kevin schambers photography

Catch Up

2010-11-09T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the images from the past few months. I have been struggling with the Mamiya and film developing. My results are extremely random. One good composition out of a roll and that picture has streaks, flare or scratches. I bought some new film and will shoot that for the next month or so. Click on thumbnail for larger size picture.

Digital to start.

I heard this bird hit the window. It was Summer so he was really dirty.

In the garden among the basil.

This roll of film was in a Kodak 616 camera purchased at a garage sale. Total of eight pictures of this family's camping trip.

Film from here to the bottom of the post.

Film at the American River toward Lake Tahoe.

Vineyard on Pleasant Valley Road in El Dorado County.

Tahoe.

Virginia City, Nevada

Chester moves just when you have his eyes in focus.

Folsom, CA dam shot from under the new over crossing by the prison.

Happy 4th

2010-07-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

El Dorado Hills shot off their fireworks tonight. I hiked up one of the El Dorado hills and shot these pics over the multiplex/town center. Some other community was setting off fireworks over the next hill to the east--those are the little explosions in the background!

Medium Format Film

2010-06-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

A shrewd garage sale expert scored a gently-used Mamiya 645 medium format camera for me. I shot the film that was loaded in the camera but didn't know what that film was until I removed the roll. Turns out it was black and white 100 speed film. I purchased developing chemicals, a tank and drying clips and read the instructions on the 'net. I had trouble feeding the roll onto the reel in the dark. Once that was resolved, I expected the pictures to be destroyed since I handled the negative so much.

Here are a couple of the first shots:

Gracie on the driveway. Uploaded 3mb jpeg but blogger reduces to 179kb jpeg.

Pond reflection regular 1500 pixel long side jpeg.

Herb garden. The dog shot was metered in my head; the other two metered through my digital camera's internal meter or a spot meter that came with the camera.

More shots to follow in the coming weeks.

Yosemite National Park #8

2010-06-29T23:44:00.000-07:00

jp1ckle and I headed out to Yosemite (eighth National Park for me in the last three weeks) to see if we could find Rita. It was Saturday and the park was a madhouse. We parked on a side street in the valley and hiked to the lower falls, around to the Ahwahnee Hotel, back to the meadow and then returned to the car to drive up to Glacier Point. Cell phones were only good for emergency calls, so we couldn't get ahold of the rest of our party. Enjoy the pics.

jp1ckle by the lower falls. She shot pictures all day long and snapped a few keepers.

The few clouds we saw that day.

jp1ckle assignment from me. She has a knack for photography!

Ranger on duty at the Point.

A little more water this time compared to my visit last August.

Oh, and we saw a bear, of course!

He posed for a long time before the tourists got too close.

Crater Lake

2010-06-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

I broke away from the caravan and stopped by Crater Lake on my way home. Luckily the north entrance was open as the park service cleared the previous night's snow from the road.

Fresh snow piled up and clear skies.

Stellar Jay watching the tourists.

The one time I stopped from Crater Lake to CA.

My new art--movement and reflection. Why stop or even slow down!

Oregon Coast

2010-06-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots taken while stopping along the coast. Click for larger image.

Covered Bridge near Lincoln City, OR.

Under the bridge.

Three taken while waiting for other photographers to finish shooting.

Halibut Fish Tacos.

Swimming toward the open sea.

My National Parks pass got me into this park as well. Add $7 to the total.

When a new one landed several others were pushed off the sides.

Palouse Two

2010-06-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

After stalling out in Colfax, WA, the trip advanced toward Walla Walla. Green Palouse is interesting and the wheel fence calls when you are in the area--Uniontown, WA.

Green fields and intersting clouds.

A little closer.

South of Pullman, WA.

Great weather for this morning.

A lot closer to the wheels.

Close to the 82 and 84 junction.

Palouse Day One

2010-06-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

We left Missoula late on Tuesday and made it to the Steptoe Butte in Washington that evening. Clouds were breaking up and there were six other photographers waiting for the sunset. Several hang gliders (fliers) were sailing in the breeze to keep us entertained while we waited.

