Beamcatchers

Beamcatchers Has Moved

2009-03-20T15:37:00.003-04:00

I'm currently in the process of moving all of Beamcatchers, with the exception of the Zenfolio galleries, over to new digs. We won't be taking down this blog, but all of the entries have been moved and all new entries will be made at the new location so if you follow us, please update your bookmarks.

Come on over to Beamcatchers new web site. The blog is now accessible from the header of the main site.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave us any comments you might have.

February Update

2009-02-16T17:24:00.004-05:00

I don't have any images to share with you at this time, but I do have an update. The 2009 Horse Show season is quickly approaching, and starts in most locations in March 2009. Beamcatchers has been asked to provide photographic services for the Hertford Saddle Club's shows on the second Saturday of each month beginning next month. I am looking forward to another season and hope to see you there!

Have We Caught Yours?

Horses in the Cold

2009-01-25T18:28:00.029-05:00

I haven't posted to my blog since just before the election!

Excuses:

I was overly political during the period. Well, no, not unless there's something wrong with being intelligently informed. However, I have been an avid political reader, and would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit more involved during the election cycle.

No current photographic assignments. Horse shows were over for the year.

Have I been in a bit of a funk? Maybe, this economy has been tough on us all to some degree.

Taking some well deserved R&R time to do other things? Some of that, they did release World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King on November 13.

Working a little smarter analyzing loads of real estate sales data to ensure understanding of our local markets in this current state of decline we're experiencing? Most definitely - did I mention that analyzing data is one of things I love to do?

The 2009 horse show season is now underway, and shortly I'll provide you a link to the season's first images and even show you a couple of my favorites.

First however, I'd like to reintroduce a topic that was discussed last year. If you're finding you'd like to order a large number of images, many times you'll save money by asking us to prepare a photo book for you containing a number of your favorite images. We can prepare those for you in hardcover or softcover and in a variety of styles. All book pages are printed double-sided and can contain a single or multiple images. We can even customize the book with a special personal message from you to your child at no additional charge. We have reduced the prices for our books produced from currently available images and they are as follows:

Large (8.5" x 11")
Soft-Cover Book - $79.99 plus 2.50 per page + Tax and Shipping
Hard-Cover Book - $89.99 plus 2.50 per page + Tax and Shipping

Medium (6" x 8")
Soft-Cover Book - $79.99 plus 1.75 per page + Tax and Shipping
Hard-Cover Book - $89.99 plus 1.75 per page + Tax and Shipping

All photobooks have a 20-page minimum and are available in the following styles (all hard-cover books include a custom designed jacket/cover):

Art Collection

Formal

Picture Book

Modern Lines

Special Occasion

Stockbook (available with black or white background)

Also, take a look at the possibility for other custom designed products talked about in our previous post Custom Product Availability.

Now, as I promised, I want to share a couple of images from this weeks show. Enjoy these two and feel free to take a look at the rest of the collection in our Zenfolio library.

Have We Caught Yours?

Fall Surprises

2008-11-02T17:34:00.057-05:00

Fall is a season of change, and this year we're looking at not only the typical seasonal changes, but also potential for a multitude of changes in our lives. Most of the changes we witness that aren't routinely observed occur without much anticipation - i.e. surprises. Change is more often than not a good thing regardless of how it's viewed at the time of it's occurrence, because the absence of change brings stagnation, examples of which include old ideas, already mastered techniques, and complacency. Now is a time for great change in our country's direction and in our lives as individuals, and I welcome the day we begin to heal this great nation from the atrocities committed and damage done to it by the administration of George W. Bush. November 4th is the potential for the beginning of HOPE. Beamcatchers officially supports Barack Obama for the President of the United States.

Please vote Tuesday if you haven't already.

On Saturday, Beamcatcher's attended a Fall Fun Show here in Pasquotank County. We want to take a few minutes to tell you about all the fun and present a few of our favorite images from the day. The fall show was a special after-Halloween show over twenty unique events complimentary to the current season. It was a beautiful "Indian Summer" type day! We were treated with temperatures well above 70 degrees with gorgeous sunny skies all day long.

Before I get into images from the show, let me just state the following. We were in attendance for almost every show this year, both consistent and committed to bringing our customers the very best coverage possible. We were recognized as being the official photographer for the show several times. We were both proud to serve you and blessed that you enjoyed our work.

Thank you!

In the future, know that we're here to provide professional photographic as well as graphical design services for all of our customers. Give us a call with your desires and we'll meet or exceed your expectations.

Speaking of costumes, there were a number of creative costumes in play on Saturday, on both horse and rider, young and old. We say princesses, knights, witches, queens, and bandits. And this little cowgirl tips her hat to the crowds.

There's not a single time I go out with my camera - whether it's to shoot just a few shots for fun or a thousand at a show that I don't feel a anticipatory high when I get back home. I'm literally excited to start transferring the files from the memory card to the computer and get that first look of "what I caught". As we're out there shooting, it's not always easy to see things that are plainly in front of our eyes. The images beginning popping up on the computer screen, and we find little gifts or surprises to delight the eye. These gifts teach us what to look for in the future, and why it's so true when you hear the following refrain from other professionals when asked for advice, "go shoot pictures". The following is one such example - a delightful little surprise from Saturday, a natural frame.

There were a number of intriguing events during Saturday's show - a few examples included Musical Poles, Bobbing for Apples, Egg and Spoon Class, Obstacle Course and Water Balloon Class. It was anything but a typical show and appeared to be enjoyed by all. Included in all of the special events was a few of everyone's favorites such as Texas barrels and pole racing. The tricky part about the pole racing was they were running double elimination poles and trying to get good shots from both sides kept yours truly busy shooting. The following are a couple of my absolute favorites on the day. I could easily see a 16' x 20' framed copy of either in a special place in the home.

One of my favorite events was the Ring Spear Class. Each rider was equipped with a trusty plunger...er lance, and sent whipping around the ring with a series of 6 rings to be speared completing the course in the fastest possible time. During this event, the sun was low in the sky and the images were gorgeous. One example can be found below:

Over 700 images are in the process of being uploaded in our latest gallery at Zenfolio. It was a great fall day and as always, we were there to catch beautiful beams of life for our customers.

Have We Caught Yours?

Fall Mudbowl at the Double T

2008-09-26T15:45:00.024-04:00

I know I promised to post a write-up of my visit to Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona, but I've been so wrapped up with improving my appraisal reports which is requiring extra effort to ensure we're accurately capturing current market conditions in this area. I've also been developing graphics and desktop publishing as a consultant in addition to staying current with the latest events in the political and financial sectors. Sooo, I'm running behind in the photography and blogging arenas. I still haven't written the Antelope Canyon piece, but for now let's slosh ahead and talk about the October 18th Mudbowl at the Double T Farms here in Pasquotank County!

This was a day that took me back to last March when we photographed our very first Double T Farms show - lousy weather with fast action in a low light situation. While March was colder with sleet off and on, October was considerably wetter. The conditions on the field grew worse as the day grew longer, with the east end looking like some sort of mushroom soup - grey and yucky. I was thankful that despite the slippery conditions, everyone stayed in the saddle with no bad falls occurring during the day. With these conditions, the number of throw-aways goes up as the shutter speeds come down and the depth of field narrows, but we still managed to come away from the day with a respectable number of nice images of our mud-flinging riders.

The overall number of images taken on a wet, misty, rainy day like this was lower as the standard mode of operation was to 1) keep camera tucked inside jacket, 2) bring the camera out at the last possible second to catch the shot, 3) wipe the raindrops off of the lens filter, and 4) return camera to jacket. There were other interesting operating modes in play as the show progressed.

We caught Beth measuring the level of impurities in the rainwater with her tongue on multiple occasions.

Stevie Ray was assisting Beth in the water analysis, but waited until the rain hit the ground.

The "Smile To Chase Raindrops Away" award goes to this young fella!

Once again, Conley shows us how to ride with emotion.

And Jaimie rounds the poles as daylight begins to fade.

We are really looking forward to the final show of the year, the Fall Fun Show, on November 1st, and hope to catch your life beams while we're there! Our understanding is there will be horse and rider costumes and other special events that should be a lot of fun for everyone. We'll be back with more photos shortly after the show!

Have We Caught Yours?

Vegas Baby!

2008-09-15T21:53:00.021-04:00

First of all, I want to take just a minute to apologize to all of the wonderful folks that attend the Double T Farms horse show each month. Earlier in the year we planned our vacation in the Las Vegas, NV area for the 5th through 12th of September as I try to attend to these things as early as possible to get good seats scheduled for show tickets, etc. I had everything all set for an on-time return early Saturday morning so I'd be able to attend and shoot the horse show, but American changed the flight schedules and I wasn't able to get back in time. To each of you I offer my apologies and look forward to seeing you in October.

