a slightly different focus

28 in all. Better still, a wonderful day. Nice.

I’m generally not into insects, but the butterflies were neat — and, in this case, furry:

Getting the (Butterfly) Eye

See the whole set anytime. Thanks for stopping by.

New, from the rates page:

Summer Special, 2008

Anyone who has ordered a print is eligible for waived minimums. That means portraits — and more — for less. Prints start at $3, and could potentially save hundreds of dollars. Been photographed, but want more? Order and save!

Thank you for ordering — and contracting for more. Truly, appreciated.

Addendum: Offer includes those affected by the Mother’s Day tornado — whether or not you’ve previously ordered a print. Heck, you’ve been through enough. Get some great photographs — of you, your family, or your place, post-storm — with no minimum charges and fantastic results. Get in touch…!

Find out more on the Rates and Information page. Thanks.

This week’s Cocktail Hour was hosted by Heather Braun, at her new place in the Baconsfield area of Macon. Heather has a wonderful home, that she — deservedly — was delighted to show off:

Heather, in Front of New Home

As usual, it was a great time:

Carmen, Enjoying (the Neighborhood)

Carmen purchased Gerald’s house on Laurel — where I lived for a time, when I first moved to Macon — right around the corner from Heather’s. Nothing like being within walking distance of Cocktails…!

Also met the folks across the street from Heather, who were not only kind enough to let me park in their space, but who were also open to a portrait:

Ham in the Middle

Would love to revisit — not only to continue the great Nikon-based conversation, but to photograph everyone at some time other than nearly-dark, in something other than blue … and, perhaps, in a setting that’s less casual…;)

A couple more have been posted in the galleries. More from Cocktail Hour over the weekend. Please stay tuned.

Note: Should finish up the Callaway Gardens photos this weekend, too. Thanks for checking back.

Visited good friends Phillip and Neecee this weekend in Columbus, Georgia, and spent Saturday on a trip to Callaway Gardens. As usual with them, a wonderful time — but the Gardens were a highlight.

Some nice photographs, too. The first six have been posted, including:

Butterflies, Distracted

And:

Chapel Window, Looking Up

More to come in the next few days. Thanks for visiting.

Many thanks to Phillip, Neecee, and new friends Doug, Laura Lee, and Hailey for the introduction to this great spot.

…was, as always, a great time.

Many thanks to Tagg and Angelic for hosting. Yeah, Angelic:

Angelic’s Party

A great time. Many thanks to all.

More photos Friday and then again Monday/Tuesday. (Update: Done. 10 photographs in all.) Thanks for your patience.

About bloody time.

…And, unfortunately a bit of a hoop to get working, according to Rob Galbriath. He doesn’t mention the required registration with Mozilla, either — but does include step-by-step instructions and a handy screenshot.

For viewing the gileshoover.com site and galleries, highly recommended. (Or use Safari, which comes with it already.)

Thank you.

Update: FF3 also supports interesting OpenType features — like kerning and ligatures. Not perfectly, it turns out, but … wow. Cool.

Catching up with a few photos, this time from a get-together on Magnolia Street, June 7th:

Connor’s Pool Time

Updated the Magnolia Street Mob gallery, along with adding the new photos to the Kids collection.

Meanwhile, there’s a Cocktail Hour on Magnolia Street tomorrow, so please expect some more additions probably Friday. Thanks!

I haven’t been to a concert in a while — more than a year — and haven’t been to a concert by folks at this level of expertise in waaay too long.

Fagen, Belting It Out

Cameras officially weren’t allowed, but there was a 100% chance I was going to somehow capture a moment or two.

Steely Sing-Along

They were, as expected, tight. Better than the Times makes ’em out to be.

Back to “regular” photographs in a day or three. Thanks.

Macon hasn’t had a Cocktail Hour for a few weeks, hardly unusual around the end of the school year. So it was not a surprise to see so many good folks at last night’s event, hosted by Elizabeth and John.

