, seeing what there is to see and taking lots of pictures. Any and all are welcome. We will start off at noon with lunch at Big Foot BBQ, then wander aimlessly starting at 1pm. It's FREE unless you're having lunch with us.

Jan/Feb backgrounds

2012-01-18T12:44:00.001-07:00

So, I've been bad about posting backgrounds the last few months. I haven't felt the need to change them every month - but this morning I did.

Here are the two images on my monitors right now:

Both are full-rez.

Both were shot on the P7000

This-coming semester

2012-01-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

We are starting another semester... hopefully my final semester. Ever.

Here are some things that I would like to accomplish in the next 5 months:

1) Graduate. Apparently NAU misplaced my two graduation applications. Rawr.
2) Get a job that I enjoy. This job must pay in real money, in excess of minimum wage.
3) Start working with Actors instead of Models. I've heard great things about it.
4) Solidify my relationships with local businesses, and form new ones.
5) Continue working with thevisualCollective
6) Sell a bunch of the crap that I've accumulated but never use.
7) Move into a camera bag with a zipper that works
8) Help the NAU Photo Program continue to improve in ways that matter to students

That's all I can think of for now... Here are a few pictures from my winter break walkabout.

14" of fresh snow. 7am

check that bokeh...

Depressing dead-looking trees.

ONE LENS: to rule them all

2012-01-17T10:11:00.001-07:00

I've had a fair few conversations with emerging photographers recently. Naturally, as they tend to do, beginners tend to start out talking about gear. What gear should I buy? Which body? Which lens? What computer, software, memory cards, etc?

So many questions.

My advice to these photographers generally surprises them.

In my humble opinion, there is ONE LENS to rule them all. My go-to piece of glass. If I had to sell the rest of my lenses, it's the one that I would keep. It's the one that has survived everything I've been able to throw at it, and the one lens I have beat on the longest.

It's the 50mm F/1.8

All images courtesy of nikonusa.com

This should *not* surprise anyone. The 50mm prime is the oldest trick in the book. It is incredibly versatile, inexpensive, small (low profile) and lighter than any other lens.

DUH.

Still, the people I talk to don't WANT to hear that the 50mm is my favorite lens. They want to hear that the 70-200mm F/2.8 or the 400 F/2.8 or the 600 F/4 is my favorite lens, because all those lenses are hideously expensive, and thus generally out of reach for these beginners and amateurs who don't have thousands to spend on glass.

They can say, "Well it isn't my fault that my pictures suck, I don't have the right gear, I don't have the money. If I could only have ____, then I'd be a better photographer."

On the other hand, a $125 or $220 lens?* Anyone can buy that with a little bit of smart spending/saving. Cut back on your coffee or cigarette or energy drink habit and you've saved enough to buy one in a month or two.

If the gear you need is within your reach, it becomes YOUR fault that your pictures suck. It becomes your problem that you haven't spent any time thinking critically about how to communicate with a still image. It becomes your fault that you don't care enough to take your time to compose an image worth sharing. All of a sudden, when you realize that gear is not the issue, all your shortcomings as a photographer become your problem.

Of course this is stupid. The fact that you never bothered to learn proper exposure has always been your problem, but you used to be able to brush it off and pretend it wasn't your fault.
Those damn camera companies just make things too damn expensive. Damn THEM!

Uh uh. No dice.

Do yourself a favor, buy a 50mm prime. Use it exclusively for a week or a month. Put a few hundred frames through it. Something tells me that you too will discover its power.

The one lens.

To rule them all.

* Nikon sells two version of the 50mm F/1.8. One is the AF-D and the other is the AF-G. The D series will work on the prosumer (D300s) and professional (D4) bodies. The G will work on the lower-end consumer bodies (D90, D3000, etc) as well as the pro and prosumer bodies.

Curiously enough, the version for prosumer bodies is nearly $100 CHEAPER than the G series lens.

I'm guessing they did it to boost sales of the 35mm F/1.8, which is the DX equivalent of the 50mm. Also an excellent lens at $200.

When I bought mine, I got it for $106 plus tax. Brand new. Retail.
You can still get the same (superior) model that I have (with an aperture ring) for $125 on Amazon or $135 from Nikon

2011 Subaru WRX: in the snow

2012-01-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

Shame on me!
Recently (ish) I did a shoot with a 2011 Subaru WRX.
Apparently I forgot to blog about it.
Shame. On. Me.

That I haven't blogged about it is a major surprise mainly because I had a blast on this shoot, and I'm fairly happy with the results:

So much fun!

Of course, this car is really a sports car, and driving it around in 18" of fresh snow means we got it stuck. More than once.

Behind the Scenes:

Using the bumper as a snowplow... not particularly effective.

Ryan towing Justin and the Subie...

Pretty sunset reflection in the windows

Really stuck...

Tools: Nikon P7000 First Impressions

2012-01-03T11:13:00.004-07:00

Hello world,

Much like David duChemin, I'm not a huge fan of gear-centric rants that exclude the most important part of photography: the photographer.

Despite that, I have recently acquired a couple new tools and I'd like to share what I think about them.

Keep in mind that while these tools enable us to do certain things, and limit us from doing others, they are still just tools - things we use to make our vision become a reality.

Nikon P7000

10 megapixels, 1:2.8-5.6 variable aperture. 28mm-200mm zoom range. Takes SD memory. Has a hot shoe as well as full manual controls. Basically it is Nikon's answer to Canon's G10-12 series.

Shutter speeds from bulb to 1/4000 sec. Apertures from f/2.8 to f/8.0*. ISO from 100 to 6400.
All of these are fairly standard, except the apertures. It really only does stop down to F/8. Past that, you've got to use either the built-in ND filter (no idea how that works), or boost your shutter speed.

Whew. We survived the tech specs. Now onto the real meaningful stuff.

I've wanted a camera like this for ages. Small, portable, but that still allowed me some kind of control over what I was shooting. I asked for the p7000 for Christmas, having seen it go on sale for at Amazon ($229). I didn't expect anything - it's an expensive gift and I only discovered the sale last-minute. Despite that, my amazing parents managed to get it under the tree for me on Christmas morning.

I've spent the last few days putting the camera through its paces. Testing and trying and learning where I can. It has been frustrating. Going from a camera I know intimately well to using a totally different (and MUCH slower) system is hard. I am by no means an expert, but I've learned a few things that I think are worth sharing.

So.

The main use I have for this camera is: everyday carry. I'll keep it in my man-purse with my extra computer cables, my emergency Snickers bar, water bottle and book. The things I like to have with me, but that I can't or won't stuff in my pockets.

The awesome extra-special use for this camera, however, is studio/portrait work.
The hot-shoe on the P7000 will work with Pocketwizards, cybersyncs and most likely other brands of wireless triggers. This means that I can set off big powerful studio lights without carrying around my monster DSLR.
This camera is ideal for the photography student who is required to bring their camera to class every day, but who lives off campus and doesn't want to carry around the 35lb backpack of bodies and lenses. It's ideal for an impromptu portrait session either on location or in the studio, where you have access to speedlights or studio strobes, but you want to stay mobile.

For instance,
Yesterday afternoon I went with my brother Mark and his buddy Zach on a hike. Up a mountain. I decided that it might be fun to take my Einstein 640 along for the ride so I could use some big-strobe at the top of the hike. The strobe and the Vagabond Mini weigh a fair amount, but they're manageable. If I had wanted to bring up My D300s and the same range of lenses as the P7000, I would have been carrying another 15 or 20 pounds on top of the strobe equipment.
Instead, I snagged the P7000 and my CyberSync transmitter. Under 3 pounds and it fits in my cargo pockets for the hike.

Let's look at some pictures.

At F/8, ISO 100, 1/250 second. This image lacks the underexposure I need to really make it dramatic. Generally, I like to underexpose the ambient light by about 2/3 stop in order to make my subject matter really pop. With the aperture limitations on this camera, I was worried that it would have been impossible.

Then I discovered the best feature about the P7000. It does not have a focal plane shutter. It does not care what shutter speed you use with a flash. The following image was taken at F/8, ISO 100, 1/1000 second. Flash goes top to bottom, no big deal. This is amazing! I went up to 1/2000 sec. Above that, it quit syncing properly with the Einstein - and at half power, that was probably a function of the flash duration not being short enough for the camera.

This opens up a whole new area of possibilities. Working with flash at 1/2000 second shutter is something no DSLR I know of an do. They generally max out at 1/320 or sometimes 1/500.

To be fair, a large part of this working is probably due to the fact that the Einstein 640 has incredibly short flash durations. The whole draw of this technology is that the flash pop is MUCH faster than other strobes. Still - the combination of the Einstein and an electronic shutter is powerful.

Above is a quick Behind the Scenes shot of my brother Mark holding the Einstein, while Zach and Mocha (the dog) sit on the peak of Mt. Sunitas. 1/1000 sec. Overlooking Boulder.

Here, I chose to brighten up the ambient a little bit. Something like 1/640

This is all the way down to 1/400, but we were quickly losing daylight at this point. The shadow on the right side of the frame is that cast by the Rocky Mountains.

The ability of a P&S camera to fire big strobes is what makes this camera worth having. Anything else, like impossibly short shutter speeds, is just a bonus.

To be fair, the P7000 suffers from the same shortcomings as nearly all P&S cameras. It is SLOW to do what you ask of it, it has a habit of resetting all the settings every time it gets turned off, the zoom is unbearably slow to respond, it's a variable aperture, and the dials and menus are different from what I'm used to. Did I mention that it is SLOW? Because it is. I bought a class 10 SD card, hoping it would speed up write times from the camera to the card. No dice. Still takes a full second to write the picture to the card, then another half second for the camera to get its life in order before you can ask it to shoot again. A second and a half? That doesn't seem so bad - but when you're used to 8 frames per second with a strobe at half power, a 1.5 second wait seems like eternity.

