Missouri Weekend

Well, the weekend promised to be relaxing and new, two things that I'm not really used to back in Oklahoma. We stayed at Big Cedar in Branson, which is pretty awesome. Thanks goes to Kelsey, her dad and step mom for making the weekend possible.

I really hoped to shoot a bit while I was there, and Big Cedar delivered some unique opportunities. I really hoped that the night would be clear, but it wasn't as clear as it could have been. Although the night sky was not ideal, I still shot.

Anyway, here's some stuff.

Red leaves on a bright blue sky made for some interesting contrast.

Nikon D200, 200mm, 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 400, WB Sunny, PS CS3 level edit.

Sunset proved fruitful.

Nikon D200, 200mm, 1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 400, WB Cloudy, PS CS3 level edit.

The night sky, again, wasn't as clear as I hoped, and there was quite a bit of light pollution. I still wanted to try and make the best of it since I knew it was a hell of a lot less light pollution than I'm used to in Norman.
Nikon D200, 18mm, 5 minutes, f/6.3, ISO 200, WB 3600K, PS CS3 level edit.

Nikon D200, 18mm, 2 minutes, f/9, ISO 400, WB Sunny, PS CS3 level edit.

Although I'm not really happy with the night shots that came out, I think I learned a little bit more. At this rate I should make some I'm really happy with sometime this summer.

Nikon D200, 18mm, 6 minutes, f/9, ISO 400, WB 4200K, PS CS3 level edit.

It's almost the end of school, so I might be updating a bit less in the next two weeks followed by numerous updates all at once.

Have a great week!

OU Student Media Portfolio Competition

I will turn in a hard copy of my portfolio as well as a CD version with this promo video

Faces of Gymnastics

The OU women clinched an appearance in the NCAA women's gymnastics national championship last night at the South Central Regional at Lloyd Noble Center. I got a lot of good shots but I wanted to share the faces with you in particular. 

All photos courtesy OU Student Media.

Click photo to enlarge

Dust Bowl

Today's wind ravaged the blue sky rendering it void of beauty. The dust, however, made for interesting imagery nonetheless. As the sun got lower to the horizon, the dust appeared thicker and more orange. It eventually got crazy.

The dust started to cover the sun completely. The sun disappeared in the next frame.

New Project - Part 1

I have a new project. I'm going to try to keep it under wraps for now, but here's a clue

Former OU running back Adrian Peterson personifies "power" in Nike's new ad campaign. Taken from Nike Sparq 60 second spot commercial.

60 second commercial courtesy YouTube.

Coping with Crisis

"Coping with Crisis" featured special guests from Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. I was privileged to spend most of my day spending time with these four individuals, including lunch. What did I learn? John, the editor-in-chief at NIU, likes O'Connell's junior burgers and carries a Chicago Cubs mini-calendar in his wallet (apparently opening day was today). Amie, the editor-in-chief at Virginia Tech, wants to stay in Virginia after graduation and likes to get Sbarro at VT's student union (her newsroom is in their union, so it is an easy walk for food). Amie has also done an ad campaign with Rocawear (Kels informed me of this). Seriously, look it up on YouTube.

Not exactly things you were expecting, right? Well, it pays to spend a little time getting to know people sometimes. 

(Note: these photos might appear not sharp. Other than the motion blur on her hand, they are sharp, but I have no idea why my uploader makes things look funny.)

Amie discusses security measures at Virginia Tech.

Jim, adviser from NIU, expresses his distaste for broadcast media and their abrasive journalism in the aftermath of the NIU shootings.

John and Jim from NIU.

Amie and Kelly (sp) express the same facial gesture toward an audience member's question.

Breia Brissey - Big Event 2008

OU's annual community service event brought us to south-side OKC. Our task: repainting addresses on driveways. Not too bad I must say. Again, just like our day out for tennis, the weather was awesome and the work wasn't all too intensive. I mostly carried a shovel and watched as people did things. 

An all-around badass, John Akingbola. John shot for the Daily that day. John owns both a Canon 40D and 30D, one on a wide angle and the other on his 70-200 2.8. I wish to have a similar set up with my equipment someday, but I'm in the middle of saving. My goal: One Nikon D300 with vertical grip and Tokina 11-16 2.8 and Nikon D200 with vertical grip on 80-200 2.8. We'll see if that ever happens.

Briana paints.

Since we forgot to take a group photo, my reflection off of LP's sunglasses is the only documentation that I actually attended.

Joy paints with technique.

LP and Kelsey argue over a game they fashioned in our boredom. Who knew enamel could be so fun!

Some time to mess with my SB-600 on remote. We used stencils to spray paint the address numbers.

OU Tennis

This semester seems to be "go to OU athletic events" semester. I've probably gone to more games, meets and matches than any other year. Friday marked my first visit to OU Tennis. Thankfully the weather was awesome, despite it being a bit chilly and I didn't have my coat. My 50 cent hotdog was pretty sweet, too.

Kelsey pointed out that not a single guy on the men's tennis team is from the U.S. Most are eastern European.

I didn't take my shooting too seriously since this was on my leisure.

Three of our Sooners during a doubles match.

Chelsea Orr serving during the first doubles match.

This one would be nicer if the guy in the wheelchair weren't in frame. Oh well.

Kelsey sports her new hat.

The sun got pretty low since the matches started at 5. Loooong shadows.

"Breia Brissey" (Big Event) photos coming tomorrow.

Lend Me a Tenor

OU School of Drama's production of "Lend Me a Tenor"

Standard assignment. Nothing really outstanding to report. The lights seemed to be more amber on the camera than to the naked eye, so I shot the whole thing on incandescent WB. Most came out perfect. In a few scenes, two characters were next to each other, both wearing rich orange fabrics so that threw off the WB a little more. All in all, it was pretty standard.

I really liked this show. I recommend seeing it! Pretty darn funny.