2009 Summer Tour

This summer brings exciting news! I, along with my close family, will embark on a two month long tour bringing us all over the East coast, from Dropzone to Dropzone, ending with a stop in the deserts of the West to experience Burning Man (Burningman.com). I will be bringing updates to this blog regularly, as well as helping to keep up the TonySuits blog (TonySuits 2009 Tour Blog) So, check back often, becoming a follower of this blog, as well as the TonySuits blog to get up-to-date information and photos from all across the country this summer.

To give you a visual of the distance that will be covered, I've added the map below.


View B&F Summer Tour in a larger map

Working with noon day sun

This is a short post as I'm uploading and editing a ton of photos from this weekends workshop lead by Robert La Follette(.com). I felt this post was an important one because it is something that opened my eyes a bit about shooting in the middle of the day. On Sunday Robert took a group of us to Homosassas Springs state park to photograph the plethora of wildlife that is being rehabilitated there. We arrived around 11am and got to shooting about 12. I didn't want to sit around waiting for the light to soften, so I decided to do my best with what I had to work with.

The difference in exposure this time of day between the direct light and the shadows can be extremely difficult to deal with, so Robert gave us a few tips. One was the opportunity to completely black out the backgrounds if we choose them carefully. The two shots below are examples of what can be done by changing position, and setting the camera to expose for just the bird, and not the entire scene. The first shot below is what I saw as I walked up to the flamingo. The water the flamingo is standing in is in the shadows and has a dark green color. You can also see how bright the sun is shining from its wing which is a clear indication of the difference in exposure between the sun and the shadows. By changing my position relative to the bird I was able to put the dark green water directly behind it. I then set my camera to expose only the bird, which was in the direct sunlight. The water directly behind the bird, and part of the flamingo itself was in the shadows meaning there was a great deal of difference in exposure between the two. This lead to the opportunity of completely blacking out the background and darkening some of the bird leading to a much more dramatic image. I then filled the frame with the flamingo and waited patiently for the bird to take a more compelling pose. Once it tucked its head next to the beautiful wing I took a few shots and captured what I consider to be a great image!

What do 325 Drums, 1/2 mile, and Turner field have in common?

Hello! You will have to excuse me while I blow the dust from my blog...

This is an exciting post for me because I get to share with all of you my first big out of state photo gig. I am a staff member of Drum Magic (drummagic.net) and we had a huge gig to complete at the 755 Club at Turner stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Drum Magic was hired to bring drumming to 325 CVS business men and women, as well as some of the staff from the leading stores in and around the ATL and Florida. This was a celebration for CVS as well as a long day of presentations and meetings. Drum Magic was the hired as the morning icebreaker and when we left the members of the meetings could hardly sit back in their seats..

Drum Magic is a company owned by Jana Broder and it brings drumming to anyone and everyone. She is often hired for team building exercises for sports teams, icebreakers, and she even does work with mental health facilities as drumming has been proven to be a huge stress reliever and provides healing for the body.

With all of that said it is normally a pretty easy thing to setup, but problem with this job was getting all 325 drums into the upstairs club!















It took a team of 6 three hours to get all of the drums moved. The main time consumer was the distance between the loading dock and the freight elevator, it was just about 1/2 mile!!! We were able to use a few vehicles towards the end of the unload to help speed things along, and as you can see, the forklift pushing a wagon was a life saver. Once we made it to the freight elevator, it was a whole new challenge because some one had to stand and hold the button so the door wouldn't close on us. It seemed like challenge after challenge, but we luckily had an amazing group of people that some how made the whole thing hilarious. At the very least that hard work made a cold beer taste that much better once we finished.

After we finished the unload we headed back to our hotel to have a few beers and rest up for the next morning. We got the the hotel bar about 9pm and had to be up at 5am to prepare for the 8 oclock gig. I was excited to get back before the sun came up for a number of reasons mainly because I saw the potential for an amazing HDR shot that I had to get. Luckily I had an empty room and about 20min to myself, so I was able to score a couple of great shots.





