James Gordon Patterson Photography

Carefree Balloon Festival

2012-01-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

The third annual Carefree Balloon Festivalhosted nearly a dozen balloons on Saturday 21 January in Carefree, just northof Phoenix. The big excitement was oneof the tethered balloons caught fire and broke loose. Luckily the pilot was able to land it about amile away in a golf course. I actuallydiscovered I took a shot of the runaway balloon while photographing one of thebands performing. It’s one of the photosin the Flickr collection at the bottom of this blog, partially obscured by atree. You can tell something unusual ishappening because everybody was looking away from my camera and toward theballoon.

The time of day prevented a lot ofchallenges for a photographer. Whilethere was still some light, I was able to take photographs at ISO 400. But as it got darker, I found I had toincrease the ISO or light sensitivity to 800, 1600, and then when it was reallydark I was shooting my Canon 7D at about 3200 ISO.

Trying to photograph the colored lightsand the band was impossible at 1600 ISO. I was using an all-purpose Tamron f/3.5 18-270mm lens that day. Other wiser choices might have been a Canon “nifty50mm” f/1.8 lens or even a Canon 28-135mm f/2.8 lens. Generally speaking, the lower the f/stopnumber on the lens, the more light it will let in the camera. You want the “fastest glass” possible forthese evening shoots. What about using atripod or even a monopod? Sure, thatwould enable you to take photos at various f/stops at longer exposures andlower ISO settings, UNLESS THE TARGET IS MOVING! Then you’ll still get motion blur. In my opinion, having a camera like the Canon7D is the best choice because its ISO setting will go to a whopping 12800! Now, at that high an ISO expect some noise inthe photographs. But camera technologyis such that you will see many of my night shots taken at 3200 and a few at6400 were pretty darn sharp.

My digital darkroom or program of choiceis Lightroom, where I probably do 90 percent or more of my editing. Here, you can make lighting adjustments, dosome sharpening, and control a bit for noise. You the viewer have the final decision; are the photographs stillappealing?

Locally, next up for me is the Carefree Indian Market and CulturalFestival February 17-19. There willbe live music and Native American hoop and fancy dancing, so there should befun and colorful photo opportunities available. Then after that will be the CaveCreek Rodeo on the last days of March.

Happy Shooting!

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

Photos from my Flickr Site

A Day at the Races!

2012-01-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

A day at the races! December 30, 2011 was a beautiful day in Phoenix to go to Turf Paradise, a horse track near 19^th Avenue and Bell Road. I brought my Canon 7D along with one lens, the Tamron 70-200mm and a 1.4x extender.

Checking out the scene, I found getting close to the track would be an odd angle standing just below the dirt track with the rail as an obstruction. So we went back, but higher, eventually going up to the top of the grandstand to get a view looking below with fewer obstructions.

I took one shot of a horse and rider that was just a tad bit out of focus. So, I did some cropping and post production in Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Topaz Simplify to get that oil painting look. I find this technique can help me save an otherwise out of focus useless photo.

On still others here I applied filters from Nik Software’s Color Efex 4 essentially to boost contrast and color.

On my next visit, I’m going to stand close to the track even if it means I can only get the horses hoofs!

Remember, when in doubt just shut up and shoot!

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

Sports Shooting: From Soccer to Bull Running

2011-10-17T14:35:00.002-07:00

The past two weekends I did some sports shooting in the Phoenix area. On 8 October, I had the pleasure of shooting the Paradise Valley Community College women’s and men’s matches with South Mountain Community College. I have a vested interested because I’m a professor at PVCC and know many of the players. Then on 16 October, I went north a few miles to Cave Creek and photographed their version of the Running of the Bulls.

What equipment did I take and why? Some of it was a guess. I sure didn’t want to haul around a lot of useless equipment.

For the soccer games, I decided on the 70-200mm Tamron lens with my Canon 7D put on a Manfrotto monopod. Could I hand shoot with that lens? Yes, it is possible, but it is a heavier lens that comes with a tripod/monopod collar. I’m glad I took the monopod. Not only does it give me a steadier platform, it also saved my arms from lifting that weight. I also took the Hoodman loupe. It’s a simple gizmo that costs about $80 but it is essential to view your photos in harsh Arizona sunlight.

I’m glad I took that Tamron lens because the vast size of a soccer field. You can’t physically cover the whole of a soccer field, so I appreciated the reach on the Tamron 70-200mm. I might have also taken my wide angle lens to get a few “establishing shots” of the field and the players. I could have also used my medium range lens, the Canon 28-135mm, for some action closer to me. But I do hate to change lenses outside given the sometimes dusty conditions in Arizona.

On 16 October, I went to Cave Creek, just a few miles north of the PVCC campus. It was the last day of the Running of the Bulls event. For this shoot, I took my all purpose Tamron 18-270mm lens. I smartly predicted an area with bulls, horses, and running people would be very very dusty and it was. It would have been a cleaning nightmare to take a few lenses with me on that sunny, warm day as the air was filled with dust. Because I needed to move fast, I did not take a monopod. I also took the Hoodman loupe to review photos, and that was a smart move on that very sunny day. What would I have done differently? Security wouldn’t let me, but I would have liked to have stood in front of the runners and bulls as they charge toward me. I wished I could get up higher, but again security had a few places for photographers and up high and on the running track were not options.

*** Join me this July 2012 for the photo journey of a lifetime to ICELAND ! ***

My June 2011 British Isles Adventure

2011-07-15T08:04:00.004-07:00

The United Kingdom, or is it Great Britain? No, my target June 2011 was a trip around the British Isles. For you purists, that means England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Ireland. And I’ll throw in Normandy, France and one of the Channel Islands of Guernsey.

Ports of Call June 2011

I came home after this two week trip rich with over a 1,000 photos. Of course, the hard part was the editing and the deleting. My Flickr account has nearly 250 photos of my adventure you can enjoy at the end of this blog.

I shot with a Canon 7D and my international travel lens, the Tamron 18-270mm. It’s not the best or sharpest lens in my collection, but it sure makes traveling easier. This multipurpose lens is quick to use and easier to get through airport security gates too. In my post production, I used Adobe Lightroom for nearly 95 percent of my work. Adobe Photoshop I use for the really hard photos.

Omaha Beach, Normandy France

I was on a Princess ship. It’s huge, which caused massive lines coming back to the ship after tours. The good thing about cruising is you get to go to places you might not go to and you get a lot in a short period of time. In two weeks, I visited ten places from Omaha Beach in Normandy up to the Orkney Islands in Scotland over to Ireland down to the Channel Islands and then into London.

American Heroes of D-Day

The first tour was to Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. That was pretty emotional. It’s probably why I took a bit longer to edit the photos. It is impossible to relay emotions that ran through me as I walked to the American Cemetery, “American soil” as our French tour guide reminded us. As I stepped toward the huge monument to the American dead, they played the National Anthem. I joined a group of young American musicians as we all stood ramrod straight, hand on chest, facing the American flag. A memory not to be forgotten. Rows and rows of crosses and Stars of David. Rows. And rows. Forever young. Forever heroes.

From there, off we went to Edinburgh, Scotland. Castles. Lots of castles. Stories about the evil English. Ha ha. Scots, Irish, Welsh... they all have a case against the English. And rain... drizzle. But I’m a desert rat from Arizona, so it’s all good. I found a great sporting goods store in Edinburgh named Patterson’s. I asked for my family 10% discount and they said no dice... so I asked for a PVCC discount for employees. If you ever get to Edinburgh, you get a 10% discount!

Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland

Historian at Urquart Castle Near Loch Ness

Then it was up to Invergordon, Scotland in search of more castles and yesss! Loch Ness! Nessie was quiet that day. Although there might have been a few suspicious bubbles on the lake. It’s interesting to note how the locals have played the so called Loch Ness Monster into a real tourist draw.

Near Glasgow, Scotland

Off we went on up to the top of Scotland to Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands. Now this little out of the way place is actually steeped in history. This is the home of Scapa Flow, where the German Navy scuttled its ships after World War I. There is also the remains of a World War II Italian prisoner of war camp and the little church they built.

Church in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands

Schoolboys in Belfast

From there it was down the west coast of Scotland to see Glasgow. More castles! I didn’t need any formal exercise on this trip. I walked and climbed and took photos. And, these adventures are always about the people. I got back to the ship and noticed three Glasgow cops... so I watched as they were laughing and taking photos of each other. So I walked over and said “OK, boys.. what the heck is going on here?” One of the cops said in a very thick accent, “Oh we’re havin’ a bit of a nosey.” Now that just made me laugh. So it was nice chatting with those guys, talking about beer and sports.

Corn Market, Belfast

The next stop from Glasgow was Belfast, Northern Ireland. I’d been to Northern Ireland two years ago doing my own “nosey” as Belfast County Antrim is where my family from my father’s side came from. On the tour of Belfast, I asked the guide where they might have hung horse thieves as my great uncle was hung as a horse thief in the late 1800’s. Corn Market street was the place, so I tipped my cap and the tour group applauded as I found out something more about my nefarious relatives.

Off to Dublin, in pelting rain and cold. I saw a little park where a life-size statue of the author Oscar Wilde appears. Then of course a visit to a local downtown pub, where I had to complain that they served their Guinness with holes in the glasses! The bar maid made my order right again with a few new pints as she said to me, “Ah you must be Irish, you’re full of ##$%!” How did she know? And all was right in my visit to Dublin.

One of the big surprises to me was how lovely Wales is. The ship entered the Welsh harbor of Holyhead in northern Wales. More castles of course, countryside, and the longest town name I’ve ever seen: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Now, I had a bus driver at the stop ask me how I liked the town as he ripped off the name of it. The town name is bigger than the town.

Girl in Guernsey

The Channel Islands... Guernsey and St. Peter Port. This was one part of Britain occupied by Germans in World War II. What a lovely little island! Exploring the island on foot, I found a nice pub called the Red Onion and had fun with the owner and his friends on a lazy Sunday. You’ll see photos toward the end of my collection with the folks from that place. By the way, step into the street from the pub with a beer and get a 2,000 pound fine. Kinda steep.

