Twitter Contest Winners

Thanks to everyone that participated in the Twitter Contest to win a free copy of theHDR Book, “A World in HDR”! I think Peachpit was completely overwhelmed with the results. I hope it gave you a chance to discover and share some great art on the web. Thanks to John P from OneMansBlog.com who was The Judge. Visit his website below and see the winners!

• Day 1 Winner – Theme:  Landscape
• Day 2 Winner – Theme:  Vehicle
• Day 3 Winner – Theme:  Architecture

Less than 24 hours left on eBay Auction!

The first in the Limited Edition Numbered Print for the book is on eBay.  It looks to be a hot item…  only for the true collectors out there.

Daily Photo – The Harleyfest on 6th Street

This is one of the best times in Austin for HDR Photography!  I really think it’s perfect perfect conditions to really show off what this style of photography can do.  Long exposures just don’t do the trick.  The wonderful thing about being there is that the human eye really can see all these colors and light levels at the same time.  At least… to those of us that see like this.  I’m convinced that after talking to countless groups that not everyone “sees” in the same way.  It’s not that one way is better than another – just different. What do you think?

This is a photo of a strange place on South Congress. I was down at a restaurant in the area and I saw this when I was walking back to my car. As usual, I had my tripod and camera ready, so I set up for a shot. It was actually a store that sold all kinds of pop art and a lot of neon. I thought it looked cool through the frosted glass. Any of you Austinites know the name of this place?

Also, recently I had the pleasure of hanging out with RC Concepcion when he came down to Austin to host a photo-editing seminar along with Dave Cross in Austin. Here is RC’s HDR he shot here in Austin. I found out he was coming to Austin on Twitter, so we tweeted up a little get-together in a well-orchestrated 140-character tennis match. We went out to shoot the SRV statue in the rain, ate a leisurely dinner full of philosophical thoughts, and then I had him over to show him the “Stuck in Motion” video over at my home before it was released. I was happy that this guy, the know-it-all (in a good way) host of Layers TV could not even figure it out! BTW, if you are looking to bone up on all your Adobe products, be sure to watch some Layers TV or subscribe to the free video podcast in iTunes.

Here is the next in the series of my collection of the classic spots around Austin. I actually shot this on the same night that I took the Austin Hotel shot. You can probably see a similarity in the deep blue sky that we had just after dusk that evening.

People always look at me suspiciously when I set up the tripod for a major shooting event. I’m sure that if you use a tripod that you end up with the same reaction. It’s typically 90% confusion and 10% wonder. Either way, I tend to just ignore everyone, like I’m playing a game and they are NPCs milling around.

This is shot from the backside of the Texas capital. Austin-area photographers know the spot well!

I don’t really believe in government conspiracies because it really requires a large group of very intelligent well-coordinated people to carry off a conspiracy.  I just can’t think of enough people in the government that could pull something like that off!

We ended up over here during our Photowalk last month… I saw a few people over in this direction shooting away, and some of these shots showed up in the post-photowalk sharing.  Thanks again to everyone that came out to that deal!

When I went up to have an interview in the ABC Newsroom here in Austin, a gentleman there named Ed Sparks was nice enough to take me back to the inner sanctum.  Ed is a frequent here in the community (hi Ed!) and quite the camera enthusiast.  Before and after my live appearance (from a few weeks ago), he took me back into this control room so I could set up for a shot.  As usual, I’ve uploaded the full-res version so you can see all the little details in the room. To see the full-res version, just click on the photo to go to the Flickr site. Click on “All Sizes” at the top of the photo. Last, click on “Original”.

They explained to me how the room worked and how everything was customizable.  The crew can pull in whatever feeds they need and position them on the screen accordingly.  They even can save templates, since each producer that comes in and out during the day can have their own setup.  It was quite fascinating to watch these guys operate in precision…   I had to catch myself and remember to take photos, since I would sorta stare at the screens at get mesmerized for a bit!

