Inspired Vision Studios

I'm Back

2012-01-24T15:30:00.000-08:00

So I'm going to quasi apologize for the pitiful state of my blog these past many months. To be fair, I didn't previously know how what I was doing when it came to blogging. So now I'm back. This blog will be expanding from a purely Photography blog to cover my other interests, which also include Social Media, Cooking and DIY. I'm not going to lie, it's probably going to be pretty random, but here it goes!

Christmas in Illinois

2010-01-06T20:25:00.000-08:00

When visiting my family in Havana Illinois we got 10" of snow so I decided to get out and take a couple of photos. The first three are from the water front on the Illinois river, and the rest are from the farm.

The rest of the pictures were a play on shadows and snow. Once the snow stopped the sun finally came out and gave us some great depth and color to the scenery.

Fort Myers Fl.

2009-11-03T16:20:00.000-08:00

So I was in Fort Myers for a friend's wedding at the Ritz Carlton, and got a chance to snap a couple of pictures. The first one is of children playing in the surf at sunset. They were a couple of kids from the wedding party, and kept running into all of the shots so I decided to captured them.

The second shot shows the temporary gazebo they used for the service. This shot at sunset a splash of light through the canopy as the sun went down.

The next two pictures show the bridal party leaving the ceremony.

The next picture is of two of the guests at the wedding doing a couples photo.

The final picture is of a wine glass on the beach. What is better than wine, surf, and sunset.

Union Camp Falls, Tn

2009-09-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

So last week I visited Union Camp Falls last week with a friend of mine that was visiting. Unfortunately, it hadn't rained in a few weeks, and this leaves the waterfall running at barely a trickle. Well, I figured I'd give it another go this weekend since it's been raining all week. It's not surprising, but the results were significantly more impressive. (As always, click on the pictures to see a bigger version.)

If you're looking to check out this water fall go ahead and visit: http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/landforms/m.php?wpt=MAF002
It's right off of Union Camp Rd in Lafayette. Take a left onto Woodward Rd. into the old Baptist Church parking lot. The road isn't labeled on this end, and it is a dirt road.

Hangzhou, China

2009-09-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

So it's been pointed out that I haven't posted anything in over a month and a half. I'll lay most of the blame on the fact that I just started a new job, and moved to a new city.

Well, the point is, here is a set from the second small village I went to. Granted this was still a city over 6 million people, but that's a village over there. Russ and I took the train down to Hangzhou so that he could do a two day business trip, and I could just look around.

Hangzhou is known as the most beautiful city in China. The main feature of the city is the lake situated on the western side of town. We stayed within walking distance, and I spent the majority of the first day there. The entire lake was set up for tourists and visitors. You could rent multiple types of boats around the lake to take romantic cruises on. Along with this the entire lake had bicycle paths around it, gazebos and restaurants to hang out in.

The first two picture show the walking paths around the lake, and two of gazebos that were on the water.

The next set shows pictures of the different gardens around the lake. There were multiple gardens spread throughout the lake complex, and they were fantastically designed.

The next picture shows the level of detail that was involved in the design of everything around the lake. This was one of the columns that surrounded the entire lake.

The final set shows a Buddhist temple that was above the city. It was called The Peak That Flew here, and was on the side of the mountain overlooking the lake. The temple complex involved a series of buildings with two story Buddha statues, and some amazing artwork. Outside of the temple there were multiple statues and figures carved directly into the walls of the mountain, and the caves.

Tn Model: Looking back

2009-07-10T12:51:00.001-07:00

Since I'm moving back to Tennessee next week I figured I'd post some older photos from a model I used to work with back in west Tn. Heather Lyn B was a great model to work with. She had a wonderful sense of humor, a natural poser, and she was comfortable in many situations. I'm posted some pictures from the different shoots we did while I lived in Jackson.

The first set of photos is from a swim suite set we did:

The second set of photos comes from our first shoot together near a train museum in Jackson, Tn:

The last set of photos are from a few different fashions outfit shoots:

If you like this work please visit her site at Heather Lyn B.

Suzhou, China

2009-07-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

Suzhou is a city to the south west of Shanghai which sits on the Grand Canal, and is one of China's canal cities. Kind of like Asian Venice, but with a lot more roads. this system grew out of the trade with Shanghai. The city of 6 million is a short train ride from Shanghai, and I took a day trip to visit the city. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.

