Michael Schneider Photography

Land's End Revisited

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:34 -0500

Messed around with LR2 and PS tonight looking at old photos. I don't think I've touched a camera in 2 months! Slightly depriving.

Passing Place

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:37 -0500

Scotland was a great place to pass through.

Puffin

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:12 -0500

There were a bunch of these up on the shores of north Scotland.

Missing Travel

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:20 -0500

It has been awhile since my previous post. School has taken a toll on my time. I delved into my photo archive and pulled something to work with on photoshop this weekend. I tend to get back to the Place de Concorde fountains.

Scott Blair tackles CJ Spiller

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:48 -0500

Let's just hope this doesn't have to happen again tomorrow.

End-of-Season Obstacles & Dampeners

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:19 -0500

It has been awhile since a previous post. The stars align as Georgia defeats Georgia Tech on the Flats @ Bobby Dodd Stadium. With expectations of Georgia to amass numerous turnovers and penalties, they instead play the muscle game and put 300+ rushing yards against the Jackets. CMR essentially took Joe Cox out of the Georgia success equation, only throwing 8-for-14 with no interceptions. Georgia Tech's defense never adjusted to the tighter rush play calling, leaving Georgia's O-Line to open huge lanes for the backs to run silly on Georgia Tech. Across the southern region, the SEC demoralized the ACC, defeating FSU and Clemson as well. The ACC Championship lies ahead of Georgia Tech, but the conference glooms with frustration.

The Waters Approach Again!!!

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:34 -0500

Another night of mopping and collecting water...glad I don't have to go to the hospital tomorrow morning. Bring me a shop vac or towels!

Alpha Xi Delta Semiformal

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:29 -0500

The ladies of Alpha Xi Delta danced it out at the Academy of Medicine on W. Peachtree, a recent Georgia Tech building purchase. They announce their new sweetheart.

Blocks

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:44 -0500

CPJ's option system relies on key blocks both near the QB and downfield.

Only Catch

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:22 -0500

Clutch catch.

Goal Post

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:13 -0500

GT fans tear down the goal posts in their first win versus a top 5 ranked team at Grant Field since the 60s. Maybe they took it to President Peterson's house.

Epic

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:12 -0500

Josh Nesbitt rushes for 3 touchdowns, and comes 1-yard short to tying Joe Hamilton's career QB rushing yards while defeating Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University (fake Tech).

Revenge

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:23 -0500

We have a score to settle with VPI.

Wedding: Edgar & Keren

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:01 -0500

I'm extremely happy with the way the 85mm II 1.2L performed on the 1D II N. Too bad I'm trading in the 1D II N and getting a 7D eventually.

Welcome to Fantasy Island!

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:55 -0500

This is the waterfall from the tv show. It is on Kauai. I nearly dropped my iPhone and rental car keys down the cliff from where I was shooting.

Irish Green Revisited

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:26 -0500

Missing Ireland.

Crucial Catch

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:51 -0500

Thomas' reception from Nesbitt set up the game winning field goal from the player of the night, Scott Blair.

Ramblin' Wreck Ride

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:50 -0500

Thanks to Brandon Kearse, I've had the great privilege of riding in the Wreck. While I attest that my trip in the legendary vehicle was fantastic, riding out onto the field before kickoff looks like a thrilluva lifetime.

Evading the Purple Rush

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:36 -0500

Nasty wins are often painful to watch. This was no exception.

Hugs

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:55 -0500

I took my 300 2.8L into the shop today to get calibrated. Apparently this photo is sharp enough, but others are slightly front focusing.

Full Steam Ahead

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:11 -0500

While the ACC sucked at life this weekend, Georgia Tech is off to a running start. GT used their easy opener to discover their weaknesses in-game in order to prepare for their next opponent this Thursday, Clemson.

E-Session: Edgar & Keren

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:58 -0500

Edgar and Keren are a hip couple. I led them near danger, a train! Looking forward to photographing their wedding!

Decisions, decisions

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:30 -0500

Nicky was scheming prior to her wedding ceremony.

Assistant Work

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:50 -0500

Hiring a 2nd shooter is a really important thing in wedding photography for two reasons. One, another camera can capture more space, especially at larger venues. Two, they get to use a different lens than the one you're using. Here, Michael James, my 2nd shooter, was using a 40D + 70-200 f/2.8L at 135mm. This is longer than what I was using (the 85 & 35), so he gets to capture tight poses which I'm inherently unaware of through the glass that I'm using.

