A Pleasant Surprise...

Seems like my shot from the Phoenix Photowalk wasn't that bad after all. I entered it in the CSLR challenge #127:Arcs and it was voted into the top spot! Now, excuse me I need to think of the next challenge topic....

What Fun..

twisted, originally uploaded by photogeek21.

Wrapped up the Phoenix location photowalk. Thought it was a very enjoyable afternoon, Met alot a cool local photographers, got some marketing ideas from some, tips from others. I think the only down side was the heat we had to shoot in. The dinner afterward was my favorite part, think I could have just skipped the shooting and just talked 'shop' with everybody.
Don't think I got too many unique shots - this one is about the only one that I think was different from the others submitted by the group but I enjoyed it none the less and I can check photowalk off my list of things to do in 2008... but you bet I'm going to do another.

World Photowalk.

Well, today's the day is the day of the World wide photowalk. Over 200 countries, 8000 photographers, this photowalk was started by Scott Kelby to celebrate his photoshop Lightroom 2 book release. I signed up for the Phoenix walk as soon as I heard about it on Scott's video podcast 'Photoshop TV'.
Never having been on a photowalk before, I'm realy looking forward to this new experience, which really surprises me since I'm not much of a sociable person and that's exactly what a photowalk is - a social event where photographers get together, take pictures and talk gear, technique, etc. Okay, we'll see what happens.
What am I going to take?
Well they say "travel light" which means the 10D should be my choice but I think I want more wide angle so the 1.3 crop of my mkII is going to win over the lighter 10D. Just 2 lenses on coming with me - the 24-105F4L and the 17-40F4L, I may drop the 17-40 for the 15mm fisheye. One 580 exII and it will all be around my waist on a Think Tank speed belt - yah - major geek factor with the belt but I'll be among photogs, so I'll blend.
Okay, time to see what this is all about.

#2: CSLR Challenge 126: Tool - Entry

#2, originally uploaded by photogeek21.

My try at being a hand model - for this entry for the latest CSLR Challenge. Basically, a little sandwiched strobe work. - 2 580ex II @ 1/8th power to each side and slightly to the rear. Background is an color burned layer of a rusty shovel. Its my first try at using backgrounds. I recently went around shooting rocks, gravel, stucco, etc. Anything with texture to build up some stock for Photoshop work.

TaW#7:3 apples

3 apples, originally uploaded by photogeek21.

Been a long time since i did a Technique post. But in hosting the 'Old Skool' Challenge that prevented the use of any computerized post processing I came up with this entry. It's basically a composite of one image taken three times with different positions and light sources - all in one exposure.
To achieve this, I setup the camera on a tripod and set an long shutter speed of 5 seconds. Then hand triggered a strobe to light the apple and moved it to a new position, firing the strobe at each position.
Volla, an old school composite without photoshop...

What do ya know,

Seems everyone liked my last minute entry and I got first place! Cool, Since it was a self portrait that means my 'mug' has be immortalized in the CSLR challange site. That makes just Matt and Mama that are not in a winning image.
Time to think of a challenge

Trying

With less than 24hours left, I submit my entry into the 124th CSLR Challenge. Wanted to keep my misses to a minimum. (Think I missed 2 so far) Anyway, had a bit of fun with this one, since the topic was 'Many Me' and composites were encouraged, I did a little parody of 'the evolution of man' with 'D' Evolution - Rise of the 'Chimp' - I guess the 'D' could be the D series camera I shot with or just the digital camera in general. I was fun getting back into the photoshop stuff again.
Now if I can kick start myself back into posting more often.