This is a classic motel here in Austin.  It’s on South Congress, and one of many examples of unique neon in the city.  It looks positively phallic (if that wasn’t in your head, it was now, excuse the pun) and you just can’t miss it when you’re driving down the street.

There is a long and rich history, starting even before when it became a hotel in 1938.  One thing I remember as a kid (and still hear now from the backseat), is that my primary feature in any Texas motel was a swimming pool.  I understand they still have a kidney-shaped one out back.

As you can tell, I’ve been working my way around Austin, doing my best to grab some of the classic spots.  It takes a lot of time, because the conditions aren’t always perfect.  I like the sky and everything to be just about right…  but, sometime by the end of the year, I should have the major spots of interest captured!

This is the subject of one of the other new videos in the newsletter. It speaks to a common problem many people have when uploading photos online. Sometimes, I’ve noticed, they don’t look the same on Flickr as the do on my home computer! That’s no good… I figured out the best way to do it and put it in a little video for you. You can get to it here at the ColorSpace Video.

I am looking forward to all these cranes getting finished so I can take a final shot of downtown!  As soon as I think they are done, another building starts up.  I’m not sure the expected completion date, but I do have a shot in mind for that day.  I’m not sure if it will work out…  but it’s worth a try!

There is an interview on FOX news here in Austin tomorrow morning.  It’s a live shot and I’ll be on a few times throughout the show…  I know we’ll be talking about HDR photography and I might even have a tripod set up…we’ll see!  I know most of y’all aren’t in Austin, so I’ll try to get a link up…

Thanks to everyone who came downtown for the PhotoWalk tonight. It was lots of fun and I hope everyone got something out of it.

I asked everyone to please share their photos from the evening and encouraged people to comment on the photos of others. You can get this started by posting them either inside the Facebook Event Here, or, of you prefer Flickr, inside this thread in the Stuck In Customs group (which you can join).

According to the Driskill, we had about 160 people squeezed into the Victorian room. Cool! Is this one of the biggest PhotoWalks ever? Maybe so! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed your assignments. By the time we got to the capitol, the group was a bit scattered! It was wild to see over a hundred photographers out there taking photos, using tripods, and running around to get the best angles. Very cool!

I set up to take some HDRs and talked through the process as much as possible. Around the backside of the capitol, I stopped here to take a photo. It just seemed like a nice spot with the little rolling hills and the evening lights. Like I explained to the group there with me, half is the shot, and the other half is the processing. There were many new people there today that are new to this scene, so I wanted to point them to the free HDR Tutorial here on the site.

I understand that CBS and NBC were there covering the event. I know I saw a camera from CBS out on 6th Street. If any of you can find footage, feel free to post it below. Thanks again to everyone that came — I hope you had fun!

An all-Texas episode of Stuck In Customs today!

We have our big PhotoWalk this evening here in Austin. It’s going to tonight (Thursday, Aug 6th) at 7:30 PM. Be at the Driskill on 6th and Brazos. We’ll meet inside the Driskill in the Victorian Room. All are welcome, whether you are a beginner, amateur, or pro. It’s simply a very laid back event where we will walk to a location, meandering this way and that as a group, taking photos, sharing techniques, and the like. Afterward, we share the photos online, exchange comments, contacts, etc etc.

Also, if you tune into ABC news in Austin on Thursday for their midday news broadcast, you might just see me! I have a short interview on there. I’ll also endeavor to get a YouTube of it to share afterward in case you miss it (like I will).

To share your photos from the PhotoWalk, you can post links in the comments here, or you can put them up in a few places. Share them on Facebook here, or share them on Flickr here!

As for this photo below, it was shot about two hours outside of Austin in a little town called Brady. You’d like it. They have a Sonic there. This was a 5-exposure HDR shot at f/16. This kept everything in focus and kept the shutter open long enough to let the clouds drag across the sensor. In these conditions, you don’t have a lot of time to fool around because the sun is bookin’ it towards the horizon. If you are new to the site, then you might enjoy reading more about how photos like this are made in the HDR Tutorial.

