I had one of my photography class participants come by the studio to look at some images (he is now a client too) and he said “My family thinks I’m a better photographer since I took your class”  – Thank you Timothy.   He then went on to show me a beautiful portrait of his daughter.  It was a fantastic window light portrait that he nailed.  His comments to me were totally unprompted and unexpected.  It was one of those moments you don’t see coming, but totally affirming when it did.  I couldn’t agree more with the writer of Proverbs when they wrote, “Kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul and healthy for the body”

The above image is from a family trip to Yosemite last summer. A shared moment of accomplishment and being together in a really cool place.

It is my hope that the photography classes I teach might elevate your photographic skills a little and you find your new pictures more pleasing.  Pictures of pets, friends, family and places we go are the stuff we use to create the narratives of our lives. Photographs are one of the most enduring ways to remember the good, bad, happy, sad and triumphant moments.

A camera and photography are tools.  To spend a lot of time struggle with a tool means you are not able to use it for what you are really wanting to in the first place.  My aim with these classes is to demystify the camera and the photo process so you can get to the important stuff.  Capturing moments and telling stories of beauty, love, compassion & accomplishment.

The original and most popular class is the 300 class.  It is one of my favorites.  Other classes have been added after multiple requests.  100 & 200 were added after “intro to…” was confused the “beginning or beginner or novice”.    I use “Intro to….” because the class runs for about 2 or 2.5 hours.   Unlike college were you get a hours, days… a semester to master concepts, we get just a couple of hours.  My goal is to boil down key concepts, introduce them to you and then turn you loose to experiment.

I will attempt to teach as many classes on the list of classes as I can.  This summer I will be teaching classes on Thursday evening and a couple of Saturdays.  I realize Saturday is the most popular for most people and often requested but it is also popular with brides scheduling  weddings, for my children and swim meets, for family visits and vacations…. So, I will teach on Saturdays when I can, but many are already booked months in advance.

The Ironman distance was at first light of the sunrise.  That meant we were out in the fog, light rain and darkness at 0′dark hour, a little earlier than when I’m usually loaded with all my camera gear.  Athletes & their support people were pumped and it was lots of fun to photograph with the challenging lighting conditions.

The start locations, transition points, sponsor aid stations & athlete portraits were done the day before the race. On race day it was Iron Distance Start before  dawn, then 1/2 Iron start, T1 (transition 1 from swim to bike), Sponsor Aid Station, T2 (bike to run) & then Finishers.

All Groupon Codes have been updated to my registrations system!  Register away!

UPDATE 5pm 1/27/2012:

All Groupon Codes Purchase prior to 4;30pm today (1/27/12)  have been uploaded into my registration system.  Groupon purchasers should now be able to register without a problem. please let me know if you find this not to be true.  The rest of the codes will be updated when the deal ends.

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If you have had an issue registering and been told you don’t have a valid code….  I’m sorry I’ve not responded immediately to your email or voice mail.  I’m working my way thru 100+ issues

Groupon issues Codes and they live in Groupon land.

Groupon codes need to be down loaded, formatted, SQL statements written to merge data fields and tables (blah blah computer stuff…)

Codes are then loaded on my Server that does registration. Once there, your registration will be easy.  Groupon differs from Living Social (who we have used in the past)  Groupon makes the codes available right away, LS waits till the end of the deal.  Uploading all the codes at once is straight forward.  uploading codes in 2′s, 5′s & 10′ is a nightmare.

I will be uploading the Groupon codes ASAP

If you have registered and it said your code isn’t valid…. you are still registered but the system see you as still needing to make a payment.  Now we just need to pair your code with your registration.  This will take a little time, but it will get sorted out.  Once done you will be all set (no addition payment needed)

Thank you for your Patience

I look forward to seeing you in Class.

Geeky, Photographer Stuff
These are HDR Panorama images.

