jP Photography

Painting with Light

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:33:34 -0800

My parents had been repeatedly telling me that we can't put up the Christmas tree until after Thanksgiving so as to "appreciate all holidays equally" or something like that.

So, last night, after they had gone to bed, I took matters into my own hands.

These are the first images of the Christmas season courtesy of our Christmas tree.

I love Christmas. Even in November.

Shades of Grey

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:29:43 -0800

Though I haven't shared much of it with you, I also really enjoy creating digital artwork from scratch. This is a style I have adopted from my close friend and design mentor Rhonda Kueffler.

I recently received and installed the CS4 Design Premium and this was the first piece I put together with the new Photoshop. I know it's not a photograph (though it has elements), but what do you think?

4

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:08:21 -0800

4. This number has always had a certain significance to my family.

I have three siblings, all boys. Four of us. Throughout our childhood we all seemed to gravitate toward that number for some reason or another. One year when we were still playing Little League, my older brother Ty and I each chose 4 as our baseball number independently of the other and the digit stuck as the sought-after number for the family from that point forward. When the two of us finally got a chance to play on the same team during his final year in Legion ball, Ty took seniority and kept his number, while I settled for and eventually stuck with 24.

It was more than a baseball number though. I remember addressing the number in seemingly pointless yet strangely superstitious ways. For example, I recently came across a burned cd I had put together at some point in high school, and sure enough, the best song on the disc was track #4.

Now, I could get into the number's significance the number has in countless passwords and lock combinations, but I'd rather protect myself from the creepers out there.

And, I'm sure the other Paul boys can fill you in on other occurrences of the number in their/our lives.

In any case, there is a significance. So, when I was strolling around the empty parking garage with seemingly identically bare floors, it only made sense to stop on floor 4 and put this image together.

Besides, the other numbers just aren't as typographically appealing...

Foggy Early Morning Parking Garage

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:30:18 -0800

So, I've turned into a night owl.

I've always known I had the potential to do so, but I never thought I'd take on my good friend Mattie Meier's habits of staying awake during the early hours of the night and sleeping until noon ... on a regular basis. But I have. I don't know what it is, but something about the stillness of the night injects a wave of creativity in me that sometimes forces me to tear myself from the computer or my viewfinder to get some sleep. I just love being awake while the city around me sleeps; I'm not sure why.

This image comes from a late night excursion I took this past weekend. I had just taken out the trash at about one when I noticed the fog catching the city lights just west of my house. So, I grabbed my camera bag and headed out. I ended up stopping by the parking garage downtown for a few shots. This is the first; there are more to come.

Under The Bridge

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:56:38 -0800

Thanks to all those who left comments throughout my Rocky Mountain series.

This one comes from the old ninth street bridge in Great Falls, the same location as this shot. I managed to get down by the water to get this version of the bridge, a look from underneath.

Rocky Mountain Panorama #5

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:28:06 -0800

To conclude our week in the Rockies I thought I'd bring us back to the location of my first post, though processed in a different manner. I still have a few panoramas from the trip that I have yet to stitch together, but I'll save those for another day.

More tomorrow, of course, but of a different variety...

Rocky Mountain Panorama #4

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:27:50 -0800

Ok, so this one isn't a true panorama, I admit it. In this particular shot, I wanted to fill the frame with more of the mountain, so I decided to fake it with a liberal crop in post.

I used Photomatix, Photoshop, and Lightroom to render this image. Thoughts?

Fallen Rock

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:13:14 -0800

This shot was about five steps back from this perspective. I've always sort of liked the way that street signs interact with a scene.

Processing here is a bit different from the other one. Almost everything was done in Photoshop in this case: a little Lab color, a few adjustment layers.

Thoughts?

Dripping...

Sun, 9 Nov 2008 23:42:33 -0800

No, this is not a mountain. During my Rockies-obsessed trip, I did happen to look down every once in a while and at one point I caught the rain water dripping down this grass on the side of the road.

I wasn't crazy about this image at first, but the more I look at it, the more I like the abstract quality to it.

