Teen Identity Pledge

Teen Identity is a program put together by Atlanta Photo/Video team Tasra Wyatt Dawson and her husband/filmmaker Ron Dawson which is designed to give teen girls a positive, wholesome self image.  It is best said in their words:

Our Mission: Provide teen girls with a positive magazine that is uplifting, empowering and encouraging. A magazine that believes beauty isn’t all about appearance and looking sexy, but instead celebrates the true beauty in every teen girl.
Our Goal: Unleash the true beauty in teen girls by equipping and empowering them to find their voice, expand their vision, and achieve their dreams. 

Our company has taken the Teen Identity Photographers Pledge, promising to uphold the ethics and mission of this great organization.

TEEN IDENTITY PHOTOGRAPHERS PLEDGE

As a Teen Identity network photographer/filmmaker, I agree to uphold and promote these ideals:

1. I will provide a photo/video session experience with teen girl clients designed to elevate their self esteem, make them feel beautiful and empowered.
2. Any photos and videos I (or my studio) create portraying teen girls will be done without over-sexualizing the subject. Photos and videos will be created tastefully, preserving the “innocence” of youth, yet at the same time striving to reveal the true personalities of our subjects.
3. Each year I (or my studio) will donate whatever time I can afford towards a Teen Identity approved organization or project designed to raise self-esteem in teen girls, empower teen girls, or address some issue of social injustice facing teen girls. This may include, but is not limited to, pro bono photo sessions for teen girls in economically depressed neighborhoods; teaching photography and/or video workshops on behalf of Teen Identity; acting as a photography/video coach for teen girls in my local neighborhood.

This video was made by Ron Dawson, and illustrates a major problem which often goes unspoken in our society.  It is a vivid and disturbing look at a grim reality.  But hopefully by raising awareness we can bring an end to this.  

Abram 45th Wedding Anniversary

This weekend I had an absolute blast shooting the 45th anniversary of Richard and Velma Abram.  The entire evening was a wonderfully fun party, and they graciously welcomed me into their family to share this most special occasion with them.  We began the evening at their home shooting some family portraits.  It had been such a long time since they had a family picture taken, that their youngest of nine children had not even been born.  This was the first picture with the entire family.  We then shot a three generation family picture with all the kids and grand kids.  We then moved to the Country Club where the reception took place.  Family and friends from across the country had gathered to share in this day with them, and it was a celebration not to be forgotten.  There were songs, games,  lots of laughs, and even a few tears shed.

Thank you so much for letting me be a part of this celebration.  It was a day I will not soon forget.

 One of their beautiful granddaughters singing for them.

And there was dancing!  Lots of dancing!

Even the little ones got out on the floor

A beautiful cake which tasted as good as it looks.

More of those wonderful grandkids.

Their son served as emcee for the evening.  He was VERY entertaining.

What a handsome man,

and his beautiful bride.

California Senior Games

For the past week I have been down in Carlsbad CA shooting the pickleball event for the California Senior Games.  Now if you are like me, you are asking yourself "what is pickleball?"  It is a game played with a wooden paddle and a wiffle ball, on a miniature tennis court.  It is a fast paced and exciting game.  I had never heard of it until I was asked to shoot it, but after spending the week shooting the tournament, I am inclined to get a couple of paddles for my wife and I, and find some local teams.  I had a great time meeting the players, and spending the week in beautiful Carlsbad.   On Tuesday night, Carrie came down and we went to dinner at the harbor in Oceanside.  I had some fish and chips and watched a sea lion swimming beneath us in the harbor.  It was a great week, and a fun event.  Enjoy some of the photos from the event.

Jerry and Jackies Wedding Day

I got a last minute call last Friday, to shoot a wedding in Norco the following Saturday.  I had the day free, so I took the opportunity, and had an absolutely wonderful time.  Jackie was absolutely beautiful, and a little nervous, before the ceremony, but once she came down the aisle, she was beaming.  Jerry on the other hand was playing it cool the entire day, however I  could tell he was as proud as can be to have Jackie as his wife.  They had the ceremony in Jerrys uncles back yard, which was along side the golf course.  It was a picture perfect location, and a perfect California spring day.  It was a beautiful service by pastor Adrian Pressley of Campus Hill Church, followed by a wonderful Bar-B-Q dinner by Creative Events by Glenn .  Once the sun set, the weather turned a little cold, but dancing on the patio and a delicious Caribbean rum cake made by Jerry's aunt helped warm everyone up.  By the end of the day, my spirit was lifted, my belly was filled, and my heart was full of love from my new friends.  Thank you Jerry and Jackie, for inviting me into your family to share this wonderful day with you.

The centerpiece vases, lit from behind by a strobe.