On the bright side, it has a rangefinder - so if you don't feel like looking at the screen, or you can't see it in bright sunlight (not much of an issue), you can look through the minuscule window above the screen and get a basic idea of what your image will look like. The AF light is conveniently displayed right next to the rangefinder, so you can see when the camera is focusing and when it thinks it has focus lock. It does fairly well focusing, aside from the fact that it takes forever.

Overall, I am very much enjoying my new tool. The fact that I have it with my everywhere and that it is *much* higher resolution than my phone means that I can make quality (printable) photographs of anything/everything around me, whenever my muse strikes.

That's all for now! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me know below!

Shake it up

2012-01-01T19:33:00.003-07:00

I'm reading LINCHPIN by Seth Godin.

It is blowing my mind. Chapter by chapter, my brain gets a little more messed up.

But in a totally great way.

It has me realizing that much of what I did in years past is not sustainable, and in order to continue to learn, grow, and challenge myself, I need to shake things up in 2012. This post is an attempt to organize some of the thoughts bouncing around in my head and perhaps engage in some brainstorming

From a Flagstaff SLAM event

Tonight's focus, a bit more than halfway through the book, is about the difference between gifts and business transactions. The difference between people that matter and strangers. I see it as the difference between forming lasting relationships and one-off interactions. The difference between making something I am passionate about and conforming to someone else's vision.

When it comes down to it, as a photographer I make *astonishingly* little money.

Per hour, I do pretty well. When I'm working on images for clients, I can generally get about $50/hour. The issue is that I only get two or ten gigs a year that pay me at that rate, and generally they only involve a few hours, including computer time.

BUT.

I have made an amazing number of photographs with people that I care about. I've given hundreds of dollars worth of images as gifts to family and close friends. Each personal shoot I do is a chance for me to engage with people, to make art that I care about, and to learn and grow as an artist.

There needs to be an overlap of some kind. A happy medium where I can shoot things I care about, with companies and people who have the ability to push me, to help me, or to push me to help myself. If I were to find just a few companies like this, that allowed me to work on my craft while giving the gift of professional images to an organization I believe in, and that believes in me... I think a powerful relationship could form, and I *might* find myself with a surprisingly sustainable income.

As such, I will begin the search for an organization that can help me grow, that can give me chances that no other organization can give me, and that is invested in my continued growth. This company or non-profit must also be one that I believe in, and one that can benefit from my artistic contributions.

Thus begins the search.

Can you think of any organization that might meet my criteria? Is it your organization? A friend's? I'd appreciate a comment with the suggestions you might have.

Best of 2011

2011-12-30T14:53:00.001-07:00

What follows is a collection of my favorite 100 ish of my own photographs from 2011.

Could I have pared it down to less than 100ish? Absolutely

Did I want to? No friggin' way.

All of the above photographs speak to me, or remind me of something important in 2011.

Now - on to 2012, and the END OF THE ~~WORLD~~ MAYAN CALENDAR!

Weak(s)!

2011-12-27T23:00:00.001-07:00

It has been ages and ages since I blogged last, I know.

What's more, this post doesn't even count.

Some things:
I got a Nikon p7000 for Christmas and I am diligently putting it through its paces so I can post a review of sorts.
I got some books as well, some of which I will recommend, and some of which I will not.
My little bro gave me one of those awesome lens-mugs that every photographer in the world should have. Yes!

image from 100milligrams.com

Another thing:
I am contemplating a movement. Not a bowel movement (though perhaps one of those too...) but a shift away from this blog being almost entirely photography-related, to being about other things that I care about too. Guns and computers and phones and cars and stuff.

If doing that will destroy the minds of my (few but loyal) readers, I will consider keeping this site photo-only. If you all can handle me switching things up every once in a while, then I'll do that.

This is your one and only chance to sound off on the topic. Drop a comment below and let me know!

Help-Portrait 2011 Summary

2011-12-11T09:21:00.001-07:00

Hello world,

Yesterday, with a team of 23 amazing volunteers, only 5 of whom were shooting, we gave away free photographs to 240 people.

Holy cow.

That is almost exactly double what we did at the same location in 2010.

I spent most of my day doing workflow, rather than bouncing around as I had originally intended. As such, I did not get the opportunity to shoot many behind the scenes photos.

The ones I do have are shown below for your enjoyment

We had 5 setups in the commercial studio and 2 setups in the portrait studio. We could have gotten away with a lot less.

Next year, we'll do three big setups and one or two small ones. I'll also bring more black duct/gaff tape next year: one roll wasn't enough.

Having two people on post production was an absolute treat. Neither of us were overloaded at any given time, there was plenty of time to eat and chat and wander around the event.

We finished off our original 100ft roll of paper, and got well into our next roll. I still have probably 100 feet total from the original 300 that my parents donated in 2010.

Having sponsors this year was amazing, and definitely something I hope to repeat in coming years. We owe huge thanks to the following businesses in Flagstaff:

NAU School of Communication
Biff's Bagels

Starbucks

Crown Railroad Cafe

Subway

Wildflower

Safeway

AEC Reprographics

NAIPTA (free bus transportation!)

Staples

Tyrrell Marxen Chevrolet

Dillards

I look forward to another smashing success next year, and to the video that Danger Charles is producing. I am told we will have access to it on Wednesday or sometime mid-week-ish.

Help-Portrait Interview Videos

2011-12-09T13:02:00.001-07:00

A couple quick videos I did this morning with the NAU Franke College of Business...

Resource: cjLIVE

2011-12-06T12:23:00.001-07:00

I just want to take a quick moment to discuss one great resource for photographers from all walks of life.

Chase Jarvis LIVE.

It's a series of videos featuring all kinds of creative people, relating their experience and their expertise to photography and life as a creative person.

Right now, I'm watching an interview with Allegra Wilde. They're chatting about portfolios and how to use your images to get clients.

CJ and crew stream these videos live every once in a while, but more importantly, they are posted online for easy access if you can't make the live showing.

During these videos, they take questions from people via Twitter, as well as an in-person studio audience. Thousands of people can log in, watch, ask questions, and create a dialogue between artists from all over the world with a great variety of experience.

Off Road in the Snow

2011-12-02T16:27:00.001-07:00

Ryan and his 1998 Toyota.

8" of virgin snow.

Me and a 70-200mm lens.

As always, click to enlarge the images.

Nothin really fancy to it. You gotta overexpose snowy scenes by 2/3 stop or so to get everything to look white, so I did. Still ended up at 1/800 at F/4.

It's always nice to provided the roommate with an excuse to drive his truck like it was meant to be driven....

Help-Portrait 2011 in the press

2011-12-01T11:16:00.001-07:00

Help-Portrait is in the news!

This is great news for us - as I've already had a fair few offers for additional volunteers as well as snacks/munchies.

We are now full on volunteers, assuming everyone who has signed up to help actually comes on Saturday (the 10th) morning at 0700.

If you have questions, comments, or you are interested in having photographs done for your charity, non-profit, or for-profit organization, drop me an email: help-portrait@mattbeaty.net

Back in the groove: adventure day

2011-11-21T15:56:00.001-07:00

Along with Taylor, Andrew, Alexandra, and a new friend Leah - I spent Sunday afternoon adventuring through Flagstaff in inclement weather, searching out pictures to take and experiences to enjoy.

Here are the resulting images in chronological order.

Portrait: Rachael Bain

2011-11-21T09:23:00.001-07:00

Miss Rachael came up to Flagstaff to visit my lady Kristen. While she was here, I snagged her for ten minutes and did a quick portrait.

Yup.

Color: climbing

2011-11-18T08:22:00.001-07:00

Same shoot as the last post, but now in COLOR!
As always, click to enlarge.

Climbing photos at Vertical Relief

2011-11-13T11:39:00.001-07:00

Last night, I spent three hours from the ceiling/wall in Vertical Relief and photographing some seriously awesome indoor climbing. A bit of bouldering, a bit of lead climbing, and a lot of fun.

Here are some of my favorites:

Emery(?)

Jeff P and Emery

Jeff P

Blake

Ashley

Jeff S

Now for the "How-To" stuff.

All the production stills below by Taylor over at Taylor Mahoney Photography.

Three light setup for everything - though the setup changed, the basic format did not.

One light on the climber.

One light for fill.

One accent/belay light.

On the lead climbing wall, I gave my Einstein 640 and Vagabond Mini to my second assistant and sent him up a rope. He hung from the ceiling for a little over two hours, aiming the light with a 20 degree spot grid at the climber. No easy task.

Preston

Eventually, I ended up on the wall as well, generally hanging over the climber as he or she made some time-warping, life-changing badass moves below me.

Preston up top with the light, me on the right, and Blake killin' it on bottom.

Here's me at the bottom of the rope, finished for the evening.

I look forward to doing more of these shoots!

Color versions of the images to come soon - keep your eye on the Internets.

Many thanks to Vertical Relief, Taylor, Preston, Jeff, the other Jeff, Ashley, Blake, Emery, Everett, and all the awesome people who made this possible!

FJ

2011-11-03T15:10:00.002-06:00

I spent this morning romping around off-road with my buddy Preston and his 2010 FJ Cruiser.

I'm in love. With the truck. In fact, it is now my goal to own one, live out of it, and make pictures all over the U.S.

In the meantime, I'll have to settle for pictures of it though.

That's all for now!

Self limitation: gear

2011-10-31T23:28:00.003-06:00

This last weekend I went down to Scottsdale with my lovely girlfriend. I chose not to bring my D300s, or any other "serious" camera gear. I could have gotten away with not bringing my computer had I not had some serious photoshopping to do over the weekend.