Including a fantastic-looking woman — who just happens to be John’s mother — toting a pretty serious camera:

Betsy, Shooting

Elizabeth’s apartment opens onto a back courtyard, which offers a unique look at a local landmark:

Different Perspective on the Hay House

Good time by all — as seen in the gallery, posted today.

Wanted to also thank Dan and Monica, who generously opened their porch for both pre- and post-event festivities. Here’s a nice pre-party shot of Dan, trying to coordinate against, uh, obstacles:

Multitasking (Fingers)

Used the D300 and 28mm exclusively — with better results than I expected. Glad, too; really, really enjoy that lens and, frankly, need to use it more.

Will be out of the office for a few days. Please look for another update later next week soon. Thanks!

…for the weekend consumption:

• The Online Photographer has an interesting post up on what might have also been my favorite digital camera — Sony’s 707. (For the record, I had an 828, as well — but it was exactly as Mike describes, ultimately leading me into Nikon territory.)
• That same site also leads us to an editorial in The Guardian, an English newspaper, asking whether photographers really are a threat to security. ’Bout time someone asked!

Enjoy.

…this weekend — indeed, this entire past week-plus — was spent on a photostroll with Gerald and Phillip Saturday, the 31st, testing out my Nikon D300 with various lenses. A great excuse to wander around Middle Georgia, we all agreed.

Gordon’s Grin

Despite its obviously-advanced technical qualities, integrating the D300 into my “everyday-use” schedule has been, well … not so smooth. Indeed, I’ve been having some focus issues in the photographs I’ve taken with both cameras recently — which, despite all my problems (there are many, I assure you), I’m convinced aren’t entirely my fault.

So I’ve been testing various combinations of lenses and cameras to see which work and which don’t, and, hopefully, what I can do about it. I need to know what in my camera bag is up to spec since, quite frankly, I’ve got to be able to do jobs with the equipment I currently have. Another multi-thousand-dollar camera or lens purchase isn’t in the cards right now.

Things Go Better with Coke

Heck, it seems practically no one I know is up for that sort of purchase right now — times are tough for everyone, whether here in Middle Georgia or beyond. But that’s a subject for another posting.

(Near the) End of an Era

This past Saturday, the D300 and all but one of my lenses went out for testing in Macon, South Macon (the airport, especially), and the dual “cities” of Gordon and Ivey, Georgia.

Dockside at Lake Tchukolaho

Further, I borrowed a relatively new lens of Phillip’s — Nikon’s 70-300 VR — for additional testing (with grateful appreciation — thanks, man), resulting in some nice close-ups.

Stream of (White) Gold

Definitely ready for more. As always, no matter the equipment, a great time with my fellow photographers. Thanks to you both.

More to come from these series of photographs, including an explanation for the Stream shot, above, in the coming weeks. Please check back for updates. Thanks.

Update 2, Sunday morning (6/1): The balance of the photographs have been posted. The last set took longer than anticipated, as seating the guests of honor in front of a [very bright —Ed.] window meant more time developing the photographs of the gift-opening session. (Backlighting can be, uh, problematic.) 28 photos in all — enjoy.

Update: More posted, with one last set to come in the next day or two. Today’s include this one, which I really like:

Moment of (Motherhood) Happiness

Linda’s often camera-shy, but, to her credit, she handled this event with aplomb. Thanks very much, Linda!

Original Post: Had a great time Sunday, thanks to Heather and Justin’s fantastic hosting. A sample:

Shower Gift, Addressed

A few photos have been posted, including this one:

Sisters, Together (for Baby)

Much more to come in the next few days. Thanks for checking back.

Long weekends are always supposed to be about catching up. Shame it usually doesn’t work that way.