The beautiful bride.

This is the one and only picture of the cake topper.  Seconds after being placed atop the cake, the wind blew it off, shattering it into pieces.  Glad I was there when they put it on!

The beautiful centerpieces made by their family.

Orchids

My wife got some orchids for Mothers day from her Grandma, and they have been sitting here in the house tempting me for long enough.  Well, this evening I had a little spare time and decided to shoot them. 



Here's how I shot them:   I used a single 75watt flourescent (equal to 300 watts on a regular bulb) bare bulb light to camera left.  The flowers were about 5 feet from a black backdrop.  I shot it with a 70-200 f/2.8 lens zoomed out to 200mm, at f/11 and an exposure of 1 second.  I then imported it into lightroom, turned it to a black and white, then used greyscale mix to get the right look.  I then added a little vignette, sharpened, and adjusted contrast. 

It is one of my personal favorites, and I hope you like it too.

One a day Challenge #34 and #35

The first image here is part of a project I was shooting for my mom.  She was needing some pictures of womens hands.  I shot this one of my wifes grandmother.  I wanted the contrasty black and white with grain, so I shot it at ISO 3200  and an aperture of f2.8 for a shallow depth of field.

The next one isn't very artistic, or even very interesting, but it has already made me money.  I shot a series of these letters for stock work, I had them approved this morning, and already sold three of them.  So there is obviously a market for these photos.  There are lots of things out there people need a picture of, which aren't the classic portraits, or even very glamorous, but it provides a source of revenue for someone willing to shoot them.

One a day challenge #33 Happy Mothers Day.

I couldn't think of a better photo for mothers day than a beautiful purple lilly.  Although it looks like I may have photoshopped this image, the bokeh in the picture is straight out of camera.  For the non photographers, bokeh is the soft out of focus background area.

I did bring it into adobe lightroom and increase the vibrance, and a little clarity, but other than that, it is straight out of camera like this.

My wife decorated the master bedroom in purple, so I shot this image to match.  I am giving her a framed print to hang in the room.  I hope she has a great mothers day.  I got up and made her scrambled eggs, bacon, and my cajun hash browns for breakfast.  Next we are headed to church with her mother, then dinner.  I sent my mom a nice little something, but I am afraid the mail man didn't get it to her.  Great!!!  Maybe she can celebrate Mothers Day on Monday.  I sent my son something to give to his mother, and it didn't arrive either.  I guess you shouldn't expect too much for only 44¢ in postage.

Happy Mothers day to all the Mothers in my life!!!

One a day challenge, getting back to it.

After a conversation with my friend and fellow photographer Nate Allred, ( http://treasurephoto.net )  I decided to get back onboard with my one photo a day challenge.  I must admit, the challenge is much more difficult than I originally thought it would be, but I did love doing it, and it is a great way to sharpen my skills, and stay on top of my game.  I was playing with my camera this afternoon, and noticed some interesting shadows caused by the window blinds on my 12 string guitar.  I thought that would make a great black and white photo.

This next part gets a little technical for the non photographers, Sorry.
 
I wanted it to have a heavy grain texture to the print, something that looks like the old Kodak tri-X 1600 film, so I set my Nikon D60 to the ISO setting of Hi-1.  This is an ISO equal to 3200.  In a color photograph, this setting creates an unusable photograph because the noise levels are so increadibly high that the image looks nasty.  However, in a black and white photo, instead of noise, it looks like film grain, which is at times beautiful in a photograph.  Earlier this week, fellow photographer Scott Bourne said "grain is the brushstrokes of photography."  And I couldn't agree more.
I wanted to maintain as little depth of field as possible, so with that high of an ISO, it required a shutter speed of 1/4000 sec and an aperture of  f 7.1.  After shooting it, I took it into lightroom and added a little contrast, otherwise it is right out of the camera like that.  I do love shooting black and white.  I have ever since I first printed my own pictures in a darkroom.  I hope you enjoy this print.  Please feel free to write a note below, and let me know what you think.  I love to get feedback, good or bad.