Photographers stuck on the roadside in water, gravel, dirt and weeds. We were lucky someone stopped who was brave enough to pull us out.

I drove through this intersection last year while driving home.

Clouds broke up throughout the day to allow us to stop and shoot.

Periods of sun allowed for great views from the top of the Steptoe Butte. 3500 feet above the fields of the Palouse area of Eastern Washington.

A crop duster was working the whole time.

Toward the west. The best shots were to the south when the sun poked out.

Patterns, ridges and shadows.

Tractor marks from managing the fields.

They drifted back and forth at the top of the Butte and then finally flew down the hill to the landing area.

Bannack Ghost Town

2010-06-07T10:55:00.000-07:00

Rita and I drove four hours from Missoula to Bannack State Park. The site is a gold discovery settlement from 1862. The town lived and died with advancements of gold mining over the years. It was abandoned in the 1950's. Click pictures for larger views.

Stopping to catch the sights along Hiway 278.

View of the town from the cemetary hill.

Residence door.

Classroom with inkwell holes in the desks.

Sturdy brick hotel.

Inner doors of the hotel's safe.

Hotel staircase from the lobby to the rooms.

Brands burned into the inside timbers in one of the buildings.

Part of a wagon left out in the field.

The Gallery Show

2010-06-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

Rita and Richard had their gallery show on First Friday up here in Missoula. Hundreds of people flooded downtown for the monthly event. Here are some shots of the show just before the doors were opened to the public.

The front of the Rocky Mountain School of Photography's gallery.

Two-sided art work hanging in the window. Children's blocks with images on both sides suspended in a metal frame.

Rita's landscapes in her portfolio Western Sky and Richard's block images.

More images on the stacking blocks.

Overflow pieces back in the office area of RMSP.

Rita and Esther Westover

The Artists.

First Shoot back in Missoula

2010-06-03T23:38:00.000-07:00

We finished the gallery work this afternoon and took off to shoot some pictures. The clouds broke early in the day but left an overcast that threatened to wash out the sunset. Rita and I drove up to the Mission Reservoir to survey the water level.

After an hour of waiting for the sun to set I turned around and saw this guy coming over the hill. He didn't see us until we made some noise. Then he started to walk to the left. Some cars started racing up the hill and the bear took off back into the woods.

Sunset arrived about 9:30pm. on the mountains.

Leaving the reservoir allowed us to catch the western view too.

That was a long walk

2010-05-31T22:51:00.000-07:00

The Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park is closed to auto traffic for paving and snow removal at the Avalanche trailhead/campground. But you can hike or bike up the road. This seemed like a great opportunity to see the sights off the road. I passed only about 15 bicyclists, five hikers and one park ranger on my hike to The Loop, six miles up the road. After six and a half hours of walking I was happy to see my car again and rest my tired feet. Click the pics for larger size.

Going to the Sun Road with a fresh layer of asphalt and no one in sight.

Lake McDonald was pretty calm. Light winds and slight drizzle until later in the afternoon.

A different look at the same vista.

Root system of a fallen tree on the Trail of the Cedars path.

Use your imagination.

Pathway on the Trail of the Cedars hike.

Water was flowing everywhere in the park.

Heading up the road you start to see the peaks.

Very few critters on the road today. This Wood Duck just watched his friend fly off up the river.

The road needs repair before it's ready for the crowds.

The tunnel was covered inside and out with run-off.

Getting closer to my goal.

I don't know what this is, but it tried to take me back to its planet.

The Loop. Finally.

The view of Heavens Peak from the Loop.

Heading back down the road when it started raining. Here is where I wished I had ridden my bike so that I could coast all the way back down the mountain.

Bad Weather at Glacier

2010-05-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

It was cloudy in Butte, Mt and clear on the roads to Glacier National Park. The mountains to the west were covered in clouds, but it looked clear to the north. When I arrived the temperature was in the high thirties with constant rain and heavy wind. I sat in the car for an hour and visited the East Entrance gift shop and enjoyed the fireplace. No hiking or animal sightings today. Click pics for larger view.

Butte on a Sunday morning.

Highway 287

Leading up to the southeastern entrance to the park.

Two Medicine Lake.