Anyway. Deprived of my big rig, my cell phone became my primary photographic tool, and I'm glad it did. Using only one app and being limited by my phone's low light performance and pathetic shutter speed, I got some fun creative stuff and spent a lot of time outside my usual "head-space," thinking up ways I could still get the image without thousands of dollars worth of camera and lenses.

Here are some of my favorite cellphone pictures in the last month or so... there are quite a few of them.

The more I think about it, the more I would love to sell all my fancy gear and shoot exclusively with a cell phone... mayhaps the iPhone 4s?

For now I need the fancy gear (at least most of it) to continue doing my job as a sports photographer. After that's over with - we'll see how much of it I retain and how much goes away for good... I expect to do some serious downsizing after the school year is over!!!

tvC v4.0

2011-10-20T09:41:00.000-06:00

Shame on me, the horrible blogger. It's been a while since I blogged about anything personal...

My life is ridiculous these days. Entirely too much to do and too few waking hours to do it all. I also find that I am generally not willing to sacrifice sleeping time for any reason except perhaps thevisualCollective.

Anyway. Last weekend tvC was in the Grand Canyon by means of the Havasupai reservation. 10 miles of strenuous hiking with a backpack holding everything you need for three days. My pack came out to about 35 pounds.

In total, I shot about 900 frames. Of those, I kept about 90. Of those, I really like the following:

(click to enlarge)

Strangely enough, I didn't really have much of a theme for this trip. I ended up shooting mostly at F/1.8 - so perhaps shallow depth of field counts as my theme.

The only lens I brought was the 35mm F/1.8, and shooting it wide open all weekend reminded me of how much I enjoy limited DOF. It also forced me into high shutter speeds and 100 ISO for most of the time, which is uncharacteristic of me. I tend to keep my ISO at 800 or above much of the time - so getting out of that headspace was refreshing.

Here's a quick video I did to go along with these last couple images of Taylor:

Another 2011 Help-Portrait update!

2011-10-12T09:21:00.002-06:00

Hello world!

In case you missed it last week, here's the 2011 Help-Portrait video:

So far I've got the following people signed up to volunteer on December 10th:
Photographers: Dano, Don, Bryan, Hailey, Kyra, Chad, Noelle [room for ONE more]
Runners: Kristen [room for three more]
Greeters: Dahlia [room for two more]
Workflow people: Andrew, Taylor
Print slicer/dicer: [One spot]
Hair/Makeup: Geri [room for three more]
Setup & tear down assistants: [room for four more]

If you're interested in helping out - please drop me an email with your name, phone number, and the role you'd like to play: help-portrait@mattbeaty.net

I am also actively looking for some person or some organization to sponsor banners and signs for us to hang around campus. We would like to have at least three 6' banners and whole bunch of smaller signs on paper.

If you or anyone you know can help spread the world - December 10th will be that much more awesome!

What I'm packing

2011-10-11T11:19:00.002-06:00

Last night I started preparations for thevisualCollective's trip to Havasupai starting *early* Friday morning.

I purchased a serious backpack specifically for this trip. What's more, it is a $200 backpack that I got for $20 on Craigslist. Yes!

Here's what it looks like loaded up:

And here are the contents:

Starting at the bottom left corner and working clockwise:
2x T shirts
4x Socks
Adventure pants (quick-dry, zip-off, cargo pants - double as swimshorts)
black hoodie
serious rain jacket
3x bandana
Serious hiking boots
Adventure hat
bag of miscellaneous medications
3x 1 liter water bottles
First Aid kit. Scissors, Gauze, tape, gloves etc.
SB 600 Speedlight
6x 4gb 300x CompactFlash memory cards
18-55mm kit lens
D300s camera body
35mm f/1.8 lens
Bread!
PB&J (not pictured)
2x Flashlight
headlamp
75' of rope
48 AA batteries
Hammock
Sleeping bag
Adventure knife

There you have it. Additionally, I will be wearing my second pair of adventure pants and a third T shirt, as well as a fifth pair of socks. The bag weighs less than 30 pounds with water-weight, so it shouldn't be too hard on me.

Things you may notice as missing: propane stove and alcohol.
I'd rather carry bread and PB&J than two tanks of fuel (one as a backup) and a stove-thing - no open fires are allowed in the canyon.
Also, the Havasupai tribe prohibits alcohol in the canyon.

Resources:
Campground info
Village info

Help-Portrait 2011 Update: new video

2011-10-06T17:38:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! Just a quick update to notify you that Help-Portrait corporate headquarters has recently published the 2011 video.

Take 5 minutes and take a look. Share it. Get involved!

October Backgrounds

2011-10-03T09:19:00.001-06:00

Welcome to October! Perhaps my favorite month in the year. Great color, a variety of weather, pumpkin spice latte's - what's not to love?!

Here are the three images I will be using as my personal desktop backgrounds over the course of October. Click to enlarge, and enjoy!

Faux-Engagement

2011-09-26T10:19:00.000-06:00

Our first real assignment for my Corporate/Industrial photo class this semester is an engagement shoot.

Since I don't know anyone who is recently engaged or planning on doing so soon - I faked it.

In the interest of doing something a little... less traditional, I decided to try get across the engaged-thing while also getting across the fact that not all girls suck at video games.

Here are the results:

In addition - I tried a new lighting technique for these images: faking TV light. It went better than I expected. The light is my Einstein 640 through a 5' softbox right about eye-level. I pushed the WB so the light comes across a bit cooler than usual. Viola. TV light.

Surprisingly enough - the people who have responded to my question so far on Facebook like the concept and like the images. I wasn't sure the idea would get across so I crowdsourced my decision. Now, it looks like I will turn these images in after all!

I've got a bunch more shoots coming up this week. In fact, I'm not quite sure when I'm going to fit everything in...

LG Optimus issue: resolved

2011-09-26T10:08:00.001-06:00

Neither Sprint nor LG have figured out a true fix for the whole "your phone doesn't charge," thing.

However, when I went in to the local Sprint store and complained (after having talked with the online chat people and sent an email to tech support) - they shipped me a brand new phone.

Even better - the brand new phone is running Froyo! No more Gingerbread for me. I'll happily wait until they release the updated version. What's more, instead of blindly updating the second I see the update, I'll wait, read the forums and see what issues other people are experiencing before I update.

Anyway, I now have a fully functional phone. Hooray!

Help-Portrait 2011 update

2011-09-21T12:32:00.001-06:00

Hello world!

So far I've got the following people signed up to volunteer:
Photographers: Dano, Don, and Bryan, Hailey [room for four more]
Runners: Kristen [room for three more]
Greeters: [room for two more]
Workflow people: Andrew [room for one more]
Print slicer/dicer: [One spot]
Hair/Makeup: Geri [room for one more]

If you're interested in helping out - please drop me an email with your name, phone number, and the role you'd like to play: help-portrait@mattbeaty.net

I am also actively looking for someone or some organization to sponsor banners and signs for us to hang around campus. We would like to have at least three 6' banners and whole bunch of smaller signs on paper.

If you or anyone you know can help spread the world - December 10th will be that much more awesome!

No phone...

2011-09-20T18:28:00.003-06:00

While I'm between working phones, please reach me here:

LG Optimus S and Gingerbread

2011-09-20T13:58:00.000-06:00

Over the last week or so, Sprint and LG have been rolling out the Gingerbread build of Google's Android operating system on the LG Optimus S phones.

I happen to have such a phone, and was initially elated to learn that my upgrade had finally come! I clicked "install" without thinking and immediately went back to sleep because I've got a cold I'm trying to beat.

Anyway. When my phone and I had both rebooted, I picked it up and starting futzing around with it.

The new keyboard is a bummer and it doesn't recognize dictionary words. Seriously "today" is autocorrected to "Today" because for some reason the phone can't figure out where the dictionary is. Additionally, the keys are all smaller now - so typing is even more of a pain than it used to be.
On the bright side, the stock keyboard has a new cursor system that lets you edit mistyped words MUCH easier than the Froyo keyboard.

I am told the workaround (not fix) for these keyboard problems is to download another free keyboard from the App Market.

The major bummer about this update is that it did not fix the issue where my Mac (or any other computer) fails to recognize the phone via USB connection. I had this when I was running Froyo and I've got it still on Gingerbread - except now, the phone refuses to charge as well! This is a problem I had on and off for a while in April and early May - though eventually it started charging just fine again. Now it won't charge from the wall, the computer, or from my super-energized-mind-waves. Fail.

I've tried rebooting and resetting it - neither worked and I have read that even a full reset of the phone has not fixed this issue for other frustrated Optimus S users.

My hope is that Sprint/LG will get their hands on another update and send it out expediently, otherwise my phone very quickly becomes a paperweight and I will have to do all my phone calls/texting from Google Voice. This works just fine as long as I don't leave my house...

Overall, the following illustration just about sums up how my phone feels about the Gingerbread 2.2.3 update:

Inspired by Post Secret - day 2

2011-09-19T09:20:00.000-06:00

I've finished up my second set of images from my new-ish "Inspired by Post Secret" photo series. Friday I convinced another 27 people to come down, be photographed, and share their secrets with the world.

Below are some of the secrets that resonate best with me. The entire collection is on my Facebook (or will be shortly)

Images from Day 1 can be found HERE.

This second shoot wraps up photography for this project. Now I am in the market for a sponsor (or sponsors) to help me print, frame, and hang 24 of the 51 finished pieces. I'd like to show the series off at the NAU gallery - then in galleries around Flagstaff and anywhere that is interested in hanging the show.

If you are interested, or you know someone who might be - please drop a comment below and I will respond lightning-quick!

