Monday, September 29, 2008

Published

Or very soon to be! I was recently contacted by a university lecturer in Scotland about using a couple of my photo's of "The Women of India" for an article she is writing for a book on Roman dress, comparing it to Indian dress. The two photo's are from my post of the "Taj Mahal" and "The Woman of India" on my other Blog.

I was surprised and honored by the request and consider it a blessing to be asked. She was looking for images of everyday women in the Sari and the Shalwar Kameez, and I just happen to have both. An honor indeed and I can't wait to see what's next!!! I am coming up on a year back in photography and I guess I'll have to lose the beginner/newbie thing here real soon. I plan on putting together a slideshow from the last 12 months with some of my favorite shots to mark the occasion. Stay tuned.

David

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

My Best Friends Wedding

Almost six months ago, my best friend and his fiancee at the time, were finishing the planning for the wedding and reception. I was in Chicago with them for the Tux fitting (you know Best Man and all) as you might remember in a previous Blog entry. I took some pictures of things as they met with the planner for the hotel. Yesterday I quickly developed a slideshow functionality that will play directly from my Blog. Look for more of this in future postings.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Shadow Boyz

I was headed out to the park to try my hand at motion blur only to find that it was way too bright to get the effect I was looking for. Instead, I decided to get a solid picture of the fountain anyway but my pesky shadow was getting in my way as if to say "shoot me". So, I did just that and enlisted the help of two of the boyz. Towards the end they started hamming it up and we really had a great time. As a result, we coined the phrase "Shadow Boyz"!















Wednesday, September 17, 2008

1+1=9

I have a degree in mathematics so trust me on this one. My day job allows me to come in contact with all sorts of people within the organization I work for and other parts of the country and world. Sometimes you just have to just stop for a minute and praise God for how he works in terms of the places we travel, the people he blesses us to come in contact with and how those encounters impact our lives if we let them.

About a year ago I got to know a young woman at work in passing. After a few months I felt comfortable enough to start joking around with her as I do other victims, I mean people I work with. When I found out she was looking to move office locations, I suggested she take the office next to mine as it was open. I did tell her that she would be in for a treat and that we were going to have a lot of fun. Well it's a year later and it's been a blessing for me and a lot of laughs for her as we've matured our work acquaintance into a strong friendship which has extended out to our families. Lorraine and her husband Maurice (my frat 06) have been HUGE supporters for me as I have matured my business. You might remember a post I did (First Shoot) that featured a shot of Maurice and their three boys. What I didn't know until the day of that First Shoot was that they were expecting their 6th child; yes I did say SIX. Well it's all VERY GOOD and I also got a chance to meet Mom who they are blessed with to have living with them helping keep it all together. So here's the math on this one - Lorraine and Maurice (1+1) have yielded six children (3 boys + 3 girls) WITH Mom (+1) equals 9; thus the name for this post.

When I did the first shoot, I didn't have slideshow capabilities but have since then added that to my client packages. Click below for a link to their slideshow.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Festival of India

This is actually a continuation of a post a couple of weeks ago so I am going to keep this short and sweet. As I mentioned, I was a judge for a local Festival of India celebration so I didn't have much time to shoot. I was however, able to pop off a few shots that I hope gives you some sort of presence for the atmosphere at our little "Festival of India".

David































Sunday, September 14, 2008

Any Way You Bless Me!!!

Those (“Any Way You Bless Me; I’ll be satisfied) are the lyrics to a very popular gospel song that hit home for me last weekend. When I got back into photography I didn’t think far enough out as to where it would lead or some of the venues I would have the opportunity to shoot at. Last weekend I had a chance to shoot with my mentor in Chicago at a book signing party for Elle Bailey. Ross is always teaching and I was more than obliged to soak up every bit of advice, techniques, etc. I had a tremendous time with Ross catching up and also learned how to use that thing that sits on the top of my camera called the flash. I am not claiming expertise at this point but I do know more about manipulating the power output, using my Omni-bounce, etc then I did coming into the shoot.

Ok. The very next day, I was shooting at Eastview Christian Church to help capture shots for the start of a new series called THEX. When I re-entered photography just over a year ago, I never dreamed I would be assisting with a professional shoot nor shooting in a church while service was going on. In both cases (Ross’ Book Signing Party shoot and Eastview’s program) I felt very blessed and honored to be part of what I believe is a beginning for the author and a new series at church that will have a substantial impact on people's lives. It was a surreal weekend and I am just coming off some of the high but am forever changed. I firmly believe things don’t just happen but are ordered. I have served in the church before as a trustee and I am blessed that God has chosen to use me, behind the lens, at Eastview. Be Ye Ready and I am willing and able for whatever he calls me to do.

Here’s a link to Ross' Post from the Book Signing Party Shoot and a few shots of my own below from the weekend. The shoot at Eastview was fun because of the honor obviously and the awesome colors and props used for the THEX series. My challenges were to be inconspicuous, get some clean shots which I had to do at extremely high ISOs to stop the action giving the lighting and watch the strobe lights and spotlights to keep my pictures from getting blown out. It was pretty funny at times watching the light come after me via my viewfinder (I had one eye composing the shot and the other watching the light come after me). I felt like Clint Eastwood in the movie Alcatraz.

So this past weekend was packed with blessings on all sides:

1. Friday evening - assisted my mentor on a professional shoot (7:00pm to midnight)
2. Early Saturday morning - Saw my best friend for 3 hours (played scrabble until 4:00am) and was back on the road to Bloomington by 7:30am for an Open House
3. Sunday - Did my first shoot at church

We’ll see where we go from here. “Any way you bless me Lord, I’ll be satisfied”!!!. Oh to do something that you enjoy doing, are passionate about and where you have the opportunity to capture, touch and influence others in a HUGE blessing. I didn't know I was going to be where I am today with all of this but "Any Way You Bless Me" is sort of my motto for the rest of 2008.

Btw Ross, I have my flashes back in my camera bag and I also made a couple of snoots for them this weekend.

Shots from Book Signing Party



This lady was funny, she wanted to make sure she got her "pose on" before I took her picture.

Elle Bailey with some of her friends and supporters.







Eastview Christian Church