Sunday, 2008 · Popularity: 11% · journal
Tropical Storm Fay made its way across our corner of Alabama yesterday and last night, bringing some great rain to a drought area. Tornado warning after warning came and went, but the most we got here is a good solid day of soaking and some wind. A great day to stay inside and watch the weather.
Taken during heavy gusts and rain out the back door of our house.
Tags storm, tropical, weather · Comments (0)
Tuesday, 2008 · Popularity: 23% · journal
Has anyone else here in the southeastern part of Alabama (namely Auburn-Opelika) been following the progress of tropical storm Fay? That’s us below, just about between the 8 on “8 AM Sun” and the “D”. Doesn’t actually look like it will reach hurricane strength now, but it keeps going back and forth.
I usually follow hurricane season via the National Hurricane Center from NOAA pretty close sine we have a small interest down in the gulf coast right now (our sailboat). It has been a while since Auburn was hit by a tropical storm, but they do get up this way once in a while, and we could really use the rain.
This has been a crazy track to follow. First it was going into the Gulf, then up to Atlanta, then out to the Atlantic, now, the latest has it moving right over our area, just south of Auburn-Opelika? Not only does it seem to change by the hour, but it seems to be moving very very slow.
If it moves over the Auburn area, it isn’t going to be here until Sunday (right now). Earlier predictions were giving us some rain by Wednesday (tomorrow). I would be happy for it to wait until Sunday, I was planning on photographing the Auburn Woman’s Soccer on Friday against Grambling State. Seeing that it is the opening game of the season, I don’t think they want it called by a hurricane.
Here is hoping we get hit with a good soaking of rain, but after the woman finish playing soccer on Friday.
Monday, 2008 · Popularity: 35% · journal, photo shoot
This the third and final part of my airport in a 50mm lens perspective (see ATL part 1 and DEN part 2), at least until I jump on another plane and end up at an airport other than ATL, DEN, and MIA. Miami was the most difficult out of the three to shoot. It was hot, humid (yes I was inside), very very crowded, and all under construction.
That just means I had to look around more than I usually do and find something that said this was MIA and was (to me) photographically pleasing. For this post, I chose these 4 images below.
I love the second shot, the plane. This old plane was restored and hung from one of the walks between terminal buildings. What caught my attention was the print just below the name of the pilot.
Passengers travel in this vehicle at their own risk
I did find one nice architectural images of this roof line which seemed to open like a bottle top. I would have preferred to get the faces of the travelers but in an airport you must be wise when holding the camera. With so many irritated passengers around every bend waiting for delayed flights, I wasn’t real interested in inflaming the minds of many.
I always liked the Miami airport. So much diversity even in the airport itself, but modernizing the terminals (which they are doing) would also make it a nice place to fly into while waiting for a long connection.
All images in each part of this shoot were taken with a Nikon D700 (in full frame FX mode), hand held, with a 50mm Nikkor f/1.4 lens. Comments, suggestions, critique, or criticism are all welcome. These are shown in the order they were taken.
To see the larger sizes all at once just click on the first image to open the light box gallery and you can scroll through the larger sizes that way. You can also see the largest sizes in the Auburn Images Photography gallery (MIA in 50mm)
Tags 50mm, airplane, airport, camera, mia, miami · Comments (2)
Saturday, 2008 · Popularity: 35% · journal
That’s it, we will have to go to Vancouver in 2010. A day later, I am still watching the replay of Michael Phelps winning his 7th gold medal by a hundredth of a second, just unreal, but the images coming out of China are really just as fantastic as Phelps winning another gold.
If you haven’t been following the blog posts from the photographers covering the games for Newsweek, you should check this out. The images of how the photographers setup are great, but Vincent Laforet explains how he shot from the catwalk during the swim meet (see World Records Seen From Above), just incredible shots Vincent.
Although, from the looks of it, if you are not a “pool photographer” you are out of luck sometimes. From what I have read, most of the photographers from Newsweek have had to push, fight, pull, and stand their ground when it came to staking a claim to their photographic shooting turf.
They are certainly hard fought images and positions over there, but they still manage to come away with some really great shots, and Michael Phelps has won his 7th gold metal by a hundredth of a second, still. Soon he will try for the 8th and final relay, can’t wait to watch the race.
Tags beijing, china, olympics, phelps, photographers · Comments (2)
Friday, 2008 · Popularity: 39% · journal, sports pics
Have you been following the Olympics? Working from a home office gives me the advantage to have the coverage on all the time and it has been great. If you can watch during the day you get some of the less highlighted sports in the summer games like Badminton, indoor volleyball, fencing and more.
The swimming is of great interest to those of us here in Auburn. The Auburn University Swim and Dive program has become one of the premiere training grounds for Olympic swimmers, worldwide, and it is really something to watch the swimmers from right here in Auburn compete so strongly in each event.