Back to mountains tomorrow.

Rocky Mountain Panorama #3

Sat, 8 Nov 2008 22:36:58 -0800

When I first started putting this panorama together, I wasn't sure what I would end up with. To be honest, I thought this piece might be the weakest of the series. But somewhere along the way, this shot came to life and ended up like so.

Aside from the initial stitching (which was done in Photoshop) all the post for this puppy was done in Lightroom 2.0. I'm getting to be more comfortable with, and loving more and more, the adjustment brush and graduated filter controls and I relied on them pretty heavily for the post. Your comments are always welcome. And there's much more to come.

Rocky Mountain Panorama #2

Fri, 7 Nov 2008 22:56:00 -0800

This is the first of a few panoramas I took on the trip. I pulled off the side of the road at one point and set off to climb this butte just off the road (which explains my perspective in relation to the road). Geographically, this shot is the closest of the group to Great Falls and therefore farthest from the Rockies.

Enjoy.

Feeling Sheepish

Thu, 6 Nov 2008 21:51:45 -0800

When I was only a few miles on my way back to Great Falls, I drove past this flock of Bighorn Sheep grazing on the side of the road. I know they're not sharp, but I got what I could before they spotted me and moved up the side of the mountain. I haven't been one to go out searching for wildlife shots so far in my photographic career, but I suppose this is a start.

More tomorrow...

A Week in the Rockies

Wed, 5 Nov 2008 20:09:05 -0800

I just got back from a short trip out to Missoula to see Megan. I had a lot of time while I was driving and the atmosphere was cooperating with me so I ended up with a lot of shots of the Rockies. Stay tuned, here comes a week's worth of Rocky Mountain photos!

High School Memories

Sat, 1 Nov 2008 18:01:07 -0800

Haloween day this year marked the big cross-town football game between Great Falls High School (the old stomping grounds) and the rival CMR Rustlers. I haven't really gotten into the prep sports scene since graduating a few years ago, but I really wish I would have gone to this game. GFH pulled off a come from behind 36-35 victory on a gutsy two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter to beat CMR for the fourth straight year. We didn't have quite that much luck when I was still there, unfortunately.

I live about five blocks from Memorial stadium where I was posted, handing out Haloween candy and was surprised whenever I heard "Anchors Aweigh," the GFH fight song. The Bison were a big underdog going into the game and I think most people in town fully expected CMR to win. All the same I didn't expect that we won and was a little shocked when I turned up to the stadium with my camera and tripod an hour or so after the game and saw the scoreboard: Home (CMR) 35, Visitor (GFH) 36. Too bad I missed it...

After the Rain

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:58:37 -0800

Another shot from the trip home a couple weekends ago. Something more recent coming soon. Promise.

The Color of Fall

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:37:44 -0800

In an effort to produce a few more abstract images, I dialed up a slow shutter speed and stuck my lens out the window during a portion of the trip a couple weeks back. I liked the result on these two images; it gives a sort of impressionistic quality to the shot which I like.

As always, your thoughts are welcome...

Tamaracks

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:31:26 -0800

Another shot from the trip home from Missoula a couple weeks ago. This was just a short ways from this post. Yep, that's all.

What's coming...

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:58:46 -0800

Hello all. A lot of things are happening right now. I am slowly making progress on a redesign for my site at jeffreypauldesigns.com. Today, I've made some headway getting prints ready to sell online. I'll probably be making a more formal announcement of all these things sometime in the next few weeks (email me, by the way, with your name and email address if you'd like to be part of my mailing list) as they are officially born.

Couple those to tasks with some new jobs and more classes up at the college, and I'm pretty stuffed for time. No complaints, though; I'm pretty jacked.

This is one of the prints that I was putting together an hour or so ago.

Photo Manipulation, Take I

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:08:44 -0800

Wow. My process for producing this shot really took a number of turns. Let me explain.

I started out this morning knowing that I wanted to do some sort of digital manipulation. I've been feeling lately that as much as I love having this blog and exhibiting my photographs online, I don't really think I'm portraying my full skill set in my posts. At least over the past week, I've been more immersed in the design aspect of this profession than the photographic part. Now, I realize that this is a photography blog intended for photographs, but I don't care; I'm going to start posting everything.