China Teaser

2009-06-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

I'm still going through all of the pictures I've taken in China (2,500 of them), but here are a few teasers from the trip. Since I don't have a Panoramic fisheye lens, I have put these together in photoshop. I've also shrunk them down to a very small size relative to what they actually are, so if you have trouble seeing the details let me know. As always click on the picture to open it up in a new window and see it larger.

The first picture is the nighttime view from Russ and Julie's apartment in Shanghai. They are on the 18th floor, and have really lucked out to have a large expanse of short buildings between them and a pretty impressive skyline.

The second two pictures are from the Forbidden Palace. The first one is from within the city. I was in The Hall of Preserving Harmony, and looking out at the next section of the city. The second picture is taken from the highest viewpoint of the imperial garden, which looks out over the entire Forbidden Palace.

The wall of dragons was part of Bei Hai Park near the Forbidden City, and was pretty impressive. The structure was over ten feet tall, and had nine three-dimensional dragons carved out of stone on it.

The last two pictures come from around Shanghai. The first one is a picture of the Bund business district. This was the first region of China that was allowed to freely trade with the west, and is now one of the richest areas of China. It is marked by some great skyscrapers, all of which are less than 15 years old. The second area is right off of the People's Park, it had a large fountain, and areas for citizens to relax and socialize.

I hope you liked these photos, and they have whet your appetite for what is to come. More soon!!

Prague, Czech Republic

2009-06-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

The final city from my European tour is Prague. Prague was an amazing city, which truly does have an amazing amount of history. I could have spent months there trying to get the perfect picture of every building and bridge in just the right light. Unfortunately, I only had four days there. Of all of the cities I went to during this trip, Prague is the one I definitely want to return to. We were there in March while it's still pretty cool to cold. Next time I'm going in early summer when the city explodes with live music and patio bars.

The first five pictures are of the castle complex itself. It sits on the side of a hill above the city itself on the other side of the river. It is the largest castle complex in the world still in existence, and was pretty impressive to walk around. The black steeples are St. Vitus Cathedral. There is also a church and set of stairs from around the castle.

Prague is known as the city of 1,000 steeples, and when you get a high view, you can tell why. The city has hundreds of steeples and domes in every direction you look in, and it makes for a great photo op. I took some pictures from the bridge tower, and the old town hall tower. The first picture is Paza tin dalla torre, and the rest are random spires and domes.

The next set of pictures focus on the Charles Bridge and the areas around it. The first picture of the set is Prague's version of Venice, which in on the castle side of the bridge. These areas include the Kafka region which has a lot of art shops and little botiques. The other pictures include one of the bridge statues and a boat.

The next three photos were the Astronomical Clock on the side of the old town hall. Every hour the clock would strike, and a little skeleton guy would come out and dance around. It was a really neat set of two clocks, and well worth the pictures.

The last two photos were taken on my last day in Prague. I spent all day wondering around the castle and city by myself taking photos. As the day came to a close I camped out at an outdoor cafe on the river side. As night fell I took some photos of the Charles Bridge with a slow shutter speed to slow down the river and pick up some more light. These were the two photos I got that I liked the most.

Brno, Czech Republic

2009-06-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

So before I can start posting pictures from China I need to finish off the cities of Europe I went to.
After leaving Vienna our group traveled by train to the southern city of Brno in the Czech Republic. I didn't know what to expect of the city, since I have never actually heard of it prior to this trip. I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. Brno is fairly close to Vienna, and in the time of the Habsburgs, it was used as a testing ground for new architectural techniques before they could be used in the royal city. This means that Brno has some beautiful buildings and churches from that period. Along with this the city is located in wine country, and has Masaryk University with over 40 thousand students. This combines to make a very fun and welcoming little town.

The first set of pictures are from a wine tasting dinner in an underground winery with the Masaryk students. The last picture is the glass instrument that the somalie, Erik used to draw wine out of the wooden barrels.

The second set of pictures show images of areas around town, including those taken from the top of the highest church steeple in town. The second to last picture is of the main square (Actually a triangle) downtown. There was significant road work being done around town, and as a result the trolley had to run directly through the heart of the square. The last picture is the staircase in the steeple that we hiked up to get the pictures of downtown.

