2020
The title should say it all. This year has been one for the ages. One of the reasons to have a blog, is because it allows you to essentially write a journal, containing hundreds of words, which benefits your website through SEO (Search Engine Optimization). You mention the word “soccer” and people who search for that term, may stumble across your site. At least that’s how it was explained to me. The problem is when you get years like 2020, writing a blog is kind of the last thing on your mind. Where to begin…
In the late hours of March 2 and into the early morning of March 3, ten tornadoes touched down across Tennessee. They ranked between an EF-0 and EF-4 on the Fujita scale. Seven of them affected Middle Tennessee, destroying six schools, John C. Tune airport, as well as the gymnastics facility where I coach. At least 25 lives were lost, 2,400 structures affected, 500 completely destroyed, and about $2 Billion worth of damage according to AccuWeather. We were unemployed for 5 months. Thankfully, our employer’s insurance covered us.
About a week later, Covid-19 hits the country. Now millions of people across the country, are unemployed. Businesses are closed, everyone is forced to wear a diaper on their face, and we can’t enjoy our lives. Even the movie industry has grinded to a halt. We’re coming up on almost a year of the country being locked down. Winter is coming, schools are talking about not even opening this year, and Zoom is now a thing. I’m just wondering how much longer businesses are going to stand being told what to do. It’s certainly put a damper on doing any street photography. Every one of your subjects is wearing a mask.
What else? Oh, this crazy city just approved a 34% property tax increase, that’s currently being fought (and rightfully so).
The Gulf Coast was hit by seven named storms this year, affecting my parents in Florida and my family in Louisiana. My father’s van was crushed by fallen oak tree.
I’ve had money tied up in Lipocine (LPCN) stock since August. The FDA was supposed to announce an approval or denial of their drug “Tlando” back on August 28. Instead, it was delayed without reason and the shareholders were all told “you’ll have an answer in the coming weeks”. Well, it’s now been 3 months and although we still don’t have a decision, things are looking very positive and the stock has been gaining all week. It looks like an approval is imminent and it’s just a waiting game at this point.
My refrigerator finally gave up the ghost and I was rear ended at a stop sign a few weeks ago. I’m fine and the car wasn’t totaled, but man, that was a $750 and $500 expense that I was not anticipating, while my funds are stuck in a stock that was supposed to approved three months ago. Live and learn.
And to top it off, we lost Kobe Bryant, Alex Trebek, Eddie Van Halen, Tommy DeVito from The Four Seasons, Dianna Rigg of Game of Thrones, Regis Philbin, Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac, Kelly Preston, Charlie Daniels, Joel Schumacher (Directed The Lost Boys, Falling Down, two Batman films, A Time To Kill), Grant Imahara of Mythbusters, Bill Withers (Ain’t No Sunshine and Lean On Me), New Orleans jazz musician Ellis Marsalis, Kenny Rogers, Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki (whose work could be heard in films like The Shining and The Exorcist), Max Von Sydow, Lee Fiero (the woman who slapped Chief Brody in the face in Jaws), Ian Holm, Esther Scott, Chadwick Boseman, Kirk Douglas, Tommy Lister aka Deebo from Friday, and the legendary Sean Connery this year. This year can kick rocks.
Nashville Tornado
My first model shoot.
My first time shooting with a model, was a great learning experience for me. The great thing about being a gymnastics/cheer coach, is there is an unlimited supply of potential models. So I used Shana, a girl I have coached, since she was probably 10-12 years old. Now she’s in college and works with me at the gym. I paid her $20 to go out and shoot with me on a bridge for an hour, at a state park. She said I didn’t have to pay her, but I get paid $60 an hour to teach private lessons at the gym, and that’s more than she makes coaching, so it was a win for both of us. I went to Goodwill and bought a bunch of small dresses for a few dollars each, that would probably fit the body types of most of the girls I coach. The great thing about buying cheap dresses from Goodwill, is you don’t have to worry about the dresses getting dirty or wet. You can have your models roll around in the dirt and get some amazing shots in a $4 dress. I took them home, threw them in the washing machine, and let Shana pick out one she liked. I didn’t care if my models actually liked the dresses. It didn’t matter if it was stylish, cheap, or something they would actually buy themselves. The only thing that mattered to me, is if they were bright colors and/or full of textures that would look good on camera.
