A Passing Storm

The HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo above, was taken this evening at sunset, near the Baccarra hotel in Goleta. I was sitting at home when suddenly at 4:00, I remembered the GORGEOUS sunset just a few days prior.  With the stormy weather we had last night and this morning I was hoping that this evenings sunset would be just as spectacular. With this in mind, I quickly jumped up, grabbed my gear and set out for the Baccarra hotel, in hopes of getting a deep saturated red sky photograph.

On a side note, due to the geography of the coastline in Santa Barbara, the Baccarra is one of the only easily accessible beaches that that actaullyfaces west (actually, south west). Cabrillo Blvd (aka East and West Beach here in Santa Barabara), for example, faces south east. 

As I jumped into my car and headed north, I was quickly greeted by dark clouds and a downpour of rain. Being breifly discouraged, I checked my iPhone and noticed a small, yet concentrated spot of rain on the doppler radar map. Perhaps I coulds wait it out and the storm wpould pass and allow me to get a shot?

I pulled into the parking lot at Haskell'ss Beach at 4:30 as the rain was coming down hard. According to my phone, sunset was at 4:58 PM so I decided to just sit and wait and see if the storm would pass and break before sunset, allowing me to get a shot.

As I was sitting in my car, enjoying the sound of the rain falling onto the roof of my car, I started to think about the past twenty months and how good the Lord has been to me during this time. I was struck by the metaphor of the passing storm and how we often times need to wait upon the Lord in stormy times (A recurring lesson the Lord seems to continually teach me on a daily basis) In waiting for the storm to pass, I looked up some passages on waiting on the Lord and found this jewel fron 2nd Peter.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance  - 2 Peter 3:9
 
Wow! I was immediately struck with how this applies to me. As someone who has walked in sin for twenty years prior, actually turning away from the Lord for that period of time and then returning and recommitting my life to him almost two years ago, it is good to know that He is much more patient with me than I deserve. The good news is that no matter where we are in life, He will always wait for you to turn to him, or was was in my case, turn back to Him.

Suddenly, and almost immediately, the downpour stopped, so I grabbed my gear and trodded down the gravel road, skillfuly dodging flooded potholes and puddles, keeping my feet dry.

I set up my gear and although I was not greeted with the crimson display I had seen just a few nights prior, I did get a fairly dramatic sky and a decent image out of the journey.

There is always beauty after a passing storm, when you trust and wait upon the Lord.

=BM=

Merry Christmas

Luke 2:11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

14“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

 What an amazing 4 days I have had! 

I have had an incredibly busy month of December this year, directing two choruses (Santa Barbara and Santa Maria), singing in my quartet FourGiven an also singing in the Trinity Lutheran Church Choir. 

I had been going hard every night since the first weekend in the month and finally midway through the month on December 14, I attended a Quire of Voyces concert, (whom I LOVE) but was ultimately too tired and worn out to stick around for the second half of the performance and sadly, I had to leave.

As I was driving home from the QV performance, thinking of all of the performances I had done in the past two weeks and looking ahead to what was yet to come, I felt overwhelmed and just beat down. Moreover, it had occurred to me that I had been so focused on getting through this hard time, I had been completely counting on ME to do it and had lost sight of of the Holly Spirit.

That night, I prayed for the Holly Spirit to fill my mind, heart and soul and he payed off in spades. The last four days have been an absolute absolute AMAZING answer to prayer!

Saturday evening, Dec 22nd, Kathy Fitzgerald of Calvary Chapel in Santa Barbara set up an amazing singles mixer for the night. We must have had 50 people attend, all engaging in fun and fellowship. Although that was a lot of fun the best part was an unexpected event wehere after we ate, we broke out into a session of singing carols and prayer led by Heather Faith.  We to hear from a woman by the name of Keesha (i think) who just did an amazing job, briefly sharing her testimony, as well as a gentleman by the name of Tony. It was such an amazing part of the evening... The Holly spirit was there in the room at that gorgeous Montecito estate and we had a great time.

Sunday, Dec 23: On Sunday afternoon, there was a memorial service for Fran Thayer, with of assistant pastor Ted Theyer of Calvary Chapel. Fran's husband Teddy went up and lead worship in his wifes memory and was able to keep it together while singing a tribute to her.  David Guzik also gave an amazing sermon on "heaven" and knocked it pout of the park. Even still, the service was so joyfull and upbeat. It was a perfcet way of honoring Ted's wife and the love of Christ in their lives.The Holly Sprit was AGAIN palpable and present in this beautiful ceremony. I was touched quite deeply even though I was fighting off a low-grade headache that day.

