OutdoorType

swim bike run, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

Went on a whirlwind trip this weekend to the Eastern Shore to see about a triathlon. Still working on a couple hundred race photos that’ll probably get posted to a gallery at brianwknight.com. In the meantime you can see a few in this set including some collages that I threw together in photoshop and BIg Huge Labs.

Last minute road trip, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

To some place on the md eastern shore for a triathlon.

The past few months I’ve been doing a lot of camera-less driving and it’s been killing me.

Last year, after kicking myself enough times for not having a camera on hand to try to capture some scene or another, I took to driving around with a camera in the car. And not just in the car, but in the front seat, and out of the case. And I did this a lot. And I took pictures from the car, lots and lots of pictures.

Then at work when I happened to notice some particularly nice light or a cool weather front moving through the area, I started taking “coffee breaks” and “long lunches.” I’d dash out to my car, drive out to a field or forest, and snap away hoping to catch something, anything to preserve the view in front of me.

I still try and practise this routine of having the camera with me as often as possible, but it’s mostly confined to weekends and the occasional weeknight*.

Anyways, there is a great point to this post and it is this… The latest addition to my news reader is the Nat Geo Adventure blog, discovered most likely, thanks to Kraig (another daily must read). Their latest posts comes from the magazine’s West Coast Editor, Steve Casimiro. He’s blogging about one of two of his best photographic tips gathered over the years and it is a tip that totally reinforces my want of carrying a camera with me at all times.

I know not everyone gets this. Even people who should know better sometimes ask silly questions. For instance, I was at a mountain bike race recently and for a change I was not part of the official photography team. As I walked around the race course catching up with friends I ran into an ex-girlfriend and we had sort of a weird exchange.

Noticing the camera hanging from my shoulder she asked, “Getting some good shots?” And because I wasn’t really taking pictures, but had the camera just in case, I replied, “Not really.”Looking confused I’m pretty sure she said something like, “Then why do you have your camera?” I don’t think I replied. I think I sort of stared dumbly while thinking to myself, “Um, hi, have we met?”

I almost always have a camera. And it’s because you never know. If I’d just gone to the race to hang out, I’d never have gotten this shot,which every time I look at it makes me break into a big, big smile. So take my word for it, take Steve Casimiro’s word for it. Take your camera with you.

* grrr… I hate the word weeknight - but that’s a whole other blog posting.

I was playing around with the video feature on my point & shoot, trying to get some of the rain and thunder. The storm was close by, within a mile, you could count about three seconds before the thunder rolled across the sky bringing a final crackle that shook the house.

About 1:19 seconds into this (basically the very, very end), the audio goes out and there are a couple flashes of light… That’s when a bolt of lighting struck about 50 yards in front of me. There was no separation between light and sound. It came all at once and my heart made a good attempt to escape from my chest. I’d been lying on the floor and in one relatively swift motion I clicked the shutter button (and stopped recording), slammed shut the door, and bolted up the stairs as if some escaped animal from the zoo might have been chasing me.

My cousin Lori got married last Labor Day in Dallas, TX and I got to be the official photographer. She just sent me this great video slideshow. It’s short, enjoy!

For only $19.99 this shirt can be yours.

Or this one. Or this one. Or any of these.

To paraphrase… Did all the adults leave for the evening? Was no one in charge?

I would have loved to be sitting in the corner of that conference room when they decided to “go with that t-shirt idea thing.”

Some exec who normally doesn’t have anything to do with the site design barges in, waving a piece of paper in the air (it’s a print off a Cafe Press site)…

“This is amazing. I have an amazing idea. What if cnn.com sold t-shirts? My daughter was showing me this site, this Cafe Press site thing, and I guess they will let you Print What Ever You Want!! WE could do that. WE should do that.

And then the exec left with these parting words:

I bought a new water bottle yesterday.

The girl ringing me up says she’s not convinced, says the bad plastic has been in baby bottles for years and we’re all ok, right?

I looked at her and said, “What if we’re not?”

She paused a moment, reflecting on my question. You could see her deflate a bit, then she simply answered, “Oh. Oh yeah.”

Backyard Burn @ Wakefield Park, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

Took a few pics at the race this weekend…

Check out the short slideshow on Flickr.

Bright Future, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

The CycleFest photos are finally coming online!

I’m experimenting with a new account at SmugMug and would love to hear what people think… Still need to work on customizing my template, etc., but I think this will be a decent solution for when I want to sell photos online . I’ve come to the realisation that I just don’t have time to process orders and mail photos so for the event photography at least, this is how I think I’m going to go… (still keeping the PayPal account for the Fine Art Prints though).

There are just over 290 photos on their way, so probably best to check out the gallery in the morning.

I want to thank Eric again for coming out and playing in the rain. He really got some great shots with his wide-angle lens (not always the easiest task in the world).

Metal bowls left atop preheated ovens will also preheat to the desired temperature (375° F). Ouch.