Meanwhile:

• Some amazing time-lapse photography from Alexey Titarenko, via Kottke.
• Also from Kottke, something potentially relevant here in Macon: Time-lapse cherry trees. Yeah.
• Maps of all the streets in the lower 48 states — no, not topography, not satellite shots, just the streets. Very interesting indeed.
• On the subject of humans’ impact on the earth: photographs of our planet from space at night. Wow.
• While speaking of Wow, these photographs of the immediate environmental impact of a volcano erupting are astonishing. Never mind the foreign language, please — the photographs speak with themselves.
• PDN has several galleries up, including the all-important 2008 Photography Annual.
• Wedding photography from the earthquake zone. I can’t even imagine.
• PRINT’s take on design between the legs.
• And, last but not least, the “punny” headline of the week: Add-on lens for Sigma DP1 draws close, from DPReview. Nicely done. (On a side note, if only Sigma’s DP1 were cool.)

Hope you’re enjoying the long weekend (here in the US, at least).

And, perhaps more importantly, an expression of support for those brave folks charged with carrying out with the hardest task of all [late update, 10pm] — the orders of a commander-in-chief that, in my humble opinion, need some serious review.

Only a few weeks ago, Gerald and I went wandering around the MSC campus on a photostroll, enjoying what was a beautiful day on frankly beautiful grounds. Some folks obviously spent a great deal of time caring, and I even said as much to a groundskeeper we bumped into.

What a difference a couple of weeks makes:

MSC - Library’s Side Entrance

MSC - Library’s Side Entrance, Post-Tornado

130+ mile-per-hour winds do that. This, too:

MSC - Upper Courtyard

MSC - Upper Courtyard, Post-Tornado

Some botanical garden now — from this vantage, you can see all the way out to Eisenhower:

(Another) MSC Botanical Garden

(Former) MSC Botanical Garden

And, most devastating, around the lake (look at the tree stand in the background, especially):

MSC Ducks, in Tranquil Lakeside Scene

(Not So) Tranquil Lakeside

Finally, where the above were taken (from more or less top center in the first duck photograph — on the far side of the lake):

MSC - Student Center (with Remaining Duck)

The last photograph is titled that way because I’m concerned about the ducks; despite wandering all over the campus — as much as I could, that is, without straying beyond the yellow “caution” tape — I could only find a few of the dozen or so ducks. I hope the rest are okay somewhere.

I’ve taken several hundred photographs around Macon this week, and will post more — both in the Macon State College - May, 2008 gallery and Tornado! gallery in the coming days and weeks. Emotional stuff, hitting all walks of life.

Thanks for stopping by.

Update: Eight more photographs have been added to the post-tornado gallery from MSC.

Pre-dawn on Mother’s Day, I was blissfully asleep in Bradenton, Florida. Here in Macon, havoc struck. In several different neighborhoods around Bibb County, homes, businesses, schools, and lives suffered.

No one in Macon was killed. We were more than fortunate.

Nature was less kind to the foliage:

Stripped Tree

Despite the proximity to serious damage, my house — and my cats, staying within — were largely unscathed. Reading the news from Florida, calling and emailing friends, worrying — selfish, yet serious, stress of knowing a major event was unfolding near my home, hundreds of miles away, and knowing I was absolutely powerless to do anything about it.

Returning to Macon was both a relief and eye-opening horror.

It turns out I know a few people directly impacted by Sunday’s storms, and will be doing all I can do help them, especially. I’m also determined to follow Macon’s progress photographically, despite my late start, on recovery efforts in the wake of this catastrophe.

I’ve posted the first eight photographs from an ongoing set documenting the tornado’s aftermath in and around Macon, this time from the epicenter of one of the touchdown zones:

Pio Nono and Eisenhower

More to come in the next few days and weeks. Meanwhile, my thoughts go out to everyone hurt by these terrible storms.

Note also: Gerald’s first set of photographs from the devastated Macon State College campus. Compare with our photostroll from less than two weeks ago. Truly, and not in a good way, awesome.

