The Chances

How a 250+ Pound Couch Potato Got Healthy

Friday, November 04, 2005

BOY you guys are gonna love this story.
On Tuesday I drove out to the Foresthill Bridge in Auburn, CA. This is the 3rd highest bridge in the US, and the 9th highest in the world. It also has a story behind it. Back in the 70s, the plan was to build the Auburn Dam, and along with that plan, they were going to flood a canyon. They built this bridge across the canyon with the anticipation of the dam. Water would have flooded the canyon, and the bridge would only be about 100 feet above it.
Well, the dam never happened. In the meantime, you now have a 730-foot-high bridge that spans a half-mile, only 16 feet shorter than the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Mainly I went out there for location scouting, for a potential ad for the company I work for. "Bridging the Logistics Gap" is what I'm calling it.

These pictures really don't show the scope of the bridge. The thing's a monster.

On either side of the bridge and in the middle are those little phone kiosks, like the ones you see on the side of the road when your car breaks down. These, however, are set up to dial directly to Suicide Prevention. The sign in this one reads, "CRISIS COUNSELING, THERE IS HOPE, MAKE THE CALL 1. OPEN PHONE BOX, 2. LIFT THE HANDSET, 3. PUSH THE BUTTON".

Now for the fun part.

At the end of my time at the bridge, I decided to walk across it and walk back. As I got a little ways in, my phone rang, so I put my tripod on the ledge. It's a good thing I hadn't walked very far across.

The arrow is pointing to the part of the bridge where I knocked the tripod off the ledge. It's a good thing the camera wasn't attached, because it fell maybe 150 to 200 feet down. I ended up climbing down that hill for the third time to retrieve it, and luckily it still works. A bit of plastic is now broken off, and there's dirt lodged in places I can't get to. Battle scars.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Hi guys,

Just did a hike with a couple guys from my church this morning. This is a picture of Bald Rock, a lava formation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains about 30 miles outside Oroville, CA. The trail is called Bald Rock Dome Trail, and you would THINK it led up to the top of Bald Rock dome!  Instead, it leads to the bottom of the canyon, where you can see views such as this. We didn't go all the way to the bottom, we needed to get back home at a decent hour.



We're still looking for a trail that leads to the top.  No luck on the Internet, but maybe we'll have some looking at other resources.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

At work we're evaluating a GPS unit that's "stealth", designed to not look like much of anything. They want to place these inside packing boxes to track high-value freight as it moves across the country.

My boss had the idea that we should take pictures of the unit for use in our promotional materials. Therefore, I give you... interesting photos of an uninteresting subject! At least, I think.

It's completely black with no labels anywhere. I guess you'd call it a "thing".



It's the old "buy posterboard at Wal-Mart" trick! Shhh! Nobody will know.



He also wanted some shots of the inside of the unit, with the cover taken off. I turned the batteries so it doesn't look like we're trying to advertise the batteries themselves.



Finally, I did a few macro shots, but I guarantee, he won't like them.



He hasn't seen these yet, but I can predict what he's going to say. "Why are they so close up?"



That's about all.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

My wife's in the hospital for one more day, so I got some more shots there.  Got a little more artsy and spent a bit more time than just PJ in the delivery room.  I also got some shots for the mandatory baby parts collage.


The out of focus thing (probably a blanket) in the lower-left bothers me, I may clone it out later.

This one's probably been overdone but I don't care.  Those are my fingers btw.  Yes, I was shooting handheld, while holding Joy's foot in my fingers.

Finally, I just love baby wrinkles.

Thanks again for looking.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

I've posted 45 pictures from Joy's birth day yesterday!

Joy's Birth Day

Enjoy!

Friday, September 30, 2005

Joy Rose Chance, born 9-30-05 @ 4:05pm PST. 8lb, 6oz of pure love.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Today was my son's first time fishing!  My in-laws brought their boat to Collins Lake, and we brought the kid.  He and his cousin had a great time fishing off Grampa's boat.

So I thought hey, I just bought a 50mm lens that I need to test out.  Let's give it a try!  So these were both shot at 1/4000, f1.8, 50mm lens.  ISO 100.

Here's my son, Gregory Jr.



And here's his cousin Michael.



...and hilarity ensued!

We all had a good time.
Last Saturday I took my son hiking at Bridgeport, CA in the South Yuba River State Park, here in Northern CA.  It's the longest covered bridge in North America, and my son called it the "house bridge".



