Earning a Black Belt at 70-yrs-old

Lynn Eliott, 70, stretches before a routine after passing his test for a black belt in karate at Azad's Martial Arts Friday, November 4, 2011 in Chico, Calif. 

(Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Lynn Eliott, 70, (left) does some kicks with Grand Master Farshad Azad (right) after passing his test for a black belt in karate at Azad's Martial Arts Friday, November 4, 2011 in Chico, Calif. 

(Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Lynn Eliott, 70, (right) does some punches with Head Instructor Dawn Womack (left) after passing his test for a black belt in karate at Azad's Martial Arts Friday, November 4, 2011 in Chico, Calif. 

(Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

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Adding motion to a slow game

I headed to Hamilton City to cover the Hamilton High boys basketball team face off against Head-Royce High in a playoff game Thursday night. The Head-Royce boys dominated the Hamilton Boys which lead to an otherwise quite slow game. This does allow me to try out some different techniques. This night I decided to use a slow exposure to give a wispy action movement to the game. I might have been able to get a closer shot, but like I said, the game was sloooooow.

Hamilton High's #21 Omar Diaz dribbles against Head-Royce High in the second quarter of their boys basketball playoff game on Thursday, March 11, 2010 in Hamilton City, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Vote for fellow photographer Mike Greener new travel book

Everyone take a look at fellow photog friend Mike Greener who is counting on some votes for his new book (which you can also buy) about his tavels. Great stories and photos! I'll have him explain the rest.
Mike Greener at the Eddie Adams Workshop. (photo by Stephen Lam)

Mike Greener October 28 at 9:27pm
How's it going everybody? Bare with me on this. Back in the winter of 2007 my brother Eric and I realized how distant our friendship had grown over the last couple of years. Through college and the demands from our jobs we had lost touch. So we decided to remedy it by quitting our jobs and taking an unplanned backpacking trip from the Patagonia to Panama for six months. Needless to say it was an epic trip full of mishaps and adventure. Upon my return I decided to put the collection of journal entries and edited down the thousands of pictures I took and put them into a new book called "Shopping for Dynamite -A Brotherly Adventure to South America".
I am writing because now I could really use your help. With the recent release of my book have decided to enter it into a travel book contest. The contest is based off a voting system and the top 10 voted on books will then qualify for professional judging. I would really like to be apart of that. It's grand prize is $3000.00. If you could spare a couple minutes -you'll have to register but it's with a cool company that doesn't spam you. I'd really appreciate it if you click on the link provided below and vote for my book. Help me reach my goal of 1000 votes. Once you have voted please forward on this link and encourage your family and friends to vote. The more the merrier! After you are done, I'd be curious to hear what you think of the book. You can view pictures of the printed book on my blog link below. Thanks so much for the support.
Best Regards,
-Mike Greener

http://www.blurb.com/photo-book-contest/contest_homehttp://mikegreener.blogspot.com/2009/10/shopping-for-dynamite-book-release.html

http://www.mikegreener.com/

mike@mikegreener.com

http://www.blurb.com/

He has some really great stuff. Give him a good vote! I did.

What a Gigaview!

Recently I came across something very incredible. It was the combination of a photographer I have been following and his use of an equipment called Gigapan. It takes a normal compact point and shoot camera and combines a combination of photographs taken over a span of 15 minutes in 20 rows and 11 columns of individual images taken at full zoom. What this means is that it can give an image of 1,474 mega pixels. or 59,783 X 24,658 pixels. I have seen the technology in previous events, but for this photographer to use it at the Presidential Inauguration was truly an astonishing feat. It is the technology savvy "Where's Waldo" of photography.

See the image in fullscreen

Read how the photographer, David Bergman took the image

I have given much thought to a piece of technology like this. But never really seen its true potential till now. Before I had seen it be used in mostly still environments, but using it now during the Presidential Inauguration gives new meaning to its application. I myself am looking forward to investing in this awesome piece of equipment.

Searching For A Nice Portrait

Today I felt a little creative when I went to take a portrait for the Styles section's InnerView. I never know what to expect from these assignments when most of them occur over an interview with a reporter. Most of the InnerViews are features of individuals who are being recognized for things they did prior to the day of the shoot. There is no re-creation in my job. This generally makes it a time to capture a nice portrait photo so people can see a face that belongs to the story.

Today's InnerView was of a a woman named Jean Phillips who had polio as a young girl. She had make a lifelong commitment to help those with disabilities. Phillips was very nice and welcoming. She was confined to her bed in the living room of her home, but that didn't seem to get her down.

I started to photograph her in her environment with an overall shot, then some medium shots and a couple closeups. The images were nice, but it lacked the creativity of inspiration. When looking around for another shot I turned my back to Phillips, and to my excitement saw a mirror that was framed with pictures of kids. I asked Phillips, "Is this your family?" She responded, "Yes." The idea was set. I spent the next several minutes not even facing Phillips, but looking away from her taking shots of her reflected in the mirror.

Jean Phillips is reflected in a mirror framed with pictures of her family. Phillips had polio as a young woman and has a lifelong commitment to people with disabilities. She looks back at her life while in her home Wednesday January 7, 2009 in Orland, Calif. She has raised three daughters and received an award from Butte County Coordinating Council for making a difference for people with disabilities. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

I made sure my aperture was small enough so that the depth of field would pick up detail in the pictures, and have my subject in focus. Low light made it hard to hand hold at 1/20 a second. But a few turned out. I only needed one of her smiling, and I did.

Creativity a Little Foggy

I would normally like to start the New Year off with some amazing photograph that gets the creativity rolling. But I can never predict what will happen or expect a busy news day. It is generally when you want something to happen, nothing does. And as soon as you become busy, the real action won't stop. So the best thing to do is get busy. I do know that this blog will challenge me to continue to do what I do best...take pictures. If I am not feeling creative, it will force me to not just dream of a great picture, but actually head out and take it.

Vehicles drive cautiously along Hwy99 between E. 20th St and Skyway as heavy fog rolls in Friday, January 2, 2009 in Chico, CA. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Today shows exactly that kind of mentality. The picture of fog can be nice and set a mood. It isn't that creative, but it is one step closer to seeing what it takes to get the creative juices flowing. At least it is a start. It just goes to show that my creativity is looking a little foggy.