Hair tie on the handrail. Her right hand is cut off.
We met at 7am, before we had to coach on a Saturday morning. Even though it was just Shana, I was incredibly nervous. I felt that because I was an adult in my 30’s, I should know exactly what I’m doing and I should know exactly what to tell her to do. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I had so many things in my head, that I wanted to try, but I was in new territory here and had no idea what to tell her to do. We tried a few things, but we didn’t have much time, considering we had to walk pretty far to the bridge and then back to the parking lot. I didn’t want it to look like she was just “looking at the camera and smiling for a picture”, though I feel like that’s what happened for the most part.
It was good to get passed the first, initial shoot with a model. I learned a lot. I thought I was happy with the early morning light, until I later bought a diffuser, but that will be explained in another blog post. I learned about cutting off the hands and feet in a photo, and there was even a picture where she had taken her hair tie out and set it on the railing next to her. I didn’t even see it until I got home and was editing the images. There was another picture we took, where a couple was was walking across the bridge in the background. That was actually something I was aware of and trying to avoid during the shoot, but it looks like one of those pictures snuck in there.
People in the background.
What I took away from it, was getting over the nervousness of shooting my first portrait shoot, learning from my compositional errors, paying attention to my surroundings, and that early morning light doesn’t take long to get “high in the sky”. I used the photos for my first class assignment. We were supposed to take 20 pictures of whatever we wanted, and just focus on getting the exposure correct.
Casio PRG-600. This is by far my EDC. I absolutely love this watch. ABC, solar powered, big legible face. This particular watch was originally intended for the Japanese domestic market. In fact, mine was shipped from overseas. However, they are starting to be found in the US. This rare “Safari” version can now be found at my local Sams Club. I know, it needs to be cleaned. This watch was introduced to me by Nutnfancy, so a big thanks to him.
On a shooting assignment with a classmate.
Taking a photography class.
After spending countless hours watching YouTube tutorials, getting used to the settings/functions of my camera, and taking it to a few trips to the zoo and the gym, where I coach, it was time to get some one on one coaching from a professional. It’s like watching a video on how to play the guitar. You will definitely learn how to play, but without a coach to give you that hands on experience, you can easily develop bad habits. Having someone next to you, who can give you immediate feedback, can be quite helpful.
Prior to the start of this semester, I came across a Facebook post from a company that was searching for photographers to shoot bar crawls in major cities across the country. Nashville happened to be one of them. The issue (other than my lack of experience) was you needed a 35mm lens or wider, and you needed an on camera TTL flash. I was already in the market for a 35mm or 50mm lens, but the flash was approaching brand new territory for me. Back to YouTube I went. I did my homework, and picked up a flash and a trigger. Around this time, I also found a great deal on a used Rotolight Neo II from B&H, which is actually the form of lighting I prefer. More so than a flash. LED lighting was another no brainer for me. Just like with the electronic viewfinder, you see what you’re going to get, before you even take the picture. You don’t get that with a flash. It just made more sense to me. Work smarter, not harder. I did submit my application and work to the bar crawl company, told them I’d be happy to be considered as a last minute, backup photographer, and never heard back from them, which I expected. I had zero experience in low light conditions.
I turned to my local community college, to see what photography classes were available. I wanted to take a lighting course. I owned a traditional flash and a Rotolight at this point, and I wanted to learn how to use them. Unfortunately, I was required to take this basic Photo 101 course as a prerequisite to any of the classes I really wanted to take. And after just finishing my 5th week in the class, I can honestly say that if you’re on the fence about taking the “intro to photography” class at your local community college, because you think you’re beyond it, you probably are. If you understand what F-stops are, you know how to use your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to get the correct exposure for an image, you understand that a high ISO will cause grain, you know how to freeze motion with the correct shutter speed, you understand depth of field and how to obtain images with great and shallow depths of field, you know how to avoid blurry images by using shutter speed and a tripod, you understand what soft and harsh lighting conditions look like, you shoot in both manual and RAW (and know what that means) AND on top of all that, your local college will allow you to just take whatever class you want, I’d consider skipping the intro class.