Beyond the bridge to the left is a trail called Point Defiance Trail, which is about a mile long.  Here's a view of the bridge from about 1/4 mile up the trail.



Independence Trail has a wonderful mix of terrain, which became a playground for my son.  Here he is scaling the "baby rocks", as he called them.



At 3 years old, this kid was making it up the steep inclines with ease.  I didn't even have to tell him what to do, he got on all fours by himself.



"Cheese!" he exclaimed as I took his picture along one of the straightaways.



He did great on the way up, but on the way back it wasn't so great.  I had to carry him about half the way.  I didn't mind it though, we had lots of fun.  I've vowed to take him camping as often as I can before the weather changes too much.

Thanks for looking!

Friday, August 12, 2005

Before you even ask, no, I haven't slept yet. Last night was the peak for the annual Perseids, and I found the PERFECT spot to shoot and view the stars. It's in Nevada City, CA, and is an abandoned airport. For some strange reason they never developed it, so it's this giant runway-sized plot of dirt. It appears to never have been paved. It's great! Away from city lights, high altitude, and nothing blocking the view of the sky.

Each shot was approximately 3 minutes in length, f/4.5, ISO 800, shutter release & tripod.  I shot 66 frames, and managed to catch 2 shooting stars.  I wanted to get a fireball captured, but every one I saw (5 or 6 of them) were out of frame.  The first one I saw lit up the whole sky and lingered for 4 or 5 seconds.

Anyway, here are the photos.  In this first one, the perseid in question is on the right, just above the large tree:



In this one, it's about 1/3 of the way from the right side of the frame, at the top.



The last one isn't of perseids at all, but I loved what happened when the glow of the sun started to become visible in the distance.



Thanks for looking!

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of shooting Colin Hay from Men At Work.  My friend was the concert promoter, and our standing agreement is he lets me into all his shows for free if I take the pictures.  So... I did, hehe.

At the beginning of the show, I positioned myself next to the stage and up close.  I would have been more towards the center, but the way the auditorium seats are, they're barely 2 or 3 feet from the stage, so there just wouldn't be room for me.  After this song he looked at me and asked me if I was trying to steal his soul.  He then said he wishes someone had at least asked him ahead of time.  This sort of freaked me out, since my friend was supposed to have taken care of all this.  More on it in a minute.


After Colin gave me these comments, my friend came up and told me the "terms" so to speak, which as Colin said, it would have been nice to have been told ahead of time.  He said they only wanted me to take pictures during the first few songs and the last few, but none in the middle.  That's pretty standard for concerts, so I wasn't upset.  It just would have been nice if my friend had been a little more prepared.



After the first few songs, he went electric and brought out his band, which includes his wife, named Cecilia Noel.  She has a band in the Los Angeles area called Cecilia Noel and the Wild Clam, which is salsa music.  She dances and sings, reminded me a lot of Stevie Nicks.


I had thought the set would weigh heavily on the Men At Work songs, since it was called the "Man At Work Tour", but really they only played a few of those.  The main focus was on Colin's solo work, which is really good.



After the show, Colin and Cecilia signed autographs for everyone.  I talked to him and apologized to him for "stealing his soul", and in talking, I realized that he thought I was videotaping him!  I said no, it's a still camera, and he said oh, I have no problem with that!  So it all worked out in the end.



I have the entire gallery online if you're interested in seeing the rest:

http://www.thechances.com/gallery/ColinHay070905/index.html

There are 78 images total, both in B&W and color.  This is what I delivered to my friend on a CD.

Thanks for looking!

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Here are some pictures of Gregory, the little firestarter. What a difference a year makes, last year he was scared to death of sparklers!



Another of the wild one.



I hope you had as good a time as he did!

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Two of my photos were accepted for the 9th Annual Photography Show at Delicato Vineyards in Manteca, CA!  I didn't win any awards, but that's ok, my photos will be displayed in the show at the winery from July 6 to July 30!

Here's the two that were accepted:

Two Butterflies


Jenny


If you want to go see the show, the location is Delicato Vineyards, Highway 99, 4 miles north of Manteca, CA.  They're open 7 days a week, 9am to 5:30pm, and admission is free.  So's the wine tasting!

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Hi guys,

It's taken me a week to finish my editing, so here are a few of the results... last Saturday, Steven Delopoulos from Burlap to Cashmere did an acoustic show in my town, promoted by a good friend of mine.  As a favor, I shot the show (plus for my own portfolio work of course).  It looks like I'm going to shoot his shows on a regular basis, too, which is nice because on July 9 is Colin Hay from Men At Work.

