John McQuiston Tampa Photography

Still More Kitten Photos

2011-06-01T10:33:00.003-04:00

Hannah, the newest one, loves people, playing, purring and sleeping.

Hayley, the veteran, will be enormous. Nearly six pounds already.

A few vertical oriented shots.

Hayley Cat

2011-05-13T17:51:00.002-04:00

Been Too Long

2010-12-07T22:36:00.002-05:00

Wow. More than two months since I last posted. Full-time work has put a crimp in my photography. But I dragged myself out of bed early last Saturday to shoot some youth football. I had to bail out at halftime of the second game to get ready for work. So I didn't take nearly as many shots as I did last time we shot at this venue.

I got there around 9 and the first game didn't start until at least 9:30 so I squeezed off a few shots of kids practicing catching as someone tossed a ball up in the air to them.

Lettuce Lake Park and USF Botanical Gardens

2010-09-21T16:58:00.003-04:00

The photo club I shoot with had an outing at Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa Sunday. I was late so I missed some of the best light, as well as the company of my fellow shooters.

I didn't see a lot at the park so I ventured over to the USF Botanical Gardens where I had a little better luck, though by then I was battling the midday sun. The second of the caterpillar shots I took with flash — yes, even in bright sunlight! — to get rid of shadows.

Lowry Park Zoo Photos

2010-09-15T23:31:00.006-04:00

Sunday I braved the throngs that converge on Lowry Park Zoo every time it has a $5 admission day. Regular price is $20.95. I shot 785 photos and it took until now to find enough to make a slide show.

I'm not blaming the new camera, a Sony A550, for this. I need to read the directions to see if I'm doing something to cause too many of the images to appear washed out. I do like that whenever you press a button on the camera, the LCD screen shows a description of its function.

One thing I stumbled across was something called the smart teleconverter. A teleconverter is an attachment that increases how far your lens can zoom. Most come in magnifications of 1.4 or 2X. The A550 has an electronic one built in. I thought it might work like a digital zoom you find on many point-and-shoot cameras. Instead, it simply crops the image in the camera and you end up with a smaller image.

I took the shots of the eagle with the in-camera teleconverter.

New Camera - Sony A550

2010-08-30T21:56:00.005-04:00

My new Sony A550 arrived today. Pulling it out of the box, I was disappointed that at how flimsy it felt and I wonder how sturdy it will be. It also lacked a cover for the flash hotshoe like the one my A100 has.

The controls are in completely different places on the A550 and A100 and the control wheel for the aperture is right next to the on off switch and I've already accidentally turned the camera off when I meant to adjust the aperture.

The switch to turn the steady shot function on or off has disappeared. With the A550, I have to go into the menu to turn it off. This is a significant inconvenience.

I like that the A550's shutter is much quieter than that of my A100. The A100's shutter could actually shake the tripod sometimes. This camera has a CMOS sensor rather than a CCD and it is supposed to be much more sensitive.

I didn't take it out to take a test shot until after 7:30 p.m. It was already dusk but a large grasshopper perched on a leaf near my front door served as the new camera's first subject. The aperture is f/5 with the ISO 200 and an exposure of 1.6 seconds. The steady shot function is on, which on a tripod actually reduces sharpness, but I hadn't had a chance to learn how to turn it off yet.

Youth Football Photography

2010-08-29T01:01:00.006-04:00

The photo club I shoot with took a stab at shooting sports with a trip to a youth football field. Games start at 9 a.m. and last until almost 3:30 in the afternoon. We couldn't get right up to the field and my 200mm lens lacked the reach to get close-ups so most of these shots required a lot of cropping to look presentable.

My camera struggled to focus quickly enough to catch the action and maybe as many as half the shots I took came back blurry. I spare you those.

I do have a new camera (Sony A550) on order that should improve my action sports shooting, as well as to give me a larger image to work from when I have to crop. (14.2 megapixel vs. my current A100's 10.2 MP)

If I shoot something like this again, I will devote more attention to things off the field. Players on the sideline, coaches yelling, more of the cheerleaders and maybe even fans. But today I wanted to practice following action.

Eureka Springs Park Photos

2010-08-14T14:31:00.002-04:00

This is a park near Vandenburg Airport in Tampa that has reopened after renovations. It's not a large place and there is no play area so it's not a great place to bring kids, unlike Lettuce Lake Park not far from there, which has an abundance of both space and playground equipment for children.

It's tucked away an a road less traveled so it's not a place people will stumble across. For now, that means it's mostly empty and a good place to shoot photos in relative peace, either for a hobbyist shooting plants or someone shooting outdoor portraits.

Parrots and Flamingos Photos

2010-08-08T15:53:00.005-04:00

It helps when you can get out of your own way. I remembered to turn OFF the super steady shot function on my camera, which you are supposed to do when shooting from atop a tripod because in looking for vibrations to counteract, the steadying function actually creates vibration.

