October 18, 2008

Rally in the Valley - Obama in Roanoke, Va

Rally in the Valley - Obama in Roanoke, Va

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I had the opportunity to photograph Sen. Barack Obama's rally in Roanoke, Va. It's the first shoot I've done for the Democratic Party of Virginia since 2006. I did a great deal of political event photography for the DPVA in 2004, specifically the DNC in Boston and numerous other campaign events. I covered Governor's Kaine's campaign kickoff, his historic inauguration in Williamsburg, Va and the 2006 JJ Dinner with Pennsylvania Gov. Rendell.

I've gotten involved in so many other projects since 2006 (not the least of which is acting as producer for the TWiP podcast and, you know... a more than full time job here at SBC) that I haven't been as involved in Democratic photography. My former blog, Documenting Democracy, has gone silent (no real loss... there are so many other superb progressive blogs in Va that have a vastly more effective voice than I'd ever have in this arena) and serves now more as a 2004/2006 photo repository. My "voice" in this scene is through my photography which I do voluntarily and offer freely to the Democratic party and our campaigns (assuming they find images that they deem useful, of course).

So... anyway... I was eager to cover this event since Obama's campaign is so phenomenally inspiring and, frankly, historic. It's a lung-filling breath of fresh air after the last eight, horrid, spiraling years under Bush's sorry excuse for a presidency. Sorry to my Republican readers, but I'm briefly putting on my partisan hat here at halfpress and calling it like I see it. DPVA hooked me up with a press pass and a nice little reserved spot in the front of the risers and I quickly realized how much I've missed covering things like the DNC and rallies.

My photos here aren't going to win any awards or anything... but I did look for some opportunities to capture a little of the mood. One really needs to shoot from a press riser with some massive, tripod mounted Scott Bourne-class lenses to get the tight, dramatic shots. :) I was using a 24-70L on one body and 70-200L on the other and did a bit of roaming about when not in my slot.

I have more shots to edit, so I might be amending the gallery later. I also made sure to take some shots that represent how the press pool area works (mostly if any TWiP listeners are curious) and you'll see videographers and wire service photogs in there. Most of those are shot with an 8mm fisheye lens both for effect and to give a sense of scale to the arena and our place in it.

I hope to fit in a few more events around the state before the big day when Virginia elects its first Democratic president since 1964. If I do, I'll post'em here.

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April 24, 2007

Lantern Bearing

Lantern Bearing

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In the eleven years I've worked at SBC, I've never witnessed a Lantern Bearing but have always been fascinated with the concept. From a photography standpoint, I've always had a weakness for low-light shots involving flames or other interesting lighting (Williamsburg Blacksmith - Paris, France - Canal du Briare, France). Lantern Bearing didn't disappoint in this regard...

Low-light photography is challenging enough. It gets even more challenging, though, when need to assemble six-shot, 360-degree panoramas involving people. Fortunately, the juniors here were wonderfully willing to oblige and patiently put up with my odd request to stand very still while I walk in a circle pressing a button on the end of cord. :)

Links to 48 images from last night can be found in the drop-down box above. I think the slideshow works especially well for this. Click on the images below to see two 360-degree panoramas from last night. You will need Quicktime to view these (Mac users are set already and Windows users who have installed iTunes should already have what they need as well).

For those not familiar with VR Panoramas, just hold down your mouse button on the image once it appears and drag around. Be sure to look up and down as well.

Enjoy!
- Aaron

May 16, 2006

Sweet Briar College - Baccalaureate & Commencement

Baccalaureate

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Commencement

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I've posted two new slideshows based on a selection of the photos I took for the Class of 2006 Baccalaureate and Commencement at Sweet Briar College.

I had a great deal of fun taking these shots and assembling the galleries, so I hope others enjoy watching them as much as I enjoyed making them. :)

This was also a bit of a new experience for me since SBC asked me if I would be interested in shooting these events commercially this year. So, for the first time, I am offering event photographs for sale online. Thus far, I have been quite pleased with how the system works. Printing and mailing is being handled entirely by a respected lab and is completely transparent to the user. In addition, they have provided me with ICC profiles to soft-proof output on my calibrated display and a sales workflow that allows me to hand-edit and tailor every shot sold to the specific sizes and finishes selected by the buyer.