Tools

2011-09-17T09:20:00.000-06:00

At least three times in as many days, I've been asked some variation of "What would you do if you broke your camera/it died?"

People seem to expect me to cringe at the thought - as though I can't possibly bear the thought of my (admittedly beautiful) equipment biting the dust.

I find that a bit odd. A camera to me is just like any other tool, whether that's a hammer, my pocket knife, or the pens and pencils I use in my everyday schoolwork. I don't baby or coddle any of my gear. I take it all out into the wet and the cold and the mud and the dust just as easily as I take it out on a beautiful Saturday morning like today.

One bag of my tools

My theory behind tools: If it can't do what I ask of it and take a beating in the process - I need better tools. If a tool breaks, why spend all day crying and moaning about it? Get a better one and keep hammering, cutting, writing, and shooting.

This same mentality is why I find the whole "Canon vs Nikon" debate absurd. I don't care which hammer or pen you use - why should you care which one I use? Why does it matter to anyone how many megapixels I have or whether my lens is Sigma or Nikkor? It doesn't matter one freaking bit. In fact, when a photographer comes up to me and says "Oh man, what are you shooting with? The D300s? That's pretty cool. I shoot the D90. Nikon's just better, ya know?" All I can think is about how that photographer clearly hasn't figured "it" out yet.

More of my tools

I know, I shouldn't look down on those people - I used to do the same thing. The difference is now, I've learned that the tools aren't what matter - the results are.

...and in case you're wondering, I have literally used my camera as a hammer before.

Help Portrait 2011 - Getting Started

2011-09-16T10:55:00.003-06:00

Friends and Followers,

I am supremely excited to announce that planning for this year's Help-Portrait event in Flagstaff has officially begun!

If you are unfamiliar with Help-Portrait, please take 2:26 to watch last year's "intro to H-P" commercial:

I've updated the official Help-Portrait Community page for Flagstaff and will continue to do so up to the day of the event. Each major update that goes there will also be published here on my blog. Please not that although the video says Dec. 4 - this year our day to give back is December 10th. I don't know why they haven't released a new video...

The tentative list of volunteers and donations to make the day a success is shown below. Our goal this year is at least 200 people photographed, walking out the door with 8x10 prints.

People:

8 Photographers

4 workflow people

1 print slicer/dicer

4 runners

2 front desk greeters

2 makeup artists

1 outreach/advertising pro

Donations:

Munchies and juice for guests

Munchies and lunch for volunteers

Banners and signs to hang around campus and direct traffic

NAU is graciously donating the use of the studios, lighting equipment, backdrops, printers and inks. We have well over 200 feet of paper leftover from last year's generous donation from Mike and Maureen Beaty.

If you're interested in volunteering, donating, or you have mad hookups to help us out, please drop me an email at help-portrait@mattbeaty.net. Please include your contact information and what you'd like to do to help out. Please include "Help-Portrait" in the subject line of your email!

many months of 35mm film

2011-09-12T23:20:00.001-06:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't shoot enough film.

When it comes down to it, I really enjoy the film experience. I enjoy the wait, the wondering if I "got it," second-guessing my exposure and my old Nikon FM1 meter.

Generally though, I am very pleased with the images that I get out of a roll of 24 exposures. Today's batch is actually from three separate rolls.

Cheers!

Post Secret Project

2011-09-12T08:45:00.001-06:00

The other day I was inspired by Post Secret and Fifty People One Question to do a a personal project. Rather than wasting words on trying to explain it, I'll just show you a teaser from my 6 hours in the studio...

Right now I've got 24 in total. When printed, they'll end up being 24"x36". I hope to print a series of at least a dozen and show them off in a gallery or two.

Unfortunately, printing these things that big and then framing them is an expensive ordeal.

I'm accepting donations to keep the project going :-)

Help-Portrait 2011 in Flagstaff

2011-09-03T10:27:00.000-06:00

Faithful readers,

This year as in years past, I will be leading the Flagstaff, AZ chapter of Help-Portrait.
Like last year, we will be located in the NAU Photo studios.
This year, however, thevisualCollective will be heavily involved to improve our turnout and volunteer list!

The meetings are beginning in the next few weeks to discuss how we can improve on last year's procedures.

Here's the link to the 2010 Flagstaff Help-Portrait Summary.

Please consider joining us on December 10th for a day of charity, fun, and photography!

Welcome Week photoz

2011-09-01T09:49:00.000-06:00

It's good to be back on the blog with something to post for a change.

After seeing that super inspirational video at the beginning of the week, I carried my camera with me to the booth where thevisualCollective set up on NAU campus to recruit new participants.

Over the course of two days, I got the following four images that I rather like.

That's what I got. Everything but the first frame was shot on the D300s with the 35mm F/1.8
I generally keep the lens at the sweet spot of F/4.

Because I had the 35mm lens on my camera, I used Taylor's camera for the first image of the statue-thingy - he had a lens that went wide to 18mm with him.

It appears I won't be shooting anything for my photo class for quite some time, so I'll get on some kind of personal project in the next few days and see if I can shoot something just for me.

Blog Lite: inspiration

2011-08-30T08:05:00.000-06:00

Hey there,

Sorry about the blog lite around here recently. School has just started back up again and I've not been shooting anything even a little bit personal. Instead I have been focused on thevisualCollective and the goings on over there.

Don't worry - I haven't forgotten you entirely... just mostly ;-)

Anyway - a buddy of mine shared this on Facebook this morning and it has really touched me and inspired me for the day to Get Off My Arse and shoot.

On Assignment from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

Stay tuned at www.thevisualCollective.com for what I'm really up to these days!

California

2011-08-18T10:18:00.000-06:00

I spent the last seven days in California, mostly between Orange and San Diego.

I took a fair few photos and had a fair few drinks. I read a couple books and started some serious planning for the future.

All in all, I had a great time! Miraculously, I produced a few photos that don't totally suck either.

Really gnarly low tide with solid 6'+ breakers meant that this Lifeguard (whose name I didn't get) spent a lot of time running back and forth on the beach, warning people that they might get their head smashed in by water.

Sunset at looking out at the tide pools from my cozy spot on the beach. The beauty of a 200mm lens, other than making me look more badass than the rest of the photographers on vacation, is that it lets you ~~creep~~ photograph the people on the other side of the beach.

I shot this guy "surfing" for 15 minutes or so... which is to say I photographed him paddling to and fro a lot. He did eventually get up on a couple waves, but neither the waves nor his technique were spectacular. I would have loved to do more surfing photos while I was out there, but I didn't really have a long enough lens (or a big enough sensor) to reach/crop all the way out to the real action.

Ferrari with a cell phone

2011-08-14T08:35:00.001-06:00

I got access to a Ferrari 430 for a bit this afternoon. It didn't move or do anything particularly exciting, but man it is pretty.

Shot the top image on the top with the D300, all the images in the collage with my cell phone.

I've been shooting about half the time with my phone, half with my big camera. Here's another I grabbed during rush-hour traffic in Southern California

Not a Ferrari.

Later this week: More images from my SoCal adventures.

Photoshop Fail

2011-08-13T19:13:00.000-06:00

I gave Photoshop a task: to Photomerge 9 frames into what I imagined would look like this:

Instead, photoshop gave me this:

Wow.

Fail.

Stay tuned for images from my California adventures!

Backgrounds: August

2011-08-07T10:16:00.001-06:00

Sorry for being so late with these. I didn't really notice it was August until I looked at the date this morning. Weird.

Here are the three background choices for this month:

All three are from the same afternoon, during my romp through SE Kansas last month.

Portrait: Molly

2011-08-07T10:12:00.000-06:00

Yesterday in a desperate attempt to climb out of an emotional hole and onto a creative cloud, I asked miss Molly to come be my victim for a quick photo sesh.

During this shoot, I also started a photo project that will likely be some time in coming to fruition. I'd tell you about it, but that would ruin the surprise. Instead, just know that I'm working on something slowly but surely.

In the next seven days, look for more free-running photos, as well as more portraits!

Mediocre Photoz

2011-08-04T11:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I went on a hike. I brought my camera - but before I even strapped it to my body, I released myself from my own internal pressure. I told myself there "Today, I shall take pictures because that's what I love to do. It doesn't matter if they suck."

And so I did.

Yes. Most of them suck.

Maybe they don't suck - but they surely aren't anything special. Not original. Not necessarily well exposed. I shot in JPG *gasp* all day. As a matter of fact, I shot in B&W JPG all day. No way to get color out of these - they were converted before they even made it to the memory card.

Breaking the rules felt good. So did releasing myself from the constant internal monologue that rants "You HAVE to take amazing pictures! Every shutter press MUST be amazing!"

BS on that, I say.

Take some time with your camera and take some pictures of random stuff that catches your eye. anything. everything. whatever you want. Don't worry about getting gallery-ready images right off the bat. Just enjoy it once in a while!

In the last ten days...

2011-07-31T09:23:00.000-06:00

In the last ten days I have done.... precisely nothing creative or photographic.

Ok, that's not entirely true, but it's pretty close. I've been in the middle of a creative slump. No muse. No real vision, not a lot going on in my head.

Most people who do creativity know how it goes. Whether you call it a slump, a rut, or simply discouraging - it's not much fun any way you slice it.

To help myself get back on the creative horse, yesterday I traveled with Dahlia as her photographic assistant for a photoshoot in Buffalo Park. A beautiful location - though surprisingly warm under the sun, even at 9:00am.

I enjoyed assisting miss Dahlia, and eventually I got the chance for a few frames with our model for the morning, miss Rachel Lilly. She is an aspiring model looking to be signed by a particular modeling agency, the name of which I managed to forget.