Jim and Michelle in London (Hendon) Pub

Then it was on to Southampton, then a bus ride to the hotel in London. London was college business for me as I made it to Hendon to meet Michelle Lawrence (Bickford) of Middlesex University, where we are about ready to have an articulation (transfer) agreement between PVCC/Maricopa and Middlesex in business. Michelle is also a fellow University of Arizona graduate ('98 BA in Psychology), so while having lunch and a few beers at a pub next door called the Claddagh Ring, I gave Michelle a present from the UA alumni association. We also talked about PVCC faculty doing a summer school there for our students in 2013 (2012 is an Olympic year) and of me going back there next year to teach a photography class with my Fulbright Senior Specialist award. So it looks like I’ll return to the London area next year!

What’s up next? I’m back to the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops the end of July for a class on small flash. Then the top of September will find me in Las Vegas for Photoshop World taking more classes and having some photo adventures. October 1 should be the date for the next NAPP international photowalk. Follow my NAPP Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NAPPArizona for details as they become available.

Remember, when in doubt, just shut up and shoot!

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

Enjoy my British Isles adventure slideshow!

At the David Allan Coe Concert in Cave Creek, Arizona, 7 May 2011

2011-05-11T13:42:00.001-07:00

Saturday 7 May 2011 saw my crew and me visit Harold’s Corral in Cave Creek, Arizona to attend a David Allan Coe concert. Sure I came to enjoy the music and take photographs, but I also came to be with good friends, feed my face (oh my the filet mignon and lobsters were GREAT!), and listen to some great country music.

Bottom line: Harold’s is a fun place with great food and a wonderful place to do concerts. We’ll be back.

For photographers, I brought my Canon 7D and the Canon 28-135mm lens. The lighting was concert lighting. Some was interesting; some was quite a challenge. Glad I shot in raw because as soon as I imported the photos into Adobe Lightroom, I converted the white balance to tungsten. I was shooting pretty high ISO of 1600, but the Canon 7D can certainly handle it. In years past, an ISO that high would be very very grainy. What would I do differently if I shoot again in that venue? Bring an off camera flash! I have both the Canon 580ex and 430ex to allow for lower ISO and sharper images.

We were delighted with David Allan Coe’s warmup band called Young Country. Ted and the guys were as nice as can be. They like beer, so they can’t be all bad! They were actually quite good. Visit their website at http://youngcountryband.com/ I also found their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Young-Country-Fans If they come to a venue near you, go. You won’t be disappointed.

The headliner, of course, was David Allan Coe. According to Wikipedia, 72-year-old David Allan Coe is an American outlaw country music singer who achieved popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. He has written and performed over 280 original songs throughout his career. As a singer, his biggest hits were "Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile," "The Ride," " You Never Even Called Me by My Name," "She Used to Love Me a Lot," and "Long Haired Redneck." His best-known compositions are the #1 successes "Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of Stone)," which was covered by Tanya Tucker; and “Take This Job and Shove It," which was later covered by Johnny Paycheck that was later a hit movie (both Coe and Paycheck had minor parts in the film).

Happy Shooting,

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

Photos of the concert from my photos on Flickr:

Tucson and Tumacacori Historical Visit April 2011

2011-04-24T11:06:00.038-07:00

I accompanied my colleague Dr. David Rubi’s Paradise Valley Community College Spanish 245 class again for his Southern Arizona field trip of historical places... and some great Mexican food. Why me? I spent many many years in Tucson, first as a student at the University of Arizona, and as a resident of Tucson, working at the UA as first a reporter then instructor in the then Radio and TV Department, still later as an education specialist with the U.S. Army at nearby Fort Huachuca. So my Southern Arizona roots are deep.

For many of our student at PVCC, located on the north side of Phoenix, Tucson seems far away, even though it is only two hours south by car. This is a chance to show them some of the architecture, history, and culture of Tucson, a much older city than Phoenix.

All along the way, students were exposed to the old downtown/barrio architecture. We visited the La Casa Cordova and art museum area, the Presidio museum, La Pilita and the interesting shrine to a murdered sinner El Tiradito.

We then travelled south of Tucson to the Mission at Tumacacori then on the way back to Tucson we visited the world famous “White Dove of the Desert,” the Mission San Xavier del Bac.

Saturday morning we went to the Ted DeGrazia Gallery of the Sun art studio, located on the north side of Tucson off of Swan Road. We then finished our trip with a visit to the Pascua Yaqui Ceremonial Grounds.

The photos you see here were shot this time with my trusty little Canon SD950. You know my main camera of choice is the Canon 7D, but this was a trip I decided to travel light and take the little guy along. The photos aren’t too bad for a 12mexapixal “point and shoot” that only takes jpg’s. I edited with Lightroom.

Happy Shooting!

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

More photos from my Flickr page!

Visit Jim’s Online Camera Store

Finals of the Cave Creek Rodeo on 10 April 2011

2011-04-13T13:01:00.001-07:00

Located minutes north of Phoenix, Cave Creek hosts a professional rodeo in April as part of its “Fiesta Days” celebration. I had the pleasure of photographing this years finals on Sunday 10 April 2011. I used both my new Tamron 200-500mm lens (maybe TOO MUCH reach for this rodeo since I was so close to the action) and the Canon 28-135mm lens, which worked very well!

The rodeo website says it was started to honor its long time “Rodeo Boss” Wayne Wilson. Wayne believed every child in our community deserved an opportunity to become successful and have a better life than his parents. To further his wishes, the Desert Foothills Community Association began the Wayne Wilson Children’s Charity Rodeo & Carnival with a goal of support our community and its youth’s needs. Other charities supported include the Desert Hills Food bank, Ride Rank for a Cure (Cancer), Cowboys for Kids, Starlight Foundation, Queen Creek Junior Rodeo, Arizona Wrangler Junior High School Rodeo and several local area elementary schools and after school programs.

I’m a long time veteran of the Tucson Rodeo held every year in February. That’s a pretty big time rodeo. The Cave Creek Rodeo is smaller, but still professional rodeo. AND, for a photographer, you can get pretty darn close to the action and only pay ten bucks at the door! I must say, for a community organization, this was a professionally RUN rodeo too.

I plan on taking a class there next year to photograph the action. If you want to know more about the rodeo, go to http://cavecreekrodeo.com/

Happy Shooting!

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

Photographs of the Cave Creek Rodeo:

Visit Jim's Online Camera Store

Shooting the Relay for Life at Paradise Valley Community College

2011-04-13T10:03:00.001-07:00

The American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life” event on 8 April 2011 provided a nice charitable event to cover for a Paradise Valley Community College continuing education class I taught on evening event photography. Eight shooters joined me on that Friday night, capturing the dusk and night scenes around the PVCC track, where the Relay for Life has been held over the last few years. The photos will be donated to the North Valley Relay for Life. Photographers shooting for a good cause!

As it got darker, we needed to rely more on a tripod. I used a Canon 7D with a Canon 28-135mm lens for most of these shots. A few of my shots I used the Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens. Some of the shots of the candles were actually hand held. I had a great student question: "How do you stop people blur in the evening?" Answer: Make them stop. Sometimes the blur can be called "art" remember!

According to the Cancer Society, the international relay began in 1985 when Dr. Gordy Klatt, a colorectal surgeon in Tacoma, Washington, ran and walked around a track for 24 hours to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Since then, the relay has grown from a single man’s passion to fight cancer into the world’s largest movement to end the disease. Each year, more than 3.5 million people in 5,000 communities in the United States, along with additional communities in 20 other countries, gather to take part in this global phenomenon and raise much-needed funds and awareness to save lives from cancer.

The local PVCC Relay had 43 teams, 479 participants, and raised (so far) over $41 thousand dollars for cancer research.

If you or a team wants to get involved in next years Relay for Life, click here.

Happy Shooting!

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

Flickr Slideshow from the Relay for Life:

Jim’s Online Camera Store

Sights from the National Auto Sports Association Arizona Region

2011-03-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

I visited the infield at Firebird Raceway south of Phoenix on 6 March 2011 and was able to capture some of the cars and people of NASAAZ that day. NASA is a club level motorsport association. The cars are driven by people you know; just regular folks. Having been to NASCAR races at Phoenix International Raceway, one nice thing for me was it wasn’t so LOUD! I had my earplugs with me but didn’t need them. WHEW!

And if you want to get involved, you can train as a driver, for instance. You can get more information at http://www.nasaaz.com/

Here are the photos at my Flickr site

Check out the music video below!

Enjoy,

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

Jim’s Online Camera Store

Fiesta de los Vaqueros - Tucson Rodeo 19 February 2011

2011-02-21T10:34:00.002-07:00

Wind and dust and a bit of rain were the backdrop of the first day of Tucson’s La Fiesta de los Vaqueros 86^th Annual Rodeo. Having spent so many years in Tucson and having attended the rodeo in the past, it was really a coming home for me in so many ways. I’ve been through rain and snow and hot hot sun and temperatures at previous rodeos. I wish I could have worn my cowboy hat, but I knew it would blow off, darn it.

Western Photographer David Stoecklein spoke and shared his background and that was great hearing from him. Here is his site with his beautiful photos: http://stoeckleinphotography.com/

The wind and rain presented some real challenges in photographing the event. I was at the north end of the arena, which is located south of I-10 down 6^th Avenue. Always AFTER an event I think of things I should have done differently. I wish I had brought my monopod, although that wasn’t crucial. I wish WISH I had brought my Tamron 100- 300mm lens instead of the all purpose Tamron 18-270mm. The latter lens was fine, as you can see from the photos, but I wanted a bit more reach. I didn’t get any keepers from the bull riding because they put up temporary fencing and I couldn’t shoot over the fence. I wish I had gone up higher in the stands for that, but then I would have needed a lens with more reach. I also sadly did not get any mutton busters, the young 4 and 5 year old kids who ride the very docile sheep. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen for you on a shoot.

What did go right? Well, I think I got some great bronco riding and steer wrestling shots. There are a few great photos I got of a Native American cowboy steer wrestler... I didn’t get his name, but what a face!