That being said, the class isn’t a waste of time. In my case, classmates are asking me questions about gear, taking photographs, and asking for suggestions, when the instructor isn’t available. So far, we haven’t covered anything I wasn’t familiar with. We meet once a week for 3 hours, and we discuss a different topic every week and our homework is based on that subject. The first week, we didn’t use our cameras. We discussed cameras, gear, and basic requirements of the class. Some of the students wanted to use the first day to find out what kind of camera to purchase. Week 2, we discussed proper exposure, shutter speed, and aperture. We were told to shoot 20 pictures with the proper exposure. I went to a skate park and captured 20 pictures, not knowing we would be doing motion on week 5. Oops. The instructor laughed and said she hoped I didn’t become too bored in the class. I told her I wasn’t bored and I’m still learning. Week 3 was more of the same thing. 20 more pictures focusing on proper exposure, were due for homework. Week 4 was depth of field. Take 20 pictures focusing on both shallow and great depth of field. I was given a slightly more advanced assignment, in order to challenge me a little more (shoot using natural framing, shoot from shade into light, and try to capture blurred motion with a sharp subject). We’ve now gotten to the point where I can’t just go out and shoot a sharp image and turn it in for an A. Now, the class is requiring a little thinking and a little more effort, which I like. Now we are going to actually be graded on the work, based on exposure, subject, DOF, artistic merit, etc. Not composition yet. Week 5 (yesterday) was motion. We have to go out and capture frozen motion, as well as blurred motion, using fast and slow shutter speeds. This is going to be fun. I went to an overpass tunnel after I got off work last night, to capture some head lights and tail lights blurring through the tunnel, and trains kept moving slowly over the overpass. So I walked up to the overpass and it turns out there are like 6 train tracks up there! So I found a new spot and got some great close up pictures of some trains blurred out. Tonight, I’ll head downtown after work and see what I can come up with. I have a few ideas.
Wrist watch check. My first automatic watch. A Seiko 5, SNK803. These are the go to auto watches for people just trying to get into the game, and they are awesome little field watches, with incredible lume. You used to be able to buy these for about $50. Mine was about $69 at Walmart.com, but now Walmart sells it for $93. They’re $80 on Amazon. Get ‘em while they’re hot!
My first digital camera.
My first digital camera was a Fujifilm FinePix 1300, which I bought in college. It was a terrible 1.3 megapixel, point and shoot camera, with a 38mm equivalent lens. It didn’t even have one of those cool looking telephoto lenses that popped out of of the camera, when you wanted to zoom in. But, it did have an LCD screen on the back and you could connect it to your computer via a USB cord or with an SD card. The first cell phone I bought, had a 3 mp camera.
My second digital camera was a Kodak EasyShare Z650. This was a 6.1 megapixel camera with a 10x optical zoom. You essentially went from 38mm to 380mm. Not only did it come with it’s own printer, which you could dock the camera to, but it even had one of those cool looking telephoto lenses that popped out of the camera. Moving up in the world. I used this camera for vacation photos and a wedding, where I did manage to catch some really nice moments. That was when I realized I really enjoyed photography.
Fast forward about 13 years, and life has just taken over. It tends to do that. I don’t know where motivation or the itch came from, but I was in the mood to do some research, spend some money on a really nice DSLR camera, and take some classes. Well, I stumbled down a rabbit hole. YouTube is quite literally your best friend. My biggest two motivations and go-to channels for advice would have to be Jason Lanier and Jared Polin. Followed by David Yarrow, Tony and Chelsea Northrup, Peter McKinnon, Jason Vong, Michael Sasser, and Kai W. I learned more from watching free YouTube videos, than I did from any class I took in high school. Everything from basic photography questions, to gear reviews. It all helped. I’d type in a question in the search bar, such as “what is an aperture” (remember, I’m brand new to all of this), and I’d watch a tutorial on what an aperture is. I’d follow my question with one of the aforementioned names, in hopes that one of them had done a video on my subject. I’d type “Canon vs Nikon” to help me figure out which platform I’d use. All I knew, is I wanted to spend some real money on a high quality camera with interchangeable lenses, to take great photographs of the girls I coached, as well as use it for my own hobby.
