NEW Charleston Collection Exhibit!

NEW ARTWORK FOR  © The Charleston Collection

NEW ART-NEW EXHIBIT

It’s been almost a year in coming, but my first public showing of new “Charleston Collection” is about to go on exhibit!!

18- 20×30 Canvas Gallery Wrapped pieces of my artwork will be hanging at the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse in Charleston West Virginia from July thru August.

The show is open to the public, keeping in mind it is a federal courthouse, so you will have to pass thru a security checkpoint to gain access thru the main doors.

If you can, I’d love for you to go and take a look- better yet, visit my online store and pick up some art for your home or office!

What is a gallery wrapped canvas?

It is a high quality print on artist canvas. 
The canvas is stretched over custom made wood supports.
Its depth is 1.5″ 

What’s so cool about gallery-wrapped canvases?

These images stand out boldly without the distraction of a frame
They appear to “float” on your wall.
You don’t need a frame for stability; the structure is inside the art.

Animoto.com

I remixed this video to show the images longer- Hope you like the new version!

Lenswork and Landscapes

I’m going to be speaking on April 20th 2009 at the Ohio Professional Photographers Organization – you don’t have to be a member to come- but they do charge $10.00 a meeting if you aren’t a member.
Trust me when I say ( and I say it with LOVE )- this is the ONLY time you will be able to catch one of my programs at this price-I am doing this because a good friend asked me if I’d be interested in doing it. ( Giving back to my “peeps”) 

Date:	Monday, April 20, 2009
Time:	6:30pm – 9:30pm
Location:	Hedgecock’s Photography Studio
Street:	514 20th Street
City/Town:	Huntington, Meeting fee is 10.00, and is a part of the Ohio Valley Professional Photographers Organization. You do not have to be a member to attend.

Cass Scenic Railroad Photography Workshop Update

Hey everybody- Just talked to the good people at the Cass Railroad- there are only 10 spots left for my Photography workshop at the Cass Scenic Railroad for this fall ( Sept. 11,12,13 2009 )

If you think this might be something you’re interested in, Reservations are being handled by Cass Scenic Railroad- seats are selling out quick!

Cass Scenic Railroad State Park
P.O. Box 107
Cass, WV 24927
(304) 456-4300
1-800-CALL WVA
E-mail: cassrailroad@wvdnr.gov

The new monitor in the room……

so here is the monitor review I promised.

First of all; the monitor is to todays photographer what the rosetta stone was for language- it defines how we communicate with each other.
not all monitors are created equal-and this one isn’t perfect- but was priced right.

the brand is VIEWSONIC  and the particular model is VX2240W ( although I later found out they had more “professional” versions- more on that later) These are fast (2 Milisecond) displays and have a native resolution of 1680×1050- very nice.

Upon first glance, it is sleek and at around $250.00 to $300.00 ( depending on where you get it) it looks OK out of the box.
But NO monitor is completely set up until it’s calibrated. this is where things got interesting……Lots of control over all  parameters of how the monitor displays an image.

If you set the gamma first, you’ll find that the screen is too bright and some calibration systems have a problem until you “dial it down” a bit on brightness and contrast. I had to start around 47 contrast and 70 brightness. This is in part due to it being a “gamers” monitor- the settings are a bit higher than you’d use for photographs.

After that , the calibration was straightforward ( I was using a Gretag MacBeth eye 1  calibration device)
*NOTE* Be sure and turn  off “HIGH DYNAMIC CONTRAST” in the manual settings – it’s way too much for photo editing.

One of the nice things about the VX2240W ( and a selling point to me) was the fact that I could adjust the Red, Green and Blue settings individually on the monitor- this is pretty precise and works with your color temperature settings..

Am I glad I dumped my CRT? No- not really. It was much more accurate for what I do, but as it is hard to find one new- it’s better to join the ranks and get used to editing on an LCD monitor along with everybody else these days.

