Event

Florida Holocaust Museum - Networking Event

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Despite the threat of very stormy weather, the turnout for this networking event was strong.

I have been getting on the local business networking scene more and more lately.  By the number of familiar faces I see at these events, I am not the only one following the calendar of events on the Saint Petersburg Chamber of Commerce website.  I did not know what to expect for the mood and atmosphere of this networking event with it being held at the Florida Holocaust Museum, but as I approached the room and heard the usual vibrant conversation I quickly realized that there was nothing to be unusual about it at all.  I was greeted by the friendly curator of the museum and soon had a conversation with the public relations consultant for the museum about photographing their next official event.  

Kathy, on the right, I met at last night's Young Professionals networking event in Clearwater.

I took a brief tour of the museum after signing in.  One of the two exhibit floors is dedicated to revolving art collections.  A series of large paintings inspired by the Holocaust was on display.  I did not expect to see a fine art collection in the museum, so was pleasantly surprised.  The first floor contained exhibits more toward what one might expect in a Holocaust museum.

I turned my SB-600 speedlight off for a few shots and let the display lights provide the backlighting effect.

As always with such networking events, I felt the most comfortable when my camera was up to my eye.  In the right center is Ford Kyes, someone I have gotten to know through the Chamber and these networking events.  He is a master at that, and in fact makes his living as a business coach.  He was generous with his time to me tonight offering advice and encouragement for my photography business.  
 
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    • Abilities Foundation Charity Auction at Tropicana Field

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    Nothing draws attention like a Ferrari. There were two prominently placed on Tropicana Field for the Abilities charity event.

    Photographing this event brought two firsts for me.  The first, first was to volunteer my photography services to a charity event.  The second was to represent f8 Consortium in an official capacity as a staff photographer.  The Abilities Foundation held its 21st annual silent auction charity event right on the field at Tropicana Field.  f8 Consortium was a sponsor of this event with some members donating framed prints, others photography services, or both.  

    A rather clever tray design for carrying food and beverage.

    Many local restaurants had tables serving out tiny samples of presumably their best cuisine.  The only thing I ate all night was a brownie sample.  It was not bad, but not good enough to be called gourmet or whichever adjective their marketing people bestowed upon it.  The most impressive thing related to food was the very functional trays handed out that took away the challenge of trying to have to balance a glass upon it.  

    I wonder how many of the people who saw this photograph thought to themselves, "PETERson."

    There were a number of silent auction items that I would have liked to have myself, including the above autographed photo of one of my favorite football players, Adrian PETERson.  In the background is an autographed Mike Vick helmet that the announcer was really stressing she wanted to be bought before the end of the night since no one bid on it last year.  I checked, the minimum bid of $100 was met.

    I like the idea of wearing cowboy boots, but I never would.

    As the night went on and I saw that most items did not even have one bid on them, I commented to someone behind a table that it does not look like many of these items were going to move.  He said that a silent auction is just like e-Bay, no one bids until the end when there is a flurry.  

    I found myself not being impressed at all with this Rolls Royce, would take a used Porsche 911 Turbo over it any day.

    On the technical side of things, the photography, as usual, was in challenging settings.  They did not turn on the lights on the field, and once the sun set and no more natural light permeated through the dome, it was really dark.  Obviously no ceiling to bounce a flash off of and few backdrops of any kind.  In the beginning I was actually using off camera flash to photograph some of the items.  Once the guests starting filing in, I went with my usual event settings of f/5.6 and ISO 800, but still wasn't getting the results I wanted so I went up to f/4.  Maybe some day I will have a chance to photograph an outdoor daylight event!

    Selected for an HDR exhibition at the St. Petersburg Museum of History

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    The Mirror Lake Library HDR shot I submitted for the exhibition.Late last year I agreed to participate in a photography project for the St. Petersburg Museum of History.  I was intrigued by the idea for the project:  making HDR image replicas of historical photographs of various Saint Petersburg landmarks and buildings.  My HDR image of the Mirror Lake Library was selected as one of the thirty-two HDR images for the exhibition.  I was honored and thankful to be chosen, even though my own feelings about my image find it to be only a so-so shot.  

    The turnout for the exhibition was huge, relatively.  Certainly much larger than for my own solo haikyo exhibition last year.  There was a free buffet table with really great punch and very good cookies as well, in ample quantities no less!  This made the night a win for me automatically!  Of course it was nice to talk with the other photographers and guests who came to see the exhibition.  I tried my best to explain how an HDR image is produced and how this process comes to make the final product they were seeing on the walls.  It found no up turned noses to HDR as a technique amongst the crowd, which I must say I was a little surprised at.  I know HDR does not appeal to everyone.

    Thanks to Velva and everyone else who put a lot of time and effort into organizing this exhibition and to everyone who came out to see the images and make the night a very fun social event.  

    The exhibition will be open for several weeks.  More information on the events page of the St. Petersburg History Museum.

    My photograph is the one on the left, with the original historical image below it (sorry for the poor video camera snapshot, I took the night off from being an event photographer)

    Robinson Family Medicine Ribbon Cutting Event

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    Jo was really excited as Dr. Robinson cut the ribbon on her new business!

     There was a very large turnout for the Robinson Family Medicine ribbon cutting event.  Much more than I expected.  This was the second ribbon cutting in as many weeks that I photographed for the Saint Petersburg Chamber of Commerce.  Each in a totally different setting and offering its own photography challenges.  However, I was allowed to choose the spot for the actual ribbon cutting and had ample time to dial in manual settings on my Nikon D300 and SB-600 Speedlight to get the above shot.  I could not have asked for a better reaction from Jo to make the shot have a little something extra.

