Yet another long break...

Ugh, so I violated the first rule of blogging, which is: no one will come to visit unless there is new content to see. I have no real excuse other than real life has been occupying most of my time.

Let's see, some recent happenings...

No Quarter recently did a kids' Christmas party for pictures with Santa.  It's the third or forth year in a row I've done this function.  I found it hard to be creative due to the line of anxious children, but that wasn't why I was there.  Each family gets a 4x6. And I had them printed in time for Christmas. Santa was accompanied by an elf this year, which was a fun touch. I won't be posting any pictures on her due to the lack of a model release.

I was also asked to do a family portrait for my assistant and her siblings as a Christmas gift to her parents and grandparents.  It was hard to get everyone at the same place and time to get it done. Ultimately I had about an hour long window to get it right. I didn't have any advance knowledge of the site we went to, so when I got there my mind was racing. Set the scene. Dial in the lights. De-fog the lenses (my fault, they were in the trunk too long). Get everyone in place. And try to catch four very strong personalities at the same time. Below is an outtake and a final copy.  Everyone liked them, which is all I can hope for.

Christmas was nice. I got enough giftcards to go towards most of a new phone. I finally got the upgrade to my iphone, the 3Gs. It had been a long time coming. I was holding off to better spend money elsewhere, but thanks to those who helped me finally get a phone with consistant service with 5 bars!

I've been practicing my Photoshop skills as of late. I don't have my to show for it, as most are tutorials that focus on a specific skill. About a year ago I bought a graphics tablet. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I never touched one before, but everything that I read and watched had the artist using one. I did some research and got a Wacom Intuos3. I got frustrated quickly with it which I thought had to do with my clumsy hands. I told myself that learning to use it would come with time, so I picked it up and have been trying to almost exclusively use it for Photoshop. I've had much better results once I turned down the sensitivity of the pen. Much more subtle and controlable now. My recent hurdle is drawing smooth lines, but that's for a different day.

I saw Avatar in 3d this past weekend. It was amazing. I was overwhelmed by all the detail that went into the presentation. I read enough about the movie beforehand to know that about 80% of the movie was digital effects, but it all seemed real and believable to me. There were so many little things, like dust and bugs and scratches that added to the feel. I won't give away the plot, but it was an average story that's been told before. The ok plot was made into a great movie by all the production that was done. I was surprised to find how much the developers used Adobe products, as discussed here. My first thought was that they were using some in house software to put it together, but they used several programs that I have and others that I'm familiar with. Granted they used it much better than I could ever imagine, but it's exciting to know I have access to programs that could do that.

So, the New Year's resolution for No Quarter will be to publish more content and to take better pictures. This will be the first full year of my assistant at my side, so together I know we can make something great. Thanks Jess! Without you it wouldn't be as fun.

A recommendation for recommendations and a silhouette

I get a lot of requests from friends for recommendations of cameras and camera gear to buy. I understand the questions. I've been using digital SLRs since the Canon DRebel came out in 2003.  Many people are confused by all the fancy terms and technical specs. Its wise to search out someone more knowledgable in a topic or someone who's opinion means something to you.

My first question to them is usually what's their budget. My next is what they want to use the equipment for. Are they looking for a pocket camera? Something with more versatility? All the bells and wistles? I can generally come up with a short list of recommendations from there. I always support the purchase of Canon products. That may turn some people off. For those who don't know, there is a brand allegance in cameras similar to Ford vs Chevy with Nikon being Canon's main competitor. You're either one or the other. Over the last couple years the market has got more diverse with competitive models from Olympus and Sony, along with more models offered from Canon and Nikon.

I have a variety of experiences with Canon equipment. Every time I go to a store (like the time I went to B&H) I play with anything on display. And I'm a constant student. I regularly pick up a bevy of different photo gear magazines. I use to subscribe to Outdoor Photographer, but stopped after about 4 years. It was a good publication, but it got too repetitive for me. I also routinely troll the forums at Fred Miranda. The site has nearly every topic covered for 35mm based photography, both film and digital. It also has some discussion on medium and large format. Most of my early technique came from lessons learned from discussion posts. I still learn techniques or find new places to visit from the posts on the boards.

For specifically Canon SLRs, I always recommend visiting The Digital Picture. The author is a Canon-only person. Each product review, whether body or lens, is deep in both the technical and performance aspects.

