Orange Hat Photos

The first Salk post...

2011-06-21T05:04:00.000-07:00

So, I said that I would try to post every other day at Salk, and that has proven to be a bit difficult. I don't get internet in the room that I am in...and I am worn out when the day is over.

I have some time this morning to post because currently I am filling in for the person that runs the Runner's desk (like the central command station for getting supplies out to all the sites) so I am going to take a little time, while it is still quiet on the radios (and of course as I type this the radio calls start...) and explain a little about Salk.

I think that some of the first posts on this blog, which date back to last year, are about last year's Salk, or perhaps it is now two years ago, not exactly sure. But at any rate, Salkehatchie Summer Service is a United Methodist Church ran outreach program that I have been going to for 6 years now. Each summer, hundreds of youth and adults from around the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and now some of Florida volunteer to go to a different part of the state and help build/repair housing for underprivileged families. This is a wonderful experience and perhaps the thing that I will remember most about my childhood.

And so, I am making a documentary this year about the Salkehatchie experience. Filming did go pretty well yesterday, and while I have a lot of filming left to do before this thing becomes a movie, I think that I am on the right path.

I don't really have much more to say, I am working on some stuff, but nothing is ready to go up yet, and I don't know if things will be ready by Friday (the last day of camp) but we will see. If I get something worth blogging about, then I will do so, but otherwise, next post will be back at home!

-joshua

It's been a busy couple of weeks...

2011-06-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

So, I did this post mainly to let people know that I am still here, and I am working on some things, but I have been pretty busy recently trying to make sure that I don't forget anything for the upcoming project that I am going to be working on next week.

But I wouldn't want to leave people empty handed. I have been really into collage work lately, and I have been experimenting myself with digital collage. I have made one piece that I really like and that I think I am going to continue to make a series out of.

"The Bringer of Fortune" (click for a larger view)

I wanted to post that now without a whole lot of explanation because I don't feel that this is the time for explanation on it. (If someone wants to post questions or thoughts then I will be more than happy to entertain them however.)

I think that I want to work some more with this series and idea, and further develop the idea of the "Myt Fckng O!" and the mythos around him, but before I do that I think that I am going to just explore collage more, and try to find some influences in that area of art.

Now on to the next week...

This week I have been I have been preparing for my upcoming week in Summerville, volunteering to document for a NGO. Among that I have been working 7 hour days at the local museum (my part time summer job, it is only open half the week) so it has been pretty busy trying to get everything ready and make sure that I am packed to go live on a church floor for a week along with all (and I mean ALL) of my computers and camera gear. But it should be a pretty amazing week full of still photography and a video project!

All thing considered, I don't have time to really blog tonight, but I will be blogging at least once every two days while at the camp about the things that I will be doing. I am using this camp next week as a test run for a project that I hope I will be working on all summer next summer for school, documenting, in both still and video photography the efforts of the NGO Salkehatchie. (I will go into greater detail about the Salk camps in my first post tomorrow night.)

So, until tomorrow night,

-joshua

Weekly Movie Review: X-Men First Class

2011-06-03T22:12:00.000-07:00

During the school year I started to write movie reviews for the school paper, naturally I thought that it would be an interesting subject to bring to the blog as well. After all, this blog is about all things that I do concerning art, not just photos. (Not anymore at least.)

I have always enjoyed movies, my minor is film studies, I am particularly interested in the theoretical considerations of narrative voice in movies, and I have begun to explore video documentation (in an augmentation to my photographic work) - in short, I am a bit of a movie nerd. Another subject that I consider myself a bit nerdy about is comics. I fell into the world of webcomics freshman year in college, and last summer got into superhero comics, primarily the Green Lantern. I do read some Marvel titles (and some Dark Horse and Image as well) but X-Men has never been a favorite. I saw the other movies when they came out, but I don't really remember them well; however, I believe that X-Men First Class is a super hero movie that I will be adding to my personal collection.

***There are no spoiler alerts in the following review, there really is nothing in the movie to spoil as everything happens rather straightforwardly.***

This movie can really be seen as an origin story for Prof. X and Magneto. Now at the start I should point out that the storyline that the movie presents is not how Prof. X and Magneto met in the original comics; yet, I think that story in First Class is more compelling than what I have read in the way of synopsis on the original. (There is not that much change, but in the movie as a child Magneto, or Erik, is captured by the Nazis - he is Jewish - and experimented on; in the comics he escapes the camps and goes on to father twins.) There are other storyline facts that I am not exactly sure about their truth to the comic-storyline, however I believe that they make interesting associations (such as a romantic flare between Beast and Mystic, Mystic growing up with Charles, etc.) that make for a more developed "first class." It was also interesting to see Emma Frost and Azazel on screen, as well as Beast's transformation into the blue hairball that we all know him as.

Yet, what I found best about the film was the issues that it grappled with, not just on a character development level, but the moral issue of revenge and justice, forgiveness, acceptance, and how to act in light of [super]physical superiority. These elements are some not commonly found in super hero movies and, in my opinion, not commonly found in Marvel storylines. In these regards, X-Men First Class is a refreshing change from what we have come to expect from super hero movies (which seems to be just special effects and explosions).

That is not to say that First Class didn't have these elements - the final fight scene was actually rather epic in that it was very superpowers focused, but it did not make them more powerful than they should be.

There was also some very well done character development (primarily for Magneto, however to a lesser extent Prof. X and Mystic) for a superhero movie. After seeing this movie I feel like Magneto may be the most tragic heroic villain I have ever heard a story from, and I actually feel like I can understand his decision to split from Prof. X and start the Brotherhood of Mutants.

I hope that the upcoming Green Lantern movie can deliver in the ways that X-Men First Class did, because as of right now First Class is the best superhero movie I have seen since the last Batman film.

-joshua

Death and the Human Response: Buddhism

2011-06-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

The past semester I and another student have been working on a series of videos focusing on the phenomenon of death and the human response to death as part of a school research group. There are six of us in the group, and everyone has helped the process in some way, but the whole project was really Brad Sadd's idea, and I was lucky enough to have the cameras needed to film and the computer/software needed to edit the video together. I have really enjoyed working on this project as it gave me a chance to combine photography, documentary film, and philosophy all into one project.

With all of the footage that we have captured in the past semester we have 8 short films in the works, although this is the only one ready to show at this moment. By the end of the month we should have about 4, and all of them should be finished by the end of June, but of course I will keep you updated as we progress.

This particular film raises questions about the viability of the eastern philosophy of Buddhism as an adequate belief system to cope with suffering and the realization of one's own mortality and I believe that it approaches the topic on a level that is easy for all to understand. [View the movie below, or see it on YouTube here.]

The films cover a variety of topic touching on everything from something as general as "What is death?" to famous arguments by ancient philosophers about the futility of dreading death to psychological and biological reactions to death. At this time I have plans to continue this project for another year, expanding the series to look at various religious communities' responses to death and attitudes towards the belief in an afterlife.

-joshua

Art 213 - Final Project [Part 1]

2011-06-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

So, tonight's blog post was going to be about a project that I have been working on with another student for the past semester, but I left the jumpdrive with the file on it at work today (I was making a flyer for one of the exhibits at the Museum) and so I don't have it to upload.

Fortunately, I was planning on doing several blog posts this week before my trip to the beach next week, and so I will put up some other stuff tonight.

I have 5 photos that I shot for my final project in Art 213 (Beginning photography) this past semester. For this project we had to shoot at least 4 roles of black and white film, develop everything, and make at least 6 final prints in the style of a famous photographer. I chose William Klein as my photographer (he was a fashion photographer for Vogue (Paris) in the late 1950's early '60's) and I decided to do a fashion-esk mini-story, which had 8 frames in it (if I remember correctly, I only have my extras as I haven't gotten the whole project back yet).

[For those that are curious, these were shot and printed in black and white film/paper, but I have scanned them in and did some levels/contrast adjusting in Photoshop afterwards.]

I was really drawn to Klein's work because of his technique, which at the time was a challenge to the norm. He shot with wide-angles, telephotos, and flash, when the standard was the 50 prime, and I really liked the voyeurism and photojournalistic edge that he brought to his fashion photography.

I didn't have quite the budget that I would have liked obviously, but I believe that the shoot went really well considering all of the circumstances, and I really enjoyed this project.

When I get my portfolio back I will scan and upload the rest of the photos from this series, and make a flickr gallery for them all as well.

until then,

-joshua

It's Been a While...

2011-05-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

So, it has been a while since the last time I blogged. School turned out to be a bit more than I expected this past year, but now that it is over I am going to do my best to start blogging again. (For the summer at least.)

I am not going to make any promises as I might not be able to keep them, and it might turn out that I am not happy with blogging. But for now I come back to blogging with the intention of sharing some of the things that I have been working on. For this first post I am going to post a photo that I have on the facebook page, but I have tweeked it a bit and I think that it is better now. I am considering entering it into a contest that Digital Photo Pro has going on.

I am working on a few more to go with this series, so I am going to wait until I post them to talk about the technical aspects. Also, tomorrow I am going to post a video that I have been working on for school, with some more information about that project, but for now, enjoy this:

-joshua

Assignments for Student Media

2010-09-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

This week's first blog post (which really should have been last week's, but it was a really busy week) is mainly just some assignments that I had for yearbook and the newspaper. Unfortunately most of these stories didn't run (something you have to deal with in the world of newspaper) but I still had a good time taking these photos.

These first two stories are from a story that I didn't expect to run because it wasn't assigned (we didn't know about it and it happened on a Friday, so even if we ran it it would have been a week late) but I thought it was a cool story and wanted to take pictures of it. I was pretty happy with the two shots that I got.

This was the "safe shot" that I got. One thing that I have been noticing this year is that I have been thinking about photography assignments much more like a photojournalist. Whenever I get to the assignment I first think about the safest photo that tells the story but it easy to get. Then with the remaining time (most times there aren't a time limit, but it seemed like everything I did this past week there was) I try to be a bit more artistic.

What I like about this second shot is that it is from an unusual and unnatural angle (unless you are naturally 10 feet tall) that shows pretty much what the whole story was about (the landscape architecture group made two parking spaces into a small park).

