Performance Audio Visual contacted me to take photos of some of their stereo and television installations. They needed samples of their installations for promotion on their web site and advertising materials.
If you are in the Atlanta area and need a perfectionist to install your television, computer network or car stereo, give Jason Caponi at Performance AV a call or check out their web site at www.tvguy.net.
My coworker, David Struve, loves speed. As you can see here, he is quite a hooligan. I remember that told me that he learned to drive like this from his grandma. Rumor has it that his whole family has been in jail for extreme speeding or street racing at one time or another. Anyway, you get the picture…
As part of his probation and promise to keep his racing off the streets (ha ha), he participates in a a racing league at a local indoor karting track every weekend. See www.procupkarting.com for details. Last season he won top honors in his class, and this season he looks to win at the next level up.
The karts that they use are not your average bumper cars either. These things corner, accelerate and wrestle you during a race. Helmets, gloves, rib protectors, racing shoes and neck braces remind you that you can get hurt if you make a mistake. The course is tight and technical and has every kind of corner you can imagine. It’s good fun and you can do it too at Andretti’s Indoor Karting & Games in Alpharetta, GA.
Dave is also the web master for the racing league and was telling me how difficult it is to get good video and photo coverage in the dark warehouse where the races take place. I asked him if I could try out my Canon 5D Mark 2 and Canon 7D’s video capabilities during a race to try to get some good promotional footage for him. He agreed.
When I arrived, I found that he was not exaggerating. My light meter indicated the perfect exposure was at the low edge of the limits of hand held photography: ISO 6400 at a 15th of a second at an aperture of F2.8. Take my word for it… that is extremely dark to try to capture clean stills and video without blurring.
Still, the Canon 5D Mark 2 was up to the task, and we got some useable footage from the event.. to be posted later after it gets edited. Stay tuned…
Two years after taking headshot portraits for a medical practice of 17 individual doctors, I had to photograph a new doctor who had just been hired.
Recreating the same exact lighting WAY after the fact, can be a daunting task if one is not prepared. Getting this portrait to look similar to the original ones taken so long ago was key.
Luckily, I take extensive setup notes and draw cryptic diagrams for this very situation. Without my detailed information, I would not be able to duplicate the shot, and I would have to try to “fix it” in photoshop… not a good strategy.
With my notes in hand, everything worked like a charm.
After years of success using this marketing, it was time for something noticeably new. Our latest catalog design features a green and blue color palette and elements from nature. We wanted to evoke a feeling of the fresh air you’d find outdoors. After all, the main products that they sell are air fresheners and industrial strength deodorizers. View the EES catalog PDF here.
We revamped their website with the new graphics theme for continuity. Visit them at www.eesatl.com for more information.
For graphic design and web site design services, please visit www.GraphicWorksAtlanta.com
I had just completed the web site for R&L Tree Experts, LLC a few weeks ago, when I was approached by The Masters Tree Care Service to work on their web site.
This was not coincidence since the owners of both Atlanta tree care companies are brothers. Many of the services provided by each company is the similar and in cases of large jobs, they can combine resources and manpower.
To save them production costs, I reworked the previous web site to look different and changed the text where appropriate. It was a win-win situation for everyone. I was able to provide a second web site at a great discount.
Both of the tree care companies do great work and I have recommended them to my friends.
I made a portrait for Nicole who is starting her financial planning business and needed a photo for her web site. We tried many variations with different poses and hair styles. This less formal version was the one we ended up with.
A few months ago, I photographed a product that was on its way to production. The product prototype was in the studio for one day before heading to China. The photo was going to be used on the retail packaging and web site.
Many weeks later, the product specs changed and a new photograph was needed showing the addition of a LED light and the top in an open position. Since, the prototype was thousands of miles away, I had to create add the new details in photoshop and make them convincing enough to use on packaging and posters.
As fate would have it, I woke up one morning last week to discover that the 60 year old oak tree in my front yard had split almost right down the middle and was hanging together by a thread. This was very depressing because my family loves this tree. It was one of the first things that we would see in the mornings and one of the last things we would see in the sunset. I had taken many portraits in front of it and now, sadly, it would have to be cut down.
After calling 5 different tree removal companies in Atlanta, I was surprised that I was not getting any call backs. Don’t these companies want my money? By pure luck I was driving home when I saw R&L Tree Experts working in a nearby neighborhood. I asked them to give me a quote and they came early that evening. Their estimate was fair, and they were willing to do the work the very next day. This was great because the tree was very unstable and could have easily fallen on my house.
They did a great job the next morning, and I even had them remove some humongous pines that were dangerously leaning over my house. I would recommend R&L Tree Experts to anybody in the Atlanta area who needs tree removal service.
Talking to the owner, Romel, I found out that they did not have a web site and I offered to make them one. These guys had built their business on word-of-mouth and referrals only, but it was time to modernize. These guys were genuinely nice people, and I really wanted to help them.
Part of the design project was to take photos of them performing various tree removal duties. I also wanted to make a simple time-lapse movie showing them removing a tree. We helped them with the marketing of the site by writing the text and came up with a final web site that I think will serve them well in the Atlanta market. You can check it out at www.RLTreeExperts.com.
From a personal point of view, I like the fact that I can offer my clients photography, video, web design and graphic design services under one roof. If that’s not versatile, I don’t know what is…
Last summer I went to Seattle and Canada for a vacation with my wife. In the interest of saving space, weight and money, I left the laptop behind… a first! Rarely do I travel without it because it is the hub of my digital life on the road. For me having a computer was almost a necessity… That is until I bought the latest iPhone.
My plan for this trip was to use the iphone as my gps, email reader and local travel guide. The camera and high-def video is good enough to replace the snapshot camera and video camera that I used to carry. They say the best camera is the one you have on you and it that seems to be true. I like the low-tech point and shoot ease and immediacy of the snapshot memories.
This phone’s battery life lasts 7 hours longer than both my old iphone 3 and laptop. This means I listened to music, watched movies, played games and wrote emails the whole 5 hour flight to Seattle and still had jucie left over.
Unlike some people, I had a very easy time pre-ordering and picking up this phone… In and out in 30 minutes. I heard stories of 1000 people waiting in other stores and even arrests when fights broke out. Is a phone worth going to jail? The answer is a qualified “maybe”…
I am glad I bought this little gizmo. There is no turning back now… other phones are just boring.
Now that I have 2 cameras capable of producing HD quality video, I thought I’d venture to Showcase Photo and Video in Atlanta to take advantage of a video seminar that was being given there. The seminar was put on by Canon and I found it to be informative and full of useful information. It definitely gave me more to consider the next time I pick up my camera to make a video.
Other vendors were on hand as well selling their DSLR video wares such as RedRock Micro who makes fantastic but pricey rigs to hold your camera during video shooting. I was a little put off by the sales rep’s attitude who said anything they offered under $1000 is just for amateurs. Phooey! That’s a bad attitude and they should tap into the budding amateur and indy market more than they are. Make the rigs cheaper and sell more to the masses.
Carl Zeiss was also present, and they had beautiful cinematic style lenses specifically designed for DSLRs, and had the size and familiar functionality of top end movie lenses… They came in a wide range of focal lengths for directors to use. Expensive… yes, but a relative bargain compared to the lenses and camera systems previously used to make television shows and movies.
