A Wedding "First Look"

Some people know that I am a big fan of what is commonly called the "first look" at a wedding. It is that moment when a couple sees each other before the wedding ceremony, as opposed to waiting to first see each other during the ceremony. I have written about this fairly extensively here and here. Sometimes though it takes reading about it from another perspective that convinces couples that having a "first look" might be the right choice for them. To that end I would encourage interested people to read here. A first look is certainly not a deal breaker for me. Couples have to plan their wedding day according to what best suits their desires and expectations. My two cents though is that a "first look" is a winner.

High ISO Low Light Photography

One of the biggest advancements in digital photography over the past 3-4 years has been the ability to shoot without flash in low light conditions. If you are new to photography and are mostly playing around with your aperture and shutter settings, that is great, but don't forget about the ISO settings. ISO refers to light sensitivity. The higher the number you set you ISO, effectively the more light the sensor can pick up. 8-10 years ago the best you could get away with was a setting of 1600 ISO. At that point and beyond, if available, images would start to break down with noise. Even 800 ISO was pushing it back then. Today those numbers are at 6400, and even 12,800; and on some cameras the number goes up beyond 100,000. In layman terms, this means that it can be dusk outside, or low light inside, and you can still get a decent hand held shot. But despite the great improvements with ISO and sensors, you still need to be careful with how you take high ISO images. Noise is still an issue, especially if you do not expose correctly. So below I offer some advice on high ISO images.

1. Regardless of your situation, just because you have high ISO capability on your camera, you should always lean toward the lowest ISO possible to still get the image. Lower ISO gives you better color and less noise, higher ISO gives you less color and more noise. So don't crank up your ISO just because your camera has it. Always default first to maximizing your aperture and shutter speeds to get the most light, then use the ISO to give you more latitude if you need it.

2. Proper exposure is imperative. If anything, you should compensate a bit toward over exposing your image. If you underexpose your image and then try to correct it in your favorite image editing software, you will end up with quite a lot of noise. Over exposing of course risks blowing out highlights, so you have to be careful there too, but I would rather error on that side than with underexposing the image.

3. Take multiple images at different exposures so you have choices afterwards.

4. Shoot raw, if your camera has it. Raw files give you a lot more latitude in correcting your images.

5. Use noise reduction software. Even though noise is not as bad as it used to be at lower ISO, it is still a problem as you reach your camera's ISO limitations. Noise reduction software can do a pretty good job of reducing that noise. You have to be careful with this software though because it can soften an image.

The image here was taken at 6400 in a very low lit church. I added some noise reduction to it. This shot would have been much harder to obtain 10 years ago, and even harder back in the film days when ISO film pretty much only went up to 1600. Click to enlarge.

Does Barack Obama Know Anything?

I find it absolutely amazing how little Barack Obama knows, especially considering that he sells himself as a person who knows everything. Some examples:

1. He did not know, after attending Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years, that his pastor delivered radical anti-American sermons,
2. he did not know about the Fast and Furious program,
3. he did not know about the security shortcomings of our Benghazi consulate,
4. he did not know that the 9-11-12 assault on Benghazi was a terrorist attack (he did seem to know that the attack was the result of a two bit video, which was never the truth),
5. he did not know about the NSA spying on foreign leaders,
6. he did not know about the pending failure of the ACA website . .

and the list can go on and on. Stunning. Either this is a president who is so protected that he has been left oblivious to reality, or on his own accord he has detached himself from any responsibility, or he just does not care about such details, or in reality he knew about all of these things and is just lying about it. Which option makes him look good? Pretty obvious:  none of the above.

This is a president who is unable to accept responsibility for anything, unless it makes him look good. He stands back, waits for a crisis of his own doing (or lack of doing) to stir up, then he stirs it up more by lambasting Republicans for their alleged part in creating the crisis, all the while positioning himself above it all, and then he accepts credit when the crisis is averted, even though he had nothing to do with the solution and everything to do with creating the crisis in the first place. Syria is a good example. Health care is another.

When a person does not accept responsibility for their own mistakes, that is a person you should not trust. Period.