You can really see the difference in sharpness when you look at the photos at original size. They look like the images you'd expect to come from a $2,000 lens.

The venue is a tourist attraction called Sarasota Jungle Gardens. There are, as the name suggests, gardens, though in August not many are flowering. The upside is that this is also the off-season so there aren't many people to contend with and I could park my tripod in front of the exotic bird exhibit and snap away.

I didn't shoot many full body shots of the birds because it makes the artificial background too obvious. Parrots spend a lot of their time grooming themselves, and each other! As you'll notice, they also sleep standing up.

Flamingos populate the park, roaming free among the patrons, who can buy food to feed them. That makes them willing to let you get close to them. These tall birds better lend themselves to portrait oriented shots.

Lowry Park Zoo Photos - Monkey Porn

2010-07-24T21:53:00.002-04:00

I shot at Tampa's zoo Friday, lugging my tripod around so that I could get sharper photos taken with my long lens, including its extender that makes it reach the equivalent of 400mm. The problem is that the extender renders auto focus useless so I have to hope the animals will pose for me long enough to focus on them.

Sometimes they did.

Yes, you saw that right. The two gray monkeys had just completed "the deed" and the male had his, ah, extender still deployed. I noticed them going at it thinking, "are they doing what I think they're doing?" By the time I thought to take a shot, they had finished.

Here are some portrait shots. Don't worry. No monkey porn.

Various Tampa Shots

2010-07-13T21:56:00.003-04:00

These are from a walk around downtown Tampa and Oaklawn Cemetery. The grasshopper is missing two of its legs on its left side. I guess it really is a hopper! And, no, I did not pull the legs off. Shots of the rope were aboard the USS Eagle, a Coast Guard ship originally built by Germany in 1936 and appropriated by the U.S. after World War II.

Where Were The Spiders?

2010-06-27T18:06:00.003-04:00

The photography group I shoot with had an outing this morning at Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa. We shot there last August and suffering the humidity was worth it because of all the visible wildlife including large spiders and giant grasshoppers.

I got there late and missed the group. I also missed everything except the heat and humidity. At least this time I brought my tripod, which was the regret I had the last time I shot there.

I had better luck at the nearby USF Botanical Gardens. You're supposed to put $5 into a box as you pull in but I gave $151 in care of the university police last year for a traffic infraction while on campus to volunteer for the Radio Reading Service so it's going to be a while before I feel guilty about not paying for admission.

Bird's Eye View

2010-06-01T19:16:00.001-04:00

Sandhill cranes are used to people on golf courses. They also know that golf carts often mean available food. They have no compunction about stealing anything they can reach, though many people feed them voluntarily. This all means that you can get very close and the bird will just stand there looking at you.

If you happen to have your camera handy, especially if said camera has lens that will zoom to 300mm, you can get a close-up shot like this:

And, yes, that was the closest thing to a birdie I got all day. I shot a 96.

Ybor City Photos

2010-05-01T17:43:00.002-04:00

The photo group I shoot with had an outing in Ybor City. I didn't shoot a ton of photos. I don't know if it's because I've shot there so many times before and only snap shots when I spy something new or because I'm lazy, I don't know.

I did shoot a couple shots similar to ones I've taken before, only this time I was not too lazy to haul my tripod around with me and got better versions with the camera atop the sticks.

I didn't set out to use lines as a theme but I did notice that I was shooting a lot of shots with lines in them. There were also a few self-portraits.

The bird showed up while I was shooting a fountain. Of course, this was after I had ditched my 70-200mm long zoom for a 16-80mm so I was set up right next to the fountain. I was standing fairly still when the bird alighted, managed not to scare the bird off and squeezed a few shots of it as it bathed. My camera was in auto focus and it didn't seem as interested in the bird as I was but it managed to get the first shot I snapped and one later as it rinsed its head.

Hillsborough River State Park Photos

2010-04-24T15:37:00.005-04:00

It's warm in Florida but not warm enough for many of the usual creatures to come out. Except mosquitoes. The best shot I got was of a dog that didn't like the big lenses pointed at him. (His owner gave the OK before we shot.)

There is no shooting in comfort, it seems. You see the most wildlife outside when you'd rather be inside instead of sweating in the heat. Oh, well. If I want the shots, I must be willing to suffer for my art.

I did bring my tripod so I could try longer shutter speeds (0.8 seconds) on some of the rapids on the river.

Track Two

2010-03-20T17:42:00.002-04:00

This would be the BMX track redux as opposed to the horse racing track, where I return next week with the Brandon-Riverview Photography Meetup Group. Today we met to shoot bicycle races. I had shot some at this track last week, staying longer didn't seem to give me more success.

