Travelling again!!

Well I've been neglecting the blog over the past few weeks as I have been travelling again.

Travelling brings back the pain of security checks at airports and the inane hunting through camera bags by customs and security officials, who I'm sure dont really know what their looking for but want to check out the kit you have in your bag and often ask "is that the latest N...n camera?" as if its the first time they have asked the question.....

So seeing this is rather apt at the moment......

If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera. ~Lewis Hine

Tells it all really eh.............

Trevor

Graduation.....

Well I went to my first High School Graduation ceremony last night which was enlightening in many ways. The key note speaker was the one for me though as he gave the graduating students a number of thoughts to take with them on their journey through their working and adult lives. Namely that one never stops learning throughout life and how true that statement really is.

However, what has that got to do with art and photography, well I saw this quote by another unnamed author and it set me thinking about what was said at the ceremony last night.

"I think a photography class should be a requirement in all educational programs because it makes you see the world rather than just look at it." ~Author Unknown

and really how true is that quotation?.................perhaps a class or two in photography and photographic appreciation would'nt come a miss afterall and perhaps it would send us on our way to continued learning when we see the world through our photographs rather than just looking at the picture before us.

and congratulations to all the 2009 graduands where ever you all are

Trevor

More from David Bailey

Some time ago I said I would revisit the words of the great British fashion photographer David Bailey and true to my word I saw this....

"The first half of the 20th century belongs to Picasso and the second half is about photography. They said digital would kill photography because everyone can do it but they said that about the box brownie in 1885 when it came out. It makes photography interesting because everyone thinks they can take a picture."

WOW..................... not sure how I feel about my pix now as I'm a digital snapper!!..........whats your thoughts on the digital world?

Trevor

Enjoy the moment ....

Now this one is really poignant, as I've done it so many times but not thought about enjoying the moment for what it really is....

"There will be times when you will be in the field without a camera. And, you will see the most glorious sunset or the most beautiful scene that you have ever witnessed. Don't be bitter because you can't record it. Sit down, drink it in, and enjoy it for what it is! " ~DeGriff

Enjoy the moment eh

Trevor

Where's my memory!!!

Saw this and thought............................

"Everyone has a photographic memory, but not everyone has film." ~Author Unknown

Even the author cant remember his name!!

Trevor

A Passing Thought for the Day

Being a little philosophical in these gloomy days of the economic down turn I saw this and thought it might bring a smile 

“A person is neither whole nor healthy without the memories of photo albums. They are the storybook of our lives. They provide a nostalgic escape from the tormented days of the present.”

Get the photo album out and dive in to the memories or better still get out with the camera and take a few more memories for the future

Have a great day .............

Trevor

Maui Update - Whoo Hoo

Wow, just returned from the Hawaiian Island of Maui and spent an early morning (yes, left at 1.30am) photographing the fantastic sunrise at the top of the Heleakela Crater at 10023ft above sea level.

Early Hawaiians applied the name Haleakalā ("house of the sun") to the summit area only, most likely because from the west side of the island, the sun could be seen rising up over the eastern side of the mountain. In Hawaiian folklore, the depression at the summit of Haleakalā was home to the grandmother of the demigod Māui. According to the legend, Maui's grandmother helped him capture the sun and force it to slow its journey across the sky in order to lengthen the day. In modern times, Haleakalā has become synonymous with the entire East Maui volcano.

As I said we had to leave really early at 1.30am to make the 2 and a half hour drive up the crater to see the sunrise at 5.42am. The drive was a little precarious in the dark as the roads were a little narrow and the drop a long way if you drove too near the edge...............but well worth the long and slow drive to the top.

Anyway more panoramas will be uploaded to the web site soon

Trevor

Whoo Hoo....Ichiro in full glory

Hi again................well not to be beaten by the technology I down loaded the trial version of Lightroom 2, the upgrade to my digital asset management (DAM) software, so I could at least try out the new Nikon D700 pictures and again WOW these are great pictures, yeah yeah I know I would say that about my photos, but the quality is what I'm harping on about and the quality is great, so well done Nikon!