I hope you enjoy!

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com
Jim's Online Camera Store

Near Picture Perfect Wildcats!

2010-10-25T15:22:00.003-07:00

23 October 2010... The Arizona Wildcats defeated the Washington Huskies 44 to 14 to cap homecoming in front of a capacity crowd of over 56,000. The win puts the Wildcats tied for second place in the Pac-10 conference, 6 and 1 overall, and ranked 15^th in both the AP and Coaches polls.

Matt Scott, subbing for injured starting quarterback Nic Foles, was like most of the Wildcat football team - near picture perfect. With the exception of some sloppy arm tackling early in the game and some bizarre Pac-10 referee calls, the Cats dominated their rivals from the Pacific Northwest.

Before the game, the UA mall was filled with tailgaters and party tents. The homecoming parade came before the Wildcat Walk of football players from Cherry and University Avenue to the football stadium. Sadly, I missed the Wildcat Walk, but I had a very good reason: Homecoming for our tailgate gang means STEAK! No way I was leaving my steak behind.

Happy Shooting,

Jim Patterson

Jim's Online Camera Store

Enjoy more photos from the Arizona Wildcats Homecoming....

“JIM! What’s new with your photography?"

2010-10-08T09:32:00.001-07:00

I heard that so often this last month I thought it was time to update the ole blog.

I went to another Photoshop World in Las Vegas the first week of September. Lots and lots of classes from great instructors on everything having to do with photography and Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. One of the fun things I did was attend the APC Artistic Photo Canvas “walkshop” of Fremont Street in Las Vegas, dedicated to HDR or High Dynamic Range photography. Photographer Brian Matiash was the host. It’s the kind of photography you’ve seen that reminds you of “grunge” for the lack of a better word. That was a fun activity that took us out into the earthier Fremont area of Las Vegas. About thirty photographers with tripods all walking through taking photos. The easiest explanation I have is you take several photos of the same thing with slightly different exposure settings, then combine in the new Adobe Photoshop CS5.

AND, of course, the fall for me means more Arizona Wildcats football. So far, we are four and zero. Given where we’ve been in the past, we cannot afford to look past any opponent. The PAC-10 seems especially strong this year so the next eight games will be quite challenging. The season is a third over and the Cats have beaten Iowa at home and came from behind to beat a very good California Golden Bears team. I think we all needed a break this past week; the players needed to heal, the coaches needed to re-evaluate and recuperate, and the fans.. well we need to take a deep breath and get ready for the rest of the season.

Since I live in Phoenix, many of the locals here will ask me what I think about that outfit in Tempe. Frankly, I don’t think about them. Not until it is time to think about them. I’m worried about my own guys.

A few of the fun things so far this season include the football game versus The Citadel that we watched from a Super Suite at Arizona Stadium. It was a fund raiser for the scholarship I dedicated to my parents, Doc and Ann Patterson, and goes to a Paradise Valley Community College graduate who transfers to the University of Arizona. I’m proud to say we collected close to $5,000.

Hey, I have to put in a plug to join the Arizona Alumni Association, as one of the newest members of the alumni association board. Just tell them Jim Patterson sent you. And you can join even if you didn’t graduate from Arizona. Most of my tailgate pals did exactly that.

Hockey season in Phoenix starts on 16 October against the hated Detroit Red Wings (I can say that, muchachos, because I grew up a Red Wings fan... now, not so much). So I should have hockey photos soon.

Shut up and shoot, as the great photographer Paul Mobley once told me!

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

With the Arizona Wildcats - Fort Huachuca/Sierra Vista

2010-08-15T09:16:00.009-07:00

Jim Patterson... EXPOSED!

It’s been a fun week for me, following the Arizona Wildcats athletics department and football team around Arizona. The ten-city tour concluded with a luncheon with Coach Mike Stoops and players at Fort Huachuca, a U.S. Army post outside of Sierra Vista, located in Southeastern Arizona.

I got a chance to chat with Arizona Wildcats athletic director Greg Byrne at the three stops I made it to. I figured Greg had to get me in doses in a few places. All at once is too much shock, I fear.

After a long drive from Phoenix, the core of our tailgate crew got together at the old NCO club at Fort Huachuca. This is indoor lighting, a crowd, and the people are moving... a challenge for a photographer. I adjusted ISO to around 600 on most of the shots; fast enough shutter speed so photos were not that blurry. There just was not room to set up a tripod; plus I think I would have been tossed out had I tried! The coach and players were very cooperative and photographer friendly, as I hope the photos show. As a University of Arizona graduate, I was particularly proud and pleased of the players that ate lunch with us and the whole team in general. A nice bunch of guys... people you’d love to have over to the house.

Toward the end of the lunch program, I asked Coach Stoops a silly question that probably didn’t go over as well as I thought it would. I was sitting next to starting place kicker Alex Zendejas, who kicked the winning field goal against Arizona State last year. We had a nice chat about his career so far and my memory of his uncle Max kicking the winning field goal for Arizona versus Notre Dame in 1982 (yup, I’m an OLD Cat!). I asked Coach Stoops if this guy Zendejas didn’t work out as kicker if he’d consider bringing me out of my thirty-three year redshirt. I think he thought I was a nut, because he just kind of laughed and gave me a hard time for mispronouncing Alex’s last name! Later at the scrimmage I asked coach where I should go on the field to work out, while I was making kicking motions. By that point, I think he got that I was just kidding. Maybe.

Photos of the scrimmage at Buena High School in Sierra Vista were in bright sunlight. The problem was taking photos in part shade/part sun. Luckily I could help adjust some of that in Adobe Lightroom 3, which I did on several shots.

Happy Shooting,

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

My Online Camera Store

Cave Creek Photowalk Rousing Success!

2010-07-25T10:43:00.001-07:00

Saturday 24 July 2010 fifty photographers trekked north of Phoenix to Cave Creek where we all met for the 3^rd Annual International Photowalk, this time at Frontier Town.

I’ve embedded several photos I took along with the slideshow from Flickr. But the event was on the photographers who joined me and the social gathering afterwards at the Silver Spur Saloon, where we shared photos and talked about photography.

By the way, this is the group site on Flickr where you can see all the photographers’ photos during the event.

After all the participants have submitted their favorite photo, I will decide on the “winner” of this Photowalk and then that winner will compete at the international level for prizes.

Future events to be announced but will include a local Photowalk during cooler temperatures. My thought now is a Photowalk around Christmas at the Phoenix Zoo. The Phoenix Coyotes NHL hockey team and I are looking for a date during the season for me to run a photography workshop at a game. And, I plan on leading a photography cruise to Alaska during the last week of May 2011.

Happy Shooting Until My Next Blog,

Jim Patterson

An Afternoon With Doug Gordon

2010-07-20T15:38:00.001-07:00

I spent a Monday afternoon with wedding photographer Doug Gordon, a high intensity New Yorker with a passion for baseball and wedding photography. Doug spent the first hour or so actually providing a type of motivation speech, a “you can do it” type of rah rah, which is fine. Like he pointed out, many in the audience are new photographers or people coming in as a last chance effort to see if they can make it. A few things stood out: Dare to be different. If all the wedding photos look boring, break out of the mold and take a chance. Don’t let fear stop you. He’s a big believer in relationship building and making friends, good advice for any business. You have to create the moment, create romance in your photography. And, one of the big things I got out of the workshop was learn how to pose (it’s back in style, he says).

Doug works fast. Very fast. Coming from a journalism background, I like that. While other wedding photographers may say they take up to 1,200 photos, he says he often takes less than 400. Why shoot two or three or more times of the same thing if you know you got it right the first time? He poses fast, too. He calls it “flow posing” and he demonstrated outside the Hilton at the Airport on a very hot Phoenix day by the pool with two models. He has a posing system and can work very very fast to get the poses in. Personally, I’m more of a photojournalist, looking for the captured moment. But I would easily incorporate set poses that look very real into a shoot if I did more weddings (not really sure I want to, given the Bridezilla stories I’ve heard about).

He has a four step method of posing. Tuck: Tuck the bride’s back shoulder behind the groom’s back. Roll: Have the bride roll out her front shoulder. Lean: Then lean them forward. And Cover: Cover her arm with a veil or she put her arm on him and his arm on hers.

He stressed learning to shoot it right the first time. Lighting was key and he uses a gadget he sells called a torch light. He doesn’t use flash. The light... it’s sort of a flashlight but not really and comes with colored caps to match the light in a room or outside. For instance, for inside shots where there is tungsten, he matches that light with an orange filter. He stresses not to mix the kinds of light. He also uses reflectors when necessary. I like that. I got to use reflectors in a big way when I was shooting with Paul Mobley in Santa Fe last March and really like using light that way. He is also consistent using spot metering (picking a point under the brides eye, then locking that exposure, and reframing) with his torch light off camera and aperture set low to f/2.8 if possible.

During the break I watched him edit the photos we all took earlier. He works, as you might have guessed, very very fast here too. He’s worked with Kevin Kubota, an expert in PhotoShop and author of action packs for Photoshop, and uses them extensively. Personally, I use Lightroom 3 and presets and Photoshop CS5 along with OnOne Plugin Suite and Topaz Bundle, but to each their own. Also, he works exclusively in JPEG, I am a strong believer in RAW. He also edits in what he calls real time (shoot, edit, upload, shoot, edit, upload). My head would only let me do one thing at a time, and that’s shoot. Then away from the wedding, edit. But hey he’s the highly successful wedding photographer and his system works for him!

If you want to learn more about Doug Gordon, I suggest you click on the link to his articles. Here, you will find his suggestions on posing and more. The Professional Photographer magazine in 2009 also wrote a piece on Gordon and Kubota called “29 Take Home Tips from the Two Worlds, One Dream Workshop.” And the best way to explain his “torch light” is to see it in action in this video, obviously long before he went on a diet (I should talk, huh?).

The things I took away from the session? Work fast (check), be different/take chances, lighting (he hates flash), and his flow posing system. Makes me glad I’m a college professor and not a full time wedding photographer, so I don’t have to compete with the likes of him!

Jim Patterson

From Venice to Croatia to the Greek Islands...