The bottom line is for anyone that is interested in throwing any considerable amount of money at photography gear, that will most likely only be for hobby related purposes, it is incumbant that they do their homework. A purchase should never be made on recommendation alone. Go to a store. Pick it up. Test out the functions and buttons. Does it fit your style and experience level? No sense in buying too much camera if you're not ready. Be sure to factor in the associated costs. Will the camera need a flash? More memory card due to the sensor size? Special software to get the most out of the files?  Does it fit your hand?

A quick example is a friend of mine who I newly getting into DSLR photography. He's previosly owned only point and shoot cameras. I've talked with him about camera stuff before.  He's read a lot on his own, so it was refreshing to have a highly technical conversation with him. He did some research and narrowed it down to a Canon 7D and 5D2. Currently the difference between the two models is about $1000. That's a lot for a new hobby. That doesn't include any lenses. We talked about what he planned on using it for and many of the other topics I just went over. Ultimately he decided on the 7D. I look forward to checking it out next time I see him. I haven't been able to find one in store yet and there was a lot of hype with some of its new features.

So if you see me or send a question my way, understand that I'm just one piece of the puzzle. I look into whatever product may seem like the one for you, but I'm subjective like most people, so take it with a grain of salt.

Back to No Quarter business, I've been working on a personal project with a client. She had a couple ideas which we worked on together. One of the ideas we came up with was a silhouette. We tried a bunch of different poses. Some worked, some didn't. This particular photo (seen below) was an outtake which I instantly loved, even on my tiny 2" LCD on the back of the camera. It was my first time doing a silhouette using a flash. The EXIF is a 50mm 1.8 lens, 1/160 sec., F6.3 @ 100 ISO. I used a AB800 at about 1/3 power with a large octobox pointed toward a white sheet pinned to a doorframe. In Photoshop, I adjusted the exposure, cloned out the creases in the sheet, and added a soft glow. Really, it wasn't a lot of adjustment, but it took me a while to find the look that I wanted.

My assistant called it "powerful," which is the most evocative word she's used to describe any of my pictures. I was surprised by her response. This particular shoot gave me some ideas to try out in the future in a different way.

I'll continue to post things when I can.  Real life has been busier than I expected.  In the tradition of Thanksgiving, a big "Thank You" to all my readers.  I'll continue to post and lament as long as just one of you is around.

Back in the saddle again...

I've taken an extended break from posting an entry in October.  A lot was done.  Home renovation.  Moving. Work, work, work.  After all of that, there wasn't much time or topics to get into.  Today I have some time, so I'll recount all things exciting to No Quarter in the last couple weeks.

I've been steadily working on my home.  The bathroom was in dire need of fixing, so we ripped everything down to the studs and built it back up.  Some of the wall needed fixing do to water damage.  Pipes needed to be replaced, as they were as old as the house (~55 years).  The window wasn't very functional.  There wasn't any insulation.  The list goes on.  Hopefully by this weekend the tile will be finished.  The walls are primed.  I'll be painting sometime soon.  The rest of the inside could use a fresh coat, which we'll get to in the next couple weeks.

Moving has been a chore as always.  I don't have much "stuff," but its never easy to pack up your life, move it, then try to unpack it into someone else's house where they have it set up how they like.  I'm not complaining, I just don't like disorder.  Some people who know me may laugh at that last comment, because it may seem on outward appearance that I'm messy, but I have a very specific organization technique.  My desk is always a disaster, but I know where everything is and what is a priority.  Hopefully the chaos will end shortly and I can be back to normal in that respect.

My 9-to-5 has been busy as usual.  I'm trying to wrap up everything before I move to a different position in the new year.  I hate loose ends, but things pop up every day, which have made it take longer than I like. 

I recently wrapped up the newborn job which I discussed here.  I put the photos on flickr and got a huge response.  Either the mom has a ton of friends or people love babies.  I'm sure its a mix of the two, but I'm thankful for all the positive comments that I got from them.  Here's my favorite of the bunch:

As I was editting it, I realized that it was very similar to one of me from 30 years ago.  I think I had thinner hair though.

Tech news: I upgraded to Windows 7, which runs much smoother than Vista on my desktop.  So far, I've noticed start up and home networking are quick and without and problems I had before.  The interface has some subtle additions that add to the experience.  My next big software update will be in the spring sometime when CS5 comes out.  There's a couple videos on youtube that show off some of the upcoming features that are going to make editting easier.