At any rate, I wanted to share a few of them with you.  Before I do,  I'll share some technical info.

The stage was in near darkness, Steve wanted it to be an intimate show.  I was lucky in the fact that being an acoustic show, everyone remained seated, so I was able to use my tripod.  Most shots were 1/4 second, sometimes slower.  I shot a total of 4 with flash, which was about the minimum I felt I could get away with.

Because of the lack of light, I was shooting at ISO 1600 as well, which means NOISE CITY.  I used Noise Ninja in post-processing to clean up the noise, and I think it did a tremendous job.  Finally of course, I converted to B&W using the Digidaan filter.

So here are a few.  This first one is one of the few that I used a flash on, and was shot with ISO 100.  I wish I could have shot this way the whole show.



This one has a very "VH-1" quality to it.



He stayed seated all night long.  Speaking of VH-1, the format he took was very similar to VH-1 Storytellers.  It would have worked extremely well, had it not been a theater and had been perhaps a nightclub, or even a dinner-theater type place.



Finally, here's one in color.  Again, I prefer them all in B&W, I think the low-key lighting works best that way.  More natural.



My friend who promotes the shows has a website, http://www.lostsierraproductions.com/, which is where my images will go in the end.  I'm delivering them in digital format, since he doesn't need prints... 30 separate images, both B&W and color.  I'm also going to contact Steven Delopoulos and his management to see if they might want to use these on his website as well.

If you want to see the whole series, they're at http://www.thechances.com/gallery/stevendelopoulos/

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

I finally got my NYIP Unit 4 critique back from Jerry Rice! For those of you who think critiques aren't long enough, don't worry about it.  I think I managed to get Jerry Rice to talk more than anyone else!  Get ready to see my Unit 4 pictures one last time, it'll make it easier to see his comments in context.  Also forgive the bold type; my writing is in bold, Jerry Rice's comments are in normal italic.

 

First off, I got an A on the exam; I only missed one question.

 

OK, here we go...  Jerry started the tape with a quick overview of the 3 NYIP Guidelines, then started with the critiques.

 

Photograph #1: Head & Shoulders Indoor Window-Light Portrait w/Reflector.


Good window light portrait, exposure correct, picture's sharp, the frame well-filled with the subject, thus simplifying the picture, the third NYI guideline.  There's nothing I would crop here.  As I said, the frame is nicely filled.  Sometimes I have to say to a student, there's too much space up above, too much to the left or to the right; you're filling the frame very nicely, and you should always do that.  Now, the expression is excellent.  Getting good expressions are always questions of good timing on your part.  The moment before, the expression wasn't there, later, they will have disappeared.  To get them at the right time is good timing.  That's focusing attention on your subject.  That's your 2nd NYI guideline.  Focus attention on the subject.  Exposure perfect.  I like the way you've turned the shoulders at an angle to the camera.  If the shoulders are parallel to the camera back, you've got a driver's license identification type photo.  If you angle the shoulders slightly, and this is not a great deal that you've angled here, but you angled them slightly, that will avoid the driver's license ID photo and will even enable you to have your subject to look directly at the camera and it still will not look like an ID photo.  As long as the shoulders are not parallel to the camera.

 

I entered some notes on the photo project form.  For this shot I said, "This is my first unit shot 100% digitally.  Converted to B&W in Photoshop CS and raised black level in Camera RAW plugin.  Metered w/Sekonic L-358, ambient reading."


You have some notes here... this is your first unit shot 100% digital.  Well, you did well with it.  It was converted to black & white in Photoshop and raise... etc.  I, uh, you don't have to give me any of this digital information.  Not the least bit relevant. All I am interested in is the final print that you've handed me.  How you got there, that's up to you.  So you can save yourself some time.  You can record it for your own information, but you don't need it for my information, because as I say, I'm not interested in it.  I'm interested only in the final result.  The great photographer Edward Weston once said, "I don't care if you make your print on a bathmat, as long as it's a good picture."  Well, all of Weston's pictures were good, and he did none of them on bathmats.

Photograph #2: Head & Shoulders Indoor Umbrella-Light Portrait w/Reflector.