Wedding: Nicky & Daniel

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 03:06 -0500

Nicky & Daniel had a blast at their wedding. I did too.

Wedding Rehearsal Fun

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:50 -0500

Nicky and Mr. Capell might as well dance down the aisle like they did in practice.

Neon Lights

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:30 -0500

It was pretty clear where those stairs went.

Hanakapi'ai Beach

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:14 -0500

This is the beach 2 miles into Kalalau Trail. From here, there's a trail upstream to the waterfalls. Go Georgia Tech!

Na Pali Coast State Park & Kalalau Trail

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:08 -0500

In order to reach the Hanakapi'ai Falls, one must traverse the muddy Kalalau Trail for the first 2 miles to Hanakapi'ai Beach. The entire trail is 11 miles through Na Pali Coast State Park.

Hanakapi'ai Falls, Kauai

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 05:51 -0500

First of all, I plan on returning here. I had roughly 10 minutes to photograph this magnificent waterfall, and wanted to do more. Shoutouts to Andy & Jade for giving me the idea, and JB & Luke for the help and fellowship on the way back. To get to this waterfall, you have to hike 4 miles uphill in mud and water. No joke. It was disastrous since it recently rained and was muddy. I went through a pair of shoes to get to this. I submerged my Lowepro bag once, and it did its job well keeping the 5D II and lenses dry. I went through 3 liters of Dasani, and another couple of liters of Hawaiian stream water. The 8 mile total hike winded me, and my feet hurt like a beast, but it was totally worth it. Carrying an additional 45 lbs. was not cool on this trip. More details on another entry later. Time to slumber.

Bainbridge Island & Olympic Mountains

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:27 -0500

This is another long exposure shot...133 seconds.

Tied 3-3, Bot 9th, bases loaded, 2 outs, 0-2, Ichiro slaps into shallow center for his first career walk-off

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:03 -0500

Davey, Kristen, Scott, and Matt joined me for my first Safeco Field Mariners experience (last time I saw the Mariners play, they were in the Kingdome). The Toronto (and apparently Vancouver) Blue Jays tied the game up in the top of the 8th inning. We fortunately held them into the bottom of the 9th, where we loaded the bases up with 0 outs. At this point, I was standing up, evidently thinking that there was little way that the Mariners could mess this up. Despite the excellent situation, two batters managed to cause a force out at home and and a strikeout. Well well well, two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Ichiro Suzuki steps up to the plate, fouls away, swings at another, and it is 0-2. At this point, I was standing up and cringing, but still had faith in Ichiro, considering he had the most hits in the 2009 MLB season and boasting a .365 avg. Finally, he sunk one into shallow center field, driving in a run for his first walk-off of his MLB career. Best baseball game I've been to. Could've been a little better if Griffey was playing, but apparently he hasn't been doing well this year. Not surprised. Thanks again Davey, Kristen, Scott, and Matt for helping me conclude my excellent trip to the great state of Washington. It was a solid trip! On to another state...keep posted on my blog for more great photos...

Seattle, WA Night Skyline 2

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:11 -0500

From Alki Beach...this was a 120 second exposure at f/11.

West Point Lighthouse @ Discovery Park

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:55 -0500

This is the lighthouse that I photographed for sunset today.

Split-Toning

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:21 -0500

I don't spoil my secrets very often, but here's one for the blog. Split-toning is a process where you take two colors and assign them to shadows and highlights. In this case, I assigned red to highlights and and aqua-blue to shadows. You can do this in LR2 effectively, and take what originally was a boring image and make it outstanding. This image also contains some additional graduated neutral density post work and just unsharp mask in photoshop (the only two things I ever do in photoshop are masking, sharpening--unsharp mask, and NIK colorefex pro 3.0). LR2 is such a great hub to work from. Let creativity engulf you!

Back to Mainland

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:12 -0500

Still on a boat!

Scott asleep on Ferry

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:06 -0500

Scott was tired from whale watching, and short sleep hours while working on his top secret space project in Washington state.

San Juan Islands -- Friday Harbor Sunset

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:57 -0500

Making good use of those GND filters...(.6 and .9 soft-edge GNDs). On our way back to mainland, snuck a few shots of the harbor as we left.

