These are a few more images from the AmFreeKaren.com shoot I did with Duy, Stephanie, & Lyssa two weekends ago. The beanies are curtsey of AmFreeKaren.com. Please check out Jaime's site & see how you too can help out this group of displaced persons in Thailand.

AmFreeKaren.com 

Duy introduced me to the work of Jaime a few months ago when we took time to shoot outdoors with a classic Caddy & a friend's motorcycle.  The beanies are knitted by refugees living in an orphanage in Thailand.  Jaime lived and worked in Thailand for near two years and brought back a lot of these simple and classic beanies.

I grabbed Duy and told him before you leave for Africa to build an orphanage we've got to shoot one last time.  He grabbed a couple of our friends and we went out to find graphic backgrounds.  In SLC there are a few if you know where to look.  I like driving around aimlessly on Sunday mornings so I've found a few.

Here Stephanie is showing off one of the simple beanies provided by AmFreeKaren.com  Please visit and support the work of Jamie in Thailand.
Thanks

Time flies when I lose the habit of writing at least once a week.  Today seems to be a great day to write due to the cold wet weather outside.  If I had the gear and the wheels to get me up the canyons then I'd be there hiking.

Over the last 3 months I've spent nearly every weekend hiking one of the many trails in either Big or Little Cottonwood Canyon.  My goal, hike every major side canyon in these two canyons before the snow flew.  I about flaked out on Mule Hollow because it's a minor pull off in Big Cottonwood until I read it has a mine about half way up.  I decided that it needed to be hiked.  Of all my hikes this is the least of the hikes I'll redo for it is steep, rocky, and tight all the way up following a stream bed.  It takes the stubbornness of a mule to get up it.  This image is taken with a phone and shows the old cart tracks disappearing into the collapsed mine hidden in the brush.

Salt Flats

It doesn't take much to twist my arm to head out to an exotic Utah location to do a little photography.  My friends, Tiffany and Monica, asked me to join 'em with Preston (another awesome photographer) to come out to the Salt Flats near Wendover UT.

The salt was a little muddy but workable to walk on.  We did have to wash off our feet upon returning to Preston's car. The Salt Flats should be dry by Speed Week in mid-August, until then please don't drive out on the salt.  When we got there someone was getting towed out of a a hole.

One of the magically things about this location is being able to see the curvature of the horizon without leaving the ground or climbing up a mountain.  I played a little with this with some tilts and angles.

Hope you enjoy the show.

Walkin'

Walkin', originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

I've been absent from the posting scene for a while because of computer issues. I'm back up and processing. I do thank everyone for their patience while I get moving again.

This shot is from a recent location scouting trip (to some in my group it's to the family farm). Amanda is wonder full to work with, even when she's the only model and there were three photographer's pointing a lens in her direction.

Mobsters in the mirror

Mobsters in the mirror, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

The shoot arranged by Mark Slater of Salt City Bombers - aka the Bombers - held at Kaysville Cherry Hill RV park was awesome. I brought in an old friend Duy Beck and caught up with Lisa Goeller, whom I met on Friday. Another friend, Monica Grindstaff, brought in a few of her friends as well.

The other Bomber photographers didn't need to worry about subjects or models. Mark's friend brought along his restored 50's era Cadillac, Mark's dad brought in his Willie Jeep of WW2 era, and Doug Sims' showed up on his new ride, the motorcycle.

Though the wind took control our ladies' hair and our reflectors, the clouds provide great passing shade to work with. Heather Casper, my Bomber boss (wink), worked as my assistant. She managed the 42 inch reflector like a pro, putting light right where I needed it. I kept telling her let go if you start to fly away. I can afford to loose the reflector. I can't afford to loose a great assistant.

This is the second shoot I've worked with Duy on. He's such a cheese when it come to making cool become cool. You may think he's spent a little to much time looking at GQ and in the mirror. If you think so then you haven't heard about his heart for East African Orphans. He runs a non-profit organisation providing educational opportunities for Ethiopian girls, please see http://www.coeef.org/ for more info.

I'm looking forward to doing similar shoots in the future working with Lisa, Monica, Duy, and the others. Everyone worked hard and put forth a valiant effort in this shoot. Now I've got some work a head to sort my images from this event and the two others I covered Thursday and Saturday.

-about this image-
Lisa leans back on the handle bars according to Doug's direction. I arranged the group seen in the mirror. I'm shooting over Doug's shoulder.

Deva's and Bombers

A while back I said I'd get information about the Chrome Devias and the Bomber's charity event when it came available. It's available please read the image.

Bombers Homepage

Liberty Romance

Liberty Romance, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

After a photo set out at Black Rock, I recommended we head past General Aviation. The Liberty Belle, a B-17, is in for the weekend. Since I was driving, this couple didn't have much of a choice. We spent a few minutes gawking at this flying piece of history.