Anyway, I had two goals for my brief shoot with miss Lilly:

Don't rip off Dahlia's concept
Make something that doesn't totally suck

I think I managed to do both. While Dahlia shot, I had the opportunity to look around and spy for alternative locations and ideas. It took me quite a while to figure out what I wanted to do, but slowly a vision formed. When it came to my turn with Rachel, I was able to create my concept within about about 50 frames.

click to enlarge

That is that. With any luck, my muse will return to me as August envelopes Flagstaff. Until then, stay tuned for posts at www.thevisualCollective.com

Shoot for you

2011-07-21T09:41:00.000-06:00

Warning: This is a rant.

Many of the photographers I know spend a lot of their time shooting for clients. That is to say - most of my friends make money on photography and have to live up to other people's standards for their imagery.

I firmly believe that every project you shoot should be a personal project. Your vision for everything you shoot should be what separates you from the masses who are all trying to create and re-create the same pictures in a style that is "hot" or "in demand" now.

vs.

I shot one of these trying to duplicate a popular style, and the second in the way that I wanted to shoot it. Which is more powerful?

Sure, the back-lit, lens-flare, portrait-in-a-field look is "in" now, but why do I keep seeing the same concept repeated in every fashion/wedding/commercial/music publication? It seems like the photo industry *thinks* that it has to balance personal taste with what is in demand.

Your vision is in demand. You might not know it - and your potential client probably doesn't know it either - but your creative voice is what will get you paid in the long run. Practice shooting what you enjoy in a way that you enjoy shooting it. Eventually, people will realize your consistent voice is better than those people who jump around trying to duplicate whatever style is popular.

</rant>

Portraits in Sepia: Alexandra

2011-07-18T09:56:00.000-06:00

Yesterday marks the first time I have ever shot a portrait session in color and converted the whole thing into sepia. I knew it was coming, I just didn't know how I would feel about the results.

The magnificent Alexandra modeled for me in a truly stunning outfit. I toyed with the idea of letting some of the color of her red dress and lipstick bleed through the sepia toning, but ended up leaving the red out in favor of the more dramatic and more old-fashioned monochrome.

The setup was quite simple. One light (as is generally the case), diffused through a piece of paper to just take the edge off the harshness. Fill is natural light from a sky that couldn't make up its mind. Cloudy, sunny, cloudy, sunny made for many shutter speed adjustments during this shoot to balance things out.

After the shoot, I spent the day printing and framing my contributions to thevisualCollective's next gallery show - August will see tvC in Animas Beads with a greater variety of work and certainly many larger pieces to show!

Free Running - Take II - Call to Arms

2011-07-13T11:04:00.000-06:00

Calling all free-running parkour-loving athletes!!!

A couple months back I did a shoot of the DAFT Free Running group based in Phoenix. One of their members, Fernando, hooked me up with Five Ten Shoes - who in turn licensed several of my images for a trade show in Europe.

As it turns out, Five Ten wants more photos of free-running action - so they've given me a deal:

Three pairs of Five Ten shoes for athletes who will come up to Flagstaff and participate in a day-long photoshoot showcasing their skills. I will be teaming up with Taylor Mahoney of thevisualCollective fame to create images of epic awesomeness. The pictures will likely be displayed in the U.S. and possibly in Europe.

If you're interested, drop me a comment below or send me an email: matt [at] vaultphotos.com

Portraits: Amanda

2011-07-12T10:02:00.000-06:00

It had been way too long since I photographed by good friend and ex-roommate Amanda, so the other day we got together and made some pictures.

The goal of the shoot was twofold. First, get a cutesy portrait-y picture that she probably wouldn't mind sending to her mom.
Second, to goth her out in black clothes and makeup and get something a little darker and a bit more creepy.

Above you see Amanda as she actually exists in real life. Beautiful.

Below you see Amanda as the kind of girl your mother warned you to stay away from in high school.

I absolutely love the intensity of this last image. The way her head is just slightly cocked, the way she seems to be staring directly at the viewer... it creeps me out and intrigues me simultaneously.

After we finished taking pictures, we decided to go shopping. The looks we got from the people in Walmart were absolutely priceless. Perhaps next time I'll hide a camera on her somewhere and just have her walk around like this...

Storm chasing images

2011-07-11T10:45:00.000-06:00

As promised, here are my favorites from my recent week on the road.

Dust devils on the way out of Arizona. The only phenomenon we saw that even remotely resembled a tornado

Case measuring windspeed and direction

Controlled burns on the backroads of South-East Kansas

The Jesus Truck

Sunset at Fall River Lake as a big storm approached

The big storm. Lighting and thunder and wind around 3am

Drive-by shot through the window

Aftermath of our biggest storm and longest chase in Southern Colorado

I used the D300s and either the 70-200mm F/2.8 or the 35mm F/1.8 nearly the entire time. Occasionally I tossed on the 18-55 kit lens with my trusty wide-angle adapter to catch the entire storm front or to get a vignette straight out of camera.

Overall, it was an interesting experience. I don't think I'll be going out storm chasing again until I can get a better workflow together for checking radar, shooting, communicating, etc. Two people wasn't enough - but a team of three people would be perfect for storm chasing. Of course, I wouldn't mind getting some actual severe weather as well.

Coming soon: new portraits!

Trashy hotel

2011-07-10T09:16:00.000-06:00

Man it feels good to be home!

I spent the last week on a road trip throughout the great plains, searching for extreme weather and beautiful landscapes to photograph and enjoy.

We didn't see much in the way of storms, but we did encounter several hotels that were simply laughable. In the spirit of adventure, we purposefully stayed in hotels and motels with the lowest possible reviews online. One star and below.

Below is the series of images that I compiled from our single worst room:

Stay tuned for the actual photos from the trip!

Storm chasing

2011-07-03T21:40:00.001-06:00

Friends and followers,

I'm on an amateur storm chasing expedition/road trip for the next week. Please stay tuned to my Twitter feed for updates, most of which include pictures.

www.twitter.com/mattbeaty

Enjoy your week!

- Matt Beaty

July Backgrounds

2011-07-01T08:49:00.000-06:00

Good morning everyone! Welcome to July!
Sorry I missed out on the June Backgrounds!

Here are the three images I will rotate through this month for my desktop background!

The first two are from Indiana. The third is from somewhere in Utah.

With any luck I will settle into a routine of sorts in a couple weeks and blogging will resume at it's usual pace. Until then - enjoy the sporadic postings!

Also - thevisualCollective has a gallery show tonight in downtown Flagstaff. If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by Pasto and take a gander at our images!

Dr. Brown's 1-2-3

2011-06-26T07:54:00.001-06:00

Ok photogs. Stay sharp. This is a tool you should definitely look into.

Dr. Brown's scripts are absolute lifesavers. They take any menial file-saving task you can think of and they automate and expedite it. Every picture I've put on the web since 2008, I've done thanks to Dr. Brown.

I assumed that all the photographers in the world knew about these scripts, like everyone knows Photoshop or what a Shutter is. I learned during my weekend at Ragnar that many people don't have any idea who or what Dr. Brown is. Read on and prepare to have your mind blown and your workflow speed dramatically increased!

In a nutshell, the 1-2-3 process script for Photoshop and Bridge gives you the option to save any open or selected photos up to three times in three different formats without using any of your precious brainpower. Just a few clicks, run the script, and sit back while the computer works.

Let me show you what it looks like:

Dr. Russel Brown's website

Selecting photos to save directly from Bridge

The script UI

A lot of the functions that Dr. Brown does, you can create using Actions in Photoshop - but trust me, the good doctor does a much better job, and he does it faster, and he does it directly from Bridge!

When would you want to use this? Well, anytime you have more than say... one image that you'd like to save, in more than one format. For instance, I generally open my saved high resolution files from Aperture into Photoshop. I then use Dr. Brown's 1-2-3 script to save them as high res JPGs and again as lower resolution web-ready JPGs. You may notice that most of the photos that I post to the internet have a small (1px) gray border around them. That is courtesy of an action I built in photoshop. Dr. Brown gives me the option to apply any action I want while it is going through the images - so I tell it to apply the action *after* it resizes the photos. Lifesaver!

1-2-3 also makes it really easy to save an image to long-side pixel dimensions. For example, the photos I put on this blog are generally 1000 pixels on the long side and 72 PPI. You can see that setting illustrated here under the "Resize to Fit" section on the right.

Here's a link to a semi-quick video showing what the script can do.

Also - here's a link to Dr. Brown's site, where you can find scrips and tutorials for the several newest versions of Photoshop.

This post is about the scripts available for Photoshop CS4, but the CS5 scripts are just as great and readily available!

Questions? Comments? Let me know in the box below!

Serenity

2011-06-24T09:29:00.000-06:00

If I had a theme in mind during my Indiana vacation, it was probably serenity.
The idea of being alone, interacting with your surroundings strikes me as very appealing, especially since I rarely get the opportunity to do so myself.

One of the techniques I tried to use in my photographs over my vacation was to create some anonymity for my subjects. Not for any noble reason, but to enable the viewer to relate to the image and to perhaps place themselves as the subject. Not an original idea, but I think an effective one.

I didn't shoot much on my vacation, but when I did, I managed to get some shots that I really like.

Today I'm packing up my stuff after a month of living out of my backpack and preparing to drive back to Flagstaff tomorrow!

Event photos from RAGNAR Wasatch Back Relay

2011-06-20T13:10:00.000-06:00

These are my top picks from the actual event. Rock on!

42 hours of shooting: RAGNAR

2011-06-20T11:06:00.001-06:00

I had one heckuva weekend.

I flew from Fort Wayne, IN to Salt Lake, UT on Thursday afternoon with three of my three cohorts from thevisualCollective. We drove to Logan, UT and got approximately three hours of sleep.

