Various Photo Ops from May 2022 to August 2023

* All of my images on Flickr

* All of my images on SmugMug

* My Instagram Feed

8 May 2022: Crystal Gayle and Gatlin Brothers at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix.  Images captured with the iPhone 13.  

21 May 2022:  Canon Models at Tempe Camera.

22 May 2022:  Wild Horses of Tonto National Forest.

May 2022:  Hummingbirds in my front yard.  They seem attracted to the Red Yucca blooms.

25 June 2022: Wickenburg Spurs Cafe and Museum.  First, breakfast at the Spurs Cafe and then a tour of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum and their "Cowgirl Up" exhibit of artwork.

2 July 2022: Arizona Downs in Prescott Valley. Enjoying horse racing in the high desert of Arizona at Arizona Downs.

4 July 2022: Bull Riding at the Buffalo Chip. To celebrate the 4th of July, bull riding in the Buffalo Chip arena in Cave Creek, Arizona.

9 July 2022: Wickenburg Hassyampa BBQ & Palomino & Saguaros.  Another visit to Wickenburg, Arizona, an hour northwest of Phoenix. Visits to Hassyampa BBQ, the Palomino Club, and the saguaro cactus forests along Vulture Mine Road.

Late July to Early August 2022: Hunter Peak Ranch + Beartooths + Cody Wyoming. Northwest Wyoming from Hunter Peak Ranch to the Beartooth Mountains to Cody.

13 August 2022: Butterfly Wonderland Photowalk 2022.  A KelbyOne photowalk to Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale.

20 August 2022: Payson Arizona Rodeo. Billed as the oldest continuous rodeo, the Payson Arizona Rodeo held their afternoon rodeo that Sunday.

October 2022: Joshua Tree National Park. Visit to Joshua Tree National Park in California with the Tamron people. Close enough for me to drive from Phoenix!

November 2022: Big Sur Carmel. The Tamron VIP trip to Big Sur and Carmel, California.

December 2022: Australia and New Zealand. Visiting three ports in Australia and five ports in New Zealand aboard the Viking Orion.

January 2023: Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction. Barrett-Jackson is the HUGE auto show in Scottsdale. After the show, dinner at Brugos of Cave Creek.

11 February 2023:  Wickenburg Arizona Gold Rush parade, then enough time to make the Wickenburg Senior Pro Rodeo.

25 February 2023: Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show from Westworld.

19 March 2023: Bartlett Lake and Dam are east of Cave Creek and Carefree Arizona, north of Phoenix and Scottsdale. Water levels are probably now over 100%. The spring of '23 was a wet one and more rain coming!

3 April 2023: Hunting for spring wildflowers at Thunderbird Park between Glendale and Phoenix Arizona.  

9 April 2023: Spur Cross to Apache Wash. Walkabout from the Sonoran Desert on Easter Sunday. Also amazing wildflowers after our wetter than normal winter.

15 April 2023: Picacho Peak Arizona. Picacho Peak Arizona is about an hour northwest of Tucson just off I-10. Still a few wildflowers out and tons of saguaro cactus.

6 May 2023: Alice in Wonderland Characters from Tempe Camera. Alice in Wonderland with The Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts.

7 May 2023: Salt River Horses. The hunt for wild horses along the Salt River in Arizona.

4 June 2023: Lake Pleasant sunset dinner cruise in Peoria, north of Phoenix, Arizona.

3 & 4 July 2023: Fireworks from Hurricane Harbor in Glendale Arizona.

July & August 2023: Seeing the sights in New Brunswick, Canada. Craft beer, Bay of Fundy, Highland Games, Kings Landing, and more!

19 August 2023: Karchner Caverns Benson Arizona. The amazing underground world of Karchner Caverns.

Photography Around the House

I, like everybody else in the world, had a lot of time waiting out the #$%$@ virus.   I spent much of that time thinking  about things to photograph

Driving around my neighborhood, I saw flowers I didn't have.   So I marked down houses I wanted to visit.   I also had plants and flowers I wanted to photograph in my own yard. 

I tried using a telephoto lens for close ups using natural light.   I also used a Canon EOS R, Canon 100mm macro lens, and Canon 14-EX-II ring lite for times when a plant or flower was partially in shade.  

One day I was in the back with my Canon EOS R and Tamron 100-400mm lens. 

And two birds showed up.
  

Both photos post processed in Lightroom and Luminar 4. 

And I worked on some home food and product photos, as well.  I mostly used the Canon 100mm macro lens.