I'm not going to estol the virtues of this new masterpiece from Nikon as I'm not a tester and reviewer of camera hardware so will leave that to others more qualified than me, but for one of the best independent reviews on Nikon cameras see Thom Hogan's reviews and for the Nikon D700 see the link below

http://www.bythom.com/nikond700review.htm)

Anyway we now have our hero of the baseball ...Ichiro in glorious full frame mega pixel up on the blog...........with many more to follow soon...........mmmmmmmm lost yesterday at the LA Angles 8 - 0 ouch but claimed the series 3 -1 some consolation I suppose.

Travelling again later in the week ..........yeah it's a hard life but should bring many more great pictures back to upload from the new acquisition.

Trevor

Go Mariners 1-0 against TB Rays..Shame about the pictures!

Well having returned from the ancestral home in the UK a couple of days ago now I thought I would get back into the American way of life and went to the Baseball yesterday in Seattle and saw the Mariners play against the Tampa Bay Rays. WOW, a great game unfolded with the Mariners scoring the opening and only run of the day with the second ball of the first innings ..... great hit from Ichiro Suzuki........... go Mariners, well for awhile at least as we lead the AL 10-6.


Well, you ask what has all this got to do with Photography and FotoEngineering. Well actually quite a lot in fact as as always I take my trusty camera with me in an attempt to get the photo of the home run hit over the fence, or the slide into home plate confirming the win and I'm still waiting for that great shot to materialise, OH well one day perhaps. I digress, so back to the blog in hand as the camera I took to the game was in fact a nice new shiny Nikon D700, yes finally gone FX, full frame and what a difference a bigger sensor makes to the quality of the picture it takes.


Only one set back with this amazing new camera is that my Digital Asset Management (DAM) software cant read the new Nikon RAW format (NEF)..................Bummer eh. Well it begs the question as to why the camera manufacturers keep changing the formats with each new camera they produce!!..............its obvious I suppose as technology is moving on and the new FX (full frame) format is so different to it predecessor the DX format and requires different processing capabilities to make it "develop" the picture from digital dots to a picture.

What annoys me is that the software and DAM developers don't produce the Camera Raw files to retrospectively add to older versions of their software, yeah yeah you say that's how they make their money, but its still a pain and another expense after paying for your nice new shiny camera.

So the picture of our hero of the baseball (Ichiro Suzuki) cant be shown today in this blog because I cant download it, process it or crop it to the format I want to show it on the blog or web site.......................what a bummer!!

More later after I get the upgrade..................OK OK I'll stop wining!!

Trevor

Off Travelling Again.......

I'm off travelling again tomorrow, actually back to the ancestral home in England. I'm only away for a week including all the flying from Seattle via Amsterdam to Bristol, but still not actually looking forward to all the jet lag and aggravations that the airlines, TSA, Customs and immigration etc can cause the travelling public let alone the travelling photographer.

I'm actually travelling light this trip and not going to take a lot of pictures however, I will as always be carrying my trusty Nikon P6000 in case anything does catch my eye and with the great GPS facility I will always know where the shot was taken so I can return at a later date with an arm full of cameras and lenses and get the shot in all its megapixel glory. Well actually the P6000 has a mega load of pixels so perhaps a blow up is in order to see how good it really is.

Anyway no blogs for a week but hopefull loads of material to blog about upon return

Trevor

360 Views...Whoo Hoo

Well at long last I have sorted out the Spherical 360 x 180 view problem and you can now visit our site and view immersive interactive panoramas in full 360 degree glory http://www.trevorcurtis.com/Panoramas.html

The first of hopefully many vistas is of the world famous Space Needle in Seattle. It was taken on a Nikon D300 with Sigma 12-24mm f2.8 zoom lens at focal length 12mm at f11 on a Manfrotto 303 SPH panoramic head.

