POD #23

Taken with a Nikon D3s ISO 200 Aperture Priority f/11 

Decide to take chances, make mistakes and get messy with a D3s attached to a Manfrotto magic arm and clamp on the back of a truck on HWY 85. Wanted to get my entire trip to internship in this time lapse, but my focus was off on the first part of the trip. This is the trip from Sheetz in Mebane, NC to the studio in Hillsborough, NC. 

POD #22

Taken with my Nikon D90 1/250 @ f/11. Available light. 105mm Macro

I like challenging myself from time to time and trying to take a picture of a live fly without a flash is the perfect challenge for me. I took a few pictures of this fly and this was the sharpest I came out with. This was a challenge because of the constant movement of the fly. Every time I got close to it, the fly moved or flew to another location. I am going to make another attempt at this shot with a flash. 

POD #21

Taken with my Nikon D90 ISO 200

Image 1 - 30 seconds @ f/13

Image 2 - 1/640 @ f/11

Image 3 - 1/160 @ f/10

Image 4 - 1/400 @ f/10

Took my girlfriend to Raleigh over the weekend to show her around all the awesome places there. We both had an awesome time. First went to the North Carolina Museum of Art. The first image is inside the cloud room on the greenway trail around the museum. I never realized that the cloud room showed color until I decided to take some pictures inside. The second image is of the newer sculpture, "Askew", that is outside on the path around the new building. The third is of the reflective pool around the outside of the new building. After the art museum we went to Lassiter Falls in North Raleigh, which is practically where I grew up. The fourth image is of the falls. 

POD #20

Taken with my a Nikon D3s ISO 3200 1/125 @ f/8. SB-24 flash for light

Got some macro equipment out over the weekend for some focus stacking. This image is not focus stacked, just thought it was a nice close up of a ten dollar bill. 

POD #19

Taken with my Nikon D90 ISO 2000 1/100 @ f/14. Available light

Went out to grab a photo for today and also found a little luck. Keep finding four leaf clover lately. This is the third one I have found in a month. I need to really start playing the lottery. Anyway, I digress. I thought this would be an interesting picture simply for the name I chose for it, "Lucky Farms"... I know its a little corny and stupid, but what can I say. Its what I do.

POD #18

Taken with a Canon 5D Mark II ISO 100

Image 1 & 2 - 1/100 @ f/11

Image 3 & 4 - 1/160 @ f/7.1

I decided to surprise my girlfriend at her house today. Gave her the whole 'Say Anything' treatment and she invited me to this easter photo shoot she was doing for her internship. Needless to say, with 3 photographers there, it was difficult to find a good position that was not in the way of anyone or anything. 

POD #17

Taken with a Canon 5D Mark II ISO 100 1/100 @ f/11

Light source varied. Mostly two Alien Bee 800's rim lighting for separation and a 1600 filling everything out.

So, after editing 450+ pictures in 7 hours. My supervisor asks me if I wanted to shoot a band later that night. I, with exhaustion in my voice, said yes. It was a great decision. I met some really cool people, took some great images and had a blast. Best fourteen hour day I have had. First two images are group shots with everyone. There are also groupings of different artists and finally my favorite are the ones of the Kristina Jacobsen ( the last two images) by herself. I definitely feel accomplished.

POD #16

Taken with a Canon 5D Mark II ISO 6400 1/125 @ f/4

Tungsten modeling lights.

We started this week at internship with shooting smalls on the table top and I thought I would test out the ISO capabilities of the 5D. Some noise is still seen in both of the images, but, overall, better than I would have thought. The first image is just one of the products we shot that day. I thought it was really weird and obscure. The second image is of my supervisor getting in close to inspect the bottom of the vase for a signature on the piece. 

POD #15

Taken with my Nikon D90 ISO 200 

Image 1 - 1/200 @ f/4.8

Image 2 - 1/200 @ f/3.5

April Fools! These images are not actually from April 1st. They are actually from my trip with my friend Chris Wehmeyer to Fontana Dam. For those of you who don't know, Fontana Dam is the biggest dam in North Carolina and is located at the most western tip of the state. The river created by the dam is the Tenessee River. The trip was awesome, even though we ended up arriving just before sunset. The first image is of the lake from the side of the road. The second image is of my friends car after winding up and down mountain roads. Guess the brakes got a little hot.... There are no pictures of the dam ready just yet, but they will be up soon. 