Shortly after the memorial service, I stayed for the 5:00 service and David was on his game again, as he preached out of the book of Exodus.

Monday Dec 24, - I attended the Calvary Chapel service at the Granada Theater and acted as a usher for the event. Our guest musician Evan Whikam who was AMAZING (I bought all three of his CD's) and David Guzik preached on "Christmas trees" and Christs life began with a tree in the garden of Eden with man's fall from grace, and then ended on a tree (cross) when Christ died and resurrected on the third day to atone for our sins.  Again, another home run from Dave!  After the Granada, it was off to Trinity Lutheran Church for singing at two services #1) the 6:00 service #2) the 9:30 service. These are my favorite services of the year with TLC as they always bring out all of the stops and bring in brass, harebells and all sorts of wonderful music. 

Tuesday, Dec 25, Christmas Day. I spent the morning at mom and dads opening presents and having breakfast at 8:00 AM, then headed over to some dear friends at noon and got to hang out with their massive family and watch as the mass of people opened opened their presents.  The big news was that these friends, who are having financial difficulties, have been blessed by their mortgage company who is going to forgive a portion of their mortgage and give them an unbelievable fixed, rate to refinance their home, so that they can keep their home.  THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN  FOLKS! Their blessing rubbed off on me as that has been an answer to prayer for all who know them.  God is SO good!

After that, it was back home for Christmas with my aunt, uncle and cousin where we had just a wonderful dinner and evening together.

As I prepare for bed, I just had to reflect on the fact that the last four days have been as busy as the first part of the month. The difference, is that the Holy Spirit was present in these last four days and instead of there being a burden, there was great joy in experiencing the Holly Spirit..

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Jesus Christ is not only willing, but wanting to be let into your life. Hear his voice, open the door and let him into your life.  He will bless your life as he has mine. We just need to ask.

=BM=

Baptisms on the Beach

There is a  yearly tradition at my church, Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara and even though this is only my second time attending, I can honestly say that is quickly becoming one of my favorite events of  the year.

Every year, the church meets at a local beach or pool, grills up some AMAZING food (BBQ Tacos this year!) and performs baptisms for those who want to publicly profess their faith in Jesus Christ.

This event is always very well attended and this year was no exception. Even with cold stormy weather an the threat of rain, I estimate that we had 150-200 people show up for the event. What an amazing time.

Of course, the event resonates for me so well, because last year, Sept 1st, 2011, I was baptized at Goleta Beach, putting an exclamation point on my rededicated walk with Jesus Christ last year.

That happy fellow is me, just after getting baptized last year.

“Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4)

I can't believe that it has been just over one year since I was baptized. I can look back on this past year and see how far I have come in my walk with the Lord and yet also reflect on some regrettable and shameful mistakes I have made in the past year and how far I desire and still need to go. Sometimes the Lord can find a way to keep us all humble and rooted in him. I am just forever grateful that he is one who's forgiveness is everlasting. I come up so short, so often, yet he still keeps accepting me. Nobody said that a new walk with Christ would be an easy one, however, given time, patience and bit of humility, God's Grace will renew your spirit if you trust in him.

As a photographer, the one thing that I really missed out on last year, was that there was nobody there to take a picture of the moment.  I remember being so filled with the Holly Spirit, I wish that there was somebody who would have taken a picture of me at that moment as I had just come out of the water. Something that I could look back upon and remind me of the joy I was feeling that day.

Well, I am a photographer, so I decided to do something a little extra special. Instead of doing "event style" photography taking random pictures of people at the beach, using a long lens and shallow aperture in available light, I decided to do more of a portrait session with off-camera flash.

WARNING: Semi-Technical Photographer Mumbo-Jumbo Ahead

The setup was simple. I had an 12' heavy-duty light stand, anchored to the beach with three 26 lb sand bags. Raised to level of about 8' was a Westcott Boom arm supporting a 50" Westcott Apollo softbox.  The light was a single Nikon SB-900 speedlight triggered by a Pocket Wizard Flex TT5.

Using the Pocket Wizard AC3 Zone Controller on top of my Flex Mini, attached to my trusty Nikon D700, I was able  to quickly adjust the output of the flash, wirelessly, for each shot.  This was especially important, because a 50" nylon softbox is essentially a kite if there is any breeze whatsoever. When that kite is attached to a boom arm and light stand anchored with over 70 lbs of weight, it essentially becomes a weather vane, and moves and  shifts position however the wind blows.  In other words, for each shot, the light would be in a different position, so I would have to dial the flash up or down as needed. I couldn't have done it without the AC3 Zone COntroller. I LOVE this piece of kit!