2010-07-16T11:55:00.003-07:00

My photography adventure this time took me to Venice, Italy where we were to pick up the Royal Caribbean “Splendor of the Seas” for our trip to Split, Croatia; Corfu, Greece; Athens, Greece; Mykonos, Greece; and finally Katakolon, Greece. The cruise was sponsored by the Texas School of Professional Photography and led by professional photographer Don Dickson. Being with high-speed professionals put the heat on me to produce some photos of value. And that’s a good thing, although as Don pointed out several times, this was about FUN first. And fun is what we got. This time, Paradise Valley Community College teaching colleagues Jeanne Franco, a first time cruiser, and Sue Van Boven came along, which made it more fun.

I used my Canon 7D with my Tamron all-purpose 18-270mm lens carried in a ThinkTank 50 holster case. It’s a big holster case, but gives more than adequate protection. When I travel overseas, given how security is, I use the Tamron lens exclusively. I do post production editing with Lightroom 3 (about 90% or more) and Photoshop CS5. You can simulate painting with Photoshop, but I prefer using the Topaz PS5 plugin called “simplify” to do that job. I also have the OnOne Plugin Suite that I use for color correction and more. I use Photoshop, but I also talked with pro photographers who only use Photoshop Elements and get by. With plugins, I think I could probably live with PS Elements over Photoshop, but now the Photoshop upgrades are pretty reasonable.

We had two and a half days to explore Venice on our own. Venice is, as you might guess, all about being on and around water. AND, being that it is July it was HOT and HUMID. Now I’m a confirmed desert rat from Arizona, so the humidity did take its toll. But hey, THIS IS VENICE! We stayed at the Hotel Marconi, right on a canal. The one thing I liked about it was it was a few feet from the Rialto Bridge, perfect for photography, and there were cafes right outside our door! One of the things I played with was making paintings out of photos. I did that twice with scenes from the Rialto Bridge that you can view at the bottom of this blog.

One evening we were sitting at the café only a few feet from the Marconi when a bride and groom appeared. The fun thing was at the time we were with a bunch of professional photographers. As soon as we saw the newlyweds, we immediately got out our cameras and started to take photos. The groom was a bit startled, looked at us and said “Paparazzi?” We managed to tell them both we were all photographers and we just wanted to shoot photos.

I was in Venice the night Holland played Brazil in the world cup. That day I decided to wear my “HOLLAND” soccer jersey. Well, Holland won. And everybody it seems in Venice wanted to pat me on the back. I don’t mind if there is a beer attached. A very excited German man grabbed me by the shoulders and said DEUTCHLAND UND NEDERLANDS! Ok, ok... Hey I’m an American. Cool it. Later on we were sitting at a café when a group of people approached, one of the guys wearing a Holland jersey. We started yelling NEDERLANDS and he came up for a photo. I whispered, “I have a surprise for you.. I’m an American.” He laughed and said, “Guess what? I’m from California.” So, Holland.. you had two Americans at least in Venice celebrating your victory. Sorry about the loss to Spain, though. Love those chance encounters!

Once we got on the ship, I told Jeanne what I always say, “check your brain at the front door and pick it up on the way out.” That’s how it is on cruises. This time Don Dickson’s Texas Professional School of Photography picked up a few cocktail hours and we had a few break out sessions. The last one featured photographers Jon Wolf of Tucson (Tucson is special to me because I lived there many years and I am a University of Arizona graduate) and Jim DiVitale, both wonderful speakers and photographers. Jim is also a National Association of Photoshop Professionals member and NAPP and Adobe instructor.

Our first port of call was Split, Croatia and we were able to visit the Roman Ruins there.

The second port we visited was the Greek island of Corfu, every bit as beautiful as you can imagine, and now see, from my slideshow at the bottom of this blog. Jeanne and Sue have decided to buy a bed and breakfast on Corfu and have made me the chief photographer. I’m good with that. We had fun visiting the Achilleon Palace and monastery. Our wonderful tour guide was a gentlemen that spoke English with a English accent. I asked how he learned Greek and he said, “I am Greek!”

Our next port of call was outside of Athens. Luckily there were no strikes that day and we joined all the Texas photographers for a trip to the Acropolis. It was HOT and HUMID and the steps up looked daunting, but dang it this is Greece and this is the Acropolis! I have many photos of the views of the Acropolis, down to Athens and the shrine to Zeus. After coming down, an iced lemonade never tasted so good, but I admit drinking it so fast I had a terrible brain freeze. But it’s the Acropolis!

Mykonos was our next call, and it was every bit as gorgeous as Corfu. I captured some cute young Greek ladies there... one wasn’t even three years old, peeking around the corner. There are cats everywhere on that island too. And, I was surprised by the mascot of Mykonos, Petros II the pelican, who jumped up in a café I was in. I managed to get a quick photo of him.

Our final call was to the island of Katakonos. We had planned to take the train up to Olympia, but once we got there they said the trains were shut down because of the strikes that happen all over Greece all the time. So we stayed in town and shopped.

Then it was back to Venice... and I conclude the slideshow with a few early early morning photos of the City of Bridges. Note how different the light is at that time of day.

Now I’m done traveling for a bit. Although I enjoyed the travel, I was never so happy to set foot back in the USA, in Newark, New Jersey of all places. My first joy upon re-entering the USA was a GIANT diet Pepsi with TONS of ice.

Enjoy,

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com My Online Camera Store

New Zealand May 2010: Auckland to Queenstown to Christchurch

2010-06-04T15:18:00.003-07:00

New Zealand in May presented a host of challenges in photographing its beauty. It is winter there now; so even during mid-day it was on the darkish side. I’ve never been a fan of cold weather, so that was another challenge.

People have asked me, “Why New Zealand?” Hey, why not! Qantas Airways had a sale on tickets, the time was right, and I’ve never been there. So why not?

New Zealand is about twelve hours flight time from Los Angeles. That time on the airplane for me is spent watching movies. I think I watched three on the way out, haha. Plus several television documentaries. They feed you dinner and breakfast and snacks and drinks. Beer is free, thank you very much. I try to sleep , but I’m pretty excited to see New Zealand. We are headed to the largest city of Auckland, with a population of over one million. Not a big city using USA standards, but there are only four million people in all of New Zealand. So Auckland is made up of a quarter of the population.

Four million people... and 32 million sheep. And soon I would see this up close!

First thing I notice, being from Arizona, is New Zealand immigration asks for my papers! I didn’t realize other countries actually do that. It was no worries for me as I quickly showed my passport.

Auckland is on the north end of the north island. New Zealand is made up of the north and south islands. The north island is a bit warmer as this is south of the equator. I learned many Kiwis, as they are called, move to the warmer north island as do others from the British Commonwealth. One ad in the local paper had a headline, “Don’t be a ping pong pom!” I learned that meant that British citizens sometimes move to New Zealand and then move back. A “pom” refers to a Brit. The story I got was a POM (or POHM) meant “Property of His/Her Majesty” and referred to prisoners sent to Australia from Britain.

One of the main attractions in Auckland is the Sky Tower and that gave me good up high views of the city. In one night shot, you will notice a cable that goes up and down on the right side of the photo. Professionals bungee jump from the top of the Sky Tower on that thing. It scared the #$%$ out of me the first time I saw somebody leap over the top of the tower past me. Somebody came up and said, “no worries, mate.. just a jumper.” Yeah, I figured that one out. Wish I was able to get a photo of that but they jump so fast and with little warning.

Then off we went to the Auckland airport to fly to Queenstown, a small city of about 15,000 in the southern part of the South Island. It’s a resort town in both summer and winter. Skiing in the winter, but the ski season was just a week or so away. Here is where they filmed Lord of the Rings, so the scenery was spectacular. A planned flight to Milford Sound was cancelled however because of poor weather conditions. One of the young ladies at the hotel said to me, “so sorry your flight was cancelled; you don’t want to get weeet.” I thought she said “you don’t want to get weird” so I asked her again. She said, “oh it’s my twang; I meant you don’t want to get wet” overpronouncing “wet” so this American could understand her. Getting “eeeeegs and bacon” in the morning also took a bit of getting used to. Queenstown is surrounded by the Remarkables Mountain Range. As you can see, we had a lot of cloud cover and snow all over those mountains. The town is on Lake Wakitipu, very cold water now but in the summer it is filled with anything that can float. Taking the steamer Earnslaw over the lake, we head to a sheep station on the far side. And oh do they have sheep. New Zealand has been hard hit by the downturn in wool and mutton demand. Another experience we had was the ride up the gondola to the top of a mountain that gave great high views of Queenstown.

Then it was off for Christchurch, further north on the south island, over the mountains by bus with a stop at Mount Cook. Christchurch is New Zealand’s second city with about 400,000 people.

Mount Cook in the Southern Alps is not really that high as far as mountains go. It’s 3754 meters or 12,316 feet above sea level. But the whole area was blanketed in snow. For an Arizonan, it was fun to see. Photographing was a difficult challenge though. Some of the photos look like I took them in black and white because about all you could see was black... and white. One interesting site along the way was this little stone church. While walking around taking shots, I ran into an Australian gent who told me he got married there 25 years ago and he and his wife had gone back to take a look. And, sure enough we see a wedding party walk out toward the shoreline of the lake. I was able to get a photo of them from a distance.

After a bus trip of about 12 hours with lots of stops, we finally made it to Christchurch. I rode the electric tram downtown, took a bus up to another ski lift to get great shots of the city, watched locals play a giant chess game in the city square, and visited a Kiwi Bird park.

I would suggest seeing New Zealand in their summer in the December to February range. The flight isn’t too bad and the next stop on the flight I took would be Melbourne from Auckland. For my next adventure out that way I want to see Sydney to Brisbane, making sure I stop in Tamworth, the Nashville of Australia.

Jim Patterson

http://JamesGordonPatterson.com

Professors Rubi and Patterson Lead PVCC Class to Southern Arizona

2010-05-02T10:28:00.003-07:00

April 30 and May 1, 2010 saw Professors David Rubi and yours truly, Jim Patterson, take a group of Paradise Valley Community College students from Phoenix to Southern Arizona.