The moon was full in April.  But it was in the wrong place, directly behind me.   So I photographed the moon, then photographed my back yard.   Then, put the moon in my backyard photo with Photoshop.   

From mid-March on, I also went to many webinars sponsored by Photoshelter, Canon, and probably the best from Tamron.   I'm also a Tamron VIP member, so if you have Tamron lenses check out the VIP section to see if you are eligible.   

Until My Next Adventure,

See you on down the road,

Jim Patterson

LAS NOCHES DE LAS LUMINARIAS 2016

Las Noches de las Luminarias was a holiday celebration at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden.  It featured after dark entertainment, light displays and eight thousand hand lit luminarias.  

On this particular night shortly before Christmas, I saw the Mariachi Pasion, Jacome Flamenco, Salt River Brass Quintet, and the Desert Bells International.

Once the sun went down, the obvious challenge was photographing in low light.  I opened up the aperture all the way to f/4, using a Canon 5D Mark IV and Canon 24-105mm II lens.

In post processing with Lightroom, and Aurora and Noiseless from MacPhun, some of the shots were simply too grainy.  That happens when shooting at around 25,000 ISO!  I had to shoot without a tripod because most of these kinds of venues do not allow tripods.  That is a good policy in this case as it was nearly pitch black out and the Christmas crowd was fairly large.

Until My Next Adventure, 

See You On Down the Road!

Jim Patterson

Photos from Flickr ... and, here are all the keeper photos!

Relay for Life Book and Video Out

I'm done.  Finished.  The book is ready to be sold!  The photo video is uploaded to You Tube!  As a way of raising more money for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, I put together a book for sale at Blurb called "Hope: North Valley Relay for Life."  

It is made up of photos from 2011 to 2015 Relays held at Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix.



The book is listed at $29.99 and $7 of that will go to the North Valley Relay for Life. 

Hope: North Valley Relay for Life by James Gordon Patterson | Make Your Own Book

   

I primarily edited the photos with Adobe Lightroom.  I imported some 60-plus photos into the Blurb bookmaking program called BookWright.  The book is being sold on Blurb.  I could have sold on the Apple site or Amazon, but costs would have run higher meaning less money going to the Relay for Life.  

I created the video using a program called FotoMagico.  It allowed me to lay down a music bed and narrate the video, too.  Then I uploaded to You Tube to share with you and the world.

This is all part of the "photo philanthropy" concept... giving back with a camera.  I hope to do more of this in the future.  

Until My Next Adventure, 

(Sedona, Environmental Portraits, with the Arizona Professional Photographers Association)

See You On Down The Road!

Jim Patterson

Photo Philanthropy at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops and Crossroads

I spent my college spring break in Santa Fe, New Mexico taking a course on photo philanthropy called “Crossroads Santa Fe: Where Photography and Philanthropy Meet.” The primary instructors were Brenda Berry and David Middleton, both from Crossroads Photographic Workshops.

This was a different type of photo workshop from the ones I’ve taken in the past.  As David said in class, this isn’t about taking the pretty picture, the calendar photo.  What it was about was working with non-profit organizations to provide great photos they could use in their promotional literature and website. 

As a college professor, I found the idea fascinating.  I teach Photoshop, among other business and i.t. classes.  I could teach Photoshop as a boring cookbook “do steps one to seven” class, but I think it is more fun for the students to be able to apply what we are learning to their own work.  I’ve thought we could find non-profits locally, allowing students to improve their Photoshop and photography skills, and doing good for non-profits!  I’ve already done some unofficial work locally with the Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and the local Horses Help.  At Paradise Valley Community College, we call it service learning. 

What did I learn in the workshop that I can share with students?  Many non-profits have no money for promotion or professional photography.  Most would be overjoyed to have photos taken and contributed to them.  In addition to the Relay for Life and Horses Help, I’m sure I could contact United Way to find even more non-profits who would love to have photos. 

You rarely if ever get paid doing this kind of work.  The payoff is in doing good with your camera and having a chance to hone your skills.  Who knows?  If you do a good job, you could get a recommendation for a paying gig!  Plus, here’s another one I hadn’t thought of:  you can get a tax deduction for “in kind services.”  Every 501c3 non-profit can write you a receipt for your work. 

Once you find a non-profit, David and Brenda said you should find out what they want.  What they want in photos may not be exciting or win any awards.  For instance, a representative of Santa Fe’s Randall Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary came to our class and mentioned how proud they were of a new handrail.  Yes, a handrail.  Well, that was important to them and their contributors, so we had to make sure we had various photos of the handrail!  We went back several days as a group to make sure we got photos of that handrail.

