by successfulbob | bird photography, commercial photography, fine art photography, fine art portrait, people photography, photography, photography competition, photography education, photography marketing
Arizona PPA had it’s convention this past weekend. Of course it included the annual imaging competition and as usual I entered images for feedback on new work I am creating. I am always trying to create new artistic looks and it’s good to get feedback from my peers in a formal setting like imaging competition.
My results were favorable. I was awarded the Emil Eger Photographer of the Year Award, first place in the Masters Commercial, Portrait and Illustrative categories. The American Society Of Photographers award was also presented given for having the highest scoring image by an ASP member. This was the 15th time being named to the AZPPA Top Ten in 16 years.
While receiving awards is good for the ego (and sending press releases) the real value is in receiving opinions of fellow photographers to find flaws that were not apparent when working up the images. I found some things to tweak as a result of hearing the challenges between the jurors during judging…
I’ll share my entries here. Wouldn’t mind some feedback from you too…
‘Awakening’ scored 86
‘Catrina – Day of the Dead’ scored 83
‘Old World Juniper’ scored 81
‘Last Stand’ scored 83
‘Sandhill Cranes’ scored 88
‘Sarasota Polo Magazine Comps’ scored 84
I always recommend getting your images into competition for review. Remember it’s not a competition against the other photographers… It’s against yourself and the opportunity to grow your skills.
Yours in creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | commercial photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography
Sound Bites Grill keeps bringing new acts to the Sedona area. The latest is Andrea Marie and the Magnolias Band from Austin, Texas. Andrea has one sweet yet powerful voice. You can check out their latest CD sound here.
Here’s the artwork for the Wall of Fame at Sound Bites.
You can follow and like the band on their FaceBook page.
The images to put this together were captured with a Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Leica Lens. The GH4 has a great density range to capture the full range of tones even under LED lighting. ISO 3200 f2.8 approx 1/50 sec.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | charity photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography
While on vacation in Sararsota, Florida I was asked by my buddy Skip to help create an image for an ad campaign for the Friendship Centers. The look of the requested image was based on previous photos from the campaign. The speaker would be in the foreground and sharp with the secondary person in the back slightly out of focus. Here’s the resulting ad that will run full page and on their web site…
Photographed with Lumix GH4 & Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm f1.2 lens
Settings – f1.2 ISO 200 1/250 sec Window light from 4×6 ft window with shear curtains camera right
MeFoto Backpacker tripod for support (because I was traveling – came in quite handy because it’s small for packing)
It was a pleasure making the image. I just happened to have the proper tools with me. The Nocticron lens is sweet and allowed me to get just the right fall-off of focus that was needed for the photo. If the MeFoto wasn’t so small and easy to pack I wouldn’t have had a tripod with me on vacation.
Small light and powerful tools are amazing to work with and I’m enjoying photography more every day.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography, photography education
RJ CAN WAIL!
Lots of high energy from the rockin’ blues band RJ Harman and Company! I told you I like to practice and play on my vacations. It gives me a chance to stretch and add to my bag of tricks with no pressure. Last night I went to the Blue Rooster in Sarasota to hear RJ and Company. Based in Orlando this harmonica driven band has toured all over the United States, played with many national touring acts and hold numerous titles from the International Blues Challenge.
RJ Harmon and Company live at the Blue Rooster in Sarasota, FL
Lumix GH4 with 35-100mm f2.8 VARIO lens 1/80 sec f2.8 3200 ISO
I had my trusty Lumix GH4 on hand for the festivities and it really helps to have the density range of the camera and the speed of the glass when photographing stage lighting. I used to have to shoot multiple images and blend them together in post but now with a few tweaks in Adobe Camera RAW I have details in the shadows and highlights are not blown out.
I also decided to have some fun with motion and the 12 FPS on the camera gets a nice series of images to create animated gifs.
Here’s the drummer and RJ with approximately 40 images stitched into gifs
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | black & white, fine art photography, landscape photography, people photography, photography, photography education
The Five day Black and White Challenge has been floating around the Internet for the last couple months. The basic premise is that a photographer will post a BW image everyday for 5 days at the same time inviting a new photographer each day to join in the challenge. After being tagged a couple times I jumped in… Here are the 5 black and white photos I posted with the comments. What I thought was going to be a PIA turned out to be pretty cool and I’ve been exposed to a lot of new black and white photography images as a result…
Day 1
This from Monument Valley and the box canyon. I like the Shadowed canyon wall, back
light on the horses and the settling dust that give this image it’s depth.
Day 2
Here’s an image captured on the streets of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His name is Doc and is a truly wonderful character. He was introduced to me by Dennis Chamberlain
Day 3
Scan from an image taken out of the darkroom soup almost 30 years ago… I sometimes wonder if the images we have on our computers will last as long as this. I was actually quite surprised by how much detail was still available. Print origin 1985.
Day 4
Day 4 came from Italy. BW really adds a timeless fell to this image allowing
all the shape, form and textures to shine through with no distraction from color…
Day 5
Repeating shapes, forms, tones and leading lines from this hilltop town in Tuscan region in Italy close out my 5 day challenge.
It’s always good to accept a challenge to push and get feedback on your image making skills. What have you done lately??
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH3, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education
Bruce Roscoe is a wonderful, gentle and caring human being. And it shows in his actions…
Here’s a link to a story about a portrait Bruce flew across the country to make to help a fellow veteran. This story helped raise money to build schools over in Vietnam and bring some healing to those who had served there. And that led to a project Bruce is starting to tell the stories of our veterans that often get lost. Many people know only of the stories they read in the newspapers and magazines but miss the personal stories and revelations of the people behind the stories.
Bruce is working to rectify that. He has begun a portrait project offering professional legacy images to veterans. The vets also share their story in video and will be featured in a new veterans portrait museum Roscoe is working to put together…
But wait! I was only telling you about Bruce’s kind heart to begin to explain a wonderful photographic weekend the Arizona Professional Photographers Association had in Monument Valley this past weekend. Through being the kind of person Bruce is he’s forged an extended family relationship with the Yazzie family in Monument Valley. In order to help the Yazzie’s raise money to help them through the winter months Bruce leads tours a few times a year for photographers to experience the Navajo Way. This is a peek into the culture of the Navajo and includes storytelling, weaving, horse run, sheep herding, traditional food and exploring the back country of Monument Valley’s private areas and more. Bruce leads these tours gratis.
I’ll be sharing some images and stories from the trip and a bit more in subsequent days. Here’s a couple for today.
From the parking lot overlook this white horse managed to find some scrap plants to snack on…
Past President of AZPPA Bob Zimmerlich. Is that a Lumix GH3 camera I see??
Effie Yazzie on horse at Monument Valley on dune in front of the Ear of the Wind.
All in all the weekend was a roaring success thanks to Bruce. In addition Bruce had suggested photographers bring dog food to help feed the animals through the winter and the AZPPA came out in force. Almost 1000 pounds of dog food made it’s way into storage for the winter. Way to go AZPPA photographers!
These images were captured with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Vario lens.
More images from MV soon.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