You all will indulge me from time to time with a cute baby photo, eh? Hehe… this is my youngest of three, Scarlett. She’s into patterns, soft food, and pudgy footstabs in the crotch. She also likes smiling, sleeping, and she prefers Mac to PCs.

If you want to see how much she’s grown up, here is a photo from her at Christmas, when we had Scarlett sitting inside of a Santa hat on Ethan’s lap.

This is the famous Stevie Ray Vaughn statue in Austin. It’s almost as famous as that little statue of mermaid in Copenhagen, Denmark (at least to Texans). It sits on the edge of Lady Bird Lake and I see it almost every day when I go on a run. In fact, I saw it today. We’ve had over a week of 100+ degree days here in Austin, and it’s getting a little old. I’m not the young man I used to be when it comes to this sort of thing.

You can see a few cranes out there over downtown. They are in the middle of building two more high rise condos. I’ve been waiting patiently for them to finish so I can grab a shot of the new Austin skyline of 2010. 2010 – it’s pretty close – can you believe it?

Outside of the famous Broken Spoke in Austin, Texas, sits this old, dilapidated bus. I don’t know how long this thing has been sitting there, but it looks like quite a while. If it wasn’t for the rust, I guess you can assume its age from the phone number only having 7 digits. Remember that? 7-digit phone numbers now seem so quaint, like browsers without tabs.

I wonder if this bus still works. I know we have a lot of smart Texas readers who can probably tell us the answer to that little piece of trivia! Under the photo of the bus, I put up the older picture of the Broken Spoke dance hall that was taken about 20 minutes later as the sun was finishing it’s daily duties.

My 3-year-old daughter, Isabella, has been dancing around all night for me, getting ready for her big event tomorrow. It’s her first dance recital.

Her outfit is complete, her spins are looking almost 360, and her beauty sleep is currently in full-force. The epic event is at 4 PM tomorrow. Who has recitals at 4 PM on a weekday? I don’t know. Isabella does. That’s who. I’m not allowed to take photos, so say the ballet-gestapo that run the event. Should I organize an email campaign to make an exception?!!?!? Maybe we can get a 100-200K emails sent over there in protest! hehe…

This first photo below was included in the recent Newsletter, in which I gave an advance link to the new Nikon 70-200 Review. It’s a great lens, and there are a bunch of cool pics from that camera in the review. This piano photo was taken while my 8-year-old was practicing for his recital. He got to play on his first grand piano, and it was cute because he had trouble reaching the pedals because they were so far from the bench.

The second photo below is Isabella is from a few weeks ago when we went to the Greekfest here in Austin… she had her face painted like a unicorn… it was her first face-painting ever, so of course I was there with the camera. That one was taken with the 50mm – I have more info on that one over at the Nikon 50mm Review.

Today Altus, my good friend from Japan, came into Austin with his family. They crashed at my place and it gave us a chance to go out and do some shooting… I feel lucky to be able to go out and shoot with another great HDR photographer! I can add him to the collection! Here are some other greats I have shot with… and I’ll be sure to add Altus to the list soon.

After we went to a secret spot, we ended up at The Oasis on Lake Travis. Here is a shot of Altus leaning over one of the decks to get a shot using his famous fisheye. And here is one of his shots of his hometown of Tokyo.

I don’t think I realized a big difference in clothes and seasons for little girls until I had one of my own. Every single outfit choice is as dramatic as the final night of American Idol. The histrionics that ensue is the selection of shoes could be stage play of epic proportions. But, once the outfit is complete, then it’s time for summer.

Now, some of you may notice (and have noticed) that I am experimenting with new ads on the site. I will leave them up for 24 more hours and see what your feedback is like. If you find them very annoying, I’ll take them down. Feel free to give me frank comments down here below. The site gets between 300K and 350K visitors per month, and the only ad hitherto has been the banner on the right for B&H Photo, who sponsor the site. So, anyway, I value your regular readership, and I have no wish to annoy you! Lemme know… thanks!