Now some in vertical orientation:

Seen While Golfing

2010-03-16T21:39:00.003-04:00

I went golfing today and, as has become custom, I toted my DSLR camera along with its 70-300mm zoom lens. As has also become the norm, I had more good shots with my camera than with my golf clubs. In fact, I got a couple of close-ups (300mm zoom, remember?) of an alligator before we played the first hole.

Spring also means the first sightings of sandhill crane hatchlings. If you get too close, mama or papa will attack.

More Bike Photos

2010-03-13T17:13:00.003-05:00

This time human-powered "engines" instead of horse-powered ones. I shot a few frames at a BMX racing track in Riverview. The photo group I shoot with is scheduled to go back out next week and the track's organizers say he'll outfit us with passes that let us go into the infield where we can get a greater variety of shots.

The riders can catch a lot of air on the clay moguls but do it mostly in practice rather than the races. I saw riders as young as five and as old as 17. The track is looking for more kids to participate so if you have somehow stumbled across this and you or your children live in southeastern Hillsborough County, the link above will take you to the organization's web site.

Here are some in portrait orientation:

No Birdies But a Gator and a Puppy

2010-03-09T19:22:00.008-05:00

When I play golf, often the only good shots I make are with my camera. I've made it a habit to bring it with me when I play. Warmer weather brought out the alligators that decorate the course's ponds.

A 300mm lens let me get that close. I got within about six feet of it.

More temperate temperatures also brought one of the residents of the housing development that surrounds the course out with his two-month old puppy. The sun was behind the pup and the shutter noise startled it and, short on time before we had to go play the next hole, I didn't take the time to compensate for the lighting issue properly. But I think the cuteness comes through.

A little post production to brighten up the area around her eyes would help. That thing was the cutest little puppy dog maybe ever.

See more of my photography at photoquist.com

Dirt Bike Photographs from Croom Motorcycle Park

2010-03-08T15:52:00.000-05:00

Saturday I shot horsepower that did not involve horses. The organizer of the photo group I often shoot with also rides dirt bikes at Croom Motorcycle Park in Hernando County. He'll be on bike #43 in the photo montage below. Despite excellent weather, there weren't many riders. Our guess was that a bike week and a big race at Daytona siphoned off many of the usual Croom crowd.

I shot more than 800 frames of the same five shots. A lot of burst mode! I did capture two kids crashing but the soft sand that can make turns difficult also cushions riders who go down. Both kids were OK, though getting out from beneath the bikes took more exertion than riding them.

The soft sand also made the bikes look like surfboards cutting through waves in some shots. In others the bikes kicked up "rooster tails" behind them that helped illustrate their power. All in all, it was a cool thing to shoot and looking at the photos gives me a better idea of which things to focus on if I go back.

An Hour in Ybor City

2010-02-22T19:38:00.005-05:00

I had to drive into Tampa for what turned out to be no reason Sunday afternoon. I thought to bring my camera and stopped in Ybor City on my way home to snap some shots. I got there around 5 p.m. and shot only a few dozen photos.

The guitar player told me he didn't want to be photographed but said it was OK for me to shoot his guitar. That's why no face shots of him. I couldn't choose between the two shots here. The first one shows the lines on the sheet music but the second one is better framed.

And, yes, the train was coming. I wish I had stayed in place for two seconds longer. I would have gotten a better shot but it was probably wise for me to bail out while the train was plenty far away. I can just see cutting it too close, losing my balance and dying for a silly photograph that no one would see anyway.

I also could not decide which of the pizza restaurant shots to include. The second one I brightened the shadowed portion of the frame but I don't know whether that improves the image or not. So I put them both in so you could decide.

Lowry Park Zoo Photos

2010-02-15T17:41:00.000-05:00

Cold weather that kept the expected crowds away from Lowry Park Zoo's $5 admission day last month prompted the zoo to have another one yesterday.

That one started out cold, too, with temps in the lower 40s at the outset but it warmed up enough by early afternoon that I could shed my winter coat. The zoo didn't draw the 9,000 people it gets on discount days in May and September but crowds were much heavier than they were when only 3,000 braved the blustery day last month.

More animals were out, too, though I didn't see much of the white tigers on several passes by their enclosure. I've visited the zoo often enough that when I go now, I target specific animals to photograph — primates, big cats and the lorikeets are my favorites, as you can see in the slide show. I also visited the bald eagles a couple of times.

Though I want to improve my technique, the main reason I shoot is to make photographs I want to look at later. I don't want to look at hippos or rhinocerouses so I don't shoot them unless I notice something unusual that interests me.

I shot about half of the 344 photos I took with an old consumer-grade 75-300mm Minolta lens. For the rest I used my Sony f/2.8 70-200mm lens with a 2X teleconverter, which gave me a 400mm zoom range. Unfortunately, the teleconverter renders auto focus useless on my camera. It also seems to affect the quality of the images enough to negate shooting with a $2,000 lens.