Football, Parity, Wealth & Equality

A number of years ago the National Football League (NFL) imposed several reforms in order to create parity throughout the league. They wanted to prevent dynasties and give smaller markets/franchises the ability to compete with the larger ones. So through the draft system and salary caps, teams were essentially given an equal chance to do well. Today, some franchises remain perennial winners, largely because of good management and coaching, and great personnel choices. Other franchises continually struggle. So despite that best of plans to create equality and fairness, some succeed and others fail. That is because in football there are all kinds of intangibles:  key players get injured, team chemistry falls apart, key players have awful years, there are bad calls by refs or one turnover that ends up changing the outcome of a game; or the exact opposite happens and a team has a once every other decade kind of season. That is football.

I like that a team such as the Kansas City Chiefs, who was 2-14 last year, can bring in a new quarterback and a new coach, and start this season 7-0. I like that a team has the chance to go undefeated for the season. I like that there are teams that end the season 15-1, or 13-3. This demonstrates greatness, even if it is for just one season. What I don't want to see is an entire league where all teams go 8-8 . . a sign of mediocrity (in my mind). Sure, everyone is seemingly equal and has a chance to advance to the playoffs, but where is the greatness in that? Do we look back twenty years ago to an 8-8 team and speak of how great a team that was?

I think this speaks to our society and how people view wealth. You know how it is, people without wealth envy those who do have wealth. A number of social scientists/politicians believe it is wrong that some people have and some don't have, and that the best way to fix that is to take from those who have and give it to those who do not have. Equality, after all, requires that. But a person's stage in life, and their wealth, changes constantly. How many stories have you heard of someone who had a dream, started a company or created a product that a lot of people wanted, and that person seemingly overnight became wealthy. Likewise, how many people have you heard of who had a lot, but then the market changed, and the product they created was no longer desirable, and that person ended up losing much of the wealth they had created. It would not surprise me if the Chiefs finish this season 14-2, and then next year go back to a 7-9 season. The fortune of teams, and people, can go up, and then it can go down, and then it can go up again.

I like that a person such as Bill Gates or Henry Ford can make billions of dollars. We all gain when that happens. The fact that Gates or Ford or Winfrey or some musician can make millions/billions does not mean that I have to make less because they are taking up all the money that is out there. They did not become wealthy at my expense. In fact, their wealth has made a lot of other people wealthy. Just ask the employees at Microsoft. I benefit by using Apple products, so if the people at Apple are making billions, good for them. I hope they keep it up so I can continue to enjoy their products.

Some people though want a society where everyone is 8-8. In their minds, that is equality, and that is when everyone will experience happiness in their lives. Happiness comes from mediocrity, at least that is what they seem to believe. I believe in the importance of government, but I do not believe in the greatness of government. Government is good at producing mediocrity. Outside of our military, what exactly does our federal government excel at? Education? Health care? Financial competence? At best, our federal government is only capable of producing an 8-8 season. . year after year. It is a perennial loser. So why does half the country continue to put so much trust and so much confidence in government? What do they see, or what is it that they want that I do not see and that I do not want? Are they after an 8-8 country? Is that the attraction of socialized medicine or excessively taxing the wealthy? I would hope for more. I like it when people experience greatness on their own accord. That is the greatness of America. Let's pray that does not become something of the past.

High School Reunions

So I just wrapped up my high school reunion this past weekend. It was great to see people and to be seen. I walked away exhausted, but satisfied. I know there are some people who shutter at the thought of going to a reunion. They look back at their high school years believing those were awful years in their life . . lots of drama, hurt feelings, awkwardness. Sounds like life to me. I hear it fairly often when I ask someone if they are going to their reunion: "there isn't anyone I want to see". There is a word for this:  selfishness. Have you considered that there will be people there who actually want to see you? I know, hard to believe.

I think back on this past weekend and how often someone would ask me: "So whatever happened to . ."? It is their way of saying "I wish so-and-so was here", but so-and-so is not here, instead he is sitting at home, miserable, watching re-runs on tv because there isn't anyone he wants to see at a reunion. I know there are legitimate reasons for not attending a reunion, like a schedule conflict or travel costs; but to not go because there is no one you want to see? That just does not make sense to me. Not after this past weekend.

The Main Difference Between Liberals and Conservatives

There are many points where liberals and conservatives part ways. Abortion . . immigration . . gun control . . taxes . . the list goes on. I am always amazed how even on the most obscure issues or events, liberals and conservatives like clockwork line up directly opposed to each other. It is almost as if people are wired to think and see issues differently. which when you consider how people are raised and educated, may be the case. Liberals start with a different set of premises than conservatives, and how they perceive an issue is largely influenced by those premises. This is true when you look at politics, social issues, and even a person's spiritual life.

