Yellowstone Academy's Photo Club-Halloween Project!

It has been a while since I've posted about my class at Yellowstone, so I thought I'd make a quick post with our Halloween Project this year.  I've got a new class this school year with 7 new students, and they are eager to learn about photography.  We'll be meeting Monday afternoons this year, and Yellowstone has moved to an all year calendar, so the students are currently on Fall break.  Before they left for Fall break, I wanted to introduce some concepts dealing with shutter speed, but I didn't want to get into too much, as long breaks can lead to forgetfulness.  So, I came up with an idea to take some spooky Halloween photos of our class, and use slow shutter speeds and double exposures to achieve ghostly effects!  All of the students will return to school on Halloween day, so they will come back to Photo Club's terrifying 1st show of the year!

Incendiary-Washington Post Article

My brother has co-directed a documentary film, and it is getting a lot of press and attention right now.  Not only because it is a great film, but also because it deals with an arson case that put a man on death row.  He was executed, but it seems perhaps for a crime that he did not committ.  Rick Perry had an important role in the case, and because of his recent presidential run, this has helped boost national interest in the case and in the film.

The film, Incendiary has been showing in Austin, at the Violet Crown, and opens in Washington D.C. this weekend.  The film will open in NYC the weekend of October 7th, then will travel to Dallas, TX the weekend of October 14th.  After Dallas, the film opens in LA November 18th.   If you haven't seen it, check it out.  It is very interesting, and extremely well done.  Incendiary is already an award winning film!

My brother emailed me a couple of days ago with this link to the Washington Post website, where their movie (and my photo!) was featured in an article.  Nothing like riding the coat tails of your famous brother!  You can check out the article and photo here.  And don't forget to check out the film if you can.  Click here for Incendiary's website, where you can find information about the film and showings.

New York

In December, my wife and I got to travel with my family to New York for a little vacation.  It was Regan's first time to visit New York, and was the first time that I got to really experience the city.  I had been to the city on a couple other occasions (once to shoot photography for my brother's thesis on Jazz music...which was a pretty cool experience), but had never really gotten the chance to roam around the city, see shows, eat at resturants, etc.  The trip was amazing, and I loved our time in New York.  I brought along my old Nikon F5, and shot several rolls of film (mostly Ilford Delta 400 black and white).  It felt good to shoot black and white film again.

Regan and I got back and were like, "We've got to get back to New York again soon!"  Well, several weeks ago I got a call from a fellow photographer here in Houston, and it looks like I'll be heading back to New York to do some work with her!

Here are some of my favorites from our trip in December.

This is probably my favorite photo from the trip, I took this one outside of Macy's while Regan shopped.  I just sat at a street corner and tried to find interesting people as they crossed the street.  As soon as I saw this guy and got this shot, I knew I had what I was looking for.

Another one of my favorites.  On our bus ride into the city from Newark airport, we stopped right next to a school bus.  I spotted this kid staring up into the sky out of his window.  That is probably what I looked like most of the bus ride in, looking up at all of the incredible buildings that surrounded us!

My mom and dad.  Mom is going to get mad at me for this one, I'm afraid, because her eyes are closed.  However, this was the only photo that I had of her from the trip (I think she purposely eludes my camera...).  But I actually like it, it is kind of a light, fun moment...it has a good feel to it.

I never got the hang of the Subways.  My brother's wife, Alice, was a pro, and lucky for me, Regan got us from one spot to another when it was just the two of us.

Our awesome view from where we stayed.  Central Park was right outside our window...about 30+ stories down...

A visit to the Empire State Buidling was a lot of fun.

Looking down from the Empire State Building

These were the guards at the Empire State Building.  They did not like being photographed.  There was another guard that I really wanted to photograph, and I almost got the shot I wanted.  He saw me and just said, "NO" and turned away.  I snuck this one in from a bit further way, before he could notice.

I wish we could have stayed at the top longer.  The people were neat to watch, and the light was beautiful.  However, we had to get back to the apartment to get ready for a show, so I left some photos untaken.

This was a pretty funny moment, and I couldn't pass up taking a photograph.  These two guys were loaded down after a shopping spree at Hollister.  Nothing against Hollister, these just weren't the same guys from their ads...

This series is of my brother, Joe.  He grew out a mustache for Movember, and was looking pretty cool.  Joe and his wife, Alice live in Austin.  Joe is now a film maker...check out what he's been working on here.  He has co-directed a documentary film titled Incendiary that will be debuting at SXSW this March in Austin.

Joe's wife, Alice.

My beautiful wife, Regan, laughing with Alice.

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours

Merry Christmas, and happy New Year, everyone!  Thank you to all of my wonderful clients, it has been an amazing year, and I look forward to another great year in 2011.

A quick shout out to a job well done by Point2Point Movers

About a month ago my wife and I moved into our first house.  We are very excited to have some more space and a yard for  Georgia, our 90 pound dog.  I have some space to print and work in at home, which is very nice because I recently bought an Epson 9900 printer!  It is HUGE...the printer itself is over 70" long, and it can print giant 44" wide prints!  I've wanted to own one of these for a long time, as much of my personal photography work is taken with large format cameras, and I enjoy being able to print large prints full of rich detail.  To my wife's joy, this monster printer wouldn't fit upstairs where I office, so it now lives in our back room!  Thank you, sweetie!  Luckily it goes really well with all sorts of furniture... ; )

Anyhow, the real reason I'm posting is to give a shout out to the moving company that we used, Point2Point (http://www.point2pointmoving.com/).  An old friend of mine and my wife, John Shaeffer, opened this business after graduating from UT, and they are the most professional, careful and efficient movers I've ever worked with.  The movers were extremely friendly and trustworthy, and we were so impressed with them.

They did an awesome job transferring my new printer.  I was very concerned about handling this machine.  It weighs several hundred pounds, and must remain absolutely level during transport (otherwise the ink could spill and require an expensive clean).  The Point2Point movers were so careful, and did a wonderful job.  They treated the printer (and all of our other things) as if they were their own.  If they can handle this beast of a printer, and move it perfectly, they can handle anything!

Point2Point does a lot of work with designers here in Houston, so they have a great reputation, and know how to handle anything, from cheap to very expensive, fragile to rugged.  After they left we walked through the house and there wasn't a single mark on the walls...they were so careful and respectful.  And, one more plus...they are priced very competitively!

Thanks, John for an awesome and easy move.  We will certainly be recommending you to everyone we know.  Here is their website again:  http://www.point2pointmoving.com/

Here's the beast...