Yellowstone Animals

2010-05-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

Freezing temperatures and lots of snow, rain and hail prevented me from hiking but the wildlife viewing made up for that.

Just inside the east entrance.

They both decided to cross the road and climb up the hill.

This bear was just about 50 feet above the road. My car was filling with snow through the sunroof, so I turned around and used the passenger window.

He was near the north end of the big lake.

Almost directly opposite of the bison by the lake.

The hot springs looked great with the cold weather and clouds.

Part of a large herd right by the road. Many babies throughout the park.

Back in Montana just before sunset.

Continue the Tour

2010-05-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

I visited Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park in southwest Utah. It was 93 degrees in the parks today. That didn't keep the people away though. Campsites were all full at both parks. Click the previews for larger images.

On the road leading to Canyonlands.

Inside the park.

Trails in the park are marked with little piles of rocks.

Mushroom caps.

On the road out a real cowboy herding real free (open) range cattle. He had two helper dogs too.

Inside Arches National Park. The Balancing Rock

The Landscape Arch.

Cars give perspective to the size of the spectacle.

Delicate Arch in late afternoon.

I was stuck in traffic for 40 minutes just outside Arches. Here is the tow truck dragging the remains of someone's camping trailer.

National Parks

2010-05-26T23:26:00.000-07:00

Eastern view of the Sierras

A quick spin down the strip. So many people.

You can see the bypass bridge under construction at Hoover Dam.

Yes, it is Grand.

Inside the tower/gift shop.

Zion National Park.

Zion the next morning.

Just over the Utah border of Monument Valley.

More to follow shortly.

Amgen Bicycle Tour of California

2010-05-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

I chose a position on Salmon Falls Road right at the bridge over the American River. A small group of people gathered at this location to cheer on the cyclists.

Video Contest

2009-12-15T14:24:00.001-08:00

In case you didn't see it on Facebook here is the video I made for the Nikon 140 Second contest. Please go view it, register and comment. Thanks.

Snow

2009-12-10T18:50:00.000-08:00

It usually snows once a year but not this much, not in twenty years. That much weight on the oak trees causes too many problems for the area. All of the power, phone and cable lines are above ground and vulnerable to the broken branches and dropped trees. We were inconvenienced for 48 hours without electricity, but the barn's line, box and roof have not been repaired yet. Enjoy the pictures. Click for larger versions.

So Called Meteor Shower

2009-11-18T10:47:00.000-08:00

I heard a rumor that there was supposed to be a meteor shower climaxing on Nov. 17th. I set up two cameras to record the event. I saw three sparks of light and captured one of them. Hope someone saw something spectacular! Stay tuned for more projects. I have four driving videos in production, a video contest for which I'm gathering footage and several panorama shots compiling that are taking way too long to stitch. Oh, and my website should be live in a week or two or three. Video, flash, galleries, etc.

driving around Missoula

2009-10-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of driving from my place in Missoula to a friend's place, and I stopped through costco gas on the way. 511 pictures. Much smoother this time. No treatment, yet.

Two from the Road

2009-10-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

Here are two pics from the last of the drive today. We only made it to Eugene, Oregon after many hours of driving. Shot on Highway 126 from Redmond after late lunch in Bend. We stopped the trip to Crater Lake after deciding it was too late to see anything and backtracked to Eugene to get to the coast.

I shot 4200 pictures each day so far. I'll have extensive driving movies after I edit the sequences. Click thumbnails for large view.

Sunrise Missoula October 17, 2009

2009-10-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

I could shoot the sunrise every day, if it rose around 7:41am. Second to the last day in Missoula. I can't wait to get going. Click the image for a larger view.

Portfolio in Progress

2009-10-11T16:27:00.000-07:00

We have been working feverishly on our portfolios for the Advanced Intensive final. The 20 minute reviewer meetings start Wednesday morning. Prints, business cards and leave-behinds have been prepared all week. Seems like everyone in school rushed into the print lab on Saturday to try to finish his or her project.

