The Airstream Chronicles Continued » Prescott

Too Busy to Blog?

Richard Charpentier — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:54:56 +0000

Yes, the past few days have been jumping. Getting into the gallery by 7:30 a.m. to start running prints, veneering canvas, the works! After a truly dead July and a painful first half to August the print business is jumping! Really jumping. Here I am at work on what should be a day off. No complaints though folks. Being busy is what I want!

So, what’s the latest news?

HDR Workflow Classes Resuming

With cooler weather coming I’ll be resuming the Vulture Mine HDR Class. First one? How about Halloween Weekend? That’s right, a ghost town for Halloween!

With 2 signups for the class this week that leaves 3 more openings for students. If you want to sign up I’d suggest getting on board now. Click here for more information.

Jamming out the canvas

Another crazy week of printing which is why the blog has been pretty quiet. George Molnar hit me with 2 32×46 canvases early in the week, 2 more yesterday, and looking at a few smaller ones for him soon. At the same time, 5 24×32′s, a few 20×30′s, a 30×50 for Ian Russell, and a 30×30 to boot (that’s running right now).

Last week I ordered in 3 more rolls of canvas from the folks over at Breathing Color, and I’ve already run through more than 50% of the 44″ roll. Each 44″ roll has over 21,000 square inches. That’s a lot of canvas! Ripped through another 44″ roll just over a week ago.

Yes, the giclee’ business is hopping right now. Thanks to all my clients for bringing your prints to me! I really appreciate your business.

Upcoming Projects

I now have 2 new band projects going on. Filabusta will be doing a series of images that should be seen here by October. In addition, another local band has inquired about some unique images. Just gotta figure out a few items for the final products. Finally, I’ve got an idea for Sweet Nasty that should be a lot of fun!

There’s more but…….

I’ve got to get off the blog now. Another canvas is about to finish, and I want to get it ready……..

It’s another perfect day….why are you inside reading my blog?

Richard Charpentier — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:29:19 +0000

This morning I was greeted by cool temperatures once more. Arizona’s signature hyper blue skies, a slight breeze, and a strange bunny rabbit waiting by my door this morning. I kid you not, it was like the rabbit was waiting for me to poke my head out for the morning.

Of course, today I’m at the gallery. Looking out the window. Wishing to be out stomping around the Dells again. Or back over at the silver mine. Better yet, back on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon…… yeah, that sounds good doesn’t it. Better yet, how about somewhere in the Grand Staircase Escalante? Oh yeah!

Ah well, I’ve got to get back to work now. I just had a photo client stop in with a great series idea…..now I’m scouring the web for a few stock images…….

I think I’ll go plop myself somewhere out in the Dells again tonight!

A Perfect Day?

Richard Charpentier — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 03:08:39 +0000

Enjoying the scene in the Dells with Chris M

Ah yes, the perfect day. Does it really exist?

Yup. Just had one!

First off, this morning I woke up chilled, just like the other week at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Temperatures were very low here last night. I’d say I got up to the 50′s. Tucked way under the blankets, reaching my hand out when the alarm went off, then pulling my arm back under the covers thinking, “Brrr.”

There’s point one for the perfect day. I would love to live somewhere that it’s 50 every night and 70 every day. Great sleeping weather, great hiking weather, great climbing……ah, you get the point.

After forcing myself out from under the covers I got ready to roll out pretty early. Today I was bringing Josh out to the cool old mining site outside of Groom Creek. The location where I did the recent photoshoot for Fillabusta? Yeah, that’s the place. Well, Josh has some ideas for shoots out there, so he wanted to check the place out.

Now, heading up into the mountains early morning with a chill in the air means one thing. It’s even chillier up higher. So, going in shorts and a short sleeved shirt leaves you a little cool. But that was fine. The winds however did add an extra chill! C’est la vie! It was fantastic up there!

