Thunderbird Photos

Rodeo 2009: USAF Smackdown

tbirdphotos — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:47:01 +0000

Yes, I’m taking the lazy way out on this one… There were 35 teams competing in 50 some odd events, and I worked with the McChord public affairs team to cover about 20 events for the home teams(62d and 442d Airlift Wings) and the foreign team (Germany) they sponsored. It was a brutal two week shooting schedule, and I was running around like crazy 14 hours a day. When it was all over, I had shot 2500 frames, and had 9 photos published in the newspaper. It was easily the best two weeks of work I’ve ever had.

Click the picture for a collection of photos from each event I covered!

Mothers Against Mike Capp

tbirdphotos — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:25:48 +0000

Mike Capp invades Tacoma after hiding out for years in Everett. Pitchforks abounded as angry mothers descended on the Mad Hat Tea Company. Why? No one knows… I do know that gallery openings are a lot of fun and this was no different. I lucked out and got to do a little light painting while I was at it.

TV fries the brain.

Independence Day Parade!

tbirdphotos — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:21:58 +0000

I went up to Sedro-Woolley, WA, to visit some family over the holidays, and took in the town parade. I had my camera with me, and even though there was lots to see, I was having trouble really “seeing” things to shoot. Call it the photographer’s version of writer’s block. I walked around with my camera and took photos of a whole lot of nothing. Bummer. I did, however, see this walking tetris display, which I though was hilarious. What it’s doing in a 4th of July parade, I have no idea, but I’m sure glad it was there. Click the picture for the [rather small] gallery.

Ross Lake Mission

tbirdphotos — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:42:50 +0000

6 weeks of planning went into this trip… My cousin was getting married, and the best men were charged with putting together a bachelor party experience that no one would soon forget. They did a great job. You have no idea how hard it is to make a SURPRISE four day canoe trip into the middle of nowhere, but we pulled it off. Getting the canoes turned out to be the hardest part of the adventure, but it all came together in the end. We packed everything up secretly the night before we left, and met early the next morning. Someone had dragged the groom out of bed and told him to pack warmly, but bring swimwear and a list of totally random items. When he showed up, tired, excited, and a little confused, he still didn’t know what was in store. We filled him in on the hours-long drive to Lake Diablo, where we were putting in. Without giving away too much of the trip [the "what goes out there, stays out there" rule sacred to bachelor parties], we had a great time, even if the 24+ miles of paddling in three days was intense. Everyone made it out alive, if a little hungover, hungry, and sore from hard benches and ridiculous paddling. Luckily, I had my trusty Canon G9 with me, and was able to take some photos of the whole thing. It kept very well in a large ziplock bag, and the battery lasted the whole time. Click the photo for the gallery!

Model Shoot #1

tbirdphotos — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:07:35 +0000

I had been wanting to do a model shoot for a while when this fell into my lap. Chris, my friend from previous posts, knew someone that needed a few shots for her modeling portfolio, and put us in touch. The very next weekend, we were able to all get together to discuss exactly what she needed, and I could start formulating ideas for the shoot. Once Chris and I got the locations worked out, we set a date and made it happen. We went down to Brown’s Point with one light to fill in the sun’s deep shadows and shot on the beach. There was a big learning curve for me as I felt out how to handle the model and get the most out of the situation. Overall, I’m happy with the way things turned out, and I learned things that I can use next time around. Exactly the outcome I hoped for!

Circus Circus

tbirdphotos — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:52:33 +0000

When it’s warm and sunny, while the kids are still in class, if I have the time, I head down to the Cirque skatepark in University Place, WA. This time, I skated the bowl for half an hour or so to work off the stresses of the day, then sat down to watch. Before long, a group of guys on beat up BMX showed up and started in on the bowls. I didn’t expect to see pro-level riding when I sat down, but I sure got an awesome show. I watched for about twenty minutes before I approached one of them and let him know that I was a photographer. I had some camera gear in my trunk, including a location lighting kit, and told the guys that if they kept pushing each other to “go big”, I’d pull out the gear and do a shoot for them. One of the guys, “Panama”, didn’t respond by talking- he just dropped in and did a backflip over the center island. I was setup and shooting in less than ten minutes. After a quick edit, I had a couple of great photos- click this one to go to the gallery on flickr.

Tacoma Photowalk Part 2!

tbirdphotos — Sun, 03 May 2009 22:43:37 +0000

Once again, Chris and I wandered Tacoma for an hour or two, dragging lighting equipment around, looking for just the right spot. Well, we found it in an alley toward the Fireman park. This long brick wall was perfect! It was well shaded, so we got to control our lighting much better than in the sun, but there was also plenty of blue sky to see. After playing with the setup for 3 or 4 minutes, we started shooting. Chris gets WAY more animated than I do, and decided to start yelling at me. I yelled back. Pretty soon, we were two knuckleheads screaming at each other in an alley, but it worked- the facial expression in this shot was awesome! It was a memorable experience, and now I have the yelling technique in my ever-expanding bag of tricks.

Victoria! Pt 2. Downtown

tbirdphotos — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:46:29 +0000

Running around Victoria for 24 hours, and I only took three photos… yeah, it’s lame. Yeah, I had a GREAT time.

Victoria! Pt 1. Ferry to Victoria, B.C.

tbirdphotos — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:36:48 +0000

The Weakerthans are playing in Victoria! I was dying to see them, so I bought a ticket, looked at hostels, checked weather, and made my plans. I’d ride my motorcycle to the ferry in Anacortes, zip across the sound, check into a hostel, spend the day checking out Victoria, catch the concert, drink a bit, sleep it off, ride some of the island in the morning, and take the afternoon ferry back to Anacortes. Of course, the second I bring up these plans to friends, I find that I might have a couch to crash on. Brittney, of Three Gigs fame, has [other] awesome friends in Victoria that offered up a couch and transportation. I jumped on their offer, and we all had a grand old time! Here are some photos from the ferry!

Photowalk Tacoma, Part 1

tbirdphotos — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:11:10 +0000

Today, I walked around my favorite places in Tacoma. I do this from time to time, but this excursion was special- I had lighting gear and my multi-talented friend Chris with me. It was a good day, with some great shots.