Boring Orca Whale

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:43 -0500

Let's get this straight. I've been to Sea World. I've seen the movie Free Willy. AND I've seen Keiko, the whale from that movie in real life at Newport, OR aquarium when he was there (before his tragic demise). Orcas are really impressive creatures. We went whale watching today, and while I enjoyed my time, during the 3 hours that we whale watched, not a single orca whale breached to jump. I might as well go to Sea World again to get good jumping shots of this magnificent creature. Nonetheless, it was pretty cool to see these whales in their natural habitat.

Mt. Rainier Sunset

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:33 -0500

On the way back to Puyallup, this shot was taken in Eatonville at a small lookout/park. Mt. Rainier is currently 14,410 ft. I think I made it up to 6,200 ft. today.

Alder Lake

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:14 -0500

Washington state and Georgia have something in common--they dam up rivers to make lakes. The difference between the two is that Washington does it to produce hydroelectricity (the lake is merely a product of such endeavor). Alder Lake, shown here, is one of Washington states few false lakes. In this case, the Nisqually River is dammed up river.

End of Hike

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:48 -0500

This is where I had to call it quits. The main reason that I had to quit was because if I had gone any further, I would have run out of available light on the way down. I should've woken up earlier and gotten to Paradise earlier. I wasn't tired, and I still had another sandwich in my pack available to eat (and all the crisp, delicious, dasani-owning glacier water I ever needed). I just felt that hiking in the dark would've been effectively dangerous (I already saw a coyote, and apparently there are larger creatures that could approach me).

Paradise River above base of glacier

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:43 -0500

So there was more of the river above the previous post. This whole area is iced over anyways during the winter and becomes one "big" glacier. In the summer it is fragmented. I would like to recall that I did this hike in shorts, and the weather remained fantastic all day, between 57 and 68 degrees the whole time.

Glacier Crossing #2

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:26 -0500

This is where it got tough. Visibility was decreasing, and not only did I have to have good footing on the snow, there was also the melted areas which I had to cross. I fell on my butt a couple times. Reminded me when I was learning how to snowboard.

Glacier Crossing #1

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:21 -0500

The first glacier crossing was a breeze. I just had to dig in my feet a bit whenever I made a step. Tennis shoes on glacier is not a very traction-strong combo, especially with the additional 45 lbs. of camera equipment.

Snow...in July!

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:16 -0500

When I reached a certain height on my hike, I had reached where the path turned into the snow for large portions. In fact, I had to cross the glacier numerous times (see next photo).

Paradise River and Base of Paradise Glacier (Dried Up)

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:12 -0500

One of Mt. Rainier's glaciers is Paradise Glacier. It produces the Paradise River. Here's essentially the end of the major area of the glacier (the rocky area in the background), with the river gushing across the foreground.

Narada Falls

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:06 -0500

Narada Falls is a drop of the Paradise River. It is the first thing you pass on your way up to the Paradise Glacier.

Original Starbucks

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:57 -0500

For the fans...I actually don't drink coffee very often. I tell people I drink it about as much as I eat birthday cake. Ladies, my breath doesn't smell like stale coffee...

Seattle, WA Night Skyline

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:29 -0500

Wow, I used the 85 II 1.2L for a landscape shot! Stopped down to f/8 of f/11 and focused in live view to get a tack sharp shot. This completes my Seattle photo trilogy. I'm off to sleep. Long day tomorrow.

Seattle, WA Sunset

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:20 -0500

(Read last shot's blog entry for more details)

Seattle, WA

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:24 -0500

Seattle! Wake up and smell the fresh air, the coffee, and coastal smell of pacific salmon. You commute to work with the view of the magnificent Mt. Rainier (14,410 ft...a real mountain for you Georgians to compare Stone "Hill" to). I generally am very biased and tend to boast about Washington state, because well, it definitely does have its perks. It has its cons, but I don't go into those over my blog.

I lived most of my childhood in this state. This is where I was in boy scouts and camped for most of my childhood career. I hunted and fished for large game, and hiked and snowboarded in the great Cascade Mountain range. I experienced earthquakes, one of which nearly shook the computer off its desk, by which I saved it from its doom.

Here's the day shot from Kerry Park. I will be working from here to get you a sunset and night shot as well!