Friday:
0300 - Wake up call.
0330 - Breakfast
0400 - In the car (Dodge Journey)
0430 - On set at the start line of the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay Race.

What is a wastatch back relay race? It's a 192 mile run. Teams of 12 people take turns running for more than 26 hours straight. Very little sleep. Hot. Cold. Rain. Wind. Sunshine.
How many people participate? This race had nearly 1,200 teams, totaling nearly 15,000 people. As part of a four-person photography crew, our job was to photograph as many of those people as possible. We had an absolute blast, and got almost no sleep. Between driving and photographing, I had 2 hours of sleep over a 44 hour period.

Taylor and Andrew at the finish line

Me and Genevieve and the PhotoBunnies at the finish line

(photo by Taylor Mahoney)

I shot about 1,000 frames and posted nearly 700 to the website myragnarphotos.com Total, the four of us uploaded nearly 2,500 pictures to the internet in the last 24 hours. Thank goodness for free hotel wifi!

Very little of my time in the last few days has allowed for personal space, privacy, cleanliness, or the ability to photograph anything other than relay participants.

Sunrise on Sunday morning, however, I was able to muster a few non-race pictures. I don't think they are particularly great photos - That wasn't the point at all. The idea was simply to shoot something that wasn't a runner.

Whew. Last night we got 8 or 10 hours of sleep. We're cleaning up the hotel room now and flying out of Salt Lake City this afternoon.

Hopefully more bloggage to come in the next week!

"Work"

2011-06-02T08:28:00.000-06:00

I hate using the term "Work" to describe photography, art, music, or anything inherently creative. I hate it so much I cringe when I hear it. I metaphorically cry a single tear.

To me, photography is the exact opposite of work. It's freedom. It's play. It's self-expression. To me, when I think of "Work," none of those things come to mind. Work is something you have to do. Work is the unfortunate consequence of playing for too long. Work is what responsible people do. Work, as I think of it, is something I fully intend to avoid.

Don't take that to mean I expect to eat Cheetos on a couch and live in my parents' basement forever though. The fact that I hate work doesn't mean I don't want a job or I don't want to be successful. It just means I want to have FUN while I make money.

You see, photography is fun. Working through the challenges at thevisualCollective is fun. Editing images on my computer, formatting hard drives, cleaning camera gear - it's all fun to me.

Don't call my photography "work," because I guarantee I haven't worked a single minute on any photograph that I care about. I've played, experimented, failed, succeeded, and created... but not worked.

I asked a question via Facebook the other day: "To all my photo friends: why did you get into photography?"

I got a great variety of responses, but none really hit on my intention for the question. The whole reason I do photography is because I love it. I got into photography because I want to show people how I see the world, because I want to express myself, because I have an innate desire TO CREATE.
Same reason I got into music and played in a rock band. Same reason I sang in choir as a kid. I exist to create. Without creation, my life has no purpose. Without creation, life isn't FUN. Instead, it becomes work.

A lot of people go into a field because they enjoy it, but instead of enjoying every minute of their immersion, they find themselves going to "work." For that very reason, some of my good friends chose to get jobs in a completely different field than what they are truly passionate about. Their logic makes sense to me - If I want to continue to enjoy my passion, I have to keep it as a hobby, separate from Work.

Thought it makes sense and I understand why people choose that path, I refuse to do it. I will play every day of my life until I have played my life away.

Don't call my photography work. I guarantee, I haven't worked a single minute on any photograph.
Remember to have fun. Leave work behind and enjoy life.

All images in this post are from the 2010 archives.

Sloth: Indiana

2011-06-01T07:58:00.000-06:00

For the next three weeks, I'm on Oliver Lake, just outside the tiny town of Lagrange, IN. My family has a cute little cottage and a few boats out here.

I'm in total vacation mode. No work. No real brain activity.

I've taken this week off from shooting except for the occasional frame that catches my eye. Eventually I will get around to shooting some action - the likes of which you can see HERE. If you're that interested in what I'm up to, there are a few more photos of my surroundings HERE.

Because we are in the middle of nowhere, we don't really have internet access. Using the mobile Speedtest.net app, I discovered my cell phone data connection is the same speed as dial up. DIAL UP for crying out loud.

As it stands, I expect to come into town once or twice a week to grab coffee and Internet access. Aside from that, the web will have to go on without me.

My amigos at thevisualCollective are running things in my absence, and they're rolling out some really sweet stuff. I recommend you stay up to date by checking out www.thevisualCollective.com - OR - by joining our new mailing list!

Until the next time I can get Internet....

LG Optimus S

2011-05-20T09:16:00.000-06:00

In January I got a new phone. It was free with a contract renewal and so far it has done a wonderful job in almost every respect.

My only major gripe is that occasionally, the stupid phone simply refuses to charge. Sometimes I plug it in and it charges to 100% in just a few hours. Sometimes I plug it in, it charges for 5 minutes, then simply stops. Unplugging and replugging it in will get it charging again, but I never know how long it will go for.

I bought a spare battery because I figured the original was freaking out. That isn't the problem. Neither battery charges with any regularity.
I've experienced this with several USB cables and with three different USB -> Outlet converter things.

Next up on my list: a non-USB-cable charger.
If that doesn't work, then I will officially have exhausted my ideas.

It's been raining fairly regularly in Flagstaff this week. Both photos above are from the cell phone in question.

Today I'm at Fossil Creek with a bunch of awesome photogs and fun people.
Tomorrow I'm driving 800 miles back to my parent's place in Boulder so I can be around for my little brother's high school graduation.

Expect a post in the near-ish future about what's going in my backpack as I travel for a month.

TGIF!

Shooting Sierra

2011-05-16T10:25:00.000-06:00

The other day, I did a photoshoot with the lovely Sierra. This was our first time working together, but I'm sure it won't be our last.

^concept ^

Oddly enough, the image that I envisioned for the shoot ended up being my least favorite of what I got. It was fairly quick, for me; less than 200 frames total. Sierra did a lovely job taking direction and (even better) self-directing

The backdrop is a storage container that's taking up valuable parking space near my house. I've hated it since it showed up and I look at it every day. It took me nearly a year to realize its potential as a photo location.

Technically, there isn't much special going on. As usual, the Einstein and Vagabond Mini are providing light, somewhere around 1/2 power at camera left. I used the 35mm f/1.8, which is slowly becoming my favorite lens, replacing the 50mm that has long been my workhorse for personal work.

I've got a helluva month coming up. I'll be leaving Arizona, driving to my hometown in Boulder, driving to vacation in Indiana, flying to a gig in Utah, flying back to Boulder and driving to Flagstaff. During this time, I will live almost exclusively out of my LowePro backpack. It will hold all my important camera gear, as well as the clothes and stuff I'll need. For a month.

I'll do at least two posts over the coming month describing how that is working out for me, along with the many fun photos I encounter along the way.

Have a great Monday!

Its my life...

2011-05-05T09:35:00.000-06:00

I've finally come to a pivotal moment in my life. The fork in the road, if you will.
This summer, I'm jumping off the deep end. Instead of playing it safe and getting a job at Best Buy or Radio Shack, I am going to make photography and thevisualCollective my full time gig.

It's a daunting task. Sure, I'm a college student, but I have expenses like everyone else. Bills gotta get paid somehow. Only problem is, I'm not really sure how that's going to happen. I find that supremely exciting. I feel like everything I've done in the last few years has lead me to this moment. I knew it would come eventually, but I didn't know when, or how crazy it would be.

Established photographers everywhere are sending out the same message: Take risks. Just do it. Jump off the deep end and see if you've got what it takes. All you've got to lose is money and some time...

My chosen path for this leap of faith is through the project I started a few months ago called thevisualCollective. We have made some really big changes in the last two weeks and I'm optimistic that this project can go from being a single road trip to being a business I can run for the rest of my life.

What have we done so far?
Done two awesome trips to Death Valley and Zion
Formed a Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Launched a $10/month membership program with awesome benefits
Started a fundraising campaign through IndieGoGo to fund a few specific purchases

What's up next?
Forming relationships with local businesses and organizations
Workshops and educational trips
Building our membership base
Creating a line of awesome merchandise and prizes
Launching the "Member Missions" program - essentially a series of contests.

Long term
Multiple trips each month
High-end location workshops
Storefront/Gallery/Studio

How you can help:
Long story short, in order to make this work, I need your help.
The business has some pretty daunting expenses up front. Our goal is to get the big ones out of the way with membership fees and donations.
Anyone, anywhere can be a member of thevisualCollective. By becoming a member, you get access to a bunch of fun content that nobody else does. Most importantly - the Member Missions. We're going to have a wide variety of contests (called Missions) and prizes. Anyone who is a member can enter. We plan on having multiple Missions open at any given time.

IndieGoGo is much like KickStarter. It is a crowdsourcing website, allowing organizations and individuals to ask for money and receive it from people all over the world. Most organizations (thevisualCollective included) have a series of "perks" as incentive to donate.
Our goal is to raise $5,000 to fund the purchase of a van/trailer and staff uniforms. 20% of anything we raise above $5,000 will go to non-profit organizations promoting arts education and visual collaboration.
Donations over $200 also provide a way to give back to your favorite non-profit or charity. When you donate $200 or more, thevisualCollective will use all of its social media power to promote a non-profit or charity of your choice! Facebook, Twitter, and Blog posts. Video interviews and Vlog posts. Perhaps a section on our website dedicated to that group/organization.

By giving to thevisualCollective, you're supporting a group of people whose goal is to give back in a big way.

Regular readers here may remember that I am fairly heavily involved in the Help-Portrait event each year. If we can get the funding we require, I plan on using thevisualCollective as a platform to promote and sponsor all future Help-Portrait events in Flagstaff and (eventually) events around the nation.

