Amazing Rocker Kid - BMX Biking

Rhett finally does something other than play guitar... he rides a BMX bike like a maniac!  This is not what my story is about but Jerome suggested I try to get a photo of Rhett just being a kid.  I have not had any luck and this might be all I can get as I only have one band practice left to shoot.

I like the first photo but it needs to be cropped from the right and his head is chopped off.  But the second photo is nice too and will probably be the one I pick. 

Any opinions?  I would love some input on all of the photos I have posted so far for this assignment.

...just a few more

In my captions do I have to know everyones names? Can I just say people and NIC students go to Jen Harbour's Yoga class at blah blah blah?

Yoga Story- What do you think?

These are a few of my favorites... Just wanted your guys opinions. I'm not going to post my detail shots cuz I don't think they're that great I need to be faster and fix the lighting on those :) But I have some awesome ideas.

Amazing Kid Rocker - Guitar Lesson #3

Today I shot using only a 28mm lens.  Yes, I know this means only a single perspective but the results were much better than when I used my 17-50mm.  Maybe I needed to have it fixed or calibrated.  I used the tungsten white balance setting for half of these shots as Gabe suggested but it turned my results slightly greenish from the original yellow.  But really, there was no significant difference.  My main goal today was to get some better quality shots than the last few times and to see if I could fix some of the things I did not like in my previous photos.

His fly is open in this shot. Is it too noticeable to use?

I think this will be my detail keeper.

Wow... a smile!

This will replace an earlier shot where you all told me

that the neck of the guitar instructor's guitar at the top of

the frame was not clear enough to recognise.

Two smiles in one day?  I hope I did not use up all my karma in one shot!

New Darkroom Class

For those of you who enjoy darkroom work, or who never even heard of one, there is a new class being offered at NIC next fall. It's PHTO 297-A and it's a two credit course. It will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 to 4:45 and taught by photo dude Bruce Twitchell.
If I had the time, I would take this course because I really enjoy darkroom work and it is a very cool experience to see your images come to life in a pan of developer rather than watching them pop up on screen. 
So sign up, learn some stuff and have fun.

Amazing Rocker Kid - Lesson & Band Practice

So I asked mom: how do I get a shot of Rhett just being a kid?  She says that when he is not in school or on his bike, he pretty much has his guitar on and is playing away.  He has a BMX race this Saturday so I am going to attend and try to get some shots of something different.

My 50mm lens is taking much better photos than my 17-50mm zoom but it does not focus fast enough for fast action.  It is also not wide enough.  But there sure is a difference in image quality.

I am trying to show some different things here than just a kid with a guitar and I am trying to do what Jerome suggested about showing Rhett's experience.  I think I got some shots that accomplish this somewhat.  Any ideas which ones should still be edited from this list?  Please help!

Mother, Danielle, helps Rhett tune his guitar.

Mom looks in on the guitar lesson.

Rhett can already solo like a champ!

Sister, Alyssa, sings and plays guitar and bass

along side her brother in the band Unrated.

These guys are just spazing out here and this is as

close as I have been able to get to kids just being kids

Finally... a smile!

Amazing Rocker Kid - Guitar Lesson

These photos are from before and during Rhett's guitar lesson with his instructor. His sister's lesson is right before his and they are both in the band together. Mom often watches and listens in the practice room during these session. Rhett simply does not put the guitar down and played while wandering the store that the school is in.

The nastiness in these photos is due to the limitations of my gear and available light - sorry.

Amazing Rocker Kid - Bedroom Practice Session

Here are some results from my first attempt.  I had to shoot wide open at ISO6400 with lots of strong back lighting so the photos are soft and grainy.  My purpose for this evening was to ask some questions and get a feel for the story but since the kid, Rhett, was going to practice anyway, I was not going to waste the opportunity.  He really knows how to play!

Rhett Howell, just turned 9 years old.

Too bad the background is all blown out. 

Is it too blown out?  I like that it takes away some

background clutter like a ceiling fan and light but

one can still clearly see the hat.

Rhett only recently started to be able to tune his

own guitar.  His arms used to be too short.

This kid is so small next compared to a full sized bass.

Is the window frame too crooked to keep this one?

Great Stratocaster bedsheets!

Please let me know if the image quality is simply too poor to use in any of these - thanks!

Who wants to make a little money for an amazing lady!!!

Susan Mitchell is a lady from Cataldo who gave me a scholarship for the past two years and is going to continue to help me. I'd like to return the favor of having someone better than me do this. Funny but seriously. She's a really awesome person and is looking for someone to take a portrait of her for an online digest. Just a good pic- looking warm/friendly, relaxed in a normal setting...

Also a picture of her and people at the Harding Family Center in the 400 block of 15th street. Tue at 6- maybe 6:45.

Call, text or email me if your interested or have any questions!

Thanks,

Rachel

(208)512-2223

2011 Pulitzers

The 2011 pulitzers were have been announced. Here's the link to the photography winners. One thing that's remarkable throughout most of these images is the emotion portrayed. Talk about capturing moments. Some strong photos were chosen for sure.

http://www.spokesman.com/picture-stories/2011-pulitzer-winners-photography/

Portraits/freelance stuff

I've done some portraits recently freelancing for some local musicians, so I thought I'd throw a few up here for feedback. The first few were for a drummer who wanted something sort of "badass" that was somewhat conceptual, so we found this little spot tucked away sort of behind Porky G's BBQ in CDA and I started shooting away.

The last three are of Halley's Comet, a Spokane acoustic rock duet and were taken in the downtown Spokane area.

At this point I think I'm going to continue pursuing freelancing, but I will tell you it's pretty damn hard to get going in and prepare to make very little money at first. For the dummer shots I got paid with a meal at Moon Time and a couple beers (he's a friend of mine so I didn't really charge him), and the second shoot I netted about a whopping $35 after gas cost to Spokane and back. I'm finally getting a decent portfolio and landing more and more gigs with a little better pay. This week I've actually got three paid gigs - two shows and I'm doing baby photos for someone. I've also landed two weddings for the summer, so that's really exciting. It's not easy getting hired for weddings when you haven't shot one yet. Freelancing definitely requires a bit of marketing and business skills for sure.

Just some random practice...

My wife and I went to the Multicultural Faire at Lakes Magnet Middle School on Saturday and I decided it might be a chance to practice my skills.  I tried to work on my audience shots from a few assignments ago with the gymnasts but they finished before I could take a few shots with the crowd in focal plane instead of the performer.  Too bad... next time!  There were some amazing kids there and I came across, and started working on something that might make a great subject for our current assignment.

These are high ISO shots so they are grainy, especially if you enlarge them, and I did crop and levels adjust some of them in Photoshop a little bit since it was just for fun.

The over saturated colors are an occasional artifact of the Microsoft Office Picture Manager I use to resize the photos to post them on the blog.  I does this sometimes and I do not know why.  Sorry!