Pike Place Market Fish Toss

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:00 -0500

I am updating my blog from Kerry Park (next photo) because some fool (SSID: HOGAN) has an unsecured network that reaches a public park. Nice job Hogan. Exploit you. Anyways, I am at Kerry Park, and I just came from Pike Place Market, where I bought a 7 lb. coho salmon for Matt, Davey, Kristen, Scott, and I to eat tomorrow night. It is under ice in the trunk of my cousin-in-law's Acura TSX (thanks Aaron for letting me borrow it!). The guys working in Pike Place Market, like jugglers, toss their fish around. It has nearly been 12 years since I last visited Pike Place Market, and it has grown tremendously, and is still under more renovation.

Pegged

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:40 -0500

Softball between the ages of 10-12 is the time for the transition from slowpitch to fastpitch. Girls were getting pegged all day. Take your base.

More Playa Hermosa

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:09 -0500

Another shot from Playa Hermosa.

Moonlit Dance

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:32 -0500

I fortunately convinced the couple to have a first dance, and it turned out real well.

Bridal Prep

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:06 -0500

Preparations for a wedding start...in a spa.

JC with a gun

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:12 -0500

Photographed immediately before his wedding, JC looks just as formidable after the wedding, and is prepared to defend a future teenage daughter from any testosterone-driven threat.

Matt Roe's new facebook profile pic

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:09 -0500

Because he looks good with a gun, and he's going to Washington state where guns are necessary for survival, even in Seattle.

Michael's Secret Training

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:08 -0500

Michael eliminated the threat, and outshot all of us in his first skeet session. Giving clay the business.

Engagement Photos: Nicky & Daniel

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:47 -0500

Nicky, Daniel, and I headed over to Centennial Olympic Park on a hot day. I was the only one who didn't get to cool down in the fountains.

Wedding: Ciara & Christian

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:20 -0500

For my first international wedding, I travelled down to the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica to photograph Ciara and Christian's wedding. We had a blast, and we managed to get out to the rocks for some shots during sunset. I must say, it is quite difficult to speedlight a subject, with the sunset in the near background. Thank you photoshop CS4.

Speak no Evil

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:53 -0500

This little bugger successfully stood on my lens beltpouch and opened up the zipper to it to see what was inside. Reminded me of Abu from Aladdin. If I was a professional pickpocket, I would totally have one of these monkeys as a sidekick.

Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:52 -0500

My 3rd visit to Costa Rica included a wedding to photograph (more blog entries to come on that!) and a few beach shots. Here's one.

LEE filter set

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:19 -0500

Today my LEE filter set arrived in the mail. 4x4" or larger filter sets are generally the best way to get even exposures when you have highly dynamic contrasting regions in your photo, e.g. sunsets/sunrises, land/bright skies, etc. Using a graduated neutral density filter, the bright regions can be evened out by however many stops you wish. Here is a 2-stop hard-edged GND filter, but they come in 1-3+ stops, and they come in soft-edged (slow transition) and hard-edged (fast transition). I plan on purchasing a soft-edge 2-stop and soft-edge 3-stop when I return from Costa Rica this weekend. However, this hard-edged 2-stop GND should do well for the beach. It is attached to an 82mm adaptor ring on my 16-35mm II f/2.8L. The great thing about the LEE mount is that it is very low profile, so it eliminates most vignetting, whereas Cokin tends to jut out a bit more.

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED!

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:30 -0500

Today I got a call from Ray Miller of Southcreek Global indicating that I was published in Sports Illustrated, the most circulated sports magazine in the United States. I didn't know what to think besides which photo it was, and how large. It so happens that I made page 15 of the June 29, 2009 issue with a thumbnail cutout of Richard Petty from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 500 this past February here in Atlanta, GA (Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, GA).

Epinephrine struck my heart, and I rushed to Kroger to purchase some copies. Kroger failed me, so I went to Books-a-Million and bought a few copies for my archives. While this isn't my best sale in terms of cash (the then-Senator Barack Obama photo a few years ago was much more), it is certainly, by far, my most circulated publication, as this magazine reaches overseas and in such a large sum domestically, even in a recession. Despite the lovely 1-inch thumbnail size, it still called for celebration. I celebrated by drinking some Dublin Dr Peppers. I was published in Sports Illustrated.

Bride

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:28 -0500

This lens just bleeds great photos.

Embrace

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:33 -0500

Working more on Geneva and Josh's wedding!

Nehalem Bay

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:28 -0500

So much calmer than Atlanta.

