The Pitch That Echoed Through Ramseur

     Riley Myers, number nine pitcher for the Ramseur Deep River Muddogs, steps up the mound, confirms the signal from the catcher, rears up and throws, flying through the air like a bullet the ball reaches the catcher’s glove, the force of the ball meeting the glove created a sound, like a gunshot, that echoed through Ramseur. As the dust from the glove dissipated the crowd, so did the crowds voices. After sometime chatter picked back up as people talked about the spectacle that just appeared in front of their eyes. Shortly after Myers sent the batter back to his dugout where he came from. Myers helped carry his team to a win against the Carolina Pirates with a final score of 8-2.







ISO: 640
Shutter Speed: 1/500
Aperture: f/5.6

Copy Cat!

                

Disclaimer: This week we had to find a photographer and copy their work.

Now I chose to go with a very simple lighting setup, not because I wanted the easy way out. On the contrary, I chose the simple one because I wanted to show that even with a one light setup someone could show drama and mood. The particular blog,   “Night n’ Day” caught my eye especially the first photograph of Thomas Rodriguez mopping the floor. Drama is a big part of a photograph, and I loved the drama in this particular image. The light pouring in like a streetlight was brilliant, and the hard shadows created a nice frame around the subject. Though, my favorite part about this image was that the viewer could not tell that there was a strobe/flash unless told otherwise. I like images that utilize lights in a way that it looks natural or in this case a normal streetlight. When I saw Joe McNally had the “sweet” concept of shooting in a doughnut shop I instantly thought of a Doughnut shop that is not far away from where I live, Glaze King is a doughnut shop on highway 49 and they have the best doughnuts. So on Friday evening after closing the storeowner’s wife let me in. Samreth Kem, the store owner, was in the back getting the batter fried, he starts at 9:00 PM after the store closes and cooks all the way through the night till the store opens at 5:00 AM the next morning, a labor of love. Mr. Kem took a break at 10 and let me photograph him and within 2 minutes I had the photograph. But in reality, I had practiced on Jaime and Mr. Kem’s son, Ronnie, for about 30 minutes beforehand. To achieve the image of Mr. Kem I used an SB800 at ¼ power and 105 zoom mounted on a Profoto air-cushioned light stand. I used two Rogue filters on the flash, Full CTO, and Plus Green cc30 to give that street like feeling, however, I can’t figure out why mine looks more neutral or cooler than McNally’s. The camera was a D7000 with an 18-200mm Nikkor lens set at 20mm.

    In closing, this assignment was actually really fun and I would suggest it to any photographer that wants to expand the field of knowledge in the aspect of photography. However, the challenges that I faced helped prepare me and made me really think. The main problem was the color temperature; the image you see is an untouched photograph. As you can see comparing mine to Joe McNally’s image that mine does not seem as warm as his. I think this was due to the interior color of the buildings.

The bonus was that my photo made the photo of the week: RCC Photo of the Week

The final image was:

Shutter Speed: 1/250

Aperture: f/5.6         

ISO: 800

Flash: ¼ power 105 zoom with green and warm filter.

I would like to say thank you to the Kem family for allowing me to photograph at your shop (Glaze King.) Secondly thank you Mr. McNally for you blog Night N’ Day. Also thanks again Jaime for helping me out and being a stand in model for me.  

Oak Photo Art: PaintingWith Light ...

Check out my classmates work of our night of light painting.



Oak Photo Art: PaintingWith Light                                ...: Painting With Light                                                  June 17, 2016    One of my homework assignments for class last wee...

Gus the Bus

Image A

            Sitting in class last Monday, my instructor gave us the next weekly assignment. “Light painting is this weekly assignment, and you just heard Tyler inside say 'yippee,'" said my instructor as he looked at me, grinning. He knew that light painting was a passion of mine. Light painting is exactly that, essentially taking a light source and using it to illuminate an object. However, to me, it is so much more. Like the sculptor Michelangelo, one of the greatest artists to ever live, once said, “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” If we think of the night or the darkness as the stone and our lights as a hammer and chisel, then like Michelangelo, we as photographers need to carve the night away to reveal what lies underneath. Shortly after the assignment was assigned I knew exactly where I wanted to do this pulchritude art form.