Alright, Gregory Jr., your 3-year-old son, a handsome boy.  And you have used your studio lighting, your Alien Bee from Paul Buff down there in Nashville, TN, and your exposure is perfect, you're filling the frame once again, very well with your subject.  Be careful about the hands.  You're cropping the hands off the picture, I would do one of two things.  I would either crop much higher, Greg, just before the shoulders, or I would crop much lower and include the hands, because after the eyes and the mouth, the hands are the next most expressive part of the body, and when you can work them well into the composition, you strengthen the composition.  But you're giving the appearance here of, uh, the boy being an amputee. I don't believe that's the case.  I certainly hope it isn't.  So crop a little higher, or crop a little lower, but not near the elbows, or near the wrists.  Show the hands, the hands are very expressive.  I want you to take a picture where you've used the hands.  In picture 3, in picture 4, in picture 5, in picture 6, you use the hands for those very effectively.  So you can see how well that technique works here.  Now, your exposure is fine, and your picture has captured a wonderful expression on the child's face.  Getting that good expression is a question of good timing on your part.  A moment before, the expression wasn't there, a moment later, it will have disappeared.  To get it at the right time is good timing, that's focusing attention on your subject, and that is your second NYI guideline at work.  Focus attention on the subject.  Now, you've also placed Gregory well off-center, using the rule of thirds that you learned in Unit 2, because these lessons are cumulative, and each is a building block for a future lesson.  The dark background against the light tone of the skin and hair is good.  Dark against light, or light against dark, uh, helps to give a good 3-dimensional feeling.  You ought to be on the lookout for those in other pictures as well, and the structure of this rustic chair he's seated on is good too, because it serves as a framing device.  You had framing back in Unit 2 also.  It's a good photograph, and we're ready to move along.


More notes: "Sharpened slightly in Photoshop CS.  Shot handheld w/PC Sync cord.  Metered w/Sekonic L-358, ambient reading."



I want to look at your notes here, oh, these are notes dealing with Photoshop.  Let's go on.


Photograph #3: 3/4 or Full-Length Indoor Location Portrait.




We're looking now at the self-portrait, of yourself wiring uh, electrical equipment, computer.  I have a favorite photograph I must tell you about here, because your picture reminds me of it.  I have a book on lighting, written by Ross Lowell, the inventor of the Lowell light system, perhaps you've seen these, these are studio lights, and Lowell perfected them.  And he has an illustration called A Gaffer's Nightmare, a gaffer being an electrical repairman and so forth, doing a hookup job in a wet basement with old wiring and says something like, prepare to meet your maker, standing in about 3 inches of water, doing a wire hookup. (laughs) Your picture reminded me of it, I must warn you, be careful.  This is the environmental portrait, and you've done it perfectly.  You're showing yourself making the hookups to the connections, I don't know anything about wiring, so I can't expound on that, but the exposure is perfect, you've placed yourself off-center, utilizing the rule of thirds.  The picture is acceptably sharp, you're filling the frame very well, simplifying the picture.


Notes: "f/11 to maximize DOF, fluorescent bulbs turned off, shop light bounced off ceiling.  Tripod, shot with remote release & timer."



Stopped down to f11, you've got good depth of field.  You need depth of field for a shot like this.  Fluorescent bulbs turned off.  That's good, because they would have given you bad color.  (Note: it's obvious to me that Jerry Rice doesn't know a lot about digital)  Uh, the shop light was bounced off the ceiling, tripod shot with remote release and self-timer.  Fun, a good environmental portrait, nicely done.


Photograph #4: 3/4 or Full-Length Outdoor Location Portrait w/Framing.




We're turning now to a picture of this lovely young lady, "Meegan", or "May-gan" as some people pronounce it.  I don't know how you pronounce it, I've seen it both ways.  I think actually the correct pronunciation makes a name a celtic name from either Wales or Scotland or Ireland, or Britain, England rather, I believe "May-gan" is the correct pronunciation, but many Americans say "Meegan".  She's a lovely young lady, and you have framed her very well with the flowers and the foliage.  You've also made good use of selective focus, throwing the background out of focus, a technique you learned about way back in Unit 1.  I'm glad to see you making use of that there.  So you have used two of your former lessons and selective focus, and used them very well.  Now you're also photographing at a time when the sun is down, late evening sun.  That's virtually the same as open shade, or an overcast day.  Perfect light for portraiture.  You've heard me say in the past, bright sunlight emphasize texture, whereas overcast days and open shade emphasize very subtle color, and that's what you have here.  A beautiful use of the hands, as I mentioned before, through the eyes and the mouth, the hands are the most expressive part of the body.  In addition to that, uh, you have a very good expression on Megan's face, and that's good timing on your part.


