Talk about a whirlwind...

I mistakenly left my laptop at home while I'm stuck here at the office, so I figure I let people know that I'm not dead...

I've been cranking...

Another photographer (mini shout out) once told me,

"When you're not shooting, you're editing..."

I don't think he could have ever been more right...

Over the last 2 months, I've been consumed by Lightroom 3...I can't tell you how many times I've "accidentally" stayed up to the crack of dawn posting pics on Facebook...

I've also been at wits end trying to find decent and respectable print companies...Also, I've been looking into pictage and smugmug, trying to find real pros and cons.

Finally got a new lens...A brand spanking new Nikon 50 mm F/1.8 manual focus...Loving it for portraits...

Finally shot at a BJJ tournament and did some portrait sessions...Things have been coming along nicely...Also shot for a batting cage charity event...Talking to a bakery about possibly taking pictures of my favorite thing in the world...FOOD!

Can't wait to shoot for the Pierpont Inn up in Ventura...My God that place is beautiful...Spanish themed hotel with beach views...Talk about some eye candy...

Do all photographers start off this giddy?

Shooting BJJ and sports in general...

I had the privledge of working with Simi Valley Jiu Jitsu, a part of Watts MMA and Fitness.  I shot their kids BJJ class, a little bit of their muay Thai class and their older kids BJJ.  I also had the chance to use video on the D5000...Not bad...Not bad at all...

Anyways, the shoot I found to be challenging because I didn't have the use of any flash or additional light.  I had a ton of fluorescent lights.  To be able to have a decent shutter speed, I had to crank the ISO to the highest setting.  I tried to use the fastest shutter speed I could considering I was shooting a lot of intricate movement.  Also, the amount of background activity led to a lot of creative cropping.  Multiple classes going on at once, parents looming in the background and me not having a bigger telephoto zoom lens, it was a great learning experience for shooting similar events. 

I think a lot of the shots came out okay, but I think they only came out okay with heavy use of Lightroom. Ehhh...I shouldn't say "heavy"...Some shots barely needed to be touched, but I'd always find something wrong.  I would get great shots technically, but then wouldn't use the picture because I didn't get something usable.  Or I would get shots that were only great after the editing. 

I went to Hooper Camera to look up lighting rigs for the portrait studio and then hot shoe flashes for the camera.  Not a bad place, but just a bit out of my price point at the moment...A few more gigs will hopefully get me a better zoom lens, then a better hot shoe flash.

I'm getting a lot of mentoring from a couple friends that are already shooting professionally.  I just want to take some time to say "Thanks"...

On to the next one!

Messing with the dogs and the family

While trying to push the borders of the new D5000 and it's kit lens, I think I got some good shots in...Nothing spectacular, just a lot of fun. 

Gonna need to find a soft flash STAT!

 

 

Mom in law and her mom

 

 

 

I love being able to turn the flash off

See what I mean about that flash?

The quiet mode on the D5000 is perfect for these shots.

New camera gets a spin.

The wife sprung for a Nikon D5000 for Christmas. 

I decided to take it for a spin at a New Year's Eve party with my family.  I often found it hard not to pose people after they decided to become "unnatural" once they realized that a camera was pointed at them.  I think that I will have to resort to sneaky paparazzi/ninja tactics with super zoom lenses on quiet mode to really capture people in their candid elements. 

I did have an issue with the NEF format not being able to be utilized with most printshop sites, but then again, it shouldn't make too much of a difference.  Pictage and Zenfolio seem like such nice sites, but can I really trust them to make great prints off of JPEGS?  I guess I have to just switch to huge, fine JPEGs with Pictage and convert to TIFF for Zenfolio if I make the switch. 

Here's a few of the family...



Isabella







Liam



Tin



Dylan



Video games didn't skip a generation in this family...

Love that smile!




 


I can't tell you how many cameras were present...

 

Should probably get some sleep



Dancing gets tiring



Classic...

Of the 300+ pictures I took in the span of 2 hours, I can already see where my rig will have to expand...

On to the next one!

The Many Faces of Sam

My wife's dog became the subject of an impromptu shoot... Enjoy the unedited jpegs...

Welcome Home Mom!

Meat Coma!!

Please come home...

Did I just drink a bowl of loaded egg nog?

I have dibs on licking the bowl!

Hi. I'm Paul.

Hello...I'm Paul...I guess you can say I'm your friendly resident photographer for hire.  Need event photography done?  Not a problem.  Portraits and weddings?  Niiiiiiice... Just find my phone number somewhere on this web page and we can get you set up with a free consultation.  Nice to meet you and I hope you enjoy my pictures.