I photographed all the animals Christmas Eve, trying to get them to have a “Merry Christmas” look about them. The birds and Spunk were more than willing participants, Diné was okay with it as long as she didn’t have to get off the heater vent under the bed, but Rosencrantz and Guldenstern took quite a bit of coaxing. Blue, the Boa, opted out because she is getting ready to shed — she has milky-blue eyes and she’s a bit cranky — it’s best to leave a 7 foot long boa constrictor alone when she doesn’t want to be photographed.
Beaker is still looking great after 22 years.
Guildenstern thinking about making a mad dash to get away from the pesky camera.
Søren was more than happy to get in some time in front of the camera.
Rosencrantz was like “You bothering me boy!”
Diné wouldn’t budge from the heater vent under the bed.
We went to the Ballet Repertory Theatre of New Mexico’s production of “The Nutcracker” last night in the historic Kimo Theater. Laurie wore her pink stripes and pleats with “Count of Monte Cristo” boots, white silk scarf, and her Harley Davidson leather jacket for the cold walk back to the car.
I went to Gears and Glamour on Saturday night at Thunderbird Harley Davidson. The event was a fundraiser for Ability Connection New Mexico, an organization that provides services for people with disabilities to help them achieve their highest level of independence. The event included live music, a runway fashion show, and the morning show hosts from Coyote 102.5, Erica Viking and the Hoff. It was an interesting and fun event, the problem was, most of the event was in the dark, including the runway fashion show that had one bank of spotlights lighting the runway from behind, backlighting the models on the main runway. I was up for the challenge of shooting in the dark. Since I didn’t have a flash with me, I didn’t want to photograph the models backlit on the main runway, so I stood by the band to get the models lighted from the side and front on the side runway, and then lighted again from the front on their way back down the main runway. I set my ISO to 3200, lens wide open and my shutter on 1/60 of a sec, which underexposed each shot from 2 to 4 stops. With a lot of post processing, I got the photos to work pretty well. The models in the lead photo asked me to photograph them on the bike, but the only light was from the sign behind them. The photo was almost completely black, besides the sign, so I simply over processed it to give a vintage look.
Katie with Ability Connection, the Hoff and Erica Viking with the Morning Show on Coyote 102.5
Marble Brewing Company, http://www.marblebrewery.com, is another award winning craft brewery in Albuquerque. Awarded the 2014 Great American Beer Festival Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year award by the Brewers Association, they have an impressive operation with the brewing, tap room and bottling all on site at the corner of Marble and 1st Street near downtown Albuquerque. A food truck was parked on the street serving hamburgers and French fries to the patrons spending their lunch or a leisurely Friday afternoon at the brewery.
I took the title for today’s blog off of Leah Black’s business card. She is the events & social media coordinator for Marble, and a pro at drawing drafts. After Ben interviewed Ted Rice (head of Marble) for The Beer Trale, http://www.thebeertrale.com, Leah was very accommodating and allowed us to roam freely in the brewhouse to observe, film and photograph the operation.
Ben Lolli is producing a series called The Beer Trale at http://www.thebeertrale.com, which is about the people behind craft beer. Ben worked for me in 2009 as one of a team of techs who inventoried technology in our local school district. He is on the road interviewing some of Albuquerque’s award winning breweries, and he asked me to help out with still photography and video. Last night we visited La Cumbre Brewery (http://lacumbrebrewing.com/aboutus.html) owned by Master Brewer Jeff Erway and his wife Laura — school teachers turned master brewers — who now produce award winning beer.
Off Center & Not Even 