I have come to the conclusion that there is one principal premise that drives the liberal mind: the belief in a utopia on earth. They envision a world where no one gets hurt (including animals), no one is offended, everyone is magically given the same resources, money is not an issue when governing, everyone gets along, everyone is of one accord (the liberal accord), the good of the utopian society holds precedent over the individual, and everyone is obliged to support and defend the pursuit of this utopian society. To this end, they need government. More specifically, a centralized, all knowing, omnipresent government. And so through regulations, laws, decrees and policies we have an endless array of intrusions on liberty, all in the name of building a more perfect society, a society with no crime, no pollution, no hate, no inequality of any kind, and where people live in blissful likeness. This is why I am not a liberal. This is not utopia . . it is tyranny. It is government attempting to control the behavior and the thoughts of it's citizens. It is as if they are saying "we don't want fat people in our utopia, or people who use certain words, or people who value God more than the state". Individual responsibility . . a thing of the past.

I think it is fair to say that most people desire to see the world become a better world. We want to see not only our own lifestyles and living conditions improve, but our neighbors as well. Every day people are driven to learn more and take more risks in order to achieve a better life. There are ways to do this though that don't involve the heavy hand of tyranny. The free market and capitalism have been the best tools ever invented for reducing poverty. Take one look at the poverty in countries that have been ruled by dictators. One disaster after another. Socialism and communism were both designed to create a form of utopia. Both have failed.

Conservatives do not believe in a utopian on earth. In heaven, yes; but not here on earth. Conservatives tend to see people as sinners with selfish hearts. There will always be people who are mean, evil, and hateful. There will always be the poor (even Jesus said this in Matt 26:11) and there will always be the wealthy. There are people who are lazy and unmotivated, and there are people who are driven toward success. With 350 million people in America alone, the very idea that social engineering will conform all those people into slender, fit, equally educated, equally motivated and pleasant people is crazy. Liberals have been governing in every inner city in America for most of the past 100 years, a fantastic opportunity to put their utopia dreams into action; and what have they produced? Hardly a utopia. In fact, quite the contrary. Why? Because what some political and educational elites dream up in some university seminar never takes into account the basic sinfulness of man. No amount of regulations or social engineering will ever atone for that.

It is not that conservatives are anti government. Government is good for establishing rules to play by in society. But the rules need to be simple to understand, appropriate and relevant to the game, and applied fairly to all. It doesn't have to be that hard. Politicians are driven by the misguided belief that they know better than their constituents in all things. "If only we can get people to behave this way, our society will be a better place". And so laws are passed and taxes are raised to get people to act "this way". But people don't and won't act "this way". People act the way they want to act, which is kind of what America is all about. Freedom. The right to be an individual pursuing my own dreams. The land of opportunity. The role of government is largely to protect those rights. Some may argue that this is the only role for government. We have gotten so far away from this, all in the name of experiencing utopia on earth. More like hell on earth.

Being A Photographer . . Being A Doctor

If you have ever watched a medical show on TV . . ER, Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs . . inevitably there will be an episode when the doctors are stumped. They have a patient with some mysterious ailment. Tests are run, questions are asked, consultations with other doctors are made, but to no avail. Whatever the patient has, the doctors cannot figure it out, and they feel helpless. Usually in these shows there is that "aha" moment when the doctors stumble on a clue and discover what is causing the problem, and all ends well. Sometimes they stumble on the answer, and realize there is nothing they can do to fix the problem. This is usually the moment when a doctor realizes that despite his or her great skills and knowledge, they are after all human, and there are some things that even they cannot fix. Sometimes, as a photographer, I feel the same way.

I have photographed a bunch of events and activities and people over the years. Most of the time I get to photograph people under fairly controllable and pleasant conditions. There are usually options. If it is raining, I can usually find a covered area. If it is too sunny, I can find some open shade. Rarely am I in a position where I am stumped, when there are no options except for the worse one. This past Saturday was on one of those. At times I felt helpless, like the doctor with an ailing patient, and the only answer I could give that patient was there is nothing I can do. It was hot . . very hot, and it was sunny . . very sunny; and I was in a location where there was literally no place to go that was not hot or sunny. Some of the photos . . not all . . would be difficult to obtain under these conditions.