Prescott was beyond windy again today. That reminded me of spring time here, and I do enjoy the Spring here. Couple the winds with big puffy clouds and you have some super interesting scenes. Clouds cooking across the sky like nobody’s business. Josh was setting up a shot and we were in harsh sun and he said he wished the sun would disappear for a minute. I told him to wait a few, and sure enough, it ducked behind a cloud. Of course, the clouds were going so fast that it popped right back out again. Ah well……

On top of checking out the old main building with the super cool girders we took a walk across the stream to check out the mine site. There was water everywhere, and as it turned out a ton of the water was coming out of the mine shaft. Hmmmmm…..weird.

Once we wrapped up at the mine Josh and I headed off to check into another old abandoned house photo location. We found it, found the no trespassing sign, and moved on. A few more locations were scouted, then I dropped him back at his house so he could start getting into his vacation. Lucky guy is off for about a week and a half. Sounds good to me!

Since I was in town I decided to pop by Pangaea Bakery. Baguette for making a tasty sandwich for lunch. Oh, I do so like having my gallery so close to Pangaea! Best bread around! Of course, can’t have too much of a good thing, right?

Getting home I whipped lunch together, sat back and listened to an audio book and contemplated my next move for the day. The final decision? A walk out into the Dells. As I was getting ready to head out Chris Marzonie called and said, “I’m going to hike Thumb Butte. Want to come?” I told him I was heading into the Dells, so he changed his plan and met me out here.

Chris got the grand tour. Thor’s Wall, The Emerald City, Time Zone, Perfect Dome, and of course the route Perfect Idiot was pointed out. I think I’ve written about the Perfect Idiot route before here. It’s the climb where you’re guaranteed to smash your left shin on one particular spot every time. You think the left foot is good, then it pops off, you bash your shin and bleed, and then repeat it 15 seconds later. It took months to work out how to not bash your leg, and many of us kept practicing, so it goes to show how dumb we all were…..especially going back time and again!

After wandering the Dells for a good bit we plopped down on the granite to look out at the expanse and enjoy the winds. 70′s for the afternoon, great wind, cool scene. Excellent way to spend an afternoon.

I finally remembered to break the camera out and get a few shots. Chris was kind enough (uh huh) to point my camera at me as I dumped water down my shirt (uh, I mean took a drink). One of the shots actually froze the water drops I was spilling on me, but we’ll leave that image off the site for now.

Chris took a look at his watch after 3 and had to head home to meet up with his wife. Awwwww.

For the rest of the day? I hung out around my place enjoying the temperatures, relaxing, and letting myself not do a thing. Sometimes I have a hard time relaxing, but today was just one of those days that worked on all levels!

So yup, a perfect day indeed. Back to work tomorrow, but maybe it’ll be another great day. Guess I’ll have to see what comes…….

Me watering my shirt....errr, I mean having a drink.

And at the end of the day….well deserved rest at the Airstream

Richard Charpentier — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:44:50 +0000

Well, it finally happened. I can’t believe it happened, but it did.

I had my first “emergency” client.

It used to be that I was electronically tethered by a cell phone and a pager. I’d be somewhere relaxing for 5 minutes and boom. The pager would go off with an emergency message. This switch in this state was in trouble. Voicemail was down again in Puerto Rico. PrePay was on the fritz nationwide……..

So, I’d get on the phone, log in with my laptop, and investigate what was going on. Emergencies happen all the time in telecommunications. You wouldn’t believe how much stuff breaks down. And when it does somebody gets the call to get things going. Seemed like I got the call every time.

Switching careers from running national networks to running a local photography and print reproduction business I never thought I’d get any other kind of emergency call or client. I mean really, somebody’s going to need a print right away or else? It couldn’t possibly happen. But yesterday it did. It was the start to an absolutely crazy day!

Friday night a new client called into the gallery. They needed an original piece imaged immediately. The original was going away Saturday morning at 9 a.m. The client had been calling all over Northern Arizona trying to find someone who does reproduction work. Finally she found out about me. Ian called from the gallery and asked if I could do the job first thing Saturday morning. Sure, why not? But how odd, and how last minute. The one thing that was stressed….the image had to be out of her possession my 9 a.m.