I had to take some photos of Fike for the yearbook, and in the past it seems like most of the pictures have just been general pictures of the overview of FIke. So I tried to get some more close up pictures of people working out. These are a few of them.

The reason I was in Fike was to shoot the Orange and White Swimming and Diving meet. (Although this story didn't even run.) I have never taken a lot of pictures of swimming, and it was kinda tough because the action is mostly underwater, or you can't get a good angle on shot and the whole area surrounding the pool is water (which doesn't mesh very well with multi-thousand dollar camera equipment) so there are more than a few considerations when taking pictures at swimming events. But I think that I got some good ones, and as with anything, the more times I shoot in that environment the better the pictures will be.

This one I liked because it was a little artsy with the way that the water splash mimics the motion of the swimmers arm.

I also covered Glenn Beck's performance at Littlejohn Coliseum which was pretty fun, but to avoid a political discussion, I am just going to post these photos and not talk about the performance.

The last story I had for this week was CCIT moving to the library. I figured they would just want a photo of someone behind the help desk helping a student (they actually ended up using a photo of just the guy working behind the computer) but I took the opportunity to take some photos of the people behind the desks and the techies.

Anyway, that is all for this update. Sunday night I will have an update about all the sports that I have been taking these past few days, volleyball and soccer. It's not football but it is something. So, until then,

-joshua

Sorry

2010-09-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

I know that I missed the update last week (nothing interesting was going on anyway) but although I have a LOT of photos and news this week, I really just don't have time (as I don't need to fall behind on my homework as I am already trying to catch up some) so for now I would just say check out the flickr and look for a post to be up later this week.

NCAA Football: North Texas at Clemson

2010-09-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

So I shot the football game this last Saturday and it was really my first event shooting something since about the middle of basketball season last year. I just got wrapped up in school work and that took over last year, but it feels good to be back and I think that I got some good shots yesterday.

I got quite a few shots from the game yesterday, and I am going to post a lot of them here, but if you want to see the full gallery you can see them over here on my flickr. (Also, if you want to see the captions for the photos then go to the flickr.)

As I started to do in a few posts last year, I want to use this blog as a way to show you not only how I see things while I am down on the field, but also as a chance to explain my reasoning behind each shot and why I choose it out of the more than 800 photos that I took Saturday.

So, let's get started:

I have never taken pictures of the Tiger Walk, so I figured that this year I would try some things and shot it from a few different angles. This week I was up on the balcony in the West End Zone and I got some pretty cool shots. I know how it works now, so when I am back up there I will know how to get a few better shots, but I will also be trying to get some shots by walking with them next time I am at a game.

I always take these shots although I don't think that anyone would run them (except the organization - ROTC) but I like taking them. I also really like the balance and sense of place that is in this photo.

Obligatory cheerleader/rally cats photo. I didn't really focus too much on the cheerleaders and rally cats Saturday (actually this is the only photo I took of them) but there is still plenty of time in the season for some pictures of them.

I was up on the hill this Saturday trying to get a shot of Dabo and the other coaches on the hill, but this was really the only shot I got. I like it though and it gives a nice sense of place, but it is really a hassle to try to take photos and fight the crowd to get back onto the field and worry about getting everything in frame, so I am not sure how many more times I will be joining the fans up on the hill.

This was my first good shot of the game, and while it isn't really an awesome shot, it is a really interesting shot of a fumble. The North Texas ball carrier got destroyed by about the whole punt return team.

Always good to have some nice stock photos of the QBs and other "famous" team members that did really well that game or that are expected to have a really good season. Unfortunately most of mine yesterday were of the North Texas QB, but there is still plenty of time in the season to get Clemson shots.

One thing to say about these "stock" photo shots is that they are the safe shots. Everyone can use a shot of the QB doing his thing (or another "famous" player from the team) because sometimes there isn't something particular that makes a game special (like a field goal kick in double over time or a game changing fumble) so it is always a good idea to take the easy shots when they come to you. Some of the first things I try to shoot are both teams QBs and the running back or wide receiver that had a really awesome game last week or is suppose to have an awesome game that day.

I am not sure if this photo would make it anywhere other than a newspaper's online gallery of the game, but I thought that it was a cool shot of the ball carrier being chased down the field.

This is a really nice shot here of the QB in action (he is being pursed by the Tigers player) and you can see his face and it has some nice emotion on it. This here is really a nice shot that shows what sports shots should be about: emotion, face, shot from the front, tight-cropped. Now of course there are exceptions to all these rules, but this is really the staple sports shot.

This is an interesting photo I think that shows some nice action.

This is a photo that I don't think would even make it into the online gallery but I thought that it was a pretty interesting shot of one of the North Texas players about to get stepped on.

Shots of the coach interacting with players are always good shots to have.

This was my favorite shot of the game; the North Texas ball carrier is sliding across the back of the Clemson player and there is a lot of intensity in his eyes. One thing that you really look for in sports shots is if you can see the player's face, because you really want to be able to feel the emotion that the players are showing. What I really like about this shot is that you can see the face of both the ball carrier and the Clemson player right beside him.

Two other shots from the sam play. I really like the action that is happening in the background in these shots.

Pictures of sacks are always a good thing to have. This one could be a little better (like say if you could see the Clemson player more clearly and if you could see the face on the North Texas QB better) but those things aside it is a pretty solid sack photo. In cases like this, the high action and the difficulty of capturing this type of shot (because there are usually other players in front of the QB, or other people rushing, or any number of things make shots like sacks and punt/kick blocks hard to get) make up for the other things that might keep a different shot out of a gallery. (Although angle is important here. In this case a side view might also be a compelling shot, but something from the back - where there is no chance at all to see the face - would make you not keep the photo.)

I find that some of my favorite shots in sports are the fouls and penalties. I have a really cool one from last basketball season of Booker fouling the daylights out of someone, and in this photo you can see that not only is the North Texas ball carrier facemasking number 36, he is ripping his helmet off.

It would be great if everyone in this photo were in focus and sharp, but the reason that I decided to keep this shot was because the intended receiver's face shows such good emotion that I thought it made up for the softness of the Clemson players and the uninteresting background. Wouldn't expect a newspaper to be interested in this shot, but you might be surprised sometimes.

Shots of players celebrating after plays are sometimes hard to capture because they will either turn to the fans closest to them (which usually leaves their back to you - or at least that seems to be the way it works for me lol) or run and interact with their teammates, which also leave them not facing you. So when you can get the shot, it is a nice one to have. A shot of a player celebrating can be the shot that best represents the game in some cases like if it is of a coach and player after the winning kick or touchdown or after the interception that seals the game. This picture here is actually after an interception in the third quarter, but it was nothing near game changing.

Tajh Boyd (our next quarterback) got to play for a little in the fourth quarter. I wanted to make sure that I got some shots of him since it was his first game, and I wanted to go with something safe. I figured that he wouldn't be doing anything too complicated, so I was fine with the positioning on the field even though I was set up a little further behind the players than I like to be.

So that is really it for this post, I have some school work to do before school today, and I might have some really exciting news coming up soon, so just stay tuned for that. I am not shooting the game this coming up weekend that I know of yet (though that may change) but I should have something else up this weekend if not football. Have a good week everyone, and until next time,

-joshua

I'm Back!

2010-08-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

So, after taking a little break from photos over the summer I am back with new stuff, and ready to start this blog again. A few updates on what I have been doing...I am helping a friend right now with a webcomic project (called Happenstance - although we are taking a break right now since school has started up, but updates should resume within the week) and I have plans for my own comic projects that I will be putting into play in sometime. I am also working on some film projects for school in a creative/artistic/lighting director kind of role that are in stages too early to talk about right now, but I think they will be pretty cool. So, I will be using this blog as an easy way to give out updates on all of that, but unlike last time when I was keeping this blog, I will be updating once a week, on the weekends - so either Saturday or Sunday - and then maybe some other time in the week if I feel like it and have time.

(OMGOMG Felicia Day was in the season 1 finale of Dollhouse!! - sorry. I am watching netflix as I am typing this lol)

Anyway, for this first update I just wanted to though up some pictures that I have taken since school started back, some of band, some of move in day, some of the freshman stuff, some honors stuff. Sometime later this week (maybe I will do a short post tomorrow) I will update with a project that I am working on for my New Media class (ART221) but for now, here are the pictures.

These first few are from move in day. Some important people. (A new trustee and then President and Mrs. Barker.)

I really like this next picture because of the focus it brings to Mrs. Barker.

The next few are from the freshman activities.

I don't usually like the Greek orgs (just not a big fan, they like to smile and pose too much) but I really like this picture.

This next picture is of the author of the play that the freshmen had to read. It was really enjoyable to listen to her talk about her process of writing.

I also took some pictures for the Honors college. (Not much to elaborate on here lol.)

I really like the football stadium, and unfortunately it doesn't look like I am going to be there that much this semester, but we will see what happens.

So, that is all for this update. Hopefully I will have some awesome photos for y'all this year.

-joshua

Changes

2010-04-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

So, I know that I haven't posted here in a while, but I really haven't taken pictures of many things since my last post. And for about a month of that time my laptop was broken anyway. But, to make a long story short, there is one week left in school, and after that is over there will be some changes coming to the main site, and this blog.

Really what is changing is that I no longer just do photos (and next semester I will be moving into more digital media based design projects/art) so I am changing from "Orange Hat Photos" to Orange Hat Media - which will be a kind of "umbrella title" for pictures, videos, and comics (something that I am doing more of on the computer).

School has really gotten to me this semester, but it is almost over, and when it is I will be able to get back on top of all this and I am looking forward to a good summer with everyone - if there are still any of you out there haha.

Anyway, until my next post, which should be (relatively) soon,

-joshua

A Little Overdue

2010-01-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

So, I kinda took this past weekend off, and I know that I promised a blog at the end of the week last week, but I fell asleep and that went into the weekend (which I took off) and so you are getting the post today.

First off, for those of you who don't know I do have another blog now as part of a class that I am going to be taking this semester which combines blogging and exploring another culture which can be found here. I don't think that anything I post on that blog will make its way onto this one, but it might. We shall see.