Here is a sneak preview of mine. Driving back to Missoula time-lapse with cartoon treatment that I performed for the computer podcast. People seemed to react well to the results so I am showing this body of work. I'll have the video running on my laptop, 8 1/2"x11" prints of the some of the frames and a flipbook with a short example of the video. Ran out of ink and paper this morning so the flipbook is a limited edition of eight copies.

Half of the presentation images printed on Museum Etching Paper.

Four of the flipbooks. Still need a binding to cover the staples. I'll find something before Wednesday.

Inside the Shingle Springs to Placerville flipbook part of the video.

A sample of the larger leave-behind with my logo and website info.

HDR Panorama Redone

2009-10-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

Here is the second version. I took the 14 shots and ran them through photomatix. The three shots for each segment were combined with the same tone mapping settings and then stitched together across in photoshop. This results in more detail, deeper blues in the water and a straighter horizon line. One of the pictures was not needed for the panorama due to overlap. The file was 1.4GB with dimensions of 40"x 15".

Scanner Camera

2009-09-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

We had a class on using the scanner as a camera. I tried it this morning while delaying my final project decision. Here are the results. As always click on the image to see a larger picture.

The scan minus the stems and black background but with a blue background added.

Blending set to difference.

Blending set to Hard Mix

Multiple background copies blended to Difference and the bottom right flower spun with an action script thirty times and moved to the middle of the frame.

I am working on the HDR of the panorama. I have the file ready but it's 1.4GB--need to decide on the final working size before I attempt the screen cast (so it doesn't crash my computer system!)

HDR Panorama 42 shots

2009-09-15T21:31:00.001-07:00

We had two assignments for Monday's Lab: High Dynamic Range and Panorama. I decided to try to put the two together. Rita, Marian and I drove up to Nine Pipes Wildlife Refuge directly across from the Mission Mountains. The middle of the day was not the greatest for shooting and the clouds were uncooperative. The scene didn't have great dynamic range either but we had to get the shot.

This is 14 vertical shots across with three shot bracketing of 2/3 of a stop for each shot. So I had photoshop stitch each stop's 14 shots together and then loaded the three panoramas back in to photoshop to mask off the best aspects of each. It took several hours and many GB of RAM to achieve this. Click on the image to view larger version. You may have to scroll horizontally to see the whole image. In the original the sky does not have the wavy pattern. That is jpeg compression to the image to scale it down for the web.

Palouse Area Washington State

2009-09-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day weekend, Rita, Marian and I drove to Walla Walla Washington through the Palouse area to see the wheat field scenery. On the way we stopped at the Cataldo Mission in Idaho, Couer d'Alene for lunch and a barn in eastern Washington. We only drove a few miles on Sunday and stopped many times in the fields, climbing to the tops of ridges to find a view. Monday we headed home but only drove a total of 166 miles before we stopped in Farmington to shoot the sunset. Then we had to make it the rest of the way back to Missoula after dark.

Cataldo Mission in Northern Idaho, the oldest standing building in Idaho. They have a brand new modern Visitor Center with an auditorium, displays and a gift store.

Inside the Mission. Tough to find straight lines in that place. Built in the 1850s.

Wheat fields where the tractors leave tire marks in the stubble.

Later on Saturday

Store Front in downtown Walla Walla Sunday morning.

Storage for the crop.

Miles of fields.

All within 20 miles of Walla Walla.

Overlooking Lewiston, Idaho on the Way to Uniontown.

We surprised Marian and stopped in Uniontown where her father was born. We found their church and took pictures. We wanted to go inside and were looking for someone to ask permission. A man drove into the driveway and Marian introduced herself. He laughed after the introduction and told her he has the same last name. Turns out he is her cousin! We received a guided tour of the church.
Wheel fence at an artist's Co-op in northern Uniontown. Took the artist 30 years to assemble the fence.

At the corner of 27 + Farmington Rd.

We received directions from some locals to drive up these hills to look back on Steptoe Butte and the sunset.

The Butte.

Restaurant Fine Dining

2009-09-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the restaurant toting all of our gear for a quick setup and shoot. Heather and I were assigned the salad. The various plates for entree, dessert, salad and soup were given to the teams and locations within the restaurant were selected. We set up in the dining room area and had plenty of space to move the table, arrange chairs and borrow silverware.