All of my experience and skills seemed to mean nothing at that moment. Well that is not entirely true, my experience did help me work through most of what I needed to do to make things work; but I knew at the time that the pictures would have been so much better under different conditions. I walked away humbled by the experience, much like I imagine a doctor walks away from a dying patient knowing he could not save that person. I am human after all. Fortunately the people I was working with that day were very understanding and patient with me (I hope). I do not like to make excuses. I was hired to do a job, and for their sake as well as mine, I wanted to do the best job possible. But even the best of doctors confront situations when they can do nothing more for their patient. It is not a failure, but it is humbling.

Breaux Vineyard Wedding (Loudoun County Virginia)

Breaux Vineyard in Loudoun County Virginia is one of the premier wineries in the Washington DC area. They recently added a very nice event building to their property, setting them apart from many other wineries in the area. Breaux did a great job hosting Saturday's wedding of Marty and Cheryl. Here are a few images from Saturday. Click on image to enlarge.

Ashland High School Oregon 1981 - 1984 Slide Shows

While on staff with Rogue Valley Campus Life in southern Oregon during the early 80's, I had the pleasure of working with high school students at Ashland High School. It was during this time that I started to learn photography and played around with multi media slide shows. Being the early 80's, we were of course dealing with film and slides and cassette tapes. This was before cd's and dvd's, and really before the advent of VHS, so I have no visual archives of the slide shows I produced back then. I do have the audio tapes though. The sound quality is basically just okay, but not too bad after sitting in the basement all these years. Some are better than others.

Below are links to those audio files, with some notes along the way. Some of these files are large, so be patient for them to load. Also below is a link to my website for some of the Ashland photos from these shows.

Ashland High School Photos

Ashland Fall 1981 Slide Show Audio

Ashland Spring 1982 Slide Show Audio

Ashland Fall 1982 Slide Show Audio

Ashland Fall 1982 Interviews (for the slide show, unedited)

Ashland Winter 1982 Slide Show (for the original show, there was a break in the audio track about 3:30 into the show for a film clip from Chariots Of Fire. I shortened the break for this file.)

Ashland Spring 1983 Slide Show (added to this is a section that was shown at the Baccalaureate Service)

Ashland Fall 1983 Slide Show

Ashland Spring 1984 Slide Show (added to this is a section that was shown at the Baccalaureate Service)

Ashland Spring 1984 Interviews (for the slide show, unedited)

I'm Still Here

I cannot believe it has been 3 months since I last posted something on this blog, so more than anything I just want people to know that I am still around. I am still photographing weddings (I have 5 weddings over the next 15 days), still traveling, still alive. Things have just been somewhat busy, and I have not had anything burning inside of me to write about. Well actually that is not entirely true. There is always something I am thinking about and working through in my mind . . so maybe I have just been a bit lazy when it comes to updating this blog, which really bugs me. It has always been a pet peeve of mine to visit blogs that are outdated. So much so that I hesitated even starting this blog out of fear that I would at some point become absent, which is what happened over the past 3 months. I am not promising that I will do better over the next 3 months, but I will certainly try.

Re-Purposing: Film X-Ray Protector Now A Coin Pouch

One of my pet peeve's and minor source of aggravation is searching for coins in my car. Yes, there is a coin compartment, but in my car that area is below the dash in an area that I cannot see, only feel. So when I reach for loose coins in that compartment, I never know what coins I am grabbing, and in most cases there are at least a half dozen coins that end up on the floor. And inevitably the coins I end up with in my hand are not the ones I need for the drive thru or the parking meter.

So the other day I was looking through a drawer of old camera gear and I came across a couple film containers. These containers were designed for unprocessed 35 mm film. Theoretically these containers protect film when going through x-ray machines in airports. I bought these years ago and don't ever remember using them. Anyhow, as soon as I picked one up I thought of my coins.

One of these containers fits perfectly in my car's coin compartment. The beauty of this container is that it has doors on each end, so one side of the container is filled with pennies, nickels, and dimes. The other end is filled with just quarters. I can now grab the container from the compartment, open the end for coins that I need, and be done with it. No more coins on the floor. No more aggravation.