Image B

            A classmate, Jaime, turned to me and asked if I was interested in joining forces with him. I agreed and we decided on shooting this past weekend. I also told him about a location I had in mind, an old bus that I had stumbled upon one day while driving down an old country road here in Asheboro. So after we both decided that would be a good choice, we drove and asked the property owner, and he approved of our coming out late at night to photograph it. Everything was set!

            Sunset on Saturday night came in a hurry. Soon Jaime and I found ourselves spending a lot of time, eight hours to be exact, from sunset to sunrise, with these inanimate objects and a curious horse. I decided to photograph a bus that I later named “Gus.” Inside the cab of Gus, he was gutted with no seats, except for the drivers, seat which was occupied by a plastic Santa Claus/ As seen in the image (taken by Jaime Robles,)

Photo By Jaime Robles

the inside of the bus was used to store scrap metal and other things. Also, a few wasps called this run down bus home. So one can imagine how precarious and nerve-racking it was to crawl in a bus and fire a flash 90 times. However, it was so worth is so worth it! Overall it was a very productive shoot, and I was very pleased with results.

Special thank you to Mr. Adam for allowing us on his property and also thanks to Jaime Robles for sticking with me, even till sunrise.

Image A:

Shutter Speed: 15 minutes

Aperture: f/11

Focal Length: 22 mm

ISO: 100

Image B:

Shutter Speed: 15 minutes

Aperture: f/11

Focal Length: 19 mm

ISO: 100

Street Photograph

The assignment was street photography, so I chose this image and this composition because of its central point to Asheboro.  Chandler concrete probably is a big portion to this town’s revenue, thus, making this a central point for more than one reason.  I liked the colors in this image because without the blue hard hat and the yellow reflective vest this image was almost mono chromatic, but with just the touch of color to the image it brought life to the photograph. The composition is low and straight on because I feel that one pouring concrete is fairly straight forward, yet, requires some form of precision. Secondly, to reiterate the idea that Chandler concrete is a central point of the town Asheboro.  

50 mm
1/125 
 f/22

What is photography to me?

           Since the age of nine photography has captivated my essence and made me who I am today. When I was just a little boy my parents gave me a Kodak digital camera, a Kodak DC3200. Massive in size but small in quality, though it was all I needed to rocket my passion into the atmosphere. Photoshop was just starting to stretch its legs on the consumer level and digital photography was making massive strides into the realm of photography. Yes, it was an exciting time for everyone; at least it was for me.  At that time I found my voice. Photography for me is communication, a way to convey my thoughts and ambitions.

            If you have ever met me you will come to realize that I am an awkward fellow, not Napoleon Dynamite awkward, more like Patsy from Monty Python and The Holy Grail awkward. I am not elegant with words or my body language and so, I rely on my craft to communicate. To me photography, my craft, is painting with light in a way that writes stories that could not otherwise be told.

Camera: Nikon D7000

Focal Length: 42

Aperture: f/3.3

Shutter: 1/250

Flash: SB 600 from the right approximately 5 feet away through a window

He's Gone Batty!

T.J. Nichting number thirteen on the Asheboro Copperheads baseball team swung at a low pitch and seemed to have butter fingers when he sent his bat flying. Originally from Ohio this right fielder found out how far his bat could fly in to the visitor’s bleachers. When the onlookers realized the incident that was coming their way they fled like a school of fish that saw a hungry shark coming their way. This accident was strange for this junior from the 49ers a college baseball team in Charlotte North Carolina, who started out this year with very impressive batting average of three hundred fifty-eight with three homers and thirty-three runs. However, this simple mistake made for a great photo and no one got hurt so the only thing that was lost was a wooden bat. After the incident Nitching laughed it off and grabbed a new bat and faced the pitcher once more.

Nathaniel

Like his mother, always smiling and rarely in a bad mood. Nathaniel is the “baby” of the family, daddy’s boy, and the true definition of cute. God blessed us with this little bundle of joy on April 3^rd, 2015. Thinking he was going to be a girl we were not disappointed that God had other plans. His best buddy is his big brother, Troy, who tends to play rough, though, Nathaniel, most of the time, does not mind at all. Small in size and vocabulary, however, it does not keep him from voicing his opinion whatever it may be. No parent has his or her favorite child, nor do I. My kids are my pride and joy they are two of three greatest creations God has ever created and he blessed me by letting me be their father, I love my kids.