The 45 pictures required to make this were stitched together in PTGui and minor post production tweaks were done in Photoshop CS2.

The Erictuangualr view above is the 360 deg immersive view "unwrapped" and laid out flat to produce this strange but intriguing picture.

Anyway more of this fascinating picture type to follow very soon and let us know your thoughts on where you would like to see more of this type of picture and if we show it on this blog or on the index page of the web site we will send you a print of your chosen view.

Trevor

How True!

Saw this today and thought how true

"A positive attitude can really make dreams come true - it did for me." - David Bailey

Does this work for you too?

Trevor

NB...David Bailey, iconic British photographer................think I will blog more about him later..........what do you think?

Perhaps we sprung into Summer

Well after yesterdays blog it seems that maybe we missed spring and summer is here instead.

Not exactly a summer scene, but certainly a sunny view of a usually grey Seattle. This vista of the Space Needle taken from the Seattle Arts Museum Park through one of the exhibits shows a sunny day ........hopefully one of many to come this year.

Where else in Seattle can we find some sun?

Trevor

Spring is in the Air!!

Hey is spring finally here?

Todays view is of the cascade mountains, snow and spring greenery, must be Seattle!!............Lets hope it continues eh!!

What Spring time shots do you like?

Trevor

Choices..Choices and more Choices

Think I've gone blog mad over the last few days but here's another one today.

I caught up with an old friend after some 5/6 years recently and it was great to catch up after such a long time. During our online conversations he commented that "hey your a photographer ... I'm looking for a new camera, what do you suggest I buy?" Well as you can imagine that launched into quite a lengthy diatribe on the merits and demerits of DSLRs vs Point and Shoot compact cameras, accessories and what type of photography are you looking to get into etc etc etc.

Well this began me thinking, yes, I know it's a rare occurrence but occasionally I do come up with an idea or two!!. What I was thinking about was the conversations I had many years ago when I was starting to take my photography seriously with a professional photographer who helped me understand some of the more philosophical aspects to taking pictures and good photography.

What he tried to get me to understand and perhaps its only now some years on that I really do, is that all the great modern, state of the art equipment and mega expensive cameras will not make you a photographer. He said and I will always remember this, is "that the camera is but an extension of your hand and eye" and what I think he meant by that was that the camera (and it doesn't matter what the camera is) is but the tool to capture the image that you see with your photographers eye and that it is your vision that you see and record that is important.

If you look at the great photographers of the past and of our time, yes they have had the leading edge equipment, but it is really their vision of the picture or vista they saw at the time of pressing the camera shutter we see in the print hanging on our wall at home on in the conference room of our offices.

So, after some time to think my advice to an old friend or any new serious photographer, search out the equipment that suits the photography you want to shoot, then find what suits you in terms of feel and ease of use, and then is it affordable to you as if you really get serious about taking pictures you're going to trade up to more expensive cameras, lenses and accessories soon enough..............

As another great photographer said "You don't take a photograph, you make it." - Ansel Adams

Above all enjoy taking the opportunity to take images of our friends, colleagues and the world we live in, capturing that moment in time for all time to come.

Trevor

Money Matters Pt 2 - Update

Well after yesterdays announcement and a lot of hard work to set up the "add to cart" buttons the web site now has limited retail capability ....Whoo Hoo!

To test out the retail cart facilities the panorama gallery (http://www.trevorcurtis.com/Panoramas.html ) has been updated to include purchasing capability via the secure web site of PayPal .........so look up the panoramas gallery, click on a picture and checkout the new facility............... see the great panoramas and buy a picture if you like one.....................please!

Anyway enjoy the panoramas and other pictures............lots more to be posted soon

Trevor

Money Matters!!

Well a quick quote today!!

"The quickest way to make money at photography is to sell your camera."- Anonymous

Could be the truth eh!!

