Notes from the Field

Going to try and start a regular post here on the blog that reviews what happened in the blog world as well as my world for the week. This was as good of a week as any to start this tradition, so here we go.

This time last week I was working with 7 hours total sleep over three days and waiting for my plane to take me from Vegas to my home in Reno. Because I was out of town for the week, I missed posting a few images of the Reno River Festival from the previous weekend. I can’t give enough praise to the people of Downtown Reno and the events they host. 10 years ago, you wouldn’t really imagine hosting an event like this, but now it brings in thousands of people and it is a good time had by all. With events like Artown and the Tour de Nez coming up, downtown Reno is going to be a busy place.

Reno River Festival

Many of your know from a previous blog post about my girlfriend getting into a car accident on Monday. Many comments have come back on that post, which is the most I have had for the blog so far. Crazy that insurance on your house or car is getting so much feedback.

To continue my string of bad luck, I banged my head into the Jimmy Jib at work on Thursday. This opened up a nice little star cut at the hairline and created a blood flow that made me look like Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Always be careful around the gear.

This week had some interesting posts on the web. Zack Arias had a baby and still had time to do a PDN presentation online. That man has skills! Well, I do believe his wife did most of the baby work. If you have not checked out Zack’s site, it is a must. He has a ton of great information as well as his awesome One Light DVD. While many photographers are posting their knowledge on the web, Zach has done something different. He is now critiquing other photographers work in a video series. The photographers have submitted their sites to Zack, and he and his wife Meghan do a great job pointing out great work and what work could and should be better. I have to say that I have learned more about photography by watching these videos than I thought I ever would.

Joe McNally joined the world of Twitter, we are now seriously in trouble. But he also posted a registration form for some one day lighting workshops in NYC as well as a great video on the behind the scenes of shooting the campaign photos for the Nikon D3.

My friend Syl Arena continues to post great information on his Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School posts. He is up to 51-55 and still going strong. At number 100 I want him to post the things he DID learn in photo school, : ). Syl also posted a great solution for hand held lighting situations, called the LongArm and Metalhead. A DIY solution for those photographers with the need to get a light way up in the air by way of a painters poll. I personally think Syl should call it the BoomStick. Even David Hobby was impressed and did a post of the marriage of painters pole and 5/8 pin adapter, which is almost as good as peanut butter and chocolate.

David duChemin’s new book, Within the Frame, came out last week, but this week the book has had the web buzzing about how great the book is. David is a great shooter and a better guy for sharing so much information with the photo community. I am still making my way through three photo books right now, but David’s is on deck and is a must read for me.

And of course, Scott Kelby continues his world wide domination of anything with the word photo in it, by hosting his second annual World Wide Photo Walk. I hosted for Reno, Nevada last year and I am the leader again for this years walk. I must compliment Scott and his staff on how well this event is put together and how much it draws the local photo communities together. I will post more about the Reno Photo Walk next week, but it is safe to say, we have the best one. We start and end in a place called the Bucket of Blood Saloon. Take that New York City!

Hope you have a great Memorial Day Weekend and a big thank you to all of the veterans, and men and women currently serving our armed forces. Your service and sacrifice are more than a country deserves.

M.D.