Hoop Dancers Visit PVCC

Paradise Valley Community College played host to six time hoop dance champion Derrick Suwaima Davis and company on Thursday 7 November 2013.  

Suwaima, who represents the Hopi and Choctaw Nations, started and directs his inter-tribal dance group, The Living Traditions Dance Troupe.  

He also serves as artistic director and choreographer for Native Trails presented by Fort McDowell Yavapi Nation and produced by the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.  

I photographed their visit with my Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 600EX-RT (hand held) for fill flash. I edited photos using Lightroom 5.

Jim Patterson

Here are all of my photos from the hoop dancers!

Phoenix Halloween Lighting by Manfrotto

The little ones showed up in force at our north Phoenix home on 31 October 2013.  

I decided to photograph them with my Canon 5D Mark III and for the first time, use the Manfrotto ML360 LED light.  It is pretty light weight with 36 little LED's.  It takes four AAA batteries.  You can also adjust the amount of light with a dial.  And, you can attach it to your camera's hot shoe lengthwise or widthwise.  

I just checked with B&H and they list it at $119.  I'd say an inexpensive way to experiment with LED continuos lights.  

For this, I held the light in my left hand and ran my camera with my right hand.    

It's a pretty bright light I found out and some of the youngsters didn't like having that in their eyes.  I don't think a bounce card would have done much good, but I supposed I could have put an orange jell over the face of it.  

I'd say this light is perfect for video and for doing some of the things you see here.  It would also work nicely for macro photography.  

Also make sure to visit Manfrotto Imagine More for tips and tutorials.

Jim Patterson

Here are more of my photos from Halloween!

Horses Help Benefit

Horses Help is an organization involved in helping people through therapeutic riding. 

On Saturday 2 November they held a benefit to raise money.  Housing and caring for horses isn’t cheap.   

To donate and/or volunteer, visit http://HorsesHelp.org

It was nice to see my PVCC colleague and friend Dina Preston-Ortiz with her band entertaining at the event!

These are a few photos from the event.  I took them with a Canon 5D Mark III and the Canon “L” 28-105mm lens without flash. 

Jim Patterson

And, here’s a slideshow of photos from the event…

Jason Aldean Headlines Concert at Ak-Chin Pavilion

Thomas Rhett

Jason Aldean was the headliner at a sold-out concert on Thursday 17 October, 2013 at the Ak-Chin Pavilion in Phoenix.  Joining Jason was Thomas Rhett and Jake Owen. 

My ears are still ringing!  It was loud in there.  Before I get into the photography, I learned that for next time I will bring a set of ear plugs just in case. 

Part of the crowd

Like many venues, if you are not working as a professional photographer, security will not let you bring in a “professional” camera like my Canon 5D Mark III.  Luckily, I have a small backup camera, the Canon S100, 12 megapixels and more importantly, able to shoot in manual and in RAW format.  Even sitting further back than I’d like I was able to get some nice shots of the acts.  I love the colors and the spectacular lighting of these concerts.  It also helps I enjoy country music.  I suppose if I was getting paid I’d photograph a rock and roll concert, but I truly enjoy country music and the fans, who tend to be the most polite I’ve ever met. 

Jake Owen

Jason Aldean on stage!

My post processing tool was Adobe Lightroom 5.  I cropped, used clarity, and noise reduction on the photos and that was about it. 

Selfie!  Jim and guest Brenna.. happy birthday!

Enjoy my time at the concert!

Jim Patterson

Check out all of my concert photos below from Flickr….