After meeting with my early emergency client I decided to stay at the gallery for a little longer. I had a few more canvases to finish up from the week. The clients aren’t picking them up until next week, but might as well get them done. How busy was I with large canvases you ask? Well, I went through a brand new 44″ wide roll. Each roll is 40 feet long. So, that’s 21,120 square inches of canvas used in a week. Given the fact that until this past week things were super slow, that’s not a ton of canvas. Normally clients roll in over the course of a few weeks and go through a roll that size. But for some reason everybody showed up this week, all at the same time, and all needing some pretty big stuff.

I kept the Art Store busy and cleaned them out of several lengths of stretcher bars. For some reason, everybody wanted 24×32″ canvases this week. 6 in total for that size!

Right as I was ready to exit the gallery and leave it to Ian for the weekend other clients came in about canvases and prints. And behind those folks, some more customers. After that? A lady who wanted to buy a bunch of my minis……and it kept going like that all day until 4:45 when I finally started to leave the gallery. And as I opened the front door another print client walked up the steps and saw me packed up. He was hoping I’d still be in, and hoping that I wouldn’t have taken the day off…….

You know what though? Never turn away a customer when you’re a small business owner. It was a good day.

My life sure has changed a lot over the years

In comparison to the old life and old job, I’m not on call 24×7. An emergency client, like yesterday’s, is a surprise. An extended workday because everybody seems to need you that day is a surprise too. But in this case it’s a welcome one when it’s the rare exception rather than the rule.

Beyond the career change so much else has changed. That 5 year long horrible illness that I thought I’d be stuck with for the rest of my life? Yeah, that’s outta here for good. Since March now my blood work has come back normal. And since March I’ve felt normal. Looking back, I can’t believe I lived with a severe (and undiagnosed) infection for 5 years. But now that it’s been addressed I feel pretty darned good. And I wonder what the 5 years would have been like had the physicians in 2005 listened to the patient who clearly asked with each new doctor, “This all started with a root canal. Do you think my current medical issues are related?” Well, they never listened and I’ll never know. At least we’ve finally got it cleared up.

Guess the timing couldn’t be better for the resolution of that illness. It looks like I’m going to have a busy fall. All week long I’ve been getting to work at 7:30 a.m. The gallery doesn’t open until 10 a.m., but I had more prints to do each day. So, get in early and get it done. Just a few months ago that would have been exhausting, but today, welcome. I’ll take a long busy day any time.

When the workday is done coming home is nice

Home is still the Airstream. 4 years full timing now. I never would have expected that had you asked me in 2006 if I planned to full time for a long time. I didn’t plan it. The Airstream was the life boat after the illness and divorce. You never expect to live in the life boat long term. Get to shore, get out of the life boat, and maybe use it occasionally for fishing.

But I’ll tell you, it isn’t a bad home. I know, small and not enough room for all of my books but that’s okay. I seem to be here rarely. Normally I come home for dinner, a little unwinding and then sleep. I’m out of here pretty early each day (except on laundry day) and when I get back all I need is a couch and something good to eat.

Plus, well I made the decision in 2008 to open this small business of mine. The capital I had on hand for another home went into the business instead. Heck, I’m there so much it is the other home, right?

Well, all in all it was very nice to get home last night after an extremely busy day, put my feet up for a while, listen to the wind outside (super windy right now) and breathe.

Oh, and play a fun game of Star Craft II last night with Ida & Keith! I may live in an Airstream, but I think you all know it’s a very high tech Airstream!

Heck, I even did a self portrait when I got home last night.

Preserving history with every click of the shutter

Richard Charpentier — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:13:22 +0000

Whiskey Row is changing....

Sometimes I think I get so into the technical side of photography, the travel, and looking for something that pops out at me that I forget I’m doing something else as well. Capturing that moment in time.

Recently I’d heard that the folks over at Annalinas were shopping the place around for sale. And today heading down Whiskey Row to get a gatorade I looked for that door front and awning that are oh so familiar to me…..and didn’t see them. Then I realized, renovation was going on.