Either way, I wasn't aiming to shoot landscape panoramas. I was trying to get in tight and though many of the shots are cropped somewhat, I did get really close up shots.

I also lugged my tripod around with me but set it up only once, to shoot a bald eagle. The other places it simply wasn't practical to use, and it would be even more difficult to set up in bigger crowds. Sony's anti-shake function works well and kept most of my hand-held shots in focus, particularly those I took with the Minolta lens.

Tampa Bay Downs Photos - Meetup

2010-02-01T16:49:00.004-05:00

This time I had to go. I had organized an outing for the Brandon-Riverview Photography Meetup Group at the track so I was sort of obligated to go. Yeah, that's the ticket!

I did not have a brilliant day behind the camera. The overcast sky that is normally a photographer's friend because it eliminates shadows didn't seem to agree with my camera. A lot of these shots needed cropping to look presentable. I did spy one perspective you'll see in the montage that I need to shoot again when a race is going on.

And, yes, blackbirds will fight each other for the right to eat horse manure.

Photos of Birdies on the Golf Course

2010-01-26T19:06:00.005-05:00

And a gator who was kind enough to pose for me near the 11th tee. These shots are minimally cropped, though I had a 300mm lens that helped me get close.

I even had a birdie using my golf clubs. How about that?

You can see more of my photos at PHOTOQUIST.COM

Perfection

2010-01-25T16:21:00.008-05:00

Or as close to it as I get. The three photos below were consecutive frames taken at — say it with me — Tampa Bay Downs yesterday. I had actually gone Saturday and didn't like what I brought home, not to mention going 0-for-2 on my first two bets of the year.

These are NOT cropped. The first one may be the best action shot I have ever captured. It is certainly my current favorite.

Now the slide show:

Oh, and I even won my only wager of the day. The $3.60 payout means I'm down only $2.40 for the year.

See more of my work at photoquist.com.

Still More Tampa Bay Downs Photos

2010-01-19T16:30:00.004-05:00

This is becoming a habit, I know. One of the jockeys walking back to the jocks' room after a race passed by and said, "you're always out here taking pictures." Not as often as she's out there riding horses but, apparently, often enough to notice.

Most of these are cropped at least a little bit but I did consciously shoot some tighter shots trying to capture expressions, either human or equine.

See more of my work at photoquist.com.

Tampa Bay Downs Photos

2010-01-16T11:55:00.004-05:00

Like the zoo, the local horse racing track is a frequent venue for my photography. Strangely enough, I rarely gamble and can't remember the last time I bet on a race. But I visit the track fairly regularly to try to capture the action of a race. It's not easy.

See more of my work at photoquist.com.

Lowry Park Zoo Photos

2010-01-11T16:41:00.008-05:00

It was $5 day at Lowry Park Zoo but temperatures in the 30s (yes, Fahrenheit!) kept the usually massive crowds away despite the discounted price. I went with several other brave (? -- you may have another adjective in mind) members of the Brandon-Riverview Photography Group.

Some of the animals were out but many had more sense than we did. I had my 2x magnifying extender on, which means that I had to manually focus all of the shots while wearing two gloves on my left hand because auto focus doesn't work with my extender. Photo below by Roger Moran.

That's not to make excuses for the lack of brilliance. Just sayin'.

I also think that I need to quit being lazy and use my tripod to get better focus on some of my shots. Handheld is adequate for posting on a blog but for print quality photos, I need to take the time to set the camera on something solid.

See more of my work at photoquist.com.

Another Day at the Races

2009-12-25T22:59:00.004-05:00

I know it's beginning to look like the only thing I photograph are horses, I know. My father goes to the track frequently and sometimes I meet him out there. It is a good place to try to capture action and there is color and character around the track, too.

Downtown Tampa Photos

2009-12-20T10:47:00.004-05:00

On the way home from the racetrack (see previous post), I stopped and squeezed off a few frames in downtown Tampa, including a couple that offer evidence that I was really there! I didn't stay long. I have shot there before (see some of those photos by clicking here) and had only a couple of shots I wanted to try to get.

Tampa Bay Downs Photos

2009-12-19T23:37:00.002-05:00

The racing season has begun at Tampa Bay Downs. I don't gamble much. Instead I play games of chance with my camera. Can I capture the action? Will it be in frame? In focus? Perhaps if I shot action sports more than a few times a year I'd be more proficient at it.

As it is, I got a few good shots, though some of these had to be heavily cropped to fill the frame as much as they do.

Tampa Horse Show

2009-12-07T22:12:00.003-05:00

The Bob Thomas Equestrian Center at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa frequently hosts horse shows and jumping competitions. The one this past Saturday was a low-level event, I think.

