I have Great Photographer Friends

I love being a photographer. I get to do really cool jobs and you get to work with some Great People. These are some of my photographer buddies at a recent Harding football game. Noah and Craig are in the back and they are my student workers. I have had both of them the entire time they have been at Harding and they will both graduate this year which will leave a tremendous hole in the Photo Services Office. I know from experience that more students will come and that they will be great as well but I am truly trying to enjoy my last year with these two guys.

The guy with glasses is Wally Jarrett. I met Wally years ago when he took one of my continuing education classes. He was all about digital way back then when I was still skeptical. Wally founded Searcysports.com and became a big time sports photographer. Now days he just shoots for fun, but he is still a great photographer and an all around great guy.

These guys were giving me heck as I took this photo with my new Canon G11. I had owned the camera almost 24 hours when I took this photo. Noah suggested I use the self timer and set the camera on a end zone pylon but I couldn't find the setting for the self timer so I ended up shooting it holding the camera myself. I am thankful that I get to hang out with these guys on a regular basis.

I also have a great band of brothers and sisters in the UPAA. I have been a member of that group for 6 years and I have been to their summer symposium 5 of those years.
That brings me to my buddy Donny Crowe. We roomed together this past summer at the Jamestown, NY Symposium. I took the photo below as we went to shoot the Jamestown Jammers ballgame. Well my friend is in ICU today having surgery to remove a bleeding brain mass. Please take a minute to say a pray for my friend Donny and then be sure to let your friends know that they mean a lot to you.

Nice Oxymoron

Freezing at the Soccer Fields

I am currently waiting for faculty members to come and get photos made so I am blogging some old photos.

Jalen and Josie both play soccer and love it. Usually in the Searcy soccer world you bake in the fall soccer season and you freeze in the spring soccer season. This year we have frozen a couple of weekends in the fall. I'm predicting that if it doesn't stop raining soon we might be playing water polo on the spring instead of soccer.

Canon G11

Greetings to my faithful readers, thanks for sticking around even though I am posting very sparingly these days. I just replaced my P&S camera at the office with the brand new Canon G11. My previous P&S was the Canon Powershot S5. I loved that camera and would still be using it but someone stole it. I was truly excited to see the G11 announced because it was only a 10MP camera which is going backwards in resolution for Canon. I think it was a great trade off because the G11 has much less noise at high ISOs than its predecessor the G10. The G11 is the top of the line Canon P&S camera and it is built for professionals. Major controls like ISO, and exposure compensation are controlled by dials on the top of the camera and it can shoot raw files. The G11 also brought back a feature I think is a must for P&S cameras, the flip out monitor. The flip out monitor is essential for shoot low angles and the Hail Mary angle as well. Oh I almost forgot that one of the best features of P&S cameras in general is their awesome macro ability.
Here are a couple of photos from the past weekends football game in Monticello. We got whipped but I did get a few good images with the G11.

UAM has a beautiful pond right beside the football stadium and the color was excellent. I fell in love many years ago with Cypress balls while visiting the University Photographer at Mississippi State. My friend Marco provided some great insight to me as we were beginning our transition to digital imaging here at Harding.

And yes, I got to fly to the game. I have lucked out and been able to fly to all the away games this year.

Kelby vs. McNally..."I'll Light Ya For It!"

Two photo heroes of mine having fun. I believe photography should be fun and these guys help you remember that through all the work you still have to have fun.

The Best Camera App

I have been using The Best Camera App for the last week or so and you can check out my page on The Best Camera web page. The Best Camera App was developed by Chase Jarvis. If you use an iPhone, go buy The Best Camera App today.

October READ Poster

Harding's Head Football Coach ,Ronnie Huckeba, is featured this month on the Brackett Library Read Poster. Due to the tight deadline on shooting and getting everything ready, I did the Graphic design work myself , as you can probably tell. I did have a little guidance from Tom Buterbaugh in the PR office. The book is Finish Strong by Dan Green.

I haven't read Finish Strong, but I am currently reading Within The Frame The Journey of Photographic Vision by David duChemin. Best book on photography I have read in a while.

I used to be in the Band and I almost was again

When I was in HS I was in the band. I played baritone which is the best low brass instrument. Baritones look like baby tubas and they have the rich sound of a french horn and the range of a trombone. Like I said the best low brass instrument. And while we are on the topic of HS Band, I just became Facebook friends with my HS band director, Barry Lumpkin. I worked for him as a student aid for three years. Yes I was a Band Aid so let the jokes begin.

As you can see from the photo above I was photographing the Harding Bison Thundering Herd band this past weekend and my friend Mark Fonville got this photo of me working. Now that you have seen me working let me show you what I was seeing. Keep in mind the famous Robert Capa quote,"if your photos are not good enough you are not close enough."

Nikon 12-24mm F 4 1/15th

I hope you liked the photo I did. After all that Robert Capa quoting, the truth be told I had no idea they were about to come up to the sideline like that. I had been photographing the field commander and I turned around and here they came.

Nikon 12-24 F16 1/2 sec

I have been teaching my college photography class about different tools they can use like slow shutter speeds that convey motion. I like the ghosting of the hands caused by the 1/2 second long exposure. Also notice in the last photo is my student worker Noah Darnell. Check out his blog when you get a chance.

Don't forget Jeff Fest starts tomorrow.

Things I'll Miss and Not

I love my kids and as I get older and they get older I miss things. I just walked into the kids bathroom and realized that we probably won't always have Tweetie Bird towels hanging up. Plain towels will make me a little sad. On the other hand, I will never miss people leaving the cap off the tooth paste bottle.

Tonight, I got to go to Scouts with the boys and I helped all the new Scouts earn their Bobcat Badge. I enjoy Scouts but I will not miss it a great deal when the boys decide they are done with it. I got to read 3 books to Josie tonight before bed. I will read books to her for as long as she will let me. We read Mrs. Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, The Kissing Hand, and A Bad Hair Day.

Jalen Soccer Highlight Reel

We started soccer today and as I downloaded my Flip video camera I found this highlight reel from last season. Enjoy, more videos to come.