    There was a raffle after the ribbon cutting . . . 

     An unwatched raffle bowl is a vulnerable thing . . .

    . . . someone may just sneak a hand and, but they were caught!

    It was my first time inside Bank of America Tower, which is not that much to look at on the outside, but has an impressive lobby with great light beaming through during the golden hour.  I will return to photograph inside there some day.

    Meetup with the Lighten Up And Shoot crew

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    Andy & Mike of lightenupandshoot.com show their light stand setup process.

    I first learned only two days ago that two photographers from Colombia would be having a free photography & strobist workshop at The Pier in Saint Petersburg.  I checked out their website to learn about them and liked their philosophy for shooting--light amount of gear, high level of skills and just have fun.  The name of their website is a very clever play on words that suits their attitudes perfectly:  lightenupandshoot.com

    After a bit of a delayed start, and a much larger than expected turnout (40+ photographers), Mike and Andy began to generously go into how they setup for a shoot, what specific gear they use and most importantly why.  They took questions, all the time bringing a lot of energy.  I should mention here that they were doing all this for free!

    Mike let me remotely trigger his westcott softbox as he explained the settings used in this situation to the other photographers looking on.

    Not only were they generous with their time, but also with their gear!  The whole time I used their remote triggers, YONGNUO RF-602TX, and got to take a few shots using their strobe and softbox too!  I will definitely be buying those YONGNUO triggers as they are cheap and work great.  The trigger and receiver both have hotshoe mounts, so you do not have to velcro anything to your strobe.  They worked flawlessly with my Nikon D300.

    Andy & Mike also posed for a few photos when a model was in need.

    The workshop went on all the way up until 8pm I heard, although I left before that to watch the gold medal hockey game (sadly the U.S. lost in overtime).  Mike & Andy will be visiting other cities in the U.S. and having more free workshops, so if they come to your town I would definitely recommend meeting up with them.  You will learn something about photography, meet other photographers in your area, get a chance to shoot a model or two and talk to two photographers who make it work with a list of gear that will not break your budget.  

    Thanks a lot to Andy, Mike, Nicole (my 5-minute model shoot with her) and the rest of the lightenupandshoot crew!

    Follow them on:

    Ribbon Cutting at Landmark at Waters Pointe Saint Petersburg

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    Landmark at Waters Pointe officially opens ready for residents wanting great waterfront living.

    This afternoon on behalf of the Saint Petersburg Chamber of Commerce I photographed the ribbon cutting ceremony for Landmark at Waters Pointe.  Assistant manager, Amy, gave us a tour of the very nice grounds and model apartment.  I also had a chance to learn about Amy's rather interesting life and the complex path that ultimately led to her becoming assistant manager of an apartment community.

    This was a little bit of a tricky shot to make.  The ladies were standing in the shade, but right behind them was a pool with concrete deck reflecting a lot of light, then of course the water and blue Florida sky in the background.  Not wanting to have my SB-600 Speedlight on camera, but not having the ability to setup a light stand or anything, I simply handheld the SB-600 in my left hand as far out and up as I could while holding my Nikon D300 with only my right hand.  I have actually practiced this shooting technique a lot so I am fairly comfortable with the balancing act it requires.  

    It is always fun to attend and photograph these Chamber events.  A couple more are coming up in March.  They also make good networking opportunities.  

    The Commodores Performing on New Year's Eve 2009

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    The Commodores really brought it for what to them must have been an extremely small show.

    RESERVE THE BEST EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY FOR YOUR NEW YEAR'S PARTY THIS YEAR!

    I never imagined I would ever hear "Brick House" performed live on New Year's Eve, or any other eve for that matter, but I was lucky enough not only to see The Commodores in concert on New Year's Eve, but to be paid to photograph them as well.  I was really, really impressed by the energy that Walter "Clyde" Orange, William "Wak" King and James Dean "J.D." Nicholas brought.  I mean they really brought it and rocked and funked up the whole Treasure Island Yacht Club.  

    I got to shake hands with James Dean "J.D." Nicholas at the end of The Commodore's performance.

    The stage was small so there was no space for me to shoot from there, and there was no barrier between the stage and the crowd either.  So I had to basically carve my own space in the front of the crowd to shoot from.  Besides the usual lighting challenges there was a video team with a huge light coming off their video camera making my job all that much harder as this huge video light really made hot spots in my still images.

    William "Wak" King blowing on his trumpet at the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club New Year's 2009 celebration.

    The aforementioned crowd was totally into what The Commodores were jamming out.  It is a testament to The Commodores' broad appeal that a crowd of older skewing yacht club members could feel the music the way they did.  

    Walter "Clyde" Orange pointing at someone in the Yacht & Tennis Club crowd no doubt to their great delight.

    People were constantly reaching up to try and high five and shake hands with Clyde and Wak and J.D. while they were performing.  I could not imagine being that hands on with the crowd, but The Commodores were very accommodating shaking hands and pointing to people in the audience, even continuing to play on when one woman forced her way on stage and started shaking her booty!  

    A fan getting the hands on treatment from The Commodores

    If The Commodores ever asked me to go out on tour with them as their photographer, I certainly would not say no!

       
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