END OF: Semi-Technical Photographer Mumbo-Jumbo HERE

One by one, the people who were newly baptized, came up and I had the privilege of photographing them in their moment of rebirth and glory with the Lord. What a blessing it was to be able to share in this moment with them.  With my own baptism only one year removed, I was reminded again, how glorious our Lord Jesus Christ is, just how lucky I am to have him as my savior, and how blessed I am to have other to share in his glory.

 =BM=

God's Precious Miracle

 

In early June, I leaned that Calvary Chapel of Santa Barbara's assistant pastor Lars Linton and his wife Emily, were expecting their second child in mid-July. In my relatively brief time of attending Calvary Chapel of Santa Barbara, Lars has always been an encouraging friend and my faithful "buddy" sitting next to me regularly at Thursday morning Forge men's bible studies. 

In anticipation of the big event, I emailed Lars and offered to take family portraits of their newborn baby, shortly after she is born.  I told Lars that to get the best pictures of the baby, we would need to shoot withing the first week of her birth, that way we could get shots of her "folded" up tight,  else her tummy might get too big and she could not curl up quite as comfortably.  Lars and Emily were excited at the proposition, so we all eagerly waited for the day that their newborn baby would be brought into the world.

On July 6, 2012, the day came that would change the Linton's lives for the foreseeable future.  

Emily had a good, short, period of labor and she delivered a beautiful baby girl named Lindy Grace.

Merely hours after her birth, things started going terribly wrong. Aas Lindy started losing color, it was quickly discovered that baby Lindy was born with a congenital heart condition known as Tetrology of Fallot which does not allow her to get the oxygen she needs. Mere hours after Lars and Emily were celebrating the arrival of their precious baby girl, she was whisked away and transported to UCLA Medical Menter where she would be kept in the NCIU and eventfully undergo open heart surgery just two weeks later.         Details of Lindy's experience can be found at her blog page at lindygrace.com where Lars and Emily document in detail, the events leading up to the surgery and in baby Lindy's recovery.

As a single guy with no kids, I cannot fathom the idea of having your two week old infant go through open heart surgery. The pain and uncertainty must be unbearable, yet throughout this entire ordeal, Lars and Emily's faith in the Lord has been tested, yet they have remained steadfast in God's grace and love throughout the entire ordeal. I eagerly await every blog post they make and am constantly encouraged by the faith and patience they are having during these trying weeks. 

Last week, I received an email with a blog post that indicated that little Lindy would finally be arriving home in Santa Barbara. Shortly after that blog post, I received an email from Emily asking when we mght be able to get that promised photo shoot in?

YEE-HA! I was excited to learn that Lars and Emily wanted to do it soon, VERY soon, so we planned on Saturday morning, Sept 1st at 9:00AM at their apartment.

On Saturday morning, I packed up my gear and then said a quick prayer before heading over to their house, asking for the Lord to bring peace to baby Lindy during the process and not let the clicking of the shutter or the popping of the studio strobes to upset her and also that the adults would be patient and just roll with whatever little Lindy would allow us to do. Would she be fussy and cranky? Would she be uncomfortable laying on her belly with her feeding tube in the way? Healthy babies are unpredictable as it is, so how would a baby who just arrived home days before, after open heart surgery just a couple of week prior fare in the process?

I eagerly arrived on site and proceeded to take some natural light pictures of little Lindy for about an hour and then broke out the studio strobe and soft box to take family portraits and was out in less than two hours.  

Lindy did very well the entire time with very little fussing and no major "biological surprises" to speak of. (Thank goodness! :0)

After all is said and done, I was able to get some beautiful images  of some good friends with their precious new miracle baby girl. There are still many challenges coming up, including more surgeries as well as regular feedings, so that she can get the nourishment she needs for proper growth. 

Still, I am awestruck that the life of a precious, fragile, 7 week old baby girl, is teaching us all about putting our trust in the Lord, during times of confusion and uncertainty.

                  Fear not, for I am with you;
                  Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
                  I will strengthen you,
                  Yes, I will help you,
                  I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

                         Isaiah 41:10

=BM=

 

Graduation Day

On Saturday, June 6, 2012, I had the honor of photographing the graduation ceremonies for the Santa Barbara Christian Homesteaders Inc. a group of local home schoolers throughout Santa Barbara. 


My dear friends Chris and Maggie Graham had a seven children participate in event. (WOW! Congratulations!)

