Sad Girl – Las Vegas

05. September 2012 · Comments Off on Sad Girl – Las Vegas · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

So today was our first full day at Photoshop World.  We attended the Key Note opening presentation and then went to some classes with Joe McNally (an amazing photographer).

After that we attended the Expo where a number of resellers were showing their products.  The expo was really good, there was loads of amazing photography stuff there – Lisa’s worst nightmare!  But today I didn’t buy a thing, I’m really proud of myself.

Anyway, one of the resellers (Westcott) sells a lot of lighting equipment and they had a couple of “bays” set up with lights.  Each bay had a model posing for passers by.  If you had a camera (and we did) you could just snap away and test out how good the lights were.

What made this funny (and sad) is one of the girls was dressed in 1940’s lingerie and was clearly not that comfortable with all the photographers there.  Sure she was smiling at each person with a camera, but the eyes never lie.  Every now and then her smile would drop and you could see she really wasn’t enjoying it.

I guess being a model you are used to having your picture taken, but when there are so many people fighting to get in front of you it’s got to be pretty scary.  I really felt for her.  But then I thought sod it and took her picture too.

Today Carter and Master Chief visited the casino and I found them tonight splitting their winnings.

Seatac Airport – Seattle

04. September 2012 · Comments Off on Seatac Airport – Seattle · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

Today I left town and flew out to Las Vegas to go to the Photoshop World conference.   I’ve wanted to go to this for a couple of years and decided this year was the year.  It’s basically a conference for a load of keen Photoshop users who want to learn more about the product and general photography.

About 3000 people attend and there are numerous training courses throughout the day and an expo where you can go and checkout all the latest photography gear and try stuff you want to buy.

Perhaps the best bit is you get to meet all your photography icons (yes there are amazingly talented people out there) and get some guidance and advice on how to improve. (The will even review your work for 20 minutes and tell you why you suck – but I have Lisa for that).

Plus you are surrounded to 3000 other sad photographers who all share the same passion as you.  So this for me is heaven.  I have a photography buddy at home (Chris Pearson) who came with me and as I write this we are sitting in hour hotel room in the Mandalay Bay.

Anyway, today I needed to post a picture and while at the airport in Seattle I captured the picture below of the food court that looks out over the airport’s runways.

As you would expect there is a Starbucks here and LOTs of people walking about (so some are a little blurry).  I HDR’d this image so I could clearly see outside and inside with everything being properly exposed.  In the end it came out pretty good.

Over the next few days expect some shots from Vegas.

Here Master Chief and Carter are sitting in our hotel room enjoying the Vegas view out the window.

Stones – Bellevue Botanical Gardens

03. September 2012 · Comments Off on Stones – Bellevue Botanical Gardens · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

The other day I visited Bellevue’s Botanical Gardens and got some really nice pictures.  On the way out I found these stacked stones in a grass garden.  I wasn’t sure how this image would come out as everything is so green.  But after post processing I think it looks cool.  The little bit of blue sky helps but for some reason the grass and stones just grab my attention.

When I got home I showed Abi the picture and told her I stacked them myself.  She was blown away, super impressed I managed to do it and kept asking how long it took and how I stopped them from falling down.  Eventually I had to tell here the rocks are just an exhibit

I tried several different compositions, some from really low, some at standing head height and a some vertical but this is the one I liked best.

Carter and Master Chief got excited today as they packed a suitcase ready for our trip to Las Vegas and Photoshop World.

iPic – Redmond

02. September 2012 · Comments Off on iPic – Redmond · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

Tonight I decided to photograph one of my favorite places to go, iPic Theater.  This movie theater used to be a Gold Class theater and was owned by Mark Cuban.  However for some reason Gold Class sold out to iPic, but it’s still really good.

So what’s the big deal?  Well firstly this is a movie theater for adults only – so no kids talking.  As they have a bar and serve alcoholic drinks to your seat while you’re watching your film, you have to be 21 or over to go there.  Also, they have these enormous electric chairs that recline and they give you pillows and blankets so you get all comfortable while you enjoy the movie.  And the thing that makes it perfect is they have a full menu and serve you food again in the theater to your seat, what’s more the food is pretty good.  So going out for dinner and a movie is a totally different experience.

Originally Lisa and I said we would never go there as a ticket cost $22.  We thought it was nuts spending that much for the movies, but there was a film we wanted to see (I can’t remember what it was) and the only place that was showing it at the time we wanted was Gold Class.  So we reluctantly went and begrudgingly handed over our $44 for two tickets.

But it was just FANTASTIC.  Back then they used to have a little red button that you could press and someone would come to your seat and take orders etc., but these days (since iPic took it over) the buttons have gone.  Also when iPic took over they raised the prices to $28 a person.  But the problem is once you have been there you just can’t go anywhere else – it really is that good.

I’ve taken friends there and they all get hooked too.  So I thought it might make a nice image.

So I parked up, grabbed the gear and ran across the road.  I had to be quick as security won’t let you take pictures in the town center (check out one of my first postings on when I got busted).  So I thought I’d just be quick.  I took three pictures from different locations and got out of dodge.

Fortunately in the one I chose to post, there were no cars driving past, but I think I could have got a better image.  I think it’s just OK, but definitely good enough to post.

Today I got a new Retina MacBook Pro and Master Chief and Carter helped me unbox it.

Lake Washington Pier – Kirkland

01. September 2012 · Comments Off on Lake Washington Pier – Kirkland · Categories: Image a Day

The trouble with night time shots of piers, is that once you take one, you kind of want to take them all!  This time I visited Lake Washington on the Kirkland side and found this small pier.  The sun was setting on the other side of the lake and behind me was this very bright street light (that’s why the pier is so well lit up).

This picture came out pretty well and I particularly like the sky with the orange sunset and mottled clouds.  At the end of the day (no pun intended) it’s pretty hard to mess a scene like this up, but all is not necessarily what it seems.

This is another long exposure, this is necessary to get enough light into the camera to light up the subject.  This also has the added benefit of making the water look smooth and calm.  In reality it was a little windy so the water was choppy.  But this looks much prettier.  The result of all this is what you see below and isn’t really what I saw.  Sure I could see a bit of the pier, but the end was in darkness.  The sky looked nice but not as cool as in the image and the water, was much rougher.

So you kind of have to imagine what the end result will be when you do this.  I’m getting better at that and am less surprised these days with the end result.  You learn to “see” the landscape in a different way when you take the image.  This is why people come up to you when you are shooting and ask “what are you doing”.  They can’t see it.

The only problem was that there was a group of people sitting on the pier at the end, as it was pretty dark I couldn’t really make them out but they looked teenager’ish.  Anyway thanks to Photoshop they are no longer there – I love Photoshop.

Carter and Master Chief were trying out some new carpet samples today, I think Master Chief found the one he wants.

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