Downtown Knoxville
Hello friends. Juicebeats here.
Saturday morning I was on a mission to take some artistic photography in downtown Knoxville. I met up with fellow photographer, Lev Gross-Comstock of Comstock Photography. We grabbed our Starbucks' coffee and headed to start shooting in Market Square. I've been downtown many times, but I've never really stopped long enough to see the area through an artistic perspective. We both had our 50mm lenses and started shooting in Market Square. My first few shots weren't of any buildings; I actually saw a bed of flowers that caught my eye. Since it is spring, I thought it was only fitting to take a couple snaps.
After getting a few different shots in Market Square, we headed down the street toward old Gay Street. We caught a couple of early risers walking down the street.
We also stopped to shoot a few cool things in the window of a production company.
Next, we headed over to the bridge overlooking the train tracks. I know that a lot of photographers have shot on this same bridge, but I wanted to try and get a new perspective and maybe achieve something new. I decided to capture a few high dynamic range images (HDR), which is taking a few of the same images with different exposures and putting them together to create a photo with a lot of detail. Here are a few examples.
They may almost look like paintings or drawn pictures, but they contain all the detail from the pictures I took. I set my camera up for the shot and took a normal exposure photo first; then, I took two more shots with the exposure compensation at -1 and +1, then to more at -2 and +2. This captured all the highlight and shadow detail that the original shot could not pick up. I edited the original photo in Lightroom as I would normally and synced all the same edits to the other four photos and exported to Photoshop. Finally, I combined all the images together in Photoshop and exported back into Lightroom where I finished the editing. Several steps were required to create these images, but I think they turned out pretty well.
After taking those shots on the bridge, we headed down to the tracks to take a couple shots.
I love how taking a shot on the railroad tracks with a wide angle lens makes them look like they go on forever. I had a lot of fun walking around and looking for things that I normally wouldn't pay attention to when I go downtown in the Old City.
Lev and I ended up walking around all over downtown from Market Square, to Gay Street, the Old City, and back up through the other part of Gay Street. We got some good exercise and took some great photos. It was a great learning experience for me and fun to capture some of the art of downtown Knoxville.
All of these photos in the blog and few others are available for purchase. Just click the slide show below. You can also download copies as screensavers or backgrounds.
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Right now I am offering a $50 print credit with an individual or couple portrait session and $75 for a family session. Contact juicebeats1@gmail.com for more information.
Juicebeats
The Masters
Hello friends Juicebeats here,
This year's Masters tournament has me pretty bummed that my favorite player (Tiger Woods) is not playing this year due to injury.
The last few years have been disappointing for him as far as majors go aside from the off the course issues. I am one of many that started playing golf when he became a professional and have been enjoying the game ever since.
A few years ago I was able to go to the Masters with a few friends of mine. If you have ever been to Augusta for the Masters, than you know how beautiful that course is, and I got to see almost all of the players.
I watched as they practiced shots and took notes on what parts of the course to hit and how fast the greens were; I also observed as they had a little fun skipping the ball across the water for the fans on hole 16 . I had a great experience seeing these things up close, but my favorite memory wasn't of the actual play or seeing the players up close. My favorite memory was how I was able to get into the course.
Here's the story...
My friend Andrew had 2 passes to get into the tournament for 3 of us to go. Andrew knew a secret spot to sneak in, so he could get in without a ticket. My friend Jon and I were going to go into the front gate with the tickets and meet him at the gift shop. This was the plan. The Masters has an extremely strict policy on cell phones, so when my friends and I pulled up and parked, we left our phones in the car so we would not have to get stopped by security and have our phones taken away. When we met up at the gift shop, I handed Andrew my ticket so he could get on the course as I was finishing up a transaction at the gift shop. Jon had gone with Andrew taking his ticket too, leaving me without one. When I started to meet them on the course after paying for a couple polo shirts, I was immediately met by a security guard asking where my ticket was. I instantly went into panic lie mode. "Oh my gosh, sir, it must have fallen out of my pocket." He let me look around for a second before saying to me," Come with me." He brought me into the security office (Masters' jail). I sat there for a few minutes trying to think of what to do. I couldn't call my friends because they both didn't have cell phones. I didn't have another ride or anyone else I could talk to for help. I sat there in Masters' jail for about 30 or 40 minutes until I noticed through the window the bathroom right next door to the security office. I asked the security guard if I could go to the restroom. He said yes and followed me to the door. The restroom had 2 doors, an entrance and an exit about 20 or so feet on the other side close to a pathway to get to the course. This was my chance. As the security guard wasn't looking, I bolted out the exit door down the path and on to the course before he even knew I was gone. I finally found my friends on the course after hiding and trying to blend in with the crowd. I told them what happened, and Andrew immediately gave me back the ticket. I attached the ticket to my jacket, so it would be seen just in case the guard came looking for me. Nobody came, but I swear I heard one of the security guard's walkie talkies on the course say black male 6'2" may be on the course.
Each year when the Masters approaches, I think about my trip to the tournament and how lucky I was to get to see it in person.
Juicebeats
Weekend Trip To UNA
I decided to shoot my weekend trip to the University of North Alabama my Alma Mater. I have been interested in making documentary films and short films, so I took my Sony NEX 5 and started filming early in the morning before we even left Knoxville. It was my first trip back to the University of North Alabama in 5 years, so I wanted to remember some of the things that were still there. I was able to see a few of my old teammates, friends, and the people that took care of me when I was living there. I also captured some of the silliness of my family. My family and I went back to UNA for the Homecoming game vs. West Georgia.
For those into the technical aspect of making films... I will tell you a little bit about my setup for the NEX 5.
Sony NEX 5 18-55mm lens kit. Sunset profile, cloudy WB, manuel focus. Originally shot in 1080 60p because I thought I may use true slow motion at some point. I only used slow motion for 1 clip.
Used Premiere Pro for editing, and Mojo for very subtle color correction.
Interested in more information on how to make a documentary film? Check out the link here How to Make a Documentary
Music: Imagine Dragons - On Top of The World
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