North Carolina in Color

Where is TimO

2010-04-14T15:14:00.001-07:00

Where is TimO
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend

Ha, ha, ha! This shot just makes me smile. I was running a test roll through the Contax G1 with my new favorite portrait lens. The Contax G1 is a little finicky with the 90mm but the results are well worth the hassle. I'm really looking forward to making some great portraits with this lens.

We'll be doing a portrait session soon, if you'd like to get in on that with us please let us know.

Tim in the back yard

2010-04-10T11:08:00.001-07:00

back yard
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend

Portraits out in the back yard at the end of the day with great light. Kodak Portra 400NC is one of my absolute most favorite films. This is the look I go for when shooting digital. The saturation level is just right, the skin tones are perfect, just an all around great portrait film.

We'll be planning another portrait outing soon at either Duke Gardens or the NC State Arboretum. If you are interested in joining us please let us know and we'll keep you up to date on when we'll be heading out.

Posted Saturday, April 10th, 2010

spring walk on the trail

2010-04-05T17:05:00.001-07:00

friends
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend
The kids and I went for a long spring walk on the trail in our neighborhood. The pollen is out in force now and everything has that yellow-green coating on it that is part of the few short weeks of spring in NC. This grass in one of the bordering yards to the trail was so plush and green and looked like the perfect spot to get a picture of a couple of the kids.

I think this location would make for some great portraits in the future as long as people are willing to walk a couple of miles to this location. So, probably not a customer friendly spot like the NC Arboretum is!

More shots from April are available here.

old school

2010-03-30T03:35:00.001-07:00

groomsmen
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend

We brought a couple of rolls of Kodak TRI-X to shoot in the Nikon F100. I first used TRI-X in Okinawa when I took my first photography class as a little kid on base.

It had been quite a while since I shot black and white film. I usually do the digital to B&W thing when I want that look. The real thing definitely has a look that is hard to replicate with digital so I'm glad we ran with the real thing for some of the wedding photography.

Sammy's big laugh

2010-03-29T17:06:00.001-07:00

NC State Arboretum
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend

A shot of the kids while we were out at the NC State Arboretum with the Joyner's and the Brown's. The kids had a wonderful time running around and chasing one another. We got a lot of great photos and this one makes me smile. Sammy with her big laugh.

The Arboretum is a fantastic spot for portraits. There is always somewhere where there is great light and interesting little garden areas to use as beautiful backdrops.

Bride & Groom

2010-03-27T07:06:00.001-07:00

Bride & Groom
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend

The post-processing of all the images is done, hooray! This was a lot of fun shooting this wedding. Playing around with the D700, shooting a few rolls with my Nikon F100 and a couple of interesting shots turned out on the toy Holga. Thank God for blessing this work.

Congratulations Todd & Melissa Whitford!

The pictures are available here.

all smiles

2010-03-26T03:55:00.001-07:00

all smiles
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend

What a great little face! This is one of my favorite shots from a recent set of portraits we did with some of our friends and their children.

After having played with the D700 for a time I was pretty bummed to have to send it back. That camera caused no small amount of tension in the house as I declared how I was going to be buying one of those $2400 cameras VERY soon. Thankfully, God restored my sanity and I'll be sticking with the film cameras a little while longer for my personal work and just rent the big guns as needed. lensrentals.com has pretty much any set up you could need.

This shot was taken on my Nikon F100 film camera with Kodak Portra 400NC and reminds me WHY I still like film for portraits. The look could be replicated with digital of course but I didn't have to spend any time in photoshop with this. The colors, the saturation, the warmth, it just comes off looking "right" when I shoot film. Thank God for a great film based portrait outing right after having sent the D700 back!

If you are looking to have some portrait work or wedding photography done in the NC area we'd be glad to talk to you about that and see if our style works for you.

We are located in Apex but can work in the greater Raleigh area (Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, etc).

bridesmaid

2010-03-25T18:15:00.001-07:00

bridesmaid, originally uploaded by Chris Townsend.

We shot just at 1500 pictures at the Whitford wedding. That was definitely way more than intended. I was working with some rented gear that I was evidently REALLY enjoying using.

This shot however, was an experimental one with the Holga toy camera. I think the draw to that camera is the never knowing quite what I'm going to get once the roll is developed. This shot turned out quite interesting and definitely has that trademark Holga look.

The wedding shots will be posted and finalized soon. I've got all the digital work done from the D700 but am waiting on a couple of rolls of black and white film to be developed.

spring morning

2010-03-17T13:03:00.001-07:00

spring morning, originally uploaded by Chris Townsend.

Spring in North Carolina has got a jump on the official date. It always seems to. We have a wedding to photograph this Saturday which is the "official" first day of spring and we are looking forward to that.

We are excited to be getting back outside and seeing all the colors and feeling the warm air again. I saw these beautiful pink blossoms set against the Carolina blue sky and had to stop and capture that little slice of springs early start here in North Carolina.

If you'd like to see some more of my shots of NC I've got a gallery of pictures that I've started here.

Why do you say?

2010-03-16T18:59:00.001-07:00

Why do you say?, originally uploaded by Chris Townsend.

Playing around with some Lightroom adjustments and making my daughter look like one of the children from "Children of the Corn". I can remember after having watched that movie with my brothers and my mother while my dad was away TDY. We all knocked on her door afterwards and were pleading with her to let us in to her room because we were scared. She replied, "boys, go away I'm not letting you in after that movie!" LOL.

With that in mind, if you choose us to do your portraits have a look at our work over on our Flickr site. I promise we'll do good work and make you look great like in the majority of our portraiture work and won't experement with wide angle shots on you like this portrait of my daughter. If you are looking for photography services in the Apex, Raleigh, Durham area we are available for work.

