Photo May 9 – Computer Problems

No photo today due to technical difficulties. I’ve been seeing some computer issues the last few weeks, enough that I took mine in to the Apple Store for some testing a couple weeks ago. They found nothing in tests, but things continued to get worse. Last night it finally got to the point it was constantly crashing, restarting, and locking up so I took it back to the store today. This time the test showed what I expected, a bad video card.

In short it’s being sent off for repaid, the model is part of a group having video card issues so it’s likely not going to cost, but I’ll be without my main computer for probably the next week. I have a second computer, but expect I’ll be a bit slow on responses, replies, and the like for the next week. Also not sure if I’ll be able to get photos for at least a few days so photo may be on hold.

Welcome to Candid Vision

I’m an experienced photographer located in Morristown, TN. I primarily work and attempt to capture the grace and beauty of the female form either clothed or nude. My goal is to make artistic work we can both be proud of, but what I enjoy is taking photos whether of people, landscapes, or anything else that catches my attention.

Right now I’m primarily working with fine art nude and outdoor nude projects and looking for models experienced in those styles. If you’re not interested in posting nude, that’s fine as I’m always interested in working with models not interested in nude work, but wanting to make great images. Let me know what you’re comfortable with and I’ll bet that I have an idea in mind that will fit you.

Overall I’m an open book. During a shoot I’ll talk your ear off and make sure that you know exactly what I’m looking for so we can work together to achieve a shared vision. I approach photography with a passion and am looking for serious models who enjoy their work and want to capture something great every time.

Google Reader’s Last Day – How to Keep Reading

For the last few years the most popular RSS reader by far has been Google Reader. In fact it was so popular that it pushed most of the others to either niche markets (people who really hate Google) or abandonment. if you’re not familiar with an RSS reader, it is in effect an easy way to follow updates from a web sit without having to visit the web site constantly. The site would publish a list of recently posted content that the reader would then check and let you know when a new item appeared. This could be new articles on a blog or magazine site, new comments, or even new releases of software.

Earlier this year Google announce that they would kill Google Reader effective July 1, 2013. That’s now just a few days away and since some readers of this site do use it too keep up, I’d like to point out a few alternatives. First you can look at a replacement for Google Reader. A few always were around and a number of new products appeared after the announcement of the end of Google Reader. For those you can simply import your Google Reader settings to the new program or add the feed into your new reader and keep business as usual. I’ve personally moved to NewsBlur, but also am interested in Feed Wrangler from trying it.

If you’re giving up on RSS, or have no idea what it is, then you can also keep up with new posts by following me on Twitter or through my Facebook page. Posts here should always be linked to from both locations. In addition you also get the occasional snarky comment as a bonus.

Happy New Year – Moving into 2013

I’m not a believer in New Year’s resolutions as I feel that if I find something I want to change I generally prefer to start then instead of waiting until the next time the calendar year flips over. Still I do admit that the combination of the calendar changing and the somewhat quiet moments that pass after Christmas and before New Year’s Day do much to make it almost impossible not to reflect for a bit.

As a photographer 2012 brought much good and some bad. I made some advances, but felt frustrations in my work more than once. I hit a bit of a wall this year, especially late in the year, and am not completely sure I’ve moved past it yet. I enjoyed working with many wonderful models this year including a number of new ones. Though it actually came out in 2011 and most of the work was done that year, I still think of the book as part of my 2012 work. It turned out to be an interesting experiment, one which at least was useful to a few people based on feedback I’ve gotten so I feel it was worth the time and effort.

In my personal life I completed my Master’s degree which had been a major investment of my time and energy over the last three plus years and now leaves me with a lot of free time moving forward into 2013. I dealt with a serious family emergency late this year that took a lot of my time and energy, especially as it combined with the wrapping up of that degree. While the situation in the family is well settled now, and better than I could have hoped for, it was still a major energy drain the last few months of the year and has left me somewhat behind. And I’ve managed to get my health into a vastly different place for the better and am now down to a weight I’ve not been since college. Before warmer weather returns for spring, I should at a normal weight again for the first time since my early college days. Even still carrying a bit of extra weight I’m likely in the best health and shape of my life right now.

Looking forward in the next year I’m going to continue to look more at landscape work in addition to my nude work. I’ve always had a love of landscapes. I shot those long before I used anything near professional equipment and before I’d taken one photo of a model. I’ve always enjoyed combining the nude and landscapes, but will move more toward more of nature on its own too. I don’t plan to shoot any fewer nudes or fewer combinations of the two, but increase my landscape only work.

I’m also planning to travel more in the coming year. I’m already working on planning one trip back to the southwest for late spring and will post more of that when it settles in. I’m looking forward to 2013 and what it brings.

Sunset at the Grand Canyon

I’d had seeing the Grand Canyon on my todo list for a long time and I really made it the center of my trip out west back in June.  I took a number of photos, but found myself oddly having a lot of trouble editing them.  Right after coming back I simply felt none of the photos really captured what I’d seen.  In some ways I think part of the grandness here is something you only see in person.  The sheer scale doesn’t come across in a photo or anything other than reality.  Still with a little time I got better at working some of the images.

This photo is probably my favorite.  It’s a panorama shot taken right at sunset from the North Rim looking back south to the South Rim and beyond.  I believe the mountains visible in the distance beyond the other rim are the San Francisco Peaks toward Flagstaff, Arizona.  For those who wonder why so many Americans are bad at geography consider the San Francisco Peaks are in Arizona while the city is in California.  The photo were taken from Bright Angel Point about the same time as the sunset photo I posted while flying home.  A better edit of that photo will be coming soon.

The colors of the night sky were just amazing as and after sunset.  The peace, even with probably another dozen people enjoying the views, also stands out.  What I remember most though was the wind.  Here and later at the lodge while waiting for dinner the wind gusted over 40mph quite often.  I was standing on a point out into the canyon for these photos and the wind coming up out of the canyon was an interesting experience.  It cooled so much after dark that I actually went back and changed from my shorts into jeans between taking these photos and dinner at the lodge.  In my little cabin that night though it felt rather cozy and relaxing lying there listening to the wind gusting outside while warm under a couple blankets.  At the same time I knew that I would be in Las Vegas in less than twenty-four hours with a temperature over 100 degrees.

North-Rim-1

Site Updated

The design remains the same, but just about everything else on the web site has been updated, mostly in the internals that no one (hopefully) ever sees. It should make it easier for me to keep things running smoothly in the future and let me keep posts and content up to date and better organized.

I’ve also taken the chance to update my gallery with newer images. This means most of the old gallery links no longer work, but they should redirect to the new gallery. If you find anything broken, let me know.

Welcome to the New Design

If you’ve been here before, you should notice the new design.  I implemented the previous design early last year, but actually designed it more than a year earlier that so it felt a little stale already to me.  This new design finally has all of the site looking identical and I think better shows off my photos and work.  It also takes advantage of newer browsers to deliver some more exciting content.  I expect that I’ll be tweaking and editing for a little while, but overall I think you’ll see things much as they look now.

If you see any weirdness on the site, let me know.