Gear news: Canon announced the 1DIV.  The features list makes my 1DII look like a 3 pound paperweight.  16 megapixel, 1080P HD video, up to 102400 ISO, 10 fps, and a new autofocus system.  Sexy!  As you might have read from me before, the image quality of my camera is great, but the resolution is dated.  Maybe some day.  No Quarter didn't make much of a profit this year after some needed purchases, but hopefully with some new prospects, I can buy a new body of some kind in 2010.  Due to budget constraits, this will probably be a 5DII or 7D instead.  But one can dream.

Now that Wisconsin winter is rapidly approaching, I'm trying to think of some indoor personal projects to work on.  I've asked a couple people and one that I'd really like to do is a picture inspired by Sin City.  If you never saw the movie or read the graphic novels, its a crime/detective pulp fiction storyline.  The art work, in both the novels and movie, has a noir influence.  Often the only colors used are black and white, with red, yellow, and blue used to draw attention to a certain element.  Personally, I love black/white/red, so I'm going to start with that.  If you have an idea or are interested, leave a comment and tell me what you think.  Only 6 more months till nice trips to Target in a tank top.

Excuse my dust

No Quarter has been spending its days renovating and moving. Not my favorite thing to do, but it needed to be done. I've been without my computer, so editting has been no existant. I'm hoping to have it set up by tomorrow. If everything goes according to plan, my house will be finished by the end of the month.

Thank you to those patiently waiting. And a big thank you for all the attention from my last post. My readers apparently love babies and shirtless men. My black and white of new father and son became my most view in one day. I also got my highest readership in one day with that post.

I'll update again soon.

A wedding and a newborn

So it's been over a week since I've had the time to post a new entry. I've been quite busy with real life. House stuff, work stuff, and a couple other things I've got going on. Don't take this interlude as No Quarter slowing down!

Last weekend I was honored to stand up in the wedding of my best friend. It was a nice church and reception hall. They went to St. John's military academy for pictures. It was my first time there and I was surprised how nice the property was. The bride wanted some shots in front of a church with this bold red door. Here's a shot from my phone.

Even though the resolution sucks on it, I was impressed by the color it captured. I had my camera with me, but I didn't have an oppurtunity to shoot anything during the ceremony and reception. Besides during the celebration of the event, I had a couple drinks as my assistant served as my responsible driver. Taking pictures after drinks has never worked out.  Here's one I was able to grab before the event at the groom's parents' house.  Father and son with some super harsh sun to deal with.

Watching the hired photographer and his assistant hustle made me not missing wedding photography at all. I did enjoy looking over his gear. I was surprised to find that he was using Canon 40d and 50d bodies. I was expecting a 5dII. He did have some nice glass though.

Yesterday I had a newborn photo shoot. It was my first one for a friend who is a first time mom. First, friend, first, got it? I tried to talk her into maternity pictures, but she wasn't having it. She didn't think she looked attractive despite being quite the opposite. Her son is about 2 1/2 weeks old, which is a bit older than I would have liked, but our schedules didn't mesh well until now. The whole newborn thing is a challenge for me. I found posing to be the hardest thing. So delicate, but that's my issue. With mom, dad, and my assistant on hand we got a nice variety of shots.  I have to still work on the bulk of the shots, but below is a sneak preview.

Just as a reminder, No Quarter provides all types of photography services. Check out my flickr account to see my current work and check back often as I'm always adding new pictures.

Photojojo review

Oh let's see... Well, its been a week since I last posted. Been busy. I attended a wedding last weekend.  A good friend of mine is getting married this Friday. Plans of home improvements are just that, plans.

I have a twitter account mostly for new and pop culture. Through one of the people I follow, I can across this website and book from it.  Both have a great variety of DIY photo ideas and projects. Some are crafty, some artsy. All told, there are 50 different projects which are presented in an easy to understand format. I look forward to trying a couple during the winter.  There's already a lot of praise for the book and its readily available at amamzon.com or Barnes & Noble.

During the week, I put up some new pictures on flickr, like usual. This one must've been tagged as "interesting" and ended up on the frontpage, because I got a huge amount of view. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

This is a picure from Times Square, New York City. The building to the left is MTV studios. This was more of an experiment, than anything. I didn't have my tripod, so I rested it against a nearby pole, adjusted the settings, and took lots of shots. Some were too blurry, but this one turned out nicely.

While I appreciate all the views, my photo assistant doesn't like that she's been trumped. She's inspired to try some new things and hopefully come up with something that'll win your love once again.