The last photo is of the city in panoramic from the church steeple.

Back from China

2009-06-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm back from China after almost a month over there. I took over 2,500 pictures while I was there, and I'm currently sorting through them now. Along with this I'm working on finishing off the last two cities of photos from my Europe trip. So expect to see these before my China pictures. One of these days I'll catch up to it all.

Pictures of Vienna

2009-04-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

So after walking around Venice for a day and a half (blog post below) our little group traveled up to Vienna. We stayed right in the middle of the city at a great little hotel on a side street near many of the attractions. The three pictures were a block away from our place, and had a fantastic cafe for lunch. As always, remember to click on the pictures for a bigger view!

Vienna is also famous for their architecture and statues. These can be found throughout the city, and there were some fantastic examples. Two of my favorites were the pair of cherubim statues. However, the statues of the Greek gods were hard to beat. Even the horse posts were decorated to a point that deserved a picture.

The last three show Vienna's infinite love for music and the opera. Two of the pictures are from the opera house, while the last one is a statue of Mozart in the park. For Mozart, they made a garden of yellow flowers in the shape of a musical note.

All in all, Vienna was a fantastic city that I preferred over Venice, though if I wasn't traveling with friends it might not have been the case. But there is so much history and fantastic sites in the city that it isn't hard to love Vienna.

Cannon Instructions

2009-04-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

So a lot of people have asked me about how to do a single color in a photo, with everything else being black and white. Well, for most pictures this is a multi-step process. I take the picture in color, and then through quite a bit of painstaking work in photoshop, I merge a Black & White version and the color version to let only certain parts show through. For those of you with a Cannon Powershot or some other Cannon cameras, there is an easier way. The following are instructions on how to easily take pictures with only one color showing through.

Hit the Function Set button in the middle of the control circle and you will see the control list. Use the circle to scan over to the right and select the "Color Accent" option.

Hit the center of the circle to select the color accent option and close out the menu. Your screen will now look like the one below, the eye dropper and the DISP icons should be showing.

Hit the DISP button on the back of the camera to bring up the color selection menu. You will see the color that is currently selected in the box. To change this color, point the camera at the color you want to highlight and push the left side of the circle controls. This should change the color that is displayed in the box.

Hit the DISP button again and the camera is now set. When looking through the viewfinder everything should be in B&W other than the selected color. Now just snap away and your pictures will maintain just one color. For examples look at the shot pictures in the social pictures blog.

Social Pictures

2009-04-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

For those of you that find this shocking (not sure who that would be), I tend to spend a lot of time in social situations, specifically at bars. As a result I have quite a few fun photos of drinking beer and wine so I figured I'd share some of those pictures.

The first picture comes from a Persian bar here in Atlanta where we had a big dinner night, and ended up hitting up the Hooka. I liked the image and decided to take some shots. Here is my favorite.

The second image comes from another night-spot here in Atlanta called Door 44. It's a fun place with Burlesque style dancers. The bar is glassed topped and has fake rose petals and lights under the glass. It was a great effect, and I love the photo of my Whiskey Sour.

The next set comes from the Absolute bar in Brno, Czech Republic. The local students helped us find this bar and it was great to hang out. Many shots, and many large liters of Pilsen Urquel. There is also a few shots of some green minty shots that one of the girls from Czech ordered for all of us.

The last set of photos come from a small Vineyard outside of Brno, in the Czech Republic. The first picture is one of my favorites. This glass tube was used to actually pull the wine out of the casks for the tastings. I also have some pictures of the wine storage, and the last one is out table spread for the dinner.

Europe: Venice

2009-04-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

As many of you that read this know, and now everyone else that bothers to read this, I just got back from a trip in Europe. I was working on a project for school in the Czech Republic, and while I was there I decided that it would be a good idea to check out Venice and Vienna as well. Honestly, when is the next time I'll have two weeks straight to hit up Europe.
So here are the fist set of photos to come out from the trip. I working chronologically through the photos since I took over 2000 while there. These are some of my favorites. Consequently, I've decided I really like night photography after playing around with it in Venice and Prague.
Oh, and if you've never been to Venice you really should. It is one heck of a cool city. Just two things to keep in mind. First, don't make set plans to be anywhere on-time. You will get lost and won't make it on time. The whole city is seriously a maze. Second, go with someone you love (or at least really like). It is a very romantic city, so not really a place to go wondering around with your buddies (which is of course what I did). However, if you love history and art, the place is simply amazing.