I later returned meeting up with another friend. The day was ideal for portraits where ever one was at today in the greater Salt Lake area. The portraits taken at the airport are turning out fantastic. I'm really having a hard time culling out the great ones from the good ones.

The geese are comming to get me!!!

The geese are comming to get me!!!, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Brendan seems to have a fear of geese. That's okay, we were on a farm, the historical Wheeler Farm. He played upon this the entire shoot. I honestly don't know if he is afraid of geese or not though he says he is.
We met up with Monica and Shannon to do a little mid morning photography session. The two ladies wanted to get some 'modelling' in before the Earth Jam Festival at Liberty Park this weekend. I wanted a little couple action to practice at a very popular spot for couples to come for engagement's and families for portrait sessions.
I do like Wheeler Farm. It's easily accessible from the freeway. It's a petting zoo for many kinds of farm animals. It also has a small wooded area on the property. There are diverse background settings like this one, the back of the ice house to an old Box Elder tree across the creek.
The photos from this shoot may be available for viewing in about two weeks. This weekend I have a Hugs For TUGS run (Saturday morning), Earth Jam Festival (Saturday & Sunday), and Granny Starr Foundation (Monday).

Links:
http://www.wheelerfarm.com/index.html
http://www.earthjam.org/
http://www.hugsfortugs.org/
http://grannystarr.org/

Pink Rubber Boots

Pink Rubber Boots, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Shannon, in the pink rubber boots, happen to be out with Skyler, a musician, updating his head shots at Black Rock UT. This high school senior knows photography. I've taken a look through her Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whimsy-Photography). She uses quite a few muted pastels in her works. I like the style.
She was one of many photographers taking photos of people last week. Black Rock and other areas around the Great Salt Lake have a limited bug less season. Right now the weather is less then admirable however foul it might be it creates some stunning sunsets and with out the bugs.
A few years ago one would be alone out here. Today it's a different story. Shannon was one of 4 or 5 single shooters while there were 2 groups hanging out. These groups were the Salt Lake Photo Club (http://www.slcphoto.com) and Salt Lake Photography Meet Up Group (http://www.meetup.com/SLC-Photography-Workshops-Learning-Group).
One thing about sunsets, don't leave once the sunsets, stay for the colors. In SLC Photo we pulled out the Steel Wool and Glow Sticks for a little light painting. Check the galleries...
Later
Brian J

Ball's in the Glove

20110411-Softball-102.jpg, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Her grounder unfortunately is hit to first base. She runs strong any ways, a hit is always worth an effort to run. Welcome to spring and the first game of City League Softball.

Since I last played softball (17 years ago) the rules changed slightly. The addition of a second first base (see the orange bag?) and a second home plate (Mr Yates could have used that when he slid home and broke a few ribs). The rules are essentially the same other wise. I can't think which to say is first put, fun or safety.

I'd like to encourage everyone to head to their local parks. Get out meet a neighbor or make a new friend. Support your local Parks and Recreation to put your tax dollars to work for your pleasure.

Have fun. Enjoy the images.
More are at http://preyingjaws.zenfolio.com/softball
or watch the slide show here...

Bombers Fashion Show

Warning, this post contains many "in text links" to various organizations.  Please follow the links for more information about these organizations.

Bomber's Entertainment put on a Marti Gras Fashion Show on behalf of Earth Jam on March 19, 2011.  Earth Jam is more then stereo types who want to heal the Earth.  It's an organization that is focused on helping others promote the good stewardship of our planet.

The Bombers are a fun creative group who want to promote events and raise awareness for local events.  This is one of the groups I enjoy photographing and hanging out with.

Up coming events with the Bombers include working with the Chrome Devias (Utah Chapter of Female Motorcyclists) to raise awareness for Volunteers of America (VOA) later this spring.  More information will be posted about this event at as the date approaches.

Coming up quickly is the Earth Jam Festival at the end of April.  The Bombers will have a booth and will be available for photos.  I'll be around snapping random event pictures.  If you see me say hi.  If I have the big lens on and your close, your safe.  However, if you see me with the short lens on...  I can pretty much tell who wants a photo taken and who doesn't.

Enjoy.

Updates:
April 8
The Bomber/Chrome Devias event with VOA will be on June 11th.  Come down get your RIDE washed and your picture taken.  I'll be there.  Proceeds will benefit VOA's Homeless Youth Resource Center.

Beloved not Forgotten

Beloved not Forgotten, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

My friend Monica, right, came up with a concept of light gore at a local cemetery. A group of models and photographers met there and worked the concept into our personal visions.

I enjoy working with Monica so I accepted the concept presented. I saw this as an opportunity to use flash in a vertical constraint as the night grew dark while in the late setting sun I caught light off of sword play. The other photographers took a different approach to their vision.

