Sorry all – short post today I’m afraid… it’s been a long day. Tired and drained, frankly. Hey, they can’t all be winners.
This is a great staircase and bar I found at the W Hotel in Atlanta. I got a lot of cool shots in there – quite the fab joint!
Here is another shot from the little video I did with Scott Kublin. He followed me around with a video camera for a while and asked me questions. It wasn’t planned or anything, but it came out pretty good! I helped him and Rick a bit with their HDR photography while we moved around Olympic Park. That link above takes you to the short version of the video. The longer one is avail in Newsletter #3 — you get a link there when you subscribe.
There is a curvy street that cuts through the middle of Olympic Park in Atlanta. It wasn’t too far from here where that bomb went off in 1996 Atlanta. I was actually there with my friend Scott Sadowski when it went off! I was not too close to the blast, so I was not in any danger… but we did hear it and see the commotion. So I was there for that bombing AND I was in NYC during 9/11 and saw the 2nd plane hit the WTC. I had meetings in the financial district that day, and we ended up getting stuck in NYC for many days while the airports were shut down. Again, I was not close enough to be in danger… But… I have a knack for being in sketchy situations, I guess!
My friend Scott has posted a new video on my HDR Photography that features me walking around Olympic Park in Atlanta taking photos. It’s up on his blog, so follow that link over to take a look! He’s just starting to learn more and more about photography, and he asked if he could follow me for a while with a video camera. I told him that would be perfectly fine. He was nice enough to edit it together into a nice little 8-minute piece there. I hope you enjoy it.
There is a longer “uncut” version of the video that goes on for 45 minutes. I’ll include a secret link to that just to Newsletter subscribers. The next newsletter should come out in the next few days… so get ready! (It’s Free!) (and even better, I promise not to Spam you… I have no Nigerian opportunities to extend to you)
There is one part of the longer video where I set up to take a shot of the Coke Museum. Scott didn’t get the security guard walking up to us… but at least you can see a bit of the situation on the ground and what a threat we were posing! (full article on Nearly Getting Arrested in Downtown Atlanta here)
This photo below is one of the many I took that evening with Scott and Rick. I described the best way to get these silky strands on the waterfall… everyone likes those, right?
I was with my friends Scott and Rick in Atlanta a few weekends ago. While there, Scott pulled out his video camera and started following me, asking all kinds of questions about photography. He’s just getting started with his DSLR and so is Rick. Scott has made a few HDRs and was already hooked, so he thought it would be a good idea to videotape me for a few hours and just ask a bunch of questions while I set up for HDRs.
Scott just sent me an advance look at the final cut of the video he made… it’s very cool! I am going to share it with everyone in the Newsletter shortly. I think we should get it out in the next week or so. I’ll also have a longer uncut version available exclusively for Newsletter subscribers (yes it is FREE). It was very nice of Scott to make the video and I’m excited to share it. Below is one of the four photos I took in the video.
The second screenshot below is from Flickr. We are probably 10 days or so from breaking 20 million views on Flickr. Thanks everyone! I’ll buy a Coke for the 20 millionth visitor!
Here is an HDR photo of downtown Atlanta from Olympic Park. This is not the shot I wanted, although I am still happy with it.
I had a run-in with the law this evening while I was with my friends Scott Kublin and Rick Shearer. Just next door to the Olympic Park is the aquarium and the Coke Museum with a big field in between. There were about a fifty people or so there at the park. I set up my tripod to take a photo of downtown and the Coke Museum was in the middle of the shot. A female cop of came over and told me I had to take down the tripod because I looked like a professional. Coke does not allow that, so she said. I said I’m a blogger with expensive toys and hardly a threat. Then she got quite huffy and agitated before telling me if I did not take down the tripod that I would be arrested.
This policy is absurd. She claimed that Coke is worried about their brand and image so professionals need special permission. So, it’s okay for amateurs with crappy camera-phones to take photos and upload to Facebook and Flickr? But not me, someone that can make their building look amazing? And they don’t want their pretty museum to be on a popular travel blog that gets over a quarter million visits a month and millions a year? Or even, who cares if I was not that popular and only 10 people saw it?
In fact, in the world of social media, Coke (and every other company with old-rules made by out-of-touch people) should welcome people like me that are making their brand even more popular.
And to think, I had just had a Coke.
Additional Note: There’s also quite a discussion happening over on the Facebook Thread and the Flickr Thread if you want to read even more about it! Thanks again for the interesting discussion and your insightful stories!
Finally, here is a useful guide for all the legalities around photography…