Did I mention last year that in my opinion Cirque du Soleil's 'O' at the Bellagio is more than just a show - it's a life experience. Well, this year we saw Cirque du Soleil's KÀ at the MGM Grand, and while it's not "O", it's still pretty amazing and most definitely worth the time and money if you haven't seen it.

Next trip we will likely be seeing Criss Angel's Believe, which is opening next month at the Luxor. It'll be a couple of years before we get to that one however.

One image to share before moving on though - it's my favorite of Julie taken on the observation deck at the top of the Stratosphere following our lunch at the Top of the World Restaurant.

Now moving on to Arizona...

Just about anyone that is seriously interested in photography has seen images of, heard of, dreamed of, Antelope Canyon. According to the Wikipedia entry, "...is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest." On the morning of September 8, 2008, I visited Upper Antelope Canyon during the 10:30 am photographic tour provided by Chief Tsosie's Antelope Slot Canyon Tours. I'll leave you with one image tonight and then next post I'll talk about my adventure through this most "holy photographic shrine" and share some images with you. I'm simply not going to have time to finish it all tonight!

Have We Caught Yours?

Most Memorable Shots

2008-08-31T09:48:00.002-04:00

Last time, right before I posted the introduction of custom products available from Beamcatchers, I promised to share a few of the photos from the August horse show at Double T Farms. I’d like to do that in a short post about how shooting the action in the ring is not the only source of subjects, and often not the source of the best photograph of the day. If you’d like to take a look at all of the action of the day, there are over 500 images in the associated gallery at Zenfolio.

While the action in the ring is the place where most everyone’s attention is focused throughout the day, as a photographer you shouldn’t forget the beauty of life is constant and all around you. While you certainly have to be focused when the rider is about to take his/her horse over the jump, try to remain aware of everything around you when the action is less demanding of your attention.

The following image is my favorite image from the entire afternoon, so much that I featured a graphic conversion of it in my last post. While moving around the ring, I noticed the scene and traversed a little further out of my way to get the shot, and the result was worth the few extra steps.

Horses are beautiful animals, and the featured animal at any horse show. Don’t forget about them while they’re not in the ring. Taking advantage of varying backgrounds and light, you can often get great portrait-style shots of them while they’re at rest on the sidelines.

Most horse shows also have other animals in attendance - our lovable pets, the dogs and cats. Who can resist taking a moment to stop and share a moment with one of them?

Both in the ring and out, Beamcatchers strives to catch beautiful beams of life from individual moments in time for you to save and share with your loved ones in the years to come.

Have We Caught Yours?

Custom Product Availability

2008-08-17T21:24:00.026-04:00

Interested in doing something a little bit different with your photos? Need ideas for Christmas presents? Starting today, Beamcatchers is introducing custom printed products available through IYP Photo Products through images available in Zenfolio. Ordering t-shirts, coasters, mousepads, bookmarks etc. printed with your personally selected images couldn't be easier - just add your image to your shopping cart as always and select the product you wish to order! We're always here ready to help though just in case you have questions or difficulty with your order.

We're also rolling out products custom designed by yours truly such as posters and simulated magazine covers ready for printing and framing such as in the example below. These product types would look fantastic printed and framed at 16" x 20" on that wall celebrating your child's achievements. Prices start at $99. Give us a call and let us help you design that special gift. We'll have a poster of the custom image below available for viewing at the September Double T Farms horse show.

There are numerous options for special treatment of your images such as the custom designed tryptch shown below to showcase a series of images from a particular event.

We can also assist you with getting your images on buttons, stickers, postcards, greeting cards, notecards, calendars, trading cards, tickets, statuettes, puzzles and more!

Also available are professionally designed custom coffee table or portfolio books, softcover or hardcover, commemorating the 2008 riding season. Choose from all of the images of your child available. Complete 20 page books begin at $225 for softcover and $250 for hardcover. They're an awesome choice if you were already planning to order a collection of prints from throughout the season. Hourly rates and printing charges apply for books with additional pages. We are only able to accept a limited number of book orders to be able to provide them for the holiday season.

Custom products are not available through the Zenfolio gallery, so give us a call or send us an email and let us assist you with that special gift.

Have We Caught Yours?

Summer Hiatus Over - Let's Get Back to Work

2008-08-17T14:52:00.005-04:00

If there's one thing I don't like about living in the south, it's the heat. I get uncomfortable and sweat easily, and therefore, the first thing I'm likely to do when the temperatures start approaching 90 is get indoors! Therefore I've spent the last 2 months focusing and making improvements on my Real Estate Appraisal work and staying in the air conditioning any time not doing house inspections. It's ok though, for the time being, that's the profession that pays the bills and thusly deserves my greater attention.

It's also true that my stepson spent the better part of the last couple of months with us and much of my attention was diverted to family as well. While he was here, we made a point to go out for a weekend photo session and I'll share one of my favorite images from that session.

I did grow a sunflower though, just so I could photograph it!

However, I've enjoyed sharing my photographic efforts both here and on Flickr since starting this business, Beamcatchers, and this blog. It's time to get busy sharing again now that summer is winding down.

I haven't spent the whole summer totally indoors. At a minimum, I continued coverage of the horse shows at the Double T Farms. As I told Julie last month while riding out there for a show, I've reached the point where I owe every one of those young people a little dedication and continuity even if I don't sell a single picture. They enjoy and look forward to seeing the images, and the last thing I want to do is disappoint them.

The July show was held on July 19, 2008 at Double T Farms here in Pasquotank County. I'll simply be discussing the July show in this post; however, you can view images from any of the shows in my portfolio over at Zenfolio. It was the first night show of the season and not without it's challenges once the sun faded over the horizon. The arena is well lit, but even so, it wasn't clear to me initially whether I would be able push up the ISO and correct for the lighting or have to use flash. I tried a little of everything in my bag of tricks. It became apparent fairly quickly flash was the only way to go, but I made the one critical mistake I knew better than to make. But I made it anyway in my haste to salvage something from the evening. I put the flash on the camera! You guessed it, ghostly glowing eyes and horrible ugly shadows in many of the images. It wasn't a complete flop however as there were still some interesting resulting photographs.

The early part of the day was successful. Even though the heat was blistering (well, to me anyway), I made every attempt to keep moving around the arena, moving the vantage point and backgrounds to achieve different looks for my viewers.

Sometimes even dust provides you with an interesting background!

Overall, I felt it worked rather well and I was pleased with the results, and when you can find a photographer that's reasonably satisfied with his own work after looking at it twice, that's pretty good! As a general rule, we photographers are indeed our greatest critics.

Next post we'll take a look at a few of the images from the August 2008 Double T Farms horse show.

Have We Caught Yours?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Back in the Saddle

2008-06-23T15:43:00.048-04:00

We took a short hike into parts north earlier this month consisting of a little camping in Pennsylvania and an interesting stay at a hostel along the Apppalachian trail (see mountain laurel photos on Flickr). The camping part was during that weekend that most of the eastern seaboard had temperatures peaking into the upper 90s and 100s. It was hot, really hot, and did I mention still? My camera barely got removed from it's bag as most energy was expended just to maintain air moving in and out of our lungs.

Once we headed back south to northern Virginia, we found the air at 2000 ft much more accomodating, complete with a refreshing breeze. The hostel, Bears Den Trail Center located near Snickers Gap was an interesting place. Although our stay was brief, we enjoyed spending our spare time learning about the Appalachian Trail, the role and history of the trail center, etc. There was a beautiful overlook of the Shenandoah Valley on a rocky outcropping behind the property, and I got to catch sunset beams the night we were there. I don't think you can really visit this place and not develop a bit of the "do the trail fever" yourself. I know I did, and it's still a thought lingering in the back of my mind. Will 2009 be the year? Maybe...

Since returning, I've been busy with appraisals, and our first scheduled photo shoot since returning wasn't until just this past weekend. I could probably even be accused of falling into a mid-season funk, inexplicably associated with the downtime in the Twitter servers. Maybe we've become more connected than I feared. Or could it just be the Metal Gear Solid 4 addiction?

We jumped into the car this past Saturday and headed down to Double T Farms for our monthly shoot. And before I get to far, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff there. They've been wonderful and welcoming to us every month and supportive of our efforts and we truly appreciate it! Bless you guys, all of you!

Saturday's weather wasn't as nice as we had experienced in May. I'm pretty sure I recall the following throughout the day: partly sunny, cloudy, cloudy with light rain and thunder, and breezy with incoming smoke. One look at the photos and you immediately notice it wasn't the gorgeous blue skies and puffy white clouds of last month! Regardless, the event was well attended with some new faces and many of the familiar ones.

As I generally do for these events, I neglected the wide-angle and stuck with the 70-200mm f2.8 for the day's shooting. It has become a familiar sidekick and been sucessful at producing photos that people enjoy, and sometimes I'm afraid to break the mold. I was really happy with the results, and have dubbed the following image my favorite action shot of the day.

How does that song go? "You don't have to be a star...."