Fall TV shows have started up. Nothing really interests me, aside from Heroes. A new show I got into recently is Project Runway. Now, I'm a straight guy, but I think the show is fabulous. I'm not a fashion person, which is clear by what i choose to wear day to day, but I DVR it every week. If you've never seen it and don't mind reality shows, check it out on Thursday nights.

New jobs!

Well, the blog has paid off. No Quarter has been fortunate to get some new work through my collection I've put up and the topics I've discussed. Thank you to all my readers! Google Analytics tells me you're out there, so I continue to post new things. I'm not gonna give away what I got cooking, but I'll be sure to post the results as they happen.

I've been busy since the weekend, so I haven't got to much. Finally nice weather in Wisconsin. Too bad summer is over and it gets nice out. I was able to finish up some pictures for my sister. She wanted a photojournalist feel, which is a good idea, but the dogs didn't cooperate much. So it turned to a couple attempts at "posing" them. One of the results below. A couple more here.

The first real "job" I had was at her wedding a bit over 5 years ago. The photographer she hired let me shoot from a distance. I ended up getting some of the best people pictures I've taken to this day. I entered the below picture to a couple contests and ended up placing every time. No tricks, it came out that way from the camera.

I'm not a fan of shooting weddings any more. They're good work, but I don't like the stress of the event. I enjoy the more laid back, personal portraits that I've been doing as of late. I'll take the time to promote a local photographer that does weddings, Sarah Spottswood. She is a lovely lady and very personal. She shoots with her husband. Their blog is located here. I had the oppurtunity to speak to her lately and I was very impressed. Check it out. Not cheap, but they do some great work.

A quick follow up to my posting regarding the 9-9-09 sale at Art's Camera: terrible service! The email receipt said a next day return. I figured that they would be swamped, so I gave them an extra day. Sure enough, not ready. I make a second trip to find my pictures were ready, but my assistant's were not. She was steamed and had a lengthy phone conversation with the manager. End result was free shipping, so we don't have to go back. 

Still working on senior pictures. They were fun. It was hard to catch one of her not smiling.

I continue to put new pictures on flickr. I'm hoping to put up a wish list of sorts. Pictures that I would like to recreate if someone is so inclined to work with me.

Not too much about photography...

I'm really impressed by the amount and types of blogs out there. There are blogs on any subject you can think of. I've been looking thru all sorts of photography blogs to get ideas to better my own presentation. I found some really good examples and some not so good ones. I definately need to work on the general appearance. I chose a standard template that blogspot offered. If I took just a little time to understand html, I'm sure I could get it. Besides, presentation is everything when selling a service. I think a better logo should be the first order of business.

To better understand my audience, I signed up for Google Analytics. If you have any kind of website, whether blog or business, I highly recommend looking into this. It let's you track all sorts of data from your site, from the basic to the advanced.  I found that I have a reader from the Scottsdale, AZ area (Mel?).  As expected most of my readership comes from the south eastern Wisconsin area.  Thank you so much for checking out my blog so far. I hope to continue come up with somewhat interesting tid bits every couple day for you.

My highlight for 9-9-09, was $.09 prints at Art's Camera. I've had some problems with their results in the past, so I'm holding my breath till I pick them up tomorrow.   I'll be sure to post my review of the results. In the past, I've had some prints that were cropped funny and had some ink quality problems. I've never used an internet only source.  Does anyone have any recommendation of what has been reliable for them?

Flickr finally released an iPhone app. The interface is slick.  It runs okay on my first generation phone when on Edge.  With wifi it's much better. The only problem it that my phone only has a 1 megapixel camera, which isn't good for much besides an occasional facebook update. Hopefully this fall I can get the 3Gs. It's always so frustrating when I'm without my camera and can't even take a decent snapshot with my phone. Grrr!

While on the topic of Apple products, Apple released several new iPod products today. I'd link to the site, but it keeps crashing Internet Explorer for some reason, so here to coverage at cnet.com. And I just bought a nano after I got back from New York. Oh well, I really didn't need a video camera on my iPod. Such a strange feature, but I'm not really part of the youtube generation either.

So, now that I rambled about all things not related to my photography, I'll mention that I'm hoping to work again with Danielle this fall. Through some creativity on both our parts and some production help from my assistant, we came up with this picture:

Now, after I shared this with some people, they were freaked out by it. Some said it was morbid, but to me, it was an oppurtunity to try something new and fun.