In any case, I've been meaning to start incorporating more design work into my photographs to produce a more abstract genre of artwork. So, I started in on a digital manipulation (that seems an appropriate classification for this sort of piece, doesn't it?). I dug through some images from my last shoot with Megan, played with the shot a bit, and went to work.

Somewhere along the line, I found myself reading through my blogs which led me to Julieanne Kost's site and I started drooling. I strongly suggest you stop by there to see some incredible artwork.

So, filling my tank on inspiration, I started back in on this image, then knowing exactly what I wanted to do. This is what I ended up with.

I'm interested to hear what you are thinking either about this piece or about the balance between photography and artwork. Let me know what you think!

Rocky Mountain Tamaracks

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:40:49 -0800

Sorry for the delay in posts. I suddenly have a number of projects that have kept me pretty busy as of late. Once they're completed, I'll give you a sample on here...

This shot is from last weekend's trip home from Missoula. Mom and I turned off on a road that apparently eventually lead to a ghost town tucked up in the mountains somewhere between Missoula and Lincoln. We stopped short of the ghost town, but the view at one point along the road was amazing. The yellow tamaracks really were this yellow; it was just gorgeous.

I spent a long time playing with this image and am relunctantly posting it now. Something about it just isn't sitting right with me. I don't know what it is, but its result just isn't quite what I imagined it to be when I was capturing the image. Well, can't win 'em all...

District No. 9

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:27:32 -0800

I was lucky enough to have some company on my latest trip home from Missoula. My mom was patient enough to let me stop at random points along the way to set off with my camera (though we made a deal beforehand to limit the number of stops to ten...). She spotted this old schoolhouse as we were driving through Sun River, MT so we pulled off for a few shots. Enjoy!

Beads & Barbs

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:14:38 -0800

Just got back from a weekend trip to Missoula and have a number of new images to pour over. Here are the first two from the batch.

I'm not sure why, but I feel very taken with barbed wire fences. Especially when they have spider webs strung across them holding tiny beads of water. Yeah, that's the best!

Pretty much identical processing on these two but I couldn't decide which I preferred. Thoughts?

More to come...

Happy Accident

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:59:16 -0800

This is what we call a really happy accident.

I've been sitting on this image since last winter. I haven't really pushed myself in the direction of abstract images very much, but am thinking perhaps I should. This particular image came about when I was shooting at night by the seminary at Saint Mary's. I was shooting on a tripod with long exposures because of the low light, but accidentally pressed the shutter once while I was moving around and this is what I somehow ended up with.

Of all my images, this is definitely one of my favorites. I love the streaky squiggle of the light on the right side of the image and the color.

If only I could manage such an image when I'm trying to do that...

(I'm leaving tomorrow for Missoula again for the weekend. Enjoy your time without me...)

Fall at the U

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:02:02 -0800

A shot from my last trip to Missoula a week or so ago when I was on the UM campus. Enjoy!

Countryside Snow

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:55:33 -0800

Finally, something new...

So it snowed for the first time of the year this weekend. Then the temperature hopped back up and now most of it is gone. Gotta love that about Montana weather.

I went out on Sunday and took some countryside shots just west of town.

As always, feel free to let me know what you think!

Fallen Leaves

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:00:08 -0800

Another from the archives. Don't worry, I've gotten out to shoot recently, I just haven't gotten through processing. Something new will probably come up tomorrow.

For now, here is a shot from last fall when I was still studying in Winona, MN. I went walking through the bluffs behind campus one day and was taken with the colors on the ground. I got around to processing this one long after I shot it and I've been holding off this whole time so that I could post it during the correct season.

I like this one a lot, but I feel a little off balance looking at it. I've tried rotating the image but all the other versions are only worse. What are your thoughts?

Somebody wake me up...

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:57:04 -0800

We got the first snowfall of the season yesterday which hardley makes it appropriate to post a flower today. All the same, here she is.