One area of interest to me of course are the incredible photos that are coming out of Beijing. I have been following Vincent Laforet, an incredible photographer who is covering the Olympics for Newsweek, (see most recent post for Newsweek called Things Are Starting to Click—and I’m Not Talking Only About Cameras This Time) and each day he has brought the world more incredible images of the summer games in Beijing.
Watching these event on TV, like the U.S. Gymnastics team win gold or seeing Michael Phelps break his own world record, is great, but being there and taking those images with your own eyes must really be something. Vincent, through his photography of the Olympics can give us a perspective that shows the intensity of the competition, the agony of all the training that it took to get there, and the faces of winning a gold metal.
The Summer Games in Beijing has inspired me to get moving with our plans for the Winter Games in Vancouver 2010, now only a year and a half left before the opening ceremonies in February 2010. I hope our plans to go to the winter games in Vancouver will come to pass, if so, I will be lugging all my camera equipment to Canada to get what action I can get.
It won’t matter if I am shooting for a local paper, or something bigger, there will be some incredible photographic opportunities in Canada in 2010, and I plan on being there.
Of course there are thousands of photographers covering the Summer Olympics in China. Another also shooting for Newsweek, Donald Miralle, has also produced some fantastic images (see his latest post Badminton is My New Favorite Sport). Another is Mike Powell (also shooting for Newsweek, see A Bit of Sun) who has captured some great shots of the gymnastics and kayaking.
Vincent also maintains a personal blog (latest post Things Are Starting to Click—and I’m Not Talking Only About Cameras This Time), although he requests comments be left on the Newsweek blog to save a bit of editing time on his end. Great job Vincent, Donald, and Mike, I love photos that inspire, that is what keeps photography alive and exciting.
Tags beijing, china, olympics, summer, vancouver, vancouver2010, winter · Comments (0)
Wednesday, 2008 · Popularity: 50% · TRAVEL, journal, photo shoot
This is the second part of a three part series on three airports I photographed in 50mm. The first was Atlanta (ATL), Atlanta Airport and a 50mm Lens // Part 1, this one being Denver (DEN), and the last will be Miami Airport (MIA).
All images in each part were shot with a Nikon D700 (in full frame FX mode), hand held, with a 50mm Nikkor f/1.4 lens. Comments, suggestions, critique, or criticism are all welcome. These are shown in the order they were taken.
To see the larger sizes all at once just click on the first image to open the light box gallery and you can scroll through the larger sizes that way. You can also see the largest sizes (and a few bonus shots) in the Auburn Images Photography gallery (DEN in 50mm).
Some of you may know I use to work in the airline industry, once had my pilot’s license, and traveled quite a bit, so I was trying to do something a little different this time. Many times you go to a place you have been many many times and you see nothing worthing of photography, but that is rarely the case.
I forced myself to look around and see what made my current environment special, and many times you have to get creative. The fountains are the center point of the lower floor of the common area, but completely surrounded by terrible backgrounds.
In Denver, a newer airport, one thing stood out, the roof. I have flown in and out of Denver many times and never really paid attention to the architecture of the roof. It is obvious driving to DEN from anywhere in Denver. A large white tent like structure that towers over the flat landscape.
The last one is simple but that’s what I like about it. There is a certain amount of peace at 35,000 feet when you have no control over anything. The sky turns from haze on the ground to an almost black of space above.
Tags 50mm, airport, den, denver, flying, TRAVEL · Comments (2)
Friday, 2008 · Popularity: 47% · journal, sports
Today I went to check out another Auburn football practice, the first two-a-day this year with three more to go. For those who don’t live in the SEC Conference or know anything about football in the state of Alabama, this pretty much starts the craziest time of the year, at least in Auburn.
Football is king in Alabama, and when you happen to live in the city of Auburn, even football practice gets big attention. The parking lot was full at the practice field in Auburn and I managed to walk up, take a few shots, and then the sky just opened up. It hasn’t rained consistently here in almost two years, and today, it poured. I couldn’t even get in the car fast enough to get the 200 football players sprinting for the locker room.
By the time I got in the car and through the traffic jam that ensued, there were only a few poor souls left chasing down the yard markers and flying debri, but I was there as well.
I will try again on Friday. I did manage to get these shots and a few others (see practice gallery) since the rain happened to be blowing away from the window of my car. I love the guy in the truck, content with the fact that he is soaked, no doubt glad to just be sitting.
There is no two-a-day on Friday as they are going to do a full scrimmage on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium (closed to all public and press). I think I read a report that said they wanted to take about 100 snaps on Saturday, but Friday they should be in full pads at 9:30am, hopefully with no rain.
Tags auburn, football, images, practice, rain · Comments (0)
Monday, 2008 · Popularity: 62% · journal
This past weekend I was in 4 different major airports, ATL, DFW (was supposed to be ORD), DEN, and MIA. I decided early on that I was going to do a shoot of each airport, as viewed by me, through a 50mm lens, and this is it. This is part 1 of part 3. Our flight was so delayed leaving ATL that I did not shoot one image in DFW, but I have been in that airport so many times it didn’t really bother me that I missed it.