We worked out a dining shot with our salad in the foreground and a similar plate in the background with napkins, glasses, bread and butter and several pieces of silverware. The light from the table lamp and wall sconce were dragged in to try to reflect the mood of the room. With our setup almost complete (after an hour and a half of scrutinizing every detail) the instructor informed us that the plate we received was the wrong one. Our large square plate became a very large rectangular plate. We adjusted the scene and camera angle.

Then we were shown a preview of the salad. A piece of art, designed and created by the restaurant owner, was going to be placed on our table. Seeing this stark, minimalistic and very arranged array, we had to reset the table. The lighting setup changed completely too.

Here is the finished shot. Let me know what you think. Click on the image to view.

Food Photography Class

2009-09-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

I have been attending Food Photography Professional Studies classes all week. Monday we shot the traditional Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. My hero was a little sloppy with the jelly and needed a little piped in to cover certain areas. My first treatment was too morning light/campfire yellow and turned the bread and peanut butter the wrong color. This copy is better but too similar to the standard shot. Too many tangents too--plate/sides, plate/glass, bread/bread, strawberry/plate/bread, etc.

Next we had our favorite food shot. My hero turned out to be less attractive than the stand-in so we kept working with the stand-in. Sauce starts to run after a short time and I needed to bring a blow torch to melt the cheese. Maybe next time I'll have one.

This morning we shot beverages and everyone had an interesting take on this subject.

In the afternoon we traveled to the bakery and our group's assignment was to shoot in an advertising style--product, brand, super clean, detailed, in focus, etc.

Tomorrow we are shooting in a restaurant and then open studio for more practice. More pics later this week.

Driving Home Time Lapse

2009-08-30T16:12:00.001-07:00

Inspired by Jeremy's last post on his blog, I set up my camera on the passenger's side of the car and set the interval timer to take a picture every thirty seconds. Here is the result. Shingle Springs, through Lake Tahoe to Carson City, Reno, Highway 80 to 95 to Oregon and into Idaho. I ran out of light about 250 miles from Missoula, so the video ends short of my destination.

Yosemite National Park

2009-08-28T00:03:00.000-07:00

I wanted to see the park after telling everyone at school that I have no pictures of it. The three hour drive was scenic with all of the little towns between Shingle Springs and the western entrance of the park on highway 120. First sight at the park was the warning signs that a "maintenance burn" was going to take place on the 26th. After seeing some of northern CA this week, the dry condition of the region worried me.

Fun driving along ridges.

Western entrance to the park. Maintenance Burn of meadow.

Valley floor drive lined with trees.

Half Dome in smoky conditions from valley floor.

Condo reflection of Half Dome.

Two rock slides caused the authorities to evacuate the Ahwahnee area.

Later in the day the smoke started building into a column.

View from Glacier Point looking north.

Glacier Point view of Half Dome.

Heading back down to try to leave the park.

Airplanes and Helicopters were called in to fight the fire.

Highway 120 was closed.

Bridalveil Falls had a gloomy cast due to the fire.

Early filtered sunset. Reports say the fire will be contained by Tuesday.

Skies and Roads on the way Home

2009-08-23T23:55:00.001-07:00

I started out for home on Saturday with the idea of making straight through to CA . I had great scenery on Hwy 93 all through Montana and Idaho. Then Nevada ended my fun. I made it home Sunday afternoon a little lighter in the wallet.

Open roads in Idaho.

Grand View Canyon, Idaho

Nevada just before the blow out.

One benefit of pulling off on the side of the road is that you sometimes encounter interesting ruins.

The Fair

2009-08-16T22:25:00.001-07:00

Steve R. reminded me that the fair was ending today and that we should meet up to shoot the rides. Thanks, Steve! Janie also joined us at the fair. I mostly shot the Zipper since it was the busiest ride. The girls in the first picture wanted to know if I was with the paper and would I take their picture. I told them these pictures were for my blog and that they had to stay still for 10 seconds--and they did!! Hopefully they find this pic.