Anyway, I have been working for sometime now on how to monetize the web site and as a self builder of the site my technical skills are limited and I am learning as I go. After many late nights and what seems endless searching for information and knowledge on retail sites, merchant accounting, carts and pay now buttons I think I have found a solution to developing the site with retail capability.................. keep visiting as the site (http://www.fotoengineering.com/) will soon go retail live...................... I hope!!

So hopefully today's quote wont be too poignant

Trevor

Update...Update

Well the site has just had a face lift from the great panorama of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to another panorama of the world famous Ballard Locks in Seattle.

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks are a complex of locks that sit in the middle of Salmon Bay, part of Seattle's Lake Washington Ship Canal.[2] They are known locally as the Ballard Locks[3][4] after the neighborhood to their north. (Magnolia lies to the south.)
The locks and associated facilities serve three purposes:
To maintain the water level of the fresh water Lake Washington and Lake Union at 20–22 feet above sea level[2][3] (Puget Sound's mean low tide).[citation needed]
To prevent the mixing of sea water from Puget Sound with the fresh water of the lakes (saltwater intrusion).[5]
To move boats from the water level of the lakes to the water level of Puget Sound, and vice versa.[6]
The complex includes two locks, a small (30 x 150 ft, 8.5 x 45.7 meter) and a large (80 x 825, 24.4 x 251.5 meter).[7] The complex also includes a (235-foot, 71.6 meter) spillway with six (32 x 12-foot (3.7 m), 9.8 x 3.7 meter) gates to assist in water-level control.[7] A fish ladder is integrated into the locks for migration of anadromous fish, notably salmon.[8][6]
The grounds feature a visitors center,[9] as well as the Carl S. English, Jr., Botanical Gardens.[10]
Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,[11] the locks were formally opened on July 4, 1917,[12] although the first ship passed on August 3, 1916.[13] They were named after U.S. Army Major Hiram Martin Chittenden, the Seattle District Engineer for the Corps of Engineers from April 1906 to September 1908.[9] They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[1] (Source - Wikipedia)

This is not just another "flat" Panorama, but a 360 degree circular panorama, laid flat so you can see the whole vista in one go..................keep looking for new pictures especially the current panoramic vista as it will soon be uploaded as an immersive panorama in QuickTime 7, so you will be able to enjoy the view from another interactive perspective...............well as soon as I work out how to program it into the web site!!

Hope you enjoy the great view as much as I did on Sunday taking it

Trevor

Facebook Blog Verification

To all my facebook friends who I have asked to verify that I am the owner of this blog...............many thanks

Communications and networking is an important process in todays digital and internet age. We are all busy people and find it difficult to keep track of friends and family, so the social networking sites provide a useful way of keeping in touch and up to date with all the friends we know.

Lets all keep in touch more often through the various network facilities available on the internet but, how about visiting in person more often too!!.................look forward to seeing you in person soon

Trevor

Skills and tips

I've been thinking about updating my knowledge and skills for sometime now.........but as always time is of the essence and spending time learning new skills, techniques or a new piece of software is time intensive and consuming so like a lot of people I'm probably not on the top of my game.

However, today I'm going to spend the whole day, yes the whole day updating my Photoshop skills. It is fine being out and about on location taking great pictures but, the whole purpose is to produce great prints!!, and you can only get a great print if you have the "darkroom" skills to understand the neuances associated with "developing" great pictures.

Today, in the digital age our "darkroom" skills come from image processors such as photoshop, or lightroom or Coral paint etc, but unless you really understand what this image prosessor is all about and the tools it can lend to you, your only going to produce a mediocre picture when what you really want is a vibrant, vivid, lively one.

I added a quote from one of the greatest photographers of all time yesterday, Ansel Adams and although Adams had the eye of a photographer in that he saw the picture in his camera and spent time composing the great shot, his picture didnt come to life till he printed it. Adams would spend many hours "developing" the picture with numerious trial prints and "honing" the final master piece untill he got the picture he saw in his mind and in his camera on the photographic paper in his darkroom. He could not produce this master piece unless he had mastered the skills and techniques that gave him the understanding of how to produce such a great picture.