One of my most popular pieces here in the gallery is my first “Everybody’s Hometown.” People really recognize this one. And when they meet me they go, “Oh, you’re the guy who did that photo on Whiskey Row.” Yup, guess I am.

People always seem to dig those lone dead trees that show up in my images here and there. So, I suppose being the guy who took that photo on Whiskey Row is cooler than being the dead tree photographer….. That just doesn’t seem catchy!

After returning to the gallery I got a little nostalgic and took a look back through some of my Prescott images. Wow, I’ve got more than a few!

I guess my little trip down memory lane does something else for me too. Gives me a historical glance at my time here in Arizona. The photos are more than just something to sell. They are my historical references, like photos always have been in my previous years. Wonder how I overlooked that part lately? Probably because I think about it in business terms I suppose.

I’ll have to remind myself, there’s more to the camera going everywhere with me.

Sorry to see Annalinas go. I’ll pop by soon and re-shoot the scene again for another historical marker.

Random post Tuesday

Richard Charpentier — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:20:44 +0000

My mind seems to keep taking me back to the North Rim.... I wonder why?

No, “Random Post Tuesday” won’t be a regular feature here. It’s just a title, so don’t worry! With many blogs doing “No Blog Wednesdays,” or guest blogs, or other such stuff, you don’t have to worry about some type of regular feature here. I’m keeping it all random.

A Little Surprised

Talking with Josh Gosell yesterday I was told he was a little surprised by the original image of Renato. He didn’t realize that the original was so poorly exposed. So, I’ll explain to you here what I told him.

I’d literally just setup a Lastolite Chroma Key background over at the Art Store. Renato happened to be wandering around the back area of the store and asked me what I was doing with the big white softbox like thing. My response? I’ll show you…..stand here please.

Now, 2 430EX II’s were setup wireless into the chroma key and ready to go. I hadn’t setup any other lights, so the only light source was ambient and what came off the Lastolite behind Renato. So yes, he didn’t get the exposure he should have. But hey, I wasn’t even done setting up yet. It was literally my first shot with the gear, and it was the test shot!

So, how did he get fixed up and receive the proper lighting after the fact? Lightroom 3.

HDR can be done in a way I can appreciate

A new reader dropped a note directly to me this morning, and I really wanted to share part of what jumped out at me. The reader sent along the following:

I just wanted to tell you that I found you through googling info regarding the White Pocket and that I have enjoyed reading your blog and have learned a number of things from it already (INCLUDING, HDR can be done in a way I can appreciate) That alone has made me consider buying Photomatix and to start playing with it!

Thanks for the contact, and for your thoughts about HDR. It is more versatile than people think.

When I first started playing with HDR a few years ago I went for the really over done look. Come on, that’s cool too in some situations and everybody knows it. Making near alien scenes out of everyday stuff? That’s fun! Of course, after a while I think we all want to get back to reality. And I’ve been working on that for a while now. Real world HDR. Using it to bring the actual scene to life for the viewer. Yup, and I’m still working on it. That’s part of what I’ll be sharing in my new full length video DVD…….Nice hand off to the next subject, don’t you think?

A Digital Photographer’s HDR Workflow

Just when I thought the DVD was put to bed, I decided to add a little more. In total there will be 3 unique workflow segments using 3 distinct locations.

The longest set of lessons takes place here in Prescott. Several hundred images captured. We walk through the complete Lightroom3 setup, flagging and rejecting images, searching on images, and managing the catalog. Once that’s through we’re off and running with Photomatix. Super real HDRs and super surreal HDRs as well. After working through several images we move on to exporting to Photoshop for additional work on images, and the Topaz Suite pops up here and there.

The longest session doesn’t assume that you’ve used Lightroom before, so we really get into the catalog setup, and using the powerful functionality of LR3 to manage a lot of images quickly. The next two sessions are quicker and assume more LR3 knowledge. That’s where we just get to play with the workflow!