Links you might like to use:
Donate - through IndieGoGo
Become a member - email us: info@thevisualCollective.com
Like us - on Facebook
Follow us - on Twitter
Subscribe - on YouTube

Questions? Comments? Concerns?
Let me know, in the comment box below!

May Desktop Backgrounds

2011-05-01T10:16:00.000-06:00

Hello world!

This month's backgrounds are from my day-trip to Sedona. Enjoy!

The one I'm using this month ^

Camp much?

2011-04-30T10:03:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite parts about thevisualCollective trips is camping. Interacting with mother nature in a much more intimate way than I usually do, holed up in the dungeon in my house. Camping offers me a whole host of photographic opportunities that I usually don't have. Photographing tents, fires, weather, etc. I love it.

In Zion, I finally had the opportunity to take a whack at an image that's been stuck in my head for some time now. Like most of what I shot on this trip, I'm not particularly happy with it. But, it was good to get a first draft done and at least try the concept out.

I like the colors and I like how there is a line of lit objects, starting at the fire and moving to the tent.

I don't like how little ambient light I had. In Zion, sunset is abrupt and a solid hour earlier than the official sunset. I wasn't prepared and that's my own fault. Next time, I'd like to have much more ambient so I can do something a little less dramatic and a little more balanced.

I think the tent is probably too bright as well - it seems to be much more of a dominating focus point than I originally intended. In my next attempt, I'll get an angle that shows more of the tent but with it less lit up.

In terms of technicality, it's a fairly simple setup. My Einstein is sitting on the floor of the tent, facing the camera. Bare bulb, somewhere around 1/2 or 1/3 power. Andrew is lit with a boomed and umbrella'd Vivitar flash at something like 1/4 power. Off camera, Taylor is acting as a VAL.

Setup shot

For the first few frames, I just had Andrew keep playing the guitar. Eventually though, I had to ask him to stop and do a few particular poses.

I realized on this trip that I'm not very good at directing models. When I've got a good vision in my head of what I want, I can get across the basic idea and mood I'm looking for... but other than that, I rely on the model to pose and act pretty much independently of me. When I don't have a good idea of the image I am trying to make, any direction goes out the window and I flounder and flail with the model.

I've got a few more images from the trip that I'll likely post over the next week or so. It's ~~drinking~~ reading week here at NAU, which mean's everyone is studying hard for finals.... 0_0

thevisualCollective - ZION trip

2011-04-28T09:26:00.001-06:00

It's been a while since I blogged. A week, in fact. I've been busy.

Here are the video-diaries that I did on the most recent visualCollective trip. We were in Page, Pariah, Kanab and Zion. It was an absolute blast.

Don't worry, I shot stills too.

This is just a teaser. More to come later!

Birthday donation request!

2011-04-20T11:08:00.001-06:00

Hello world!

My birthday is coming up! Thursday April 21st, I will turn 21.

In lieu of traditional birthday gifts, I am asking the people who might normally give me something awesome like a gift card, to instead donate to my new project: thevisualCollective.

Donations will help tvC do more adventure trips, create merchandise, develop our workshop curriculum, and awesome stuff like that!

25% of donations received will automatically be put towards the 2011 Help Portrait event in Flagstaff. I ran the event last year on minimal funding. This year, I hope to have more resources at my disposal and I hope to have thevisualCollective as a major sponsor.

Granite Dells

2011-04-16T19:55:00.000-06:00

Friday afternoon I rode in a mini-van for the first time in many years. With my fellow adventurers Molly and Noelle, I traveled to Prescott, AZ to visit the granite dells. Here are the images I think are worth showing.

Noelle enjoying the view

Molly texting it up

We had an absolute blast getting to know one another, shooting, hiking, driving, eating, etc. Both my partners in crime are interested in going on a trip with thevisualCollective. I am confident they will make a great addition to the group.

Speaking of tvC - we are in the process of hammering out the details for a membership program, which will allow people to support the group each month while getting a few perks in return.
We have also started looking into a line of tvC merchandise. Shirts, jackets, hats, pins, patches - things like that. If you haven't been over in a while - check out www.thevisualcollective.com and see what's new!

Sedona Day Trip

2011-04-10T08:58:00.000-06:00

Most of the time, it feels great to by busy.

Unfortunately for my faithful readers, the more time I spend working on the business end of thevisualCollective, the less time I have to blog here.

Anyway. Thursday after class I cruised down to Sedona with my buddy Katie. We made some photos, some videos, and generally had fun driving around with the top down.

Here's some of what I got!

And a couple close-ups of the stills

Surprisingly enough, I got some photographs in color as well

Clicking on any of the above pictures enlarges them. That has always been the case - but now they're even bigger! I've increased my web-size from 800px to 1000px. Not a huge difference, but enough that my friends with HUGE iMac screens can see a little more clearly.

Have a great week!

In over my head...

2011-04-05T22:23:00.000-06:00

I've had a heckuva down day today. One of the worst I've had in a while.

To be fair, that isn't really saying much, because I'm almost always happy.

This week I'm starting work on thevisualCollective for real. I'm working with my two buddies Taylor and Andrew to make it not only a consortium of artists, but a small business. I'm in the business program at NAU, so I feel responsible for a lot of the stuff that's involved with getting things moving.

We have weekly goals. Last week was to get a printed portfolio. Piece of cake. This week I'm hoping to get a basic business plan together and start pitching to local businesses for sponsorship/parternship. I'm essentially going to be cold-calling these local business owners saying "Hey, I'm doing this great thing and I'd love for you to be a part of it. Wanna give me money? Products?"
That is a really daunting task. It feels like getting things together is the hardest part, and once I start the pitch process I'll have much more luck... Still - it seems like I'm in way over my head.

random picture...

I've never really started a business like this before - so I clearly fear the unknown. I have a lot of resources at my disposal, especially with the faculty at NAU being so approachable. I know that if I have questions, all I have to do is ask the right professor for feedback. I also know a fair number of small business owners - some of whom I'm sure would be more than happy to give me advice. Time for me to start calling them as well.

I guess I need to pull myself together and get things moving - ranting here helps me get my thoughts in order, my ducks in a row...

I hope your Tuesday was better than mine...

Dammit, I suck (the graph)

2011-04-05T09:42:00.000-06:00

A friend posted the following image to my Facebook wall.

I've attempted to address part of this in previous posts, but this graph gets pretty much all of it out in one swoop. The most important aspect being: EGO. The blue line represents how good you think you are as a photographer. Notice it starts at the top. 90% Everything I shoot is perfect. It's pretty. My mom loves it. As knowledge makes its miserably slow decline off of 0%, the EGO line comes down. Quick.

Also - as soon as one hits the Gearfaggotry section of knowledge, the Quality of photos decreases significantly, plopping the photographer in The HDR Hole. Now, I don't have anything against HDR in principle, but I do hate how most people execute it. AND, I have definitely seen this happen. A Photographer gets their first tripod, first prosumer camera body, and first superwide lens and procedes to.... make a shitload of HDR images.

The part that I really enjoy is the instant decline in the EGO line shortly after the photographer gets into Flickr, Photoshop and DeviantArt.

Dammit, I suck.

I think every creative person finds this moment eventually. Many find it frequently. The important thing is that after the "Dammit, I suck" moment, the EGO line stays in check. The photographer doesn't think his shit don't stink - but rather is humble about his images. The quality of photos are well above how good the photographer thinks he is - so he keeps trying, learning, pushing. I think we should all strive to be that photographer.

Fun in the Mud Video

2011-04-04T09:20:00.000-06:00

As promised, the short video from Saturday's fun in the mud adventure:

Fun in the Mud

2011-04-03T10:05:00.000-06:00

I went out yesterday afternoon with my buddies Scott and Ozzy. We shot some guns, went off-roading, and took some pictures.

Here are the results:

I made some videos and cut them in with some stills for a slideshowthingy. It is loading to YouTube as I type this. I'll put up another post when I'm back from the day's adventure.

Rock on!

April Backgrounds

2011-04-02T09:29:00.000-06:00

Apparently April is here. That means it's time for me to switch up my desktop background - Here are your choices this month! Each has been resized to a max of 2560 pixels.

Enjoy!

Forest shoot

2011-03-25T21:01:00.001-06:00

This week in my Location Photography class, we watched a documentary about Helmut Newton. I was inspired by him and some of the work he has done, so I asked the supremely-talented model to bare it all and freeze in the middle of the forest. Miraculously, she accepted, and we made the following photographs.

I am extremely happy with how these came out - exactly like the vision I had for them. Miss Model is an absolute trooper - the temperature was about 40 degrees, and the wind gusted around 15 mph at times.

As time goes on, I find that I am able to more easily replicate the concept I have, which makes me very happy.

Setup: As usual, I used the Einstein up high with a 20 degree grid, powered by the Vagabond Mini. After 450 frames at half power, in the cold, the pack still reads 3/4 full. I can't recommend it enough!

0.45x Adapter Review

2011-03-25T11:08:00.000-06:00

I bought this lens on Amazon after repeatedly finding myself in need of a significantly wider lens.

It is a screw-on filter, so it will attach to any 52mm thread. I keep it permanently attached to my 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens.

The 0.45x means that it turns my 18mm into 8mm. It does have a fair amount of distortion, and the aberration is definitely noticeable. BUT - the alternatives are significantly more expensive

Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8 fisheye, which will set you back about $600
Nikkor 10-24 f/3.5-5.6 will lighten your wallet by nearly $800
Sigma and Tamron 10-20 both cost $450 or so

I paid $8 for mine when I ordered it, and it's currently (March of 2011) on sale for $4.78 on Amazon. For what you get, that's an absolute steal.