Really what I feel is overdue with this post is some basketball pictures. So, I think that I am just going to let the rest of the blog be a bunch of basketball pictures from the past two games.

This picture just makes it look like the BC guy is going to get destroyed before he gets the shot off:

The halftime show was really cool and I don't know if I can really explain it in any other way than to say that this lady was flipping bowls off her food and catching them on her head while balancing bowls she has already caught and riding on a ten foot unicycle. It was crazy.

(I think Booker looks like a bunny in this picture. Just saying.)

Then here are some pictures from the UNC game. Which was awesome. I just hope that we can do better against Duke this weekend. That will be a fun day. Starts at 7am and the game isn't till 12 hours later...anyway.

I like this shot of the band before the game. Might try to get it again with more people in the stands.

Sadly most of my action shots this game were of UNC, but I really do like this one of Booker, even though it is just a little bit of a foul.

This is my buddy. He is at like every game, and he always compliments me on my hat. I think he knows like all the camera men and refs and is always talking to them from the stands.

Of course the court was rushed after the game, and if we beat Duke it will happen again. This was an interesting experience, and I will be prepared if this happens on Saturday.

I will probably have the next post up Thursday or so, it should be interesting and may infact be a day that I put up two posts, one with some pictures from club rugby and club volleyball and then another post where I show y'all my sculpture that I have been working on for my Intro to Visual Arts II - 3D Sculpting. I think that the project is coming along really well, and I really like what is becoming of it. I am really thrilled with how artistic I am becoming through my classes (not that I am getting snobby about it, but I am becoming more comfortable and happy with my abilities) and I hope to be able to share that with y'all more as the semester progresses.

So, until Thursday,

-joshua

Music City Bowl and an Epic Video Gaming Adventure

2009-12-31T12:55:00.001-08:00

So this update is a little over due...but let me explain to you what I have been doing for the past few days...

Of course I have been bouncing around everywhere with like no internet for the whole break and it has been pretty annoying, but Wednesday me and some friends decided to start a gaming marathon to bring in the new year by playing borderlands until we beat it. So we start off and learn that you have to have one xbox 360 per person playing, and we only had 2 (there were 3 of us). So, we concoct a brilliant plan to go to gamestop and buy a 360 used, and then return it when we are finished the next day for a no questions asked refund. While we are out we rent Borderlands from Blockbuster.

So we get back and we hook up the xbox and it red-ring-of-death's on us. We take it back to gamestop; they have no more used 360s, so we just buy an arcade version an be done with it. Then we go back and get ready to play, and the 3rd Borderlands disk (the one we rented from Blockbuster) is really scratched, so we can't use that disk. We also check while we are at my friend's house that we are staying at, and see that the internet isn't working to update the new xbox, so we have to go back into town one more time...

We head to Walmart to buy a new Borderlands disk, and then to my other friend's house (the one that has been buying the xbox and the game and all) to update the thing so that we can play. However, when we get there, we realize that we don't have a controller to navigate the menus to update the xbox. So, after calling ourselves stupid for a while and about going out to get another controller (since we had left all the ones we had at the house we were staying at) we try to use a usb keyboard to control the 360...and it worked! So then, about 5 hours after our adventure started, we were finally able to play...and what an epic night of gaming it was...

Anyway, on to the Music City Bowl. We won this one, but I still don't really have much to say; I do have a lot of pictures though, and so I guess I will just jump right in there with those. Sorry that I haven't posted this as I have had the pictures ready for 3 days now, but with all the New Year's festivities and no internet and all I am doing the best I can lol.

The night before the bowl game there was a battle of the bands in downtown Nashville where both the bands and cheerleaders when and play songs/did cheers back and forth at each other. I think it was pretty fun and I enjoyed it though I did about get kicked in the head by the TigerBand dancers about 8 times. Anyway, here are the pictures, enjoy!

Their mascot was a very tall fellow...

They also had a dance off between the school's mascots. I think we won (cause we are just that awesome).

It was pretty cold at the game - it was snowing the whole second half. Sure not like heavy accumulating powder snow, but it was 24 degrees and there were white flakes coming down. But we made it though and pulled out the win which was really good.

This is a pretty cool series of photos here I think.

This one I am adding to my portfolio, really love this shot.

Rumor is the band is getting pretty shiny (literally shiny) drums next year and I am pretty excited about that haha. I think it will make for really cool pictures.

I have been wanting a good picture of a handoff all season long and I finally got one here. Spiller is out of focus, but Parker is sharp and you can really see the determination on his face. I really love this shot too.

This was after a fumble that followed a punt by us. It was really good that we recovered this, and this drive put us on top when we scored.

This guy was really old school; he was shooting with film. I have thought about what it would take to shoot sports with film and what it must have been like back in the day and it is just crazy to me to think about that. But anyway just was interesting I thought.

I know that I said I wasn't really happy with the pictures I got at the ACC Championship, but I really liked the photos I got at the Music City Bowl. I think it was definitely an awesome end to a great football season.

So, hope everyone has a happy new year and that school starts off good for everyone. I will be posting some on the basketball game we had the other night probably Monday, so until then,

-joshua

ACC Championship Game

2009-12-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

Well, this is a little past due, and unfortunately we did lose, but because this was right before my exams I didn't get around to editing these until this past weekend (I went on break a little and I have also been without internet for a while). But, they are edited now and so I am posting them now.

I really enjoyed going to the ACC Championship, and it was the first one that Clemson has been to in a long while. But I think that we will be back before my time here is up (I hope so at least). Anyway, it was a really fun experience and I liked getting to travel with the band and feel important lol.

There was a prep-rally the night before the game so we will start with those photos.

Because we haven't had enough rain this season it was raining during the pep-rally (thankfully it did not rain during the game) but that made for a cold and fun adventure that no one was around to see...

They paraded us into a small area surrounded by a bunch of (drunk fans) so that was good fun. I spent most of the time dodging in and out of the way of the instruments, which I actually kinda enjoyed lol. It made taking the pictures more interesting and challenging, and it also was like having true surround sound. I really do like tagging along with the band because they are such a big part of the spirit of the competition.

It was pretty hard to take pictures that were in focus as I forgot to bring my flash to the event (though I did catch some other people's flash in some of the photos which I think makes a pretty cool effect) but I kinda like this picture of the flags.

It was a pretty small place, but they did pack it in. Not everyone there was a Clemson or Georgia Tech fan, but I think that everyone did enjoy the show.

As I said above, that was (thankfully) the only night that it rained, so the photos I got at the game were not obtained in the freezing wet lol. Though I was actually a little disappointed with my pictures from the game. I got some good ones from before and after the game; but not too many action shots from the game. Though, really it is a photographer's job to tell the story of the game, and the game is sometimes (and really I would say most times) not just about the action. Something I have learned over the past year of taking sports pictures is that football, and all sports for that matter, is not just about the points and the plays - it is really an emotional game and sometimes it is those pictures that tell the best story.

The cheerleaders were doing a lot of different stunts and things before the game and I will tell you, even just watching them hurts me lol.

I really like this photo of the team from before the game.

After the first touchdown everyone was celebrating and usually I try to take pictures of the players but I guess they were just too far away from me because I snapped some shots of the cheerleaders instead but I think they turned out well too.

I have always loved the band, but especially since I have started traveling with them I have begun to feel like they are becoming another family to me. A good number of people on campus know me, and more and more people are getting to know me in the band. It really is a cool feeling.

Like I said above, I didn't get too many action shots but the ones I did get I thought were pretty good.

I liked this photo of Dabo talking with Spiller and Ellington after Ellington's touchdown.

I think that the cheerleaders were the most emotional during the ACC Championship that I have seen them, but that is understandable as it was a really big game for us.

Spiller had a tough game, and he really wanted the win and unfortunately it didn't come for him. But I do still really like the photos I got of him after the game - I think that he was good to his fans, and he really put his all into that game.

(This is another version of the photo)

Of course to the victor goes the spoils, but hopefully next year we will be in a different position. Though I did enjoy taking pictures of a team celebrating.

Anyway, about to shoot the last men's basketball game of the preseason and then I will be running around for a while tomorrow, but I should be able to get the Bowl Game photos up; I have started looking at them and I like what I got so far, so hopefully they will yield some pretty good ones.

-joshua

Clemson Basketball (vs. Illinois)

2009-12-27T09:28:00.000-08:00

So, we ended up losing this game too, and I really don't know how because we were up 22 points at the half, but whatever. I got a few good shots so I figure I should share them with my readers. After this post I will start to edit ACC Championship photos, but the band will be getting back from practice soon and then it is off to the mall for food and a little hanging out. Then at 4:30 we are loading buses for the big game tonight so that is that. I hope to have some great pictures to share with y'all soon, but I really don't think that it will be tonight (though if I get a really awesome one I will try to tweet it). Anyway, here are are few pictures from the Illinois game, and Go Tigers!

This is on a rebound...Booker is just a scary beast...

We has a really cool halftime show; these guys were really awesome "we can jump off a trampoline and dunk the ball" guys lol...and it was really something fun to take pictures of.

They did all kinds of crazy flips and turns.

And I am really proud of this panning shot (his face is in focus and everything else is moving) It took me about 10 mins, but I got a good shot finally haha.

President and Mrs. Barker were at the game too.

And I hate when I get a really awesome shot of the other team, but I really liked this shot of Illinois after they won. The whole team is celebrating and you can just feel the emotion.

Anyway, like I said, look for tweets of awesome shots later, but don't expect another post until tomorrow or maybe Tuesday. There will be two; ACC Championship and the Music City Bowl game!

Go Tigers!

-joshua

Clemson Football (vs. USC)

2009-12-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

I don't really have much to say about this game. It was what it was. We will get them next year haha. (And Spiller was sick...so...lol, but I mean, we shouldn't have to rely on him...but he is a good part of our team lol. Just hope that he isn't sick tonight haha)

This was the first trip that I rode with the band and really this trip is the reason that I am at the bowl game (and was able to go to the ACC Championship) - I found a good way to travel to the games that is free for me and works really well. I like it and plan to use it for the next three years. (Yes, I added another degree and will actually be here for 5 years total...funfunfun...)