As always, click on the pictures for a larger view!

Random Shots around the city!

Night Photos

Saw this photo and couldn't help but shoot it. Just a funny comment on flirting!

My work is finally for sale!

2009-04-06T18:46:00.001-07:00

So I finally have a new website where I can sell my work. And consequently I also have a site where new "unsigned" artists can sell their work online. Check it out!

Unknown Art Gallery

Some new artwork

2009-02-23T20:47:00.000-08:00

I'm working on finally getting some artwork out for sale so here are some pictures I'm starting out with, at least I think some of them are.

So these first two are going to be mounted on 8x10" canvases, and paired with two blue canvases with sea green swirls. (This project isn't done yet) But it should be pretty cool.

The next project is actually ready for sale. It's called "Charleston in Pink" and is two photos in black and white with the pink stucco remaining. Mounted on two 8x10" canvases, and glazed for depth and color.

The other two projects I have in mind will split pictures between large panels mounted on wood boxes and glazed. These are more for couch artwork.

Let me know what you guys think of the ideas! I'd love some feedback.

Alorah

2009-01-22T09:57:00.001-08:00

So I just did my first photo shoot with Alorah and had a lot of fun with it. She is a great woman with a great sense of humor. She barely even called me on it when I thought I was hearing voices! (Turns out my phone answered itself when Mom called, and I could here her yelling at me from my pocket.) Here are a few of the photos from the shoot.

Return to my photography site!

New Nature Photos

2009-01-15T09:56:00.001-08:00

Photos of Atlanta's skyline and a wall a graffiti.

A park pathway in Safety Harbor, Florida

Mossy Waterfall

The lighthouse in Oswego, Ny

Apology

2009-01-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

So for anyone that has had to deal with me over the last three or four months you might have noticed I've been a little off my game. Also known as acting like a depressing, sarcastic, vindictive ass. I'll lay this out to being a little over-stressed with school, finding a job, and a whole bunch of other crap that I'm not going into. Well the good news is that I've decided to go back to being the same old me. Life is too short to be that pissed off, and mope around. Plus, I don't want to treat my friends that way. So for anyone I've pissed off or hurt, I apologize!

On a completely unrelated note, I'm nominating these girls as the bad-ass of the month. The mid-east is changing, and as long as there are people like these girls and their families there is nothing the extremists can do about it.

Corporate Taxes!

2008-08-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

So this might be because I'm in business school, or just that I've grown up but I think this is a great article. Real Clear Markets It basically lays out the idiocy of the media and certain Democratic leaders who continue to claim that large corporations do not pay taxes. Basically it comes down to the fact that people don't understand the difference between revenue and profit, even though this is what they report on, or the fact that they are a senator. If finance interests you (these people do exist) check out the article.

Erin G part 2

2008-08-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

Just a few more pics to share!

Erin G part 1

2008-08-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

So I finally finished cleaning up and cropping the photos from my last shoot, and I'm ready to post some. This shoot was with a good friend of mine, and we shot in a couple of locations around Midtown and the Highlands in Atlanta.

Top 10 Happiest Students

2008-07-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

So no real surprise, Clemson ranks as #1 for having the happiest college students in the country. With the lake right there, football, and one hell of a town this is common knowledge for all of us that went there. However, if you've never been you should definitely make it for a game! MSN Encarta

EA Sports

2008-07-09T18:54:00.001-07:00

So I just saw the commercial for the new NCAA football game from AE Sports. The whole commercial has Clemson running in the background. Freakin' awesome.

Tn Recap with Kelly Norwood

2008-06-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

So I'm going back through a bunch of my old photos from my shoots in Tn. Here are a few photos from my model Kelly Norwood. Kelly was from Summerville, Tn and was a lot of fun to work with.

She had a great personality which came through in her photos. She also knew the location of some great old houses and broken down barns that we could shoot in which made for some great locations. So here are a few photos to start with.

Charleston, Sc

2008-05-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

So for anyone that doesn't know, Charleston, Sc is one of my favorite cities. Figured I'd post some old photos that I have recently updated. Hope you enjoy. And more importantly, hopefully I get a chance to go back soon! I have a lot more photos of Charleston, I just have to get around to reviewing them all again. I'll be posting those at some time.

