Snow at the Beach
Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware photo by Lisa Helfert
I woke up one morning in Lewes Delaware to a beautiful snow fall at the beach. I saw this as a chance create a multimedia piece of this usually beautiful moment and as a way to expand my audio knowledge base. Collecting natural sounds in a very uncontrolled environment, like the beach, presented some challenges; the wind, birds that do not like you to get close, cold hands, moving water and people talking to you about your audio equipment. Patience was the key, most of the sounds would repeat themselves. I could replay about the recording and make certain the recording was clear. Ultimately, I got some interesting sounds to mix with some music.
I then created a music track in garage band on the mac. I exported the song as a mpeg and imported the mpeg into Audacity. In Audacity I mixed the natural sounds with the music to mix.
To see the multimedia piece:
to see my website :
New Year's card by Lisa Helfert
Happy New Year
looking forward to 2010
The last warm day of summer we took a day trip to Harper’s Ferrry. The photo is a view from our picnic blanket. We sipped wine, ate cheese and noshed on a variety of tasty treats. The sort of afternoon that you do not want to end. A good memory.
I look forward to making more in 2010, this cold weather will end.
Last year I surprised myself. I did not expect to begin a blog, join twitter and begin a journey into learning multimedia. I did not expect to enjoy twitter or blogging, but I do – Final Cut might be pushing my limits. What I have learned has changed the way I think, the way I work and what I want to do this year. I am looking forward to the unexpected good and learning more.
Happy New Year!
What is the value of social media? Facebook, Twitter, blogs? In the midst of change an accurate answer is hard to determine, but I am finding value.
Saturday as I watched the snowfall and lamented canceling my scheduled retreat to MA, I found myself thoroughly captivated by Facebook. Some of the posts were by professional photographers, writers, or creatives and the other half talented friends. This snapshot into everyone’s life that day in some ways made the experience better than watching a newscast. Individuals whom I know sharing what they thought was beautiful, noteworthy or odd about the storm is just something I would not see in the news.
Enjoy!
Links to photographers and others sites are below the gallery.
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- Max’s great escape by Kathrine Helfert Roznowski
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- A X-C ski on the canal and a stealth visit to Great Falls by Irene Owsley
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- Walk in the Snow by Yvonne Dawson
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- Alpaca, pining for the Andes by Edwin Remsberg
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- Front stairs before shoveling by Sara Matyas
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- Beautiful Snowy Saturday – priceless, by Adam Auel
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- Snow eats dog by Ilana Bittner
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- Snow in DC by Allison Shelley
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- view out the back door, around noon by Tricia McCauley
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- “Snow storm” H Darr Beiser
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- View from my house by Lisa Hershey Zurer
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- Snow at our new place, 2009 by Mike Morgan
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- Book finished, cookies made, mandatory walk in the snow taken by Erin Hennessy
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- SNOW!! I think we have 2ft!! by Hannele Lahti
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- snowy night by Karen Sander Helfert
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- Blizard 12/09 by Woody Woodroof
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- Kid at Play by Milton Kent
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- The Crescent Trail by Lisa Helfert
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- Final Snowfall: 18 inches by Dan Patrell
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- Monster 20 by Matthew Robb
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- Middle of the day, more snow to come Kelly McInerney
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- Chad Schrock
Photographers websites:
H Darr Beiser is a staff photographer with USA today
Friends and Family:
Tricia McCauley – herbalist & nutrition counselor
Dan Patrell, publisher Maryland Life Magazine
Karen Sander Helfert, photographer, editor, teacher and my mom
- Pre-wedding family portrait photo by Lisa Helfert
the informal portrait
I really like this image. Natural light. candid moment. beautiful. I worked with my wonderful colleague Jana Curcio for seven years photographing weddings part time as I built up the rest of my photography business. In 2000 Jana and I were both leaving the world of photojournalism. Jana left the Detroit Free Press. I left the Associated Press and a contract position photographing sports teams at the University of Maryland. She started her wedding photography business to allow photojournalists to transition into photographing weddings. She sold the idea of photojournalism to brides and sung our praises. We all got a lot of work, but after 4 or 5 years the brides no longer wanted photojournalism. They wanted us to create photojournalistic moments. I felt less of an observer and more of a director and producer. Sometimes I enjoyed the process and created some interesting images, but I really prefer the candid moments. This image was taken last month at a wedding before the ceremony. I have infrequently photographed weddings over the past two years because I struggled with how to approach the current wedding photography market. I doubt I will ever photograph more than 4 or 5 weddings in a year, but now I have a style I can enjoy and share with my clients. my wedding portfolio
Nancy Lynn photo by Lisa Helfert
How did you do that?
Who is that? Is that you?
Did you get sick?
I have been ask so many questions about this image that I thought I would answer them in a blog post. The image became a poster as part of Poster Palooza, a promotion created by The ASMP DC chapter to get the word out about DC fotoweek. Many thanks to Paul Fetters and Irene Owlsey for the idea and implementation.
I took this photo of Nancy Lynn, a stunt pilot while on assignment for Maryland Life Magazine several years ago. Nancy Lynn is navigating barrel rolls over the Chesapeake bay while I held on to my camera. We did this stunt five times to get this shot. There was no place to attach the camera, so I handheld the camera. Even after pre-focusing and framing it was hard to hold the camera steady with the force during the turns. The lighting was tricky because when she was completely upside down over the water she was in shadow. I think the best part of the photograph is that she looks happy. Her expression was the easiest part to capture, she looks happy in all the photos. She loved her job.
