time out for a sunday

Man the meal was awesome!

Got the recipe from my fellow photographer Jim Lersch near Branson, Missouri. (He does some top notch commercial work and a different way of photographing seniors… Don’t hesitate to see him speak or buy his educational materials) Man it was wonderful but I gotta tell ya Mushroom Risotto is not the dish to have as a side unless you cook it in advance. 25 minutes of stirring in the goodies will leave you with a cramp in your arm… The Pollo al Vin Cotta?? Freakin’ amazing!

Now how does photography fit in this post?? Well you know me and panoramas! Grabbed the Lumix GX7 and pano’d the all the food ready to go after the prep.

kitchen & food photoPanorama shot of the spread before the food was all combined.

photo of photographer Bob Coates in the kitchenMy wife grabbed the camera and caught me at the stove in my apron. ( I think she kinda liked that….)

Don’t  forget that memories pass in the blink of an eye. Make sure that you don’t forget to capture your own as well as your clients. Cheers!

imaging usa closing party

MOVING STATUARY.

That’s what I call it. The closing party at Imaging USA was graced with models that held different poses while on lit podiums. It was an interesting exercise to try and capture images with the low ambient light and the glowing stands. I was surprised how well the Lumix GX7 performed in these conditions. I cranked up the ISO to 3200 and added a little bit of light with a small LED flashlight for some of these.

model from imaging usaCaptured as a vertical panorama in very contrasty low light conditions. There was one spot where the model moved during the capture but I was able to fix where the stitching went wrong. No fault of the camera. I was surprised it was able to do as well as it did!

model photoISO 3200 hand held almost dark room… Black and white preset on camera

model at Imaging USA closing party photoISO 3200 hand held almost dark room… Black and white preset on camera

photography and design on spec

The animals spoke to me….

Well not literally. But, I felt the need and desire to work with the images to see what I could come up with. One bird you’ll even recall from a previous post spread it’s wings to a mental request I sent it. (OK maybe it was just coincidence…) This led to a personal project to design colorful, dynamic t-shirts on speculation for the Sarasota Jungle Gardens in, you guessed it Sarasota, Florida.

I felt the back lit palm fronds made a gorgeous colorful background for the birds. I added some texture files to add some depth. While still in Florida I went there to share a couple ideas, received an excellent reception and a request to do a few others. We are in negotiations now to see if the spec work pays off in cash. It already has paid dividends in the learning cycle of improving my graphics work.

photography graphic design for t-shirt imageBlue Gold Macaw T-Shirt design for Sarasota Jungle Gardens – Sarasota, Florida

photography graphic design for t-shirt imageOne of the stars of the show the Pink Flamingo

photography graphic design for t-shirt imageMacaw T-shirt design

photography graphic design for t-shirt imageYou’ll recognize my cooperative macaw from a previous post…

Raw images for the designs were captured with the Lumix GX7 my current favorite camera for travel and all-around photography work. It is a solid workhorse camera and paired with the 35-100mm f2.8 lens worked great for this visit to the gardens.

sandhill cranes

Maybe it was because I hadn’t had my morning shower yet…

The Sandhill Cranes came right up to check me out as I was photographing them…

Shows the importance of having multiple cameras with different lenses on hand even if you think you know what you will be photographing. I thought all my imaging would be of birds in the middle of the pond called Palmer Lake or flying away from said water. Had I not had the second body/lens combo I would have missed a cool opportunity.

sandhill crane photoSandhill Crane in pond Sarasota, Florida.

sandhill cranes in flightSandhill Cranes in flight and in silhouette.

Sandhill Cranes in the morning mistSandhill Cranes in the Morning mist.

On the Lumix GH3 I had the F3.5-5.6 100-300mm (200-600 35mm equiv) lens and on the Lumix GX7 had the f 2.8 35-100mm (70-200 35mm equiv).

 

the sea hagg inc

She started her life as a character in a Disney movie and now the huge face presides benovolently over the sales counter at the Sea Hagg, Inc. in Cortez, Florida. According to the information shared by the clerk behind the counter she apparently likes her new place of residence as she gets a lot more attention in her new post.

If you happen to be in the Sarasota area you might want to take a little wander by the Sea Hagg, Inc. as it’s a target rich environment for the creative photographer. All things nautical, and some not so much, inhabit the shop just off Cortex Road West. There’s a fun playful atmosphere with mermaids, witches, floatsam and jetsam scattered throughout. Ask to have the container of eyeballs jostled on the front counter and you’ll get the idea…

Sea Hagg in cotez, florida photoShe hangs in the corner presiding over her new domain after being retired from the movies. The Diva lives on.

floats at Sea Hagg in cortez Florida photo

Floats of glass and foam are everywhere waiting for the right composition.

floats at Sea Hagg in cortez Florida photoMermaids abound throughout the shop in metal, wood, bronze and brass. Illustrative Art setting on Lumix GX7. You can shoot in jpeg to get this rendition or as I do also shoot RAW at the same time for post processing options.

rusted typewriter photographI just get the feeling that this typewriter has some serious history… I wonder what was written with it? A novel? News stories for a paper? Sales invoices?

scarlett macaw art

Suddenly the wings of the Scarlett Macaw spread… which was rather bizarre because in my mind I had just said to myself, “I sure wish the bird would do something different.” (parking spaces seem to appear out of nowhere for me too) I took the RAW capture into Adobe Photoshop to see what I could see. Here are a couple versions with a twist on each.scarlett macaw fane art image

Scarlett Macaw over fan palm. Version Three.

scarlett macaw fane art imageVersion Ten.

scarlett macaw fane art imageVersion Five

Images and textures captured with the Lumix GX7 and GH3. Macaw photographed using 35-100 f2.8 Vario lens. RAW 1/1250 sec;   f/2.8;   ISO 400 @42.0 mm (in 35mm: 84.0 mm)

Worked with Adobe Photoshop blend modes and other photographic texture images for effect.