The course was also muddy, and I wore some of it home as a companion souvenir to the horse manure I — of course — stepped in.

A Walk Among the Tombstones

2009-12-07T21:45:00.007-05:00

Not an original title, I'm sure, but that's what I was doing on a cloudy Saturday this past weekend. Tampa's Oaklawn Cemetery dates back to at least the mid-19th century. Tampa's first mayor is buried there as well as several Florida Supreme Court justices and many of the people who first settled the city.

Today it is a neglected patch that sits next to the bus station downtown. Many of the tombstones are cracked and broken, a reminder that nothing is eternal.

Beware the Spiders!

2009-08-29T19:31:00.004-04:00

You'll see plenty of them if you go to Tampa's Lettuce Lake Park in August. They were close enough to photograph but not too close for comfort. At least not too close for my comfort. Others might think just looking at pictures of spiders is too close!

I forgot to bring my tripod, which I regretted. A lot of these would have turned out much better if they had been steadier shots. Live and learn.

Garden Gallery

2009-08-07T16:32:00.005-04:00

These are some of my favorite images from my recent trip to Pennsylvania to photograph gardens for a landscape architect's website. Most of these are not on the site because the shots needed for that show the design elements of the garden. My interest is mostly colors.

The woman who appears twice (if you watch long enough) is the landscape architect. Her name is Jamie Collins and if you happen to live in New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania and have thought about turning your yard into a true showpiece, she's the one to do it. She marries a love of plants with a mastery of the technical aspects of design. She really does terrific work. Her website is www.CedarLineDesign.com.

She also has a photogenic cat and a table that provided indoor still life shots.

Web Photography

2009-08-06T20:21:00.011-04:00

I just returned from a trip to Pennsylvania that was part business, part pleasure. While there I designed and built a website for a landscape architecture business. I took all the photographs for the site except for three "before" pictures.

Click Image to View Larger Size

That's the gallery page. I was really pleased how the whole site turned out. My friend wanted something simple and elegant. We agree that she got it. It helped to have some stunning scenery to photograph. I will make a slide show of some of the images and post them soon.

I'm not an expert website builder but I know enough HTML, CSS and Flash to get by.

Alafia River State Park Photo Shoot

2009-07-26T11:18:00.003-04:00

This was another shoot with the Riverview Digital Photography Meetup Group. We went to the Alafia River State Park on County Road 39 in southeastern Hillsborough County. The park doesn't open until 8 a.m. so some of the best light is lost waiting outside the gate.

The park is known for its biking trails. I hoped to get some action shots along with the usual nature shots you'd expect to see in a park. Patches of high sunlight made capturing shots of the riders more difficult. Many bikers treaded carefully down the hills. That limited our ability to get shots where they appear frozen against a blurry backdrop.

The park was converted from abandoned phosphate pits. That accounts for the hilly terrain not often found in this part of Florida. The former pits now hold standing water. So we had mosquitoes that are often found in this part of Florida. I am so glad that I thought to bring bug spray. It is an absolute must if you're going out into any woods in Florida.

Oh, you've noticed that it's taking a while to get to the pictures, have you? I wish I could promise that they'd be worth the wait but I have to confess: They were a disappointing lot.

Tarpon Springs Photos

2009-07-24T23:12:00.004-04:00

These are from a trip to Tarpon Springs I took with my father and brother. We were there in the heat of the afternoon, hardly the ideal sun for photography. But shooting in poor light is better than not shooting at all. A couple of these shots came from a 90-minute boat trip we took. The bearded guy in the mirror shot is not my father. But the guy in the background of that shot is my brother.

Sunken Gardens Video Tour

2009-07-24T22:38:00.002-04:00

You ask, not without justification, what is a video doing on a photography blog? The answer is that the video camera was the one I had with me when I shot at this venue. It was also a chance to experiment working with a green screen for the parts (too many, I grant you) in which I appear on camera.

Because of the compression necessary to get the video to play over the web, you won't get the high-definition experience, but you'll get some sense, I hope, of what is there to shoot.

Previous PhotoWalk + Lowry Zoo Pictures

2009-07-23T21:33:00.007-04:00

These are photos from last year's Scott Kelby Worldwide PhotoWalk in Safety Harbor. August 24, 2008, to be precise. I post them here for the benefit of members of the Riverview Digital Photography Meetup Group as we look for places to shoot.

I drove through intermittent rain to get to the town then walked several blocks down Main Street through a steady downpour to the meeting place. But I made it. Luckily for the 50 or so people gathered under the gazebo at John Wilson Park the rain stopped before we set off to document Safety Harbor.

I had an idea in my head that there would be some guidance involved but the only instructions we got were to meet at Crispers restaurant at 7 p.m., that whining was not allowed and to take care not to get hit by a car.