Update: The National Weather Service has released detailed information on the storms — a single storm caused all of the damage in Macon proper, a swath 18 miles long with, at the intersection photographed above, a windspeed of 136 miles per hour. Read the rest at Macon.com.

Update 2: Also from Macon.com: Decades of Botanical Work Now Gone. Sad.

Put up a single photograph from this past weekend’s trip to Florida:

Sunset Water for New Plantings

Upon arriving home, I was shocked at the level of destruction less than two miles from my house — and feel the need to use the (very little) spare time I have this week to photograph that — and help out, if I can — rather than develop the stuff from Florida.

So, I’ll get back to the Florida photographs soon. Meanwhile, I’ll put up a few photographs from around Macon as soon as I can.

My thoughts are with those here in Macon and Middle Georgia still suffering from this weekend’s tornado.

Had an [all-too — Ed.] brief visit to Phillip and Neecee’s this week, in their adopted home of Columbus, Georgia. Better still, we were able to get out for a couple of hours:

Spencer Column (Detail)

From the Spencer House, a Georgia Trust 2008 Place in Peril. It’s possible, even to see why. Hopefully something can be done soon — and there will definitely be more photos.

Meanwhile, Phillip and I enjoyed some [also-all-too —Ed.] time along the Chattahoochee:

Mill Stacks (Reflected)

My shots from along the riverfront were inspired by Matt Jones, a local photographer, who suggested an interest in the mill, with an emphasis on the smokestacks:

Mill Stacks (with Falls, #2)

See the entire gallery here. Many thanks to Phillip — and Neecee — for the evening, and the photographic fun.

Oh, and the wonderful friend chicken…!

An attempt at visual storytelling on the blog tonight. Enjoy.

Woke up this morning — far too early, but that’s another story — in Columbus, Georgia. I’d spent the night in the graciously-provided guest room of two of my very favorite people: Phillip and Neecee.

Okay, it was actually napping after doing a photoshoot and development tutorial with Phillip. Working and having fun at the same time is about tops in my book, and, despite the off-the-cuff nature of the get-together, got a few of good shots — including this one:

Columbus Mill and Stacks, from Across the Chattahoochee

I hadn’t been back in Macon too long before the phone rang, with something completely out of left field: Gerald, seriously considering a new car. Whoa.

His Accord was nice:

Aggressive (Reflection)

Coupé, V6, 6-speed, leather, etc. — a great car for something slightly more sporty than the average commuter. But, as a six, it was a bit of a fuel hog, and, as a coupé, it was perhaps the antithesis of “practical.”

Enter the CR-V. He’s been talking about it for a while, but in a different context: as a replacement for his wife’s New Beetle. At least, so I thought.

(Getting a Handle on the) New Beetle

But I was wrong (hardly unusual); a new CR-V was to be a replacement for his Accord. And, thanks to the current “buyer’s market,” both he and the dealer enjoyed a good day.

Handshake on “The Deal”

CR-V = ULEV

So, I’ll get to the photos from Columbus tomorrow ASAP. Meanwhile, please enjoy the photographs from today’s buying experience — the very definition of “a slightly different focus.”

CR-V Rear Window Washer

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Just want the photos? Go here. Otherwise, read on.

Photographed a Kentucky Derby Party for friends Pam and Dick Thomasson tonight. As expected — and as usual with the good folks in Macon — it was a great time. Thanks, Pam, for the invite.

Pam (in Derby Hat)

Several people asked me this evening how taking photographs at a party like this works. So … here’s how.

Tonight’s event was scheduled from 5pm until folks felt like leaving, with an open bar, the Derby itself scheduled for a little after six, and a buffet to follow. Some would stay later than others, of course — especially those without young children — but 8 or 9pm was a given.