Anyway, I was able to ride on the bus with the cheerleaders and get to know them better and that was pretty fun. I also hung out with some of the mascots, but it was a pretty early morning, and we were all pretty tired.

The USC stadium was pretty interesting I suppose, their press box was really impressive and the food was pretty much awesome. That is not to say ours is bad, but I liked the selection and I liked their wings lol.

The vests that they made us wear were an obnoxious highlighter color though and that was quite annoying.
I mainly hung out with the cheerleaders because I had kinda made friends on the bus and was in a stadium all alone(ish) and didn't want to get left haha.

Their fans were very obnoxious (and I am not saying that just because I go to Clemson) but they were just not good sports...about anything really.

These guys were pretty annoying too...at one time the big chicken was jumping up and down and his dress-like outfit was hitting my cameras...it didn't make me happy. But thankfully then he stopped.

I really like this picture of Dabo and his kids. This is right before the game where they are about to run onto the field.

All in all it wasn't horrible; from a photography standpoint I thought the lighting was pretty annoying, but it wasn't horrible. Win some, lose some...We have been doing more of the latter lately, but hopefully that will be different tonight. So, I don't know if I am going to get the ACC Championship photos up, but I am almost finished working on the Illinois Basketball game. Everything should be up by Tuesday at the latest thought. If for some reason I don't get back to y'all before then, hope that the game goes well, but I think I should be able to get at least one more post in sometime today...

-joshua

Basketball vs. Winthrope

2009-12-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

So, Exams came (and are now gone of course) but that with living over at my grandma's with no internet over the break means that I didn't get to finish posting and I don't really get a chance to post very often. So, I figured that while I am up here in Tenn. for the bowl game I will try to catch up on all my posting.

First up is a basketball game that we had against Winthrope. I have no clue when this was, except a while ago haha. Hopefully by the time I am done with these posts (or when these 2 hours of freedom are up) I will be at least caught up to the Clemson/Illinois Basketball game...but who knows haha....

Next post... Clemson USC game....

-joshua

Part 4: Football vs. VA

2009-12-06T17:49:00.001-08:00

It was military appreciation day the day that we played VA, so there were a few festivities and things during the pregame and half time. One of those included C.J. Spiller running down the hill holding an American Flag.

This game was interesting because I didn't really get a lot of action shots, but I did get some good reaction shots with photogs in the background.

(Or just a picture of the photogs. There are always a lot of them; but I noticed that there were not really all that many photogs at the ACC Championship event, which I was not sad about.)

I also think that I got some really good pictures that would be good for the players to sign (like if they were printed out) or just some iconic images that would be good for like billboards or something lol. Anyway, enjoy.

Hopefully one more post at the least tonight, but I will be needing to sleep and study as exams start tomorrow.

-joshua

Part 3: Basketball vs. PC

2009-12-06T17:24:00.001-08:00

These photos are from the PC game a while ago, but I am finally rested from my sleep and ready to resume my marathon posting. So...let's go!

Next post will be Clemson football vs. VA and should be up in a few mins

-joshua

Part 2: Cocky's Funeral

2009-12-06T01:09:00.001-08:00

I really like this picture (the one above of Tiger Roar and the crowd). I think it was my favorite of the night.

And this one would have to be my second favorite. It looks like The Cub is leading people in some ritual (which I guess would actually be an accurate description).

About to pack and get ready for the plane, so more updates later today after the Basketball game with South Carolina.

-joshua

Closing out the (school) year! Marathon Blogging!! [Part 1: Everything Else]

2009-12-05T23:05:00.001-08:00

So, I know that most of these are late; really all will be except for the ACC Championship post and the Clemson vs. USC Basketball game post that will be up sometime by the end of the night. (I am going to be editing from now until about 3:45/4 when I am going to get ready to go back to Clemson.) So, since for one I don't really remember much of the things that I am posting about, and two, it really isn't news anymore, I am going to just post pictures (maybe a sentence or two) for most of these posts.

Happy looking at pictures!

This post is going to be all the little odd and end pictures that aren't really enough to be their own post. First President Barker at the Town Hall meeting from the other week.

These next few are from a shoot I did for a model in one of my classes. She just needed some new head shots and body shots so this is nothing really fancy but these are a few of my favorites from the shoot.

And last but not least, here are a few photos form when Brother Micah visited campus.

Part 2 (of maybe 7 updates) coming soon!

-joshua

Creative Inquiry Project

2009-11-29T06:47:00.000-08:00

I know that I haven't posted in a while, and I can't promise that I will keep up with regular posting this week as it is the week before finals, but I am going to try to get most of the posts that I have waiting to go up done today. But I said try. At least I am going to edit the photos...so yea.

This post is going to be more writing focused, so most of you will probably disregard it, but for those of you who don't, or for those of you who are interested in the Evolution/Creationism debate, I would encourage you to read this post and hope that you enjoy it. And please don't feel like you can't comment on it, one way or the other. Healthy debate is a good thing for research.

A little background, I am in a research group that aims to gather information about the Evolution/Creationism debate with the goal being to show that evolution is not some evil thing that says we are descended from monkeys and show what it really is. (So yes it is biased, but we represent things in an unbiased way meaning that we think if both sides are explained properly and fully it is obvious that there should be no argument between the two because they mean different things. If you are confused then read my podcast, it should help to explain that.) So anyway, part of the project is that the people involved produce a series of podcasts explaining varying things about the whole evolution/creationism debate.

A few weeks ago we actually got to the point where we were recording our first podcast, and here is a written copy of mine, along with some pictures from the recording session:

This series of podcasts deal with the Evolution and Creationism debate, but on a broader scale; over the course of these next few episodes, we will look at not just evolution and creationism, but the bigger topic of Science vs Religion, a topic that is related to, and in most cases a result of the evolution and creationism debate. Just as a preview, over the course of these next few podcasts we will be looking at the goals of science, the goals of religion, the philosophy and purpose behind each of these fields of thought, and some basic misconceptions about the purposes of science and religion. So, lets begin with just an overview of the goals of science and religion, and then touch on a few misconceptions about each, and then in the next episodes, we will take each a little more in-depth.

Let’s look at science first. The goal of science is simple and straightforward; to find out and explain to the best of our knowledge and understanding how the natural world works. There are a few key phrases/words in that definition: first – “explain to the best of our knowledge” and second – “natural” world. These are important because they show the two greatest limitations of scientific inquiry and scientific knowledge: first, science can only explain things that are natural, or that occur in the natural world (this doesn’t mean just out in nature, but anything in the physical world). This does not mean that science doesn’t believe in God; there are lots of scientists who are religious. But, what it does mean, and this is important, science can not make any claim about anything metaphysical or supernatural in origins – because science only deals with things that happen in the natural world. And second, scientific explanations are not an “end-all-be-all” kinda deal; a scientific explanation is an explanation that looks at all the facts and information we have available to us at the time and explains an event with all that information that is deemed relevant. This is important to keep in mind because this means that as more information comes to light, it is possible that explanations (or minor details of explanations) may change. That’s right, science is not as static as your third grade teacher wanted you to think – science changes with the knowledge we gain about it.

Now, we will cover this in more detail in a later podcast, but here is a brief explanation of how science goes about achieving its goal. When a scientist has a hypothesis about something he thinks about all the relevant factors that could affect the outcome of any attempt to test that hypothesis, and then forms an experiment that tries to test the thing in question. The scientist records the data from the test, and then the test is ran again and again to see how the data holds up. Eventually once enough scientists have done the test and gotten the same results, and have reviewed papers and articles published about the test, some kind of scientific statement is made about that thing that they were testing. And, in a sense, new science is made. Now that is just a really general overview that we will go into more detail on later, but the main point is that the goal of science is to figure out how the natural world works, and experiments are how scientists go about doing that.

So, it seems pretty straightforward; however, there are quite a few misconceptions about science. I am going to point out just one of the bigger ones here, and then later in the series there will be a podcast all about misconceptions about science and religion. So, without further ado, one of the biggest misconceptions about science is the thought that science can prove that things are a certain way. This sounds really good, especially if you are in a third grade classroom, but the fact of the matter is that science does not “prove” things; it is very hard to really prove something. So does this mean that science is worthless because it can’t actually prove anything? No, not at all. It is actually very hard to prove something is true; we would have to test and find out every possible thing in the world that could have some affect on the event that we are trying to prove, no matter how small. This is a very substantial task, and virtually impossible because we don’t even know all of the things about the world that we would need to take into consideration when conducting a test (that is the very reason we are still doing science – to figure out these things we don’t know!) So then, what can science do for us if it can’t prove things?

Well, what science can do is point us in the right direction, and offer a “best scientific explanation” for some happening that we see in the natural world. For example; in order to prove that the sun is at the center of our solar system, we would have to know absolutely everything about our solar system, the sun, stars, astronomy, astrophysics, etc. etc., and we just don’t know all of that. But, as this example shows us, just because we can’t actually prove something, that doesn’t mean there is not good scientific evidence to believe it. In this particular case of whether or not the sun is at the center of our solar system, there is an abundance of scientific evidence that points us towards believing that the sun is in the center of our solar system. But to say that we can prove it with no question is just scientifically inaccurate. Now the example of the sun being in the center of the solar system may seem a little silly because of the extremeness of it, but it demonstrates one of the fundamental limitations of science.

This is not to say that science should not be taken seriously though – that is very far from the truth. Knowing that science doesn’t just take arbitrary facts and “prove” things helps to understand more about the nature of science. It is not some rigid fortress that has an agenda and wants to make school boring for everyone. Science is a flowing and shifting body of knowledge that constantly seeks to better understand and explain the natural world, and is willing to change in light of new evidence.

So, that is a basic overview of science; now for the other side of the coin – religion. Religion stands in stark contrast to science, but, unlike most people seem to think, that does not mean that it stands in opposition to science – just that it is different than science, a lot different. Let’s start out the same way we did with science and look at what the goal of religion really is (and more specifically the Christian faith, since creationism is a mainly Christian-based idea).