I'll write more on the topic in the coming weeks and months as I get more firsthand experience with it. I'm going to expand the selection of items beyond the initial SBC photos of this past weekend and possibly offer some of my creative photography in various formats as well. I have some customizing work still to do to spruce up the appearance of the site, but the pre-existing template I'm using is getting the job done for now.

Anyone interested in purchasing any of the photos (including the full class picture, the individual awarding of diplomas and candid shots from both Baccalaureate and Commencement Day) should visit this link. I'd be eager to hear your feedback on the process.

Enjoy!
- Aaron

February 1, 2006

Photo Slideshow: Inauguration of Gov. Tim Kaine

I don't usually mix the photos between halfpress and my other blog, Documenting Democracy, but I've been experimenting with a fantastic new flash-based slideshow tool and decided to use my most recent set of photos from DocDem for the initial test.

First off, those of you with Flash plug-ins installed will notice that the random image box in the top right of the screen (next to the banner) is far more complex now (those without will see no difference). It replaces the original Python application I wrote last year to place a random photo from my galleries on the page with each reload and provide a pop-up tooltip caption and photo specifications. I've replicated all of that functionality with this new tool while adding automated dissolves. You can manually control the show, too, by fiddling with the various buttons along the bottom. Clicking on any of the images will take you to the appropriate normal gallery while just hovering over it with the mouse will give you the caption.

I want to begin offering all of my photos with my traditional HTML galleries and, possibly, these new slideshows. To kick off the process (and to give me a vehicle for experimentation), I've put together my three galleries from the inauguration of Gov. Tim Kaine in a slideshow.

Open the Slideshow (three galleries)

I've created a legend for the buttons in the bottom of the slideshow window. It will play sequentially through all three galleries. You can skip to another gallery by hitting the gallery icon on the left and move around through the photos with the +/- buttons and the individual photo numbers. Previews of the other photos will appear if you hover over the numbers.

You can read all the background stories on these photos and reach the regular galleries by visiting Documenting Democracy, specificially the articles for Friday, the Ceremony, and the Richmond Ball.

I'll be doing a lot more with the slideshow application in the coming days and will post more geeky, behind-the-scenes technical information once I have time to write it. :) In the meantime, enjoy the photos!

- Aaron

October 23, 2005

2005 Oak Ridge Steeplechase

Last year I photographed the 2004 Oak Ridge Steeplechase for fun. A number of my photos got used in various places ranging from a Nelson County tourism magazine to serving as the model for a painting that was auctioned at this year's steeplechase fundraising gala.

This year I was asked to be the official photographer for the event and, frankly, it was even more fun than last year. :) With a nifty all-access pass and the ability to get on the track, I was able to take photos much closer to the action with shorter, sharper lenses.

Mild sunburn aside, the event was a real treat and I'm already looking forward to next year. Last year's weather was a bit cold and drizzly. By contrast, this year's weather was blue skies, sun and 65 degrees. To top it all off, I got to hang out with my friends at Trax Tech Services who were official sponsors this year and I made good use of their catered meals, drinks and a spiffy tent to hang out in between races.

I've just posted an initial selection of 160 photos from the 700+ that I took today. I haven't done any captioning yet and I need to take a second pass through the raw images, tighten up the editing and do a bit more color correction. I'll get to that in the coming days. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy what I've already placed online.

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August 2, 2005

Archive: Steeplechase at Oak Ridge - October, 2004

Another collection from last year that I wanted to get into the archives here on the blog:

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These were shot with my last digital SLR (Canon 300D) on a slightly cold and misty day. I'm looking forward to shooting this again this coming fall. As much as a nice crisp and sunny fall day would be appreciated, I can't say I dislike the diffused, gray light in some of the shots.