We visited the Tucson Museum of Art, featuring the work of Mexican-American artists David Tineo. From the TMA, we ventured south of Tucson to the Tumacacori Mission, near the Mexican border. Jesuit Father Kino established the mission in 1691.

Then we visited San Xavier del Bac, known as the “White Dove of the Desert,” and still a Catholic Church. Pick up any travel brochure on the Tucson area, and chances are you will see a photo of the mission.

Finally, we visited Ted deGrazia’s “Gallery of the Sun” located on Swan Road on the north side of Tucson. I was privileged to interview Mr. deGrazia for National Public Radio in 1980 shortly before his death.

I took all the photos with my Canon 7D using natural light, ranging from an ISO of 100 outside to 800 to 1600 for some indoor shots. I used a Tamron 18-270mm lens.

This only scratches the surface of places to visit and photograph in and around Tucson. I would suggest Tombstone and Bisbee, Kartchner Caverns, and Fort Huachuca, home of the U.S. Army Military Intelligence School (and where I was an instructor for many years) to start in Southeastern Arizona, located an hour or so from Tucson. In Tucson, the Pima Air and Space Museum and the military “bone yard” of mothballed aircraft is located next to Davis Monthan Air Force Base. My alma mater, the University of Arizona (Bear Down!) is located in Tucson. To the west of Tucson, are Gates Pass, the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and Old Tucson Studios.

Happy Shooting,

Jim Patterson

Go to Jim’s Web Page

Hockey and WrestleMania in Arizona, 27 and 28 March 2010

2010-03-29T18:19:00.004-07:00

The weekend of 27 and 28 March 2010 here in the Phoenix area as far as sports was concerned meant hockey (the resurgent Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Colorado Avalanche, reaching 100 points for the first time in franchise history) and the WWE’s WrestleMania XXVI, held at Glendale Stadium in front of some 77,000 screaming fans. Something had to give and since I could not be in two places at once, I had to miss the Paul McCartney concert going on nearby in Glendale on Sunday.

These are just interesting venues to take photographs. Many places prohibit cameras with lenses longer than six inches. That may be to protect the fans in front who might get bopped by a longer lens or it might be to just hassle fans who happen to be photographers. But at any rate, this meant I had to use my backup camera to my Canon 7D, the nifty little Canon SD950IS. It only takes jpg photos but sports a 12-megapixel resolution. The photographer has very little control over a camera like this, as it really is a point and shoot.

One of the first problems inside is the white balance, especially in the tungsten lit hockey arena. Luckily, I had Lightroom and could correct the lighting by hitting the AUTO white balance. Remember, this camera only produced jpg’s so auto or “as shot” were my only choices unlike shooting in RAW when you can easily change the white balance. A side note on camera flashes in stadiums: Folks, it looks pretty to see the flashes in the stadium, but it does not a whit of good for your photographs! Those on camera flashes are good to light your subject, or blast your subject, for about six feet. THAT'S IT! So turn off your flash.

The major problem in the stadium for WrestleMania was the poor and unusual lighting and that I was much further from the ring. At least I was on the first row of the second deck and could steady my camera on the rail or by making a pyramid with my arms. Still, the close ups were mostly unusable. Do note how I salvaged the Undertaker photo making it look almost like a painting. I actually think that version looks pretty good. Also, the lasers and multi colored lights of WrestleMania made for some interesting wide-angle shots.

My experience with the Canon SD950IS (thank you Canon for at least building some image stabilization into this camera) made me yearn for my Canon 7D, knowing full well its tolerance for high ISO. Plus, my ability to zoom nicely would have made for some on top of the action ring shots.

Happy Shooting,

Jim Patterson

Jim's Home Page Jim's Camera Store

Faces of Santa Fe, March 2010

2010-03-22T08:37:00.005-07:00

I spent a week in March 2010 studying photography at the Santa Fe (New Mexico) Photographic Workshop. In particular I worked with New York photographer Paul Mobley. Oh did he work us for that week. Paul is a marvelous photographer who has done a lot of published portrait work, including his new book American Farmer.

Our first day of shooting had us go to the plaza area of downtown Santa Fe, where I had to approach total strangers and ask them to pose for photographs. For me, that wasn’t that hard to do. I’ve found being bold often catches people off guard and for most, they are flattered by being asked.

Day two was a day of shooting at the old New Mexico State Penitentiary in Santa Fe, home of a riot in 1980 that killed 33 people. Rick was the tour guide and he worked for the prison some 28 years, missing the riot he says by 15 minutes. He told stories of how the prisoners attacked mostly rapists, child molesters, and snitches and killed them one body part at a time. In my photos that follow, you will see the soulful Rick, face framed with white hair and muttonchops. You will wonder what he’s really seen and what he thinking.

On the third day, destination was the Bar S ranch outside of Santa Fe. Our host was Powhatan “Pow” Carter, who also appears in many of my photos. Pow was a real cowboy who competed in the Professional Rodeo Circuit. I asked him and he did indeed compete in the La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros (Tucson Rodeo), which I’ve attended many times and hope to some day photograph. Some of my favorite shots came from that visit. Here’s a short television show from “America’s Heartland” where host Paul Ryan interviews Paul Mobley. Later in the clip, you’ll see Pow Carter with Paul Mobley. Watch long enough and you might see Pow turn the tables on Paul.

On the final day of shooting, we went to a Santa Fe Harley-Davidson dealership and met some really nice and cooperative local Harley bikers. They were patient as we found shafts of light to paint their faces and light them with professional lighting equipment. One of my favorites was Rebecca, the lovely lady shown in my photo collection on her motorcycle wearing her leathers.

It was a physically and mentally demanding trip to Santa Fe, but the effort paid off in the photos and friendships I’ve come away with. To Paul Mobley, I said at the farewell party “I’m proud to be able to say I studied photography with Paul Mobley.”

Jim Patterson

James Gordon Patterson Photography
Jim's Amazon Camera Store

Jim at the George/Reba/Lee Ann Concert

2010-02-06T10:48:00.005-07:00

You've all seen the warnings or have even been stopped at a venue for having recording devices or video cameras. And we all know what hassle bringing a tripod can be. On Friday February 5 in downtown Phoenix, I went to the George Strait, Reba, and Lee Ann Womack concert, and with available light managed to grab a few nice photos.

My main camera is the Canon 7D, but that can be bulky and hard to use in a large crowd. So I brought my trusted backup, the Canon SD950IS instead. It fit in a nice little Lowepro pouch that attaches to my belt. You know, many of these little pocket cameras can take video too, which is a no no at these events. So far, nobody has given me a hassle about that.

Obviously, the biggest challenge in photographing these events is light.. or lack of it. PLUS, the colors change all the time. And you get unexpected light flashes from various sources that can mess up any photograph. I use Lightroom to edit and still find I have to toss many as just too grainy or blurry. I did the best I could steadying shots, but many were not useable. I found that the reddish lights on stage gave me the sharpest photos and the white light gave me the worst photos.

I love country music so I came in expected to be pleased. And I was. Lee Ann Womack is still got it. Reba is.. well, simply terrific. Reba and Lee Ann did a duet which the crowd really responded to. And the star of the show, George Strait, is cowboy cool. Love that black hat for some reason. The show started on time at 7pm and got out at 11:30pm. As with all country events I've ever attended, the shows start on time, the performers give their all, and nobody leaves feeling cheated. And the country audiences are the nicest people you'll ever want to meet. Years ago I thought I was too cool for country until I saw all the pretty cowgirls that show up at these events. Oh the music is great too!

Enjoy my photos!

Jim Patterson

Feliz Navidad from the Phoenix Botanical Gardens

2009-12-22T09:55:00.007-07:00

I went to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens las noches de las luminarias celebration on 20 January 2009. This was a nightime celebration that of course posed many lighting problems. Armed with my new Canon 7D and a monopod, I took a sampling of photos using the higher ISO settings of the 7D. I used anywhere from 1600 to even 6400. Of course, the higher the ISO the more grain, but I thought some of it added to the appeal of the photos. I edited about 90 percent of the shots in Adobe Lightroom. For a few of them, I went to Photoshop and used the OnOne Plug-in Suite 5 tools. One thing I learned about taking evening shots... BRING A SMALL PENLIGHT! It was nearly impossible to make any kind of change on the camera without light. I even tried holding up a luminaria to see better. The other option is to memorize the controls on your camera. No, on second thought... bring a penlight! I was smart enough to bring my Manfrotto monopod that also has little legs that pop out at the bottom. Some venues will give you a hard time if you bring in a tripod. With a monopod, you can always say HEY IT'S A WALKING STICK! They'll usually leave you alone then. One more thing.. I totally forgot to bring my remote control. It is really easy to create blur with night shots even if you are so careful you hold your breath before clicking the shutter.

My New Canon 7D at the NASCAR Race

2009-11-20T15:50:00.007-07:00

I tested my brand new Canon 7D camera recently at the Phoenix International Raceway. #2 Kurt Busch, from the University of Arizona, finished 7th.

I found the 7D a delight. It is bulkier than the Canon XSi, the camera I had before this, but it just feels like a pro camera. It also has a nice 8fps burst rate. It sounds like a machine gun! I used a Tamron 18-270mm lens and sometimes I used the Tamron 1.4x extender, too. All were 100 ISO and I used Adobe Lightroom for editing and uploading to Flickr.

Enjoy!

Another interesting feature on the Canon 7D is the ability to take high definition video. I can switch to video mode easily on the camera and even take photos while recording video! Here is a short example of video taken during the race. Turn up your volume so you can hear the zoom.

I held off buying the Canon 7D because I didn't really need the video. I have a Canon HF200 which is a wonderful HD video camera. But how many times have you been to an event and they say cameras are ok but no video? Ha ha, the 7D takes care of that problem nicely.

I am a National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) member and got a smoking deal on shipping with the 7D from B&H.