The Round Up

Merry-Go-Round

Tilt-A-Whirl

Graduation Gallery

2009-08-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

The ceremony showcased six pictures from each student in a slideshow with music. We also submitted candid shots from the summer. Those pictures set up the slideshows. Group A entertained the audience with a rap that made fun of the instructors and assistants. A great laugh for everyone!

I ran into the gallery before it filled up with people and snapped some shots of everyone's work. Great photographs by all of the students.

Other's Finals Sample

2009-08-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

I took some pictures while others in our group were presenting their final projects. We had a diverse selection of artistic statements and presentations. We placed samples of our projects around the room and when it was our turn, we took all of our work up to the front to present. Each person had seven minutes to read the statement, have the work critiqued and field questions from the audience.

Before the review started.

Andy's work.

Marian & Esther's portraits samples.

Sami presenting her firefighter's series with custom built and burned frames.

Jeremy's bodyscapes being reviewed after his video amazed everyone.

Richard's (not shown) action series presented on children's letter blocks.

Ross' stopped time clock.

Shad's roots series.

Rita's clouds with landscapes.

Kristiana's circle of life.

Janie's macro earth tapestry before it was unveiled.

Summer Intensive Final Project

2009-08-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

Don't look if you want it to be a surprise on Tuesday.

Attached are my pictures for the final. I outsourced the framing and matting. Outsource is the euphemism the instructors taught us for "have someone else, who knows what they are doing, do it ". I elected that route due to my inability to create a polished presentation framework. I wanted a classical framing look to the series but considered backlighting the skies in the road pictures. Earlier I had other pictures with lens flare that would have benefited from that type of display.

The Artist Statement must accompany this presentation. It has its own from, similar to the others. The theme of the series is Equivalents. The viewer feels something ( has a memory, emotion or reaction) while looking each picture. The photographer must also demonstrate that Equivalents are present in the series. My statement covers some of that.

Artist Statement

My favorite pastime with the camera is seeing new places at 65 mile per hour. I look at a lake and might stop if I see something extraordinary. Otherwise I am breezing by, usually as my dog has her head out the window.

Shooting something with the windows up is a waste of time. Tint, blur, bugs and dirt are all too difficult to overcome. Shooting out the driver’s window toward an approaching target is another story.

Montana has too many roads, trails and paths worth exploring. The trips I take in the driver’s seat usually have been initiated without a specific destination in mind. I wander the country side and see and feel what the area has to offer.

Early in the day the roads bend sharply and the hills are low and gentle. I am alert and eager to tackle tight curves and steep drops in the asphalt.

While I speed up to eighty the rolling terrain gives way to larger foothills and straight runs which allow for exhilarating rides. Side roads become hundred mile jaunts that take you completely off track (if you had one in the first place.)

As it grows later in the day and I begin to grow weary, the roads keep stretching out before me, meandering up and down and left and right. Do I stop and eat or keep on driving? Is it cloudy out or will the stars cooperate tonight? Have I really been driving for ten hours and five hundred miles with only forty-eight minutes of stopping time? Did I just see something over there?

Looking back I see that the sunset is chasing me and pushing me toward a way home. Or should I make that four hour commitment to shoot the stars?

I must find a place to face northwest before the sun is down so I don’t have to scout it in the dark. Hour one includes picking the spot, setting up the equipment and waiting for the daylight to extinguish. The next three hours include trying to keep from falling asleep after such a long journey. Did my eyes just close? Did I see a flash? Is there any danger to being here?

Hopefully I stay on the road all the way home.

New Lightning

2009-08-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

Storms rolled in last night and continued throughout the day and evening. After our lecture from 7 to 9 I drove out looking for lightning. I was going to stay in town but needed an overlook to see all directions. Several storms converged up North so I kept driving and landed back at hiway 200 & 93. Only one picture was worth posting. The wind almost blew over my tripod and camera. I had to hold it down for 100 pictures after this one and wasn't rewarded with another decent picture. This one was in the first thirty. Storms should linger through the weekend so maybe I'll have another opportunity.

Delivered my prints to the framing shop, so I should have pictures of my finished final series on Saturday.

2009-08-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

Sunset taken from the M in Missoula. 341 pictures put together, six seconds between takes. Sky became too dark so I chose a shorter shutter speed (1/160th to 1/60th) half way through.

