Monday, July 19, 2010

2010 Print comp photographs

I'm finally getting around to uploading photographs I entered in the ABCPS 2010 print competition to their website. There were 5 photographs entered by myself, and 5 came back with ribbons. I will post those photographs, and a brief description of each.
I will post those photographs, and a brief description of each. This photograph placed in the Portrait section. It is called Olivia and is after a senior session I photographed last year. This is a black and white conversion I seen in the making as I was photographing it. The young lady is wearing a blue shirt, and in leaves in the fall. Naturally you would think that her red hair, the autumn colors and her blue shirt would look great in contrast? They do, the color image looks fantastic, but I like the connection in the black and white conversion.


This photograph really surprised me in its placement. I had only entered it because I wanted to put a photograph in the animal category (you're only allowed 2 photographs per category, and 5 photographs total). If it was up to me, I'd put 5 photographs between the people and still life sections. So I put this in thinking, I just liked how this black/white conversion turned out. My wife and I went to the zoo on a photography expedition :) and when you photograph in black and white at least in my opinion, you have to think in CONTRAST. Not every photograph is a simple desaturate and looks good black and white. This is one I knew when I pressed the shutter that it would look great b/w.
This is my take on a classic by Ansel Adams. It is also up to this point one of my favorite photographs that I have created. The one by Adams is called "the rose". Mine is of the same title, since it is a tribute and emulation of Ansel's masterful work. I'm not Ansel, and not saying I am. I am saying I am proud of this photograph.



This is a tiger lily that my wife bought me. I know, that doesn't sound right does it? My wife knows I love to photograph flowers, and maybe it was a hint to me that I haven't treated her to a floral delight in awhile. Speaking of, I think I need to pick her up some nice flowers. She'll get some great photographs from them. The customers will be happy, my wife will be happy and I'll enjoy creating the images. Win, win, and win!



I will be in attendance as the professional photographer on site for VFL MMA Broad Avenue Brawlers on July 31st. I will also be photographing a wedding that same day, filling in for a last minute drop out photographer. Can't wait to create great images of that day! It's going to be a long, but severely rewarding day. I get the chance to fix the wrong another photographer did to a couple dropping out just WEEKS before their wedding, and I get to photograph a premier MMA event in my home town. Got to love it!

The last competition photograph, I'm having trouble hosting on my blog. She is Dr. Hutzel and is featured on my website. For whatever reason, I can upload the photograph to whatever website, but it's coming up corrupted on my blog. So you only get to see 4 of the 5.

Contact today for great rates. Mention this blog post and I'll give you 5% off of your print order! Mention this and the facebook fan page, and I'll make it 10% off of your print order!

Thanks!

www.roblynn.org

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

VFL MMA Mason Dixon Three

It's been a little longer than I would like to post, and I apologize. We were having some connectivity issues with our ISP. I don't know if Atlantic Broadband had some line maintenance or not, but it kept me from posting.

I was in attendance at VFL's MMA/Boxing promotion in Chambersburg, PA on July 9th. The evening was a mixed night of boxing and MMA. It was a unique night, because the place it was held could be likened to a banquet hall. Obviously these venues are selected because of their affordability to the promoter and it gives an arena for the amateur talent (the full card was amateur MMA and 2 boxing bouts) to showcase their skills. Let's face it, you don't start out fighting at the Pearl at the Palms.

The top of the cage was about 16 inches from the ceiling, so the promoter couldn't use his ring lights. For the photographers who follow this for technical information the scenes were metering like ISO 6400 f/2.8 1/125. We all know this isn't enough to capture action. I had to do something that I don't enjoy doing which is use flash during a fighting event. The plus side was it was a drop ceiling and I could bounce a low powered flash as to not distract the fighters. It however changes things. You're no longer going to shoot at 10 FPS (frames per second) since you'll get maybe 2-4 pops of the flash before the capacitors are drained enough for it to need to recycle. You also don't want to flash 10 shots then 10 more and 10 more really fast, because the flash bulbs can burn up. Canon's flat rate to work on any flash? $180. So you don't want to burn something up if you do not need to.

The other issue is mixing color temperatures. It gives some of the photographs an unnatural coloring. When you've got 2-3 color temps bouncing around before you add your flash, there's not too much you can do. You "sort" of correct it so that the flesh looks "reasonable" and you keep the other stuff from looking "too" odd.

I'll be photographing another VFL MMA event on the 31st of July. The promoter treats me well, and keeps having me photograph his shows. I can't see that relationship changing anytime soon.

Just a personal opinion though, I think that if you do boxing and MMA on the same card you should start out with the boxing then work into the MMA fights. See folks like the fast paced intensity of MMA. They also like to watch boxing when people are going nuts swinging. However, if you just watched a high intensity MMA fight, then watch a heavy or even middle weight boxing match...it's like you took your car from 100 to 60. I appreciate and enjoy boxing. However some fans aren't going to stick around for it or will subtract from the other folks experience there by booing every 4 seconds of inactivity.