This is another from the trip Megan and I took to Chicago in May. I still prefer the other one, but this guy is still worthy of posting. Thoughts?

Home

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:28:35 -0800

One of the zillions of projects I'm working on right now is my preparation of a 2009 calendar. So, I spent a lot of time today sifting through my archives and came across a load of images I never posted. Here are a couple from the last days of the 2008 Great Falls Voyager season at Legion Park at Centene Stadium.

This place has basically been our (my brothers' and mine) second home throughout our lives in Great Falls. Dad's been the P.A. announcer for our Rookie-A minor league team for our entire lives and we grew up working at the ballpark (for me the rotation went: drink runner for the pressbox, bat boy, usher, clubhouse manager, scoreboard operator. We've all done at least two of those jobs). My parents have a newspaper clipping from the day after I was born about how my dad had to leave in the middle of a 16-inning game to rush to the hospital where, of course, my parents listened to the rest of the game on the radio. My brothers and I know all the longtime employees by first name and we've been involved with the organization longer than the general manager.

It's always a little weird and sad at the end of the season and this time around I went out after a game in one of the last homestands to capture a few images. This year was a particularly good year for the field as we had an unusually large amount of rainfall. Normally the grass is pretty yellow by the end of the season (early September for Rookie-A ball).

This year's MLB playoff included six (as far as I knew) players that got their start in Great Falls in either the Dodgers or White Sox organization: James Loney, Jonathan Broxton, Shane Victorino, Willy Aybar, Brian Anderson, and Boone Logan (Aybar and Broxton were there when I was a bat boy). So, the end of the Pioneer League season (which ended in a GF Voyagers' championship) wasn't quite a deflating as it often is.

Alas, no more professional local baseball until June. Until then, we can only hope and pray that the damn Red Sox don't win another World Series...

Stranded Car Revisited

Thu, 9 Oct 2008 23:35:17 -0800

Ok, last post of this old car. I swear...

I haven't done anything in B&W for a while and I came across this view of the car when I was putting together images for my portfolio. No matter how hard I try to focus on the Library module of Lightroom, I can't seem to avoid the Develop module. It's just too much fun...

As always, your thoughts, comments, and critiques are welcome!

The other UM

Thu, 9 Oct 2008 14:46:57 -0800

So I've been a University of Michigan fan my entire life. Well, Michigan sports in general, really. I'm not a huge NBA or NFL fan, but I love baseball and have been a Tigers fan for as long as I can remember. My dad's from Michigan. All my brothers are right there with me. The elder of my younger brothers is a Sophomore at UM right now.

These days, life is pretty dismal in Detroit and Ann Arbor, at least as far as sports are concerned. I'm not a fair weather fan by any means, and I have all the confidence in the world in Rich Rodriguez and Jim Leyland, but sometimes your teams are just downright shitty.

Due to the depressed state I've been in, lately I've developed more of a relationship with the other UM - the University of Montana. Yeah, I went to school in Minnesota, but it doesn't hurt that Megan and my youngest brother Matty go there.

When I was last in Missoula, I spent some quality time with Megan, my camera, a tripod, and this beautiful campus. This is what I came up with.

Somebody let me know if this extends outside of Montana, but in this state most towns like to mark the territory, so to speak, of their town but placing rocks or laying down concrete in the shape of their town's letter on the side of a mountain or hill, and paint it white. For example, on a hill north of Great Falls is a big, white, intertwined 'GF.' Same goes for Simms, Belt, and most of the small towns around Great Falls. Pretty cool. That's what that big, white 'M' is doing on the mountainside in the background of this shot. I'm not sure wheather it is meant to stand for 'Missoula' or 'The University of Montana' but in any case, there's your context.

Of course it makes it a bit more difficult to focus on this UM when they get annihilated by Weber State, but I'll try anyway...

Facemasked

Mon, 6 Oct 2008 20:51:39 -0800

My parents and I went to my cousin's 7th grade football game today and I managed to get some good shots of #21 at work.