The restaurant is a good place to meet afterward. It is large enough to accommodate a group and people could fire up their laptops and share their results if they wanted.

A few months earlier I joined several thousand other price-conscious people when I visited Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa on a $5 admission day. Below are some of the results.

Another Ybor City Photowalk

2009-07-18T22:30:00.007-04:00

Ybor, yet again! I signed up for an event called the Worldwide Photowalk. Scott Kelby, a photographer who writes digital photography and Photoshop books, hatched the idea as a book promotion. A bunch of photographers would meet someplace, roam around snapping shots of it for a couple of hours and meet at a restaurant afterward for either lunch or dinner, depending on whether it was a morning or afternoon walk.

It now includes 24,000 camera toters in events around the world.

I had gone to one last year in Safety Harbor. We got rained on but the overcast skies made the light ideal. This year I chose Ybor simply because it was the one closest to my home. As the day approached I wondered if I'd want to shoot there again, especially in a Florida July mid afternoon.

Usually I've started shooting at Centro Ybor, the hub of Tampa's party town, and branched east or west from there. So today I started at what is normally the easternmost spot, the venerable Columbia restaurant at 7th Ave. and 21st St., then ventured south then east from there.

Here are a few of the vertically oriented shots.

The shots of the walkway framed on the right with brick arches was a place I had stopped to get a bottle of Gatorade because I had forgotten to pack a cooler with drinks. That sun will sap your energy fast if you don't stay hydrated. I walked outside, looked to my left and said, "Wow!"

Good photos are often right in front of you, if you're willing to notice them. My apparent fixation with railroad tracks continues. And, like last time, a shot of a padlock made the best-of batch. What would Freud say?

Now some of the landscape oriented photos:

I don't know if some of the painting on the wall is graffiti or used to be intentional decoration or is some combination of the two with some mold added for panache.

The green shot is the underside of an umbrella in Centro Ybor where I sat as I drained the rest of my Gatorade. There's a lot of color in Ybor City. Some weirdness too. Like the guy lining up those giant pipes on the counter of a hookah bar. I'm not sure what they smoke in those things in a public bar, if they're indeed smoked on the premises.

See more photos at photoquist.com.

Ybor City Photo Walk

2009-07-11T20:16:00.004-04:00

This was another photo walk with fellow members of the Riverview Photography Meetup Group. I've shot in Ybor City numerous times, with models and without, so it gets more challenging to find things I haven't seen and shot before.

When you get there early in the morning, the only people you're likely to meet are either photographers or people sleeping off the night before. I felt a little uneasy shooting the bums on the benches.

The $150 Photograph

2009-07-03T16:16:00.003-04:00

Not working a 9-to-5 job means you can spend some daytime hours doing other things.

I got to do some volunteer work for the WUSF Radio Reading Service yesterday. The service broadcasts readings of newspapers, magazines and other literature to blind and disabled people who have special radios to receive the signal.

With a background in broadcasting, it's a great outlet. Plus it's the perfect thing for someone who likes the sound of his own voice. So I'm always glad to do it.

I was less glad when I took a wrong turn on the way there, drove over a sidewalk and got a $151 citation from the USF campus police. $151 I could have spent on something I wanted.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Afterward I went to the USF Botanical Garden. I had brought my camera thinking I'd try to snap some shots in the butterfly garden. Of course, by the time I got finished with the police and did my reading, it was nearly 4:30 p.m.

So the picture below of the largest insect I have ever seen cost me $151 to take. I don't even know what it is. I just noticed a funny looking yellow color on a flower and went to investigate.

It could have been worse. I got rained on and rushed back to my car. As I sat waiting to see if the rain would pass, I noticed two people coming out of the botanical gardens' gift shop and head to the the only two other cars in the lot.

That's when I realized the place was closing. Had the rain not sent me fleeing to my car I'd have been locked inside the gardens until 9 a.m. today.

Downtown Tampa Walkabout

2009-06-27T20:02:00.002-04:00

Although I have created a photography business, I shoot for fun, whether the job pays or not. To get myself out shooting more I joined a meetup group for photographers in my area.

This morning we spent a gray morning shooting in downtown Tampa. Saturday mornings are great because the city is empty and you can get unobstructed views of its architecture. If you're ever shooting people, you don't have to compete with crowds for uncluttered backdrops. It's also a good time of day because the light is more flattering and kinder to the camera.

We had to dodge raindrops at times and I got nailed by fire ants while paying too much attention to my framing and not enough to my footing once but often conditions that feel miserable are ideal for photography. Overcast skies serve wonderfully as diffusers of light. Colors really pop under cloudy skies. We got a few patches of clear blue above too.

