Erie,PA

I travel a lot, both personally and for business. I had a chance to stay overnight in Erie, PA. I stayed at the Marriott Courtyard, and what a view. I went to the pool area to relax, and relax I did with the view of Lake Erie.

Marriott Courtyard, Erie PA

They say one of the best sunsets is from this location. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to see it because I had a dinner meeting I needed to attend—hopefully, next time. I look forward to seeing more of Erie on my next visit. Which will be soon.

Vacation Time is Over

Once again, it's been some time since I posted. I took some vacation and have been busy with jobs I can't post yet. Lisa and I had a great time on vacation. We started in Coco Beach, the Hilton on the Atlantic side. It's been some time since we stayed on the Atlantic side of Florida. We headed off to the beach, and the surf was great for the surfers. I had to bring my camera down.

I headed down and used my 100-400 with a 2x adapter. I believe I was in shutter priority at 2000 and ISO in auto. I like this mode when things are bright and I want to stop motion. (like birds flying) I had fun that day. Next found out that they were going to have a rocket launch. They tried three times, but it was not my day; it did not happen. While on the beach, I played around with airplanes and, of course, the seagulls. Next was getting ready for the Cruise ship.

Real Estate

Photography is everywhere; you never know what you will be called in for. As you know, I recently changed my photography to Freelance Photography and loved the challenges new and old clients have given me. In this case, I was asked if I could take some photos of a couple's home, who was not looking at selling but to be able to rent it out.

I started, in this case, upstairs and worked my way down. Most of these were taken with my 14mm-35mm lens, all done on Tripod. My goal was to show the client what I saw, including all of the trees on this property. You can see that through the windows. Then, to make the place feel like home, I turned on all the lights and did what I was hired for. Make photos of their home. We ended with about 40 pictures to put what they wanted on the website.

I don't know if they have found a renter yet. But based on this lovely place. I don't think it will take them long.

Environmental Shooting

For those of you who follow my Facebook page, I said there would be more, and here is the more.

To keep up with your photography skills, it always helps to go to workshops to learn and practice. Plus, I love working with professional models. This was no different. With the help of @Robertsphoto in Indianpolis,In and our model Afton, the class was on an environmental shoot. This class was terrific, for we took pictures in a 10-yard diameter and made the best using lighting. In the above photo, when I was going through the shooting, I could not help thinking this was a teacher escaping her class for a bit of downtime. So I told her to pretend that she was holding a wine glass, for I added this in photoshop to get the image my mind was thinking. The above picture was a 3 light shoot.

If you saw where these pictures were taken, you would say how? It’s a simple look at the background and asks whether it will benefit. If it helps, if it does not, don’t show it. As you know, I love flash photography and have a lot of fun using it. In this case, we used from one light all the way to 3 lights and again in a very small area. That is one way to help with the background. Another is the angles of the picture; another is putting the background in focus or not. (you thought it was just pint and click :) ) I bet we had about 10 shots, and all we needed to do was look.

I can’t say enough about working with a model. For me, it allows me to use my creativity and wait for the moment before clicking. I am a big believer in education and learning. No matter how much you know, you can always learn more. I love workshops for two reasons. First, I get to see things live, and last, I get a chance to see other photographers and learn from them. Photographers are like campers. We love what we do and love to talk.