Obviously, each shot is processed a bit differently. I feel like I've fallen into a pretty set workflow as far as developing landscapes goes, but I'm still getting comfortable with processing people and sports. So, I'm experimenting. Let me know what you think...

My friends are getting hitched!

Sun, 5 Oct 2008 22:28:50 -0800

So yeah, two of my very closest friends are getting hitched. To each other.

I met these two in homeroom in sixth grade at Paris Gibson Middle School. Ten years later, they're still together and are ready to tie the knot in January. So, I'd like to take some credit for this one...

When I was in Missoula, I (with Megan's assistance) took Danny and Julie out for a couple hours and did an engagement shoot. I haven't shot many people and it's an area I've wanted to beef up in my portfolio so it worked out well. This being my first experience shooting a couple it took a while to get rolling and there are a lot of images that I know I could have done better, but with one on-camera flash and no modifiers, I think they turned out all right.

When the three of us got back to Great Falls this weekend, I went on invitation design duty for most of yesterday. I'd put the design on here, but we don't want you crashing the party. Sorry, you're just not invited.

Oh, my favorite is the bottom one...

U + Me = Us. I know my Calculus.

Sat, 4 Oct 2008 00:14:47 -0800

I apologize for the lengthy absence. More importantly, I apologize for the 2ge+her reference...

I took up Megan's parents offer of a ride to Missoula last weekend at the last second and ended up staying for the week. During my time there I got a ton of studio experience in thanks to Terry Cyr. We did a number of shoots together including the UM production of "The Foreigner." Yesterday, he was even good enough to let me take Megan into his studio and play around with some lighting. The result is what you see here.

This puppy underwent a lot of post, so I decided to include the original underneath. Most of the post on this one was done in Photoshop. I've been meaning to play with and learn how to appropriately dodge and burn in PS so I decided to give it a whirl on this one. So, I beg of those of you who are more experienced with those PS tools than I, critique the hell out of me if you please.

Just checked the clock. It's sleepy time.

Great Falls Sunrise II

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:17:15 -0800

I set off this morning with the intention of finding this place that Ty and I shot a couple winters ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out which back road to take in order to get there (next time I'll do my homework before setting off...). As I saw the sun coming up, I decided to ditch my plan and rushed back to the airport to snap this puppy of the sun coming up over the mountains in the distance.

Of course, I couldn't just leave it at that. I had to take a couple exposures to play with in Photomatix. There have been a couple times now that I've opened the program intending to make a more natural-looking image, but I always seem to make the mistake of checking what the scene would look like if I apply the "Previous" settings. Invariably, I like the surreal version better.

So what do you think? Too over the top?

Studio Lighting 101

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:00:11 -0800

During my week in Missoula I had the pleasure to meet and work with Terry Cyr, a local portrait photographer. We had a great time working on a couple shoots and I was fortunate enough to learn a great deal about lighting.

The first day we met, Terry let me launch head first into experimenting with lighting in his studio and I put together a couple images of him. I then added a bit of post to each and offered as much information as I could about my workflow in return. Those are the images you see here.

We're Live ... And I'm back!

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:09:03 -0800

I'm back in town!

After a fantastic week in Missoula, I'm finally back home which means I get to upload some more images! I'll get more into what I've been working on lately in the next couple images, but for now I thought I'd share with you what I had been working on toward the end of August. I've been working with dStudio here in town and redesigned a site for Specialty Iron Works which you see here (or you can see the live version if you follow the link). This past week, this puppy finally went live so I thought I'd share it with you...

Socca Playa Revisited

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:32:26 -0800

So, I'm tired of my website again; I'm ready for a redesign. So I've been playing around with how I want to display my galleries. So, I went to my gallery collections in Lightroom and came across this photo and sort of launched into graphic designer mode.

I was giong for sort of a poster look and I think I accomplished that. I eventually want to get to the point where I can integrate my design skills with my photography but have been slow-moving in that direction.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the two versions from both a photographic (I know there are going to be some of you purists out there who'll hate this; please let me know that you do) and a design standpoint.