We carried along my 14-year old stepson, Michael, to witness his first horse show. So just how do you occupy a thumb-twitching PS3-hooked adolescent male for 7 hours? You stick a camera in his hand! I give him my back-up camera, a Canon Rebel XT, fitted with a Tokina 12-24mm lens, set the aperture and showed him how to "center the needle". Admittedly, he had more throw-aways than keepers as would be expected for a first time outing, but he came up with the following beauty which I think deserves some type of "Rookie of the Year" award for photography by a novice. Way to go Michael!

The following thoughts have been coalescing in my head for some time now, and one image brought it all together for me and I want to share. First the story, then the image - gather around...

I love being a photographer, and if I can verbally pull it together, you might begin to understand why. There's something very special about being a photographer that transcends the simple process of understanding the characteristics of light well enough to be able to push a button and print a pretty picture. There's more to it, and the "it" is what makes the whole exercise special and worthwhile. As you cover an event like a horse show where you photograph the same individuals repetitively, the relationship between photographer and subject changes as the photographer becomes recognized as adding value. Your subjects open up, begin to accept your presence and look forward to the contribution you bring to their enjoyment of the event. I find the development of this relationship to be the primary joy of event photography. I'm happy I can bring a little extra joy into their lives as they view the beams of life I caught.

Ok, now the image...

Have We Caught Yours?

It's June Already!

2008-06-04T08:39:00.013-04:00

Welcome to the first week of June. Temperatures for the next week are predicted to be in the 90s, so even though it doesn't feel like half of the year should have slipped away already, summer is upon us. It's nice to have the consistently warm temperatures, but it was a wonderfully long spring this year with many of natures wonders springing up around us, and I'm going to miss it.

If you've researched the local event calendar, you've no doubt noticed there are quite a few activities coming up this weekend.

Starting off Thurday Night (June 5th) at 7pm is the AoA Photography Club Meeting at the Arts of the Albemarle Gallery. Hope to see you there!

The photography exhibition at the Arts of the Albemarle Gallery has ended, and a new show is going up beginning Friday. Additionally, there's a lecture and demonstration with artist Jane Filer on Friday from 3-4pm.

A great way to start your Friday evening could be a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride through the downtown area or a spooky tour educating you in Elizabeth City's little known mysterious past. The folks at Harvest Moon Farms hold tours Thurs evening through Saturday evening. More info can be found here.

An exciting time is sure to be had around the Elizabeth City waterfront all day Saturday. Not only is the Downtown Waterfront Market in full swing as normal, but the 3rd Annual Carolina Cup Regatta is scheduled from 9am till 6pm. And if you're into truck and tractor pulls, this is your weekend as the Elizabeth City 300' National Truck and Tractor Pull is at Morgan's Corner Friday and Saturday Night at 7:30pm.

And if that isn't enough for you, there's a Kidsfest at Southgate Mall from 11am until 4pm. Over at the Page After Page Bookstore, there's the American Girl Party FIesta from 1pm till 2:30pm and a book discussion and signing with author Denise Jeffries from 1pm until 4pm.

It's simply not going to be a weekend for boredom in Elizabeth City. After all those actvities, I think I'd be in need of a siesta!

Given that my recent photographic interests have been agricultural in nature, I wanted to share another locally grown crop with you. It's impossible to drive by, notice a field full of beautiful purple or white blossoms, and not wonder what you've seen. First, a photo, then the identification.

Recognize it? Know what it is? I sure didn't, but a little internet research confirmed it's identity as Clary Sage.

I've provided a link so you can learn all you ever wanted to know about it. I have a few additional photos of it on my Flickr account. You might want to take a look there if you're interested, especially if you'd like to see a closeup of the flowers. I attempted in vain to find some US or North Carolina production statistics for it. So far I've seen multiple fields of both the white and the purple flowered varieties in Chowan and Washington Counties. My current assumption is it is being grown for local companies to use in the production of soaps or other materials. If you're a grower or user, and have additional information, please share with us.

We stopped along the way and caught colorful beams of life from horse-drawn carriages and fields of purple blossoms.

Have We Caught Yours?

Amber Waves of Grain

2008-05-29T22:07:00.003-04:00

How many times lately have you noticed the golden brown fields in the afternoon sun? Acres upon acres of wheat are grown right here in Pasquotank County. In 2007, Pasquotank County was the 4th leading producer of wheat in North Carolina with 23,000 acres planted producing 966,000 bushels. In 2006, production was even higher on less acres planted as yields were significantly higher. I'm not sure what 2008 holds in store in terms of total production, but I do know the beauty of nature when I see it.

Several times lately I've had the opportunity to be waiting alongside a field, watching the crop sway to and fro in a light wind, and finding the effect captivating. This evening I spent a few minutes at the edge of a wheat field, camera in hand, exploring the various patterns and hues - golden brown on green, golden brown on blue, awash in golden brown. The color and intricacies of nature are beautiful in many combinations. I'd like to say I'll be able to resist photographing it again tomorrow, but I'm not so sure.

Today we caught beams of life coming from more of nature's wonder.

Have We Caught Yours?

Waterfront Market @ Mariner's Wharf

2008-05-26T20:55:00.013-04:00

Saturday, May 24th marked the opening day of the new Waterfront Market in downtown Elizabeth City. Wayne Harris, the director of the Albemarle Economic Development Commission, has called it "a celebration of all things local", and based on what I observed on Saturday, it was a successful celebration at that. I personally view this as a good thing for Elizabeth City - a demonstration of the vibrance of our community and a commitment to keeping our downtown alive and relevant.

Early morning rain gave some cause for concern, but the storms passed and Saturday turned out to be a beautiful spring day. It was a great day to head downtown to spend some time by the water as well as view the activities available at the new Waterfront Market. The market is open from 9am until 2pm and will run every Saturday now through the end of October. There were at least a dozen vendors on hand Saturday offering everything from baked goods to arts and crafts.

I'll try to hit a few of the highlights of the show for you and will follow up with additional highlights in the weeks to come.

Surely a big hit with the children was the Great Dane Rescue of the Commonwealth. Ok, I admit, it was a big hit with the adults as well, including myself. I had previously heard of Great Dane rescue organizations, but this was my first encounter with these dogs. If you love dogs and have the room to house one of these wonderful creatures, I feel positive these animals would provide you with a wonderful companion. My oldest son, who is now 23, was attacked by a dog (not a Great Dane!) 21 years ago, and I'd be lying if I said I don't get nervous when I see small children around large dogs. I was amazed watching these animals interact with a number of small children on Saturday - they did indeed seem to be gentle giants.

A freelance artist / illustrator, Robert Ricobaldi, was in attendance and was demonstrating his craft on site. He had a number of custom designed vanity license plates on display, and I caught him actively working on a project in the rear of the tent.

One of the favorite activities at the market was a cooking demonstration by Andy Montero of Montero's Restaurant. Montero's, being the realization of a dream of Andy and Karin Montero, is one of the premier restaurants, bar and catering services in Elizabeth City, having first opened it's doors in November 2005. Montero's operates from a circa 1904 Victorian home at 414 MacArthur Drive with 10,000 square feet of dining and banquet facilities. Andy demonstrated the preparation of a salad dish and a pasta dish. Andy not only demonstrated the preparation, but was also equipped to ensure everyone interested had the opportunity to sample his creations, including yours truly. Both were delicious!

I wasn't able to stay for the duration of the event as I had a date with a bunch of horses at Double T Farms, but based on everything I saw, the Waterfront Market is a major plus for downtown Elizabeth City and an enjoyable family event. As I rushed away, I managed to catch Wayne and Mayor Atkinson discussing the event under one of the tents. Thanks to both of them for their forward thinking and active interest in our community with the development of the Waterfront Market.

Saturday morning in Elizabeth City was a wonderful spring day, with beautiful skies and plentiful downtown activities for the whole family and we managed to catch some of those beams of life to bring to you.

Have We Caught Yours?

Weekend Report

2008-05-19T13:29:00.034-04:00

The past few days have been a flurry of activity here on the home front, and unfortunately, I haven't had a lot time for writing and find myself once again playing catchup.

First of all, a /wave for Mark Morrow, my wife's brother. He's currently serving our country in Baghdad, Iraq. Stay safe (...and cool!) over there Mark! You can visit Mark and show him some support on his MySpace Page.

This past Saturday morning, I was up bright and early ready for an eventful day. It was a beautiful day and begin with clear skies over Elizabeth City. In addition to the sunrise photo, you can find other photos that I took of the Museum of the Albemarle in the early morning light over on my Flickr pages.

My 20-year old son Bryan was here for a visit for several days. He left just yesterday and I miss his presence already. I rarely had the opportunity to see Bryan during the 4 years I was working in Kansas City, KS for Bayer CropScience and as a result, there are not very many professionally produced photos of the young man in existence. We began fixing that problem - using an old barn, a single speedlite and a small softbox, we went to work Saturday morning and an hour later, we had some of the most gorgeous photos of Bryan that have ever been produced.

