Sky effects

I'm not a winter person. I don't like the cold and I don't like that it's dark so much. However, evening skies in the winter and the lighting at sunset can be really interesting and beautiful. Here's a few seasonal examples. These are uploaded at 1920 by 1200 pixels, but substantially compressed. Feel free to download for your personal (non-business) use.

Notes:

Shot 1 (top) and 2( top right):  This is Carver Hall, the university's signature building. Bloomsburg's first president (before it was a university), Henry Carver, laid bricks for the building in 1866-67. These shots were taken several years ago with a Canon XTI (shot 1) ISO 400, 1/15th; Sigma 24-70 at f/2.8; (shot 2) ISO 800, 1/50th, f/4.

Shot 3 and 4 are of the extension to McCormick Center for Human Services. I think this is one of the most interesting pieces of architecture on campus. Every time I walk past the building, I stop and look. To my eye, it looks great from every angle, but that's a personal preference. Canon 7D (shot 3) ISO 800, 1/80th; Canon 50mm at f/4; (shot 4) ISO 500, 1/4000th; Tokina 16-50@41 mm, f/4.5 (didn't have time to switch ISO lower here).

Shot 5 (below): I know, this is a winter snow shot and not a sky shot. But it seems appropriate to the season. I took a similar one several years ago. Walking past the ornamental grasses (last year I think), I took it again. The shape of the reminds me of the famous Hokusai print. 7D, ISO 100, 1/800th; Tokina 16-50@35 mm, f/4.

Final instructions

I photograph commencement each spring and fall and this part of the ceremony I find particularly interesting.

The students line up in the wings of the stage, waiting to walk on and receive their diplomas. Just before they walk on, a faculty marshal, in this case Professor Gary Robson from accounting, gives some final instructions. His words of advice?  Leaning over he says (to many of the students), "Look at those people, dragging their feet," he jokes. Naturally, no one is really dragging their feet. "I want a quick walk and big smile."

Quick walk and big smile. Sage advice for more than a few situations.

Technical Data: Canon 7D, ISO 1600 at 1/40th. Tokina 11-16mm at 11 mm and f/2.8. Despite the wide aperture, the shortness of the focal length keeps the depth of field fairly deep. 

I think this shot really shows the usefulness of this particular lens. One thing I've noticed is that in the most extreme lighting situations, and it is very dark off stage, off-brand lens will not focus as reliably as a Canon lens. The Tokina 11-16 did just fine here; from experience I can say that the 16-50 would have difficulty locking focus. Note: The relaxing musicians in the right of the frame aren't noticiable to the audience in the hall.

The second photo is also with the 11-16 Tokina. The third shot was taken with the Canon 50mm f/1.4 at f/2.8. The 50mm is very sharp, but has a naturalness to the sharpness that I really like. Exposure on all the shots was manual.

Click on any photo to see it larger.

A joyful assignment

Among the photo shoots I do in a given year, Bloomsburg's Gospel Choir would consistently rank among my top five favorites. I simply love going to the shows. The choir is very good and the energy of the shows is very high.

Rev. Marwin Reeves from the community is the director, but there's a lot of leadership by the students in making arrangements and publicizing the concerts.

For this show, I really wanted to focus on the conductor, student Keywuan Caulk, who exemplifies the kind of poise and charisma the choir seems to develop.

The trickiest part, was picking which photo to lead with. I selected the top photo because I think it conveyed a sense of seriousness and purpose that Keywuan exudes. But I've included some others to give a sense of what happens when the choir really gets cooking.

Technical Notes: This was a tricky shoot to do because there was not a lot of light to work with in the Kehr Union Ballroom. Focusing on the conductor brought some additional challenges because he's lit from behind. This was my first shoot down with the Canon 70-200mm f/4. The lens is magnificent to use. However, there's no IS, so it was a matter of pushing the ISO (to 3200 for the top pic on 7D), keeping the aperture at f/4, and handholding at 1/100th in bursts at 70mm. Shooting in bursts is a bit of hedge against camera shake. If there's some hand vibration in a given frame, the next may not show it.

The compromises of those choices can be seen. There's noise and detail loss to noise reduction,  the depth of field is narrow, the edges aren't completely crisp. But it was still worth it.

 Click on any photo to see it larger.

Lab time

One of the most prominent researchers at Bloomsburg is chemistry professor Mark Tapsak, who has been granted two dozen patents, most for implantable medical devices. While he certainly could have continued  his career as a full-time researcher, he was drawn to teaching as well. He still researches, though now BU students and graduates get the benefit of his experience.

Chemistry labs are a lot of fun to photograph in general. Faculty are on hand to answer questions and moving from station to station, but students really have an opportunity to learn and explore on their own. There's often music playing during lab times, with different professors and groups of students bringing their own style. Metallica is a regular on the rotation for some labs.