Now, one of the obvious differences in religion and science is that there are many different religions in the world, and only one “science” (yes there is biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc., but they are all part of Science [with a capital S]). Now, this doesn’t mean that because they aren’t unified all religions are wrong and science is right; what it does show however is that there is a stark difference in the goals of science and religion. In science the goal is to find out how the natural world works; religion doesn’t try to “find out” anything in the same since that science does. Religion has a set of truths (theological, moral, and/or philosophical truths, not scientific truths) and followers of a religion seek to order their lives around that particular set of truths. So, in a broad since, religion’s goal is to motivate people to a moral or philosophical change. There are a lot of ways to achieve this goal, about as many different ways as there are different religions themselves. Some religions seek to achieve this through rituals, worship services, sacrifices, or a variety of different ways. But, mainly, religions deal with explaining why things such as philosophical, moral, and theological ideas are the way they are; they deal with the supernatural world, not the natural. And, just like science is limited to matters of the physical world, religions are limited to the metaphysical.

That is a basic overview of religions, but since the evolution and creationism controversy centers on Christianity, lets look at the goal of Christianity, and how Christians seek to achieve that goal. No matter what the goals of Christianity were in its beginning days, to most present day American church-goers the goal of Christianity is to “spread the kingdom of God to all parts of the world.” Now, regardless of if you agree with whether that “goal” is the correct one or not, it is obvious that it is a lot different from science’s goal “to figure out how the natural world works.” And, given what we know about the nature of religions (to motivate people to a moral/philosophical/and/or theological change) it would seem that modern day Christianity wants to change how people think about the metaphysical aspect of their lives. And, if the goals are so different, it seems obvious (or at least I would think that it seems obvious) that science and religion don’t actually compete with each other; each deals with its own realm of knowledge, and each has different ways to achieve its respective goals. But, there is a movement in America that holds that science and religion are in contention. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough time left in this podcast to talk about that movement; but rest assured that there will be one to address these issues.

There are a lot of things that I didn’t mention in this podcast that are important differences between religion and science, but that is because there is not enough time for me to mention them all in this podcast. However there will be more podcasts in this series, and a lot of key differences will be addressed when we talk about the philosophies behind science and religion. But for now, let’s do a quick review of what we have covered today.

Review:

1. Science is not “the best and only explanation there will ever be for something” it is “the best explanation that we have for an event, given all the information that we have at our disposal.”

2. Science is limited to explaining things in the natural world, and cannot make any claims (affirming or denying) about the existence of anything in the supernatural realm.

3. Science cannot explicitly prove anything; it only points us in the right direction to finding the true answer.

4. Scientific explanations for things can change in light of new evidence.

5. Running experiments is how scientists test ideas about how the world works, but figuring out how the world works is the goal of science; doing experiments is not the goal, it is how scientists achieve the goal.

6. Religions have sets of moral/philosophical/and/or theological truths that instruct their adherents to make a life change, and that make statements about the moral/philosophical/and/or theological conditions of the metaphysical world.

7. Modern-day Christianity has a goal that is not directed at figuring out how the natural world works, so in reality there should be no conflict between evolution and creationism.

Thanks for listening and hope you tune in next time for more.

Sam is our professor's kid. He was needed by one of the students in the group to read a child's part in a podcast.

The recording gear they had was pretty awesome, I don't know how to work all of this stuff, but I do know expensive gear when I see it.

Anyway, like I said, I have a lot of work to do, but hopefully I can get at least one more post up today. Hope that everyone had a good thanksgiving,

-joshua

Interesting Photoshop Technique: Multi-Layer High Pass Filtering

2009-11-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

So, we have a paper due tomorrow in my GC class and the topic is an interesting photoshop technique. For my paper I decided to do the multi-layer high pass filtering technique that I have been working on since this summer (you can see that here). The paper is pretty straight forward so I will just post the paper into the blog (visual aids included! haha):

Interesting Photoshop Technique: Multi-Layer High Pass Filtering

I got the inspiration for this technique from seeing some of Tim Tadder’s work and then just playing around in photoshop with the general idea and adding my own changes and modifications. However Mr. Tadder is not the only person who is doing this technique. High pass filtering is actually a new trend in photography and many photographers have their own version or way of doing it. This technique is interesting because it makes the photo pop and look slightly surreal. It doesn’t take too much to do a simple high pass manipulation, but if you are going to take the technique and make it your own then it could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to manipulate one photo.

For this paper I took a photo of the factory on campus located between the stadium and Holmes hall (facing the west side of the factory). This is the original photo:

[Started as a .CR2 (Canon RAW file) taken on a 5D MkII with a 16-35mm @ 35mm, 2000 ISO, f/2.8, and 1/13^th of a sec.]

From there (a RAW file) I took the file into Adobe Lightroom 2. The pre-sets for the Canon RAW files take the Temp to 3400, Tint to -4, Brightness to +50, and Contrast to +25. I did a few adjustments to the saturation and luminance (Saturation: Red -38, Orange +11, Yellow -20, Blue +36, Purple +100, and then -18 in the Yellow luminance slider) and moved the clarity slider to +100. This doesn’t make that much of a difference at just a glance but the post-Lightroom 2 photo is slightly softer around the lamp lights. (It is easier to see when the pictures are at a higher resolution.)

From there I took the photo into Adobe’s Photoshop CS4 as a .DNG file. I adjusted the tone curve in the Camera Raw 5.0 window that pops up when you open a RAW file in CS4. I turned the highlights down 18, the lights down 27, the darks up 22, and the shadows up 23 points.

Then once the photo was opened I duplicated the layer so that there were two unaltered layers of the photo. What gives the multi-layered high pass filtering technique its look is the fact that there are multiple layers stacked on top of each other with differing effects on each. There are three basic layers to the high pass filtering technique that I use. The bottom layer is a copy of the original photo with a few adjustments; the middle layer which is a copy of the original photo unaltered (or in this case with just the Lightroom adjustments) and then the top layer which is a copy of the bottom layer with the High Pass filter ran on it. To start the process take the bottom layer and edit the shadows and highlights. This bottom layer will serve as the base for the photo. For it to serve this purpose it needs to be edited so that the shadows are very bright. To do this, go to Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights and set the shadows somewhere between 70% and 90%. For this particular photo I set the shadows at 80%. I also went into the advanced options and set things up like this:

Once I did that I took the bottom layer and duplicated it (so that there were three layers then) and put this newest layer on top. This top layer is the one that I ran the high pass filter on. The filter can be found under Filters > Other > High Pass. It is generally recommended that the radius for this be set at 75 pixels. (Sometimes I go more or less, it depends on the overall look/tone of the photo.) Because I wanted the photo to be several different photos layered on top of each other I decided at this point that the middle layer was actually not something that I wanted (as having a middle layer that is unaltered just serves to make the photo darker and this was a night scene it was not something that I wanted) so I deleted it. I then took the top layer and applied the following adjustments in the Layer Styles pallet:

For some photos the desired affect that you want will need more of the High Pass layers, and possibly a different Opacity value. There is no rule that you have to follow to achieve this affect for every photo; each one needs a different set of layers/opacity. For this particular photo I used 6 High Pass layers (I duplicated the top layer 5 times, so that there were 6 of them) until it was like I wanted it to be. Then, because it was still a little too dark for me, I adjusted the Opacity of the bottom layer down to 29%.

The photo was almost how I wanted it. It just was a little too yellow in the bottom right hand corner. To fix this I applied a few more effects to the photo: in the Hue/Saturation Pallet (under the Adjustments/Masks Pallet) moved the Yellows “Lightness” slider to -11 and under the curves pallet I changed the Output to 23 and Input to 21. I also applied an Underwater Filter (Density of 9%) to the photo for the final look.

And the final image looks like this:

So, until tomorrow (hopefully, but maybe Tuesday), when I will have some photos edited. I have at least three posts that I am working on I know, maybe some more. Just keep looking this coming up week!

-joshua

Clemson Football (vs. Florida State)

2009-11-11T10:35:00.000-08:00

So, I know that I have been promising these photos since about two days before I actually took them, but well, now they are here - so no need to complain anymore. (And I don't feel bad anymore about not having them up. lol)

I was really nervous/not excited about taking pictures at the FSU because it was a night game and that means insanely high ISO (which makes for grainy pictures) and I was afraid that it would be pretty cold. But it wasn't bad, and I actually got a lot of pictures that were really good. And by a lot I mean a lot...

ESPN was at the game, and they had this very nifty little skycam thing that flies over the field. I know that we have all watched games from it before and know wht they are, but it is interesting to see one in action. I am curious as to how they work. You would think that there needs to be a team of people or something, but that would just seem really complicated to me.

The students were very excited for this game and lots of time was put into making signs and letters for the ESPN crew and just for atmosphere. It must have worked to - we won the game 40-24 and were ranked 24 after the game.

This is one of my fellow photogs out there on the field (and court) most games. I felt like this should be like a ThinkTankPhoto ad or something, and I also want a pic like this for my profile pic on facebook lol...I should get on that; I do have to do a self portrait for my GC class...

I really am not sure what the heck was going on on this play; the O-line did not move and our blockers were all up in Ponder's grill (sorry, I know, I am white, but I just got caught up in the moment). I have been told that when the defense goes off-sides (or something like that) the Florida State O-line doesn't move so that it is obvious or something like that (shesh, I don't know a whole lot about this "sports" thing do I?) and there was a flag on the play so perhaps that is what it was. I just wanted to see him get killed. (But that didn't happen.)

This photo was taken on the next play, and it is one of my favorites from the game. I just love how Ponder is throwing the ball and in the middle of the frame and everyone on the outside is leading in towards him. He is the peak of the action and this is what a sports shot is suppose to be all about.

These guys were celebrating after the play for some reason (I have forgotten now) but I think that it was because of an interception. (They aren't in the end-zone so interception is all that I can think of.)

This is also a really cool shot (though it didn't make it to the portfolio consideration folder) but I like it as a leading shot from the game. Xavier Dye is actually from Greenwood (my home town) so that is pretty cool. He had a good game Saturday and really stepped it up.

