Not Graduations.

I feel like all I've been shooting for the past few weeks is graduation after graduation. I hear the song in my sleep. All the speeches sound the same. You really get stuck in that rut! But I haven't been shooting ONLY grads. Here are a few photos from the not-graduation assignments of the past couple weeks. A benefit concert by Jet Stream at The Canyon Club, for 15-year-old Taylor Messina. The concert, silent auction and raffle raised funds for Messina's treatment for Stage IV Midline Carcinoma.



Some wild art for Moorpark at Underwood farms. Little kids and strawberries. Let the insanity begin.









The One Gathering in Camarillo, 14 local churches came together for Pentecost. It was massive.







And on the other end of the spectrum... the wine and food fest for Casa Pacifica out at CSUCI.


(I love the shot above. I really, really wish it had run. Something different!)







I went out to the Camarillo Pond Rats pond for the very first time in Acorn history (we're fairly new to Camarillo) and shot some photos of the guys racing their RC boats around the pond. Those guys are FAST! The boats were super trick, I ended up with about fifty really nice shots. I normally wouldn't shoot so many, but I was having a good time playing with shooting angles and the water reflections and spray (plus my new lens' servo - first test!). I promised to post more photos here, so in a couple of days when I get all those edited I'll upload some additional photos from this event.










And finally, the Greek festival in Camarillo. The photo that ran was of the "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" star, who came to sign posters for her new movie "My Life in Ruins." I didn't think it was as interesting as these shots, but you know... celebrities... I guess just don't get that excited about them as most people do!





In other news, I am now on twitter! My twitter name is "snapitsiris"... yes, as in snap like a camera shutter. You can follow me and my daily adventures shooting. I'll add a direct link here to my twitter profile for easy access. And the 70-200 arrived safe and sound just before graduations began. It's a beast, a big lump of metal and glass to lug around, and it's already making me wonder if my chiropractor offers frequent flyer miles. But it shoots like a dream and I'm thrilled to have it. It was so nice for graduations. Next up: the photos from said grads!

Champions! (Again)

The Moorpark Acadeca team took first place in the nation for Division 1, again. Congrats to them! I can't believe the amount of work that goes into something like that. Incredible.

They had a police and fire escort to the party, but my camera kept giving me the dreaded Error 99 - right up until they were getting out of the limo! I can't afford to have it gone for a week to be fixed right now, which is really frustrating. Fortunately, despite the technical problems - and ensuing ones like not being prepared with the right shutter speed! - the photos came out nice and I ended up with much better shots than I thought I had. Lady Luck was with me.

Turmoil & blue skies.

Well, it's a sad day here at the Acorn. We lost three very talented people in the first layoffs in the history of the paper. I can only wish them all the best in the future.
Fortunately, the photo department is running a very tight ship and therefore we were spared from any cuts. It was so nerve-wracking to hear about the layoffs, knowing that the photo dept is usually the first place publishers look to cut. But we're at three photogs for five papers and it's already tight. Here's to hoping that this is the bottom for us and we'll pull out of this hole a stronger, leaner paper. I know as a department we're still learning so much. The three of us make an excellent team. I have no doubts that this year, all three of us will be award-winning photographers in the CNPA awards. We can only improve... I know this year's graduations and sports finals will be fantastic, now that I have the 20D and the MkIIN. Having both bodies will be a major plus, and on top of that I'll likely be buying a 70-200 4.0 with my tax return. I can't afford pocketwizards, but I'm going to give the $60 set of Cactus V2s a shot for off-camera lighting and I'm planning on attending some lighting workshops and becoming an active strobist poster as well. With the improved gear and some added education, I think my photos should improve a ton.
So it's stormy in the office here but in other news, we've had ridiculously hot weather lately and bright blue skies. When it's that nice I pull out the polarizing filter every chance I get and pop those clouds.

Here are a few shots from this week:

Moorpark High School varsity baseball player Landon Hunt.










And a roofing company in Moorpark generously donated a new roof to the Little League snack shack. I found a nice banner flapping in the wind for some color.

Miscellaneous... playing with strobing.

A few different techniques for strobe usage last week. 


Balanced with late afternoon sunlight. I wish her family was better lit, but I would have had to flash them separately... This woman "won" a sweepstakes at the town center and got the run-around. She still hasn't got the car she supposedly won. Story here.

Bounced off the ceiling. I tried to make it a little unobtrusive here, balanced with the ambient lighting. Just enough for me to tone down the ISO a bit and reduce the noise.

Bounced off the ceiling here, with exposure set to completely obliterate the ambient. It was Thelma's 100th birthday. What a gorgeous woman!

Direct flash here, to balance with the sunlight. I wanted to flash off-camera from the front of the little yellow car, but I didn't have the equipment or time to set it up properly. Anyway, I was able to get the sky nice and contrasty with my polarizing filter and balanced with the flash. Looks pretty good.

Bounced off the low ceiling again here, upped the flash a couple stops for some drama. Worked well with the moody ambient coming in from those windows. Fortunately for me, the fluorescent lights in half the wrestling room were out, so I didn't have to wrestle with them.