Star Trails Grow Time Lapse

2009-08-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video of 220 pictures that took quite a bit of configuring. Loaded each one into photoshop, layered on one picture and then saved each one as it grew. Then loaded all of the layered pictures into QuickTimePro to make the video. Sunsets coming up later this week as videos.

Lightning

2009-07-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

I spent the hours of 12:00am-3:00am on the side of Hiway 200 on Sunday morning. I drove a crazy 35 mile shortcut between Superior, Montana and Hiway 200 (dirt road all the way with gravel, rocks, weeds and downed trees) looking for a good place to shoot the stars. I need a great foreground to showcase the star trails. Instead I ended up with these pictures. The storms circled my position and only landed two raindrops on my equipment. Traffic was intermittent but when I tried to shield the lenses from headlight glare I shifted the alignment and ruined the star trails. Better luck next time!

More Studio Time

2009-07-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

I skipped out of computer lab since I already had the assignment done and crashed Group E's Studio time. Two of the bays were unoccupied so I set up shop. I photographed the clothes with the same set up as the last studio time--lowest power on the two lights twelve feet away and shooting through umbrellas. Then moved to the bottles and vegetables. I needed more light for those objects and used the 5' octolight (softbox), fill cards on both sides and front to kick light into the labels and tomatos. Bottles are tough.

Studio

2009-07-23T17:42:00.001-07:00

My model could not get off work to arrive in time to take pictures so I spent the time shooting what was on hand. I worked the lighting (three lights, one pointed away to bleed off power, power pack dialed all the way down, shooting through unbrellas on the other strobes that were placed about 12 feet back from the scene) until I could get down to f2.8 and a shallow depth of field to isolate certain features of objects. I also shot some film pictures with the lights and will have to run out to get the pictures developed. (I could use the facilities at the school, but that would require permission and lessons beyond the regular schedule--and closing part of the hallway.) The two film pictures are in my binder. The dog pic was left over on the roll from April or May and the stars were shot at the same time as the the picture below. More pics in a few days.

Star Trails Success

2009-07-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

I spent the hours from 11:30pm-1:20am last night shooting the stars. I drove forty miles west of Missoula and found a dirt road that had plenty of shoulder space for my car, cameras and tripods. The picture is a composite of 126 30-second exposures compiled in Photoshop. Hopefully I get something like this from my film camera too as it was exposing at the same time.

New Pictures on Website

2009-07-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

Posted the Midterm Slideshow to my website. Received some good feedback on the images. One instructor commented on the difficulty of the shots and that the regular pics should be cut. The other instructor expressed that several pics would look good printed and framed on the wall, but advised I cut the regular shots and pare down the total. Seems fair to me.

Posted some new Visual Studies mimic shots for an assignment. Copied style of Imogen Cunningham for the hand/camera pictures and tried the Eugene Atget's empty streets reflected in the mannequin's view. Not quite enough mannequin showing.

I also composited four pictures to mimic pictogram style.

2009-07-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

Our group had optional studio time today from 2-6 pm. Nine of us took advantage of the equipment to practice studio skills. I shot on Monday during Group D's optional time as did three others from Group A. Today I spent shooting my lunch, some bottles (which we could not open in the studio) and outside portraits. Attached are three samples. The biggest problems to solve in the lunch setup was how to keep the root beer foamy and overcome the shadows/reflections in the glassware. After stirring the drink over and over we ended that setup. Three lights (overhead softbox, left side light to cover the background and right side light to shoot into the bottle and glass.

The bottle difficulty was the reflection from the dark front of the studio. We wrapped the camera area in more paper to cover the dark area, and placed cards in the cardboard box to reflect light on to the dark areas. Same three lights to try to cover all of the angles.

We had about 25 minutes left for outside practice. We set up an umbrella and had the battery power pack to flash the stobe. I should have pointed the umbrella down a little to create a catchlight in Kristiana's eyes.

2009-07-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

We scouted Lee Metcalf Wildlife Preserve and the Stevensville Balloon Festival on Saturday night. The organizers put one balloon up for short lift-offs for the kids. A band kept the picnickers entertained while several photographers scoured the grounds looking for pictures. Attached are pictures of the mission in Stevensville.