As far as this week, I'll be adding more to flickr and working on the senior pictures I took this past weekend.

Looking forward to fall

It's been a slow week at No Quarter. I spent the hours between my day job and real life to go through some older pictures to eventually put some on flickr. Going through my old photos is a trip through my memories.  Memories of different times and different people. Some good, some not. I found this one way back from 2005:

Back then I was making several trips to the Baraboo area and snapped this on my way home.  And all it could remind me of is that fall and winter are coming too soon.  Not like there was ever really a summer in south-eastern Wisconsin, but I dread the cold more and more every year. I like fall for the cool night and great colors, but the dead of winter is no fun. Hopefully retirement will take me somewhere warmer, but that's still 20+ years away.  Unless I start selling lots of photos, but I digress.

I had a slower than usual week at my 9 to 5, so I was able to edit and put up some more pictures onto flickr.  I went through and finished some pictures that I took of Mindy from a while ago.  I coincidentally bumped into her this week, which was nice.  You can see a set of her pictures here. Hopefully I can work with her again someday. She is always fun and full of energy.

Looking into a couple other projects for the fall and winter months ahead. Do you have a suggestion? Leave a comment or a link.

Where have you been?

As I've mentioned here, here, and aluded to back there, is that I have a passion for seeing and photographing all varieties of national parks.  Here's a list of those that I've visited in reverse chronological order as best as I can remember:

1. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
2. Independence National Historical Park
3. Statue of Liberty
4. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
5. Grand Teton National Park
6. Yellowstone National Park
7. Devil's Tower National Monument
8. Mount Rushmore National Monument
9. Wind Cave National Park
10. Badlands National Park
11. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
12. Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
13. Byrce Canyon National Park
14. Zion National Park
15. Isle Royale National Park
16. Northern Cascades National Park
17. Olympic National Park
18. Mount Rainier National Park
19. Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
20. Mammoth Cave National Park
21. Everglades National Park

I know that was long and I appreciate it if you've stuck around to continue reading this entry.  Looking back through the list, they have all been special in their own way.  Visisting national parks has been the biggest joy of my adult life.  Honestly, I'd rather give up photography than visiting the parks.  For some examples, I've convienently put a set together on flickr for your view pleasure.  Check back later, as I'm always adding new pictures.

Looking ahead, I'm not sure what park I'd like to visit next.  I've always had Yosemite and Glacier on my list, but there are so many more.  I would love to pass on my passion to a child of my own or niece/nephew some day, but there isn't one of those in my life, so I guess I'll have to slowly introduce my assistant to them.  She enjoyed Indiana Dunes as you might have seen on flickr.  She's just not into the whole backpacking thing yet.  It's a hard sell, but once you are into the backcountry, where 90% of the people never venture, you really get to see the beauty each park has.

So, my question to you, where have you been?  What was your favorite?  Where do you plan on going?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Editted to add: Canon just released the official annoucement of the 7D.  The retail sites don't have the price updated yet, but I'm already trying to figure out how I can fit this in my budget.  Very sexy!

P.S. Off topic a bit, but if you have a blog of your own I highly recommend watching this video to understand some geeky mechanics of how Google searches and blog construction.  Also, check out Google Analytics for free stats of your traffic.  I just set mine up and can't wait to see where my viewers are coming from.

Keep up with this posing....

I'm always trying to find new ideas from the internet.  There's so much out there that the problem is narrowing down the field.  A while back, I stumbled upon this video by Mike Kobal on his blog.  Perhaps a bit too over caffineinated for me, but the pace matches the whimsical music.  What I enjoyed was the model's creativity and fluid ability to pose.  As a photographer, its best when you have to tell your model very little.  Directing a person is the hardest thing that I've had to learn when shooting portraits.  It's a new challenge with every new person I work with.  It's always a sigh of relief when they just get it.  But when all else fails, my assistant is always there to help.

New landscapes added

I've been going through all my photos to add to my flickr website as examples of what I've done. This weekend was spent adding some more landscape and cityscape pictures. All have minimal edits, unless noted. I mostly just crop, straighten, and correct the color. I have quite a few destinations to pick from. If you follow the blog or know me, you've probably figured out that I'm a national park lover. I try to visit at least one new park per year, but I've had a couple trips planned where I've visited several at a time. Of them all, I enjoyed Zion National Park the most, but Yellowstone National Park was the most awe inspiring. If you enjoy nature, I encourage a visit. The closest national park for me is Isle Royale National Park, but there are several other national forests and lakeshore closer.