Bryan posted several of the photos from the shoot on his Facebook account, but he's not as good as I am at picking the good ones so you can find all of the images of him online in a Zenfolio Gallery. Additionally, you can communicate with him via his Facebook account. Friend him up!

Following the photoshoot, we headed out to attend our first Elizabeth City Potato Festival. It was certainly a popular event, and for the activities along Main Street, the affair fell right into my categorization of "Too Many People In A Confined Space". It felt a lot like a mini-State Fair, and if you've attended one of those lately, you know exactly what I mean. Once you broke through the Main Street Activities over into some of the events in the Wharf area, it was significantly more enjoyable. Here you can see the Main Street crowd and evidence of the popularity of the event t-shirts.

Over on the green beside Mariner's Wharf, the two highlights that I witnessed were the presence of character actors from the outdoor drama, The Lost Colony. If you've never attended this outstanding performance, I don't know more to say except you simply must go! The performance runs Sunday to Friday from May 30, 2008 till August 20, 2008, and it's a truly enjoyable evening for the entire family (bring bug repellent). I would suspect it's also a wonderful experience and opportunity for aspiring young actors and actresses - check it out!

I know that sounded like a commercial, and I'm sorry, but the Queen herself demanded I provide you with that information as she too was in attendance at the Potato Festival.

The other individual that I spotted on the Mariner's Wharf green was that dastardly scoundrel himself, Blackbeard. He was apparently capturing innocent civilians and hauling them back to his ship to serve his evilness on the high seas. I caught them red-handed as they slipped away with this poor fellow.

This went on all afternoon I hear, and he only avoided detection by the authorities by coming back and telling tall tales for the local children, making himself appear a decent sort of fella. He's apparently a good story-teller too, because he had this group of poor children captivated with his blathering.

One of the last things I saw as I was leaving was the mascot for the festival, Mr. Potato himself. I hope everyone who attended had a great time!

We caught beautiful beams of life in the Elizabeth City area this past weekend.

Have We Caught Yours?

Weekend Time

2008-05-09T16:47:00.004-04:00

It's been a busy week, but we've made it to the weekend. I see forecasts of rain and thunderstorms, but it sure looks pretty outside this afternoon to me. I'm only sorry I haven't had the opportunity to get out there with a camera in my hand, but I'm sure my friends smkybear and pilz8, both of whom won awards during our recent local photography contest, have possibly had a chance to get out so don't forget to check out their latest images. Not enough for you? Well, there are other active photographers in the local area with an eye on the Albemarle - try this one. That should keep you occupied for awhile...

As we move past this weekend, we have a number of local and photographic events coming up. I plan to be covering the Potato Festival next week and the May 24th horse show at Double T Farms. I might just crawl out of bed tomorrow morning and see what's happening and bring back some photos of the Downtown Beautification Day event (9 - 11am at the Virginia Dare Arcade, 507 East Main Street)

If you have a habit of not keeping up very well, you can always find most of what's happening locally at the Harbor of Hospitality Blog or the Elizabeth City Events Calendar, both of which are linked on the right under "Local Links". For those events that don't make it to those pages, well, there's always those little signs that pop up across the street from WalMart, huh? How about the list over at Things to Do in Elizabeth City - done all those? I know I haven't.

Anyway, keep The Harbor of Hospitality Blog bookmarked to keep up with all of the local events. It's your best stop to the latest, and most up-to-date information. And remember to check back here as we bring you some of the gorgeous beams of light we've captured across the Albemarle area. And if you need some special photographic work done, whether it be portraits for a special event, commercial work to highlight that special new product, or a full showcasing of your local business, we'll be happy to help you out. Take a look at some of our work, and if you like what you see, give us a call.

Have We Caught Yours? (...and have a great weekend!)

Good Morning Elizabeth City!

2008-05-07T07:44:00.003-04:00

I don't have much time for writing this morning, but I did want to share the view from this morning's sunrise along the waterfront. There are very few people down at the waterfront this time of day, but the ones you do see, you see almost every day.

Quiet weekend coming up. If you have a weekend event that you'd like to promote, call me. Anniversary coming up? Graduation? Birthday? There's nothing like captured beams of light as testaments to the beauty of life.

Have We Caught Yours?

A new day has been given to us - be thankful for every one!

Faces of the Albemarle

2008-05-03T18:56:00.007-04:00

It's our community and it's made up and filled with our faces every day. I've decided to save some random tidbits of our community's history each and every week by beginning my Faces of the Albemarle project. Welcome to the first installment of YOU!

Beautiful Beams

2008-04-30T23:13:00.005-04:00

A couple of reminders and a few photos from today that I wanted to share tonight before turning in.

First, tomorrow is the deadline for getting your framed photographs over to the AOA Gallery. See my post from Monday for the application if you need one or head on over to the Arts of the Albemarle website.

Also, tomorrow night is the Photography Club Meeting night. The meeting starts at 7pm in the AOA Gallery on Main Street here in Elizabeth City. We'd love to see you there.

Finally, May 4th (Sunday) is the reception for the photographic exhibit at the AOA Gallery. The reception is being held from 4pm till 6pm and if you're in the Photography Club, bring food as we're hosting.

I just couldn't bring myself to consider sleep tonight until I shared a few images with you. The first ones are from a location that I pass a minimum of once a week and sometimes more and always find myself wishing I had my camera available. Well, today I did and I took at least 50 shots of some magnificent creatures in a beautiful setting. The hardest part was deciding which to show.

Then on the way home from that location, I met an aerial surprise that just beckoned me to stop the car and snap a few shots even at my own peril from pesticide contamination. I couldn't help myself, and from a photographic perspective, I was glad I stopped. Amazingly enough, these photos were taken with my Canon 40D and a 17-55mm f2.8 lens so as much as that last shot looks like I was using a telephoto, I was just in the right place at the right time (or not!).

We caught some wonderful beams of light today across the Albemarle, some from things natural, some from things man-made, but both a joy to the eye.

Have We Caught Yours?

April is About To Leave Us

2008-04-28T15:47:00.017-04:00

Time for me to play catch up again.

My lack of posting in the last few days has more to do with lack of new content than anything else. I didn't have an engagement during the period, and there haven't been any really exciting local events to share with you. However, let's start by hitting a few of the highlights I am aware of that don't require me to have new photographic content available.

First I'll throw in a plug for the Cypress Creek Bar & Grill here in Elizabeth City. If you're looking for a restaurant along the waterfront here with a robust selection of dishes, this is certainly one place to consider. We ate there last Friday night. Our timing was poor and we would up eating at one of the tables behind the bar, but the food was good. Look for this little group of shops on the west side of Water Street - they're right smack in the middle there.

Voting for the Daily Advance Photo Contest is underway. Please stop by and vote for your favorite image. There are a total of 38 images from local photographers to choose from. Take your time and pick your favorite, but be sure to get your vote in by May 2nd!

Also, entries into the Arts of the Albemarle Photography Show & Competition are being accepted at the AOA Gallery through 7pm on May 1st. That's this coming Thursday! All works must be framed, wired and ready for hanging. Photographs can be no larger than 16" x 20" (not including frame). The application for submission is available here.

Speaking of local photographers, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to another that came to my attention while reviewing the images submitted as part of the contest. I'm just going to direct you to his Flickr library and let you figure the rest out, but among his works are some really beautiful images that I'm sure I'll be spending more than one evening enjoying.

April was also the time we saw spring blossom into our lives once again. I didn't get anywhere near the number of flower macros that I would have liked, but I've shared several of my recent additions in my Flickr Gallery.

April was an exciting month for us here at Beamcatchers. We were introduced to the whole world of horse show event photography and we had a good time photographing three separate events, and look forward to more in the future. I hope everyone has enjoyed looking at their pictures. If you utilized our ordering and printing services through Zenfolio and Mpix, we sincerely thank you for your business and support, and hope you will enjoy your prints for many years to come.

I did fail to share with you some of the images from the last 2 horse shows in previous blog posts; therefore, now would be a good time to pull out a few example images. Like, when is the last time you saw a lady AND a dog ride a horse?

If there's one thing about these horse shows that can be said, it's that they can certainly be exciting. Many of the young people you see riding these horses have been riding for years, and they know what they're doing. The animals themselves are beautiful, and that alone can be the source of excellent photographs. But couple that with the display of speed, turn angles, and controlled power complete with dirt flying into the air and great images are often the result. You can browse more images from the April events in my Zenfolio Gallery.

In April, we caught beams of light from horses, young people riding horses, sunrises, new blossoms of spring and loved ones.

Have We Caught Yours?

Norfolk Botanical Gardens

2008-04-20T10:40:00.013-04:00

If one thing was obvious yesterday, it was that I've been sitting on my butt too much all winter! I believe the temperature got up to a good 80 degrees, and that and the walking took it's toll on me. In spite of it though, I came away from the day with my objectives fulfilled. That is, I got some really good new images of my dearest to hang on the walls of our home.

