Room Without a View

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Room Without a View


Photographer Chase Jarvis has started a series of blog entries this year to give his readers an idea of what it's like being a photographer who travels. It is called Room With(out) a View. I figured I'd be a copycat, and try a similar thing. Another traveling friend of mine takes photos of her hotel rooms, and I've wanted to do that as well. I enjoy having the opportunity to practice lighting interiors. Ideally, I would have more than one flash. (I'm sure if I kicked two running shoes out of my bag, I could have room for two more flashes. It's not like I've been using the shoes much lately.)

This has been a nice week in the D.C. area. On the first day I arrived, I gathered together five colleagues, a spouse and a friend for dinner in Bethesda. We took photos outside the restaurant after dinner, and I heard someone say my camera must weigh 10 pounds. Ha! I used the pop-up flash, and the photos still turned out great. My engagement has been great. Very, very nice customer. I got to work with my favorite WebSphere Application Server. After making a recommendation to make things easier, simpler and better, we invited VMware to the party. Does it get any better than working with such solid, fantastic software?

My cave this week


The photos above show the room and the view from my room at the Hampton Inn Dulles South. The Internet connection and welcome letter were painful to experience, but the rest of the room was alright. Every light in the room was fluorescent, and varied in quality and color from one bulb to the next. (One was even displeasing to the ears!) Much more enjoyable was visiting my friend and former coworker a couple of times. I was treated to the most recent remodeling they've completed at their house. I loved the master bedroom closet. It's like walking into a trendy clothing store! I was dying to take a photo of it, but never did. Next time I visit, I'm getting the shot!

PS - No SoFoBoMo to report on since the last post. I was hoping to have the book done by now, but too much life got in the way. I'm motivating myself to at least get it done within 30 days of when I first took a SoFoBoMo photo.

SlowFoBoMo

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Pestermind!


It's been about two weeks since I've taken any SoFoBoMo photos, and ten days since doing anything SoFoBoMo (besides reading other SoFoBoMo blogs or seeing two books already!) I've been busy with a lot to do, but also have been quite a bit not busy, too. There has been a lot going on, such as my niece and her family moving into the neighborhood from across the country. I have to admit, it's much more fun taking photos of my niece than scouting out volunteer opportunities, planning, and shooting.

But SoFoBoMo's limit is one month, and time is a ticking. If it weren't bad enough that the end of the month were Wednesday, I got a call today and learned I'll be on a plane first thing Monday morning heading out of the Austin area. Therefore, no more SoFoBoMo photos after about 6AM Monday. I suppose that's a good thing. No need to keep shooting until the end, when there's photo editing and page layout to do.

While doing some late night work, I decided I'd better plan in detail my SoFoBoMo moves for Saturday and Sunday. I realized an event I thought I could hit early Sunday is actually early Saturday. It's so far away, I don't think it's right to drive that far only to take a few photos. While I scanned my potential list of activities, I realized one of the events was going on... right now! So it's about 3AM on a Saturday morning and I'm going to pack up my gear and head on out of here. This may be a fun opportunity to use my off camera flash. Then again, the place I'm headed to is likely to already be well lit.

In the end though, just like when I was a kid, I think I'd rather be playing Mastermind.

Ouch.

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Ouch.

Going through brief periods of pain right now.

Finding a print on demand publisher. This was not a pleasant task. My criteria included good to great quality work, reasonable prices, allows me to design my own layout using InDesign, offers hardcover and landscape book orientation. Blurb seemed very close to the service I wanted. However if I used InDesign, I'd have to convert each page to an image and place each image on a page using the blurb client. Tedious and potentially acceptable, but putting text into a jpeg seemed to be a lot less crisp when printed. I decided on Lulu. I can layout in InDesign and publish to a PDF which is quickly uploaded to the Lulu website. I can get a hardcover book, but have to give up the landscape format. I decided to go with the 8.25"x10.75" size.