Georgia Tech

2008-05-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

For everyone that keeps saying no one gets laid at Georgia Tech you have to read this article. A woman has been arrested in the p-card scandle (another great moment for Tech), and while this was going on they found that this woman had bought a web cam and mic to record her sexual acts. She also used her computer to schedual the encounters to use this camera. According to her they singled her out for investigation because of the pictures. Things like this make me proud to be a Clemson Tiger.

Hero of the week

2008-05-23T14:26:00.001-07:00

While I almost wanted to give this to the Bollywood actress that was nailing special forces soldiers in Afganistan, I decided this kid deserved it more. A 16 year old kid in Canada has come up with a way to break down polyethelne (Plastic bags) with microbes. Plastic MagicSo while we have thousands of researchers and employees at the government agencies trying to figure out the landfill issues, some kid in High School has made a major break through. This is a huge chance. If they are able to do this at a commercial level we can take all the bags we make and use each year and dispose of them in less than a year, instead of 1,000 years. So this kids my hero this week. Though I am still a huge fan of Tania Zaetta for her brave "actions" overseas. Support those troops!

Havana, Illinois

2008-05-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

So I just went back to Illinois with my father to see my 90 year old grandmother and I came to some realizations. One is, I need to be more careful when weeding my grandmother’s garden. I hate poision Ivy, and once again have gotten it. The second is, in the last 28 years of going to Havana, Ill it seems I never really went to the other side of the Illinois river. I have always thought of Illinois as a very flat farm country area. However, it seems that once you cross over the river to the west side it turns into rolling hills and wetlands (due to reclamation). It was a very pretty area, and a great trip. I’ve included some pictures to show everyone what I was seeing.

High School Kids

2008-05-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

So I went to the Braves game last night (don't worry, still a Yankees fan), and I have come to the realization that I truly hate high school kids now. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the "enthusiasim" they brought to their cheering! However, I can't remember ever acting that stupid. I probably did, being from Jersey and all, but I swear that kids are dumber now then they were when I was that age. I blame MTV. I'm pretty sure they helped dumb down an entire generation so that the more you act like "Jackass" the cooler you are. Just to point out what I may have acted like when I still lived in NJ check out:

New Jersey Sin?

2008-05-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

So New Jersey once again seems to have lost it. Seriously, they want to have a Sin Tax on fast food? While I agree that the growing waste line of Americans has led to all sorts of issues, I'm never a huge fan of taxes. This is just the next step in Big Brother government sticking its nose into our lives. First their banning certain fats and cooking oils, now their jacking up the prices of fast food. I remember watching Demolition Man years ago, and laughing because red meat and salt had been made illegal because they were unhealthy. Now it seems we're moving in that direction. We need to stop protecting stupid people from themselves. If you're too dumb to take care of yourself, then you shouldn't be allowed to last long enough to procreate. It's a good thing I left NJ!

Wisdom

2008-04-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

I finished my finals for the semester. Now I have to work again! So here are some words of wisdom!

It's not whether you win or lose,but how you place the blame

You are not drunk
if you can lie on the floor
without holding on .

You are not drunk
if you can lie on the floor
without holding on .

When you work here ,
you can name your own salary.
I named mine, 'Skinny'.

Smith & Wesson:The original
point and click interface

LEARN FROM YOUR PARENTS' MISTAKES
USE BIRTH CONTROL

If at first you don't succeed ,
your skydiving is over .

We are born naked, wet and hungry.
Then things get worse.

Ninety-nine percent of all lawyers
give the rest a bad name.

One good thing about Alzheimer's is
you get to meet new people every day .

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS NO
MATCH FOR NATURAL STUPIDITY.

Amanda (1st Shoot)

2008-04-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

Amanda was a great model to work with. She is new on the scene, but handled herself well! Here are a few pictures from the first shoot.

We started out in a parking lot that was all ripped up with a great wall.

We then moved over to a neighboring building to utilize a great wall as a background!

Inspired Vision Studios

2008-04-28T17:41:00.000-07:00

I am a photographer in the midtown Atlanta, Ga area that loves to travel, and visit new places. I'm mostly using this to post updates about my photography shoots, and basically to rant and rave about annoying crap in the news. (Yes, I am just like everyone else!)