Chester Bullock Photography

With their oldest home for the holidays with his little one, the Souther Family wanted to get some family portraits done for the holidays. The skies were crystal clear, but it was pretty cold out there. We got some great group shots, and some individuals too. I think we spent at most half an hour out there since it was about 12°F outside. They live here in Lakewood, so I was able to get them a CD within an hour so they could get prints made same day.

Taken on a cold winter morning in Lakewood, Colorado, this portrait of a windmill with forboding skies behind it has been given the watercolor treatment in Photoshop. This would look great on anyone’s wall, especially printed on canvas. Order your copy now.

Snapped this photo of a rusting crankshaft in a Denver salvage yard recently.

My daughter goes to an in-home preschool/ daycare with a few other kids here in Lakewood. My wife thought it would be cool for me to go over there and take some “class pictures” of them. So I took my new Homemade Softbox and went over. I think the pictures came out pretty well. But let me say this about groups of young kids (ages 3-4) - you have to have patience. When one would start to do something silly, the rest would start doing similar things and bedlam would ensue. It was all good fun though. They were excited to be in front of the camera and look nice for their parents. And thanks to Whit House Custom Color, I’ll have prints by the end of the week, in time for the holidays.

I did learn one thing though - I definitely need to get some sort of mobile backdrop system for portraits. Relying on surfaces on location just isn’t giving me the kind of background I want. Oh Santa…

This weekend I decided it was time to build the homemade softbox featured in my article of Do It Yourself Light Modifiers. With shopping list in hand, Natalie and I went to Michael’s to get everything we needed (and a craft for her to do at the same time).

Once we were at Michael’s, I had to make some substitutions. They want $35 for a piece of mat board, so I opted instead for a 3 pack of white poster board pieces. Also, the staff there had never heard of mylar drafting film. Wasn’t totally sure what to do, but as I was walking down the drafting/ needlepoint supply aisle, I spotted something called “plastic canvas”. I grabbed a couple sheets of varying sizes and hole densities and figured that would work.

Than I got into the construction phase. Cutting the foam was pretty straightforward (the authors tip about using a thin sheet of plywood for a cutting board was perfect). Then I started cutting the posterboard. In the authors revised directions, he indicates you should leave extra around the edges (on the trapezoidal pieces). I did this, but I am not sure what function that serves. As I was finalizing construction, These oversized pieces were difficult to work with and I still don’t see the point. Somehow I managed to get it all together though.

Cactus remote trigger, I had to fiddle with the flash settings a few times. The photo at left is still overexposed, but a quick treatment in Lightroom makes it suitable, as you can see in the photo at right.

In the time since I made my original post, I think the author of the instructions for this softbox has made some revisions. I’d love to see more detail on why the trapezoids should be oversized, since it caused me problems. But overall, I am happy with the output from this box. I am actually going to be playing with it later today when I do “class photos” for my daughter’s small preschool class here in Lakewood. I’ll post up another time about how that shoot goes.

Sadly, the local basketball team is faring better than our local hockey team (Denver Nuggets vs. Colorado Avalanche). It is also that time of the year where high school and collegiate basketball madness is getting underway. In honor of it being that time of the year, I present to you “Curves”, the photo of the week. An up close and personal look at a basketball, it is sure to be a hit for the hoops fan or player in your house. Order your print today to have a memorable gift for the holidays (just 13 days until Christmas).

I don’t take a lot of editorial types of images. But when I drove by this building yesterday, I had to.

I don’t think that the unions are the only reason the Big 3 are having problems, but I do think they are a significant contributing factor. Unions have been corrupt enterprises for longer than I have been alive. They serve the egotistic needs of the leaders, and don’t really care for the common laborer. The notable exceptions would be when it comes to collecting dues or forcing new employees to join. I find it difficult to understand why anyone would want to be part of a union. They take part of your wages, tell you when to strike, and who to vote for. They don’t pay your full wage when you are on strike, and they don’t understand the notion of working together in a synergistic way so that everyone gets what they need. They would rather see a company go under (and all of it’s employees out of work) than do the right thing.

And then there are signs like this, which just continue to foster the bigotry and arrogance that the US is so well known for. I guarantee you that the Fluke multimeter’s that electricians love so much are not made in the US. Does that mean you can’t bring your gear bag to class (the union training also uses this parking lot)?

If you didn’t already see it, this is one example of the power of an image. Look at everything that this image brought out in me. What does it bring out in you?

Some days she is too adorable for words (like today). Some days I swear her head is spinning. Either way, she is precious to me.

Do you have a car or other item that is “your baby?” Want to have some tasteful photos made of it, or just need an image for insurance purposes? Contact me today to talk about what it is and how you want it photographed. Even though I am in Lakewood, I can travel throughout the Denver Metro Area to make a timeless image of your prized possession.

And if you are interested, take a look at my Automotive picture gallery.

I am finding it difficult to properly focus on snowflakes with my camera. I think the key is going to be to use an object with a solid, dark color and let the snowflakes fall on that. The photo above was taken with snowflakes on my car. This snow was better than the last storm, as it was powder-dry. The last storm the snow was very wet and clumpy. On the flip side, the flakes were probably bigger. I do love winter though, and I am enjoying the winter photo experiments I am trying.