Getting back in the saddle with InDesign. Since my high school PageMaker days, I have loved doing layouts. When digital images became popular, I really wished I could just design a photo album in PageMaker and have it printed somewhere. The print on demand industry is slowly catching up, but most require the use of simplified layout clients where you have less control. Last year, when I researched various Adobe packages, I learned that InDesign was the new PageMaker! Sweet! I wanted to get back into dabbling in desktop publishing, so I purchased the Adobe CS3 Design Premium package. SoFoBoMo is my first good reason to start learning the new features of InDesign.

Monday evening, I started playing with InDesign once I had settled on specific output specifications. (In creating a layout, the first step is to know the size of the pages, margins and bleed.) It was tough. The page layout asked for sizes in pica, not inches. I finally had to ask Google for help. Then I really fumbled around importing a test image. It seems importing the image from windows vmware to my linux host operating system results in an error. Moving the image to exist within vmware is a reasonable work around that issue. I continued to make a mess of things when I imported my image. I figured it would be easy to resize either in Lightroom and re-export it to the right specifications or just resize within InDesign. Neither option seemed to work for me. As I thought about it later, I realized back in the olden days, I didn't work with digital images in PageMaker, only digital clip art. We physically pasted physically cropped photos onto our printed layouts. With the learning curve being steeper than I had hoped, I decided to just order a book on InDesign. It should arrive on Friday.

Cracking a glass filter. This was unexpected, but completely my fault. I usually set my camera down on the floor by my camera bag's strap when I'm not using it. I did the typical thing, but I think my strap was set a little longer than usual, and so my camera bag hit the floor sooner and harder than I expected. Oops. But it was in the bag, so it was fine... right? The next time I started snapping pictures, Jay noticed huge cracks across the lens. I looked at it and instantly realized what caused it. No big deal, it was only the filter glass that was cracked; the lens itself was fine. I have ordered a replacement, and will now set my bag down more cautiously in the future. Lesson learned!

Four events, four types of volunteers

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Forest plumbing


I've now covered four volunteer events and photographed four types of volunteers. I now have far more keepers, and could easily come up with 35 photos for a book, even if I didn't shoot another event. However, I think the fun is in the variety and diversity, so I will keep on shooting.

On Saturday morning, I went to Great Northern Blvd. where volunteers were sweeping, shoveling, digging, moving, and trimming to make the bike lanes on that road more usable. The majority of the volunteers were from the neighborhood. It's nice to see neighbors so supportive of the cyclists and runners who use the lanes. One insightful volunteer mentioned that it even helps drivers because if the bike lanes are clear of plants, debris and parked cars, the cyclists and runners can be in the bike lane giving drivers plenty of room to safely pass. At this volunteer event, sponsored by the Austin Parks Foundation, I pitched in to help as well. The group's leader suggested I head south where there was a similar group working to improve a cemetery! That would have made for extremely interesting photos!

Saturday afternoon was spent at the Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory. This was a place I had intended on visiting for quite awhile, but never got around to it. I arrived there to photograph volunteers counting various bird species. I kept my expectations low, but was so surprised at how interesting, beautiful and fun it was. We were treated with views of some wonderful birds. I also met other photographers there with some massive lenses. It was amazing how quickly my biggest zoom lens became inadequate when trying to capture some photos of the birds.

Sunday morning, I ran around downtown trying to photograph a pair of runners and a pair of walkers in the Bun Run 5K. With so many participants and the running pair not looking particularly distinctive, this proved to be quite a challenge for me. With the out and back course, I only had two chances for photos. I am hoping to get some photos at a future training session this month to compliment the photos I captured today. This event was extra fun due to having friends in the race. The volunteers photographed here were running guides for blind or visually impaired runners and walkers.

I missed the fourth event for the weekend because I didn't have a specific time or time range to meet the person I wanted to shoot, and I was also exhausted. I got some sleep instead. There is an event with a similar type of volunteer later in this month that I may try to photograph instead.

Lessons learned:


  • I'm not yet in the habit of checking all my camera settings before shooting. The one time I missed it this weekend, I did catch the incorrect white balance sooner.

  • Contact information cards would still be helpful.

  • A tripod would have been extremely helpful when trying to photograph birds quite a distance away. I thought it was in my trunk, but instead there were only light stands.