The most recent trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon has been added as one additional session, and several sets of images from the Vulture Mine are the final session. In total, more than 3.5 hours of instruction. I’ll be posting ordering information very soon…….

If you’ve wished you could come along on one of the in person classes but can’t get out here any time soon, I think this DVD will give you a good feel for all we do in the class!

Goodbye to July & August!

Gotta tell you, I’m glad to see these months hit the history books. Like last year, my worst months of the year (so far). Hopefully September will see a turn around, just like last year.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Tourist season in Prescott. Folks up from the Valley, right? Events on the square constantly, activities galore, etc, etc, etc…….. You’re right, all this does go on, but guess what. It doesn’t translate to revenue for my business.

Tsunami, the Blue Grass Festival, World’s Oldest Rodeo, 4th of July, and all the rest of the shows on the square actually hurt my business. See, what happens is folks come here for those events. They go straight to Whiskey Row and the Square, and the bulk of their time is focused only on those areas. If you’re not right in that zone you get bypassed a lot! Well, that’s my experience at least.

I think what happens is visitors get tunnel vision. Sure, they park right in front of the gallery, but then they spend 6 or 8 hours wandering the perimeter of the Courthouse, Cortez, Gurley, & Whiskey Row. They don’t venture further out, even if the open parking space was right in front of your shop. I have had folks come in at the end of their event day observe, “Wow, we never knew you were here. Wish we’d stopped in here first before we bought art on the square…….”

Come on September! We need a good month!!!

Finally, 4th Friday Artwalk

I’ll give you a fun teaser……. September’s 4th Friday Artwalk (September 24th) promises a very interesting show here at the gallery. I’d suggest stopping by. Casey Fritz will be showing here, and if you’ve seen his “Giant Robots” over at the Raven earlier this year, you know it will be a fun event!

A new take on ET from Casey Fritz!

Had a little photo fun on Saturday

Richard Charpentier — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:26:58 +0000

Yesterday I went out and just played around with pictures. Not looking to create any new prints, not working on workflow tutorials…….nothing like that. Just took a day to run around and enjoy myself again. If it was a Sunday you could have called me a Sunday driver. Oh, and the monsoonal cloud build showed up in the afternoon just to offer a little extra drama!

Before anything else, I wanted to go visit the King of Puppies again!

Monsoon clouds building over Granite Mountain. Taken from Tonto Road.

Rain toward Chino Valley. Shot somewhere near the Vegas Ranch

Wilted

Distinct rain lines in the distance

Shooting around town….yes, I still do that

Richard Charpentier — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:40:51 +0000

Monday, in between slogging cameras and tripods around the Dells and Granite Basin, and before the “death slide” down a rock face in Granite Basin, I took the time to wander around town a bit with the cameras. I haven’t played much with photography in downtown Prescott lately. Too many other distractions……

Like sliding down rough granite and quartz in Granite Basin. Almost bled all over my white shirt too. That woudn’t have been good. Piece of advice for folks looking to shoot from the top of any climbing spot in the basin….. Don’t carry two gear bags and two tripods while soloing what amounts to a 5.4. There are moments when I wish for an assistant. Sliding down rock face and leaving a lot of skin behind brought on one of those moments!

From the safety of downtown Prescott I managed to take a few images that I don’t completely hate. They’re not my best, but they are the only images I’ve ever shot at Prescott Fine Arts and the Hotel Vendome. In both cases I’ll have to follow up soon, as I’d like to get a few more images of each location.

Well, enjoy!

Sometimes I forget what living in Arizona means…..

Richard Charpentier — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:00:21 +0000

I have seen more tarantulas this year....my neighbor had one on his porch, I keep seeing them under the Airstream.....they're out there!

Every time I forget that Arizona is more than beautiful skies, amazing sunsets, wild rock formations, and groves of Aspens, something reaches out and smacks me back into reality. For instance…..this very large tarantula that was crossing the path over at Willow Lake. I went out to shoot for the evening, and while wandering the path I came upon a very large fellow traveler. This traveler had many more legs than me!