Is there a difference between a $1200.00 monitor and one for $300.00? You betcha! Better componants, better calibration, better display- But for the price- if you can’t afford the more expensive monitor right off- this is a good one to start with.

Will I get an Eizo or lacie flat panel in the future? Probably- but not for a while yet…..as long as the viewsonic keeps buying me some time…….

One More Thing- Viewsonic says they have a P model ( professional graphics LCD) for a bit more- so that may be worth a look as well- I didn’t get one because I couldn’t try it out- they aren’t available in a store near where I am- and I’m all about hands on testing of new unproven ( at least to me) equipment- but I would probably spend a little more and get one of those ( hindsight being 20-20!)

this isn’t the “end all be all ” monitor for professionals- and I will upgrade to the “big boy” flat panels at a later time- but for now( and since my CRT died) this will do………..

PPWV Spring Convention

It’s been a little hectic around here lately- The Professional Photographers of West Virginia Spring Convention is set to take place this weekend- so I’ll be attending in Morgantown.

Hopefully I’ll be back to normal next week and get to posting some more cool stuff!

See ya then…….

New addition to the family

Meet “Mollie”- the latest addition to our household

She was adopted from the local animal shelter  by us this weekend- and was quite unexpected! but sometimes the dog picks you instead of the other way around…..

Chico ( seen here towering over Mollie) is our first Pup- but he and she became very quick friends! They now share dog beds and toys- The Cat, however ( Spaz) is still making up his mind about the whole thing- I think He’ll come around……

If you ever want to get a pet- I would urge you to go to a shelter first- You’ll find some of the most beautiful and loving animals that need a home. I couldn’t bear the thought of what fate would come to this one- It was her second time ’round at petsmart ( their adoption program with local animal shelters) and “Mollie” came up to me- not the other way – what else could I do but take her home?………..

Cass Railroad Yard

Getting ready to pull out for the mountain trip.

Cass Station

Night shot of a Shay engine at the Cass railroad station.

Cass Scenic Railroad Photography Workshop

 

Cass Scenic Railroad Photography Workshop on September 11,12,13-2009!

The workshop instruction fee is $100.00 ( meals and lodging NOT included)

 You must make the reservation thru Cass and have the option of staying at their  lodging facilities. Click here to be taken to the cass website for a look 
(Cass also allows RV and pop up camper parking in our main parking lot area. They dont have hookups or shower facility. 10.00 a night)

OR  there are a couple of options for lodging off site :

Boyer Motel 10 miles from Cass 304-456-4667

  EJ’s Cottages 12 miles from Cass (he also has a rental  in Cass)
  www.ejcottages.net 1-800-354-0821

  Seneca State Forest 12 miles from Cass 304-799-6213
 
Workshop Description:

I’ll will be showing participants how to visually speak thru imagery and what’s important to consider in each and every photograph.

Photography lessons will be thru a combination of relaxed lectures followed up with photographing “in the field” and putting techniques to work in real world situations. Keeping class size small by design will insure an intimate atmosphere with plenty of time for class / instructor interaction.
  

WORKSHOP TOPICS TO INCLUDE:

 

Discussion of areas we will  be photographing

advanced composition techniques

What makes a succesful photograph

visualization exorcises

equipment being used

using flash effectively

field work to reinforce lessons

best workflow practices

image enhancement techniques

 

I’ll be posting some photographs in the next few days of the locations we’ll be exploring and what you can expect to see…. so be sure and check back in the next few days!

 

The Photography Workshop Reservation line at Cass Scenic Railroad is now open! 304-456-4300 (reservations Ext 101).  

( OR call  WV Tourism at 1-800-CALL WVA  =1-800-225-5982 and ask to be connected with the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park)

The Worksop does not show up on their website yet; you- my faithful bloggers, get first dibs!  The workshop is limited to 25 people and is expected to fill up quickly!

Be sure and tell them Clayton sent you!