So like Adams (I wish I had Adams eye for the shot though) I am going to spend the day (if only I could learn a lifetimes skills in one day)"honing" my skills to better understand the process to produce the killer picture................. I live in hope anyway

Trevor

Good Opportunities or Great Pictures

It's been raining and overcast the past few days, so not too many good picture opportunities, but did see this:

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”
Ansel Adams quotes (American Photographer, 1902-1984)

Still think you need good opportunities to get good pictures unless your a great photgrapher like Adams, who got great pictures. Lets hope for better weather soon.....well this is Seattle!

Trevor

Hey...... it's been a long week...Cathy!!

A special picture today for a special person in my life and many others lives too. Cathy has not been at all well this week, infact she has been rather poorly, culminating in a spell in a Boston hospital..............but all is now well, thanks to the doctors and nurses and she is flying back home to Seattle early tomorrow morning.......WHOO HOO.

Its not until someone special in your life is ill or your helpless to do anything to help them that you realise just how special and important they really are to you.......well you know that they are special but....hey you know what I mean.

Anyway my special lady is back home tomorrow and will be tucked up in bed and spoilt all weekend ....................................love you babe

Another day another picture...................I wish!!

Oh yeah, I so wish it was another day another picture, but I've been ensconsed in the dreaded paperwork again....................well I suppose I do have a day job which does pay the bills after all.

My day job is actually quite demanding in that I lead multidiciplined teams developing mega projects in the Construction Infrastructure space...................wow that was a bit technical or geeky, actually I do lead big multidiciplined teams of people and we do develop and build some of the mega structures you see around the world, but hey taking pictures is so ...................so theraputic and calming.

Well, enough of my ramble today , but as always there is something behind my diatribe and it is perhaps being able to get away from the realities of the harsh real world and that endulging in our passions actually allows us to be, who we really are .....................

Oh yeah there is another picture.......................getting away from the weary grind for a hour or two to clear the mind and think through the challenges that the day job provides, allows one to perhaps see the vision that occassionaly produces a panorama that you really did'nt expect to get on the day

Sometimes a picture suprises you eh!!...................have fun but don't let the day job grind you down

Trevor

Photography is......

Saw this earlier and thought how poignant.....

“Photography is a way of feeling, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever...it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”

(Aaron Siskind)

Hope you all have a great weekend and take some great pictures

Trevor

Update....Update

As promised in a previous blog the web site has had another scheduled update in a slight upgrade to the index page together with a new portfolio page so you can view all the great pictures in either a gallery or slideshow and we have added pricing and sizing for all of you who would like to purchase a print or two

Certainly more pages and facilities to follow including more great pictures and panoramas.

Look us up at http://www.trevorcurtis.com/ or the the new link at www.fotoengineering.com after all we are FotoEngineering!!

Hope to see you soon

Trevor

Promo's...Interesting departure from the norm!!

Well, what an interesting day yesterday was!!..........I usually take photgraphs of scenes and things that don't move around or talk back to you. Yes, my work usually entails panoramas of architectural vistas or landscape or the occassional wildlife or sports scene, but certainly not getting up close and personal with a model.

I was asked a couple of days ago if I would photograph a rising star in the Neo Jazz scene, Fysah Thomas, and produce some promotional material for her as she is attending an artists and songwriters convention in California today and over the weekend and hey, who am I to refuse tomorrows superstar of the Jazz scene.

Like all these thing you do at the last moment it didnt turn out as expected!!. The shoot was outstanding, especially as we used the circular staircase in my apartment with no real artifical lighting except a Metz 50MZ-5 flash gun, bouncing the light off the walls and ceilings........... and of course the real star was Fysah. Not only can this girl sing (you must really catch her show some time..wow) but she takes a fabuolus picture too, relaxed, confident, she loved the camera and it loved her.............she said, she had never had promo shots done before but went about the shoot like a professional model ...........just another day in the studio..lol.

