“RNP the Blog”

I participated in the Kansas City Freelance Exchange “Portfolio Showcase” a couple nights ago. I put together a simple “dog and pony” show for my table. My materials included my portfolio, postcards, business cards, and my computer looping a slide show of images.

I decided at the last minute that I wanted to include a few printed images that visitors to my table could take with them in addition to (or instead of) my business cards. So I printed a handful of five separate images to place out on my table. I have included all the images below.

I have to say I was really surprised at which image was selected the most and by a significant margin. Any guesses?

If you guessed the monkey…give yourself a little pat on the back. The monkey killed the competition, it wasn’t even close. Perhaps I need to add my animals to my portfolio.

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I have always been intrigued with POV photography (if you don’t know POV stands for it is point of view). I am one of those photographers who can’t seem to stay in one place while I am shooting. I am constantly moving around searching for different angles and beyond that I have always loved images where the camera is put into a position that allows it to capture an image that would be impossible to capture otherwise.

In an effort to build upon this curiosity I recently picked up a Bogen Magic Arm on Ebay as well as a cord that allows me to use my Pocket Wizards to fire my camera remotely. Speaking of which, I found a much more affordable option for the Pocket Wizard cord on Ebay. If any shooters out there are interested in this at all drop me an e-mail and I can send you the information.

I finally had some time today to play with these new pieces of equipment (always better to use them on a non paying gig first than on a real job) and as usual my children and in this case my oldest daughter Manoa was thrown into the role of guinea pig.

Manoa has recently put together all the necessary skills to ride her bike (with training wheels) and for the first time yesterday she road her bike to a park close to our home. This was a major experience for her and I thought it would be great to try and shoot her new point of view of the world on a return trip to the park.

Here is a shot of our first setup. I decided to start with a point of view from behind and low (and yes I did add a healthy amount of gaffer tape to further secure the camera and yes this particular camera is my backup and not my main rig).

Rolling down Summit with Dora.

Once we arrived at the park I decided to switch to a different point of view for the ride home. Had to have some shots of her facial expressions as she was riding.

I remember my brother Andy telling me about his oldest son and how his world opened up when he began riding his bike. As I was looking through the pictures this evening I could literally see the world getting bigger in my daughter’s eyes. Her world is rapidly expanding…

and she could not be happier about it.

The coolest thing about these new tools is I wouldn’t have had the ability to capture the images otherwise. It will be fun to push the limits of this equipment. Hopefully no cameras or children will be harmed in the process.

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