Florida State's Jermain Thomas was I think the only person on the Seminoles team that did anything. I don't actually think that, but while I was captioning it felt like his name was the only one I was writing down from Florida State.

This is a really nifty new thing that we are doing in the stadium. If you have a wifi enabled phone, while you are in the stadium you can connect to iTiger which will give you real time updating on the game stats. I really was a little doubtful at first but after checking it out, it is actually really a pretty cool thing. And I think that they are still working on doing more things with it and making it better. So I am excited to see the things that are becoming from all of our Top 20 Initiative programs and from just upgrading and modernizing our campus. There is really a lot of cool things that can be done with modern tech and it is cool to feel like you are on the cutting edge of those new trends.

This is a picture that I really like that I feel captures motion very well. The twirlers and color guards in bands can really add a lot to it and I really think that the ribbons are a lot cooler than the batons (that is just my opinion though). At any rate, I like the motion and action in this picture a lot.

Here is 38 again diving for the first down (I don't know if he made it or not but it is still a cool picture). I like this one a lot because even though there is a lot going on in this picture you are drawn to the ball carrier. And if you look closely you can see that even though there is a lot happening in this photo, several of the other players are also watching the ball carrier. I like the since of unity in multiplicity that this photo has (Oooo, look at that big fancy term from philosophy of aesthetics last year haha) and this is definitely one for the portfolio.

(I think that this one would make a really cool background for a computer)

I really like this shot too...If he had actually blocked the pass it would be amazing, but I think it is pretty great as it is.

As always, Spiller was a beast during the game. We are going to miss him next year, but Ellington has really been stepping up so that is a good thing.

This isn't a spectacular photo per say, but what I really like about it is how the clemson players are watching Ponder through the ball. It is kinda like...darn...we should have stopped that from happening.

This was the third time that I was almost ran over at the game. (Second by Spiller). But I have learned by now when to stop taking pictures and when to run.

I believe this was after the last touchdown that we made and I really love this photo because almost half the team is in this photo celebrating.

The drum line gave a performance after the game and it was pretty good. It was suppose to be a drum-off between the Clemson drum line and the Florida State drum line, but I guess Florida State was just really sad that they lost the game, or something. It was a pretty awesome game for us as afterwards we were ranked (24, but still) and it set us on the path for the ACC Championship.

Anyway, hope that you can enjoy these photos and I am looking forward to tomorrow's post because it should involve Brother Micah (HE'S BACK!!!!)

Until tomorrow,

-joshua

Yearbook Photos

2009-11-09T10:41:00.001-08:00

So, yesterday I was taking group photos for yearbook and I shot an event too (for yearbook) and then I lounged. I didn't get a post up, but I will get two up today because I am editing the football pictures now. So, here is just a look at some of the things that I have been shooting for yearbook.

This deadline and next we are focusing on getting Greeks and Orgs group pictures for their group pages. I can't say that I enjoy taking these pictures, but they aren't horrible when the groups are wanting their picture taken. (Try to take a group picture of a group that isn't there for that explicit purpose...it is hell.)

The big thing that I was taking pictures of yesterday was the 5K Student Memorial Run which was to raise money for the "All Faiths Chapel" that we are trying to build somewhere on campus.

There were lots of serious runners there, which was cool.

Many people had iPods. (Just kinda making statements...lol)

This photo I thought was kinda cool. All the "serious" runners were more or less in sync in this photo (which was only about 2 seconds after the start of the race).

This is something that I took for a spread that we are doing on the Top 20 Initiative here at school. We are installing moving bookshelves in our library - which I think is really cool. Maybe that is just the nerd in me, but I tried out moving one, and it was pretty cool haha.

This is the other side of the first floor (the one they are re-doing right now). You can see the tracks that they are putting down. I am not sure if they are going to go on and do the other floors too, but I would assume so. I have not really seen much on campus that they are doing with the Top 20 Initiative until lately, but I really like what I have seen so far. (I will talk a little more about that when I have the football post, because I have some other Top 20 photos that have to do with the football program.)

Until later,

-joshua

Men's Basketball Exhibition

2009-11-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

So the men's exhibition was...well, a lot more exciting than the women's game. (To say the least.) I am excited that basketball season is starting because basketball is the sport that I really taught me how to capture sports shots, and I feel like I really came into my own as a sports photographer during last year's season.

The first real game isn't until Friday, but the exhibition game went well. We won 99 to 52 (I think) and so it looks as if we have a good team this year (obviously - it is extra obvious to anyone that was at the game - we were playing a team that was no where near our caliber, but I think that our team will showed that they have great potential for this season).

I have imported football pictures from the game tonight (yesterday?) but I am not going to go through them tonight, not in any great detail at least. I have a lot to shoot tomorrow (for yearbook) but I should go through all my football pictures tomorrow and have those up for y'all to see.

-joshua

Halloween Party

2009-11-07T13:09:00.001-08:00

So, a while back (ok, well it was just last weekend, but still...) I shot a halloween party that the museum back home held and it was quite an experience. I don't really have a whole lot to say about this one; I will just let the pictures do the talking:

There was a serious fortune teller (as in it was her real job) at the party so that was pretty cool, but I never went to go see her.

I think what is most disturbing about this photo is that I know all the people in it.

...don't ask...I didn't...

The Biffle's were the winners of the costume contest.

I don't know if I will get the men's basketball exhibition up before I have to go shoot the football game or not, but look for both of those posts tomorrow!

-joshua

Woman's Basketball Exhibition

2009-11-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

Monday basketball started with the woman's exhibition game (the men's exhibition game is going to be tomorrow) and it was...well...let's just say that I am looking forward to the men's game tomorrow night.

I don't have many problems with woman's sports, it is just that the men's games are so much better as far as environment/atmosphere; the crowd, the students, the amount of people, the excitement....it is all just more in men's games. Anyway, I am going to stop talking about that so I am not called sexist, and just share some of the exciting pictures from the game monday... ;)

I don't know what post will be tomorrow, or if I will get another one up tonight, but yea...either way do look for a post Saturday morning with the pics from the men's exhibition on Friday, and then a late post (it would be really late, so early Sunday will be more likely) from the Clemson/FSU game on Saturday night. :)

-joshua

Clemson Football (vs. Costal Carolina)

2009-11-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

So, for homecoming we played Coastal Carolina and won...really big. I am not even sure the final score. But anyway, that isn't really important. What is important is that I have been getting some really good shots this year at football (mine weren't so hot last year) and that makes me really excited. I think that it really shows that I have grown a lot as a photographer, and so that is good.

Anyway, I did finish these yesterday, but it was really late at night and I didn't want to write a post then, so here are a few of the good pictures from the game Saturday.

We kinda went a little crazy on CCU, and pretty much beat the crap out of them if you couldn't tell from the photos. But it did make for some cool shots.

Maybe later tonight I will have pictures up from the woman's exhibition basketball game or from my portfolio, but I am not making any promises except they will be up before the week is over.

Later,

-joshua

My First Wedding

2009-11-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

So, last weekend (Oct. 24th) I shot my first wedding. I think that it went well, and I was pretty happy with the pictures that I got. I did this for a friend (kinda...I mean, not that I am not friends, but the person that works in the business office of my high school was the mother of the groom, and she asked my old yearbook advisor to do it and so of course I was dragged into it...not that I minded.) So it was interesting. I liked it because it was my first try at weddings and it was really low key and not a lot of pressure. I think that it was a good way to start that type of photography.

I don't really have a lot to say about it, but I do have a lot of pictures...so here they are:

These first two photos I obviously did not take, but that is ok...cause I am in them! And it is actually a rare case of me liking a photo I am in. These were taken by my old yearbook advisor who helped me shoot the wedding.

I like this one except for the fact that it is overexposed by a billion stops... but oh well. I like what this photo would be if it were exposed correctly lol...

So, these are the photos that I took, and it wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be in most cases. It was interesting just being in the moment, and trying to not interact and mess with people, but also interacting with people that I had never seen before. I don't really even know if that makes since, but oh well. I did enjoy being able to capture these moments, and if I have to say so myself, I think I did pretty well.

If this picture doesn't say "trouble" then nothing else will. These two guys were funny though - and they were the perfect dichotomy. The one on the left was rowdy and uncontrollable, and the one on the right was just the perfect little gentleman. But that didn't stop them from getting in trouble a few times.

Now this little girl I had met before; she goes to the dance studio that I took pictures at last year, and even though she has never said anything to me (that I can remember) she always gives a bashful smile when I am around.

I like the first picture of the hands, but I really like the second one because the preacher in the background is smiling, and, it feels more happy I suppose.

In this shot I got my teacher, and I am willing to bet that the first shot I put up was right after I took this shot (as I was in that one) kinda funny since this is the only frame that we both got in each other's way.

Hopefully this will be the first of two (maybe three) posts today, and I am still trying to find time to make a new head banner for the blog. But I am not really sure what that should look like as I am doing a lot of things right now. (Over the summer I was mainly doing weeklong, or blocked off things, so it was easy to have a banner, but I will be thinking of something.)

Until later (hopefully),

-joshua

Tigerama 2009

2009-11-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

Yea, so, I haven't been updating, but I am going to start doing that again. Mainly because I have been waiting for an update to my website, but because I am getting it for free, I can't really complain that it is late. I have done a lot so far this year, and sometime later this week I will do an update on that. I have been missing the blog, so I am going to start it up again. (I will work on changing the head image sometime soon, but I am in class as I am writing this; so new post now, then update later.

For those of you that don't know what Tigerama is, it is our pep-rally before our homecoming game. It is the second largest student led pep rally in the US, and as another fun fact this year's Tigerama was number 53. Basically several of the organizations on campus team up and put on different skits and there are special guests and the winner of the homecoming pageant is announced. That is your basic rundown...now here are the pictures!

Last year was the first year that the football team had been involved, and they came back again this year. I really like this pic of Dabo (he is the head coach for those of you who didn't know) and I think that it might make its way into the portfolio.

