June 23, 2017

Over the Fountain

Hanging Out Over the Purdue Engineering Fountain

I have had some fun this year with my drone. It has allowed me to be able to get a whole new view on a lot of familiar subjects to me. This was one of my early drone photos on campus. On this day I had made some cool shadow photos, and a photo of the bell tower that I really liked. This one never had a chance to see the light of day on this blog right away. It is a cool look at the fountain though.

Six Months With the DJI Phantom 4 Pro

It has been about six months since I bought my drone. At first I was very pleased to be able to fly it as much as I did with the mild winter. I flew it everywhere and made photos of everything. I knew that right away I would overuse the drone. That is why I made a special file on my website for the pictures that I made with it. As time has gone on I have used it less, but I think I have used it when I needed to rather than finding a use for it. It is a great tool to have in the bag for sure.

Posted by on June 23, 2017 in Adobe Lightroom 6 (CC), DJI Phantom 4 Pro, Purdue, West Lafayette/Lafayette and tagged , .

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June 22, 2017

My Favorite Basket

The Basket Where I Learned to Play

A couple of years ago I started a project photographing basketball hoops in Indiana. It is not a novel idea, but one that I have enjoyed. This is the hoop that started that line of thinking. I was playing some basketball while hanging out back home, and I wondered where did other kids and adults get their start? At some point I will take this project a little more seriously, but for now I realized that I needed the hoop where I started. This year I have made a point to shoot for free for less. That just doesn’t ever seem to pay off in the end. Instead of doing that I can have a little free time to work on a couple of side projects that I have been working on.

A Cool Setup

I really was lucky with the setup that I had for basketball. When we first moved into that house in the 80’s I did not have a hoop. I walked down the street to the one there. When the pool was put in so was this 30×40 pad for the basketball court. I think the plan was always to put a shed up when I was down playing basketball there. As of right now I still am not done playing on that court. It has seen many tournaments and games of one on one, and I think that it still has a couple left in it. If the house sells a whole new generation can play on it. I was trying to think of how many thousands of shots that I put up here. Then I started thinking that I might be selling myself short. I may have put up a seven figure number of shots here.

Posted by on June 22, 2017 in Adobe Lightroom 6 (CC), Backyard Basketball, Canon 24-105mm f/4, Canon 5D Mark IV, DJI Phantom 4 Pro, LaPorte, Sunrise/Sunset and tagged , .

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June 21, 2017

Sunset at the Pool

Watching Sunset at the Pool

While back in LaPorte, Indiana last week I spent some time during the short period of good light with my drone in the air and then down on the ground making photos. As I was making photos of the house I realized that I was missing a great opportunity. The pool would give me a decent reflection. With the amazing sky it would be an interesting shot. The colors of the sky would reflect in the pool, and that could be great. At the end of the day it was not exactly what I had envisioned, but it was still a pretty cool shot. It made me want to go in the pool which I did the next day.

This House Can Be Yours

I am writing this post about a week before it will go live, but as of the writing you can buy this house. My parents have the house on the market, and you can have this view. You can find the house listing here if you are so inclined to go and have a look. I can tell you from experience that it is a great place to raise a family.

41 Years Strong

I am posting this photo of my parent’s house today because it is their 41st anniversary. Of course being the good son that I am I will not be in LaPorte to celebrate with them this week. It is still a pretty cool accomplishment.

Posted by on June 21, 2017 in Adobe Lightroom 6 (CC), Canon 24-105mm f/4, Canon 5D Mark IV, LaPorte, Sunrise/Sunset and tagged , .

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June 20, 2017

Metallica at Soldier Field

Finally Getting to See Metallica Again

The last time that I saw Metallica live was in 2009 while they were out promoting their new album at that time. It was a great show, and at that time it had been five years since I saw them live. I said that I wouldn’t let that happen again at the time. Of course now we all know how that ended. After seeing them rock again I will once again say that it will not be a long span before I see them play live again.

Music to Drive By

If you read this blog then you know that I like to edit my photos to softer, gentler music. On the way to photograph sporting events though I like something heavier. In fact if you look at my top 25 songs on iTunes most of them are Metallica. The top ten is all Metallica except for one song by Avenged Sevenfold who opened for Metallica Sunday night. It was a great night and a great rock show for sure. I can’t wait to do it all again.

Some Beautiful Light

As Metallica took the stage the light was nearly perfect. It was blue hour meaning all of the ambient light was even at the time. It was perfect conditions to photograph in. As the orange light came over the crowd I knew that it was my time to make pictures. I did not make many pictures during most of the show. When the light was great though I had to make a few. I need something cool to hang on the wall after all. Continue reading →

Posted by on June 20, 2017 in Adobe Lightroom 6 (CC), Canon Powershot G16, Chicago, Concert, iPhone 7 Plus and tagged , .

