Thursday, December 30, 2010

Forevers Calling Photo Shoot

So, if you are friends with us on Facebook you have probably seen some of these pictures already, but I wanted to blog about them in order to give you a little more content about the band.  The following is their bio:


"Forevers Calling is a four piece hard rock band from Pensacola, Florida that consists of Steven White (Vocals), Travis Grant (Guitar), Nathan Matthews (Bass), and Justin Gross (Drums). Being lifelong friends, Steven, Travis, and Justin were in numerous bands around the area and always wanted to come up with something better and different than what they have settled for in the past. After months of practice, song writing, and singers that didn’t quite work out for what they all wanted, Steven (originally playing bass at the time) decided to step up and do the vocals while they searched for a competent bass player. Soon after the search began, Nathan met the guys through some mutual friends and family members and tried out for the empty spot and met their expectations. With the band finally complete and months of song writing passing by, Forevers Calling set out to share what they have accomplished with everyone that would listen along the Gulf Coast, bringing with them powerful melodies mixed with driven, hard hitting rhythms. Either live on stage at one of their many shows, or in the studio recording their work, Forevers Calling always gives it their all, and they are definitely an experience not to be missed."




Dustin works with Justin. Sometimes I tease Dusty that Justin is his other girlfriend because he talks about him so often- I guess that happens when you work side-by-side with someone 40 hours a week.  Anyway, Dustin knows how passionate Justin is about the band and music.  It is his dream, as I am sure is the same with the other band members, to share his music with the world.  And we got the privilege of being able to do a photo shoot for promotion.  It was awesome!  The guys were very good sports even though we spent over two hours shooting.  They were up for almost anything and I think that it turned out great!  


I really would like it if you would check them out and listen to their music.  You can do that by becoming friends with them on Facebook where they have various links to music players and such.  They also list the schedule of where and when they will be playing live for those of you in the panhandle area.  If you like them, you should suggest them to your Facebook friends.  Dustin and I both really like their music.  One thing that I love about them is that they don't cuss in their music.  That is one of my biggies with having four impressionable kid minds in the house:)  Here is a link to their Facebook page Forevers Calling.  And without further ado...their pictures:)














Thursday, December 9, 2010

What's In Our Camera Bag?

People are always asking us about what equipment we use and how we edit our photos so I thought I'd do a "what's in the bag" post for y'all.  First off, I want to say that we really try to do very little editing.  Spending a lot of time editing cuts into your profits:)  Also, if you need to edit a picture heavily in order to sell it, it probably isn't that great of a picture to begin with.  The only time that we really do a bunch of heavy editing is when we are trying to learn new things in Photoshop or for our own personal fun projects.  So, we have Photoshop CS5 Extended Edition, Bridge, and Camera RAW.  For those of you who don't know, Camera RAW is like Lightroom 3.  We use Camera RAW most of the time.  Side note on this- if you are a student or a teacher you get 80% off at Adobe.  That is a really great deal:)  Okay, so now for the fun stuff.  Here is what is in our bag:
Cameras:
Canon 7d
Canon Rebel xs

Lenses:
Canon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS
Canon 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS
Canon 50mm f1.8

Lighting:
Canon Speedlite 430 EX II
Cowboy Studio NPT-04 4 channel wireless flash trigger and receiver
Cowboy Studio Strobist kit including flash mount, light stand, and shoot thru umbrella
43" Reflector 5-in-1
homemade flags

Bags:
Canon 2400
Quantaray Holster
my purse:)

Computer:
MacBook Pro
various backup drives and memory cards

So, as you can see we are pretty basic:)  Remember that "camera's don't take pictures- people do!"  That doesn't mean we don't have a running "wish list"-hehehe.  I want more Speedlites.  Dustin wants more lenses.  Who am I kidding! I want more lenses too:)  What do you want?

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Jungle Girl

You know, you would think that after having three boys, my daughter would be walking around in fancy dresses with her hair always styled and perfect.  Not in this family!  She is the messiest person in our house.  Don't get me wrong, she loves jewelry, makeup, princesses, and shiny things.  But she also loves to play outside and wrestle.  The thing that she hates most in the world is getting her hair brushed!  Since she is a hippie child she has very very very long hair.  This is what happens after a weekend of letting her get her way:)

Poor Man's TS

I love this picture that Dustin did!  We don't really have a tilt and shift lens but I think he got it done pretty well without.  It just trips me out:)  He took it from the roof of our house.  It is our neighbors' houses.  They butterfly is not added in.  They really have a huge butterfly in their yard.  The whole thing just reminds me of those little Christmas villages that they sell.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Reflection: A Free New Lens

When I saw the shiny blue sky in this crosswalk button, I had to stop everything I was doing and capture the moment.  One of the things that I love most about photography is that it makes me more conscious of beauty and different angles all around me.