Notes: This was a shot I really struggled with, my first real session using the 10D.  It was also before I discovered custom white balance.  I wrote to NYI, "Color-corrected @ 7500K w/Photoshop CS due to inaccurate auto white balance.  First real shoot w/Canon 10D, before I learned to custom white.  Used rose garden as framing device."



You said color corrected to 7500K, that seems odd to me.  Now, let's see, noontime the sun directly overhead is about 5500K, yeah, that could be 7500K, I don't think that makes much of a difference, because the exposure is correct.  The color balance--you said that it was inaccurate auto white balance.  Okay.  No problem.  Um, nicely done.


Photograph #5: Baby, Child, or Pet Expressing Personality.




This is Jenny, your 3-month-old daughter.  Very good use of the reflection here.  Anytime you can get a repetition of forms, something like reflection, you'll strengthen the picture.  Reflections are not the only way to show repetitions, but they're commonly used for that purpose.  They were used well here, you've filled the overall frame very well with your subject, and the exposure is perfect, the focus is acceptably sharp.  One minor criticism, uh, Jenny's left foot is protruding from her head.  For a better picture, you need to either hide that foot completely behind her head, or show more of the leg.  Uh, it's awkward to do with an infant crawling on a table, to get the exact composition, but for a more perfect composition, you'd be better off without the foot there, or better off showing more of the foot, one or the other.  And that use of reflection was excellent.


Notes: "Handheld.  1/8-inch plexiglas on black fabric.  Shadow level raised 25% in Photoshop CS, surface scratches on plexiglas & plexiglas edge removed w/clone tool."



Now let's see, you used plexiglas on black fabric, that's good planning.  And we're ready to go on now.


Photograph #6: Group of People, Must Have Relationship, Not In a Line.




We're looking at the group picture of the Chance family.  Wife, daughter, son, etc.  And you fill the frame very well with the subject, simplifying the picture.  I'd like to try to see how we could fill the gap between Mrs. Chance and Gregory Jr., there's too much of a space there.  Here's my recommendation: have, um... somebody has to hold the child, the baby.  Um, maybe put Mrs. Chance behind Gregory Jr., and you take your hand and place it to hold up the baby.  That should fill in the gap between Gregory Jr. and Mrs. Chance.  Too much of a hole there.  And, um, I'd step back a little bit so that you get Mrs. Chance's hands in the picture.  The exposure is good, the picture acceptably sharp, the frame well-filled with the subject, and you said the second niece was standing behind the camera, acting silly (laughs) to hold the kids' attention, and apparently she did.


Notes: "This is our official 2005 family Easter portrait.  Tripod w/shutter release.  Had my niece push release once per second, 2nd niece stood behind camera acting silly to hold kids' attention.  I directed nieces from in front of camera after setting up the shot.  Whitened my teeth in Photoshop."



You directed the nieces from in front of the camera after setting up the shot, and you whitened your teeth (laughs) in Photoshop.  Well, okay, fine, um, that uh, you're the first student that I've ever had in 20 years in correcting photos, work on the teeth.  Most of the time, it's some other part of the body (laughs), but I find it a little bit amusing that you whitened the teeth.  No reason why you shouldn't!  Absolutely no reason why you shouldn't.  If Photoshop can correct other things in the picture, why not, uh, dentistry!  Well, why not.  I think the background of the fountain works well, and you have everyone looking at the camera, which is good, and that's the way it should be.  Hand gestures are all good.  Nicely composed picture, I would just try to make that suggestion of moving Mrs. Chance a little bit behind Gregory Jr., and then you put your hand on the baby.  I'm not sure that would work, but I would try it.


OK, good job, and I look forward to your next work with great expectations.


Thanks for reading this very long message, everyone!  This has been my best NYIP Unit so far (of 4 total turned in).  Let's hope the next one turns out as good!

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Happy Easter from The Chances!

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Today was our area's annual Bok Kai Festival!  Okay... what's a Bok Kai and why does it have a festival?  It's a Chinese festival with a parade that's been performed every year for the past 125 years.  If you want to know more about it, you can visit their site, http://www.bokkaifestival.com/.

At any rate, here are a few pictures.  Here is a boy who was part of a percussive musical group that was playing along with a dragon.



One of the food vendors had a neat statue of Uncle Sam.



These are the dragons that the percussionists were playing in front of.



Finally, this dragon was the centerpiece of the parade.



If you're interested in seeing more, visit http://www.thechances.com/gallery/BokKai2005/.