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June 19, 2017

Top 17 Photos of the 2017 Purdue Baseball Season

My Favorite Seventeen Photos From the 2017 Purdue Baseball Season

This was an interesting season for me. I did not get to many Purdue baseball games, but I seemed to be lucky enough to be at a few good ones.

17. We will start things off with a photo of senior Brian Ghiselli pitching in the Big Ten Tournament. It was fun to see the local kid who played his high school ball in my neighborhood getting a turn in the Big Ten Tournament. He was one of those players that waited for his time in the tournament to come. I wanted to be sure to get a good shot of him for that reason.

16. On the flipside of that you have a player like Dalton Parker who came up big in his freshman season for Purdue. Here he celebrates getting out of a jam against Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament. I love these moments when the emotion boils over.


15. This section was one where it was hard to pick a photo so I went with two. At the top you have new baseball coach Mark Wasikowski and new head football coach Jeff Brohm talking before a game. These two men have really restored some hope to Purdue Athletics. Coach Brohm will be getting his first season under way before we know it, and Coach Waz had a pretty good first season at the helm of the Boilers. He brought a fun, aggressive form of baseball to West Lafayette that made it fun to head to the ballpark.

14. As a kid of the eighties I appreciate a good chain game, and the next two photos showcase some of that for the Boilers. Here Nick Dalesandro and his chain start to round third and head to home against Indiana State. Nick is a fun player to watch, and he can do many things all over the field.

13. Here is second baseman Evan Warden and his chain. I had the pleasure of watching Evan play before he ever stepped onto the diamond at Purdue. Two seasons ago he pitched and played second for the Kokomo Jackrabbits of the Prospect League. Last season he played for the Lafayette Aviators in the same league. He is a player that reminds me of Nick Charles at Purdue. He will do anything to help his team win. He is usually dirty early, and as he showed this year he is not afraid to get on base after being hit.  Continue reading →

Posted by on June 19, 2017 in Adobe Lightroom 6 (CC), Best of 2017, Bloomington, Canon 1Dx, Canon 400mm f/2.8 II, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L II, College Baseball, Purdue, Terre Haute, West Lafayette/Lafayette and tagged , .

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June 17, 2017

Lightnin’ Strikes

Lightnin’ Is Strikin’ Again

Sorry for the title, but for some reason that Lou Christie song was going through my head the entire time that I made this photo. As I was writing a couple of blog posts the other night I could hear the thunder all around me. I went to our one high window which happens to face west to see what was going on outside. Just then a magnificent strike happened and light up a cool cloud. I ran and grabbed my camera to capture it if it happened again. By the time I got everything I needed together that cloud was long gone. I settled in for a late night making some storm photos.

Not As Easy As It Looks

Lightning is a crazy animal. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to where it will strike. With a little rain coming in my small window I had to back away from it a bit to keep my front element dry. With that in mind I had a very narrow field of view to hope that lightning would strike. I set up my camera to underexpose the scene and it left me with a shutter speed of 25 seconds. For about an hour I kept hitting the button hoping that something would come into my frame. I would get stray fingers of lightning from a strike just off camera, but nothing good. About an hour into the adventure the strike above happened. After the 25 seconds were up I checked the back of my camera to see if I had captured the strike. I had! In all I spent two hours looking out that window and made 226 frames. A few of those frames had cool clouds illuminated by off camera strikes, but for the most part they were fairly dark storm photos. That one strike just over an hour in was the only one I would capture. It was amazing though, and made me want to stay up late on another night to try again. When you capture one it looks amazing.

Music to Inspire

Yesterday I talked about the role that music plays in my photography and editing. As I was sitting at my computer before I made this photo I was listening to Planetarium, and I still suggest that you give it a listen. After making it through the album a couple of times I switched it up a bit. I put on ‘The Planets’ by Holst. If you don’t know this then you should give it a listen. As a child of the 80’s a lot of this sounds familiar. One of my favorite movies growing up was ‘The Right Stuff’. Most of that score is directly copied from Holst. In fact while looking for a composer the movie was cut to the Holst music. Another composer who must like Holst is John Williams. Listening to the music you can hear bits from Star Wars and Indiana Jones pop in and out. Both James Horner and Hans Zimmer also seem to look to Holst for inspiration too. It is fun to listen to music that inspired artists that inspire you. Watching a storm roll in with Holst playing is a fun experience I highly recommend it.

Posted by on June 17, 2017 in Adobe Lightroom 6 (CC), Canon 24-105mm f/4, Canon 5D Mark IV, Sky, Storms, West Lafayette/Lafayette and tagged , .