Since I got it, I've used it for all sorts of fun projects. I used it exclusively for my first day on thevisualCollective Death Valley Trip.

I also used it almost all day for my recent Free Running shoot with DAFT Free Running.

Focus is still fairly quick - which surprised the heck out of me. Granted, the focus on the 18-55mm (non-VR) isn't very fast to begin with - but this adapter doesn't slow it down much, if at all.

There is a very apparent vignette with this adapter. It gets more and more pronounced the more filters you have, so if you have a UV and a Polarizer, and then you add the superwide, you get a LOT of black corners. I like a healthy vignette in almost all of my images, so that doesn't bother me at all. Because the front element moves when the 18-55 focuses, the degree of the darkening in the corners changes depending on how far your subject is from the camera. Like I said - doesn't bother me.

For what you're getting - I cannot see any reason *not* to buy one of these. Heck, splurge on next-day shipping and it still costs you less than $40. No brainer, especially if your kit lens is just wasting space in your camera bag.

I've got a fair number of fast, beautiful lenses. As such, my kit lens usually stayed in the bag, collecting figurative dust. Since I bought this adapter, I've actually used the 18-55mm a lot and I've been getting great results.

Anyway. That's my two cents. TGIF!

Waiting For Superman

2011-03-24T00:23:00.001-06:00

I just finished watching the film "Waiting for 'Superman'"

I can say without any hesitation that it deserves the awards it received, and then some.

If you haven't seen it yet - I suggest you rent it and take a gander. Nothing is more important to the future of our country than a well-educated populace. Economic stability, innovation, and general quality of life all depend on our kids getting the best education possible.

That isn't happening.

Not yet.

I believe it can happen - if we all do our part to facilitate the sweeping changes that are necessary.

While we're on the topic - I'd like to thank all of the fantastic teachers I have had throughout my education. High school, in particular, found me sitting in front of some of the most motivated and talented teachers I have ever known.

Generally, I don't like to name names - but these people deserve recognition for what they have done, and continue to do for children.

Karen Keeler
Emily Rundell
Pam Bond-Simmons
Paul Carter
Jim Keller
Rose Lupinacci
Denise McCleary
Ron Revier
Don Stensrud
Jay Stott
Rebecca "Trainor" Feeney
Theresa Reali

Each of these educators not only taught me something about the curriculum they were assigned to teach, but they taught me something about the world and about myself.

Thank you all.

Don't forget to check out http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/

Free Running

2011-03-21T12:20:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Bryan Kinkade over at The Schlepper, I got in contact with a free running group based in Phoenix. Six members of DAFT Free Running braved the cold and the wind in Flagstaff yesterday to be photographed. There is no photoshop trickery here - these guys are serious athletes. Wall runs, wall flips, flag maneuvers, spins, flips... you name it, they can do it. Andrew Paffrath of thevisualCollective and lanternCity Media was also on hand to catch video.

20 feet up. No crash pads.

I admit to having a bit of a fetish for wall flips (running up a wall and backflipping off) and wall runs (running along a wall). Those were the two shots I was really after when I asked the group to come up to Flagstaff. I got far more good images than I thought I would - I hope the group is pleased, because I sure am!

I used my Einstein 640 with the Vagabond Mini all day. The two were a great combination at all kinds of power levels. My buddy Ozzy acted as a VAL for the day, which made me nearly as mobile as the athletes (though considerably slower).

I had my 18-55mm on the D300s, with the .45x adapter for a super-wide angle look. I'll do a review of that adapter sometime in the near future.

For now I'm off to enjoy some hot chocolate as I watch the snow coming down!

Trip post guide

2011-03-17T11:00:00.001-06:00

Here are the links from thevisualCollective Death Valley trip - in order.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

I also managed a few random posts from the road at www.thevisualcollective.com

thevisualCollective Death Valley trip - Day 4

2011-03-16T13:46:00.000-06:00

The final day of the trip. Monday morning we woke up around dawn in order to get everyone out to the sand dunes for one final shoot.

The hike was harder for some...

From there we left - back to Flagstaff by means of Las Vegas

And so it ended.

We are already planning another trip - probably to ZION, with some new participants. Keep an eye out here, at www.thevisualcollective.com and lanternCityMedia for photos and videos!

New as of yesterday - LIKE us on Facebook!

thevisualCollective Death Valley trip - Day 3

2011-03-16T13:06:00.000-06:00

Day three saw the entire group up at sunrise, furiously pawing at the instant coffee. Death Valley mornings are beautiful.

We left camp fairly early and headed out to the abandoned mine town at Rhyolite.

Fuel in Death Valley is insanely expensive - upwards of $5.25/gallon for regular unleaded gasoline. So, after the mine we left the park and headed to Beatty, NV. We got fuel at a reasonable price and hit up an awesome local eatery for lunch.

quick tour of The Happy Burro

To-die-for chili burger

This may have been my favorite part of the trip. The people at The Happy Burro - Chili and Beer were some of the most authentic, fun, nice people I've ever met. Most were missing a fair few teeth, all were drinking beer and smoking as we pulled up around noon.

One of the owners - Fred Summers (i think) playing a game with the ladies of the trip.

After lunch, we headed back into the park towards the Salt Flats. Along the way we stopped in the middle of a (mostly) abandoned road to do a quick photo shoot.

The most awesome destination, and the entire reason I decided to go to Death Valley in the first place was the Salt Flats.

Andrew, Taylor and Dahlia had a salt craving...

Damn Tourists kept getting in my shot!

We had a lot of cloud cover for our afternoon at the Salt Flats. Not quite what I had in mind, but it turned out OK in the end. In retrospect, it was quite warm with the clouds - I can only imagine how hot it would have been with sunshine.

After leaving the salt flats, one of the cars hit up the dunes for a sunset shoot while the others went back to camp to start setting up dinner.

Dinner on day three was a superb Macaroni and Cheese bake, with a big helping of booze to finish off a long day the right way.

thevisualCollective Death Valley trip - Day 2

2011-03-16T12:32:00.000-06:00

Day two saw much of the trip up at dawn, getting some great sunrise photographs. I had a blast shooting manual white balance at 10,000K

some funky double-exposure stuff

We left Lake Mead behind us and hit up Henderson, NV for some shopping

Wal Mart

Snacks, and finding room for the $200 in groceries

Some of the participants found themselves hankering for batteries, or more gear in general. We stopped at the Ritz Camera in Henderson to contribute to the economy.

Andy bought a Hoodman Loupe for his T2i, which he rubber banded and hair-tied to the camera to facilitate manual focusing in the blinding sunlight

All that shopping had us hankering for food. Schlotzsky's provided some great sandwiches

Food coma.

I made it my pet project to photograph motorcycles, jeeps, and muscle cars that we saw on the road...

Eventually we found ourselves entering Death Valley National Park. It's $20 per vehicle to get into the park. That buys you a week of fun in the sun. We snagged a map and set about figuring out a campground.

Surprisingly (to me at least), the big campgrounds we saw were quite full. Most people made reservations. We had to pull up and ask people if we could share their space. Luckily, we found a group of super-awesome adults who (apparently) never really grew up. We bartered a couple of the donated 13% abv. Doppleganger brews from Flagstaff to stay in the very back of their campsite.

Before we had camp set up, we started shooting. I dragged out my Einstein 640 and the Vagabond and went at it with the afternoon light. This was Ashley's first time really modeling - she did a great job following directions and dealing with five photographers at a time. Kudos!

At some point, we did get camp set up. Dinner on night two was Dutch Oven Pizza. Lots of cheesy goodness and super delish. We also played a bit with fire - adding some funky color-changing powder to the fire. Didn't work very well, but still fun to play with.

And so ended Day 2.

thevisualCollective Death Valley trip - Day 1

2011-03-16T11:56:00.001-06:00

Since I'm not sure how content is going to go on the official visualCollective website, I figured I would share some of my early edits with my readers here. I shot a lot with my cell phone, and even more with my D300s. This post has a mix of images from both.

Day 1: We were up until about 3:30am packing cars and getting participants to the soundHouse from whence we departed at 5:45am. Very little sleep, but high energy levels as we set off.

Breakfast of muffins

Early morning phone calls

Breakfast - take 2

Stop for fuel

Around 11am we stopped in at the Willow Beach Marina and campground, where we had reserved two 16' boats for a 4 hour river trip to the bottom of the Hoover dam. Unfortunately, the day before we arrived, somebody destroyed one of the boats we had reserved. Major bummer. The marina had forgotten that we needed two boats, so they comped us a big freakin' party boat.

We didn't pay for the rental, just the fuel that we consumed on the river ($70 over the course of three hours). I was highly impressed with the service there, and I won't hesitate to recommend the Willow Beach river trips to anyone interested in having a good time.

The water was 54 degrees. Taylor loved it.

Ashley enjoying the sun

The scenery surrounding the river is gorgeous!

Ashley getting her sexy face on!

Taylor double-fisting Digital and Film

Andy trying to keep the boat from floating away

Kyra enjoying the ride

The original plan was for the trip to camp at the Willow Beach campground. It was closed for renovations or something, so we packed into the cars again and headed out to Lake Mead. We snagged a great spot at the Las Vegas Campground, about 7 miles NW of the lake. Andrew pulled out the guitar and we set about making camp and - most importantly - food.

the view - 10' from the tents

Genevieve enjoying the view

Sunset

Andrew served as the cookmeister for the trip. Our first group meal was a grand chocolate pepsi 3 bean chili. Nomnomnom. After dinner we looked over some of Andrew's footage from the day by lamplight.

Whew. Long post. Lots of content. I'll post images from Day 2 shortly!