Time Lapse No 18 - Las Vegas, Nov 2011

Best viewed full screen, with sound on.





That is all.

Where Does the Time Go?

I've really fallen off of the blogging bandwagon this year. I won't make excuses, I'm just not into it. However I do want to put some more photos here to help keep people updated... after all this is where you go if you type in the website from my business cards, I should have something here.





More of the same with the city and nature photos. I haven't taken a whole lot of pictures this year, but I do still get out a little to enjoy myself when I have some time. Nothing takes my mind off of my problems like three hours at sunset with my camera in a nice setting.





I still try to catch the special events here in Portland. Although I did miss two of the big fireworks displays for the year, I made it to the fourth of July. Hitting up the Rose Festival fleet was a little easier, since they were around for several days.







I've found myself working in the Poker industry this year. I really enjoy what I am doing now, it's fun and I am meeting a lot of great new people. I was lucky enough to visit Vegas during the World Series of Poker this year, it was a blast and I hope I can make it back in 2012.

My photography has also come in handy at the club where I spend most of my time. I get some great pictures of the local players, although few are as good as the shot of my fellow dealer Clint, above.

Anyway, just checking in. Thanks for taking a look!

Waterfalls, Leaves, Zombies, and Bikes

Here are some highlights from the last six weeks or so of shooting. It's been a quiet time for me, but I've still tried to catch some interesting images.

























As usual, you can see more on my flickr page, http://flickr.com/pdxsean and you can also follow me on twitter @pdxsean.

Thanks for looking, everyone!

Portland's 2010 Fashion Night Out

Twitter has served me well over the last year or so, drawing my attention to some interesting local events that I'd never have heard of otherwise. Last night's Fashion Night Out is a great example of this. I'm neither interested in fashion nor consumption in general, so I'd never have heard of this event were I not following a Portland current events account.










It was a fun afternoon. Every thirty minutes the models would do their walk down the runway and basically stop and pose at one specific point. As the night went on, it became easier and easier to plan my shots and get the timing down right. The lighting was a little tough, it was overcast and even with no filters I had trouble getting a fast enough shutter speed to get crisp shots. I probably should have hiked up my ISO to compensate. Unfortunately I didn't notice the softness of many images until I came home and saw them on my PC.










All said, it was a fun way to spend a few hours and some great practice I wouldn't get otherwise. I'll definitely keep my eyes open for future runway/fashion opportunities, if nothing else it's very rewarding to take pictures of attractive people.

As always, these photos and more can be seen on my Flickr page, http://flickr.com/pdxsean. Thanks for looking!

Overdue Summer 2010 Update

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures this summer, but I have gotten out a few times with the camera. I haven't been posting anything here (not sure why, I do update another site regularly) but you haven't missed out on much. If you'd like to see more, you can click any of these images and get to my flickr page, where you can see several additional images from each shoot.



The Rose Festival came and went, during a surprisingly rainy June. The festival traditionally opens with fireworks, but the night was so windy and rainy, I wasn't able to get any interesting shots. I did get down to the bridges (with my umbrella) and took some pictures of the fleet.



When I was a teenager, Pacific City was my favorite beach on the Oregon Coast. I haven't been there for many years, so I decided it was time to spend an afternoon there with the camera. The beach is a lot more popular than it was 20 years ago, but it's still a nice place to stop in, and the pictures around the back of the cape are worth the drive.



After having the Rose Festival fireworks rained out, I was particularly eager for the show on July 4. I took plenty of pictures and really enjoyed the fireworks, but I think I could have chosen a better vantage point. I just hope I can remember to consider that next year.



Portland's Hawthorne Bridge turns 100 this year, and in celebration half of the bridge was decorated with a light-art display. There were numerous technical and logistical glitches with the display, although after a few days the display looked pretty nice if you happened to see the bridge after 10:00 at night.



Finally, last weekend we had the annual Twilight Criterium over in the Pearl District. This bike race brings in plenty of racing talent and is a pretty fun event to watch. The atmosphere is festive but the crowds are reasonable... it's easy to circumnavigate the track and you can cross to the inside easily if you wait for the trailing motorcycle to pass.

Oscar Night at Portland's Hollywood Theater

I volunteered to help with a photography project at the historic Hollywood Theater here in Portland today.  The non-profit theater hosted the official Oscar party for Portland, and I took part as a "paparazzi" on the red carpet.

Although I am not an experienced event photographer, I am still pretty happy with how the shots came out.  Amazingly, I had way more quality shots than I could choose from... it was very tough narrowing it down to a modest amount for my blog.



Normally when I shoot, I use my tripod and spend a ton of time setting up the shots... with these, it was mostly try to catch the people as they walked a very short distance past me.  I had a lot of trouble with focus and catching people looking normal.  Some people would stop and pose for the cameras, and I'd try to catch them as they stood still for ten seconds.





Most of these required a lot of cropping and some degree of color manipulation.  The preceding photo, for example, was shot in color and was filled with a lot of wasted space.  I'm really happy with the way the BW cropped shot looks, but I still would rather have had some shots (like this one specifically) come out better.  Well, it was good practice all the same, and that's how I get better.





It was a lot of fun to be taking pictures with a small group.  There were four other photographers, and we tried to do our best to make a bunch of flashes as people walked up the carpet.  I'm not sure how well it created the illusion of fame and fortune, but most of the people walking by seemed to enjoy it.





Eventually I kind of got the hang of where people would be walking by, and how to properly get the shot exposed with my flash.  It was a real learning curve, I tell you what!  As the hour wore on, I set my focus to auto, tried to leave my zoom at 70mm, and just caught people right at one specific spot on the carpet.  It worked out really well, and I had shots that I really didn't have to crop much at all.  Unfortunately, I did have one of my best shots ruined (the woman above with the hat) with a too soft focus... well, I'll remember that next time.



This was a great experience and I hope I am able to take part again next year.  After the red carpet festivities, I went inside and was treated to a delicious catered buffet and enjoyed some of the Oscar show on the big screen.  It was a really festive party, but unfortunately I wasn't really able to get any great pictures of the goings on.



I had a few shots come out from inside the theater... shot handheld at ISO 1600, then brightened up considerably with Picasa.  I'd have loved to take my tripod... I didn't really think it'd be appropriate, although in retrospect it would have been just fine.