I probably will not be posting for a while. Megan managed to snag me a ticket to the Montana Grizzlies home opener this weekend and I'm all over it (Saint Mary's didn't have a football program so I sort of feel like I've missed out on the football side of the collegiate life). I'll get a chance to see this kid as well. Matty, you need a new facebook pic?

I'll be in Missoula all of next week as well. See you all around the 22nd!

Hike up them Birches!

Tue, 9 Sep 2008 21:14:02 -0800

One thing I've developed a strong admiration for since I started shooting seriously a couple years ago is birch trees. I just think they're gorgeous.

I've used them before in a shot or two but in the bluffs back at school I could never seem to find a good cluster of them to shoot. Well, on my way to Missoula I spotted this cluster along the side of the road and made a note of where they were located. Luckily, I recognized the place when I approached it on my way home so I pulled off to the side of the road a took a few shots as you see here.

I originally processed just the top one but thought I'd give the bottom one a shot too and I liked it. Which do you prefer?

Rocky Mountain Vanishing Point

Mon, 8 Sep 2008 22:42:43 -0800

I know, the title sucks. Too literal. Any suggestions? Let me know...

This scene was about twenty minutes before the last one. I saw the way the clouds were kissing the tops of the mountains and I had to pull over for a bit.

The post on this guy was almost exactly the same as on "State of MT Property." I probaby like that shot a little better but compositionally this one has the advantage of the vanishing point and the objects in the foreground, middleground, and background. Which do you prefer? Why?

Hey There Rodg...

Sun, 7 Sep 2008 21:46:52 -0800

After a wonderful weekend in Missoula, MT, I'm back home in Great Falls which, of course, means I have some more photos for you.

My trip along the always picturesque Highway 200 between Missoula and Great Falls included mouth-watering flirtatiousness between the mountains and clouds and, as you might expect, frequent stops along the side of the road.

This particular shot comes from Rogers Pass, elevation 5,610 feet, right along the continental divide. Along the pass the recommended speed limit screeches from 70mph down to 25 and takes a quick loop along this road that spits you out at an angle maybe 250 degrees different from the one at which you entered. Back at school in Minnesota, when people asked about roads through the mountains in Montana, I'd tell them about Rogers Pass. And when people would claim to be certain that there still were no speed limits in Montana (used to be the case, not anymore), I'd say, "No, that's stupid," and I'd tell them about Rogers Pass.

So there she is. The clouds were blanketing the top of a few peaks here and there like the one in the right half of the photo which gave it a sort of misty, moody feel. Hopefully I conveyed that with the post.

Always more coming...

From Lakes Emerge a Creek

Tue, 2 Sep 2008 20:13:49 -0800

Thanks to all those who left comments yesterday. Perhaps I should include a question in every post; that seems to result in a bit more feedback. I try to encourage you all to leave feedback without begging, but sometimes I feel like begging...

Today you have two shots of Rumble Creek which flow from the Rumble Creek Lakes you've been seeing so much of lately. The two shots are about twenty yards from one another and are processed in exactly the same way. I know which one I prefer, but I'm interested to know what your thoughts are.

Unfortunately I'll probably be away from my computer for a while. I'm still trying to find a job in my post-graduation state and am making a trip to Missoula in an attempt to do so. Wish me luck...

Greener Pastures

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 15:40:59 -0800

While we were on a lower area of the mountain, we stopped by the creek at one point to find this little guy perched on a log.

Ok, so what are you all thinking out there? Are you bored of the shots from our hike? Do you want something new? I'll probably come back to some of these at some point, but I'm starting to grow weary of photos from the hike. Your thoughts?

Lower Rumble Creek Lake

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:48:27 -0800

This is the scene you would see if you were to turn around 180 degrees from this view and look down. To the left of the lake you can see a hint of the trail that we took coming up. And, of course, the mountains.

No HDR on this puppy; I thought I'd stay a little bit more traditional for the post processing on at least one of these shots. Enjoy!

