Florida State Fair 2014

Photodate.

My lovely wife insisted.  

Oh the crowds, and there were. Weighed against serious potential photo material.

Frankly the best people watching I've had in years.

She took some long exposure shots of fair rides at night.

I time-lapsed them with a GoPro Hero3 and a GoLapse panning unit.

Here are some of the results.

Click here for my video or go to bottom of post.

For more of my wife's awesome photos check her out on Instagram @sottpa

Stills

Time-Lapse

Furry Fruit Felon

There is nothing quite like the taste of fresh strawberries from your own garden.

The last couple winters I have grown a few earth boxes full of strawberries

 with much success. We have harvested a hand full of berries almost every day.

This year started well and then I noticed that berries were disappearing.

There is nothing more frustrating then watching a perfectly formed berry

start to ripen and then poof! Gone.

One time, bits of berry were left with leaves.

Outrageous!

I set up a camera to record the garden in hopes of solving the crime.

It only took one day.

The Furry Fruit Felon has been identified.

The menace.

      A Squirrel with a sweet tooth.         

Here is a video I put together that shows the perpetrator in action.

Gasparilla Pyrotechnic Extravaganza

A funny thing happened on the way to shoot fireworks Saturday night,
I ended up in the wrong place that ended up being the right place.
Every year as part of the Gasparilla pirate invasion here in Tampa, there is a
fireworks show on the water after the children's parade.
It's called the Pyrotechnic Extravaganza.

I have been wanting to try out some new gear shooting fireworks,
but I really needed to get close.
I picked my location poorly, and ended up quite a distance from the action.
Fortunately I had brought extra gear and the location was great for another shot.
 The fireworks framed up nicely next to downtown Tampa.

ARGH!!!

 

Steadicam Curve First Look

New toy!

I could not help myself with this one, it just looked cool.

And so far it works well.

I think I originally saw this "bit of kit" demoed at NAB.

When I got the chance to pre-order it ....... I jumped, and I never

ever do impulse buys ..... go figure.

The Steadicam Curve is small, light with an elegant design.

Made of aluminum and plastic, its only function is to stablize

GoPro cameras.  As a card carrying addict I was powerless.

Do you need one? Probably .... NOT.  GoPro cameras have a wide angle

lens, almost 180 degree field of view, it hardly needs stabilization.

Then again I do see a ton of wiggly GoPro videos on the net so

maybe there is a need. Here is a first look video.

  I took the new rig on a short staycation

to Lido Key, Florida.  We ran it through several shooting

situations with some fairly good results.  Video below.

I also shot a room tour video with it, including a resort and beach shot.
I think the Curve will be a great tool for anyone using GoPros to shoot
real estate or tour videos.  Wedding photographers will probably
find them useful as well.  Below is the room tour video.

Photos

Painting Light with Sparklers and a GoPro Hero3 Black

 

You never know what you might get when you try light painting.

My wife had been after me to get some sparklers to give them a try.

Of course I wanted to try it with my GoPro Hero3 Black "see addict here".

Unfortunately, the new firmware for the Hero3 Black cut out one of

my favorite features of the new model, exposure lock.  It also reduced

the longest exposure to a 1/3 second instead of a 1/2 second.
Undeterred we gave it a shot.  Amazingly you still get some pretty
good results, click here to see the video.
Above and below are a few examples of the still frames we captured.
Next, we are going to give it a try with a DSLR and longer exposures.
Stay tuned.

GoPro Hero3 Protective Lens Accessory

Quick post for my GoPro readers.  This week I bought

the protective lens accessory for my Hero3.

Seems like no big deal but I've been waiting years for these.

They come in a two pack for $20.  A decent price

to protect your camera if you are shooting without the

 waterproof case.  I made a short video showing how it works

click here to watch it.

This accessory does not fit the Hero HD or the Hero2.

So far it works great and does not seem to effect video quality.

Bottom line, if you want to shoot naked

you might want to get some protection.

 

life is still finding a way

It's just a pink vinca flower ....... or is it?

A year ago it started growing in a crack in my driveway.

I thought it was funny, so I made a video and wrote a

blog post.  Then something unexpected happened.
It became family.

It continued to grow.

And grow.

And grow.
I could not think of pulling it up.

A couple weeks ago, we had a yard sale.

Every third person stopped to look at the flower

in the crack between the garage and the driveway.

Dumb founded they would look at us and we would

reply .... it just happened.

The pink vinca is no longer just a flower, it has a story.

Sadly it will come to an end someday, but to update

that little flower is still going strong and is not so

little anymore.

Here is the link to the original blog post

and the original video.

If you wondered, yes, the poor pink vinca gets a little battered
and bruised every time I use the truck.