No, I did not get sick – just a little green. Nancy Lynn made me brave with her incredible spirit. She was strong, smart, brave and kind. She would have wanted everyone to be as empowered as she looks in the photograph. Between air shows she gave talks to young women and men about following their dreams. Sadly, Nancy Lynn died while performing a stunt during an air show in Culpeper Virginia. She was only one of a handful of women to perform as stunt pilots in aviation history.
For more information on Nancy Lynn
To see more Poster Palooza images
Chickens in the City Photo by Lisa Helfert
Koen Vanmechelen: The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (DC)
Chickens in the City? Chickens as high art? I am not sure, but the artist knows how to make people think, which is an art itself. From his statement : “His initiative poses ethical questions regarding genetic engineering, globalization, and individuality, while advocating the role of artists in promoting communication and interaction across many types of boundaries, between geographical areas, races, cultures, ideologies, and professional disciplines, such as art and science.” Vanmechelen creates art and breeds chickens. (he eats them too) I admire his contemporary holistic approach to making art. It makes you think. The presentation is playful, but serious and complex.
You wonder why I would put this in a photo blog? I think we could learn something from this artist. I really wish people looked at my art as seriously as those two guys in the photo are looking at that chicken. Isn’t that what all artists would want?
See it for yourself at the Conner Contemporary Art Gallery.
The Fight Club, David Alan Harvey Presents, by Lisa Helfert
Last Saturday night DC fotoweek organized a city-wide evening photo shoot. The work was edited and printed that evening at photo central. Although I was not able to make it to photo central (a 8:00am Sunday morning shoot) I shot some images of the David Allan Harvey exhibit at the Fight Club. The show and the venue are compelling and well worth seeing. David Allan Harvey’s impressive works hang unframed next to an indoor skateboard park. The understated but energetic atmosphere makes the work only more compelling, drawing you closer into his world. Upstairs is Chris Bickford’s work “After the Storm” a beautiful body of work on the surfing life. The sepia toned prints really have the rich look of film and slow the pace down so you can enjoy Chris’s poetic surfing images.
David Alan Harvey Presents, by Lisa Helfert
Chris Bickford, "After the Storm", by Lisa Helfert
There is more to see this week at DC Fotoweek. The lectures, workshops and exhibits continue through Sunday. Many of the exhibits continue into December.
- What should you tell your clients?
I recently bought a prosumer video camera which also takes still images. I was curious what the video camera would produce. I compared the stills taken with the video camera with stills taken with my Nikon D3. This is not a fair comparison, the canon product is for consumers while the Nikon is for professionals. But – I figured I would have an answer for all my clients who tell me, “but my video camera also takes photos.”
The video camera had many settings for light balance, file size, shutter & aperture priority settings, focusing and even allows you to take an image in B/W. The color balance is actually good, you can set your own white balance. The serious shortcoming is that the largest file size is 2304 X 1296 jpg, which translates to a 12.8 X 7.2 at 180dpi file. That is limiting.
The camera is very simple, basic and easy to use. It tells you when the subject is in focus which for some people with poor eyesight is a plus. The wide-angle to telephoto zoom is good to have, but little hard to control. The controller slides and has no presets. You tend go just go back and forth between the largest and smallest settings never finding anything in the middle.
After doing a few tests I can see why people would like this feature it a video camera, but it is almost useless for a working professional. The images look surprisingly good on the computer, but are too small for a print or a large web file. The images begin to break up when enlarged. The color shifts are significant and difficult to correct when you can only work with a jpg. The shadows become darker and the highlights blow out. This camera is easy to use and may work for a few party pics of your friends for Facebook, but not for a wedding or corporate job.
Examples below:
You can see with the image of the trail, it looks OK as a web file, but if you get any closer it begins to break up.
In the leaves images the color does not translate, even after some Photoshop.
The image with the sidewalk & leaves you can see that the grass loses all contrast and becomes a fantasy green.
Left Nikon D3, Right Canon
- Nikon Left, Canon Right – Leaves
- Nikon left, Canon right – sidewalk and grass
I recently attended ASMP’s meeting “Foto Tech’s Top 12 Technologies for Photographers. After Michael Stewart’s excellent presentation I decided to test one I had not used.
@DBMC needed a photograph of her coffee mug for her blog. She was not sure whether she wanted the image softly focused or full of depth and sharp. I bought a copy of Helicon Focus software that allows you to “focus stack” images which means the program creates one completely focused image from several partially focused images by combining the focused areas. The software was easy to learn and allowed me to offer a variety of different images from the same shoot.
I shot 4 different images with a slightly different focus for each of the images on the left I created. The image on the right is from just one shot.
Here are the results:
In order to learn about sound the best source of information would be a musician. Jim Donohue of Michael Jantz & the Davenports shared his knowledge on recording music live and in the studio one night at Sully’s in Washington, DC. The funky bar has a great atmosphere but the lighting creates a cavernous feeling and brings back memories of Cole Field House in the 90’s. I shot the images with my Nikon D3 mostly at shot at 2500 at 1.8 to capture at available light. My live recording of Mr MoonBeam could not compare to the professional recorded CD by Jim, so you will hear the recording from “Live at Jim’s” on the video slide show. I enjoyed using the technique of the slideshow to create a visual experience of the music; moving the picture, picking up the pace of the slideshow or slowing it down. I hope you enjoy the song.
Thank you Jim and Michael. They are playing having at a Halloween party at The Pour House in Capital Hill for Halloween hosted by the infamous party man – Paxton. Come out and enjoy the music!
Here is the link to the video:
multimedia music video: Michael Jantz & The Davenports
Press the multimedia tab, then Michael Jantz & The Davenport’s
**For Vista Users you must treat this like a pop up and press the control key when opening the file. This works on all other current browsers, the new operating system please come out soon.
For more information on the band:
