meet chris

chris is a friend of mine. we got to know each other through music a few years back and he is hands down the best guitar player i've ever met. he plays with 2 other guys in a neo-bluegrass band here in b'ham and they are very good. he also stays busy with session work and lessons.

i asked chris & tim (who i'll post later) to come over to the studio to help me get some shots for the website. i wanted to give them shots they would want to use for their own promotion. they brought their instruments over and we had a good time.

the thrill of my life

i mentioned in an earlier blog an incredible home in greensboro al that i was dying to photograph. by god's grace it worked out. i had to take the backup camera so they weren't as clear as i wanted but i still think they turned out alright.

this home was built in the 1830's. it is one of the last if not the last of its era to be restored in the state (these picture could be the last ones before it is). believe it or not a descendant of the homes original owner actually lived in the house up until only 20yrs ago or so. imagine living in this home as you see it. in some ways it would be the most magnificent thing imaginable and in others it would be terrifying. i kept waiting on a ghost to show up in my shots, but no such luck.

i have the utmost respect for this house, its architecture and how it was built. it is amazing how well intact it still is. it has held up better over 200 years than some houses around me have in 20yrs. click here for a slideshow. hope you enjoy as much as i do.

click here to see a photo of the house from the 1930's. pictures looked so much better back then.

night shots in helena

there are a lot of things not to like about helena if you look for them. for example the severed deer head in my neighbors tree. i'm convinced this is either a hunting ritual or a cult ritual. either way it's a severed head.

aside from the cultural differences which seem a bit glaring at times, helena is a really cool place to live. few cities have as many nice parks, and to my knowledge there is no place in b'ham like the river park at old town. i just (personally) discovered miles of trails down the river that lead deep into the woods, crossing through railroads, abandoned houses, and lots of good nature.

coming home last night i stopped at the park to try out some night shots. i've always loved night photography. the streak of car tail lights, the starburst of the street lamps, and in our case the blue glow of the flowing waterfall. for some reason helena put these massive blue lights on both sides of the falls, making them look, in my opinion, like some cheap putt-putt fountain. it did make for some funky shots though... kind of eerie I thought. I should also say that I've been trying to do more work with slow shutter speed, specifically with moving water. in the day though, even on my lowest settings, i still get washed out. so here are some i had success with at night.




an antique effect on the blue water it actually turns it to a normal light.



the park.




the street.

railroad

i was in the studio most of the day. i began to mourn the loss of a beautiful day. thankfully I live close to some cool scenery. well cool for me. i love warn out stuff... rust, paint peeling, rotting wood etc. not junk but... in tact aged objects.

i was in greensboro, al thursday for work and as I was headed out of town I saw the most incredible house i've ever seen in my life. it literally made me physically anxious... my heart started racing. i'm sure it used to be an old plantation home (i later found out it was built in the 1850's). it looked like someone was about to start renovating it. i had my camera, and thought i was about to begin the best shoot of my life. so like an idiot i called the realtor and got the owners name. called him, left a message and never heard back. that's what you get for asking permission. because i'm an idiot and a wimp, i never got a single shot. i kept thinking he'd call as i was leaving town and i'd turn around and get my wish, but it never happened. i'm gonna call him again.

anyway, i've had a void since then and was glad to get to explore my little country town a bit this afternoon. i just started heading down the tracks. i was mainly getting used to our 2 new lenses. here's some of what i got.

downtown photo shoot

every few months i come up with a new idea for how we can make a living doing things our way. erin and i value our time more than our money... which is why we're always broke. recently though some things have been coming together. it's funny because the direction we are headed seems to be photography. erin has dreamed of it for years but i would have never thought i'd end up doing it. recently, i was encouraged to persue some marketing style photography (architecture, social settings etc). i had to build a portfolio fast before i could meet with folks to try and get the jobs. so i went downtown one afternoon with my wife's 30D and my newly aquired although limited knowledge of the super camera. here are some shots i came up with, which actually did help us get some gigs.

recent photography

i have been learning photography the past few months. not so much just taking photographs but really trying to understand the camera. i have a great mentor. erin spent months & months learning how to use our 300D. after many shoots and a handful of classes she really knows what she's talking about. she got a 30D last fall and so now i get the 300D. transitioning from point and shoot-automatic cameras to manual SLR's is a big step. here's some stuff i've been learning. most interesting pictures have a low depth of field meaning there is a limited amount of objects or parts of an object that are sharp. the rest is then blurry. i always thought those kind of pictures were done by using a manual focus and focusing in on the thing you wanted to stand out. that does give some effect but to really pull out that contrast you have to have a large aperture. here's some shots from around the house today practising with low light, low depth of field.

this one's my favorite from today.

and here's some low depth of field shot's with the focus in different places.
attie's always a good sport.

i've got to get good fast. we are doing several important shoots here in the next few months and i've got a long way to go. i've already made erin get off work for 2 days to do shoots that i've scheduled... soon she will run out of vacation days and i'll be on my own.

The Blog formerly known as Ethereal

I used to author another blog that no one read about a band that no one listens to. Once every month or 2 I would post a entry that was angry and bitter and I'm sure really inspired people to want to come back and read more. I decided to can it and start my own. My life is really made up of a lot more than a disappointing musical career and it would do me good tell a few people about it.