photography business promotion

I went to visit the Sedona Airport for a WW II USO show put on to promote the Sedona Wine Fest. It was very well put together. WW II planes including a B 25 were on display and Sedona’s local songstresses Shondra Jepperson, Jeanie Carroll and Susannah Martin played the stage dressed for the part with WW II uniforms. They sounded wonderful. Other characters like Rosie the Riveter, a Detective, Jane Mansfield and others from the era were played by local Sedona actors and it was a blast. You can see images from the fun here.  In the dialog box add your email. The password is 092013 The BW tone you see on some of the photos is a tweaked preset on the Lumix GX7.

Here’s a sequence I made with Shondra using the 10 fps burst mode with a preset tweaked to black and white on my Lumix GX7 then turned into sepia and animated gif. The animated gif was created in Photoshop using images imported into the timeline.

That girl can swing!

animated gif of Shondra daning with a plane(you might have to wait a little bit for this to download)

And a little feedback from Shondra…

“Hey Bob!!
This is HYSTERICAL!!! VERY cool how you captured this.
THANK YOU SOOOOOOO Much for taking photos of all of us!! Can hardly wait to see the rest of them!
BIG Hugs,”      Shondra

 

I donated my time shooting and processing these images and video in support of the event…

 

working the photograph

While in Salt Lake City I had a chance to chase around the area for some scenic photos. On the way to Park City we passed by this area. Lots of material to work with in this scene. St. Mary’s of the Assumption Catholic church is an attractive piece of architecture in the field. Throw in the cattails that are changing color behind the split rail fence. Add some mountains and clouds in the background and there are lots of permutations for different looks in working the scene. My favorite is a panoramic that was stitched in the camera. The Lumix GX7 really has an incredible ability to keep lines in place while putting the image together. It will tell you if you’ve gone astray either panning too fast or too slow or offline and lets you start over to shoot it properly.

Of course, you need to get in the proper position for everything to work in the final composition. Here’s a shot of me getting the shot by Panasonic rep (and great touring partner!) Kristin Long.

photo of bob coates by kristinKristin Long photo of me getting the shot.

And the shot….

st mary's of the Assumtion Catholic Church photoSt Mary’s of the Assumption Catholic Church – Park City, Utah

 

new wall of fame image

Happened in to Sound Bites Grill for a bite to eat and and heard some pretty cool sounds coming from the stage and wondered why I hadn’t been called to photograph the band for the ‘Wall of Fame’. I went around the corner and the owner looks and says, “Do you have your camera with you? This group needs to go on the ‘Wall’!” Well since I’ve gotten the Lumix GX7 I’ve pretty much had a camera with me all the time so I was able to say, “I do and picked up some work that night.” The camera has such a small profile and is so lightweight. Even with that I’m able to get lots of info from the files and not worry I don’t have enough pixels even though it’s a micro 4/3rds format.

As you know if you follow this blog I am a Panasonic Lumix Luminary but became one because I liked the small size of the cameras for travel. I am now finding more and more that I am using either this camera or the Lumix GH3 for 80 percent of my pro work and 100% of my travel – and as I learn more about the camera it will probably replace my current DSLR system…

adrenaline band photoAdrenaline Band image at Sound Bites Grill, Sedona, Arizona

Here’s a word or two from Charlene the lead singer and manager of the band. “That is freakin awesome!!!!!! I love your work!!!!   Do you have a rate sheet or price breakdown to do future pics??”

That’s music to my ears… Are you in a music group or do you know any band that needs some photography art work? If so please give me a shout. Thanks!

utah panoramic photography

I’m getting ready to do a couple classes a little later this AM  (9/28) at Pictureline in Salt Lake City, Utah for Digitalfest.

Had the pleasure of getting out and photographing some areas off in the mountains. I gotta tell you this is one pretty place! I made a panorama photograph using the Panasonic Lumix GX7. The in-camera photo stitching continues to make me grin… The file is sweet straight out of camera. A tiny little tweak of the color using Adobe Camera RAW followed by adding a slight vingette was all that was done in post. This was photographed standing on the roo of the car in order to just get above the treeline to let the snow covered mountains in the middle-ground sneak up a bit in the frame.  Let me know what you think.

panoramic photo utah mountiansUtah Panoramic phototography of mountains near Salt Lake City.

panorama photos grand rapids michigan

On my way to the airport after speaking at the professional photographers of Michigan convention I was able to spend a few minutes with Jim downtown Grand Rapids along the river with all the art that’s installed right now. He gave me a great chance to play with the LumixGX7. I’m really enjoying the panoramic capabilities of the in camera stitching and the way the final output comes. Here are a couple images from the shoot.

grand river imageRiverfront image along the Grand River in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Airport at Grand rapids michigan photo

Airport entrance in Grand Rapids, Michigan

speaking at professional photographers of michigan

What a great group in Michigan. Friendly, fun and really important – attentive when class was in session. Shared my ‘Photo-Synthesis’ Fine Art Photography program with PPM. Spoke about 4 1/2 hours. In addition to the Photoshop techniques I shared how much I like the small size and nice files to work with from my LumixGX7 and GH3.

Below are a few testimonials from the students about the program and presentation style. It was fulfilling on many levels from garnering new friendships, learning from the older members who shared their stories and adventures in photography, and being able to give back to the industry that has given me so much. Kudos to Panasonic for sponsoring my sharing to other photographers…

bob coates speakng in michigan photoPhoto courtesy of Carol Fabrizio, M.Photog. Fabrizio Fine Art Photography Flushing, MI cfabriziophoto.com

“I’m Darcy current president of the professional photographers of Michigan and Bob Coates was at our annual convention and Bob was awesome. Let me tell you we learned everything and my brain is just fried right now. We learn a ton from Bob. From beginners to experts, all took something home to help with their art. I recommend Bob highly to any organization that wants to hire him.”   Darcy Olson, CPP – Darcy Olson Photography

“Hi Bob;
Your presentation at PPM Fall Focus Monday afternoon was awesome.  It is probably the type of program that should be enjoyed first thing in the day and not after lunch as you present so much material, that I reached brain overload well before you stopped…..  Your passion and high energy is definitely infused in your presentation.”
Steve