Tarantulas don’t bother me. All other spiders do, but not these guys. They don’t show up in my home. Other ones do. Brown recluses (which were back in NH too), black widows, huge wolf spiders…..they’ve all shown up in my home. Tarantulas….yeah, not so much. But they do remind me, this isn’t my land.

Scorpions, rattle snakes, tarantulas, black widows, bob cats, kotamundis, mountain lions……..there’s a lot here that isn’t in New Hampshire.

By the way, for those of you who live around here. The tarantulas are on the move early this year. I don’t know if that means fall is coming sooner, I only know that I’ve seen tons of them crossing dirt roads, paths, migrating under my Airstream, and hanging out on the neighbor’s porch. Watch where you’re going. Don’t squish these guys, they keep other stuff in check!

Oh, and this poor specimen froze up when I got too close. The vibration of my steps was enough to tell it to ball up into an uninteresting clump that wasn’t photogenic. Next time I’ll keep back!

Going for the subtle HDR with Photomatix

Richard Charpentier — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:00:53 +0000

Over the past year I’ve heard so much regarding HDR, “un-realistic”, etc. Well, I thought I’d talk about doing a more subtle HDR today and how you can get a more realistic look. That means no halos, no super detail enhancement, and none of the psychedelic look that people complain about. Of course, I’m sure some folks out there will look at today’s post and say, “That’s way too unrealistic, over saturated, detailed, etc……” For those with comment like that, I have a thought…..

Move on to the next blog.

For those interested in HDR, and being creative with your images, read on.

The first three images in today’s post are what went into the final HDR that you’ll see momentarily. I shot this series in the Granite Dells while hanging out with Josh, Ashley, & Melissa on the fire photo shoot last week. While they worked on flaming hoola hoops, I worked on shooting the monsoonal clouds here in AZ. And of course I shot with the intention of creating a few new HDRs.

Lightroom's Export to Photomatix

The series of three images in this case was shot with my 5D Mark II, using the 24-70mm f/2.8 L Series lens. I shot on a tripod, and kept the ISO at 200. Just to be sure, I used a cable release so I didn’t bump the tripod. The sun was setting, and the exposure on the over side took a bit. Tripods are very useful for HDR folks, so don’t forget to bring yours along!

Once I off loaded the images into Lightroom, I’d select the series of interest and export them to Photomatix from the Lightroom interface. Pretty easy to do, and the best part is you can set the final image to re-import to Lightroom and stack with the original photos that went into the HDR.

3 originals and the HDR in Lightroom

Now, the work is all done in Photomatix for this particular shot. No adjustments were made in Lightroom or Photoshop. Lightroom in this case was strictly used to manage the original images and the final HDR.

The image on the left shows you the settings that I used for this HDR. How did I know what settings to use?

I didn’t.

This is up to you. When working in any of the popular HDR software platforms out there you can choose what you want. There’s no formula for “the right kind of HDR.” You can go way over the top, or you can get really subtle. It’s up to you.

You’ll note, both the Strength and Micro-contrast are not pushed all the way up. Also, I did push the saturation a little higher than what I think is completely natural. If I wanted to go even more subtle I think I would have popped saturation to 65. That’s what I usually use for most of my images (between 50 – 65), but I really wanted a little more color in the sky.

What else should you pay attention to when you’re avoiding halos and the rest in order to get a more natural look? Micro-smoothing and Highlights Smoothness. You’ll note that I actually used both sliders for this image. Great way to get rid of halos quickly. But when you push the smoothing up you will loose some of that edgy detail that is an HDR signature.

In the end, whatever HDR package you’re using will allow you to fine tune. Don’t go with the defaults. Try every slider bar you have, every setting available. The only person who will see the icky results from your experimentation is you. Well, unless you share those results. You’ll also get to see the good results as well. In the case of the final HDR below, I’m happy. Of course 15 minutes after I post this I’ll think of something else I should have done with the image, or that I should have chosen a different scene for this post!