Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk

Scott Kelby is hosting another Worldwide Photowalk again this year. There are cities lined up for it all over the world. There is even one in my hometown this year, Spartanburg, SC. Head on over to the official website for it to find a photowalk near you if you are interested in participating.

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We control the horizontal ....

Optical Illusion

The above photograph is one of the optical illusion exhibits at the Children's Museum of the Upstate in Greenville, SC. It was a fun afternoon. Lots of interactive exhibits for Connor to play with. Heck, I enjoyed some of them too. For instance I got to land the Space Shuttle! I didn't crash either. Don't ask me to dock with the International Space Station though, as I couldn't figure out how the controls worked.

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Issaqueena Falls

Issaqueena Falls

A couple of hundred yards away from the Stumphouse Tunnel is Issaqueenq Falls. The falls are named after a Native American women who was said to have used the falls to escape pursuers. Depending on the story she either jumped off the falls to her death or she hid on a ledge below the top of the falls. It is a pretty waterfall. I wonder what it looks like surrounded with Autumn colors? Guess I'll have to remember to go back this Fall to find out.

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Stumphouse Tunnel

Stumphouse Tunnel

Yesterday we took a day trip to Walhalla, South Carolina to visit the Stumphouse Tunnel. The tunnel is an incomplete railway tunnel started just prior to the Civil War. The state ran out of funds for it and it was never completed. Clemson University purchased it in the 1920s and used it to store it's blue cheese until they perfected modern refrigeration systems later in the century. The area surrounding the tunnel was saved from development in 2007 by a coalition of local conservation organizations and businesses. It is still owned by Clemson University, but the park is operated by the City of Walhalla.

This photograph is an high-dynamic range (HDR) composite of five images taken at different exposure settings. I thought HDR would be the best way for me to get some depth into the tunnel otherwise it would have been a black void in the mountain side. I'm fairly happy with the image, but it could be better. I forgot my tripod, so the individual frames didn't line up as well as they could have, hence the final image is not as sharp as it could be. Plus, I still am having trouble with the colors getting a bit over saturated by the processing. The greens and especially the yellows seem to get boosted too high for my liking. HDR is still something I need to practice more of ... if only I would remember to take my tripod more often.

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Something to go back to

Reflective Sculpture

As I have mentioned before, I really like to photograph reflective subjects. While waiting for the next leg of my assignment after lunch during the Greenville Scottish Games, I found this metallic sculpture near one of Furman University's athletic buildings. I don't think this is "the" image I wanted to get of it, but I do think there is something there I can work with in the future when I have more time. It is something for me to keep in mind to revisit next time I'm visiting Furman.

We don't always get the shots that we want the first time we see a subject. Sometimes you don't get it the second, third or forth times either. That's OK though. Photography is a growing experience and a way for us to see the world differently. There is no reason not to continue to revisit places, even after we get "the" shot we wanted. Who knows, we might get an even better image then we thought we could in the first place.

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A Work in Progress

Painting the Greenville Scottish Games

An addition to this year's opening ceremonies for the Greenville Scottish Games, was this painter. He was creating an interpretive piece to capture the spirit of the games which would later be presented to Prince Edward as a gift. I didn't get to watch him the entire time, but it was interesting to watch him work while the pipe bands were performing.

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Massed Pipe Bands

Massed Bands

During the opening ceremonies, all of the participating Pipe & Drum bands gathered together to perform for His Royal Highness, Prince Edward. It was quite impressive with between 400 to 500 musicians on the field together. They performed a new march which had been written to commemorate Prince Edward's visit to Greenville, South Carolina. An international competition was held for the composition of this particular march. Mr. Donald Patrick Sargent of Ashhurst, New Zealand composed "Greenville's Salute to the Earl of Wessex" which was the selected winner of the competition.

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Getting Up Early

Sunrise at Furman

All of the landscape photography books say that you should plan to get up early so you can catch the sunrise and the morning's "magic hour". When I was covering the Greenville Scottish Games, I was told to be there around 6 am. The sun had already risen, but wasn't yet visible due to nearby Paris Mountain. It didn't take long for it to climb above Paris Mountain though, and give a nice silhouette effect to some of the trees on the Furman University campus. The colors in this image are due to using a Shady White Balance setting when processing the image. There was a bit more blue in the sky at the time. However, I thought the extra warmth (i.e. orange and yellow tones) that the Shady White Balance setting adds to an image provided a better overall color palette.

When I process my images, I usually try a variety of White Balance settings to determine which might be the better match for how I want the image to appear. Sometimes it helps to get the White Balance perfect. Other times, the White Balance can add a creative choice of color tonalities to an image. It depends on what you want or need the image to do.

Of course, I wasn't really needed to photograph anything so early in the morning. I am glad that I did arrive that early though. I was able to get this photograph and a couple of behind-the-scenes photographs of people finishing preparations for the games that I would not have been able to get otherwise.

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The Best View

The Best View

When I saw these girls had climbed up on to the light-pole, I knew it would make for a good picture. That vintage-styled clock added just a bit of extra flair. To me, the photograph captures the excitement of the parade and some of downtown Greenville's personality.

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There She Is ...

Miss America

The current Miss America, Caressa Cameron, was one of the parade participants. She also sang the US National Anthem at the Scottish Games the next day. I don't think that I got a single bad picture of her on either day, although the one above is my favorite of all of them.

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Parade VIPs

Parade VIPs

Here is a photograph of of the VIPs watching the Great Scot! parade from the reviewing stand. His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex is waving to a parade participant, the Mayor of Greenville is next to him, and one of the Clan Chiefs is on the right of the photograph.

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Great Scot! Parade

Spectators

I know it was quite on the blog here last week. I apologize for that, but I was getting ready for something. Now that it is finished and have approval to post the photographs, I can finally talk about it here on the blog.

More after the jump.

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted about permissions to use some photographs that I took at last year's Greenville Scottish Games in this year's program. I thought it would be a good opportunity, so I agreed. However, it didn't end with just those photographs. I was also selected to be one of their volunteer photographers for this year's event. More importantly, this year the Greenville Scottish Games had a major VIP ... His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. It is the first time that a member of the British Royal Family has visited a Scottish/Highland Games in the US, perhaps even outside of Scotland. It also marked the first visit of a member of the Royal family to South Carolina and the Upstate. To top if off, I was the "Principal" photographer for the Games tasked with documenting the Prince's visit to the Parade as well as the Games. Needless to say, it was an exciting opportunity.

The Festivities started Friday night with the Great Scot! Parade in downtown Greenville. The review stand was in front of City Hall which ironically put Prince Edward directly across from a local hot dog restaurant called "The Hot Dog King". I thought it was quite humorous placement. The parade itself was fun to cover. All of the clans attending the games were present, as well as all of the pipe-and-drum bands. There were also various other dignitaries, Miss Teen South Carolina, Miss South Carolina, all of the current Miss South Carolina contestants, and finally Miss America.

How often am I going to get to cover an event with a member of the Royal Family and Miss America?

The photograph above shows just a few of the many spectators that lined the streets early to see the parade.

I am still excited about this past weekend.

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