  • Photographing birds is easier when you have a massive lens, an extender, and a tripod.

  • There were a few times during the Hornsby shoot where my photos would have been much better had I narrowed my aperture to widen the depth of field. It's easy to miss someone being slightly out of focus when reviewing on the camera screen, but it's obvious later on the computer. Oops. If I had the camera in P mode, I'm sure it would have adjusted the aperture correctly. However by shooting more in manual, I make more mistakes and therefore learn how to be a better photographer next time.

The above photo was taken during an impromptu guided hike through the forest at Hornsby Bend.

"CLEA n" sensor

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Clean sensor!


One of my lessons learned from last weekend was that I really need to clean my sensor. I bought a large Giottos Rocket-Air blower which is designed for blowing dust off cameras without damaging them. Today I timidly turned on the sensor cleaning mode of my camera after reading the instructions in the manual only three times. The blower worked well. It blew away all noticeable dust specks but one. I went back and repeatedly tried to blow that last one away. Then of course, I got a larger than ever speck right on the middle! I could even see it laying there on the (glass over the) sensor. Gone was my apprehension of hurting my camera. I realized this called for the next level of cleaning, but I didn't have any supplies, and even less experience.

I called up my buddy Dave McLaughlin of DCM Photography and explained why my camera was driving me crazy. He invited me over and with a quick swipe or two, my dust specks were gone. The gigantic one. The big ones. Even the little tiny ones thriving in large colonies along the right side. YES! All evening, I have been so ecstatic about having a clean sensor. Many, many thanks to Dave for being so generous.

In other SoFoBoMo news, I have planned out my weekend. Saturday morning seems to be the big day for many volunteer events across the city. I could have tried squeezing in multiple events, but decided to just keep it simple. I will do one event in the morning, and one in the evening. Sunday, I will also do two events.

I have contacted one person involved in each of the events and have received fantastic responses:

"We would LOVE to have you take some photos of us."

"Wow! Thank you, I am flattered. Please do come on over."

"You're welcome to come but the experience might be a little different than what you're looking for."

It feels good having the experience of shooting one event. It feels great having contacted so many people, and being so well received. Jay reminded me today about how I felt last weekend. I'm not one speck nervous about tomorrow! I am ready for whatever the weekend brings. Each event will have challenges that go beyond the typical show up to an event and take photos of friends and anything else interesting.

Keep Austin Beautiful!

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Even dogs want Austin beautiful


I've divided my list of volunteer ideas by whether or not they are a one-time event. For the one-time events, I have ordered them by date. The first on the list of one-time events was the Keep Austin Beautiful cleanup on Saturday, April 5. I intended on emailing the organizers ahead of time to make contact with a specific group leader to see if it was okay to take photos. However, that email never happened. So why not just show up? The locations were listed on the event's website, so I picked one that sounded interesting and decided to go there the next morning.

Oh was I anxious over this. The night before I imagined being there and what it would be like. I imagined the people, the photos, the conversations... I decided to set my alarm an hour and a half before they were to start so I could get there early and talk to the group's leader. Despite not allowing myself all that much sleep, I woke up 30 minutes before my alarm was to go off. Thoughts about the cleanup ran through my head and I began feeling quite scared. What if they don't want me there? I've never woke up on race day feeling like this. Perhaps the closest feeling is what you might feel in anticipation of giving a presentation to a large audience. I laid in bed and talked to Jay for quite awhile about how I was skeerd! Finally, I had to get on the road, so I got up, stated "What's the worst that can happen!", grabbed my photography stuff and headed out.

I had nothing to be scared of.

I arrived right as they were organizing. I introduced myself to the group leader. He explained what was going on that day, and told me once I got my photos in, I was welcome to sign in and pick up trash as well. Later, he even invited me to the volunteer party!

The people I spoke with were very friendly. Many of the older folks were long-time volunteers. You'd never guess who has been the best at suggesting specific future volunteer events for the month of April. Volunteers!

As in my cooking blog, I'd like to start listing some lessons learned when appropriate. Sometimes these lessons aren't the first time I've learned them and neither will they be the last.