PCJBR Rodeo

Its hard to believe that it was about thirteen years ago that I entered the world of professional photography when I took a job shooting rodeos for my friend Mark Oakie's brother Alan.  I enjoyed my weekends on the high school rodeo circuit shooting rodeos all across the state of Utah.  I got the opportunity to push my skills and abilities as a photographer to their very limits every weekend.  And this was back in the days of film, no LCD screen on the back of the camera to check and make sure you got the shot.  You had to know your exposure and how to get the shot every time without being able to see the pictures until they got back from the lab a week later.  I spent about two years shooting for Alan, and I loved it, but I had moved on to weddings and portraits, and left rodeos behind for a while.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to step back into the arena and shoot another rodeo.  I must admit, I was a bit nervous.  It had been a few years since I last shot a rodeo, and I was hoping I had not lost the knack.  I was shooting the Pacific Coast Junior Bull Riders rodeo in Norco, Ca, which was part of the cities horse week festivities.  Once I got behind the chute gates, it was as if I had never left.  I felt right at home amongst the livestock and cowboys.  Once the event started, I got back into my groove in no time at all.  I ended up getting some good shots during the event, I did miss one calf rider due to my camera having a quick fit, and wouldn't you know it, he won his division, and his dad was interested in buying a print of his ride.  Its frustrating, but those things do happen.  In all, it went pretty good, and I hope to get the chance to shoot another of their events.

A young bullrider hangs on for one heck of a ride.

The bullfighter puts himself between the bull and the rider.  Either nerves of steel or a little insane, you decide.

This young bullrider looses his seat and goes over the head.

Once again the bullfighter puts himself between the bull and the rider.

Golf Club Photo

I have been working a lot lately on uploading new photos to my stock libraries, and I thought I would post one of my newest ones here.  It is a simple shot of a golf club and a golf ball.  I took it on a white background, all lit with florescent "cool lights".  I like using these type of lights for product work where the subject doesn't move because you can see exactly what you are getting with the light, this makes it a little easier to use than strobes.  The one down side to constant light, is you usually have longer exposures, so a moving subject doesn't work very well.  With this photo, the exposure was 1 full second at f 22 at ISO 100.  I used such a large aperture so that the entire club and ball would be sharp.

Heres a shot of my setup to photograph this.

Joshua Tree National Monument

Yesterday I went to Joshua Tree National Monument with a dozen of the best wedding photographers in southern California.  We had a great time hiking around and photographing one of the most beautiful parks in California.  I had the chance to socialize and send the day goofing off and doing what I enjoy with several photographers whom I truly admire and look up to.  The weather was absolutely wonderful, however it did get a little cold in the evening and wouldn't you know it, I wore shorts and forgot a jacket.  We all ended up having a great time exploring, and we didn't even have to call search and rescue.   I ended up with a few photos which I think turned out pretty good.  Take a look at these ones and let me know what you think of them.  Feel free to leave a comment below.  Thank you Joe for putting this together

This Photo is of some old mining equipment we came across.  

A couple closeups of Joshua trees.  Believe it or not, these were both shot in mid-day sun!

We found this old farm truck out on the desert.  I guess he didn't have AAA Auto Club.

This is a shot looking up a wind mill with the water pump it drove in the foreground.  It took a VERY small aperture of f22 to get this much depth of field.  

A closeup of the spines at the end of the joshua trees leaves.  Last time my friend Becker was here, he put one of these spines into his head drawing lots of blood.  He survived yesterday injury free!

Most of the cacti were just beginning to bloom, but I did manage to find one full bloom.  I am sure that by first of next week, the cacti should be in full bloom.

A portrait of world famous wedding photographer Joe Photo.

Sunset on the desert.  A beautiful ending to a wonderful day.

New Website!!!

I have been working on a new website.  It is through a company called Showit which offers adobe flash based websites which are much easier to build than standard html sites.  I will eventually have it linked to my regular domain, but for now you can find it here.

http://thompsonphotography.showitsite.com/

Please take a look at the new site and let me know what you think.

New Cards

I have just finished a new 3.5" X 5" card to pass along to petential clients.  I like this size card because it gives a lot more room to show some of your work, and it dosn't get lost as quickly as a business card.  It is not as informative as a brochure, but much cheaper to print and gets clients to your website. I just have them printed at the local lab as a 3.5 X 5 glossy print, and on tuesdays and wednesdays, they are only 6 cents a print.  Not bad.  Let me know what you think of it.

Pamela and Vans Wedding at the Wayfarer Chapel

This weekend I was able to check a big feat off of my to do list.  I was able to shoot at the world famout Wayfarer Chapel in beautiful Palos Verdes California.  I have known of this chapel for years, and it is a wonderful location to have a wedding.  The couple were great fun to shoot, and we were able to get some wonderful shots for them.  It is located on a hillside overlooking the pacific ocean, which makes for some beautiful shots.  However once we arrived, an fog bank was moving in, and by the time the couple was ready for pictures, it had obscured our view of the ocean.  Fortunately for us, right after the ceremony there was an opening in the fog, and we were able to get some great shots for them overlooking the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean.   I hope to be able to go back there and shoot another wedding at this beautiful location.   If you would like more infromation on having a wedding at the Wayfarer Chapel, you can link to them here http://www.wayfarerschapel.org/ .