POD #13

Both taken with a Canon 5D Mark II ISO 320 1/125 @ f/4. Natural Light

Got a Canon 5D Mark II out from school over the weekend. Wanted to get a better feel for that camera because I am not as comfortable with Canon. I like Nikon. Plain and simple. However, Canon is what is used at my internship, so I decided to try and get a feel for it. These are some of the first shots I took with the 5D. The first is of my roommate on the back porch. The second is of her pet flamingo, "Frankie".

POD #12

Image 1 - Taken with my Nikon D90 1/125 @ f/11

Image 2 - Nikon D90 1/320 @ f/5.6

Image 3 - Nikon D90 1/125 @ f/6.3

All images where in natural light. 

Well the plan was to go to Yanceyville, NC to meet my girlfriend. Yanceyville made me mad within the first 5 minutes of being there so I decided that we were going to Danville, VA instead. What is so great about this girl is that without even skipping a beat, she said ok. The choice was definitely for the best because Danville is awesome! The first place we went to was the Dan River and we had an amazing time. The first shot is of the two bridges that cross the river. The second is a detail of the right/left bridge (depending on which side of the river/bridge you are on). The third is of my beautiful girlfriend. Sadly, I still cannot take a color image of her for some reason. Haven't figured out why. 

POD #11

Taken with my Nikon D90 1/125 @ f/16. SB-24 Flash triggering two Alien Bee 800's

Thought I would take a picture of where I am working for my internship. Was not aware at the time that my SB-24 for flash would trigger the optical slave on the Alien Bee 800's. Thank you Paul C. Buff. The first image is our shooting space at Leland Little Auctions. It is just enough room for us to do what we need. The second picture is my supervisor, Kent Corley, shoot details of a metal sculpture on a mirrored base. You would think that this would have been a challenge, but not for Kent. 

POD #10

POD #9

Taken with a Nikon D90 1/160 @ f/32

Taken with a Nikon D90 then run through Photomatix

An early morning at internship can be boring sometimes. This is unless you work at an awesome mill. Then there is always something to photograph. The first image is just a simple silhouette of the smoke stack at the mill. The second image is an HDR in the same location. I was just in the right place at the right time for this photograph. The sun was just rising above the mill and I just shot off a few photos real fast then decided to do an HDR. 

POD #8

Taken with my Nikon D90 then run through Photomatix.

Saw this fountain a few times on the way to Hillsborough and thought it might be interesting to shoot. The fountain is in some form of disrepair and the normal images just seemed flat and uninteresting. HDR seemed like the way to go here. One thing to be careful about is the bracket function on a Nikon. I was having trouble with the shutter speed jumping down so far that I was getting shutter lag. The key is making sure that the normal shutter speed is higher so when the camera shoots the underexposed image, the shutter speed does not drop below 1/80 to be safe. Unless you have a tripod handy of course.

POD #7

Taken with a Nikon D90 1/125 @ f/3.8 ISO 3200

There are a lot of things to discover in Asheboro, NC... if you look hard enough. Glow-in-the-dark mini golf popped up out of nowhere and it was obvious what needed to be done. A panoramic. This was a challenge because as everyone knows, earlier model Nikons do not handle low-light very well. With that said, I still feel like this is a good representation of the course. Here are a few more from that shoot...

POD #6

Image taken with a Nikon D90 1/100 @ f/9, Available Light and On-Camera flash as a fill

This was an attempt at a beautiful portrait of a beautiful girl, but the photographer did not have his thinking cap on and the composition is not quite right. The horizon line is the main issue. It should be below her shoulders. It does still work for the image, but it has an unusual feeling to it. The model was just brilliant and beautiful, of course.

POD #5

Top Image - Image taken with a Nikon D90. 1/100 @ f/5. Available light

Middle Image - Image taken with a Nikon D90. 1/125 @ f/14. Available light

Bottom Image - Image taken with a Nikon D90. 1/125 @ f/14. Available light

This is where my internship is this semester. It is an old mill in Hillsborough that is now used for basically whatever people need it for. This is the perfect place for a photographer like me because I love old, rustic buildings. Especially ones with smoke stacks. The first image is the alley way leading to the base of the smoke stack, the middle image is the smoke stack from the alley, and the final image is another view from the alley way. I think the different layers of negative space really add a lot to the final two images.