Hi, guys!

Well, Saturday was our local Multicultural Fair in my little town. They close down a street in town for an evening and people from the community set up their booths. On either end of the street they have stages, showing off multicultural performing arts. I was categorized as "demonstrating artists", although I didn't demonstrate much.

Leading up, I ordered 6 11x14's mounted on single-weight matteboard by MPIX. I picked up 16x20 double-mattes at Aaron Bros. and used masking tape to mount the 11x14's (since they were already mounted, regular masking tape worked).

I also had a 16x20 of the plexiglas shot of my daughter, and a 16x20 of a senior I shot. Then I used the 8x10 of my first senior shoot, framed at11x14.

Along with these, I had my regular portfolio, my wedding portfolio, and my 4x6 portfolio. The finishing touch was the Shared Ink album I had made.

Here are a few quick pictures:

If you notice, the side panels are on. The wind was probably 30mph and I had a BEAR of a time making sure I didn't lose any pictures. My original idea was to put the 11x14's on little table easels but the wind sort of ruined that one. The walls cut down on the wind enough to at least tape down the easels.

In this one, you can see the 16x20 and the senior from last year. In the center on the table is a calendar I had made. The book is my normal portfolio, open to the rates page.

Here's the other side of the booth. The closed album to the left is my Shared Ink album, and the magazine to the right is the Visitor's Guide that has one of my photos published in it (more about this later).

Here's the Shared Ink album open:

OK so the final verdict... remember, my only other booth experience was last year's Christmas in November. At that particular booth, I tried to approach EVERYONE, introduce myself, and give them a business card. I'd also mention my drawing, which generated a mailing list. As a result, I had one booking, another booth vendor.

At this booth, I didn't approach anyone other than to say hello to them as they passed. Occasionally people would slow down and say to each other oh look at the nice pictures. Other times, they would stop and talk, I would give them a business card and discuss what they might be looking for.

So in the end, almost everyone who stopped at my booth was actually interested. There were people who had weddings coming up, people who wanted portraits, some who wanted newborn shots similar to mine. Nobody signed for a portrait at the show, but I'm expecting some calls.

I also think the larger prints drew people in easier. My next booth will be Christmas in November again, and I'm planning not to close off the booth except the back, which I plan to project a slideshow. I'll let you know how things progress!

This is going to be a short entry, I just wanted to share the latest photo I took of my daughter. She's just learning how to hold her head up, and has been trying to sit up. She also recently figured out how to turn over. Anyway, here's Jenny.

Hey guys, I was playing with the 10D tonight and got the itching to take some late-night photos. I wasn't able to do them EXACTLY as I would like, since I don't have a remote shutter release for the 10D yet.

Normally I'd shoot these at ISO 100 with a large aperture for plenty of DOF (f22 or greater), but to do that I'd need the bulb setting, and believe me, my hand isn't very steady holding the shutter release down for 5 minutes!

So the compromise was ISO 400 at 30 seconds. Most of these were shot at f5.6, some were even shot at f3.5. A few were at f8. So here are a few, starting with one for Steve Batson. He'll know why I shot it. :) Not the greatest moon shot ever done, but it's liveable. It's just a full-resolution crop. I was zoomed in at 300mm... For a GOOD moon shot I'd need 450 or 500.

Anyway to start the night, I decided to do a proof of concept photo, because at the beginning I wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to get away with moonlit photos without a remote. This is the shot that made me want to take more. Question though... why would the county put up a huge pile of sand to block the boat launch? There are at least 5 directional signs pointing how to get to it!

The Tisdale Bridge is something I had only heard about, but nobody I asked could direct me on how to get to it! After months of research online and some educated guesses, I found the thing. Here's a streetsign approaching the bridge from the North.

Someone help me out here, is the green due to reciprosity failure? This is a pump house downstream from the bridge. The light certainly didn't look green from where I was standing.

Finally, a picture of the bridge itself. This is a location I'm going to return to at different times of day for sure!

YES, there are more. If you want to view them all, you can at http://www.thechances.com/gallery/TisdaleBridgeNight/. Thanks for looking!

Greg

Hello, all!

For my wife's birthday, I took her to the El Dorado Hotel in Reno, NV to see a stage production of Grease. After the show I spent a few hours shooting the casino lights. The casino lights were all shot at 100 ISO, balanced for Tungsten light, f22, 2 seconds of expousre. I've gotta say, I'm lovin' this camera!

To start, there was a closed-down casino among the still-open ones. It was called the Old Reno Club... I shot this through the window of the place.

The city is working on downtown, apparently digging a huge trench for trains to run underneath the city instead of through the middle. As a result, it's difficult to shoot Reno's most-known landmark, the "Biggest Little City In The World" sign. I was up against a chain-link fence for this shot, at 28mm (effectively 45mm on the 10D).

Next is one of the seedier casinos in downtown Reno, The Nugget. Next door is a newer entry, the Golden Phoenix.

Finally my favorite shot from the trip, the Harrah's entrance, along with an ad for Showgirls. They had this window display with topless mannequins dressed up as showgirls to go along with this show. Reno tries REAL hard to be Vegas.

Thanks for looking!