Top image is made up of 27 Exposures
Bottom image in made up of 18 Eexposures

Assemble was done in PTGui & further polishing was done in Photoshop

Camera was Canon 1d Mark III

I’ve looked at this view while driving over the Haw River numerous times over the past decade.  I finally decided this was the year make a photo expedition and capture some wonderful fall colors.

I’m really excited the way it turn out!

This image is  FOR SALE.

I can create postcards, wallpaper, large canvas wrap images.  it should easily print 8 to 10 feet wide.  With a little work… it would print 16-20 feet wide.  The ratio is about 4:1.  So 4 feet wide =’s about 1 foot tall.  It could also be broken into section.  4 square sections might look really cool in the right location.  Please Contact me if you would like purchase this image.

If you would like to see if full screen – go to the Panorama Portfolio section of ScottFaber.com

Camera Nerds… Here is the Technical Info:
Canon 1d Mark III
50mm 1.8 lens set @ f8
1.7 Stop Bracket – 3 images bracket
GigaPan – Panohead
This image is composed of 72 images
8 Columns
3 Rows
3 Exposures at each stop in the matrix of images
Pano/HDR sewing done with PTGui Pro on Win 7 64bit PC that I built
Further polishing done in Photoshop (contract, saturation, sharpening, cropping)

It is a privilege to be invited into peoples lives for their most special of days, their wedding day.

Thank you Shannon & Dusty for letting us spend a day with you.  Here are some highlights from the day.

Thank You’s also go to:
Venue:  Washington Duke Inn
Officiate: Ed Sansbury
DJ: John Williford
Florist: Trebella - Becky
Cake: Sweet Memories

For those of you who might have missed the article in the Sunday Edition of the Herald Sun,  Sept. 25, here it is.  Edward Timberlake, Eric Chetwood, Nakaeya Jones and Keondra Hawkins are featured in the photographs.  I was also happy to see that our event sponsors (RSVP Events, Crave, Atlas Productions Group, & Ninth Street Flowers  ) got a shout out in the article too.  Couldn’t have done it without their help.

Thank you again to all who came!

So, Thank you to:

1. RSVP Events -  Sharon, Lindsey & Tammy:  for planning, door prizes, drinks  and coordinating the bar-tending, linens and AV coordination.
2. Crave - Donna Ford:  All the wonderful food + door prizes.
3. Atlas Productions Group - 50″ TV, Stand + other AV hardware to make it all work
4. Ninth Street Flowers - Flowers and Door Prizes
5. APR (American Party Rentals)- Linens – the Copper Linens were… awesome.

Pix

Here is a preview of one of my favorite new Images:

We are really excited to show of the studio.  This is your chance to see the studio, connect with us and other creative, fun people.  This will be our 7th Lucky year in this studio.  This week is filled with lots and lots of cleaning, polishing, & painting.  So, out with the old and in with the new!  We will have lots of new images on display.  The studio will be open to tour + Food & Drinks.

• Connect with other Cool, Creative and Funf People
• Raffle Prizes -
  Photography Creative Services
  Photography Classes ($75 Value)
  RSVP – Special Event Planning (Priceless)
  Gift Basket of Cookies ($75 Value)
  Flowers from Ninth St. Flowers
  Gift Certificate – Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club
  More to come
• Studio Tours
• Photo Art Project (don’t be scared, it’s “ok”.)
• Free Drinks + Food

This Event is FREE for DCC Members and should be free for non members if you follow the directions below.

When Non Member Register – indicate that “Host Invited Guest“  then you should be able to register at No Charge

Click HERE to Register ( http://durhamchamber.chambermaster.com/events/details/business-after-hours-469 )

RSVP Events is helping with Event Planning, Raffle and DRINKS. You know it will be good since they are usually planning monstrously cool events @  Cree, SAS and Duke.  Thank you, Sharon, Lindsey and Tammy.

Creative Memory Bakery (while know for their awesome deserts) will be catering the party, so you know the food will be excellent.  Thank you, Donna.

Atlas Production Group has been kind enough to help with some extra Video Screens and AV support.  Thank you, Garth.