Cannon Beach, OR

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:14 -0500

This past month I managed to make it out to Portland, OR to visit my father's side of the family, and we managed to see all my father's siblings. We all had dinner at Cannon Beach, and made it out to the beach for some photos.

Wedding: Geneva & Josh

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:52 -0500

Geneva & Josh got married this weekend, the 2nd of 3 weddings I'm attending in June alone. I photographed their wedding, and set up strobes at Flat Creek reception hall. I've shot their before, and the lighting in there is abysmal, and it had a dark brown roof for no bounce. Fortunately, I made up for most of it using lights. Their wedding ceremony was fantastic.

CAKE

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:49 -0500

No...not the band, but the food. This cake looked so good in B/W with its elegant lines.

My Computer aka Spaceheater

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:54 -0500

I have a pretty difficult problem to solve right now, as the only solutions that I can come up with at the moment require large sums of cash. It has come to my attention that 4 hard drives and 11gb HD-Dimm RAM are helping overheat and crap out the already-puttering ATI x1900xt graphics card. This card has known to have overheating issues. Currently Mac OS X is experiencing a variety of artifacts, including pixel lines across white areas, random green and blue squares, and yes, the occasional crash. Windows 7 also is experiencing black square artifacts and residual dragging squares. I downloaded SMCfancontrol to boost the fan speeds, which appear to help stave off some of the heat. Nonetheless, the graphics card itself is certainly a heat monster, even on idle. I'm considering replacing it with an ATI 4870 or a nVidia 8800GT. If I can manage to flash the mac firmware onto a PC version of the card, I can save myself a lot of money, as I think the whole "mac version" thing is a piece of crap. It really only is a problem with graphics cards, but the difference in price is often hundreds of dollars.

For Windows 7 64-bit, I have to get ATI tray tools working, which requires bypassing the driver signature security doors Microsoft puts on a lot of stuff. I found a workaround to do this. In the end, I'm hoping to end the campaign of terror that my computer is experiencing, and get on to editing photos without BSODs and kernel panics, windows and mac, respectively.

Mt. Hood 2

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:52 -0500

While a future trip will give me more time to explore for a better shot of Portland below Mt. Hood, this is what I found while traversing Washington Park.

I'm ugly and everybody still likes me

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:39 -0500

Manatees have the life. They float around and are fed. This photo is obviously not in focus on the manatee's face, as it was shot at f/1.2 ISO 3200, and it was moving.

Dallas Aquarium

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:33 -0500

Chris and Katie had their wedding reception at the Dallas Aquarium. I was very careful these freed birds would not bomb my margarita.

Be a Pepper

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:24 -0500

The day before Chris & Katie's wedding John, Caroline, and I traveled down to Waco, TX to visit the Dr Pepper museum. I love Dr Pepper more than Coca-cola and Pepsi, and I'll probably lose a lot of Atlanta clients by saying that. Additionally, I think Mr. Pibb is abysmal. I bought a case of Dr Pepper made with Imperial Cane Sugar instead of HFCS.

Nicole Branagh

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:43 -0500

Nicole Branagh, along with Elaine Youngs, won the 2009 AVP Atlanta Open Women's Tournament.

The Meteor Serve

Sun, 31 May 2009 23:17 -0500

Phil Dalhausser sends the fury down in his serve.

Astoria-Megler Bridge

Sat, 30 May 2009 21:50 -0500

The Astoria-Megler Bridge connects Washington state and Oregon via US-101 across the mouth of the Columbia River. It is the longest continuous truss bridge in the United States, and the 61st longest bridge in the world. I crossed this bridge as a child more times than I could count on my hands. It was a misty day.

Mt. Hood & Mt. Adams from Air

Sat, 30 May 2009 21:09 -0500

Someday when I'm making the big bucks, I can rent a helicopter rig and pilot to fly me around wherever I want, but until then, I have to settle for the "through the jetliner window" shot. Still pretty epic.

Phil Dalhausser, "The Thin Beast"

Sat, 30 May 2009 00:19 -0500

Phil is Todd Roger's beach volleyball partner, and they are the Beijing gold medalists. Phil is also a mutant, to my specifications. He really looks built to play the game.

Todd Rogers, "The Professor"

Fri, 29 May 2009 14:50 -0500

The Crocs AVP Atlanta Open is going on this weekend in Atlanta, at Atlantic Station. After becoming a fan of beach volleyball from watching my fraternity brothers, I made the effort to follow the game at the Beijing games last summer. The 1-seed for the match this weekend was Todd Rogers & Phil Dalhausser. I like this shot because I got the ball squeeze on the bump.