Lower Rumble Creek Lake And Waterfall

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:42:28 -0800

Today's post is still from my hike a couple weeks ago, this time from lower Rumble Creek Lake. Our final destination of the hike was right behind the source of the waterfall. The last bit, as you can kind of see, consists more or less of climbing the rocks going straight up. But, again, it was gorgeous and well worth it.

Upper Rumble Creek Lake

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:57:48 -0800

Once we got to the top of the two lakes, the view was easily worth the effort. This shot is of the upper lake and Holland Peak which Spencer, Danny, and Julie hiked that morning while Megan and I stayed behind to document the scene. About another 30 feet behind where I was standing to capture this shot, the land dropped off to provide a fantastic view of the lower lake. But that shot will have to wait for another day.

I put this guy together while bouncing back and forth between Photoshop and Photomatix. Trying to HDR a panorama provided an interesting challenge in itself, but I think I put it together pretty well. Your thoughts?

Holland Peak Wildflower

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:36:06 -0800

My goodness, what a week it's been! My apologies for not posting for over a week, but I've been away from home...

Last weekend, one of my close friends Spencer Gray took Megan, my good friends Danny and Julie (soon to be) Flaherty, and myself on a hike trip to Holland Peak he described as "Steep, but short." Well, steep but short ended up being a five hour hike straight up the side of the mountain. On it, I discovered just how poor of shape I am in.

Atop the mountain grew a number of different beautiful wildflowers like you see here. Again, I'm certainly not a flower expert (Mom, maybe you could help?) so for now I will just dub my asexual little buddy "wildflower."

This certainly wasn't the most interesting of the shots I put together of the location, just the one I was most drawn to tonight. So be sure to check back for more; the place is gorgeous!

The rest of the week included a trip to Missoula, MT where Matty and I took a little trip to the M (you'll see those later too) and I tried to find a job. Alas, it seems Missoula isn't ready for me just yet, so I'm back at home...

EDIT: I woke up this morning and wasn't crazy with what I had posted. The edit is now posted.

Book of Justice

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:42:17 -0800

Probably the most bizarre twist to our trip out to Mehmke's a while ago was when we entered his second enormous warehouse to find a single old jail cell in the corner. In it were a pair of bunked metal "beds," some balls and chains, and this old register of prisoners from 1913 which featured such characters as Burton Sakta who stares at you from the bottom right of the page.

I, of course, made the mistake of not listening to the entire story about the jail cell but maybe my good friend Mattie Meier, who was probably paying much closer attention, can fill us in. Oh, and didn't Mr. Mehmke try to lock you in there at one point?

"Stranded" Gone Square

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:13:54 -0800

Ok, I lied. I'll get the promised shot of Mehmke's up later but for now I thought I should post what I've been working on most recently.

You may remember this car from past shots ("Stranded v.2") but now that I'm more familiar with Photomatix, I thougtht I'd give it another shot. Why square? Well, I'm ordering new business cards today, they're square, and I'm putting this puppy on the back. I'm so giddy and excited about them, it's pretty sick...

Tomorrow, I'll get the other shot of Mehmke's up. I promise.

The Pioneer

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:03:59 -0800

Not only does Mehmke's boast a vast assortment of old farm equipment, it also features all kinds of (sometimes really) random stuff. This old Ford isn't the most random of all things, but tomorrow I'll give you a peek at what the guy keeps locked up in his second warehouse...

Gearin' Up

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:48:20 -0800

Yet another shot from Mehmke's tractor, etc. museum just outside of Belt, Montana. I suppose I'll eventually move on to another subject, but the place was so photogenic that I managed to capture a number of shots I like. And, I'm hoping to spend some more time working with HDR on these tractors; I plan on getting back to Mehmke's (if the summer plays out the way I'd like), this time with a tripod, a little more time, and a larger card, maybe this week.

So, what are your thoughts? Are you exhausted with the Mehmke's photos?I'll probably be including a post from here every once in a while anyway but would you rather I move on to another subject? As always, thank you for your feedback!

In the Driver's Seat

Sat, 9 Aug 2008 22:39:48 -0800

Another shot from Mehmke's a few weeks ago, this time from behind the wheel of one of the massive tractors. Enjoy!