I really believe in celebrating she who is my heart, and at least one print from yesterday will be a big, bold, beautiful, colorful, 16" x 20" in our home office. I go into a whole lot of different homes in my line of work and I rarely see large photographs. I see paintings occasionally, but a large photograph is a rarity. It's must be a photographer thing! This is my absolute favorite photograph from yesterday to share with you.

What always hits me after the fact, is the images that I didn't get. What if I had tried this, not blown the background exposure on that. That's called experience. We mull over what we accomplished in our mind and recognize what we did and didn't do right, and catalog a plan for the next outing. I wish I could just zip right back over there today as I already have things I want to try.

I think we waited a bit too long this year to go to the gardens. Last year we went on April 1st and the early azaleas were vivid pinks and whites, the Bradford Pears and cherry trees were in full bloom. Next year I might try to balance it just a bit by going at the end of the first week in April. Overall, I was pleased with the images we captured this year and did not come away disappointed. Here's one more to share that I caught of Julie with a more pink background - she likes this one.

Another thing that tears away at you while walking through the gardens is the desire to have two cameras ready at all times - one for portraits and one for macro photographs. Some of the flowers are absolutely beautiful, but you wind up missing them because you don't want to change lenses every 5 minutes. I waited until we completed taking portrait photographs then switched and caught some of the flowers as we walked back to the entrance. Here is a sample - one in which there was lots of yellow. Anything that was yellow yesterday called to me and I took it's picture.

From these images you can see we caught some beautiful beams of life yesterday at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens.

Have We Caught Yours?

What a Week!

2008-04-19T00:07:00.007-04:00

It was a crazy busy week with doing all of my normal appraisal job functions in addition to wading through lots of really good images from two different horse shows and uploading a good 900 of them to Zenfolio galleries for customers to be able to view and purchase. All photographs from the two horse shows held last weekend are now online and available for purchase and all images are sized appropriate for print up to 16" x 20". I've noticed over the weeks that the standard 4" x 6" print is popular with many people, and I've reduced Beamcatchers pricing on those and smaller prints through April 30th for all events covered.

I didn't really expect the 4" x 6" print to be as popular as it has been. For my personal photos that I have hung in my own home, they range from 5" x 7" to 16" x 20" with the larger images being my absolute favorites. A colorful well composed 16" x 20" photograph is simply stunning on a wall in your home or office. They're more expensive but worth every penny for the right shot. I've seen a number of photos from the horse shows that I felt would make outstanding large prints.

And while the action/event-style photographs can be great, getting that perfect shot is often luck of the draw - you know, whether or not I was paying attention. So don't forget individual portrait sessions where the images are tailored to meet your specification are available from Beamcatchers. On-location 1-2 hour portrait sessions complete with a 20-page custom designed hard cover book of the days work start at $375. They're perfect for anyone in the family or the whole family.

I'm going to be a bit greedy this weekend and take a little time to do something of interest to myself and visit the Botanical Gardens in Norfolk, VA. I'd like to catch a few beams of light while the azaleas are still in bloom (please say they are!). This is one of my favorite images from there last year and I'd love to get an updated version each year.

This year we'll be shooting with significantly better equipment overall and I'm really looking forward to going. I'll share some of the sucesses later. I'll also try to work in time to do a little macro photography on some of the different flowers currently in bloom.

I hope you have a great weekend. See you soon!

Half-Way There

2008-04-15T00:58:00.003-04:00

Following a weekend of heavy shooting, I'm half finished with processing (in addition to completing our taxes!) and starting the upload of the TLC Stables Event into Zenfolio before I head to bed. It will likely be late tomorrow or possible as late as Wednesday morning before all files are available. These files are big to ensure the best possible prints and there's a bunch of them (~500) so bear with me.

Here's a sneak preview of what you can expect.

It will probably be into Saturday before I fully have both shows uploaded. Thank you very much for your patience.

Covering these two shows was a lot of work. Sixteen hours in the field shooting and an equal number of hours staring at the computer monitor, then at least that much again uploading everything has (and will for the remainder of the week) kept me busy as a bee. I enjoyed it all though - watching these young ones command and ride these horses has been an awesome experience. My hat is off to all of you - you're awesome!

I'll try to share more about my experiences this past weekend some time during the week. I still need to get the uploading coordinated for the TLC Show, the edits and uploading finished for the Double T Show, hopefully get my photo contest entries submitted to the Daily Advance, maybe even sleep. Talk to you again soon...

Foggy Morning

2008-04-11T07:59:00.005-04:00

Not exactly the sky I was hoping for, but a tranquil morning such as this still has to be appreciated and I wanted to share it.

One of the interesting things we saw this morning was a group of ducks in front of us, maybe 5 or 6 of them, and for a period of time they were all focus on pushing this one other duck underwater. Every time he/she would attempt to surface they would push him under again. He/she eventually did get up and away but it was certainly interesting to watch.

Catching up a Bit

2008-04-10T22:00:00.013-04:00

I've been lackadaisical about getting new blog entries posted during the last week. The miserable weather last weekend prohibited new photographic adventures. The continued lack of sunshine all week just propagated the situation, leaving me overall uninspired.

I did manage to upload some additional photos to my Flickr account during the downtime. I was motivated by a gentleman I've seen on Twitter who has cataloged over 13,000 photos and tagged them all. The photos date back to the time of the Vietnam War protests in the late 60s. It's an impressive amount of effort, but as I thought about it, I couldn't help but wonder at the fragility of it all. We're committing more and more of our lives to digitization, a complete conversion into 0s and 1s, and I can only hope that we can maintain it and carry it forward with us into the future. It would be a shame to see such efforts lost in a flash or a flicker of time due to, well, who knows.....if something catastrophic should happen in the future, will there be anything left of us? For now, the first step for most of us is just to ensure we're backing up our files. Don't commit your entire library to one location or one internet sharing site.

If you spend a little time on Flickr browsing, you'll find there are several active photographers in the Albemarle area. There's some really good work out there and I encourage you to spend a little time searching Flickr for artists here in Elizabeth City as well as Hertford and Edenton. As I find new people that interest me, I will be adding them to my Flickr contact list. Here's a start for your browsing pleasure: smkybear. She has a very active Flickr following and does excellent work.

I do realize I keep pushing Flickr as the "go-to" photo sharing site. Let me preface any further explanation by saying that it's not my favorite, but you have to realize it *IS* where the overwhelming majority of people are, thereby making it the place to be if you are looking to showcase your images and get any meaningful feedback. At least in the online community, if you want any exposure at all, you simply cannot ignore Flickr.

Tomorrow (Friday) will be a very busy work day and the weekend is completely booked; therefore, now is a good time to let you know about upcoming events and what beams of light we'll be decorating these pages with next.

On Saturday, April 12th, we'll be visiting Double T Farms once again to shoot the second horse show of their season. We're really looking forward to this one. When we were there 2 weeks ago, it actually started sleeting and Julie had to shelter herself in the car while I jumped out and shot pictures, retreated, jumped out again and shot more pictures. It's supposed to be 80 degrees this Saturday. There's no promise of sunshine thanks to that monster of a storm currently spinning out in the mid-west, but at least it'll be warm! Hopefully, I'll have time to get a few pictures up on the blog before Sunday.

On Sunday, April 13th, we'll be shooting yet another horse show in Rich Square, NC. It's supposed to be cooler on Sunday but there with some sunshine at least earlier in the day so I'm really looking forward to that. I'd like to say I'll have all of the photos processed by Sunday night so I can get them uploaded into Zenfolio on Monday, but we'll see how that goes. With such a full weekend ahead, it may take just a little bit longer than normal.

If you've been considering entering the photography contest this year at the Daily Advance, the deadline for submission of your photo is April 19th. The requirements and entry page can be found here: Daily Advance Photo Contest. This deadline is next Tuesday, so get out there this weekend and get those entries ready! I've currently got three photos that I'm trying to decide between.

Given the re-emergence of the sun in our daily lives, I'm seriously considering a visit to the Elizabeth City waterfront tomorrow at sunrise. If I get anything interesting, I'll be sure to post it tomorrow during the day. Thanks for enduring my rambling - I'll be back with some photos in the next day or two. Have a great weekend!

Don't Forget

2008-04-03T08:18:00.006-04:00

Tonight is the first April photography club meeting at 7pm in the Arts of the Albemarle Gallery on Main Street. If you love taking pictures and sharing, please join us. This also gives me a convenient excuse to share another dogwood picture with you.

There's also a ton of chatter on Twitter about April 3rd being "Good People Day". I'm not sure if it's real or a way to test the viral nature of Twitter in our current wired environments, but it never hurts to take the time to appreciate the "good people" in your lives. So let's just pretend it's real and have a great day!

See you tonight!