What I really enjoyed from this shoot was the balance of photographers to models. There were more models then photog's. We could shoot individually and as a collective without leaving someone feeling left out. While shooting as a collective, as photographers, we took turns giving direction to the models. In other shoots I've been to recently the photographers were competing for the models' attention.  I'll present the concept of taking turns in future group shoots.

With the setting sun and the models facing the light, and perhaps with an added reflector, we let the models close their eyes. When the directing photographer thought the models were ready and positioned, he'd count down to the opening for their eyes. This gave them relief and gave a more natural look. It also allowed the other photographers to make an image at the same time.

I chose this image to display on my blog for the illustration of flash use, Monica's make up, and also in memory of lain to rest.

Burr...

Burr..., originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Headed up to the state capital with a group of models and photographers last Friday. The capital is a wonderful place to shoot for the variety of textures and lighting.

In this image Jakki takes refuge outside by one the secondary access below the stairs. I adjust the levels bringing the blacks way up and bumping up the mid levels.

Reflection of the Shades

Reflection of the Shades, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

This is a fast image from PhotoWalking Utah's Annual Studio Event. When I came up to this studio set up I saw her reflection in the sun glasses and tried to working with them in creating an image with out the signs of studio lighting and a reflection of her and his look.

PhotoWalking is a great place to meet other photographers, share ideas, learn new concepts, and improve on techniques under a variety of settings. Each month the group gets together to do something different. If you look through my flicker sets you will see some of what I've experienced with this loosely organised group.

Some of the to be posted activities and photo opportunities that I am working on is with "the Bomber's Entertainment Group" and Friday Night Photogs.

Cheeky

Cheeky, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Getting out to shoot isn't the issue in the winter. The issue is what to do with the images after the shoot. I couldn't pass not posting this image of Jakki.

I headed up to Ogden to join the Northern Utah Creative Group for a model shoot at Beus Pond. I'm not all that familiar with Ogden but thanks to Google Maps I found where I needed to be easily enough on what was shaping up to be a grey day.

As the day got warmer the smog and fog burned off revealing a blue sky. Most of my exposures from this shoot came out over exposed with the light reflecting off the snow. It didn't help that I used my flash to compensate (a bit to much) for the shadows. Over all I am pleased with the images I got.

While in Ogden I headed to Winter Fest on 25th street. Meeting a the local camera shop with Photographixs - another photography group. The hand full of photographers with Photographixs then headed out to capture the activities of human dog sled races to the snow mobile drag races on snow trucked in the day before. Images of the drags will come up over the next week or so.

I will admit I've not posted much this winter. I've taken up a project of photographing the textures of snow. Snow is tricky to expose for. It either comes out grey or blue. Blue is fine because that's the natural color of snow. It's tricky when it comes out pink or other colors. The most difficult this tracking the focus in snow. The texture is often there but what is lacking is the contrast for the camera to lock onto.

Links:
Northern Utah Creative Group
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Northern-Utah-Creative-Group-NUCG/132195283494595?v=info

Photographixs
http://photographix.info/

Photography Software

People of all types ask me what kind of software do I like to use.  I figured it's about time I'll post what I do use here.  I am all about Open Source Software.  Please do not confuse with OSS as shareware or reversed engineered software.  It's highly developed and in the process of being improved upon.

I am currently running as my operating system a version of Linux known as Mint, a derivative of Ubuntu. I do dual boot with Win 7.  The project does offer run from CD/DVD option for those who want to try the operating system.
http://www.linuxmint.com/

My base program of use is KDE's digiKam.  DigiKam is a digital imaging work flow program that offers a wide range of Adobe Lightroom features like image tagging and batch processes.  Recently it was ported to the Windows and Mac environments.
http://www.digikam.org/

My main image editor is the GIMP.  It began along side Adobe's Photoshop over a decade ago.  It offers many of the same functions of histogram and level adjustments to resizing images.
http://www.GIMP.org/

For panoramic images I've come across Higin recently.  It takes the hard work of lining up each image when there is sufficient over lap from one image to the next.
http://hugin.sourceforge.net/


The sole Windows only program that I do use is Irfanview.  It is touted as one of the most popular image viewers in the world.  It's selling feature for me is ease of use for batch process like resizing and tagging images.
http://www.irfanview.com/

After working with digital media for a while or a day or so the inevitable will happen, a card will be reformatted or a file deleted.  My program for choice is Testdisk.  I came across this program several years ago when I screwed up an external hard drive while transferring data.  According to other programs the data was un-recoverable.  This program found all the data and the messed up file that caused the error in the first place.  It runs from command line aka C: prompt.  I have  recovered many an image on an over written media card.  The best prevention still is back up multiple times before reformatting any media.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk