take me home

Went home last week to see my family. My grandmother has been having some health problems, so it was nice to go down and see everyone. The first photo is one she gave me of when she was younger, with my grandpa. As for the final photo, i had just picked up the camera and had snapped a shot of my mom acting like a zombie. She was not too happy that i took that shot. Hi, Mom!

purdy light

another engagement session, with some fantastic sunset power to make me happy. These two were made with a single strobe to the left set to ettl, which is surprisingly accurate. congrats to lee and candace.

halloween

a halloween with a not so good back drop, but in a pinch it will do. drunk people at a bar and a single strobe can be quite fun.

been gone

some highschool state tennis action. i have been in and out of town the last few weeks for those who have not seen me in a bit, some work related, some family related. but, yeah... i really like covering high school sports. im looking forward to abusing my nsaa pass to no end to go and have some fun at all the state finals that are happening in the next few weeks.

tiny kitten!

trevor and his young kitten, niblet.

congrats

I shot another wedding a few weekends ago. The groom was Russ, a great friend from way back when. The bride was Megan, one of the nicest, most fun person you will ever meet. It was a fantastic day for an outdoor wedding. When shooting outdoor weddings, i tend to keep to the k.i.s.s. principle. keep it simple, stupid. outdoor weddings are great places to shoot wide, with a lot of sky. the really wide, up high shot was made duct taping 2 monopods together and using a remote cord to trigger the camera. this wedding was probably the first wedding i wish was actually longer. by the time i had shot the up high shot, they were almost halfway done.



to back track, before the wedding i spent a lot of time shooting the prep work. here are 2 semi portraits of megan, with 2 different feels to them. the blue one was set to tungsten with window light as the source. the other was exposed for a gel-warmed flash in front of the same window.




after shooting almost 2 hours of post-wedding formal portraits, we decided to do some fun portraits. lying on my back on the goose poop covered group to get the grooms men was interesting. the problem with something like that is you cannot pop a flash on them. if you try, the top half is bright white and the bottom half if dark. i have a nice set of reflectors, but i left them in the car. hey, i was already carrying about 90 pounds of gear, give me a break.





as for the reception, i did a slight derivation on my back-lit dance shot. i set a 550 strobe on the right in the frame to 1/8 power and aimed it at the bride and groom.

all in all, a great wedding. after i was done shooting, i had a few beverages, and for some unknown reason my head felt about 7 sizes too big the next day. Congrats again to Russ and Megan.

The Killigans promo shoot

springtime for hitler

About a week ago, i shot a neo-nazi rally in omaha. I would say that i was surprised by the fact that not that many people were there, but omaha said they could only have it at the same time as the Husker season opener. all in all, it was not a terrible time. i drove up with an old professor of mine, Luis, and we ate at Cali Taco. For access, it was a bit of a pain, because the police were trying to keep us in one small area away from everything. I however felt bad for the officers, because i understand that they are just there to do their job, and the last thing they want is trouble. The whole time i was there, i had the songs form Mel Brook's move "The Producers" running in my head. go figure.

p.s. in the next few days, i will have a couple of updates ready to launch, including an update from another wedding. hooray!

um.....wow.

OK, for those of you who know how big of a tech head i am, and a canon freak. but, i will say that the new nikon camera has given me pause. for the first time in a long time, nikon might have came out with a camera that beats a canon. enter the D3. sitting at a comfortable 12.1 MP full frame, with live view, 51 AF points, and something else. 25,600 iso. yes, i said 25,600 iso. my god, that is crazy. now, that is in a special mode, and until i see some images popped out of that thing, i will remain a bit wary. but....yeah....wow. if those images stand up, that is bar light like daylight. i've said it before, but for the last 8 or so years, nikon has been playing catch-up with canon. it may be that they have finally caught up.

it's a nice day for a white wedding

Congrats to Clay and Tamara for getting hitched on Saturday. I went up with several friends to St. Paul for the wedding, and it was rather fun. I'm feeling a little bummed now, because the wedding was my last chance to see several of my friends for quite some time. Megan and John are now in Philly, Moseman is going to Boston, Amanda is going back to Chicago, Melanie is going back to Denver, and i am still in Lincoln. So it goes. I'm just happy i got to be with them all one last time.

a little old, a little new

this weekend, i spent far too many hours in the heat shooting over 30 games of kids playing soccer. whee. i managed to stay hydrated, and looking through the photos, i came to the realization that children suck at playing sports. i mean, they are very terrible. wow. here is a fantastic photo that anyone can get if they manage to have the autofocus touch on a shoe instead of the intended moment.



looking through some of my old photos on a hard drive that needed cleaning, i came across a photo that was taken several years ago. Alyssa Schukar, Kris Kolden and I decided to go on a pan-nebraskan tour. I just wanted to post this to remind people that everyone should take road trips. I have always enjoyed carhenge. if you ever have the chance, head out to alliance NE to see a true piece of american art.

I done shot rabbits meaner than you.

As the last part of shooting the cornhusker state games, i shot some Cowboy Action Shooting. basically, it is a bunch of people dressing up as cowboys and shooting things with guns. i had a lot of fun. i arrived early and took some time to shoot some features. the people were really nice, and they even let me shoot some of the guns. to start the course i was on, you had to say "I done shot rabbits meaner than you." after that, you shoot 10 shots from a rifle, 10 shots from the 6 shooters on your hip, and then 2 shots from a shotgun. the event is timed, and you are penalized for missing. i am proud to say i hit every target, and they said i did very well for time, even better than some of the competitors. of course, i had to wear a cowboy hat to do the shooting. good lord, i love america.

Cornhusker State Games

I just wrapped up shooting stock at the cornhusker state games for a week and a half. It was a fun time, sunburn and tan lines excluded. shooting stock photos for parents is different than shooting news photos, i.e. not nearly as creatively enjoyable. but, you can still come away with some decent images. shooting little kids playing with swords rocked. hardcore. plus, little kids make fantastic faces.

happy birthday

Happy belated blog birthday, Megan.

The zoo!

Last weekend, i went with my mother to the zoo up in omaha. this is the third year in a row that i have taken her, and i always enjoy a good zoo. i only took my wide angle with me this year, but i had wished i had taken my 70-200. still, i saw monkeys, and tigers, and sharks, and all other forms of fauna. hooray!

with its' kooky lights

happy 4th of july to all. i had a long day, starting with going to fairbury to go to the annual flea market with my grandpa and mother. on the way back to lincoln, i took several backroads, and found a nice mail box with some flags. the rest are some of the fireworks seen from my house.

the blobaum picnic

two updates in one day! WOW! (i've been kinda lazy with updating) i went home this weekend for the annual Blobaum picnic, a large blobaum reunion will with beer and explosives. i've never really been that happy with fireworks photos that i have taken, but, i didn't have a tripod. i know, i know, excuses. well, i was there to have fun, not to impress you. so there.

Another wedding

for a slight change of pace, i was a groomsman in a wedding a handful of weeks back. congrats to trevor and ginny gill. Trevor was my best friend in high school, and is one of the few people i keep in touch with from fairbury.