Saturday Afternoon on the Farm

2008-03-30T09:05:00.064-04:00

After perusing the list of activites in and around Elizabeth City yesterday, it wasn't clear to me how we were going to spend our Saturday or what we might photograph. There just didn't seem to be any activities scheduled for a late weekend in March. The weather had just turned cold with the threat of rain on and off all day (and did you see the sleet!?). Ok, I'll admit I saw a Tae Kwon Do Kick-A-Thon scheduled at the mall, but I just wasn't in the mood for a lot of kicking, yelling and grunting and decided to let someone else cover that one. Julie told me she remembered seeing a sign across from that great big blue store on Halstead Blvd advertising a Horse Show. I snatched up the camera gear, and off we went to get another look at this sign with hopes for a new Saturday adventure.

Julie was right; there was a sign advertising a Horse Show at Double T Farms. Okay, so where's that? And here's where you have to love Apple's iPhone. Are you listening Apple? Yes, we do commercials...

"Honey, check to see where Double T Farms is please." She whips out her iPhone and within seconds, we know where on Lynchs Corner Road and how to get to Lynchs Corner Road from our current location and the full schedule of Horse Shows for this summer and the full class list for the March 29th show.

Zoom...zoom..zoom...off we go. Ok, so a Scion xA isn't capable of a lot of zooming but I try.

Double T Farms is located on Lynch's Corner Road off of Highway 158 west of Elizabeth City, and is run by Stephen & Terry Temple. The farm has a full schedule of horse shows throughout the spring, summer and fall concluding with a fall fun show and award ceremony on November 1st.

What started as a Saturday morning with nothing planned turned into a 6-hour Saturday afternoon adventure. Now before I even describe what I saw, I'm going to preface this by honestly stating this was my FIRST horse show and my noggin doesn't contain a wealth of horse-related information, so if anything I say sounds stupid, you'll know why. The initial activities appeared to revolve around showcasing the horse's physical attributes, then proceeded into demonstrating a mastery of control.

Following the demonstrations, the real fun began, and this was one activity that seemed to be enjoyed by the participants as much as the spectators. Time trials! The contestants navigated their horse around a series of barrels followed by a mad dash back to the start as a large digital clock ticked their progression. Different events were scheduled that offered different placement of the barrels. What I missed in grunts at the Tae Kwon Do Kick-A-Thon was replaced by yelps as contestants urged they horses through the trials. Photographically, the most challenging thing was panning to try to convey the feeling of moment, while capturing an image of the rider which is as sharp as possible. It was a great deal of fun and a skill I'd like to perfect.

You can view a full collection or purchase individual photos from my Zenfolio Collection covering the event. A few of the photos have been uploaded to my Flickr library as well.

At 7pm, we headed for home with a 4 Gb card full of photos and frozen fingers and toes. I still don't know a lot about horses, but I'll be at Double T Farms again because we had a blast. (Special thanks to our hosts, Stephen & Terry, for being so nice and welcoming AND to the lady that made the hot chocolate at the concession stand!) On a Saturday afternoon in late March, we caught beautiful beams of light from Double T Farms and the contestants of it's first show of the 2008 season.

Have we caught yours?

Friday Night in ECity

2008-03-28T22:37:00.022-04:00

I routinely check the schedule each week and noted on Tuesday an interesting young man would be playing tonight at The City Wine Seller. His name is Christopher Palestrant. My lovely wife, Julie, agreed and accompanied me for a relaxing evening.

Chris is a performer as well as a composer. His works and arrangements have been performed from New York City to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and he has won a number of awards, many of which are detailed in the Biographical section of his website. Go check it out! Chris currently teaches composition and music theory at Elizabeth City State University. (He also apparently uses a Mac, and that alone wins him big points here at Beamcatchers!) For his performances, he plays the keyboard and sings, performing a variety of music ranging from more contemporary artists such as Elton John to Broadway hits to original scores. I especially enjoyed an original composition of his, "New Thing", and Julie enjoyed such classics as "Winne the Pooh" and was hoping he'd sing The Wiggles "Big Red Car", but I didn't have the nerve to ask him if it was in his repertoire. Chris imbued each song with a delightful personality that kept each one interesting from start to finish. We weren't able to stay for the whole show, but thanks Chris; we really enjoyed it! I hope we get the opportunity to come back and see you in May.

The food and service at The City Wine Seller were superb as always. And this Sunday, March 30, they are hosting an Italian dinner to benefit Elizabeth City Downtown, Inc. You can find additional details at the March 26th posting at The Harbor of Hospitality Blog. The fund-raiser will help replenish funds the organization spent last year to help decorate the downtown for Christmas.

Photography at the show tonight was a little less than optimal as Chris doesn't use performer lights and we didn't have the UNC-TV film crew running around with a video camera lighting the place up. Although it would result in overall better images, I don't carry a flash to these shows as it would just be disruptive to other customers enjoying the show, and potentially the performer as well. Therefore, I shot available light, and tonight that required pushing sensitivity up to ISO 3200. The images aren't perfect as some noise is apparent, but I wasn't totally dissatsfied with them.

Here are a couple of images from Chris's performance:

Do you have an event coming up and would like to receive personal coverage that satisfies your objectives? Do you own a business in the Elizabeth CIty area and would like to showcase it to new potential customers? People, events, architecture, places - beams of light into a photographers lens can help you tell the story.

Have we caught yours?

AoA Photography Club News

2008-03-24T17:21:00.006-04:00

I wanted to pass along some of the AoA Photography Club news from last weeks meeting. Unless you were there, it's a bit tough to find out what's going on so I'll do what I can to help.

First of all, the Photo Contest has been announced and it's coming on May 4th. If anyone is available to assist with hanging the show on Friday, May 2nd @ 9am, let Mary Temple know. Additionally, if you can help host the reception on Sunday by bringing some goodies (May 4th, 4pm to 6pm), please do so.

The Photo Contest brochure and application can be found here: Brochure and Application.

The AOA Photography Club is looking for a new logo, so if you have design skills, here's your chance to shine. I haven't seen any specification for the logo, but I would imagine the logo should be prepared in Adobe Illustrator. I'm not sure though so I will check on this and update this blog post with any new information I can gather. [Edit: Submit your logo design in any format you choose and the club will take care the rest - just send in those ideas!]

The Rug Show is just about over so if you are juried and have photographs to be hung, bring them in by April 3rd, the date of our next meeting. The meeting will again be at 7pm in the Gallery downtown.

We won't be judging photos at the April 3rd meeting, but will be judging the "Color Me" theme at the April 17th meeting. The "Color Me" theme should be a photo where there is a dominant color.

Anyone have any corrections to this information, please email me and I'll get the correct information posted.

Easter Morning Sunrise

2008-03-23T08:27:00.002-04:00

I'm just posting this morning to share the Easter morning sunrise with everyone. Have a blessed day!

Early Morning in Elizabeth City

2008-03-22T19:23:00.018-04:00

I managed to get an early start today before going out to the Dismal Swamp Canal State Park. I headed downtown before the sun peered over the horizon to see if there was some beauty to find this morning in Elizabeth City. I didn't have much difficulty. My enthusiam was only dampened by the absence of my companion and best friend, my wife, who is visiting her brother before he goes to Iraq. I miss you Julie!

One of the things I always appreciate is large colorful signs, and for whatever reason, I had never noticed this one before. I supposed it's because I'm generally on the other side of the building. This sign is on a small brick building along Water Street and this side faces the public boat docks on the waterfront.

Turning my attention to look across the water, I was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise this morning. I brought back a picture of it to share with you. There are a couple of additional shots in both my Flickr Photostream and Zenfolio Portfolio if you want to see additional sunrise photos.

As promised, the focus of my day's adventure was the newly opened Dismal Swamp State Park. The park visitor center is as nice as has been previously reported. I am sure this facility will become the site for a host of field trips from area schools in both North Carolina and Virginia in the future. It may be rumor, but I have heard the wood used in the construction of the interior of the visitor center was obtained from fallen trees within the park itself. The whole interior is gorgeous and smells of cedar so I don't find this hard to believe.

There's an extensive... well, let me rephase that. The trails at the new park facility are extensively long, with very little to see during the initial couple of miles. I didn't go beyond the first 2 miles in either direction, so if there's anything different in the back half of the trails, I didn't see it.

The first primary trail open to the public at the current time is Canal Road, and while the trail is flat and cleared, there's not alot of "scenery" to take in during your hike. The trail in the other direction is significantly less developed. Don't go that way. If you're looking for a 2-mile scenic walk, go past the State Park portion of this and take the asphalt trail that runs along the canal from the rest area down to the north head of Hwy 343, or go visit Merchants Mill Pond in Gates County. You'll enjoy either more. The trail system at the Dismal Swamp Canal State Park just isn't sufficiently developed at this time to be of interest to most people.

Additionally, there's no water, facilities or place to sit along the trail other than Mother Earth herself so plan accordingly. I didn't see any large wildlife such as deer or bears, but I did notice a number of butterflies and birds (and I'd be willing to bet snakes once the weather becomes warmer). I'll be anxious to hear the experiences of others who might have ventured a bit further than I did. Also, there's one boardwalk directly behind the facility that runs approximately 300 feet directly behind the visitor center that I didn't explore.

