The Best Camera in the world...

...Is the camera you have with you. When I first heard this I thought, "Wow I have been a dumbass for so long!" I used to think that if I didn't have my DSLR I would had missed the opportunity, but my brain has been officially reprogrammed.

Fisherman never tell tales about how big their pole was or what pound test the line was or the type of graphic spinner they used to reel the big one in. They talk about the fish they caught and in many cases they talk about the one that got away. The fish that was only rivaled by Moby Dick. The line broke, they sneezed, or the line got tangled... there are many reasons why the big one got away, but the fact of the matter is that it got away and it is because they were not prepared.

Recently, while downtown I was presented with a bomb-scare opportunity to photograph, but alas my DSLR and point and shoot was left at home. So I grabbed my phone and started shooting photos and HD-Video of the scene. I didn't miss the shot, because I had the best camera in world, the one that was with me. 

The other day I was sitting at the mall's food court reading and people watching. Some patterns caught my eye, but alas I didn't have my DSLR. So what did I do, I grabbed my phone and captured the patterns. The point is, I didn't let what caught my eye to get away. Below are the shots I captured.

The above shot was capture using the negative filter in the camera app.

Now admittedly, most phone's cameras won't have the capabilities of my phone's camera. But alas, my phone's camera didn't have this natively. I had to download an app to get the features this one had. It does just about any special effect and processing type out there. It wasn't free, but it was the best camera app out there for me. The app is called Vignette, $3.99, and is available for all Droid Phones. Now, let me say this. This app is a resource hog. I have had to forcibly shutdown the app multiple times during the bomb scare shoot, but for what it does, I am extremely happy with the app. It does way over 60 effects including Vintage effects, toy camera effects, color swapping effects, skin smoothing effects, color highlighting, bleach bypass and other sepia effects, cinematic effects and even tilt shift effects or even no effects is an options. There are also framing options like Panorama, wide screen, picture and grunge frames and so on. Tons of effects and options makes this the most versatile camera I own for on the go shooting.

No filter, no special effect. This was a simple point and shoot using my camera.

No matter the circumstance that has presented itself, no matter how formal or informal, use the best camera in your possession. If it is a point and shoot, shoot the scene. If it is a DSLR, shoot the scene. If it is a cell phone, shoot the scene. If it is all three, use the best of the three for the circumstance. The fact of the matter is that if don't shoot it with what you have, you are just a fisherman with another Moby Dick sized fish-tale.

Now get clicking.

Irish Models and Italian Sodas

What an eclectic days for blogging. First and foremost, we have clear day out... yes all you north-westerners... we have a sun break going on.

I took some photos of my wife's new hair cut the other day. Actually she didn't a cut, but rather all of her hairs cut. It is a cute new style that looks fantastic on her. I am happy for her... she feel really good about herself and her new style. She is glowing as brightly as the sun is today.  

See the full gallery on posterous

Today included a trip to a local wedding show. Talk about enlightening. Seeing how the show was setup and even seeing of the competition opened my eyes to challenges and opportunities in this industry. Afterwards I got an Italian Soda from the French Press, with my good buddy and fellow photographer Nathan Smith of SmithFineArt.com. As is my standard Modus Operandi I snapped a few pics of my drink with my droid phone. Did I mention the sun was shining today?

See the full gallery on posterous

It was as yummy as it looks. What an awesome sun shiny day.

Final Shots from Guys Night Out

So... to conclude the series I want to say ten things...

1. First and foremost... I am not this scary in real life. Although I can be intimidating, so I have been told, upon first meeting me, once I am warmed up to you, I can be be the biggest teddy bear.

2. My first horror film, that I remember watching, was Race with the Devil, with Peter Fonda. I was six years old. The movie that scared me the most is a tie between Carrie (1976) ( I was six years old when I saw it at the drive-in) and Phantasm (1979). Both of these movies did some real damage to me in the form of fear of monsters, demons and chicks who start their periods (think opening shower scene in Carrie). I was afraid of something grabbing me from under my bed while getting into or out of bed, into my early teens. I literally took a running jump into bed each night and jumped to the middle of the room getting out of bed because of films like these. I don't do that any more.

3. So while I spent my childhood exposed to graphically and psychologically damaging films as a young and impressionable kid, I have to give props to my mom as she refused to let me see The Exorcist or Jaws as as child. As a matter of fact, my first Jaws film was Jaws 3D (1983) and I didn't see The Exorcist until I was 19 and in the Navy and I understood why my mom wouldn't let me see it. But as I was saying, I am a fairly well adjusted person these days. Sure I have psychopathic tendencies from time to time; but don't we all? I can manage those urges quite well. 

4. While a lot of my personal art seems dark, if you were at the shoot you would have seen just how much fun we had. I have been known to scare the person behind the camera more than once with my intensity when I get into character, but it is all in fun.

5. This knife was really, really sharp and I, in one of the shots, while the knife was really close to my eye, I accidentally poked my eye with the tip. It hurt a little, but I was shocked that more damage wasn't done. I think I might been donated Superman's eyes. 

6. I didn't do these shots alone. In front of the camera was Chris Sabato of BuffaloGrafix.com using my camera. Also helping me execute these shots with some creative lighting and smoke effects was Nathan Smith of SmithFineArt.com, Chris David of PeoplePhotos.biz and Michael Conkey of nine22.com. Michael also provided us the space to shoot in his cozy home.

7. The shot above was a painful shot for Chris David and not for what appears to be the obvious reason. Chris was forced for a half an hour to arch his back and lean into me while we messed with lights and such. There were several dozen shots taken before we captured this final exposure.

8. The funniest thing about the above shot is Chris was originally less afraid of the knife than he was of me behind him. But then as I, somewhat forcefully, turned his head to the left to expose the right carotid artery, he said, a little nervously I might add, "Okay, you seem to have some practice doing this." Hopefully he doesn't read this because now that he knows that I know what area to expose and that I actually know the name of what I was exposing he probably knows that I know why to expose it. I promise Chris, you were never in any real danger, I have never stabbed anyone on accident.

9. Okay; I understand that this doesn't seem to fit into the theme of the images above, but it is from the same event. As Nathan and I were walking to the street, ready to head home, he pointed out some really cool light from a street lamp shining through the leafless branches of a tree in somewhat of a radial fashion. He was very successful in capturing it with his camera phone, but the above shot was the result of my camera phone.... I don't even know where the Blue, Green, and most of the lights came from. It was a standard sodium vapor light, so yellow.

10. If you don't have friends to get together with on a regular basis, I would strongly recommend it. The creativity of a collective far outweighs what I could come up with on my own and that creativity sticks with me for days and days afterward. Thanks Chris S., Michael and Nathan. It was a fun evening. Special thanks to Chris D. for loaning me you carotid artery, and the rest of you as well. 

11. Bonus comment - No photographers were hurt during the shooting of this series... well except for the knife I took to the eye, but that was my own damn fault.