The afternoon started off with families coming over to a small garden area at the side of the church.  I had a single Paul C Buff Einstein studio strobe set up camera right, with a five foot octobox as my modifier of choice.  Families were then welcome to come over and have portits taken of their graduating children, as well as having pictures taken with attending family members.


Wow! What great looking kids!  I was really struck by how well mannered and well behaved these kids were.  They were an absolute joy to photograph.


During the portrait session, I had to keep things moving, yet tried to keep things upbeat and fun, as there were a lot of families waiting for portraits. It was  bit of a challenge, but a highly enjoyable experience.


When the graduation ceremony started, it was more of a run and gun type of a scenario. Each child was instructed to hold up their diploma after they received it and that was my cue to take a picture.  Armed with my Nikor 70-200 f2.8 lens and on-camera flash, I was able to bounce the flash off of the white ceiling giving the pictures a bit of fill light.


 It sounds easy, however the kids names were called out very quickly. The good news is that I was able to match the tempo of the event, so everyone got a decent picture out of it.


Before the graduating seniors came out, my friend Drew Kawiecki, an associate pastor at Calvary Chapel of Santa Barbara gave the commencement address for the graduating class.


Then the seniors came out one by one, and I had to snap a portrait as they walked down the aisle.

Did I mention what a a good looking group of kids these were?


 When it was all said and done, I came home feeling absolutely blessed for having had the opportunity to participate in this special day for these young people who love the Lord.

Are you talking to me?

While walking down State Street the other day, my good friend Kenji Fukudome ran in a gentlemen who was a "Dead ringer for Robert De Niro". (Actually, the jury is still out on that one) With a little bit of gentle persuasion, Kenji was able to convince "Mark" to pose for a couple of photos for us at SBJPG.com.

The above picture was shot with a medium sized softbox just out of the frame, camera right, with a gridded strobe pointed at the background, creating separation between the background and the shadowed side of Mark's head.

I am finding that I am enjoying taking pictures of "regular people" more so than models. While watching an interview with Joe McNally on KelbyTraining.com, Joe said something that really struck a chord with me.  He said (Paraphrasing) "I would rather not shoot a portrait of beautiful people, rather, I am attracted to faces that tell a story and have character"

That sentiment really resonated with me, and soon, you should start seeing the fruits of one of my first photographic projects, involving "regular people".

As a "regular", random guy off of the street, Mark was a complete modeling novice. Having said that, he was very easy to work with and completely at ease in front of the camera.  I think even Robert DeNiro would be proud of his comfort level in front of the camera.

Yes Mark, I'm talking to YOU!

Hannah

Last night we had another SBJPG.com meetup at Kenji's, this time, with the lovely Hanna as our model.  These meetups are always a lot of fun, but can often times be a bit chaotic. You see, Kenji's shooting space, although highly functional, is quite small. Getting five photographers, a makeup artist and a model into the shooting space the size of your average walk-in closet makes for a cozy experience. Its a good thing that we all get a long!

Hannah is not a professional model, but was a great sport throughout the experience. See that red hair on her head? That's a bit of a tip off that Hannah is a bit of a firecracker. Heaven help the photographer who wasn't on his game or gave confusing directions, as she would crack-wise, and give you playful grief. (Martin took the most heat, but he didn't seem to mind a bit)

The photo was lit by a medium softbox above and slightly forward of Hanna's head. Light was then bounced using white foam core below her face, and on both sides. I didn't get a good picture of the set up, but you can kid of get the idea from the iPhone picture below.


 Again, Hanna's face is essentially boxed in by a single, overhead, light source (The softbox) which is then reflected back onto our model by the white foam core below and to the sides. This fills in all of the shadows and gives our model a nice glow about her, which is quite flattering for women.

Going back in time...

My good friend Garth Ratliff is quite a character. He is a man who's creativity knows no bounds and is always one to come up with fun, nutty ideas.

Recently, one of the things that came out of his fertile, creative mind, was the character Frank E Delmonico. Mr. DelMonico is a lounge singer who sings your favorite songs of the 40's, 50,s and 60's and is essentially a one man band who is HIGHLY entertaining.

I got the opportunity to step back in time and photograph Mr. Del Monico at the Beacon Supper Club in Ventura CA. If you were to drive by today, you would see that it is now a Methodist church, but back in the day, it was a happening place where the elite would get together and socialize.