Coyotes White Out October 10, 2009

2009-10-11T10:32:00.004-07:00

The Phoenix Coyotes played before nearly 18,000 fans at their home opener in Glendale Saturday October 10th. Fans were dressed all in white and the event was called a White Out. Unfortunately, the 'Yotes lost to Columbus two to nothing.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

For those interested in photography, all the photos were taken with a Canon SD950 12 MP camera, one of the smaller "point and shoots." Sometimes it is easier to put one of those in your pocket and walk in the door without hassle. I edited and uploaded to flickr via Adobe Lightroom using a Jeffrey Friedl's "Export to Flickr" plugin. I also use his "Export to Zenfolio" plugin when posting photos from Lightroom to my Zenfolio site.

Upcoming... My reaction to attending NAPP's PhotoShop World in Las Vegas!

First Test of the Tamron 18-270mm Lens

2009-09-06T11:47:00.003-07:00

On Saturday September 5th, I took my new Tamron 18-270mm lens attached to my Canon XSi to Tucson, Arizona for the Arizona Wildcats vs. Central Michigan University tailgate and football game (Arizona 19, CMU 6).

Here are the photos I posted to Flickr. My review is under the photos.

First, keep in mind why anybody would by an all purpose "walking around" lens. I did not want to take all of my photo equipment to a tailgate and football game, especially since severe weather was predicted. I wanted to travel light. The Tamron 18-270mm lets you do that. I feel it does many things pretty well. Is it an excellent portrait lens? Of course not. Is it a great telephoto? Hey, not to bad. For the convenience of having such a walking around lens, you do give up f/stops. It just isn't what photographers would call the fastest glass in the world.

Was it worth the $599 (minus $70 current Tamron rebate I got via B&H Photo). Sure it is; I would do it again.

But you be the final judge. I was taking photos in a variety of conditions. Cloudy and sunny during the day; stadium lighting from a distance at night. If I were on the sidelines, I'd not have to use the full 270mm zoom and have better lighting. I'd also probably use a tripod or even monopod for more stability. As it was, I sat in the 42nd row on the 50 yard line.

I vote the Tamron 18-270mm lens a double thumbs up for convenience, performance, and price!

Jim Patterson

2009-08-18T16:10:00.002-07:00

I had the pleasure of covering the Arizona Wildcats football team luncheon at Fort Huachuca, AZ and scrimmage at Buena High School in Sierra Vista Saturday 15 August.

Photos and story are at Wildaboutazcats.com http://wildaboutazcats.com/2009/08/16/readers-blog-a-day-with-the-wildcats-in-sierra-vista/

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
The issue of media access came up. The Arizona sports information director refused wildaboutazcats and me media access. He claims if he gives it to a website, then everybody will want media access. My response? Hey, it’s coverage for your program and team! Secondly, the new media is here to stay. Why should ease of entry dictate who is a legitimate news operation? Sure, anybody can start a webpage, but SO WHAT? Newspapers like the Tucson Citizen are failing all over the country. Third, legitimate former newspaper reporters like Javier Morales (who used to cover the Wildcats for the Arizona Daily Star) and Anthony Gimino (who covered the Cats for the Citizen) run wildaboutazcats. Hey, I’m as old school as it gets... I studied journalism at the University of Arizona when we used newsprint and manual typewriters and newsrooms were smoke filled. I’m old school AND I GET IT! It’s time sports information directors understand the new media. I’m more than willing to run a workshop on the new media for any sports information directors or p.r. types who are interested.

Next, what about the challenges of taking photos of a sports event? This was both inside (the luncheon) and outside (the scrimmage).

Inside challenges include choosing either available light without flash by raising the ISO level to around 800. The trade off is with that ISO, you usually have more graininess or noise in the photo. Using flash indoors may wash out some of your subjects. I tended to try both during the luncheon and then picked and choose what worked well afterwards in Adobe Lightroom.

At the scrimmage, I experimented with a small aperture size (f/22) and slower shutter speed and larger aperture size (f/5.6 or so) and faster speed. The faster speed froze action much better obviously. The slower speed gave more blur or the look of speed and motion. I also experimented with f/11 and f/16 aperture sizes. Of course, f/5.6 or lower will give you more background blur, putting more attention on what you are focusing on. As you can see, I used a variety of settings during the day. I also used a nice Manfrotto monopod to steady my Canon XSi and used a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle, a Tamron 70-300mm telephoto, and sometimes a Tamron 1.4x extender. Since I was not granted media access, I had to shoot from the crowd, which meant some of the shots were with the extender.

Product Review: "Noise Buster" by Akvis

2009-07-21T09:43:00.001-07:00

As a photographer and Photoshop user on a Mac, I was interested in trying out Noise Buster from Akvis Software. Noise can be a problem when we shoot at higher ISO levels in lower light situations. Or, we use what some might consider a “soft” lens. This won’t completely cure all noise in a photograph, but what program will? It sure does improve photos though.

Some of the appeal of Noise Buster is it works on both Windows and Mac, it is a standalone and a plugin for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Paint Shop Pro. And it won’t break your pocket book. It costs $49 or 39 Euro. You can download it for free for ten days to give it a good test.

You can try Noise Buster now by going here.

Photowalk 2009 in North Phoenix-PVCC a (HOT!) Success!

2009-07-20T10:10:00.005-07:00

Photowalk 2009's version in North Phoenix - Paradise Valley Community College on July 18 2009 was a fun, and HOT, time. Close to a full compliment of fifty photographers joined me as we gathered at Catch 22 Sports Grill, then on to Matador Coffee to take some photos of their bean grinder operation. Then we carefully walked across Union Hills and got in the center of the Paradise Valley Community College Campus where we walked around and found interesting things to take photographs of. All this while under an extreme heat warning (115 degrees, so yes HOT).

Photowalk 2009 is a brainchild of photographer Scott Kelby. This is the second year photographers from all over the world did a photowalk. The idea behind a photowalk is to have fun, meet people, talk about photography, and did I mention have fun? I think our group accomplished that.

Click on the link and you can see more photos from the North Phoenix-PVCC Photowalk. This is the general Flickr site for the Worldwide Photowalk.

Fun at the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers Workshop

2009-07-01T09:25:00.007-07:00

I recently attended the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers workshop at the Rocky Mountain National Park (June 21 to 25, 2009). First off, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this workshop if you want to work, test yourself, and learn about outdoor photography.

One of the first things I learned was DO NOT scrimp on a good tripod. I brought a piece of junk that I got with a video camera and it was totally unsuited for nature

photography in the field. After the first night, I went online and bought a nice Manfrotto tripod and a Manfrotto monopod from B&H.

Tripods are a MUST for outdoor photography. You often will shoot in low light conditions and need the stability for clear photos. Thanks to Jared Gricoskie for beating me up over that out in the field. haha. I still ended up with a few good elk photos.

The nice thing about a workshop like this is it gets you out of your comfort zone.

I was taken to places I might not have found on my own, nor would I have the motivation factor present, either.

In addition to Jared we also had the guidance of Jack Olson, a published photographer specializing in flora.

We went all over the Rocky Mountain National Park... from the valleys to way above the tree line, in the cold and snow. THAT was welcome for this desert rat (I live in Phoenix) although I have to remind you to dress warmly if you go on this workshop.

I posted photos at my website. Just click on "my photo gallery" and "my photo videos" to see my work.

Nic Showalter is the coordinator and also a darn good photographer. Contact him if you want more information on the June 2010 workshop.

June 17, 2009 Photography Update

2009-06-17T13:45:00.007-07:00

Hi, again...

Sorry I was away for so long. Lots have happened and are upcoming.

Photowalk 2009

First off, I am a leader of one of the PhotoWalks that are going on all over the world on July 18th. My Photowalk site for North Phoenix - Paradise Valley Community College is here. If you are in the Phoenix area that day, please join us. It starts at 9am and ends at 11am. Details are on that page.

My New Photography Site

I have a new photography page that you might enjoy. I had been working in Dreamweaver but even for me, a technonut, Dreamweaver is so difficult to build even the simplest of websites. You might laugh when I tell you this, but I build that first "cover" page with iWeb that runs on Macs, a part of the iLife suite. It was easy and let me get back to doing what I love and that is photography.

Photography Software

Speaking of software, I'm often asked about the software I recommend for photographers. I used Adobe Photoshop Elements for a long time and that is a good one. Plus it is cheap and runs on both PC's and Macs. I personally have Photoshop on my 24" iMac and it works great, but it is expensive and can be over the top for most users. Of course, if you take even one college course, for instance, you qualify for the hefty education discount. I use Academic Superstore for my software purchases and save a bundle. But several months ago I downloaded a trial copy of Photoshop Lightroom and within a few days bought the full version. I absolutely love it! So I think you can have a pretty powerful computerized photo lab with just Photoshop Elements and Lightroom. Heck, I do about 90% of my editing on Lightroom and only use Photoshop for the real problem photographs.

My Upcoming Adventure

June 21 I will be heading to the Rocky Mountain National Park for the 2009 Outdoor Writers and Photographers workshop. I am looking forward to almost a week's worth of outdoors photography. I will post photos and plan to do a movie and post that too on my photography website.

The last part of July and August will see me travel to Ireland and Northern Ireland.

My Past Work and Travels

If you go to my photography website, you can see what I've been up to in the last few months. In March, I was honored to be the photographer for Katrina and Greg in Scottsdale. During the first weekend in May, I went to the Friends of Arizona Highways "Rails and Trails of the Verde Valley." And, the latter part of May, I went back to Korea.

Digital Days Phoenix 21 and 22 February 2009

2009-02-24T09:15:00.024-07:00

I attended both the Saturday 21 February and Sunday 22 February Digital Days event at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Phoenix. For both sessions there were probably in excess of eighty people of various skill levels. I talked to a few folks who had just bought their first digital camera and were afraid they’d be in over their heads. Having attended (and hosted) a prior Digital Days back in 2004 at Paradise Valley Community College with Phil Mistry I told them all to soak in day one, which was designed for beginners (but also a nice reminder for the more seasoned photographers like myself) and I’d ask them afterwards if it was worth it. The people I talked to at the end of Saturday all agreed it had been worth it.

