The secret is out of the bag...

Now everyone can know long held secret of where creative juices come from. First digital cameras so easy a monkey could use, now this...

Turns out I'm not dull...

Well, at least one of my photos isn't dull, according to the folks over at AntiDull, an online Fine Art and Photography magazine that was started back in August of 2007. I was selected to appear in their June 2008 issue which can be viewed at http://www.antidull.com first PocketWizard now this... I'll be an internet celebrity pretty soon if I keep this up. Hope all is well out there.



-Flashnick

Making it work: Behind the scenes of a ground remote...

I have received several emails from readers and people who have seen my shot from the 2008 Carolina Cup Races, that I posted a few weeks ago, so I decided that I amy going to demystify how you make a shot like this work, by using a remote camera.

For those who don't know, a remote camera, is a camera which you place in a specific location ahead of an event that would not be accessible during the event, and is then triggered by a hard wire, or radio signal. The list of equipment I used to make this image is as follows.


Camera: Canon EOS 5D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM
Remote Trigger: Pocket Wizard (not pictured) and LPA Designs Pre-Release Cable CM-N3-P
Mounting Hardware: Ultra-Pod II
Protection: Kata E-702 GDC Elements Cover


Complete Setup: This is what the setup looked like when it was completely assembled. The camera and lens were mounted to the Ultra-Pod II and then inserted into the GDC Elements Cover. After everything was strapped down and the camera was protected from any flying mud or sudden rain showers, I used the left arm hole to attach the PocketWizard and the Pre-Release Cable to the camera and then cinched up all the other loose openings. You don't have to use a rain cover or a remote cover, a clear plastic bag, a plastic cup, and some tape will do the same trick. I really do prefer rain covers as opposed to remote covers, so you can see to make any adjustments to exposure or focus without disturbing the entire setup.

Now comes the setup. Be prepared to get there early, some venues require you have the remote in place days before the event, while others will allow a remote to be placed hours before the event. It is also a good idea to make sure your liability insurance is up to date, because if someone or something trips over your remote and gets injured, you could be in some hot water. Once you have looked into all of the logistical details, its time to place the remote. It generally helps to have some working knowledge of the event or sport you are photographing, because you will have to anticipate everything happening long before it actually occurs. Since this was not my first time photographing a steeplechase or horse racing in general I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to see. With this in mind I chose a fence to place the remote under, and estimated the spot in the jump where most of the horses would come over. With these things in mind I had my assistant for the day, Cindy stand at that position in the jump so I could focus and frame the image up. Once everything was set, I taped all of the adjustment dials, focus rings, etc... on my camera in place so they wouldn't move, made sure the whole setup was nice and tidy, and proceeded to make some test images of Cindy and I jumping around the frame to verify focal plane, and framing of the image. Once this was all done, it was time to go make some feature shots while waiting on the race to begin. *This is why it is important to use a pre-release cable, because it will keep your camera awake and ready to fire, so there is no delay firing the first frame when the time comes.* When the race began I decided to shoot from down the track with my 300mm f/2.8 and 1.4x converter, with the PocketWizard on the hot shoe of the camera, so I could have two angles of the shot, incase the remote didn't work for some reason. Once the event is done with, you can go back to your remote, and collect your images and hope you got what you envisioned.

Have Camera... Will Travel

While I do try, and update my location through my website, I thought it would be fun to create a visual representation of where I have been, with links to the images and projects I worked on while I was there. I'm all about trying new things and using new technologies to tell different stories. So have fun and take a look. I will do my best to link each icon on the map to the project or a clip of a project when it is posted online. You may have to zoom in to see all of the icons, because some may be hidden behind others when the map is fully zoomed out. Have fun looking, because I had fun creating.


View Larger Map

A little extra effort pays off...

I've been working at this shot for a little while now, and have never managed to get one that I am this pleased with. In my mind it is not perfect, and I can still do better, thus I will try again next year (or during the fall race on Nov. 16), but just a reminder that seeing differently isn't enough, you have to have the determination to see it through, even if it takes years.



ABOVE: Horses and their jockeys charge over a fence on their way to the finish line, during the Camden Plate, at the Springdale Race Course in Camden, S.C., Saturday, March 28, 2008.

If anyone is interested in seeing how I made this shot, let me know and I'll post some additional information

Need I say more?

I was watching this episode of the Simpsons on HULU.com last night (if that doesn't speak volumes I don't know what will), and thought this clip was pretty appropriate. Those of us on the inside of this industry aren't the only ones that are realizing what is going on. It hurts to watch, but having grown up watching the Simpsons this totally legitimizes it for me. I need to start working on my web design skills.