Wielding the Sun

Thu, 7 Aug 2008 21:45:54 -0800

I've been teaching a "Digital Photography for Kids" class this week that concludes tomorrow so I thought I'd share with you one of my student's work. Yesterday we focused on including people in the photos and I suggested at one point playing a combination of the sun and the subject. Well, this is what they came up with...

Yep, that's me. Wielding the sun. This class has been great fun!

Wheat Montana

Wed, 6 Aug 2008 12:20:56 -0800

Another shot from essentially the same location as yesterday's, just looking in the opposite direction. The road we were driving down at the time had hay bales on one side and wheat on the other so we stopped and grabbed a few shots of each.

Sea of Bales

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 19:39:40 -0800

I finally stitched together this pano of the hay bales that frequent the Montana countryside East (and all around) Great Falls. I was commissioned by Treasure State Lifestyles, a local magazine, to photograph a few places (such as Mehmke's like the shots of the tractors I've posted recently) for their August issue; this is one of those shots. So, those of you around town, keep an eye out for that magazine which should be coming out in the next week.

There is more, of course, so you'll have to check back tomorrow...

Cliff Drop

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 17:56:25 -0800

Another shot of Paul jumping around the rock cliffs that overlook Lost Lake. This time the Minimum script in Photoshop didn't work so well, so I had to mask the series together manually.

Hopefully more tomorrow...

Expired Gears

Sat, 2 Aug 2008 11:58:00 -0800

Another shot from Mehmke's (one of many more to come, I'm sure). This place was visually amazing. You may not get a full view of the museum, at least not from this series of shots, but I think the real beauty of the place is in the details of the monstrous tractors that occupy the space.

This is another shot of those details...

Texacoil!

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:19:16 -0800

Quick post tonight: Specialty Iron Works needs a website!

I took a trip today with many stops between Great Falls and Lewistown for a local magazine. The location of this shot is at a museum run by the Mehmke family just outside of Belt, MT. It features some fantastic old tractors and other old collected items such as this Texaco oil can.

More details and more photos of this place in the coming days...

Lost Lake Pano

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:10:25 -0800

Ok, so here is your full view of Lost Lake. And Paul was jumping around somewhere off to the right.

This sucker (both the lake/hole in the ground and the file) was huge!

Hopefully more tomorrow...

Cliff Hop

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:04:44 -0800

Last weekend my good friend and fellow designer Mattie Meier took me and another friend, Paul, out to this random place appropriately called "Lost Lake" located about 20 minutes of dirt road outside of Highwood, MT (for which the latest census offered a generous population estimate of 200-ish). Lost Lake is essentially this isolated lake/hole in the ground about a hundred feet or so down from the cliffs where we were perched.

I like hanging out with Paul because he's acrobatic. That trait played particularly well into this day as I managed to capture a few shots of him leaping from rock structure to rock structure like you see here. Stay tuned; in the next couple days I'll get you a few more views from this location if the mental image is unclear.

I purchased Photomatix about a month ago and I have been reading Ferrell McCollough's "Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Digital Photography" but hadn't gotten a chance to learn/play around with the software until recently. This example was my first attempt at tone-mapping using a single image. I recognize that I have some nice little halos in the image but on this first attempt I didn't want to worry about that sort of thing and instead focused only on pushing the processing to the most extreme effect I could get using the single image.

So, all you HDR-junkies out there must have an opinion of the shot. Thoughts? Likes/Dislikes? Suggestions? Let me know what you're thinking...

Fireworks, Voyager Style

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:38:14 -0800

Quick post tonight given the time.

Every time a home game falls on a saturday here in Great Falls, MT, the GF Voyagers minor league baseball team puts on a fireworks display afterward (not the team itself, actually they've been getting shellacked this homestand...). Considering that I can only get five to ten shots off per time using such a long shutter speed, I'm going to try to work as many of these games as I can.

I know I sound like a broken record saying this, but I apologize for not posting as often lately. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll be able to enjoy the luxury of free time a little more.