Please Caption This Photo

 

Weekly Photograph-Jessica James Senior Monticello High School-Charlottesville VA

Jessica James is a student at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, VA.  Jessi is a senior this year, a cheer leader and hopes to go to University of Virginia in the fall.  She was such a fun model to work with.  The session started out on a beautiful October day near Scottsville on one of her friends farm.  It was a marvelous location with lots of general farm scenery and equipment.  Her friend is an avid collector of vintage John Deer tractors and has a beautiful old restored car.  From there, we moved to taking some images in downtown Scottsville right by the river.  

 

Photography Pack List for Vacation

Here's what to pack the next time you go on vacation!
Next time you go on vacation, but you still want to take great photographs without all the excess weight, you can pack light. No need to carry every lens plus the kitchen sink. I've chosen equipment based on weight, portability, the ability to capture a wide range of images and technology to still communicate.

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1.  Camera - The biggest decision is if you want to carry a DSLR or a compact point and shout. I usually don't mind the extra weight of a DSLR, so I carry my Nikon D300s 12 megapixel. It has two memory slots for extended shooting, the ability for interchanging lenses and shots HD video, which I love. Ask yourself if you wouldn't mind carrying around a heavy DSLR with lenses and all the accessories. There are some excellent compact cameras that give even the discerning shooter the flexibility to shoot all sorts of images. 
2. Lenses - If you pick the DSLR, you need to decide which lenses to take with you especially if you haven't been somewhere before. I would recommend a lens or a few lenses to cover a wide range of focal lengths.

·  Nikon makes a few really great lenses that are perfect for travel. The first lens is a 28-300 focal length, with fast focusing and image stabilization which is perfect for those boating trips.  This lens could be the only one you really need for your trip, covering everything from wide angle landscapes to portraits.

·  If you prefer the extra weight and take advanced photos, I recommend what I always carry is a 10-20 mm lens from Sigma for those really wide shots, a 24-70mmf/2.8 that is perfect for landscapes and really low light shots, and a 70-200mmf/2.8.  It's very large but an incredible lens for those portrait shots with really amazing backgrounds. 

3. Camera Batteries and Charger - Don't forget at least one extra battery and the charger.  No need to miss out on something great because of a dead battery. 
4. Hot-shoe flash and batteries - Pack a small one to use for fill flash or extra light during night time shoots.  The Nikon SB-700 is a perfect high performance flash with remote flexibility for off camera flash capability.  You could even opt for the SB-400 which is far cheaper, but you loose some power and functionality.  
5. Memory Cards - Make sure you have plenty.  They are lightweight, relatively inexpensive, just make sure you have a place to put them so you can find them easily.

·  I have one 32GB compact flash card in the first slot to shoot photos and a 16 GB SD card in the second slot for shooting video or extra space for photos.  Along with that I bring two extra 16 gig cards.  Not that I will ever need that much space since l'm judicious with what I shoot and do heavy editing, but it's nice to have in case you want to shoot and edit when you get home. On another note, out now is wireless SD cards called Eye-Fi, that you can use to transfer JPG's to your IPAD for larger viewing and uploading to a website.

6.  IPAD or Tablet - To communicate on the road take along an IPAD or other wi-fi enabled tablet to cut down on weight instead of a computer.  You can use it to send emails, view images, surf the web, read a book or upload images. And if it's connected to a phone network like ATT or Verizon, you can do that even in the middle of nowhere.  
7. A camera bag - Now you need something to carry everything with you.   I like the Tamrac Evolution 8 bag.  It can be worn as a backpack or a sling bag both sides for left or right handed easy access and weighs about 4.5 lbs empty.  It has loads of pockets for storage and a large pocket that is perfect for an IPAD or smaller computer.   
8. Last but not least, don't forget all the small items that you'll need like a water, snacks, lens cloth, cables, medicine, rain coat, etc.  All the things to make your traveling a little easier.  

Weekly Photograph

This week's photograph is a holga image taken about 5 years ago at one of the more famous estates in the Albemarle area, the Carter family farm.
 

Weekly Photo

Taken one very early morning backpacking. Please give this a caption.

How to Clean Your Sensor.

I've been getting a lot of questions lately about how to clean your sensor. Cameras nowadays do have sensor cleaning technology, but that doesn't always get rid of all the dust, especially in dusty, windy conditions like in the Arizonan dessert country. Rather than create my own video, I've embedded a video on how to clean sensors using the same two tools and process that I use to clean my camera at least once a week. Have fun watching.

Aaron Deckard

Someone asked me not along ago, "how would you like to be remembered" and "do you wish you had tangible evidence of your fondest memories". It's a tough question to be answered. On one hand, some memories I'd rather have my imagination to vividly recollect the most endearing moments of the past. On the other, I would have loved to have images of myself doing the things that I most enjoyed and that I was involved in. When I was younger I was very involved in playing soccer, paddling, and the great outdoors, among other things and still am. Most of us do not think to take photos at the time and regret it later. That's why one of my favorite photographic endeavors is taking high school senior photos. I can only remember having a formal portrait taken, but nothing that resembled me and my personality. I especially love it when I can take images that involves any kind of sport. I don't know of anyone in high school that played sports that did not someday hope of playing in a major league or did not want awesome images of them like they were on the cover of Sports Illustrated. I recently had the chance to take senior photos for my friends son. Aaron Deckard is a senior at William Monroe High School in Greene County Virginia. As a fanatic Washington Capitals fan he also plays on a Charlottesville recreational team at the CVille Ice Park. He has a great passion for music, particularly the drums and the guitar and enjoys rock and heavy metal music. After he graduates, he plans on entering the Army to serve this great nation of ours.