I've got other session photographs to post, but I figured I'd show one of the submissions, a nice boxing shot, and the ring-girls with the title belts, and with yours truly.

Here's the link to the full gallery. Remember, all of my photographs are protected by copyright law. Do not download them illegally. Contact me for purchasing information.

http://roblynn.smugmug.com/Mixed-Martial-Arts/VFL-MMA-Mason-Dixon-Showdown-3/12877142_54N8L#929961843_Mvkws




I will get back on posting schedule, and not keep the readers waiting.

Rob





Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Busy weekend coming up! VFL MMA in Chambersburg

Hello everyone. It's been a few days since the last post, and I wanted to post a few new photographs and some information on the goings on.

This weekend, I'll be photographing VFL MMA in Chambersburg PA on Friday. On Saturday AON Wrestling at the YPPC center in Ebensburg PA, and then a family reunion on Sunday. Busy busy!

Please check out http://www.vflmma.com/index4f.htm for more information on the shows.

As a full service photographer, I photograph everything. This means if I am booked to do a wedding, I photograph that. Same goes for still life photography, or sporting events. Of course every photographer has certain areas that they enjoy more than others. If they tell you differently, they are lying. See, I'm always happy with a camera in my hand. However, I'm most happy photographing people. This doesn't mean I don't do other assignments.

Something I enjoy VERY much is making photographs of flowers. When I buy my wife flowers, I love photographing them. For me, I like to focus on the FLOWER itself. The stems generally don't do anything for me. I like the background simple, and understated.

Now I usually go understated background for flowers, however one photograph I attempted my take at the classic "Rose on Driftwood" by Ansel Adams. It has to be my favorite photograph. Which is interesting, because my favorite photography subjects are people. I like the back story around it too. Maybe that's why I like it so much. Basically Ansel's mom gave him a rose (pink) when he moved into his apartment. He wanted to photograph it and had no idea what to use as the "background" so he used this piece of driftwood. I had my own "driftwood" with the help of old motor oil, running it over, hosing it off, scuffing it up. Basically doing in a week to it what was probably months of soaking in Adams' case.

The other three photographs I'm featuring here are three from a recent bouquet I bought for my wife. All of these photographs will be featured for sale here shortly on my website. Please have a look. www.roblynn.org If you're interested in package deals (multiple prints) I do offer special discounts on large prints ordered in bulk. PLease contact for details.

Without further Adieu,





Also! Senior session dates are filling up fast! Contact now for your session! I've got great specials all summer long!

Rob Lynn
www.roblynn.org

Saturday, July 3, 2010

On a Golf Course? 4th of July?

I was speaking with one of my friends, Dale, who is an avid golfer. He was saying about how beautiful the course was and that I should bring up some equipment sometime. We weren't thinking anything of it, so I packed light. A full-frame dSLR with an ultra wide angle zoom (16-35mm), and a cropped sensor dSLR with a normal zoom (24-70mm). I almost wasn't even going to bring two cameras. I figured I'd get the feel of the area, and then start making some images.

Now understand, this wasn't a client's wishes or an assignment. This was at 3PM, he says we should go, at 5 we were there. I would have researched this MUCH more if I was on assignment, scoped out the place beforehand. Got an idea of the best times to go up, so on so forth.

This is what I like though, a challenge. I so set up a challenge for myself.

Make a few images of scenery. Make a few images that showcase the golf course, and that it IS indeed a golf course. See, if you omit the pins, and fairways, you could almost just think that a golf course is hundreds of acres of well kept ground. It would seem to me, that good golf course photographs would showcase a little of everything. The greenery, the skies, the pins (flags), the wide open expanses, the tight greens, and any landscape features. I would also think that it should be a journey that a golfer would be familiar with, and that a viewer could relate to.

If it's an image of the scenery, and not the course okay, who cares if the viewer can go "that's a country club!", but if we're show casing that it's a golf course, I want even an uneducated viewer to be able to see that it's a golf course. I want an experienced golfer who may have played the course to be able to look and say "Oh, he was probably here, or there making this photograph, probably where one well placed drive would land".

I met some really nice people on the course, and I am hoping to make a return to the course. Especially now since I've done the "homework" by going around the 18 holes of the course. I'd like to get there a few times this summer, and possibly again in the fall. Following the winter, I'd like to go up in the spring as well.

I'm very critical of my work, and while I am pleased with the photographs, looking back at them I would liked to have been there in the early morning, or evening. When we were there, we had harsh light to deal with. However, even in face of all of the obstacles (I had never photographed specifically a golf course before, high/bright/harsh sun).
Also this weekend is the fourth of July weekend. This is a very important holiday in American history. This is the first time I've repeated an image in a blog, but this is definitely worth it. This image was taken out the VA home in Altoona PA.

Here's just a sample of the golf course images. Please be sure to check my website to see the finished products.