So in addition to making sure the various batteries were charged and lenses cleaned this afternoon, I checked the sunset and twilight stats — 8:18 and 8:44pm, respectively — to get an idea of how late I’d be able to shoot without a flash. (Generally speaking, I prefer to photograph without using a flash — referred to as “natural light” photography.) Most of the night — good.

I arrived a few minutes early, to chat with Pam, tour their (beautiful) home, and set some preliminary areas that I would utilize for taking photographs — places in and around the house where the light was good — again, so I could avoid having to blast folks with a strobe flash.

I also found an accessible corner for the camera bag, although, unusually for me, I only used one camera tonight— thus, didn’t need the bag to be as accessible as usual. Most of the time, I’ve got a second camera, with a different lens (for a different “look” out of the same “scene”), strung over my shoulder, and often switch out different lenses for different “looks.” But, I’m breaking in a new camera, and wanted to concentrate on perfecting it — so stuck only with that one tonight.

(The Always-Glamorous) Mrs. Bennett

While the event was in progress, I followed a few “rules:”

• Candids should, preferably, contain laughter. Never embarrass.
• Babies, children, and pets always make interesting, if unpredictable, subjects. Make time away from the main party “action” to photograph them.
• Don’t forget the surroundings. I can do a decent still-life on the fly, if that makes sense, and try to do so whenever opportunity presents.
• Most of all, enjoy myself. Having a good time means better photographs. (Helps with great people, like tonight.)

Thus, walked away from five hours of fun with 327 photographs. Of those, 257 survived the initial pass; some were thrown for blurriness (camera or subject moving — happens more than you’d think), some due to operator error (wrong focus point, usually — something I control manually, and sometimes just flub), and some due to factors out of my control (the subject blinking, a background character doing something unflattering, etc.). Plus, there are duplicates, where I took a couple in a row, sometimes knowing one of the above problems just happened, or sometimes to get a slight variation on the same “scene.”

Of those 257, 89 were “starred.” These are the photographs I look at “developing.” Of the 89, 17 were “multi-starred,” meaning that these are, even at first glance, the real keepers — the photographs I know will be part of the final set.

Blue Eyes [My initial pick for favorite photo of the evening.]

Probably another 10-20, perhaps more, will earn multi-star ratings, and thus be added to the online gallery, in the next few days. The final number, as I mentioned tonight, is usually about 10% of the total [327 shot] take — or 33 photographs, more or less. Right on track for that.

The still-life photographs, by the way, usually get one star at first — and gain more as I decide which I want to develop; unless the still-life photos are extraordinary, I feel the initial gallery should be about people.

Clara [In my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful — and certainly one of the most camera-shy — women at the party.]

So … what’s this “developing” thing?

Despite being digital photographs, supposedly ready to go immediately, there’s more to my photography than just being there and pressing the shutter release. Indeed, as I stressed in some conversations tonight, I don’t stop there — the line of separation between myself and a photojournalist. They document. What I do is something between documentation and art; if pressed, I’d answer with, “photographic artist.”

Party Friends

After the photograph is actually taken, there’s work in the two programs I use to organize, make adjustments to, and finalize shots for publication: Apple’s Aperture, and, for fine-tuning, Adobe’s Photoshop. Together, they make a powerful combo that enables me to take those photographs that are good … and make them great:

Blissful Leap

It’ll take me a few days to chunk through the 71 photographs that aren’t immediately “the best of the best.” Those that make the cut will be added to the 17 already online. Please check back.

Thanks to everyone tonight — had a great time!

Please note: Ultimately, I optimize the published photographs for printing, not for viewing online — the quality of which varies from computer to computer. To see the best, order a print — they start at $3. And, in all modesty, I’ve got four or five spots yet to fill on this summer’s wedding calendar — if you know of anyone getting married this summer (even next!), please pass the word. Thank you.

…I’ve filled in the “about” page. Read all about, well, me.

Inundated (Self-Portrait 2008)

Lots of mistakes. Yet, somehow, still glad to be here.

As always, thanks for stopping by.