I was struggling with my camera choice. I had settled on 3 Canons. A T7i, an SL2, and an 80D. They each had their own pros and cons. I finally found a great deal on a refurbished 80D body and took the plunge about 10 months ago. I bought a 50mm 1.8 lens and a 70-300mm 3.5-5.6 lens. It was a great camera, and served me well, but I soon realized that I was about to head in the wrong direction, as far as what I wanted. I didn’t even know what a mirrorless camera was before this journey, but after doing my homework, I knew I wanted one, no questions asked. After learning what an electronic viewfinder (EVF) was, it just didn’t make sense to me, to use a camera with an optical viewfinder (OVF). With an EVF, you see your exposure and your depth of field, before you even take the picture. As a beginner, why would I want anything else? Why would I want to have to look at LCD screen on the back of my camera (chimping), after taking the picture, and then make a correction, if I could just see what I’m going to get before taking the picture? This was a no brainer. I also wanted silent shooting, zero blackout, eye auto-focus (eye AF), animal eye AF, and more frames per second for sports. I’ll include a link to Jared Polin discussing an EVF vs an OVF.
Everything was pointing me in the direction of Sony, who has been leading the mirrorless market for at least 5-6 years now. I also knew I wanted a full frame camera, instead of a crop sensor (APS-C) camera like my 80D. So, before I got too vested in Canon, I went ahead and sold my gear, when I found a great deal on a used Sony A9. No camera is going to be perfect, but this one is about as close to perfection, as I could have imagined. It has made learning the art of photography, incredibly easy and fun. I would tell anyone else, who is interested in learning, to go the route of a Sony full frame mirrorless camera, with eye auto-focus. You won’t be disappointed.
Wrist watch check. A Neymar, introduced to me by Jodi over at Just One More Watch. I thought they had discontinued this watch, but it’s back at Amazon again.
Neymar Diver
Dan Henry 1964 Gran Turismo Chronograph
Morning Coffee →
I’m a 37 year old who woke up one morning and decided to pursue photography as a hobby, and with a little luck, a source of income. This blog is intended to document my journey, for better or worse. So, for starters, a wrist watch check and shout out to Tristano (TGV), one of my many inspirations for doing this. I’m sure my other inspirations will be casually mentioned from time to time (no pun intended). I started my blog wearing a Dan Henry 1964 Gran Turismo Chronograph, which I bought as an homage to my dog “Banda”, due to it’s panda dial. Rest in peace buddy.
I grew up on the white, sandy beaches of Pensacola, FL. I took a few photography classes in high school, during the late 90s. It was the perfect time and place to grow up. My generation was fortunate enough to grow up during a time when we were all being introduced to the wonderful technology we have today. We had TVs, video games, and computers, but we weren’t walking around with them in our pockets. If we wanted to call someone, we had to go home to make the phone call, and we had to hope the person we were calling was home. During rainy days, we were allowed to stay in and watch movies or play on our Nintendo. We had computers, but no internet until we were in middle school. We saw the rise of CDs, DVDs, pagers, cell phones, the internet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and many others. We knew what it was like to free play in nature, AND have access to modern technology. A rare thing today.
I took a few photography classes in high school. Most of my class was still using film cameras, while a few of them were just starting to step into the digital realm with DSLRs. I don’t remember how it worked with the “digital students”, but we were all required to learn how to develop black and white film in the darkroom, as part of my grade. That darkroom would soon become the bane of my interest in photography at the time.
I was using a Nikon film camera, which my father used in college. I loved the idea of shooting on film. The smell of the chemicals in the darkroom, taking black and white photos like Ansel Adams, and doing it the way my father did in college. It all sounded great on paper. In practice, however, it wasn’t very glamorous or fun. For starters, I seemed to have a consistent problem with winding my film back inside the film roll, before I even began shooting. Maybe it was the camera. More than likely, it was operator error. Buying brand new rolls of film, only to accidentally wind them back inside the roll, was getting old. Then there was the darkroom… When I did manage to get my film set up correctly, there was no telling how my photographs were going to turn out, until I actually developed them in the darkroom. Most of the time, they were underdeveloped, overdeveloped, or had some ghostly (ghastly) appearance, which only got worse as time passed. Some people will argue that the anticipation of what the darkroom was going to show you, was what actually made it fun. To me, doing all that work, before waiting around for an image which was probably going to end up looking like a hot mess anyway, was not my idea of fun. Another major issue with shooting film, was the limited number of exposures we could take. I’d buy a roll of film and have what? 24 exposures? 24 exposures that I couldn’t see until I spent time in the darkroom, and I’d be lucky if half of them worked out. I remember looking around at my fellow classmates with the DSLRs, thinking “these guys have the right idea”.
Captured during an afternoon at the dog park.