Recent faces in front of my lens
Business has been picking up a bit and blogging hasn't. Sometimes life just keeps you busy and before you know it time has moved on down the road. Here are a couple outtakes from a recent shoot involving a church in downtown Raleigh. It was a challenging shoot with hundreds of people around but only a few that could be photographed. The following two people asked me to photograph them.
This woman pleaded with me to take her portrait while I was working. She insisted she needed it for her family who hadn't seen her in years. I took a couple photos and handed her my card but she continued to plead with me to send it for her. She didn't have a lot of possessions in the world so I agreed and gave her a pen to write the address down. I hope it ended up in the right spot.
This young man was very nice. He approached me asking if I needed more subjects. I had pretty much wrapped up the shoot, but I obliged him anyway. A great smile indeed.
The last photo is my nephew Ben. He's a grown man now with the world in front of him. Take it Ben. Take the world in front of you and don't waste any chances for self improvement and adventure.
Lastly, I ordered a new camera today. It should be here in mid-July! You'll have to wait to find out.
my view of the Horne Creek Living Historical Farm
We stumbled across the Horne Creek Living Historical Farm while camping out at Pilot Mountain in the Piedmont of North Carolina. This historical treasure should not be passed up if you are exploring the area. I could have spent hours here making photographs but my time was limited. I enjoyed the farm very much. The staff was very informative and the location immediately had my mind wondering what it was like to live the life of a farmer at the turn of the 20th century.
A gallery featuring the music of Arabesque and my view of the old farm.
Horne Creek Farm Gallery
All photos shot with an Olympus E-P1 with 17mm prime. Processed in Lightroom 2.7 and the show was put together with Soundslides Plus. I processed some of the photos to look like some of the old photos present at the museum while others are pretty much out of camera.
wash basin, Hauser family farm house
An image from a recent visit to the Horne Creek Farm near Pilot Mountain, NC. This beautiful historic site is part of the NC Historic Sites system. I'll be putting together a complete gallery featuring the entire estate very soon, so please check back.
Can you imagine doing your nightly cooking and cleaning in that basin?
old tobacco barns…. disappearing
These old barns are found all over North Carolina but are disappearing every day. It seems every time a new subdivision springs up, a couple old tobacco barns come down.
They are used to hang the fresh picked leaf to dry. One can only imagine the rural country side spotted with these barns full of fresh leaf with their wood stoves smoking away.
I couldn't decide if I liked the monochrome version or the colored one so I posted both.
Editorial: the Lucas Family, Wilson NC
Recently published so I can now show it on my blog. Client requested a simple family shot of the Lucas family for their publication. I was glad the dog was cooperative.
Nikon D300 28-70 2.8 zoom. Two Sb-800's fired via Pocket Wizards. One to camera right bounced off the ceiling for the main light and one right and behind the subject for fill, also bounced off the ceiling. Simple set-up for a simple photo. In and out within 15 minutes. KISS.
many stories of Raleigh
One of these days I need to put my North Carolina images all together. It might make a nice collection. Too bad stock photography is a joke these days.
View from the Raleigh Times.
Olympus E-P1 ISO 1000 17mm 2.8
Geof Simons by Geof Simons: Self Portrait
Self portrait by Geof Simons. Olympus E-P1 using the built in grainy BW art filter.
If you are a photographer in Raleigh, you probably know where this is... I like how the Olympus flag is in the background.
I'm not a big fan of the art filters personally but they can help you visualize the shot.
cellular obscura in action: Capturing Shawn Rocco
While in the press pool for President Obama's arrival at RDU, I found myself talking with a couple photographers about making images with a cell phone. One photographer started talking about how he published a book of cell phone images and I instantly recognized the situation as Cellular Obscura. I had previously read about Shawn's work in PDN. I also saw some of his prints hanging in Helio's Cafe one day so I was reasonably familiar with the piece.
It was great talking to Shawn and he even brought a copy of his book out to the press pool for us to look at. His images taken with a cell phone (not even a decent one) are amazing.
Shawn working with a DSLR and not a cell phone.
Air Force One and the President
I had the privilege of gaining a press pass for the yesterday's presidential visit in Raleigh. While assisting the News 14 staff I was able to take a few shots myself.
Seeing Air Force One land was really cool. I didn't realize it was so darn big.
Smoking the tires...
Secret Service agents keep an eye on Air Force One as she taxi's in.
The limo moving in to get the man.
President Obama.
Watching the President land and take off in the motorcade was similar to watching a well-rehearsed parade or show. Everything was like clock work. It was a pretty cool event! Most shots taken with a Nikon D300 w/ 70-200 2.8