Speaking of color, the next addition I'm looking at for my equipment addiction is the Spyder3Pro from Datacolor. I've often had to take extra time to print first, then to give a final color edit. I have a nice monitor, but it just isn't calibrated. From what I've found, its a bit too bright, so my prints turn out too dark. I've adjusted accordingly, but it'd be nice to further streamline my editting process.

As always, if you see something that you like, please contact me and I can give you a reasonable price for a print.

Just a quick entry...

While looking at some photoshop techniques on the web, I came across an illustrator/painter by the name of Zso. The artist's real name is Sara Blake and she works in New York City. She creates some great ink and watercolor paintings, but then takes them into photoshop and turns them into works of art. One that really caught my attention was a time lapse video of a 16 hour piece she did. It's condensed down to about 7 minutes. If you got the time to give it a watch, it's well worth it. To add to the presentation, be sure to read the story behind the illustration.

While we were at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore as I described in my last post, I met a photographer for the Indiana DNR. He gave some insight to what made the park so beautiful and the surrounding area. His pictures are published in Outdoor Indiana Magazine. I couldn't find a website of his own, but his name is John Maxwell. Long story short, after a short chat, he asked us if we wanted to be in a picture. Now, I enjoy being on the backside of a camera, but have never really been on the business side of the camera, save a couple candid shots. Anyways, John set us up against the sunset and took our picture as seen below.
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Photo credit: Outdoor Indiana magazine-John Maxwell
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Back Home

Well, the trip was fantastic. We saw an incredible amount of sights and I think I now have a trip hangover. The list of sights in no particular order are: Penn's Landing, Philly City Hall,Independence Hall, Eastern State Penitentiary, American Museum of Natural History, Empire State Building, Central Park, Little Italy, Chinatown, Soho, Battery Park, Ground Zero, Wall St., Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, World Financial Center, Wintergarden, Times Square, Grand Central Terminal, and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. There are a bunch more that I probably forgot, but that's a close list.

We drove. It turned out to be 1985 miles in the car with many more in subways and on foot. Total driving time was 32+ hours. I love all the info my gps records. The only problem was that it took me the wrong way a couple times and detours for construction can be really annoying ("turn left, then turn left, then turn left..." ugh). I was resistant to getting one in the first place, but love it now. Thanks Mom, best present ever.

A bit of advice if you're planning on travelling to the east coast: research tolls! I was surprised to find out how expensive Ohio and Pennsylvania were to drive through. I think total to go from Milwaukee to Manhattan, we paid ~$80. On the way back, we dodged some of the toll roads and paid considerably less.

Due to the short planning time, airfare was out of the question. Instead, we took my car and got a respectable ~47 mpg. With a bit of luck, we were able to park on the street in front of the place we stayed, so that cut about $40/day from our costs. In the end I think it cost less and we got to see more of America, though the drive was not nearly as scenic as my trip to Wyoming or Utah.

As this is a photo blog, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk photography. One of my must do's while there was to visit B&H. For anyone who has ever seen their catalouge, you must know its a photo geek warehouse of anything you can think of for a great price. The store did not let me down. Any photo product you can think of and much of it available to try out. I really enjoyed trying out the Canon 5Dmk2. It's one of the bodies I'm really considering to replace my aging 1Dmk2 which is around 4 years old. It works fine, but I'm missing the higher resolution of today's camera and the added bonus of live view and HD video. Lots of creative oppurtunities, but the hidden cost to that upgrade is more hard drive space. I'll definately be waiting till Canon announces the next 1D and 1Ds that Canon Rumors says is coming soon. Maybe those will be worth looking in to or the price of the 5D will come down. Either way, win-win.

New York was beautiful, but hard to take in. There is just sooo much. Its difficult to capture with the equipment that I brought. I either wanted my shots to by wider or more zoomed in. Another problem, due to the density of New York, is isolating your subject. I didn't do enough research into this before leaving and found it difficult to get shots without a busy background.

I felt way more safe than I expected. Perhaps I'm paranoid or naive, but no matter what it was, I was way more comfortable than I expected with all those people around me. Chinatown was the worst, but still bareable.

I found a New York photographer that I really liked, not only in style, but also in person. Her site is here and her blog is there. Great person with some good answers. I wish I was able to capture moments like she does. Give her portfolio a look. If you ever are going to the New York area and need pictures taken, I would highly recommend her based on her customer service skills and portfolio.