New Web Site Address

2009-06-15T17:32:00.005-04:00

To make us easier to find on the Internet — as well as making it easier to pass it along by word of mouth, we have a new URL for our website. Now you can go to photoquist.com to see samples of our work.

I thought "philiprandolphparker.com" was too long and difficult to read. Even if you write it "PhilipRandolphParker.com, it's still a mouthful. Then if you're trying to tell someone the site's name you have to specify that Philip has just one "l" and Randolph ends in "ph" rather than "f."

So photoquist.com it is!

Non-Paying Customer

2009-06-01T13:11:00.005-04:00

It's my father, though, and he's paid enough over the years!

Medard Park

2009-05-31T15:48:00.001-04:00

These are a few shots from a recent outing to a county park. I like the shot of the bird that looks like it's headless. It was actually grooming itself on the side away from the camera. It takes a lot of patience to shoot nature. It also takes a lot of bug spray, which repels mosquitoes but, unfortunately, not flies.

Family Photography Shoot

2009-05-24T14:00:00.007-04:00

First of all, welcome to a slightly new look to the blog. I tweaked the code to eliminate right-hand side column to allow room for larger slide shows. Of course, you an always see examples of our photography at www.photoquist.com.

I wanted the expanded layout to show off some photos from a shoot I had yesterday in Tampa's Lettuce Lake Park. The shoot with Brad, Fumi and their darling six-year-old daughter Maiko was great fun. The predicted rain held off and the cloudy skies helped our cause by diffusing the sun.

Anyway, let me stop rambling for a moment so you can see some of the shots!

The park is a good venue. It has a boardwalk, lots of woods and shade trees (also good for softening sunlight) as well as playground equipment and a swing set. But on those it was hard to keep Maiko still long enough to snap off a photo! I thought the bubbles might make for some interesting photos and Brad brought the bubble-making gear. Maiko didn't stand in one place very long for that, either! Fortunately, I also brought a pad of paper and a couple of pens. Drawing gave her something to do while keeping her stationary -- for a little while!

Another Testimonial

2009-05-19T16:59:00.008-04:00

I got an e-mail today from someone featured in one of the galleries on our website. She had offered to write a recommendation. Sure enough, she did!

Working with John was great. My husband and I had not taken any "professional" photos together and we thought it would be quite awkward. It was opposite! John did a great job of making us feel comfortable. We had such a blast on the shoot and the photos showed it! I loved that we were able to see the photos right there on the spot and not have to wait. We were so pleased that we referred some friends to John and will keep doing so in the future.

Thank you, Erica! That was awesome! If I could put words in someone's mouth (or their typing fingers, I suppose) I could not have done better. I'm glad she mentioned that she and her husband had a good time. It's supposed to be fun!

Here are some of the shots from that shoot:

The framing was primarily vertical but I shot some horizontally.

While I like to think that the photos speak for themselves, it is truly great when the people in the pictures are willing to speak for them too!

See more singles, couples and family photography at Philip Randolph Parker.

Viewer Mail

2009-05-18T15:31:00.012-04:00

Not viewer mail, exactly, but an e-mail from a visitor to our website. She was a referral (very cool!) and "very very interested" in hiring me (very very cool!).

She had some questions about the service and how the shoots worked. Things like how much direction do I give versus the client choosing his/her poses, shooting at multiple locations and having wardrobe changes.

I wrote a detailed note answering them and thought I'd share it here in case it helped anyone else better understand the business model of Philip Randolph Parker Photography.

Hi C-----,

Thank you for checking out my site! I appreciate the interest.

The pictures I shot with Jahara were great fun. I made suggestions for some of the shots -- like the ones when she walked on the railroad tracks in her heels (what a good sport she was!) -- for others she did what she wanted and I tried to capture the moment.

It's a collaborative process where we bounce ideas off of each other so that we get the shots you want for your portfolio and I get to brag that I took them!

For the $200 you get digital copies of ALL the shots we take on our shoot. I don't remember how many shots I took with Jahara. My most recent shoot with a couple and their 8-month-old daughter was 380 shots. They're not all great shots, I'll tell you that up front. No photographer is going to nail every single frame.

And some shots are very similar as I snap several frames of every pose we do. Of those 380 shots with that couple and their daughter, I posted 14 on my website — the ones I considered the best of the best. There are 19 of from my shoot Jahara on my site. She might be able to tell you how many shots she considers portfolio-worthy.

Remember, you don't pay me until you've seen the photos and decide they're worth it. We'll review them on my laptop right after the shoot. Of course, if you decide they're not worth paying for, you don't get to keep them.

I provide only digital copies. Many photographers will have low-priced session fees and then require that you buy your prints from them. That's pretty standard in photography and I don't want to give you the impression that you're getting ripped off if you hire a photographer who works that way. But, at least for now, I don't. I give you digital copies that you can take to any printer you choose. I've used Wal-Mart and been pleased with the results.