As a team, we came up with a shot list after hearing from the Audubon official.  We developed several “buckets” that we would fill.  Obviously, the handrail was on the list.  David and Brenda taught something they called “Visual Grammar” to tell a story.  First, the establishing shot.  It gives context to where we are at.  Secondly, is a middle ground shot where you step in a bit closer without any sky.  Third you get the details and get close up.  For instance, with the hand rail, we used a shot of a person’s hand on the handrail. 

I use a Canon 5D Mark III.  I was very glad I brought the Canon wide angle lens, the 17-40mm.  It’s a great lens for wide establishing shots outside and indoors, especially in cramped quarters.  This was quite useful inside the Randall Davey house, which is on the Audubon property.  For some portraits and middle shots, I used the Canon 24-105mm, which was my main go-to lens.  One I wish I had brought was the Canon 70-200mm to get bird shots.

The second “client” we had this week was the Nature Conservancy, located next to the Audubon center in Santa Fe.  We went through several visits and built a shot list, then filled each of the “buckets” with photos. 

What I found was to do this job right, you have to visit the site a few times.  It’s rare to get all the shots you want in one visit, especially if you have never seen the place before.  Morning light is different from afternoon light is different from sundown light. 

Next up for me is shooting the Cave Creek Rodeo again, then the North Valley Relay for Life located on the Paradise Valley Community College campus.

Until My Next Adventure, 

See You On Down The Road!

Jim Patterson

...click here for more of my photos from Santa Fe!

For more reading on "photo philanthropy:


http://crossroadsphotographicworkshops.com

http://petapixel.com/2013/04/06/brian-hampton-is-a-ceo-turned-wildlife-photographer-and-philanthropist/ 

http://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/giving-something-back-with-photography-10-ways-to-get-started--photo-4897

http://inspirationfeed.com/photography/photography-for-philanthropy-ways-to-do-good-with-your-camera/

http://lightbox.time.com/2011/11/01/collect-give-photography-meets-philanthropy/#1

http://photophilanthropy.org

http://www.catchafire.org 

http://www.volunteermatch.org   

https://nppa.org/page/nonprofits-its-not-about-free-anymore





Feed Shark

Turf Paradise Opening Day 18 October 2014

A lovely autumn day in Phoenix as Turf Paradise opens another racing season.  It was as crowded as I've ever seen it, but there was plenty of hot dogs, beer, and soft drinks for racing fans.  

I photographed and betted.  My normal perch is at the top of the grandstands.  I use a Canon 5D Mark III with a Canon 70-300mm lens.  

For post processing, I used Lightroom and this time made extensive use of MacPhun's ColorStrokes (to paint color back in on a black and white photo) and SnapHeal Pro (to eliminate distracting items from the background).  

Former PVCC Science Division Chair Dr. Hank Mancini provided betting tips.  We used "Docs" tip sheet along with one last hunch bet from yours truly on Dirty Diamond Jim to win (he did, at 16 to 1 odds!).

Until My Next Adventure, 

See You On Down The Road!

Jim Patterson

See all of my photos from this adventure on Flickr or by clicking the Zenfolio slideshow below!

2014 Carefree Arizona Indian Market and Cultural Festival

I photographed, and for the first time took videos, from the 3^rd annual Carefree Indian Market and Cultural Festival.  This was the second visit for me.  I was attracted to the fabulous talent on display and the wonderful native costumes.  Plus the native market featured many local and regional artists and food.  I must admit, I bought some things!

This is an event that attracts over 10,000 people over three days in late January.

This year’s feature performer is world-champion hoop dancer Brian Hammill of Native Spirit Productions.

Hammill, his wife, son, and daughter performed Native American dance arrangements to the beat of traditional tribal music.  World-champion hoop dancer, Moontee Sinquah, also performed. Moontee specializes in traditional Hopi songs and dances.

I photographed and did short videos using my Canon 5D Mark III and a Canon 24-105mm lens.  I used Adobe Lightroom for most of the post processing.  On a few of the photos, I “erased” some distracting items using MacPhun’s SnapHealPro program.   I also boosted some color using MacPhun’s Intensify Pro software.  Also with one other photo, I experimented with MacPhun’s Focus 2 software.  This allows you to selectively decide what is and isn’t in focus. 

Next up for me?  I think I have another rodeo left in me, so I'd better take care of that.  But you never know where I will pop up with my camera. 

Keep Shooting; digital is free!

Jim Patterson

Enjoy more photos and some videos I posted on Flickr....

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