A lot has been going on, and now that primary fever has left South Carolina, and thing are getting somewhat back to normal I hope to have some big updates in the pipes for my blog, website, and other projects I'm working on. I'll post the updates as they are completed. Hope all is well out there, stay safe where ever you are.

Wrong Runway...

After taking off from runway 13, at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, on Sunday morning, this Cesna 177 "Cardinal", was forced to make a hard landing on the roof of Boineau's Moving and Storage Inc., warehouse after experiencing engine trouble 1/3 of a mile Northwest of the runway. Here, Sterling Transport driver William Hooper looks at the single engine aircraft as it sits atop the warehouse roof in Columbia, S.C., Sunday afternoon.

...this was one of those days where you think that you are done, and then the dreaded phone call comes in... Fill a hole on the front page of metro with an image from an incident that happened 6 hours earlier, gotta love the world of newspapers.

Football is back...

Its the time of year when things start to cool off, kids go back to school, and football fields at high schools and colleges come alive on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. It has been so long since I've had a Friday night or Saturday afternoon off during this time of year that I don't even know what it would be like. While the rest of the world tailgates, and starts to put on those winter pounds, its time for me to start running up and down the sidelines, trying to make better images than I did last year. Here are some of the results from my first week back at it. Its been a year since I did this, and I'm pretty happy with my early results.

Benedict College hosts Livingstone College, in their annual season opener the Palmetto Capital City Classic, for the first time at their new stadium, in Columbia, S.C.

My high school alma mater Irmo, takes on their hated rivals Dutch Fork. Irmo won, glad to see some things don't change. Now they actually play their away games for this rivalry at Dutch Fork, when I was in school, at the start of this rivalry, we had to share a stadium, and sit on the away side every other year... I'm glad to see that some things do change.

Hope everyone is doing well out there, stay safe, and make good images.
-Flashnick

p.s. If anyone out there can figure out how to get my BlackBerry Pearl to transmit images from the above mentioned games any faster than the abysmal 8kbps I'm getting now using this method posted on fibble.org please let me know. It moves so slow that all of my FTP transmissions keep timing out. It is killing me paying for this BlackBerry service and not being able to use it to its full potential.

Biker Heaven

©2007 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

When the alarm went off at 6am on Sunday morning to get out of bed to go shoot another assignment was the last thing on my mind, especially after having 14 hour days Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and late night of shooting on Saturday. However this is one of those assignments that I "had to do." Its not like anyone was going to fault me for turning this down, and I almost did, until I found out that this "church assignment" wasn't your typical church.
©2007 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

On the last Sunday of the month since April, 2007, the quiet neighborhood on Holland Street, in West Columbia, S.C. has been brought to life by the sound of motorcycles thundering down the road, to Suburban Baptist Church, on their way to "Biker Church" at 7:30am. Inside a group of approximately a dozen bikers, congregate over breakfast, and a small worship service that follows. "And when the weather permits after that we take the church out on the road, because the theology here is that the church is the people, not the building, and even when we hit the road the church is still there," Biker Church co-Founder, Frank Lengel said.
©2007 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

To add insult to injury, as I was beginning to work on getting all of my non deadline assignments from last week out to clients, and starting to work on the multimedia from "Biker Church," my iBook decided to take a yet another dirt nap. In an effort to get work done, I swapped the hard drives of my iBook with a 5 year old PowerBook G4 that was laying around for just such an occasion. Even though it is slow, the screen looks a "little yellow", and there is some gunk on the screen that I can't seem to get off the PowerBook is running like a champ so far, and while it took a little longer than normal I managed to produce a multimedia slideshow from Biker Church. Hopefully next week will go better.

To view my multimedia presentations point your browsers here -- http://www.brettflashnick.com/multimedia.php

Meet the Romneys

Over the past few days I've had the opportunity to spend some behind the scenes time with the family of 2008 Republican Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney as they toured South Carolina. I had a great time getting to know Ann, Mary, and Parker Romney, as we drove around the state on their tour bus. ABOVE: Ann Romney, center, and Mary Romney, left, along with campaign supporters and staff, laugh as Parker Romney, tries to make a call on his baby monitor on Tuesday afternoon. BELOW: Mitt Romney, left, and Ann Romney, right, share a moment as they prepare to go separate ways, after departing a fundraiser at Saluda Shoals Park on Thursday afternoon. After three days of campaigning separately, the Romneys only spent a few hours together in Columbia, S.C., before going their separate ways again.