All images in each part were shot with a Nikon D700 (in full frame FX mode), hand held, with a 50mm Nikkor f/1.4 lens. Comments, suggestions, critique, or criticism are all welcome. These are shown in the order they were taken.
To see the larger sizes all at once just click on the first image to open the light box gallery and you can scroll through the larger sizes that way. You can also see the largest sizes (and a few bonus shots) in the Auburn Images Photography gallery (ATL in 50mm).
To me, each image tells a story. I could discuss each one below the image but each person’s story is different. One of my favorites here is the guy waiting at the gate.
I think this is mostly because he is on the phone with a bluetooth device and right behind him is a pre-paid phone dispenser. While at the gate frustrated passengers discuss the finer points of air travel with the gate agent, he is happy with just going through the menus on his phone. Almost a peaceful way about him since he isn’t involved in the line at the gate.
Thursday, 2008 · Popularity: 63% · journal
Today my wife and I are leaving for Colorado for our son’s wedding. He is getting married on Saturday in Estes Park Colorado (which is was better than getting married in the heat of south Alabama) and we couldn’t be more excited.
People who have just met me are amazed that I have a son who is about to get married, frankly, I am too. But, on Saturday Sara Turner and Bryan Fillmer will be then known as another Mr and Mrs Fillmer and I will official become an in-law. We have known Sara for quite some time and are so thrilled that she will become part of the family.
Deb and I have always thought of her as part of the family for years now anyway, but now they have a piece of paper that proves it.
And, yes, I am doing double duty as the father of the groom and the photographer. In over 10 years of photography, this will be my first wedding (shhhh don’t tell them that). I have looked at more wedding photography in the last month than I ever thought I would (Chad Wright’s wedding photography has helped a lot, thanks bro), and I think I am as prepared as I can me.
All I have to do now is manage to get my larger photo back bag through security and in an overhead bin so some lovely baggage agent doesn’t alter my first wedding shoot, and my equipment.
I am sure everything will go as planned and soon Sara, who is managing to get our flip-flop wielding son into a suit and actual shoes for an entire Saturday (and me for that matter) will be a happy woman on her way with her new husband to Alaska on Sunday.
What would be nice is if this long tradition of taking photos at a wedding was transferred to taking photos on the honeymoon, now that would be something. The trip afterwards always seems to be in some grand place (sometimes a grander location than the wedding itself), with incredible scenery, and what do most couples take, themselves and some old point-n-shoot. Oh well.
Welcome to the family Sara, we love you.
Tags bryan, colorado, sara, wedding · Comments (2)
Tuesday, 2008 · Popularity: 62% · journal, music
After work yesterday I spent a good few hours trying to recover what became a corrupted iTunes Library xml database file. For those who don’t know, I am a pretty big music fan, but I am also a huge data collection nut.
Some people are pack rats with paper things, I am a data pack rat, which means I should also be a backup freak, which I am not, but I do a moderate amount of backup, which usually saves me some headache, but not all.
So what do you do when the iTunes Library xml database file you have been using since 2001, for over 8 years and 5-10 different computers, gets corrupted. You let the stupid thing recover itself and don’t inadvertently hit the “stop” button, or you just start all over. In a brief thought of “what is this thing doing” I stopped a recovery effort that iTunes was properly making to put a final stamp on the library file in which it was overriding at the time.
I had been collecting this play data since I started burning mp3’s back in 2001. I could look at any one of my (approximately) 17k music files and see when it was last played, how many times it had been played, when I added the file to my collection, and what start rating it had, now, I see empty boxes.
After determining that I could not recover the corrupted file, I faced a few choices. Use the latest backup I had, which was from July 13th, or start over. July 13th may not sound bad, but I have probably added 25-30 albums since that date, and I have absolutely no way in the world to determine which albums those are to add them back into my library one at a time.
Had it been a couple of days that would have worked, but to try and remember each individual cd added when they are all now alphabetically filed would be impossible for me to determine.
Just in case anyone needed a quick iTunes Library file tutorial so something like this doesn’t happen to all their hard work, he is a real brief overview (and I am in no means an expert at all).
iTunes uses two main files, stored in the “music” folder of your “my documents”. These files, are the iTunes Library.itl file and the iTunes Music Library.xml file. The .itl file controls or stores all your play count data and the .xml file is the database library of music that is called from the .itl file.
What this means is the xml file can be rebuilt by the iTunes Library file (if you let it), so as long as you have a copy of this file, you can just do a quick copy and paste into the proper directory and all your historical data is there.
The moral of this blog post would be, backup often, backup frequently, backup now. iTunes Library files are probably one of the easiest backups to make. Just go into your music –> itunes directory, copy the two library files, then paste them into a new folder called “backup”.
iTunes actually does this for you every so often, but is the frequency that itunes backs up your data frequent enough? For most, probably. For me, wasn’t even close but I also wasn’t really paying attention, so now I get to start over. At least I didn’t loose the music files, only the really cool data that goes with it.
Auburn Images Photography