Mt. Hood 1

Thu, 28 May 2009 22:18 -0500

As shot from Parkdale, OR. Those, I believe, are pear trees in a pear orchard.

E-Session: Brian & Sarah 2

Sun, 24 May 2009 22:13 -0500

And another...gallery of the rest, including those that are in color, will be posted next weekend after my trip to Portland.

E-Session: Brian & Sarah 1

Sun, 24 May 2009 22:10 -0500

Brian, Sarah, and I jumped the wall and snuck into the stadium. We managed to dodge some poor weather, but not a loud helicopter!

Poulnabrone dolmen (even better) HDR

Wed, 20 May 2009 02:10 -0500

This one is just better. Photomatix does the job. Great software.

Poulnabrone dolmen (again) HDR

Wed, 20 May 2009 01:58 -0500

Still scouring through my old Ireland photos and I felt that this would make a great "realistic" HDR.

Irish Green

Tue, 19 May 2009 12:38 -0500

I found this oldie photo from my Ireland trip back in 2006. I was glad that I went to Ireland in May when everything was green.

Scotland Sailing

Mon, 18 May 2009 19:58 -0500

Sailing in a lake is one thing, but sailing in a loch? Totally 1-up'd.

High School Reunion

Sat, 16 May 2009 23:47 -0500

The Starr's Mill High School c/o 2004 met for their 5-year high school reunion. A Braves game and tailgate was the action. Thanks to our class president Brittany (and Jenny for the facebook messages) for organizing the event! You can view the full size photo here.

Georgia Tech vs. Georgia Baseball HDR

Wed, 13 May 2009 12:17 -0500

From the Golden Moon Casino seats...this was handheld so it wasn't ideal. I should have a better chance when I go shoot a Braves game soon. I'll bring the tripod and get more exposures.

Wedding: Angela & Tim

Mon, 11 May 2009 15:04 -0500

First time visiting Alpharetta, GA, I get to photograph a wedding at one of the town's country clubs.

Graduation

Wed, 06 May 2009 17:35 -0500

Well well well well well...this entry will attempt to summarize 5 years, 12.5 semesters (I took 2 full time and 1 part time summer...if you consider Physics II + DSP full time, then 3 summers), and 163 earned hours of classes. I've been at Georgia Tech for a relatively long amount of time.

I came in to Tech with 8 AP hours of credits. I bumped by Calculus I and heh, music theory I and II, which didn't mean much in the long of my degree status, but helped along with my minor in music. I decided to major in Biomedical Engineering. Currently the program is ranked #2 in the country. Georgia Tech didn't have a problem challenging me. The coursework was difficult, social-life ruining, and threw a lot of curveballs along the way in my scheduling. Nonetheless, I somehow managed to keep HOPE scholarship until I ran out of hours (132), while not receiving a single "A" in a 4-hour class. All the while, I managed to fit a minor in music.

Had I been given the option to attend Georgia Tech again, I would have majored in Computer Science while remaining a pre-med student. I spend a lot of time on the computer as you might expect, with all the photo editing, MATLAB coding, and at the highest in my Georgia Tech career, receiving ~65-70 emails a day pertaining to fraternity, newspaper, Executive Round Table, and photography business. Not to mention senior design...

I never failed or received a "D" (pending Diagnostic Imaging Physics this final semester) in a class at Georgia Tech, nor have I taken classes at another school (study abroad was GT professors).

My first summer was spent taking 13 hours of classes, including CS 1371 and Organic Chemistry I. That summer I banked around $1700 playing online poker, too.

The second summer was spent doing undergraduate research in Dr. Boyan's lab at IBB, along with taking Physics II and DSP. Not such a good summer.

The third summer was spent working Schlumberger, Ltd., learning how to drill and measure oil wells in Midland, TX. That was an awesome summer. Oil runs the world, and while I think that it will play in important role in the bridge towards renewable energy, it will still be used in everything, as your perfume and tupperware can't be made without oil.

My fourth summer was spent in Europe, studying aboard at Oxford University, all the while taking some great photos. Danny O'Shaughnessy once said that you can trip and fall and take a great photo in Europe. I second that.