As for shooting in a garden and in Ybor City, I designed the $200 service for single location shoots. That's mainly because the early morning light that gives us the best photos lasts for only a few hours. We'd lose too much of that light driving from one place to another. It's better to spend that time shooting.

Wardrobe changes are no problem as long as they don't take too long. You might remember a shot I took of Jahara as she put on a boot during the wardrobe change she did on our shoot. Another couple featured on my website's gallery page — Erica and Brandon — also brought a change of clothes and changed up their look. Just remember that we have a limited window — one to three hours — of really good light to work with.

I'll be happy to call you to talk more about what kinds of shots you want and to set up a time, let me know when a good time to reach you is.

Have a great day!

John McQuiston

For more information about singles, couples & family photography — including location portraits and engagement sessions, visit www.photoquist.com.

Testimonial

2009-05-11T21:15:00.007-04:00

As much as I love to tell you how wonderful my work is -- just ask! -- it is much more convincing if the kind words come from someone I've shot.

Here are a few frames from a shoot I did back in January with a young lady named Jahara.

One thing I really loved about shooting with her was how expressive she was. It looked like I had more than one model on the shoot. She wasn't afraid to have fun. The really cute shot of her sticking out her tongue didn't come from any direction I gave. I think she was just teasing her husband standing near me and I caught it. Those are the best shots -- the ones where people aren't posing, they're being themselves and I make sure I'm ready to capture it.

Enough of my words. The point of this is to hear from Jahara.

The shoot I had with John back in January was a blast! The photos turned out great and it was such a pleasure working with him!! I loved how comfortable and easy it was. I definitely plan on another session soon!

-Jahara

Thank you!

For more examples of singles, couples or family photography, visit http://www.personal-documentary.com/photography/.

And They're Off!

2009-05-04T21:06:00.002-04:00

Ah, the handy racing cliche on the day we launch the new photography website and its companion blog. (That would be the one you're reading right now.)

When a 50-1 shot whose owner towed him 17 hours from New Mexico to Louisville wins the Kentucky Derby, that gives hope to a lot of long shots.

I lived and worked as a TV sports reporter in Lexington, Kentucky for three years. As you might imagine, I spent a lot of time covering racing. Central Kentucky is known for two things: the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Basketball.

I learned a lot about the race that dates back to 1875 — only 10 years after the Civil War ended! — and has run every single year since. Two world wars and one Great Depression failed to stop the streak.

Though I still watch the Triple Crown races, I've lost touch with the sport since I moved back to Florida. I do visit our local track, Tampa Bay Downs, but it's mostly to take pictures. My last trip was a couple weeks ago. Here are a few of the shots:

It Counts

2009-05-04T20:55:00.000-04:00

Now the new site is up and running, I've e-mailed some of the folks I've shot with asking them for testimonials of my work. A couple of them had offered before so I didn't feel like I was imposing.

I also put a call out on my personal Facebook page soliciting feedback on the site. They probably thought it was spam but if they're friends, they'll look anyway. I hope they're friends. I haven't used my Facebook page to create a wide network of people I don't know. I do not have any Facebook friends whom I have not met face-to-face.

Some people seem to use the site almost to collect names. I've gotten requests from people that not only did I not know, I had never heard of them and had no idea what possible connection I could have had to them.

But I digress.

I also added web site counters to the new site and this blog. It will give me an idea how many people visit and approximately where they're from. I'm not trying to track people; I just want to know if people are seeing the sites. If you're reading this, you can't say the effort didn't count for something!

Welcome!

2009-05-04T14:54:00.004-04:00

Pardon the sawdust as we get the new blog and website going. As you may have surmised, this one centers on photography. In particular, photography by a new company in the Tampa, Florida area formed to provide such a service.

I wanted the blog to have a plain design to match that of the new PRP website, which has an acutely simple layout. The reason is not because I'm lazy. Or that I'm a largely unskilled web designer. Or some devious combination of the two.

The idea was that the plain site would help the photography stand out.

Oh, and I should mention that "I" am John. The name Philip Randolph Parker comes from the middle names of me and my brothers. While, as you know, there is "no I in T-E-A-M," for the moment I am the team. I take the photos, I build the website and I write the blog.

They really are labors of love. But sometimes they are labors!

They are also works in progress. However you happened to have stumbled across this, I welcome your feedback — nay, I implore you for it.

If nothing else, the creation of even that simple looking site gave my HTML and CSS muscles a real workout. (HTML and CSS are some of the codes computer geeks use to make websites.) And I made a breakthrough discovery about sub-domains, which will interest absolutely no one outside of the guy writing this sentence, I realize, but this blog is brand new and I don’t imagine I’m talking to anyone but myself right now.

If I am mistaken about that, I thank you for reading.