Hay you sorry $#%^!

2010-03-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

I've been taking pictures of this old barn for well over a year now. Stopping by every once in a while to grab a shot when the light was just right to try and make an interesting shot. Well, Friday I met the owner and evidently he didn't like that I take pictures of this barn and let me have it. As I was setting up to snap a shot of the only window left I hear someone yell out, "Hey, you sorry #$%^$!" It startled me but then I finished taking my shot as I was pretty sure what was coming next. I talked to the man who eventually calmed down and then headed off to work. I guess I've pretty much exhausted the shots that I'll be getting of this old barn.

Looking for Scooter

2010-01-18T18:27:00.000-08:00

Some images capture an experience well. This is one of those images for me. We go for a walk along a neighborhood trail whenever we have the time. It always seems like such a magical adventure for the kids. They explore every "untamed" jungle and discover lost forts along the way. As they explored this day I'd hear them exclaim with glee, "I found Ice!" or "Look, a worm!"

Here, one of my daughters was waiting for our dog Scooter and her brother to pop back into view from exploring under the bridge. More shots from January are available here.

Waiting

2009-12-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

I love the light at the end of the day. Even on a mostly overcast day like the day this was shot, the softness of the light, the punchy color saturation, shooting wide open to get a fast enough shutter speed on ISO 100 film. It just makes for the ability to make some really beautiful pictures. I was able to get a series of my children and my wife while we were waiting for the Christmas tree lighting in Apex.

My kids always make fast friends with other Children. They were all running around playing tag and having a great time. This was a brief moment when my daughter was contemplating how to spend her next burst of energy.

You can check out some more of our December shots here.

---?---

2009-11-30T18:24:00.000-08:00

Playing around over the Thanksgiving break. This was an idea that we had for a Christmas card. We like the image just fine and it was great fun making the picture but somehow it just didn't seem like Christmas card material. This and other pictures from November are available here.

Dejected Scooter

2009-11-25T05:49:00.000-08:00

Man, I really thought the first time, that would be it. I mean I posed, everyone laughed. That wide angle shot really didn't cast me in the best light.

If you came a little closer, I'd chew that lens up so fast you wouldn't know what hit you, just like all those toys the kids keep leaving out. I hear you try to tell them not to leave them out or I'll get them. If you are anything like them, we'll be doing this picture thing for a long time. So yeah, I'm about as perked up as I'm gonna be now that I realize that.

Let me think about that for a minute.

2009-11-14T15:07:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, no!

Practicing with some strobes out in the garage with Shiloh is always fun. She makes the most wonderful expressions. It is nearly impossible to get a shot where she isn't moving but if you ask the right question you can get her to pause and think about it for a moment, a very brief moment.

More film please

2009-11-02T22:36:00.000-08:00

We are back from our trip out to Napa. I stopped off at Wolf Camera to pick up a couple of rolls that I had developed and was greeted with some really nice 5x5 pictures of my kids. I had forgotten how much fun it is to pick up a set of pictures and negatives. I am really enjoying shooting with this old school TLR. Batteries, we don't need any stinkin' batteries. This camera doesn't have any light meter or well, anything as far as electronics go. It is a light tight box with a lens and shutter, that's it. Good times.
November pictures are here.

to Grand Mum's house we go

2009-10-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

On the trail with the kids as the light was fading made for great portraits. I'm so addicted to wide angle portraits, they are my absolute personal favorite. This shot of Sammy and others are in our October folder on the site located here.

I've also started working with some film again which is fun. I had forgotten about the myriad of choices of film types each with a particular baked in look. I picked up a medium format TLR, a Mamiya C330 with an 80mm lens for absolutely dirt cheap. $200 and the thing is capable of better image quality and higher dynamic range in a single shot than any of my whiz-bang digital cameras. Nice. Right now I'm shooting digital shots to dial in my exposure the way I want and then snapping off a few frames of film.

This was shot with Fuji Reala NC, I had forgotten that was neutral and I like things slightly more saturated so I'll be testing out some Kodak VC next.

Another thing I like about the medium format film is the absolutely shallow depth of field, I had forgotten how great that looks with portraits. This barn behind Sammy was only about six feet away and the TLR at f4 blurs it out nicely. Fun stuff, there should be plenty of film stuff making a resurgence in my work.

private property

2009-10-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

Another shot of this old barn out in Morrisville. I think I finally captured it in a way that I'm happy with. I went out on a rainy Monday afternoon looking for some interesting shots for my NC series that I'm working on and hit this spot again on the way back to the office. I really like the light in this one. This shot and more are posted in our October folder on our smugmug site here.

October!

2009-10-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

October is here and the weather has definitely turned cooler. We've got a couple of portrait sessions in the works and one possible one with a local band that should be fun if we land that work. I've started the October folder and it is available here.

I grabbed this shot, again on the commute, on Koppers road out in Morrisville. I remember reading a post by Ken Rockwell, about how there are many photo opportunities around ones local scene but we tend to get so used to them that we don't see them.

decepticon

2009-09-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

I took this shot while on my commute in to work. There used to be a farm here at the corner of Davis and Highhouse. They've made great progress in erasing that memory from this location. You can check out this and other shots from September at our website here.

Lake Crabtree

2009-09-03T18:43:00.000-07:00

I went out to Lake Crabtree with the kids last night and got a few pictures of the sunset. We had a great time and the weather has been absolutely beautiful over the last few days. Check out this picture and others from last night here: Lake Crabtree