Another in the CCC

For the last couple of months I have been working with the Shenandoah National Park, in the archives, scanning old photos, listening to and recording oral histories, working with artifacts and preparing for a Civilian Conservation Corp reunion. The Civilian Conservation Corp was a New Deal project instituted in 1933 to jump start an economy and relieve those affected by the Great Depression. Over 3 million people participated in one of the largest relief efforts this country has seen. The "boys", regardless of their background or skill level, were elected based on their current economic situation. At the time, a quarter of American workers could not find jobs. People were lining up on the street to get bread or soup. They had to be between the ages of 18-24 and unmarried. Some may have been living with their families, others may have been homeless, but all stood in line hoping to have the basic necessities provided for them while they used brain and brawn to create an national and state park system that we currently rely on today. There were approximately 10,000 men who left their homes from all over VA and the country and came for 6 months at a time, to live in army run camps, in sometimes harsh conditions to plant trees, build roadways, build a trail, a picnic shelter and drainage ditches, lodges and the like. They were housed in tarpaper barracks, clothed, ate simple home cooked food, but for some of them, it was the first time in years that they'd had three meals a day. In spite of doing hard manual labor, they gained weight and were healthy had happy. But it was not all hard work, they all had time after their work was done to get together, play cards, sports and go into local towns to socialize. Expert masons and carpenters taught them new skills. At night, educational leaders hired by the army would teach classes to the boys in everything from radio operating, carpentry, etc. Some of them learned to read and write and earn their GED's. They were paid $30 a month of which $25 dollars went back home to their parents or families to help them survive as well. Some of the men cut hair, ironed shirts, or used their skills to create things for others for another 50 cents here one dollar there, anything to make some extra bucks. Some used the money for their weekend trips into towns to socialize, but most sent the extra back home since their needs were met.

The 78th annual CCC reunion was held on Saturday September 24th at the Big Meadows lodge in the Shenandoah Park. Over 50, wives, friends, rangers, family members and 3 original CCC "boys" showed for a day of memories, including presentations for the future for carrying on their legacy. We took the men and guests out to the old camp site at Big Meadows where they were shown displays. I could see one of the men recounting his days there, remembering where he used to play cards on a boulder with an old friend, the recreation hall where he used to play music and billiards and the mess hall where he had the best meals he could remember, after a long day working in the fields. As the day grew to a close, I sat down with two gentlemen who were both at the same camp and I showed them photographs as we talked about those days, the success of the program and the value of the work that exists to this day. Seeing those photographs, the men became 18 again and I saw a youthful vigor come over them. These men did what they had to do to survive. They joined so they could have food to eat and they enjoyed every minute of the grueling work. My understanding of these times and how they relate to today will be prolonged as I continue to interview these gentlemen and hear their stories and continue to teach the public about this invaluable service given to the rest of the country.

News and Updates

Below is a list of projects that we are currently working on.

• Veteran's History Project, Oral Histories and Veteran's Photographs

  Dec 2010 to present

  After working with a dear friend of mine who is a WW2 veteran, the idea came to me and I have been interviewing veteran's of all wars, as a preservation of personal war history project. I do not think that this will every be a completely finished project, but is necessary to preserve the memories of what war is truly like, not the stuff you read or watch about.

• Analog Dreams, Cafe Cubano, Downtown Charlottesville

  April 2011
  

  Working on an all darkroom exhibit. Bringing back the goodness from the past. I will be having an exhibit at Cafe Cubano on the downtown mall in Charlottesville in April. Images will include silver gelatin prints, salt paper prints, polaroids, and alternative process prints, including Kallitypes and Platinum/Palladium.

• St. Patrick's Day Exhibit @ Fellini's #9, Downtown Charlottesville

  March 2011
  

  This exhibit is to coincide with Fellini's #9, St. Patrick Day celebration. Several of the images will be from Ireland, the rest will be a mixture of images taken over many years.

DePaul Community Resources Christmas Party 2010

One of the things that fellow photographers and I do is try to give back, especially around the holiday season, to those organizations that dedicate themselves to working year round to bring joy and happiness to the faces of people every single day. On December 11th, we had fantastic time photographing families and foster kids with Santa Claus. The event was held at the Charlottesville Church of the Brethren, on Rio Rd, put on by the DePaul Community Resources that helped place each of these kids with a loving foster family. DePaul had the reception hall all decorated and a fabulous holiday meal prepared for everyone. We started the day off, with the help of my friend Christian DeBaun, setting up a black background to take semi casual family portraits, while me and my other good friend Lisa Cloutier setup a white background photo booth for the kids to goof off and make silly faces. Boy, were they hilarious! Around 1 o'clock the big man himself showed up with stuffed teddy bears for all the kids. Even some of the adults sat on Santa's lap! I guess we're all big kids at heart. I'm always amazed by the innate optimism, and joy of kids around Christmas.
Here are some images from the day.