Event

Fossil Park Pool Dog Day August 2010

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Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1000thSt. Petersburg children's loss was St. Petersburg dogs' gain.  With the end of the summer swim season at Fossil Park Pool (info), it was opened up to canines.  No humans allowed in the water at all.  This event was very popular.  When we arrived at 11:20am the pool was at maximum capacity already.  We had to wait until a dog left before we could get in, but only a short time.

Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1600thProbably the St. Petersburg Times was even at the pool earlier covering it because as I was shooting with my somewhat long Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens, several people asked me if I was with the press.  I said thank you, I am a professional photographer, but I am not working today, only photographing my own dog, Kiki (other dog photos taken with permission).

Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 200 1/2000thI am glad I asked if I could photograph other dogs because even though Kiki is a very good swimmer, and really loves to swim, her first time at a pool seemed to be a scary experience for her.  That expression on her face above would be panic.  I encouraged her to go in the water, but she immediately turned back toward the wall of the pool and tried to pull herself out.  I think she did not want to swim because I was not allowed in the water also.  At the dog beach, she always waits for me to go into the water with her, never going in by herself.

sad puppyAll the other dogs were having a great time diving in, retrieving noodles and lying submerged on the steps of the pool.  All Kiki would do was jump on the first step getting her feet wet.  

Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1250thAfter shaking off the pool water she went back to her usual dark park mode, which is looking for another willing dog to wrestle and chase.  She made several friends and started a dry land game of chase the noodle.

Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1000thThe great things about dogs, though, is that they recover almost instantly and after the pool swimming trauma Kiki was almost immediately all smiles again.  For dog lovers this was a great event and I am glad I heard about it (via a friend on Facebook).

Chris' 40th Birthday Party in Tampa

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Chris and his son celebrating his 40th birthday upside downI have a great business and personal relationship with the Rivera family.  It started with teaching Carlos some Mac OS X lessons last year.  It continued with some more conversations about Mac hardware.  Then I met the extended Rivera family while photographing a birthday party for Carlos' children.  I donated a portrait package to a charity auction run by Carlos' mother.  Then I got to see everyone again this year at Chris' birthday party, which was again a mix of professional and personal time.

Embracing the family's unique characters for this portrait!I think most children do not naturally sit with upright posture, shoulders turned at a slight angle, eyes looking into a lens, i.e. the ideal portrait setup.  Thankfully Chris and his wife let the boys be themselves and I believe 20 years from now this portrait will be much more valuable to them than if both boys were sitting perfectly still, well behaved, looking into the camera.  Perhaps the photograph can also be used to do some friendly embarrassing of them in front of their future girlfriends?

I ate two pieces of this cake, it was great!There is nothing like a homemade birthday cake, and the Rivera family was kind enough to offer me a piece.  When they saw how quickly I inhaled the first piece, I was offered a second to bring home with me.  Having been western cake deprived for most of the 00s while living in Asia, I have been doing my best to catch up the past year and a half.  

I feel very privileged to be accepted by the Rivera family and to be invited into their homes to share and photograph their family events.  They have a great, warm family atmosphere among them.  I look forward to the next birthday party!

Admiral Farragut Class of 2010 Graduation Portraits

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Admiral Farragut Graduation Dinner 2010 by Jason Collin Photography

Welcome 2010 graduating class of Admiral Farragut Academy and the family and friends of the seniors.  Available now are the portraits that were taken in the lobby as well as a few candids before the dinner began in the ballroom.  Digital copies may be downloaded in full resolution from the gallery link below.  Prints may be ordered from the same link as well, which will be made by a professional printing lab on your choice of three different professional papers.  Thank you!

ADMIRAL FARRAGUT ACADEMY PHOTOGRAPH GALLERY FOR DOWNLOADS & PRINTS

Jason Collin Photography is both honored and sustained by your referral of family and friends.  

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Doyle Wealth Management Ribbon Cutting Event with Mayor Bill Foster

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Mayor Bill Foster of St. Petersburg on hand for the Doyle Wealth Management ribbon cutting

I met Anne Drake of Doyle Wealth Management at a new member orientation for the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce a few weeks back.  She told me of her company's relocation and ribbon cutting event so I attended it in an unofficial capacity, i.e. just a networking opportunity for me, but of course I brought my camera.  Got to see Gary (photo left) again of WUSF, an interesting fellow.  I see him at most of the networking events I go to.

In his brief appearance, Mayor Bill Foster shook a lot of hands, but not mine.

If I had had a chance to talk to Mayor Bill Foster I would have asked him to fix up the North Shore Dog Park as the cold winter has really destroyed most of the grass in the park.  Alas, I had no such audience with him.  Last year I did have a chance to directly ask a question to former Mayor Rick Baker.

Should have let me take take the photo!

The most interesting person I spoke with at the event was Sylvia Doyle, who I did not realize right away was the mother of the president of the company!  She said she had been living in St. Petersburg since 1957, when it was of course a far different place.  She thanked me for keeping her company, as no one was talking to her before, but I said on the contrary I like listening to your stories and there is very unlikely anyone else there that I would have anything in common with.  

I heard that to be a client of this wealth management group you need to have a minimum of $500 million in assets.  It blows my mind that there are enough of these people living in the area to keep a business like this in business.  