What I do recommend for anyone willing to drive out to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, is to go during the late afternoon. I'm sure the early morning is just as good, but the afternoon was some of the best portrait light I've seen in a whle. Evidenced below at the top of Mt. Baldy....

Wow, the is easily my longest entry. And for those who are friends with me on facebook, you already know what I hinted to last time. More pictures on the flickr site. I continue to post more pictures as I get through them. Thanks for reading, I'm almost at 100 hits!

On the road again....

No Quarter is hitting the road! I leave for Philadelphia and New York City. Me and my lovely photo assistant will be traveling by road (only 1800 mi) to the east coast for some big city adventures. I have a ton of nature and landscape shots, so this is a great oppurtunity to add some city and architecture shots to the collection. I'll be hitting some well known and lesser known attractions along the way. Any last minute advice would be appreciated. We haven't put any plans into stone.

I promise a surprise to my readers upon my return, so keep posted. Those who follow me on facebook will enjoy the usual trip updates.

Senior Pictures

This weekend was spent taking senior pictures. The weather turned out to be very different than expected. The weatherman predicted thunderstorms , but as I looked to the sky, nothing but blue. Go figure. The humidity even passed.

Anywho, this particular senior had lots of personality, which made it easy. It was hard for her to make a serious face or do anything besides smile and laugh. She only had some rough ideas of what she wanted to do, so it was a lot of experimentation to see what exactly she liked. She wanted some in black and white and I have a couple more ideas for some other shots, so we'll see what I can come up with.



Finally, thanks to followers of this blog. I know I don't update daily or have lots of bright colors to look at, but the support encourages me to do so. I'll continue to post in hopes that I can share my passion with others.

Next chapter

Today I turn 30. It comes with some good thoughts and some not. One change that I'd really like to make is to do what makes me happy. So in that spirit, I enjoyed some good coffee I was saving for who knows what. And I drank it from the cup I got in Yellowstone National Park during my trip there last summer. Great memories of an epic trip. Check my flickr site for some shots I took while on the trip.

Putting the home studio to work

So, one of the blogs that I regularly follow is Strobist. Its a mostly reference for and collection of great photo ideas. One of the resent posts had to do with food photography (there are several other older ones). It got me thinking of what I could practice with around the house. The only good looking item that could survive my unairconditioned climate was a bottle of Woodford Reserve. For non bourbon snobs, this is some really good bourbon. I wanted to go on a tour during my recent trip to Kentucky, but we just couldn't fit it into the time we had.

So anyway, I took a trip to Home Depot and Michael's and got some supplies; plexiglass, painter's tape, felt, and paper. I used my studio lights (AlienBees if you're interested) which I originally thought were going to be way overpowering. It took some tweaking, but I was able to get several dramatic shots. This was also my first time doing a glass/liquid study, which was more difficult than I thought. So, from all the results I like it on black the best, as seen here. I'd appreciate any comments on this photo or others.

Note: I had some problems with image posting. Not sure if it was my fault or the editor. I realize that a blog for a photographer should probably contain photos, so I'm working on it. Just all so new to me.

Flickr updated

I got around to updating my flickr site. If you've seen my facebook photos, they are much of the same. I plan on spending some time this weekend digging through the archives to find more great examples of my work.

If you see any landscape pictures that you would like, contact me and I can give you a price for a print.

Services offered

It would probably help if I posted what kind of services I offer. I can provide a personal and customizable package for a variety of photography needs including:

• Senior pictures
• Engagaement/couples portraits
• Family portraits
• Maternity/newborn portraits
• Pet portraits
• Architecture (store front, buildings, residential)
• Product photography (for ebay, craigslist, etc. sales)
• Modeling or personal project portraits

I have the ability to do both indoor and outdoor locations with equipment able to accomodate most needs.

Prices vary depending on the amount of service requested. The images can be purchased in digital or print format. If you have any questions about anything you may need, feel free to reach me at gregg[dot]satula[at]gmail[dot]com.

First post

My first post on my first blog to help promote my photography business, which is named No Quarter Images & Design. I have a portfolio posted on facebook. I'm also adding photos to a new flicker account. My focus right now is on portrait photography, but I've also done landscape, nature, architectural, and wedding photography.

I'm learning as I go, but I look to create great images and present them in as many ways possible in modern media outlets.

If you have any inquiries, feel free to email me.