Another fantastic opportunity presented itself to us as the sun began to rise over the stadium so the team headed outside for a group shot in front of the field.



Then it was on to a quick briefing with the team and the people started to pour in having no idea that they were walking into a room full of drums for a morning icebreaker!











Once everyone found their seats the group drumming started. Jana and her team, Steve Turner (givingtreemusic.com), Pierre Green, Jason Isla (www.givingworldpercussion.com), and Dave Holland (www.beatinpathrhythmevents.com did such an amazing job bringing smiles to the faces of everyone in the crowd. They are all professional drum circle facilitators and it showed when the show started.









It is amazing to think that it took a total of 5 hours to setup and break down the setup all for a 45min show, but it was well worth the work as the smiles and excitment of the crowd told us all we needed to know about the work we were doing. Once the show was over the CVS groups picked up their drums and walked them over to an area to pile them up and begin the reload back into the three trailers.









I am so excited to be a part of this company and I have learned a great deal about shooting during these types of gigs. They provide unique challenges that require me to think on my feet. If I hesitate to figure out my next shot I might miss the best one of the show. This requires me to use all of the skills I have picked up along the way in my career. The most important is knowing my camera backwards and forwards. It is so important to not have to think for a second about a setting in these events. Since this gig I also learned my weaknesses and I have started to work towards righting them. All said and done this is a huge step for my company and a huge step for me along my path as a photographer.

A big thanks goes to Jana Broder for giving me the opportunity to be a part of her amazing company.


And just for S&*#s and giggles, a pic of me!

MORE DIDGE!

I had the pleasure of helping my buddy Jeremy work his Didgeridoo booth at a local Native American Flute festival this Sunday and I had an absolute blast. Jeremy makes amazing quality didgeridoos and we definitely had the loudest tent there. I was able to help him out AND play my didge pretty much all day, so it was a win win situation. I had the pleasure of meeting some fellow didge players, but I only had the time to take a few photographs.... The Native American Flute festival was an interesting place to say the least and I met many people from every possible walk of life. From a local groundskeeper to a Musk Ox caretaker from Alaska.. go figure... I also bought a few crafts from some outstanding local artists. One of which carves native designs into shells native to the areas of the designs he carves.. Truly outstanding artistry. The few pictures I do have are all of didgeridoo players that have a lot of character and were really fun to spend time with. Thanks to Jeremy and the others for a laid back Sunday!

It has been a week or so....

Well... Ike did exactly what people thought and wrecked my old home town. Power was JUST restored yesterday to my family's home in Kingwood and many of my friends are still without power 14 days after Ike hit. The worse hit areas are Galveston as many of you may have read, so I wish everyone good luck in dealing with Ike's BS. Boats aren't supposed to sail on the freeway!!!

Ike Aimed at Houston!!!!!

Update #2: Ike has taken a nearly direct path to my hometown with warnings of storm surges up to 25ft in Galveston!!! It is said that the unusual size of Ike is producing a much larger storm surge then a normal Cat 2 or Cat 3. It is supposed to make land fall in about 18 hours as either a high Cat 2 or a low Cat 3 with damage between the two being nearly identical. Above is a photo from Nasa's shuttle giving us an idea of the size of Ike. If you would like to see more absolutely amazing photos of hurricanes photographed from space click here.

I have spoken to my friends and family back home and they have all told me that my hometown, Kingwood, is overreacting and everyone is running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I do wish I was there to photograph the madness, but I'm stuck here, so I'll keep posting updates with new photos and news. Check back!


Update: Most models have now predicted Ike aimed directly at my home town. I am a bit jealous as the pictures from Galveston are going to be amazing, but I am worried about my family and friends... Blessings to you all and stay safe!
It looks as though Ike is heading for my home town! I've lived in Florida for about 2 months now which I was told is a Hurricane broom and in this short time two have skipped right by Tampa and towards my Houston, my home town. I wish I was there to see this beast come in!

...Destined Evolution...

Could this be the much anticipated 5D replacement? If so, I am ready for a full frame camera body!!!

Click to see Canon's teaser