  • Sofobomo specific: Get more contact information from people. I only got one business card from someone, even though I spoke quite a bit with four people. At a minimum get their phone or email address. I've been thinking about making SoFoBoMo specific "business" cards. I think I will do this, as it is the easiest way to give people the chance to reach me later.
  • Check my camera settings before every photo shoot. (White balance, ISO, drive, auto-focus, and image format if you ever change it.) My ISO was fine; I was pretty sure it was. ISO is the one that usually gets me. My white balance was set incorrectly to tungsten making everything more blue than it should be. Easy Lightroom fix, but better to get it right in the camera.
  • My camera sensor really needs to be cleaned. I already knew that. Maybe I just haven't truly learned my lesson yet.
  • I wanted to take at least one strobist style portrait shot. I could have done this. I had the time. I wouldn't have been in the way of anyone. I had willing volunteers. I don't know why I didn't at least try. I was tired and wanted to keep things simple. Maybe now that I've accomplished this shoot, I can take it up to strobist level next time. (At least the reasons I missed a strobist photo did not include 1. didn't have the equipment or 2. didn't even consider it. That's a small step!)
  • I don't need to over-think or over-plan this. I can still get great photos just showing up and taking photos.
  • What's the worst that can happen? I don't get the pictures I want? I don't get any pictures? I get turned down by someone? How bad is any of that... really?

Not yet as busy as this guy

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Downtown Bee


Tonight I skipped swim and went to Wahoo's Fish Tacos to preach the wonders of SoFoBoMo. Or at least get the word out to a few folks that I was doing a photography book project. I need to find a way to explain it in one concise sentence. I got what could potentially be my first SoFoBoMo photo!

Over the evening, I learned of two volunteer opportunities I could add to my list, but both are at the beach. They are both during the second half of the month and won't conflict with other volunteer events I've tentatively planned to photograph. Perhaps I can convince some family members to take a trip to the beach for a day.

I got this photo after noticing these flowers just across the street from Wahoo's. This bee made his way from flower to flower. I even captured him flying a few times, but he was always well out of focus. Normally I wouldn't bring my camera to Wahoo's. I would have missed a shot like this. Normally, my ISO wouldn't be set to 800, either. I learned a lot of lessons today, which I suppose is part of the point of SoFoBoMo. I brought two lenses, but the lens I really needed was a wide angle. Even if I limit what I bring to an event, I could leave a lens or flash or two in the car just in case they're needed.

Unrelated, I ran into an old classmate at this event! I last saw him in class over the summer of last year, and was sad on the last day of school knowing I may never see him again. We had a great chat! I'd call this the second sign that I'm doing the right thing with this project.

SoFoBoMo

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Volunteers waiting for the first swimmers


I've been blogging about photography for about a year, but to a very limited set of friends. As my set of photography friends outside the realm of that blog has grown, it seems to be the right move to go to a public blog. Plus, SoFoBoMo really put the pressure on to start new things. Thus, a photography blog!

SoFoBoMo is the shortened acronym for Solo Photo Book Month. Many individuals have signed up to create a photography book with at least 35 photos and publish it within a month's time. The month can start anywhere from April 1 to May 1, so there's still plenty of time to consider the project and join in. A friend got me interested in SoFoBoMo and I've gotten another friend interested in doing the project, too.

I spent a long time not having a theme, but finally came up with one last week. I am going to photograph people in and around Austin, Texas, who are working for a cause as a volunteer. My intent is to photograph one person and the aspects of their work, project or charity. However, I believe there are so many group efforts that it could be tricky narrowing it down to just one person in those cases. I figure I will have 2-4 photographs of each person and their work, so I will only need 9 people at a minimum, and can go up from there. My hope is that I can get a variety of people and a variety of types of work. I've already listed and researched ten specific ideas, and six events.

Over the month, I plan to discuss aspects of the project in this blog, but will probably not post the exact information or photographs that will be in the book. I may post photos that won't make it into the book... we'll see. I think this is a little more ambitious than typical, but I think I can manage!

If you know of someone who sounds like the right type of subject for my project, please let me know.