Technical notes: The main photo was taken with the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 at 13mm. Exposure was ISO 1600, f4.5 at 1/64. The Tokina lens is fairly unique in it's constant fast aperture and sharpness across the frame.

Click on any image to see it larger.

Learning languages

Bloomsburg University's department of languages and cultures and the Bloomsburg Area School District have formed an interesting partnership. University students studying foreign languages host clubs at the two elementary and the middle school each semester.

The program has been running for a couple of years, with about ten university students hosting clubs for about 100 elementary and middle school students each semester.

The children get exposure to another language, French, Spanish, or even Chinese, while the university students, many of whom (but not all) are planning to become teachers, get experience in front of a real classroom.

Click on either photo to see it larger.

Technical Notes: The lens I'd normally use here, a really sharp Tokina 16-50 f2.8, is in for servicing. So an older Canon 28-105 (f3.5/4.5) USM was pressed into service. The 28-105 is light and portable ... focus is fast and slightly quieter than the Tokina ... though this lens seemed to front focus some. Sharpness, color and contrast are okay ... but it doesn't pop either. The Tokina (out of production in Canon mount and overpriced now) is missed. Top photo: Canon 7D, ISO 800, 1/100th. Lens: Canon 28-105 USM at f4 and 30mm.

A bocce bash

I think one of the things that set Bloomsburg students apart is their willingness to get involved in projects. For many years, students in our exceptionalities programs have hosted an annual Bocce Ball tournament for the Special Olympics in Nelson Field House. 

Spread over the gymnasium floor were nine bocce courts. There were 236 athletes from 17 counties participating. The day-long Saturday event was staffed by 380 BU student volunteers from a variety of organizations; Helping Others Club, BU Women's Club soccer team, Student Council for Exceptional Children, ASA, Education Living and Learning Community, PSEA, and Kappa Sig, working for various lengths of time. This year, the theme was Outer Space and organizers, such as Carolyn Mitchell (above), could be identified by the antennas on their heads.

Top right, are Special Olympics Athlete Toni Hiester, BU student Kirstie Aumen, senior elementary and special education major, and athlete Josh Snyder. Snyder is shown competing at lower right.

Technical Notes (top photo): Canon 7D with Tokina 16-50 f2.8. ISO 800, 50mm, f3.5, 1/64. Colors boosted slightly in PhotoShop.

Guitar talk

This is a photo I took last spring while walking from one place to another after work and it stuck in my head. The guitar player on the far right is Kurt Smith, a philosophy professor, who was talking some time (between day and evening classes perhaps) to do some playing.

One guitar seems to attract another, and pretty soon there was another student and his friend in the McCormick Center lobby to trading lick. Besides playing, Smith gave the students a miniature lesson in the origins of the traditional Spanish classical guitar oeuvre and how it shows both Islamic and Catholic cultural influences. It was an interesting example of how seemingly separate disciplines relate to one another.

Bloomsburg seems to have a growing guitar culture on campus with a classical guitar specialization and a very nice Guitar Ensemble as one of the music department's featured ensembles. Several of my favorite photos from the past couple years feature classical players.

Technical Notes: The top shot was done with the Canon 7D at ISO 1600 and set to aperture priority and with a shutter speed of 1/400. The lens is a Tokina 16-50 f2.8 at 23 mm and f3.5 .  Click on any of the photos to make them larger.

A question of balance

The audiology program needed some new photos and they wanted to get some shots of their rotational chair, which is one of about a dozen in the U.S. outside of the military. The chair, used to test inner ear function and balance, is located in a completely darkened chamber. Here audiology faculty member Jorge Gonzalez demonstrates the setup of the chair with second-year Au.D. students Alicia Kittle (seated) and Brittany Arnold. While the instrument may seem esoteric (a full balance test takes about four hours) it's proven to be a godsend for community members with balance problems. Gonzalez estimates that he's seen about 200 patients for balance issues through the university's associated Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic.

Technical notes: This shot was taken with a Canon 7D, Tokina 11-16 at 11 mm. Exposure was manual, ISO 800, f4 at 1/30. The light is entirely from the open door to the chamber and dim red light overhead. Click on any of the photos to see them larger.

Speaking of business

In early October, Bloomsburg's College of Business hosted a two-day conference for undergraduates with more than 40 business graduates coming back to campus to offer career, and life, advice. The conference was part of the university's Zeigler Institute for Professional Development, funded by grads Terry and JoAnn Schultz Zeigler.

For the staff photographers, it was a lot of moving from room to room, trying to get all the speakers in action. It was tough to settle in a shooting rhythm. But this moment came toward the end of the conference: four partners or former partners of big-four accounting firms, sitting in classroom of accounting majors, taking all and any questions.

From left: Mike Kacsmar, partner, Ernst and Young; Mark Thomas, partner, KPMG; Chuck Chubb, managing director, WTAS LLC; and Tom Holly, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Something you don't necessarily see every day on any campus. Walked away from this shoot feeling like we definitely punch above our weight.