The following pictures were made trying to simulate stage light with a spot light on our entertainer. Since no real spot lights were available at the church, er... "club", a snooted SB-900 was placed on a light stand at a height of approximately 10 feet and pointed slightly down at Mr. DelMonco. (see diagram below) This added a beautiful rim light giving our subject a nice separation from the dark back ground. All other lights in this shot are simply ambient light from the stage lights.

I used the popup flash on the D700 in Commander Mode and set it to send no exposure. The only flash coming out of the popup was the "pre-flash" signals to the SB-900.

Camera Settings were 200mm at f/2.8, 100th of a second at ISO 1600. Using the Nikon CLS ITTL flash compensation, I dialed the flash to a setting of -3 Stops.

The beginning

Here it is, February 11, 2012, and the first post on my brand new photography blog, as I the baby steps on what I hope to be a long, fulfilling journey of "going pro" as a photographer.

I have been kicking around the idea of going pro (or at least semi-pro) for a couple years and this year's only New Year's resolution was to take the steps and get my fledgling business started as I embark on the new year.

By creating this blog, I hope to share with you my experiences, knowledge, tips and humorous anecdotes along the way.

I have been doing photography since the year 2002 where I learned the ropes on a Canon G2 point and shoot camera. I LOVED that camera! For its day, it had superb image quality, great color, low noise and was a joy to use. Best of all, it had manual controls, which allowed me to slowly learn my craft and apply the "trinity of exposure" of aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
This little camera allowed me to test the limits of the camera and get a foundation in the craft of photography.

After a year or so with that great little camera, I started to quickly outgrow its capabilities and I needed to upgrade to something with a little bit more power.

At that time, Canon and Nikon digital SLRs were quite pricy and out of reach for mass consumption, until Canon released the first sub-one thousand dollar digital SLR, the original Digital Rebel. THAT was that camera which changed my life as a photographer forever.

From the Digital Rebel, I upgraded to to the Canon 10D, and then eventually I upgraded to the Canon 40D. I remember getting the 40D just before embarking on a trip to Ireland with my Barbershop Harmony society chorus Pacific Sound. I only had the 40D for a couple of weeks and I was a bit worried about taking it abroad and having it get stolen or destroyed on the trip.

Nevertheless, I took the camera and fell absolutely in LOVE with the 40D during my time in Ireland. Some say the 40D was the best camera Canon has ever made in the X0D series of Canon camera bodies.I would tend to agree with that statement. It made great imaged was relatively sturdy and a joy to use! I fell in love with so many of the images I took on that trip, that it was that camera and that trip where my passion for photography really started to grow.

Then, in March of 2009, I did something rather brash. I sold all of my Canon gear which consisted of two bodies (10D and 40D) and multiple professional "L" lenses and "jumped to the dark side" and bought my first pro-level body, the Nikon D700 and 27-70 lens.

Why the change? Quite frankly, I like Nikon camera bodies more than Canon's. At the time, Canon's pro-level cameras were having focusing issues as they were slow to focus, and not nearly as accurate as the Nikon bodies at the time.

When launched, the D700 was heralded as a stripped down or "Baby D3" (Nikon's flagship camera at the time) The D700 focused fast and accurately and performed very well in low light. Also, I loved that I could press two button on the body simultaneously to reformat my memory cards, and do another key combo to reset my camera's settings to a base level. To this day, I am not sure that Canons have this ability and I just don't understand it.

I can't tell you how many times after a day of shooting with my 40D, were I would pick up my camera and shoo the entire day at ISO 1600 in bright daylight, or watch as my exposures jumped all over the place because my camera was still in bracketing mode from shooting HDR's the day before. The ability to reset my camera, and then go in and set it up to my personal baseline configuration has made using D700 a joy to work with.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Canon camera's too. I cut my teeth on them and Canon makes fine caemras. For as much as I love Nikon bodies, I love Canon's lens selection, especially in their pro "L" series of lenses. Canon has a much wider selection of lenses at much more reasonable prices than Nikon does at the pro level.

Even though I "jumped ship" I still love and respect Canon cameras, so for all of you Canon fan-boys, don't flame me, because I am not a Nikon fan-boy and I don't hate Canon.

Going forward, just days ago, on Feb 7, 2012, Nikon announced the D700 replacement, the D800. I have placed my order and should receive one once they get in stock at Adorama in Late March.

Its a good time to go pro.

I will be trying to shoot and process images every weekend in some form or another for the entire year. (At least, That's the goal)

In the meantime, I will continue to post my progress as I try to break into the commercial side of photography ans well as portraiture.

It should be a fun ride, while simultaneously being just a little bit terrifying as well.

=BM=