Rita picked me up at 4:40am. for the sunrise at Lee Metcalf. See my website for more pics and a sunset over Missoula. 600 pictures today. Need to increase my selectivity/quality and reduce the quantity.

2009-07-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

32 more images are up on my website for you to view. Check the Glacier July portfolio for the new photos. We spent Thursday and Friday in Glacier National Park camping and hiking to the lakes. Bear Grass was everywhere as it is the cycle year for it to flourish. Most pictures are labeled for location or people. The star trails picture looks like a good start (ISO 800, 5 minute exposure, 52mm & f5.6) but the fire was too close and the trees would have been blown out with a longer exposure. I should have stitched several 5 minute shots together and would have had a grand circular trail. It was cloudy the next night.

2009-07-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

New pictures are up on my website under the Augusta Rodeo Weekend portfolio. Please go here to see the series.

2009-06-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Click on the panorama for a larger view of Glacier National Park. Same spot as the time lapse video. Stitched together from 7 pictures using Photoshop.

Week Three

2009-06-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

Here are a few sample photos of the week. The rest are on my website. The week started with the studio work shooting the water bottle. Most of Group A traveled again to Garnet Ghost Town on Tuesday morning. The place was packed with photography students from Summer Intensive and an Intermediate class that was on a field trip. The floors move too much for long exposures when so many people are milling about. Not much success on that trip. Light3 on Wednesday was followed by a talk from the Canon rep. I ducked out (Nikon here) and started driving south on 93 to see what was down there. I passed Lolo, Stevensville and Hamilton. I saw this great mountain peak and took off west to find a trail. Put these coordinates, 45.855849, -114.296265, into Google map and you will find Troy Creek Rd. that leads to the Trapper's Peak trailhead. The switchback road climbed 2,000 feet and the climb up the trail was another 800 to 6,879.

Thursday was our longest day so far with computer in the morning, studio in the afternoon and lab from 7-11pm. We created slideshows of our work which were presented on the projector in the lab. Great fun and excellent work by everyone in Group A. Friday was our first Printing/Output class, and we all enjoyed the critiques in Visual Studies that afternoon. We spent the evening outside trying to play with light for our Photo Studies assignment. Now I am doing laundry and processing a week's worth of photos. Have fun viewing.

Studio

2009-06-15T18:05:00.001-07:00

We took Light2 today from Joe Lavine, master studio food photographer. Then Group A went into the studio and played with the lighting and scene. We each shot objects that we gathered from our immediate belongings. Here are four pics that are going to be reviewed in class next Monday. Softbox in two positions for the first two and then direct lighting with a honeycomb and one without. I could use a case of this water.

Nine Pipe National Wildlife Refuge Sunset

2009-06-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Four of us, Shad, Janie, Rita and I, took off after class on Saturday and drove up to Nine Pipe for the sunset. We raced the rain and found a great place to view the Mission Mountains. The clouds caught up with us and threatened to wash out the photoshoot. We stuck it out and were rewarded with some interesting pictures. The tail light picture happened about 9:50pm. Two other photographers stopped by to chat and talk about gear while we were there. We learned about some other spots to shoot from the local experts.

Double Rainbow 1/50 sec., f20, ISO200, 18mm

Tail Lights 8 sec., f13, ISO100, 29mm

B/W 6 sec., f22, ISO100, 18mm

Introduction to my thoughts and work

2009-06-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

Most of the posts here concern my participation in the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. Currently I am enrolled in the program called Summer Intensive, which covers everything from basic instruction--look through here, see something out there, turn knobs on camera and push button--to training in the correct way to capture something interesting, compelling or dramatic and display it in a way that will allow people to view, contemplate, investigate or purchase my work or enquire about my services.

Ninety other people made the same commitment toward becoming better photographers. Many in the group have the desire to make photography their livelihood or want to find a way to express what they feel or see when interacting with the world. I hope to find an area of photography that allows me to make photographing an everyday part of my life and work.

See school work and other projects here: kjschambers photography