These guys preform all over campus and they are really cool to watch. There were a few drops, but I don't think anyone thought they did a bad job. spinning riffles around in front of several thousand people can be more than a little nerve racking in my opinion. Anyway, I really liked this photo of them.

They had the whole sword-tunnel thing going on. (Also, fore-shadowing...you may see more of this girl later >_>)

This is one of my favorite photos from the night (next to the one of Dabo) but I am not sure if it is going into the portfolio or not. You will see more of this girl later because I am actually going to be doing some model shots for her this coming up weekend. I am both excited and nervous about that because I have never done anything like that before.

This was another photo that I really liked. It was a good full length shot of one of the runner-ups.

And she was the winner. (I don't know her name or the organization she was reping but yea.)

And of course, the band was there too.

So, that is it for now; hope to have other photos up later!

-joshua

Essay

2009-10-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

So I know that this is a photoblog, and that I haven't updated in a while, but that is because I have been trying to redo my website, and I have been busy with school. But I don't know when the website is going to get done, so look for an update towards the end of the week as just a recap of my photographic adventures so far this year. Anyway, this post is for all the people that enjoy my other reading...my philosophy essays!

Our Obligations from Gratitude

Human interaction is usually divided into two categories, duties and obligations. Obligations are the type of actions that involve repayment of a debt (debts that we have acquired through a voluntary act), and duties are actions that we are required to do, either because we accepted them as part of a positional role (and hence positional duties) or we have them because of our human condition (our natural or moral duties). It is in the interest of governments that their subjects have a muddied view of their obligations and duties, and for this reason they often blur these concepts. This is done surprisingly well by confusing the notions of gratitude and natural duties and the obligations and duties each one entails. The end result is that the common man will perform acts of obedience to his government thinking that he is fulfilling an obligation of gratitude when in reality there is no such obligation he is bound to fulfill.

Let us begin to clear the “mud” so that we can better understand this distinction between obligations of gratitude and political obligations as the theory of gratitude sees them. To do this, we must look at a theory of gratitude and understand under what conditions such an obligation of gratitude is generated. Simmons does a nice job of setting up what this theory would look like. He provides us with five conditions that, while necessary, are not a fully sufficient account of obligation from gratitude, but do a good job of laying out the conditions under which a debt of gratitude would be generated. The conditions are as follows:

“1. The benefit must be granted by means of some special effort or sacrifice.

2. The benefit must not be granted unintentionally, involuntarily, or for disqualifying reasons.

3. The benefit must not be forced (unjustifiably) on the beneficiary against his will.

4. The beneficiary must want the benefit, or, 4a, it must be the case that the beneficiary would want the benefit if certain impairing conditions were corrected.

5. The beneficiary must not want the benefit not to be provided by the benefactor, or, 5a, it must be the case that the beneficiary would not want the benefit not to be provided by the benefactor if certain impairing conditions were corrected.” (178, 179)

The benefit that these five points mention refer to the deed that the benefactor does which then generates a debt of gratitude in the beneficiary.

If the act in question does indeed fulfill these five restrictions then it is likely that an obligation of gratitude is generated. However, there are some cases in which simply meeting these five requirements would obviously not generate such a debt. These are few, but worth noting so that we are clear about what they are. Simmons constructs a very general example to demonstrate this oddity. In it a man is part of an organization whose aim is to raise money and then distribute an equal (or fair) share to all of its members. The man has the right to his fair share of the money and the treasurer of the organization has the (positional) duty to pay the man his fair share. But we would never think that in the fulfillment of this transaction any type of further duty or obligation is generated (be it from gratitude or anything else) because all obligations and duties have been carried out and no one has gone out of his or her way to help someone.

In the above case it should be noted that the duty that the treasurer fulfilled was a positional duty and it did not generate an obligation of gratitude. This is not just an interesting coincidence, but it is a rather important distinction Simmons makes about the gratitude theory. When someone is executing a positional duty it does not generate any further obligations because it is merely the carrying out of previous obligations the executor volunteered upon himself. So, it may be the case that the benefactor went out of his way to give another member of the organization his fair share, but his going out of his way was required by his positional duties, and therefore does not qualify it as an action that would generate an obligation of gratitude.

So then, there are indeed cases where the fulfilling of our duties satisfies the five requirements but does not generate an obligation of gratitude. But when does the fulfillment of a duty that satisfies these requirements generate such a debt? According to Simmons this scenario is actually more common, and in fact most actions that generate obligations of gratitude are actions that fulfill some other duty or obligation:

“I believe that duty-meeting or obligation-meeting conduct can (under certain conditions) generate debts of gratitude…the most common sorts of cases in which considerations of gratitude are involved are precisely cases where the benefactor has a duty to grant the benefits in question…In helping someone in need, we will normally be doing our duty (although we may of course do more than our duty, or less than our duty): the duty to help those in need. But these seem to be just the sorts of cases in which we think a debt of gratitude is owed to the benefactor.” (179)

I do not believe that it is hard for any of us to imagine a scenario that satisfies the five requirements and where the beneficiary would be then indebted to the benefactor. Let us say that Seth has fallen ill and needs to get medicine from the drugstore down the street. But he is too sick to walk down the street and get the medicine he needs and his friend James volunteers to go get the medicine for him. This action satisfies all of our five requirements: James is intentionally going out of his way and making a sacrifice to go get Seth the medication he requires. (If there is a question of whether or not it is really a sacrifice to make a 20 minute walk to the drugstore, let us assume that it is during the latter part of some big sporting event on TV which James is watching, yet he choices to go to the drugstore anyway.) Seth definitely wants the benefit (and it is not being forced on him) and there is no reason to believe that he would not want the benefit to not be given to him by James. In this case, we would say that Seth owes James a debt of gratitude (presumably in the form of some action or type of reimbursement). It is important to note that James has fulfilled a duty like the treasurer in our last example. However, in this case it is not a positional duty that has been fulfilled (at least we will assume that James is not the volunteered house/hall nurse and it was not his positional duty to go to the drug store). What James has fulfilled here is his natural (moral) duty to help those in need.

We have explored both a case of the five requirements being met and no obligation of gratitude being generated, and a case of the five requirements being met and an obligation of gratitude being generated which we would expect to be repaid in the form of an action. What we have yet to consider is a case where the five requirements are met and an obligation is generated and yet the reimbursement expected for said debt is less than an action. Let’s say that the next day while Seth is still in bed sick, he has an assignment due for a class, and it must be turned in (in person, not by email) or else he fails the assignment. So, James once again volunteers and takes the paper to Seth’s class. Just as last time James has fulfilled all five requirements to generate an obligation of gratitude, but is it on the same level as getting a person medicine? The assignment is not as critical as the medicine; Seth would receive a less than desirable grade for the work, but it is not as if his college career rests on one homework assignment, and the medicine is a much more dire situation. But would we think that Seth owes his friend no debt of gratitude for his action? Most certainly not, yet we would be willing to say that the debt generated from the assignment is considerably less than that generated by the medicine. We would even be reasonable in saying that the debt from the assignment could be paid by simply feeling grateful, and expressing that gratitude. (Where we would be sensible to expect more than a mere expression of gratitude for missing the critical final moments of a sporting game to walk down the street to pick up medicine; say a few beers at the local pub, or a lunch at the café.)

What we should note from the above account is that the actions that generate the strongest debts of gratitude are fulfillments of moral duties. This is important to consider, and we will revisit this idea shortly.

Having laid out a general theory of obligation from gratitude we can reasonably conclude whether an action should generate an obligation of gratitude and in what form the debt should be repaid (be it through action or feeling). So, if we were to try to make an account of political obligation from a theory of gratitude, which direction should we go? To figure this out, we should define what a political obligation is (for we have already found out what actions generate obligations of gratitude and what magnitude these debts are likely to be of).

Simmons makes an important distinction between the two:

“[The gratitude account of political obligation] must…show that the content of these debts [that is to say the actions required by the debt] is such that we will be willing to call them political obligations… if political obligation is to include supporting the government and obeying the law, the obligation would require a very specific performance, namely obedience.” (185)

Another way of looking at this requirement Simmons has pointed out is to say that a political obligation is an obligation we have to act in a certain way. (167) I think then that we would be reasonable to think that the direction we should go then is the second account we looked at earlier; the account that fulfilled the five requirements to generate an obligation of gratitude which suggested that the debt be repaid in the form of an action. (This was the fulfillment of our moral duties.) It would seem then that if we are to make a case that obligations of gratitude can generate political obligations then we are to make the case that the fulfillment of moral duties by the government will generate obligations of gratitude toward the government.

This is not as simple as it sounds though. The obvious question that arises is this: “Are the actions that the government carries out actions required by moral duties or positional duties?” (For our case that gratitude can generate political obligations we would need for these actions to be the fulfillment of moral duties.) And then, “If they are the fulfillment of moral duties, do they meet the five requirement and as a result generate an obligation of duty which is to be repaid in the form of an action?”

We will start our dissection of these questions with the first query. To answer the question of the nature of the government’s actions, we have to look at the origin of positional duties, the origin of natural duties, and the structure of the government that is carrying out these actions. Positional duties are duties that an individual takes upon himself or herself when they voluntarily step into a role to which those duties are tied. Natural duties on the other hand are duties that every man has toward every other man because of the mere fact he is a human being. However, these two duties can overlap. For an example of this, let us look at a doctor. Every human has the moral duty to help those in need. A doctor also has the positional duty to help those in need. So, if a doctor treats a patient, is an obligation of gratitude generated?

The answer to that question can be found by looking at the context in which the doctor treats the patient. If the doctor was on vacation at the beach with his family, and while strolling across the sand with his wife he happened upon a child who has been stung by a jellyfish (and thus in need of help) then the doctor has the moral duty to help the child because he knows what type of care the kid needs and he is able to provide it. The doctor has gone out of his way to help the kid (let us say that he and his spouse were on their way to a fancy dinner and by stopping and helping the kid they were late or missed their reservation) and has satisfied the other requirements to generate an obligation of gratitude. In such case we would expect that the child now has a debt of gratitude to the doctor (he has made the doctor miss his special dinner he had planned for his wife) and it would not be unthinkable for the doctor to expect more than a simple “thank-you” from the child (let us suppose he is a teenage to make the case simpler).