UPDATE:  according to their website it's a minimum of $500,000 I knew the other number was way too high, there are only so many people in the whole world with that much money, never mind in St. Pete

"New Visions" f8 Consortium Photography Exhibition

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My three photographs are on the left, all from my time in JapanTonight was the opening of the f8 Consortium's "New Vision's" photography exhibition at the Menaul Fine Art gallery.  This was the third time in six months my photographs have been featured in an exhibition in Florida (1st solo, 2nd), and the second time that all the photographs were from my Japan collection.  

A very respectable crowd turned out to see over nine different photographers' works ranging from HDR to digital art to sequential photography.  My photographs were not the only ones from abroad as Europe was represented as well.  I actually enjoyed talking to several people about the stories behind my shots, especially of "Coming of Age in Vivid Kimonos," one of my top five photographs from 2009.  I finally got to meet Brenda Knoll in person also, as well as her husband.  We had been Internet friends for awhile.  

There were many gallery wraps (right) in the exhibition, which are photographs printed on canvas

I cannot take any credit for this exhibition's great opening.  All that goes to other f8 members like Bob Kroll, Scott Menaul, Marc Norton, Patti Krumeich and all the others here.  Thank you everyone.  And thank you to everyone that came out to see our photographs and helped support local artists. 

Ceridian Healthcare Panel in the Vinoy Grand Ballroom

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Rita readies the sign in table for the Ceridian event at the Vinoy Grand Ballroom

Part of being a professional photographer is being ready to shoot anytime you have a free spot in your schedule.  I have been a member of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce for almost a year now and have developed a good relationship with many of it staff, including Rita pictured above.  However, it was Bonnie who called me on a Wednesday afternoon asking if I could photograph an event the next day.  I had no scheduling conflicts so I said, "I'd love to, thank you for thinking of me for this job."  

Inside the Vinoy Grand Ballroom - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm manual mode @ f/4 ISO 800 1/40th SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted

This was also my first chance to photograph inside the famous Vinoy Resort Hotel.  Having photographed inside the Don Cesar last year, I have now worked in the two most famous hotels around.  The Vinoy's Grand Ballroom at first glance looked to be well lit, but of course what our eyes think is good indoor light and what a DSLR thinks is almost never the same.  

Listening carefully - Nikon D300 with Nikkor 80-200mm manual mode @ f/2.8 ISO 1000 1/250th SB-800 hotshoe mounted

The panel discussion was on the new healthcare bill President Obama recently signed.  For the first thirty minutes of the close to 90-minute discussion I was very focused on getting at least one good shot of each of the six panel members, with a good shot being mouth not in a strange position, eyes open, hands not obscuring their face, etc.  Even though they were sitting down and just talking, it took quite a few frames to finally get each panelist frozen in a normal looking talking posture.

candid moment between panelists - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm manual mode @ f/2.8 ISO 1000 1/250th SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted

After I got the standard looking shots I of course looked for some fun candids of the panelists, like the shot above featuring some friendly microphone hijacking.  The panelists had to share two microphones between the six of them.

In the exif data I provided in the notes for each shot, you can see that even when shooting at f/2.8 with a powerful Nikon SB-800 Speedlught hotshoe mounted, I needed the ISO to be at 1000.  This is because the ambient light in the room was only so-so and the panelists were a good distance away forcing me to have to shoot at a focal length of 200mm to fill the frame.  All the shots were handheld too so I really had to use solid camera holding technique, and when I could I wedged myself against a wall or window sill.  

Candid Q&A session - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm manual mode @ f2.8 ISO 1000 1/250th SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted

The local debates leading up to the healthcare bill, as you may recall, were rather animated.  However, this was a very polite Q&A session with the panelists, and the panelists themselves were very civil with each other.  After I settled in and got the shots I needed to and dialed in the exact settings for shooting with the two lenses I was using to photograph this event, I could take in some of the discussion and found it to be very interesting.

There were also some great cookies spread out in the back of the ballroom that went mostly ignored!  I ate two while shooting and must confess took another 4 home inside my camera bag!  I did not want them to just get thrown out, of course.

Jake's Bar Mitzvah at Temple Beth-El St. Petersburg

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Jake rehearses for his Bar Mitzvah at Tempel Beth-El in St Petersburg Florida

Early this morning I drove to Temple Beth-El to photograph my first Bar Mitzvah.  On a very rainy afternoon last month I went to the temple to check it out in preparation for this morning's shooting.  I liked the dome design of the temple.  I thought it was interesting architecture.  I was also pleased to see that lighting would not be a problem, as even on that rainy day, with the lights turned up, my single strobe style of photography would work well.  

On the tip is a hand shaped pointer, which I thought was pretty interesting.

I searched for Bar Mitzvah photographs for reference, but did not find that many actually.  I was able to find enough to know which certain types of shots are "must gets" for a Bar Mitzvah.  The two above photos of reading from the torah (wide shot and close up of the hand) are Bar Mitzvah standards.  

Jake held this heavy scroll through many different Bar Mitzvah portraits with his family and the by himself.

Jake was a very good sport during the one hour+ of shooting.  He always had his smile ready and had no problem with multiple takes as various family members entered and exited the frame with him.  

Jake with his extended family in Temple Beth-El just before his Bar Mitzvah was to begin.

Jake's Bar Mitzvah was both an interesting cultural and photography experience for me.  Temple Beth-El was a great place to shoot in.  In fact, I will profile the interior of the temple in an upcoming post.  I look forward to photographing my next Bar Mitzvah.