All that said, I may well consider going back again just for that chance of actually photographing a bear in the wild!

Dismal Swamp State Park

2008-03-21T21:03:00.003-04:00

Because it's current news and the weekend is upon us with a nice Saturday in the forecast, I wanted to go ahead and post this information. The Dismal Swamp State Park in Camden County opened today!

Dismal Swamp State Park

I'll be heading to the facility tomorrow with full camera gear to check out the new location and at least a small portion of that 16.7 miles of hiking and biking trails. I'll be back tomorrow night with a first hand images of the new facilities and hopefully a few wildlife sightings. The Park is located just 3 miles south of the NC/VA border on US Hwy 17 between Elizabeth City and Chesapeake. Hope to see you there!

Until then I leave you with an image I like to call "Guineas in the Green". Have a great weekend!

Saturated Color

2008-03-21T19:26:00.019-04:00

Last night was the second March meeting of the AoA Photography Club in Elizabeth City. We had several members present and we judged a total of seven photographs.

The theme to be judged this month was "Saturated Color" and I had the idea that I would buy a bag of M&Ms (with no hidden motives of course), remove all but the red, blue and yellow M&Ms and try some macro photography of our little chocolate friends. I used my Canon 40D, a 100mm f2.8 macro, and a 580EX on a light stand with a Photoflex LiteDome softbox, with a ST-E2 on the camera to trigger the flash. My interpretation was I wanted a photograph that captured primary colors, undiluted by other colors yet also as vivid as possible without having to resort to oversaturation of some standard subject.

I tried several variations and I'll show a few of those here.

And then I tried getting in closer:

I originally thought the shallow depth of field would add to the photo, but the peanut gallery I asked didn't find the foreground M&Ms with the diffuse background as attractive as I did (I shouldn't have gotten peanut M&Ms huh?). So then I decided that perhaps it was the randomness that was unattractive and I tried arranging the candy into patterns (while ensuring that I didn't eat too many of one color and mess it all up):

Once again, the shallow depth of field didn't seem to be a hit despite my precision crafted flowers of candy-coated chocolate goodness. The winner in this household was ultimately the simplest and first photo I took - a simple top down view of a random batch of M&Ms and this was the photograph that I took to the club.

The club seemed to like this one, but who can argue with photos of candy, right?

I'll be back later with more Photography Club news including some of the special events coming up, including the photography contest, "Scenes of the Albemarle".

Home in Northeastern North Carolina

2008-03-12T20:10:00.000-04:00

I noticed I put one extra photo into the set as I was setting up the slideshow in Zenfolio and Flickr - I've been using both since I just can't seem to decide which I like better. There's also Zooomr, Smugmug and more! But for now, my heart remains bouncing between Zenfolio and Flickr.

I'll show the photo to you first then I'll finish my story.

This photo was taken on February 3, 2008 looking out on the Chowan River at Cannons Ferry while driving my wife on a tour through rural northeastern North Carolina through my eyes of 30+ years ago. I grew up here then moved to the Raleigh/Durham (RDU) area for about 19 years before winding up spending the next 5 years in Overland Park, KS (extreme southern Kansas City suburb). I spent the whole 24 years in either a laboratory or office environment, separated from real public interaction. A full retreat from the corporate world later, and I'm back here where it all began for me.

All those years away and I don't think I ever truly appreciated this part of the world, and maybe even now it takes a different perspective on life to see what I now see in the photo above. And it's just a single representation of what I see every time I drive through places like The Great Dismal Swamp or Merchants Millpond, or the towns of Edenton, Hertford and now my home, Elizabeth City. I love these idyllic little places that lie along the shorelines of our waterways, as well as the downtown settings along the waterfront.

I don't know what the future holds or where life will take us tomorrow, but I'm certainly not disappointed that I took the opportunity to come home, spend time with my father, work and interact with different people every day, and enjoy the peacefulness of northeastern North Carolina for a little while.

Ready for Spring

2008-03-09T22:33:00.000-04:00

It's so obvious that I'm completely and totally ready for spring. The weather here on Friday and much of the day on Saturday was rainy and miserable at best, with a corresponding significant temperature drop on Sunday. We only poked our heads out on Saturday and the wind nearly blew us away! As a result of this, I don't have any new pictures to share this week and for that I apologize.

I do want to take a moment and talk about last Thursday night, in the event a local individual might benefit from my posting. Earlier this year when we stumbled into the Arts of the Albemarle during a downtown weekend photo excursion, we also discovered a local Photography Club was associated with the center. Well, last Thursday night was the first chance I had to attend one of the meetings, and I'm glad I did. The club was formed by the Arts Council in 2004 and currently has over 50 members. There were approximately 10 members present last Thursday night.

We spent a few minutes on introductions as there were several new members present. Then we judged a photo related to the February theme, and people shared the techniques they used to capture their photos. Also, the club is planning to update their logo from the current design, and everyone was encouraged to submit their own ideas. If you have some artistic talent, get busy!

I would like to encourage anyone in the area with interest in photography as a profession, hobby or general interest to attend these meetings. There's no level of expertise too minor or too great, as it's a friendly group willing and ready to share ideas, tips, techniques and experience. All meetings are held on the first and third Thursdays of each month in the Arts of the Albemarle Gallery, and the next meeting is on March 20th. We'd love to see you there!

Saturday's Shot of the Day

2008-03-01T21:49:00.003-05:00

Just a quick share of the best shot of the day for Saturday March 1, 2008 taken oceanside at Sandbridge, Virginia. It was extremely windy but otherwise a beautiful day! This shot was taken with a Canon 40D with a 70-200mm f2.8 IS lens and was shot at 90mm 1/1600 @ f3.5.

Friday Night Light Theft

2008-03-01T09:37:00.001-05:00

Last night we spent another Friday evening enjoying the company and entertainment at The City Wine Sellar. For my whole life I've had this issue with the color red. I don't particularly like most red foods, and you'll rarely ever catch me wearing anything red or any shade thereof. BUT when it comes to things that catch my "photographic eye" and strike me as beautiful, there is nothing quite like red. Red signs, red backgrounds in portraits (see post of 2/10/2008) - red is just so saturated and engaging and vibrant. I just can't eat or wear it....strange huh? The new sign immediately caught my eye!

When we go to The City Wine Sellar, I generally anticipate I'll be the only one sporting a camera. I leave the flash at home and crank up the ISO. I wouldn't really feel right walking in asking, "Where can I setup my lightstands?" for off camera strobes. Besides, strobes going off every couple of minutes would just spoil things for everyone. High ISO shots might be a wee bit noisy, but you get photos that are as representative of the establishment's native atmosphere as possible. Last night I wasn't the only one with a camera and I got to cheat a little.

A videographer from UNC-TV was in attendance filming the evening's events, and The Daily Advance had a photographer snapping shots as well. I wasn't sure why they were filming until I learned Mayor Steve Atkinson of our fine city was dining at the table beside us. (I had to ask as they were getting serious camera attention!) The following is me stealing a little of the videographers light to get a photo of the mayor and the waitress attending to his table. I'm guilty of not asking the waitresses' name, but this particular young lady does a great job and is extremely friendly.

The evening's entertainment was as good as we've come to expect. Dr. Tom Vinick of Moyock played and sang 70s cover songs from 7pm until 10pm. We really enjoyed his performance. He didn't have a lights setup like some of the previous performers so once again I stole light from videographer for photos as needed. The light is warmer than a photographic strobe and has a pleasing quality to it.

Once again we discovered this is a delightful way to break out of the house after a long week and enjoy something a little special on a Friday night. The entertainment is always delightful and the food has yet to disappoint. I believe your hostess, Deborah Malenfant, would love to see you there soon.

Weekend Shoot

2008-02-11T20:53:00.001-05:00

For the first time since we were married, Julie and I returned to the town of Plymouth, NC this weekend. We primarily spent time in the downtown area, but we did take the opportunity to ride by the little church of our marital beginnings. However, as much as I would have no problem doing so, our trip wasn't made for the purpose of renewing vows. Our trip was for a portrait shoot in the downtown area, and at least weather-wise, what a day it was.

It was a beautifully sunny day and not even a wee bit cold considering this is early February. However, you'd have thought we were dealing with mid-March by the way the wind blew. Apparently the wind caused difficulties all over the region. I read something about fires in Virginia Beach, there was another article saying 1,000 acres had burned in Halifax County, and as we were returning from Plymouth it became obvious there were fires closer to home as well. Here is a shot of smoke coming from the fires in Chowan County. From news reports, there were a number of fires in Perquimans, Pasquotank, Camden and Currituck Counties as well. According to this report, over 9000 acres have burned across the state. Amazing stuff.