Now on the other hand, let us look at the same case only this time let’s place the doctor in his office, on duty, with the sole aim of waiting to help those that come into his clinic and expecting them to pay him. And let us suppose that the same teenager this time has broken his arm, and pays a visit to the doctor. Do we expect a debt of gratitude to be generated from this occasion? It is not unreasonable to think that the child could express some form of gratitude, some feeling of gratitude because the doctor knows what he is doing and is able to help the patient. But to say that an obligation of gratitude is generated is going too far. For one, this scenario violates at least two of the five requirements we set out at the start of our discussion. There are disqualifying reasons here that discredit any claim that an obligation of gratitude is generated. Namely that the doctor is performing these benefits so that he can be paid and make a living, and it is not as if he is only charging the patient what it cost the doctor perform the benefit; the doctor is making a profit (and a very nice profit in some cases). But beyond that, the doctor is making no sacrifice to perform this benefit; he is sitting in his office all day precisely for the reason of having people come to him for his services. So right off the bat this case violate the first two requirements we set in place for the generation of an obligation of gratitude.

If we look at this example and replace the doctor with the government, we will see that the government too does not perform moral duties when they act, but instead they simply perform the positional duties that they put themselves in the position to perform (in other words they are not going out of their way because that is precisely the reason they exist in the first place.)

It would seem then that the government is by nature incapable of fulfilling moral duties. But, for the sake of furthering the argument, assuming that the actions the government undertakes are those that fulfill moral duties, do they meet the five requirements in place so that they would generate an obligation of gratitude? The easiest place to start to look for a kink in the system is with the first requirement laid out by Simmons. For this we can look back at our earlier example. If an act is to generate an obligation of gratitude, the benefactor must go out of their way and make a significant sacrifice to grant the benefit. Is this something that a government can do? (Can the government go out of its way for an individual?) Surely we could think of an outlandish example where this may be the case, but let’s think instead of what the likely case would be, that of the government helping an individual, presumably in some financial way. Is this a sacrifice to the government? Simmons seems to think that it is not:

“[S]urely, any ‘sacrifice’ which the government makes for me is a very small one. The expense involved in extending the benefits of government to one additional person must be negligible at best.”(189)

We must agree with Simmons here. Not only is the government in control of a large amount of money, they get that money from taxing the very people that they would then extend said benefits to. This does not seem to meet the first requirement we have set. So then, is the theory of obligations of gratitude a satisfactory account of political obligation? I trust that we would be right in concluding that it is not.

We can see that if a government provides a benefit that is part of its description then it is the fulfillment of a positional duty, and thus does not produce an obligation of gratitude. For if the president runs the country, we may be thankful that he is doing his job, but we are not obligated to show our gratitude, simply because it is his (positional) duty to run the country. And, if someone goes above and beyond his or her positional duties to help someone in need, which by doing so generates an obligation of gratitude that is to be repaid by an action, then we are obligated to them, not the governmental office they reside in. Thus we have shown that the gratitude theory is not a sufficient account of political obligation, but of obligation out of gratitude to an individual person that is generated by fulfilling their moral duties to others.

BigStuf 2009 - Camp 9

2009-07-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

This was my sixth year going to the BigStuf summer camps down in Panama City, Fl. Every year, it is a good camp and this year was no exception. I think that this year might have been my favorite however because of my photography. I did take some pictures last year, and I actually have a few of those in my portfolio, but I feel like this year I knew more about what I was doing (obviously as I have a year's worth of experience behind me now) and I had a lot more fun taking the pictures.

There really isn't that much to say about the camp as I am kinda taking a break this summer with the philosophical posts, so here are the pictures ;) (with a little commentary)

(For those of you who do read this blog for the writing as well as the photography I have a nice surprise for y'all this fall, but you will have to wait until then.)

Here are the photos,

One of the advantages of having a wide-angle lens is that you can get a lot in frame (especially on a full-frame camera) and that means that you can get some cool shots, especially in the concert type settings like BigStuf.

I really like this photo of the worship leader praying because of the lighting on him.

Again with the wide-angle (my favorite camera combo lately is the 16-35 on my 5D) I think that here having the speaker in the middle with a really open frame gives the picture a feel of a big stage. But at the same time I think that there is a good balance between feeling lost in the picture and giving enough impression of "big-ness."

I did take my 70-200 with me of course, and it saw use too.

But I found myself going back to the wide-angle to give the impression of a big concert feeling.

Though as every good photog knows, for emotion usually the best bet is to crop tight (except for in those rare occasions)

The lighting was pretty interesting for the most part; there was a lot of blue and a lot of purple in most of the sets, but I think that the pictures still turned out good.

Hope y'all enjoyed, cause I know I had a good week :)

-joshua

Hawai'i

2009-07-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

So, Hawai'i really is amazingly beautiful. I can't really say much other than that. I got to spend one of the few weeks that I am not at some type of camp this summer on the island of Kaua'i, Hawai'i - you guessed it - taking pictures. You would think that I am sick of pictures by this point in my life, but I am not, not really lol.

For this post I am going to let the pictures do the talking, cause they are going to be the only thing I have that will come close to giving the trip the justice it deserves. Enjoy, cause I know I did :)

I hope that I get some awesome pictures this coming up week too, but it will be a totally different ball park since it will be like a concert/spiritual setting. Anyway, hope that y'all enjoyed the Hawai'i photos, cause I sure did enjoy taking them ;)

-joshua

Salkehatchie Summer Service Week 2

2009-07-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

Well, two weeks of Salkehatchie almost killed me, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

It was really fun, and I had a great time getting to know 80 brand new people the second week at a new camp. I did more working at the Greenwood camp than I did down in Summerville, but I did end up getting two more good pictures.

I am about to leave on a trip to Hawaii for a week, so I don't really have much to say except I am glad that I will finally have some down time to rest. But I know that I will still be taking a ton of pictures, and I am ok with that haha.

I will be sure to share my trip with y'all when I get back, or, if I find a way to while I am there, then I will put out some updates there.

So, until next week,

-joshua

Salkehatchie Summer Service Week 1

2009-06-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

So, last night I left my computer at the church I am working with this week, but I got it this morning and here I am to put up my first post on this blog.

So, for those of you who don't know what Salkehatchie is, the Salkehatchie Summer Service project is a camp that was started by a pastor working with some youth one summer trying to find something to occupy their time. the solution? Helping with home repairs for people who were underprivileged.

Now over 30 years later, Salkehatchie Summer Service has grown from one camp down in the lower-state of South Carolina to a growing state-wide phenomenon that over 2900 youth and adults will participate in this summer. Each camp is one week long, from Saturday to Saturday, and each camp's participants come from all over the state.

Our church has attended the camp in Summerville, South Carolina for the past 4 years, and I have gone each year. This year was a little different though because I was the "official" photographer for the camp. The reason I did this was because I have (obviously) recently become quite skilled and quite involved with photography, and I felt that the way that I could best help the camp was to document everything. At the same time I took it upon myself to try and get some really good shots that could become posters to promote Salkehatchie Summer Service next year, because the camp is growing and, well, let's face it, they need a new PR strategy (they don't really have much of anything in the way of marketing right now).

So, I set out to take some pictures that I though could be used as ads, and I am rather happy with what I managed to get.

This is the first one that I came up with, and I realize that it is not the best poster style ad. (It doesn't show anyone doing work, just playing.) While it is a cool picture, it doesn't really show what the camp is about, and the word play with the volleyball lingo, while creative, is not exactly compelling, because he isn't serving the ball. My original idea with this ad was a 2 page magazine type of ad, where you see the first part of the ad, and then when you flip a few more pages you see the other part that makes the whole ad come together, but it didn't work out because I wasn't going around with a group of models posing them the way that I wanted - I was getting candids and trying to use what I could to get an awesome shot. But, I liked the idea for the ad, and it was actually while I was playing around with this picture in photoshop that I finally had a breakthrough in design and discovered my own way of post-processing photos to give them a more "ad/poster" type of feel.

I may go into detail later about how I do one of the posters, but for now, I am going to keep my technique to myself ;p

So anyway, I got that picture on the first day and I got excited about what the following week would bring. My second picture came on the next day, and I have been told that it is similar to some older (50's-ish maybe?) style ads from back in the day.

I really like the post that I did on this one. It is more "new-age" and "video-game" looking than the later ads, but I like them all just the same.

I was having a good run, two days in and two ads, but then I hit a kind of wall. I did get a shot that I thought was good on Day 2, but I was a little too far to the left, and it was more risque than an ad promoting a church event should be (you can use your imagination because I am not going to post that one, well at least not in this post, and well, maybe you shouldn't use your imagination too much ;D) But then on Day 4 I somehow got re-inspired and had a case of being in the right place at the right time. I produced two ads from Day 4, and then on Day 5 I got another one.

I really like this one a lot, but after I finished it I was still feeling a little down because Salkehatchie camps are all about youth coming and serving God. So far all I had produced was a group of early 20 year olds playing volleyball, and two adults working. While they were all good pictures, they weren't really pictures that would bring many youth in, which is really the prime marketing target. But, as I was relooking at the day's pictures and trying to find one that I though would bring in youth, I did! (yay! haha)

And on Day 5 I got one with two people in it (this is actually a remake of the "rejected" ad that I got on Day 2, it wasn't this exact composition, but it was a shingling picture). I think that it is always good to get more than one person in them, but it is sometimes hard to do, especially when you are trying to have candid shots and not pose people too much.

In closing, I guess that I would like to say that I hope I get a chance to see some of these pictures that I am taking this week and last week as some posters that people actually use for promoting Salkehatchie, and who knows, there may even be a Salkehatchie PR role somewhere in my future ;) but we will just have to see where it goes, and be praying that it goes where God wants it too, since it is a church camp and all :)

Look for updates on the camp I am working at this week too,

-joshua

Under Construction

2009-06-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

look for the next post to be up within the next 24 hours.

that is all

-joshua