I have a number of photography websites. The one that has many of my photos is at Shutterfly. Go there to take a look if you want, but these are my "warts and all" photos. And you can sign up for a free account. Since I brought up outside sites for photographers, one I really like is Zenfolio. I have started to create what I think is a nice professional page on Zenfolio displaying some of my favorite photographs. Yet another site I like is PhotoWorkshop. One of the nice things they have are tons of educational pages.

OK, back to Digital Days. On day one, the instructor was Leslie Fisher. She was every bit as engaging and knowledgeable as Phil Mistry. Day two, for more advanced photographers, had Leslie and brought in photographer John Omvik, who spent most of the time showing and discussing Adobe Lightroom. And, we had a live shoot with models. That was a lot of fun. Actually going in and taking photographs trying out the settings we had learned about earlier. For those that wanted, they could get critiques of their work afterwards in a non-threatening way.

What did I learn? First off, even for a guy like me who has taken photographs for a few years, it was good to get out and talk to other people and review the basics. Sometimes I admit I get lazy and use the automatic settings. But there is so much more to photography once you get out of those zones and take control of your camera. Now, I teach digital photography for PVCC (along with other business and i.t. courses) and never really thought much about Lightroom from Adobe. I had done some reviews so I was not unfamiliar with it. But John Omvik really showed it in action. OK, what is Lightroom? Lightroom is a program that does some editing but is mostly used to control workflow. Put another way, lets say you do a shoot of hundreds or thousands of photographs. And you want to find one from the morning of the third day or some other specific quality. You can “tag” photos in lightroom to make it easier to find them again quickly. You can also batch process certain things you like such as cropped for 8 x 10 or some lighting condition. Lightroom does NOT replace Photoshop, Photoshop Elements (I use PSE for Mac, by the way), or Paint Shop Pro. Lightroom competes with Apple Aperture as a workflow program and works in tandem with a Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. After John’s demonstration, I went home an ordered the academic discounted version from Academic SuperStore. If you are in education as a student or faculty member, you can also qualify for the nice discount.

My recommendation. Sony Digital Days, Popular Photography, and Tempe Camera (the local sponsor) did this right. If you are a beginner, you need the first day for sure. And you know what, go the second day too to learn about shooting models! Yes, and bring your camera. Then after the workshops, go out and read your camera manual and go to a place like Amazon and find a good book dedicated to your camera model and read about all the functions. Digital Days even published a series of great instructional videos I urge you to take a look at. Even if you are an experienced photographer, there is something here for you too. Now go out and shoot some photographs!

Digital Days Coming Back to Phoenix 21 and 22 February

2009-01-22T10:24:00.004-07:00

Many of you may remember when PVCC hosted Digital Days a few years ago. It was wildly successful, bringing in over 100 participants over a Saturday and Sunday. Well, they are coming back to Phoenix February 21 and 22 AND you can enroll for a 25% discount.

I will be there taking photos for this blog. The code for registration is in the photo above, just click on it to see it. Hope to see you there!

Jim Patterson

Jim Visits the New Apple Store in Arrowhead

2008-07-27T14:14:00.006-07:00

The new Apple store opened Saturday July 26, 2008 in Arrowhead Mall. I avoided that on opening day, having heard . HOWEVER, did go to the store today (Sunday). It was crowded, but not so much that I couldn't find the manager.

Notice this picture was taken outside the store. Apple officials explained what I did outside the store was fine but if I wanted an inside the store shot, I'd need special permission, yada yada.

Here's the fun news for faculty, staff, and students: If you purchase a Mac by September 15, you get a free iPod PLUS a 10% education discount. I priced those iPods and they are in the $150+ range, so that's a smokin' deal.

Here is something I'm going to set up for college faculty, staff, and students this fall. I met the Arrowhead Apple Manager, Jason Wambolt. He and I will set up a PVCC day at Apple where they will show off their hardware and software in their new training auditorium. It should be a cool event. I will let you know when I have a date set. In the meantime, now you have a friend at Apple - Arrowhead. Use my name. Jason can be reached at arrowhead@apple.com or you can visit the Apple Arrowhead Store.

Oh, one more thing I want to share with you. Most of you know about TechSmith's Camtasia, the program that allows you to record your screen action and voice for dvd and export to the web? Well, they have a free service called Jing which allows much of what Camtasia can do but limits you to five minute clips. You can save your Jing video to your computer or upload to their free servers. It's available for Mac and the other guys.

From PC to Mac and Lovin' It

2008-05-13T14:52:00.003-07:00

One day in late April of 2008, Linda Lawson of the PVCC's computer commons came to me and in a reasoned way explained why it was making more sense to offer some computer labs with Macs. Now, at the time I was the self-proclaimed "King of all PC's." Linda told me the Macs cost less to maintain and they connected to the network more easily than the Dells. I told her the only thing I was worried about was if a PC type keyboard and mouse would work on a Mac and if the Mac could run Windows. Once that was proven to me, I gave my ok. The next day, I finally reached my tipping point. I was listening to Rush Limbaugh on the way into the college and he was going on and on about his Macs, about how wonderful they were. So Linda and Rush tipped me over. That day I called the local Apple store and went down and bought my first Mac, a beautiful little white Macbook with my educational discount, which was about a $100 savings.

Going from PC's, something I've used forever it seems. I went from a Commodore to one of those IBM single density double disk drive machines around hmmmm 1982 or so. Switching to a Mac, gang, isn't that painful. Little things you adjust to. Like remembering to go to the upper LEFT on a Mac to close a program instead of the upper right. But really, that took about an hour or two. Here it is about two weeks after switching to a Macbook and getting an iMac to replace my Gateway main desktop so I am now one of "them" - a Mac true believer. You know the Apple commercials out now with the hipster Mac user and the whiney PC guy in the crumpled suit? I'm still the guy in the crumpled suit but now I use Macs! haha.

Here are the nice things you will have to "endure" with a Mac, if you decide to switch:

1. Security threats... gee, I don't run any virus programs. Is that right or wrong on a Mac?

2. It's fast. Few things run in the background to slow the machine down.

3. The stuff works. It sounds like an ad, but it's true. Everything seems to work well together. There are lots of little things built in that are very useful, like Time Machine, a painless way to backup your computer. Set and forget. I like that.

4. No more defrag. Yeah!

5. On the Macbook, the power connector stays in place by magnet so if somebody trips on the cord, it just pops out instead of pulling your laptop on the floor. Again, the little things they do right.

6. The iMac I have is a 24 inch beauty. I mean BEAUTY. The screen is bright and everything is built in. I bought 4gb of RAM for both the Macbook and iMac and the thing flies.

7. After switching to Macs, I discovered I had a program I loved (Camtasia by TechSmith) that only ran in Windows. So I went to our tech guru Carol Myers and she set me up with a copy of Parallels. As the kids would say in text, OMG! I installed Parallels on both Macs, then installed Windows XP inside and it runs FASTER on a Mac!!! Then I installed my copy of Camtasia and it works beautifully. So PC users, you are having fewer and fewer excuses.

8. Widgets. I have time set up for Phoenix and Seoul, where I went last month. I have the five day weather forecast for Phoenix. I also have it set up to display movie times. And, this is neat, airline schedules.

9. The Mac "mighty mouse" really does have a right click button. Just go into mouse preferences and set it up that way. And your old PC keyboard and mouse will work, too.

10. No more stupid registry. When you are done with a program on a Mac, just drag it to the trash.

Have I had any problems? Not with the Macs. My problem was getting rid of the PC laptop (thankfully bought by fellow faculty Patri Mays) and Gateway desktop and monitor (bought by EZ Trade in from Ebay.com). The other thing I found is a Mac holds its resale value better than PC's. As Johnny Carson used to say, "I did not know that." Oh, one other minor annoyance is that sometimes the Safari Internet Browser doesn't work with some sites, like Hotmail (I wonder why, Microsoft?). All you do in that case is switch to Firefox.

I don't want to come off as one of those pesky Mac people who put down Microsoft, but really... Vista is nothing more than Windows Me, part deux. Microsoft lost me as a customer like the Big 3 automakers lost me decades earlier. QUIT MAKING JUNK! Computers are a maturing industry and there should not be the patience out there for not-ready-to-be-sold software and hardware. Consumers and businesses should just stand up and say no. Now, you can buy a Mac. Even though Apple is not pursuing the enterprise market, companies are buying Macs because individuals are buying for home use. If you consider the total cost of ownership, you will find Macs simply are cheaper in the long run. Oh, and they just work.

Free and Inexpensive Tools for Online Learning in Nashville

2007-11-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hi, Jim Patterson back at ya. This time I am in Nashville for the League for Innovation in the Community College's Conference on Information Technology.

I'm speaking on free and inexpensive tools for online learning. As many of you know, in addition to teaching Business and Information Technology at Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix, I am also the online learning coordinator. I've always had a fascination in the lower cost to free tools that are out there. Plus, none of our budgets support buying all the equipment we need. And, I like choices! Sometimes a free version is exactly what I need to do what I want.

You can enhance an online course with many free or nearly free programs. You can start with some of the links I'm going to put in here or you can Google it! That reminds me, if your college wants to get out of the email business I'd suggest looking at what either Google or Microsoft is offering for free. I'm sure other companies will jump on offering free applications and email to colleges, too.

An early consideration on whether to use a tool or not is is it complicated? Can you get trained? Also, why are you using the tool? It should be to enhance and further education, not just to provide some gee whiz.

You can work with Adobe tools like Captivate, Breeze, and Authorware. They cost, but your college may have a discount. I have an example of something I did in Breeze.

Another commercial product for online instruction is Toolbook. There is the cheaper Assistant version or the full blown Instructor. It will produce interesting and engaging content for cd/dvd, Flash, or the Web. And there are trial downloads available at SumTotalSystems.

What is an LMS? That stands for Learning Management System. Many of you teach online classes and may use BlackBoard, WebCT, eCollege, Desire2Learn, Sakai, or Moodle, for example. The last two are free. I just did an evaluation for Quality Matters for a course from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and they use Desire2Learn. But did you know you can go on the cheap and use Yahoo? Yahoo for instant messaging (can you say virtual office hours??) and Yahoo Groups for discussions. Google also offers a similar service called Google Talk.