Well, the shoot was outstanding but the post production was a nightmare!!..........I know this part is common sense, but never use materials or software that you have never used before when working on a rush job, what should have been a couple of hours post production and printing turned out to be all evening and into the night..................but the results were worth the vertical learning curve.

So the moral of today ramble is obivious really ..................be prepared as Murphys law will come and bite you every time.

Fysah ............thanks for the opportunity to expand my experience and craft a little piece of your success

Trevor

New Stuff on its way!!

Hey .....had a great day out investigating the photo sales around Seattle yesterday (Saturday) and decided that perhaps I should have a go and challenge the local guys who perhaps have become a little complacent with the views and vistas of our great city and what is available in our great State too.

So watch out guys your stuff is good but maybe a shake up is well over due!!

Look out for some new stuff on the web site very soon......... http://www.trevorcurtis.com 

Trevor

Lunch and Pictures....Nice!

Well today was the first day I've been out for nearly 3 weeks now.............yes I know its sad and I know I must get out more often but sometimes you just get caught up in the paperwork!!.

Well after a great lunch with my youngest daughter Sarah down at Alki beach in west Seattle (shes been visiting from the UK), I spent an hour with her taking pictures accross the bay of Alki beach to downtown Seattle for hopefully what would turnout to be a great HDRI Panoramic view of the city............the light was great and the sun shining, a bit cold but still a nice day....what more could a photographer ask for!!

For a view of the latest panorama take a look at http://www.trevorcurtis.com/ .............
great lunch, a great picture and a great day with Sarah.............sorry about having to work when we got back though

Trevor

Always Remember.....

I was out yesterday (Wednesday) travelling from Seattle to Spokane (yes I to wonder why people go to Spokane as well!!) and was travelling through great scenery through Snoqualmie Pass and was thinking what great pictures some of the vistas would make. Well as I was driving and time was of the essence I didnt have time to stop and photograph all the great views I would have like to. However, on the way back I did take the time out to photograph one great shot of the mountains (see galleriees at www.trevorcurtis.com) so the trip was a great success from many aspects.

The point of my ramble today is to always remember to carry your camera or a camera and a small amount of indespensible photographic accessories just in case you do get the chance of that once in a life time photo.................remember once the photographic moment has passed it will never come back, so dont lose that memory forever.

Trevor

Following on........

We had the pleasure of having a great friend around for the recent super bowl festivities last Sunday and in chatting as you do, we got around to discussing my great passion of "panoramic pictures" and a piece of software that has been around for some time by the name of PTGui a graphical interface for stitching panorama pictures together. Although the conversation was great, the following demonstration I got from Jay was outstanding.


I am a confirmed Mac nut, but after Jay down loaded the PTGui application and ran it in a demo version of Windows 7 beta build (albeit on a Lenovo W700 laptop....nice piece of kit!!) and .........WOW, the speed of application was phenomenal and I'm told that this version of Windows is not yet optimised ......so how good will it be when it is a full production build, I ask?....or was it the phenomenal computing power of the Lenovo W700!!


As I said I am a confirmed Mac nut, but since Apple decided to adopt the Intel processing chip in place of its previous RISK processor, I can only think that maybe Microsoft has closed the gap in its operating system against the Mac OS.


Please see Jay's blog at http://blog.mir.net/ for his take on PTGui and let's hear your thoughts on the Mac vs Windows OS debate


Trevor

Update..Update

Just to let you know that the web site has its first of many scheduled updates in a slightly new look to the index page and of course a link to this Blog page.

Certainly more pages to follow including more great pictures and panoramas

Look us up at http://www.trevorcurtis.com/

Hope to see you soon

Trevor

New Blog Site............Whoo Hoo and Welcome

Just set up the new blog site and many thanks to Jay Ferron for suggesting using blogger.com.

Will be linking this blog to my personal site at http://www.trevorcurtis.com/ where all the pictures and more are.

Anyway more soon and welcome to a new venture...............please post frequently

Trevor