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June 16, 2017

Sunset, Birds, and Ocean City

A Lone Bird Signals the End of the Day in Ocean City

It is funny how some photos just need a little time for you to realize them. It has been almost a year to the date since I made this photo in Ocean City. It was our first night down there, and I made a few photos off of the deck of our condo at sunset. It was our first year staying on the boardwalk, and I loved this view every night. I just did not see this for what it was last year. It is a photo that I love now, and I wish that I had found it sooner. Sometimes you are just not ready to realize a photo though. It has quickly become one of my favorite photos from our trip to the shore last year.

New Music to Edit To

If you read this blog then you know that music is very important to me. Lately I have been getting excited about going to the Metallica show in Chicago. While I love metal it is not always conducive to the editing process. I usually like something much more relaxing. I usually listen to scores while I edit. I have a new album that I have been listening to. It is called Planetarium and it is by Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, and Nico Muhly. A couple of years ago at the Music Now festival we heard selections from this live with a symphony, and it was great. The full album is now out, and it has been amazing to edit to. Give it is a listen. It definitely helps me reach out to my creative side while editing.

More Photos From Ocean City

Last year I did not make as many photos as I had in years past. I did like quite a few of those photos, and many of them made it into my photos of the week post from that week last year. I left the trip a little early to photograph a wedding so some of those are in the post as well. It was a fun week of shooting for sure. You can see those photos from last year here.

Posted by on June 16, 2017 in Adobe Lightroom 6 (CC), Canon 24-105mm f/4, Canon 5D Mark III, Ocean City, Sunrise/Sunset and tagged , .

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June 15, 2017

Sunset Over LaPorte

Watching the Sunset in a Familiar Place in an Unfamiliar Way

During my short stay in LaPorte I was having some fun with my quadcopter. As the sun started to set I had wasted most of my batteries on the storms that were rolling in during the day. I only had enough battery for a short sunset flight so I tried to wait until it was at its peak before I was up in the air. It was very cool to see down this street I grew up on and then see over the top of everything as we got our nightly show from the heavens. This is one of those photos that I think means more to me than to anyone else, but I love it just the same.

Down the Street Into the Storm

The photo above is close to something that I have been working on. I have an idea for a photo, and I just need the right situation to present itself to try it out. Here I wanted to show the beautiful sky overhead, but at the same time I wanted to show a little more of the foreground. I made a vertirama of the scene with my drone. This allowed me to get everything into one shot. The Mavic allows you to turn your camera. Right now on the bigger models that is not an option. So panning down while shooting and stitching photos together in post is what I have to do. I get a bigger file this way, but I also get some of the headaches that come with stitching files together.

Posted by on June 15, 2017 in Adobe Lightroom 6 (CC), DJI Phantom 4 Pro, LaPorte, Panoramic, Sunrise/Sunset and tagged , .

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June 14, 2017

Home Is Where the Art Is

Back Home Again

It is always fun to go back and visit the home I spent most of my childhood in. Most of my growing up was spent in this house in LaPorte. I made some great friends in this neighborhood that still exist to this day. Driving through the neighborhood now is kind of interesting. I look at houses and say to myself who used to live there. It is a different place now. The house at the end of the road is still home. For over thirty years I have thought of this place as home. A photo of snow falling on it was my first published photo. There are a lot of memories there so why not make a few photos of the house while I can?

The End Of An Era

Part of the reason for heading back to my parents house is to get some of my belongings out of it. It is now on the market for sale. In fact it has sold twice, but the financing has not been there on the other end. We moved out of the first house that I knew before I was nine. My parents had this house built, and most of my friends came from this neighborhood. When it sells it will be sad, but that is part of life. Some other family will have a great place to raise some kids. A very cool basketball court too.

Posted by on June 14, 2017 in Adobe Lightroom 6 (CC), Canon 24-105mm f/4, Canon 5D Mark IV, LaPorte, Sunrise/Sunset and tagged .

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June 13, 2017

Downtown Lafayette at Sunset

The New and Improved Main Street in Lafayette

Downtown Lafayette has and is going through a huge overhaul lately. Main Street looks like it it nearly done with only a few reminders of the construction that it was under last year. It looks great now, and I need to get out and photograph it more. When we went downtown to eat on Friday I took my camera with me. I was hoping for a great sunset, but that did not happen. The low sun though provided a nice enough scene here for me.

The Week In Photos

Part of the reason that I took my camera was because of my weekly photo post on Exposure. With no real events that I could post on it I needed something for it. Luckily enough the city of Lafayette came through for me yet again. You can view my post with my favorite photos from the past week here.

Posted by on June 13, 2017 in Adobe Lightroom 6 (CC), Canon 17-40mm f/4, Canon 5D Mark IV, Sunrise/Sunset, West Lafayette/Lafayette and tagged .

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