I've seen Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus." I consider it, along with Giotto's "Lamentation" and Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel work (also which I've seen) to be some of the most epic and beautiful work. It dwarfs modern pop music, that's for sure.

As for photography, I estimate now that I have taken 125,000 photos in the past 3 years. That's 60K on the 5D, 63K on the 1DII I sold awhile ago, the old Rebel XT also had a bunch, and now 2500 on the new 5DII. Of those I have kept roughly half, nearly 570gb of data (then backed up again elsewhere). It has been quite a privilege and opportunity to photograph on Georgia Tech campus over the past few years. We had two major party candidates campaign on campus, former astronaut Jim Lovell of Apollo 13, Vint Cerf, Ted Turner, an institute presidential change, various professional musicians, and a plethora of now pro athletes.

I have enjoyed various school breaks snowboarding, going to Costa Rica and Argentina, and attending friends' weddings. I never used a break to go on the stereotypical "beach trip." I tried to value my breaks from Georgia Tech with a bit more variety and unorthodoxy. The combination of being able to maintain HOPE scholarship with the sweet job of being a photographer has allowed the funds for trips otherwise would considered to be rather expensive. I have always held weird jobs since high school, including refereeing basketball (I don't play), martial arts instructor, fixing computers, a now doing photography. Apparently the next job I will have involves drugs and putting people to sleep.

Just another vent of words to stream out that some of you might know: TX Golf, rats, football block fights with other fraternities, Dr. Ulrich, TX mealplan (cooked by brothers), Argentina, injured associates, expensive concert, gretchen, mojo, swat, Dr. Pepper, Costa Rica, photographing ADX events, The Quad & Ice Storm, Indy 500 & Arctic Challenge @ Glenn, Unicorn Power, TX c/o spring 2005, getting lost at University of Utah & being rescued by AXO girls there, broomball, MS society walk-a-thon, MS bike-a-thon, team buzz, gtgs, mtrain, peeps' campaign, parker's campaign, Smash, Halo, DoW, C&C w/ JC, 525,600 tickets, dunzo, flashdance, greek rangers, r. kelly, tug, georgia tech leadership conference 2007, ERT skits, destroying Tom's alarm clock, formal snowboarding in NC, savannah, charleston, charlotte on the boat that didn't move, colorado, boston / new england snowboarding, late wednesday chapter meetings, Tin Drum, late wednesday deadline nights, rush, bids, the unicorn, angry emails, TX Poker, The Taxi

Some things that won't miss at Georgia Tech: scarce and slow professors, britain hall, rats, unclean house, pressure washing the bathrooms, concrete front yard, freshman hill, the BME dungeon, monotone professors, papa john's pizza, smelling the cup, smelling the sewers, white vans clogging the ER51 lot, TX parking, towing CCF'ers, loud music across the street, front room TV and pool table, TX kitchen, Moe's, lack of sleep, overnighters, overnighters multiple nights in a row, unforgiving TA's, injuries

NY Times' David Pogue, "Macs for Dummies"

Wed, 06 May 2009 00:18 -0500

David Pogue, author of "Macs for Dummies," the 2nd book in the "For Dummies" series, spoke at the STC Summit in Atlanta this past Monday. Based on his bio, David appears to be quite the jack-of-all-trades, majoring in music from Yale, working in Broadway as a conductor, when all of a sudden he decided to start writing tech reviews for the NY Times and books. Check out his wikipedia article.

Eileen Donan Castle Mark II

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:49 -0500

I posted an image of this castle this past summer, but I recall my fat face being in the way. Here's an updated version, with a watermark instead.

Senior Design Project Poster

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:46 -0500

This is what has been occupying my life the past two semesters. DONE. Final on Wednesday and final on Friday, then DONE DONE. Credit also goes to my team members, Amar Kadaba, Yixiao Zou, and Daniel Fowler. Drop shadow makes our poster look better than anyone else's who made their's using powerpoint. Adobe InDesign CS4!

Alpha Delta Chi Formal 2009

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:30 -0500

Alpha Delta Chi announce their new sorority sweetheart and sing a fun song to him. He got a pink tie too. That was awesome.

Engagement Photos: John & Caroline

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:01 -0500

After a wonderful breakfast at IHop, John, Caroline, and I went to get their engagement photos taken. Here's a sample of what's to come.

Colosseum HDR

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:01 -0500

This is an attempt at an HDR. It looks fine at small resolutions but clunky at anything higher than blog-size.