You want to do Flash but can't afford or have the time to fool with Adobe Flash? Try SWISH instead. They have a deep, very deep, educational discount. You can buy it at that discount from lots of educational discounted software companies. One I use a lot is Academic Superstore. Another is Journey Ed.

Camtasia. I love these guys. You can record desktop demonstrations with narration and video easily. You can publish to flash, cd/dvd, and streaming video. Check out the examples and the trial software by going to the TechSmith site.

Wink is a freeware alternative to Camtasia.

Blogging... just like I'm doing. Why do it? IT IS EASY. You can be a "journalist" in seconds and publish your stuff to the Web. If you have the Google Toolbar installed with your browser, you can see Blogger is the free blog of choice. Blogging is so easy you can use it for student assignments. They often get a kick out of seeing how easy they can post to the web. Then again, I bet many of them know that already.

Everybody is doing podcasts these days it seems. There are many commercial editing programs out there but Audacity is free. PVCC's Mike Ho and Student Life do a lot of podcasts and Mike tells me they get THOUSANDS of hits on that page. Give a listen to some of the 'casts.

Now this next program is going to be addictive. It is called Hot Potatoes. It is freeeee! You can produce mix and match, fill in the blank, even interesting crossword puzzle quizzes. You can output to an html file or package into a zip for import into BlackBoard, for instance. It doesn't really record the grades for you but it makes fine review-type fun quizzes.

Everybody has a digital camera. Some use their cell phones. Others, like me, have gone wild and have spent a lot of money on equipment. Photos are fun and easy and a great way to build rapport. I use Photoshop Elements. You can download a trial and then purchase the real product for well under $100. Take a look at my photography page. Then click on the portfolio link on the left side. That was made with Photoshop Elements. Not bad, eh? Now, how about a pretty darn neat photo editing program that is free? Try Picasa. It will also build nice galleries for you. I have both Photoshop Elements and Picasa on my home and work machines. Some additional photography sites that have gallery building and limited editing would include Shutterfly, Kodak Gallery, and Flickr. Click on the link to see my personal Flickr gallery. And the 2007 CIT has a Flickr site of pictures and comments... give it a gander. Oh, before I forget, Kodak has a neat Digital Learning Center if you want project ideas and learn how to get more out of your digital camera.

All of us use PowerPoint slides. Publishers give them to us and we create our own. But posting the PPT file takes time and space. Impatica is a program that can scrunch a PowerPoint file down by up to 95 percent. I had a nice PowerPoint slideshow on how to give a great presentation on my web site. Nice idea until I found out my students were printing page after page of the slideshow in the computer lab! So I used Impatica to produce this slideshow. Impatica is not free so check to see if your college has a site license.

You can incorporate simple video into your class without breaking the bank. Many of the newer video cameras have USB connection, so that makes it easy to import video into your computer. And I bet you might have had some free or trial video editing software bundled with it. If not, I'd suggest Adobe Premier Elements, the partner program for Photoshop Elements. Or, how about the free Microsoft Movie Maker? For simple videos, I use my Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision which records video in near darkness. There is a free program that will output very small videos that play with Real Player. It is called Real Producer. You can stream the video or make a nice small video from the original and post to your website or LMS, for instance. Here is another addictive toy you are going to love. Go visit Flixn now and get started with simple videos. It will record up to five minutes, then you can post the URL anywhere for viewing. Click here to see my sample Flixn video for you. And my TechSmith friends have a free thingie out there similar to Flixn called Jing. And of course, you can house your videos on YouTube. Look at what a couple of fool college professors did from PVCC! Well, one of em is a fool. You guess which one. haha.

And there is the whole open source movement. Again, get your Google site up and ready to do some searching. One nice suite of programs similar to MS Office is Open Office. In the Spring of 2008 PVCC will be hosting a "Dialogue Day" on open source products for education. Visit the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction or MCLI for more information.

Let me know if this has been helpful... I'm at jim.patterson@pvmail.maricopa.edu at work or you can visit me at my faculty webpage.

Going from XP to Vista - Lessons Learned (May 29, 2007)

2007-05-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I made the plunge and decided to install Microsoft Vista on my laptop and home computer. Many of you know I am a faculty at Paradise Valley Community College and teach Microsoft products, so I have a professional need to be playing and learning this operating system.

My bottom line upfront advice is unless you love pretty colors and 3-D hootsaws, there is no need to rush into Vista. If XP is working fine, you are good for awhile. Microsoft will not support XP for very long, but at least you know there is no need to rush.

Microsoft, for some odd unknown reason, has many flavors of Vista. Personally, I think it is stupid. The more confusing you make it for the consumer, the more the consumer is likely to think "hmmm, LINUX?" That is another story, as there even more flavors of Linux, but at least going Linux won't bust your back pocket. More on Linux in a bit...

Anyway, if you are going to go with Vista, here are a few considerations. They have something called a "Vista Upgrade Path" which essentially means you cannot upgrade to a lower level Windows. For instance, I could upgrade my laptop from XP Home to Vista Business (keeping my old settings) but could not upgrade from XP Professional on my main computer to Vista Business. On my main computer, I had to format my hard drive and install the operating system fresh, not a bad option in my opinion. Anyway, click on this Microsoft link so you can figure out for yourself what you need to do.

By the way, I usually install a program or operating system first on my laptop. Once I get that figured out and running fine, then I take what I learned and apply it to my main computer.

Here's another thing I learned: give yourself time to install (it does take several hours) and then tweak. Microsoft leaves on so many #$%$ security warnings and what not that Vista was unusable until I was able to get in and turn off all the darn warnings, pretty visuals, and things that I was not interested in. Vista, like many programs, is bloated. It comes with a bunch of junk you don't need. I know, I know... some of you are thinking "GO MAC" or "GO LINUX." First off, I've tried Macs and just do not see what the big deal is. They are expensive and are not problem free, no matter what their cutsie ads are saying. Linux? Ahhh, another matter. I continue to play around with a few flavors (and there are a bunch): Knoppix and Ubuntu. The Paradise Valley Community College Computer Commons lab technicians like Randy Babick turned me on to Ubuntu Linux recently. Like Knoppix, you can create a boot cd/dvd disk with Ubuntu so you can fool around with another operating system without messing up your Windows installation. One of the challenges of using a Linux operating system is finding workable drivers for your peripherals. I like my scanner, my printers, my tablet, and cameras to work on an operating system. BUT, the thing about Knoppix and Ubuntu is it is free. Another Linux flavor to look at is Linspire. By the way, they recently have announced a development agreement with the Ubuntu people. If all the Linux types could row the boat in the same direction it would give some hope of a legitimate competitor to Windows and Microsoft. My advice is download a few of the Linux flavors, create a CD bootable disk, and play around with them in your spare time.

Now, back to installing Vista! When you start the Vista installation disk, it will give you an opportunity to save all of your important data from your old computer. This is a good feature! I use two (I know, I"m paranoid) portable USB hard drives as a backup for my documents and pictures, so I was able to have the Vista startup disk make a backup of those files. It ended up being a +15gb file, but I was able to run it once Vista had installed and had all of my settings and files working in the new operating system. My email pretty much worked, although I scrapped the new Windows Mail for Outlook (within Office 2007). Some of you may want to use Thunderbird, which is free but will not let you read your web-based email accounts.

I did find a few little surprises after installing Vista Business... on my main computer, my old Logitech 510 webcam did not work! Vista simply said "nope, not gonna run" in Vista, no matter what I did. OK, fine... so I went out and got the latest and greatest Logitech camera, the Ultravision, and it works fine. In fact, one of the neat features of this camera is how it can somehow magically light an almost dark room. Spooky, but it works. The picture you see of me at the rop of this page (frightening, huh?) is from a nearly dark room.

NOW, I am going to save you time. You can learn from my mistakes. If you want this Aero and all the pretty junk that comes with Vista, fine. You will go ga ga over Vista. As for me, I want a system that runs fast, runs the programs I want and the peripherals I use, and to heck with the pretty 3D thingies and sounds that go ba boom. You are going to waste time trying to find out where everything is in Control Panel, for instance.

Here is the first utility to download: TweakVI from Totalidea. Go ahead and start with the free version. There are all kinds of tweaks you can set in Vista; you really need to take a look. This one will improve the performance of your operating system, I promise. Another great site you need to save is Tweak Vista. In fact, before I did the Vista install, I printed out all of these Vista Tweaks I was likely to use and circled them as a reminder. Click here for even more Vista tweaks. Everybody's needs are different, so use the tweaks that fit your style.

Oh, one other surprise when I installed Vista was that a version of McAfee Virus Checker I had was not compatible with Vista. Uggggh, so I downloaded and happily use the FREE version of AVG from Grisoft. I should have switched long ago. It works fine with Vista. And did I say it is FREE???

I love free or low cost good working programs and utilities. Given most of the commercial stuff on the market today costs big bucks and is filled with garbage, why pay for what you don't use?

Let me give you a perfect illustraton of bloatware. Roxio. I used the Easy Creator 9 Suite under XP. Many of the programs in the suite I just did not need, so I didn't install them. All I wanted was a good utility to let me easily burn CD's and DVD's. Well, I tossed this product out after installing Vista. It is simply not Vista ready, no matter what their site says. Nero is another choice but that is another case of a sub-$100 program with alot of bloat. So I did a search. I found a gem of a CD/DVD burning software called Ashampoo Burning Studio 7. Download this sucker and try it out for free. I've tried it and it flawlessly burned music and videos. None of the burns are speedy; one of the things I dislike about CD/DVD burners. BUT, the software just WORKED!

By the way, my hunt was made much easier once I found this "best ever" site from the Tech Support Alert folks. Some of the stuff they recommended I wasn't too fond of but some of it was great!

This is enough to get you started on Vista. In my next installment, I am going to recommend more great tweaks and utilities to make your Vista experience better.

Happy Computing,

Jim Patterson
Professor of Business/Information Technology
Paradise Valley Community College
Phoenix, Arizona
TheCogentCommunicator@gmail.com