As we were returning home on Sunday down US 17 between Edenton and Hertford, NC we stopped and took the following photo.

While we were in Plymouth, we shot some photos for a young couple. We started out at the Port of Plymouth Museum. It was a battle to stay as clear as possible of some really hefty winds, but I think we got some really good photographs in spite of the weather. One of my favorite locations was on the back of an old bright red rail caboose. It was the perfect backdrop as you can see here. We used an off camera flash and umbrella (that we almost lost to the wind a couple of times!) that gave this photo just the right touch.

Plymouth gets a bad rap due to the presence of the Weyhauser plant, but it is an absolutely beautiful little town for photography. As much as I enjoy all of our coastal towns in Northeastern North Carolina, I'm not sure any of them provide the opportunities that Plymouth does. You have the historic old town look, a museum on one end of town, a lighthouse and museum on the other end, with colorful old buildings including everything from red, green, yellow and blue brick. Several of the buildings have either advertisements painted on the side and there's one location with a mural of an old lamppost and Model T type car. If that weren't enough, there are two other attractive reasons to want to shoot here. There's a river running not 200 feet alongside the main thoroughfare and on a Sunday afternoon, there's virtually NO traffic in the downtown area. It's a photographers dream location. I do hope to go back on of these days when the weather is a bit more friendly.

Here's a photo of our new young friend taken in front of one of the building murals.

There were challenges, and mistakes made (as always), but we learn from those and move forward. Thanks for your help and support Julie! Overall, my feeling was this was a successful shoot with some really nice captures made. I am continually impressed with the Canon 17-55mm f2.8 IS. It is really such an amazingly sharp lens and we'll look forward to using it in Plymouth, NC again in the future.

Beamcatchers Site

2008-02-03T20:21:00.000-05:00

BluDomain has been having issues most of the afternoon with the server our site is hosted on. My apologies for any inconvenience.

The site is still down tonight. Hopefully they'll get this straightened out soon.

You Want to Take Me Where?

2008-02-03T18:28:00.000-05:00

While most people were gathering kegs of beer and heaping mounds of nachos for today's Superbowl, I simply asked my wife if she'd go to the swamp with me. Yes honey, that's what I said, the swamp.

Even though I grew up only about 3 miles away, over the years I've heard good things about the Merchants Millpond State Park. State Park you said, right? Near my old home? I certainly don't remember it being a state park when I was growing up, but it was apparently one as early as 1973 and consists of 3,250 acres. All I remember it for was this swampy area where you always saw people fishing off the bridge. It was time to get another look for myself.

I suppose I'm "spoiled" in the sense that I've seen cypress trees draped in spanish moss all my life, but it's a different look that can be appreciated by those that haven't.

Admittedly, reading the signs near the entrance that suggest caution due to the presence of alligators and snakes, affects your thought patterns as you walk the trails. Merchants Millpond is the northernmost area where you can find the American Alligator. We jumped at every lizard scurrying off in the leaves and froze in fright the one time our dog's lease brushed against my backpack and it sounded like a hiss. Despite the shaky feelings, we both left thinking it would be a nice place to spend a weekend camping. It's about as quiet and peaceful as you could possibly wish for.

The state has done a really nice job here. The campground area looks awesome and the trails are laid out well. The picnic area was clean, and the restroom facilities I saw were all clean. There's even a place over by the boat ramp where you can rent a canoe.

Oh yeah, about my wife - well, what can I say other than she even looks cute in the swamp! Thanks for going with me Julie, I love you!

Friday Night in Elizabeth City

2008-02-01T23:17:00.000-05:00

Lately we've been on a mission to discover downtown businesses in Elizabeth City. This is for several reasons: 1) it's downtown business like those we're discussing that keep waterfront towns like Elizabeth City alive, and 2) the continued success of these business is in the best interest of all of the citizens of EC from a personal and business point of view. And given I live here, I certainly have a personal interest in seeing this town thrive. So as I discover new places and events in town, I'm going to try to share a bit of my experience, and if possible, catch and share a bit of the atmosphere.

Tonight we visited the City Wine Sellar . They are located right at the end of Main Street, and on Friday nights have live entertainment from 7:00pm until 10:00pm.

We decided to head over earlier tonight to grab a good seat for the show and have dinner. The dinner menu consists primarily of sandwiches and wraps, but the food is quite tasty and the service is prompt (and has been very friendly!). Um yeah, the carrot cake was delicious too... CJ, Christopher Grey, was the performer last night and he entertains primarily with his guitar skills, and there's no question that he has those! We definitely enjoyed his performance and personality as well as the atmosphere of the City Wine Sellar. If you need something to do on a Friday night and you live in the area, definitely put this on your list of things to do!

The images below might give you a little of the atmospheric flavor of the establishment. You can click any of the images below for a larger version. I'm continually pleased with the ability to shoot at high ISO with the Canon 40d over my old Digital Rebel XT. These were all shot at f2.8 with the Canon 17-55mm IS at ISO 1600. There's surprisingly little noise in these images. None of them have been cropped - a little contrast and sharpening, otherwise they're right out of the camera.

Hope you enjoyed - until next time!

2008 Albemarle Wedding Show

2008-01-27T21:28:00.000-05:00

Although we didn't attend the Albemarle Wedding Show as a vendor, we did wind up attending and met a lot of nice people in the process. I'm certainly not disappointed we were there and I found it more enjoyable than the Outer Banks Wedding Show last month. For this show, a stage was set up mid-gymnasium and there was entertainment and door prize give-aways throughout the afternoon, and a mini-fashion show of sorts with some of the latest wedding fashions from Louisa's Bridals on display.

As a personal learning experience, the following became apparent to me very quickly:

1) Gymnasium lighting is strange stuff - take a shot of the WhiBal card!
2) A flash bracket is critical to eliminate side shadows. I've had a Newton Camera Rotator Bracket in a shopping cart for weeks, but I've avoided pulling the trigger until I actually have a wedding scheduled.
3) I need to work on not cutting off feet (perfect example above!)

I've got another 20 or so photos from the event on my website in a featured Gallery if you're interested. Good luck to all the vendors that participated. There was alot of good stuff out there by some really talented people for our local area brides.

Out and About in Elizabeth City

2008-01-26T18:40:00.000-05:00

This morning was a good morning to get out into downtown to stretch our legs and look for interesting places to shoot and possibly a place to put up an advertisement or two. It wasn't too cold and early on the sun at least tried to peek through the clouds a bit. I had prepared a small advertisement for use at the wedding show on Sunday, but it turns out that we won't be attending the show as a vendor as I was too late in trying to get registered. The only room left was in a side room off of the main show floor. However, the advertisement should prove useful for other purposes, we posted one in the Muddy Waters Coffeehouse on the corner of Main and S Road Streets. Thanks guys, great coffee! Kudos to the local OfficeMax here in Elizabeth City for a very respectable print job with their IMPRESS service and reasonably priced color printing.

It was much more difficult to appreciate when I was younger, but I have discovered that I love the charm of our small northeastern North Carolina towns, and today was no exception. Today in downtown Elizabeth City we discovered:

We weren't aware of it's existence before and it was a true delight to go in and see the talent of so many local artists being displayed. If you live near here and aren't familiar with it, I would encourage you to first visit their web site then head downtown for a look. A new home is in progress across the street but I'm not aware of the proposed date of completion. It appears the project was initiated in 2002. I will certainly be on the lookout for the shows they hold during the year in 2008 and hopefully will find the time and a way to get involved in some small way.

It was a fun morning to pick different settings and shoot - balancing off-camera flash and ambient lighting. Below is one of the shots I got of my wife (my favorite subject!) that I really, really like. There were a number of others, but this is without a doubt my favorite.

It's not unusual to draw a little attention when you're out setting up flashes and umbrellas while shooting, and we met one new friend along the way. We promised to paste his face on the internet and make him a star!

New Advertisements

2008-01-19T16:04:00.000-05:00

New advertisements went up on Craigslist this past week for the Northeastern NC and Hampton Roads, VA areas. Inquires haven’t exactly been flooding in the door, but those inquires I have received have been quality ones so I’m pleased overall. Here’s a copy of the ad. For those that have contacted me, I am looking forward to your sessions and know you are going to love the results. January 27th is the Albemarle Wedding Show in Elizabeth City, NC and we plan to be in attendance for the show.

Also this past week, we shots photos at the Tidewater Area WIPP Meeting. There were several good speakers including the Honorable Mayor Oberndorf from Virginia Beach. After the meeting I had the opportunity to do portraits of the TeknoLogix, Inc. crew and here is a group shot of the whole gang. These ladies provide first rate service in consultant and direct-hire staffing and virtual office solutions among other things. You can find out more about their capabilities at TeknoLogix Inc..

Everything Is New!

2008-01-09T12:32:00.000-05:00

Not much time to post anything right now except to say the new website and new blog is up and running. I have no doubts that I'll be cleaning up little problems for days to come, but it's exciting to have everything switched over and functional.