WPPI 2010

I am currently in my room in Vegas winding down from the show today. I do have to say that the WPPI show really is an impressive show to attend for all levels of photographers. I have talked with high end pro shoots to the beginning shooter. My job during the WPPI show is to demonstrate and discuss the Nikon software. Through out the day I had crowds of people that listened to my presentation. Granted I had plush seats sitting in front of my presentation area so the crowds were there for the seats. In all seriousness we did have quite a few people interested in the programs. The area that was really popular was our Pro presentation area, and our DSLR counters. Around 12000 attendees that just want to talk photography. If you are attending the WPPI show I would suggest looking into Nikon's speaker schedule. Well that is all that I have to say about today's events. Have a wonderful day.

A Snow Week in McDonough

Well the weather people predicted about three inches of snow last weekend, and they were correct. We received the most snow I have seen in the south for the past four years. The sad part is that I made the best snowman I have ever made here in the south. I grew up in Wyoming and went to high school and college in Idaho. We have lived in Utah and I have to come to GA to make the best snowman in my career. I am sure I had a pretty sweet snowman when I was young, but Craig, Kimm, and Trent were mainly the architects on the project. Another disappointing part about the build is that the snowman did not last until dinner. The temperature shot up and the snow man fell over. I really liked watching the snow man shrink. Now it is just cold with no snow, or snowman.
I did capture some of the beauty that our Father did bestow upon us for a brief moment in this dirty and corrupt era of America. Maybe the pure white snow that fell here and DC can send a message to those running us into the ground. I love America and appreciate those who server locally and abroad for our protection. Thank you and God bless America!

Terrence

Nikon School Capture NX 2 Class

I had a wonderful opportunity in my career last weekend. I am a major advocate for the software that Nikon created called Capture NX2. I have been using it since it's conception, and I love to demonstrate how the program works. It allows me the opportunity to let more people edit their images faster and more effective. I had the opportunity to teach a Nikon School seminar here in Atlanta to a crowd of 100 people. Most of the people were happy, and when you get a large crowd there will always be a few that were not satisfied with the seminar. I have received a lot more very satisfied then unsatisfied emails, in fact I have only received one unsatisfied comment on the seminar. I really appreciate those that attended the class, and I love to here the things that I can improve. I am not a perfect presenter and I have a lot of places to improve my abilities. I think that is why I love to do seminars, because I can always get better. If I was ever perfect at something I think I would get a little bored. Progress is what keeps me going and working. Thank you Ellen, Mike, Frank, Victor, Michael, and Nikon for giving me this opportunity.


Terrence

If you would like to see Capture NX2 Tutorials please use the address below
http://www.youtube.com/user/tcampbell711

Ropes from Seaworld

I had the opportunity to work at Nikon School over the weekend. The Nikon School in Orlando is held at the Seaworld resort. There is an area with a sea theme and props. The whole area is roped with this style of rope. One of my favorite shots from Bill Fortney is a shot of some worn rope. When I was sitting between breaks I noticed this rope and decided to photograph it. I used the D300s set to a custom Picture Control Setting called Film Contrast. Starting point was Vivid, with the addition of one stop of contrast, minus one stop of brightness, and I added two stops of sharpening. I straightened the image in NX 2. and then re-sized it.
During the seminar I saw plenty of opportunities to shoot and realized that all you really need is a camera and some time. With a camera and time you can let your artistic nature flow and get some great images.

Terrence

Trip to the Rockies & the Collective Soul Encounter

I had the wonderful opportunity to teach a series of seminars on the West and East of the Rockies this past week. The seminars went very well, and I ended on a great note. I started in Provo Utah with Allen's Camera, and then headed up to Idaho Falls for Farr's Jewelry. My third seminar in three days was at Pictureline in Salt Lake City, and then I caught a flight to Denver. The flight to Denver is a shot flight, I think the plane was delayed longer then the actual flight. During my time waiting I saw a few people who looked very familiar. One had retrieved something from his pocket and dropped a pick. At the time I did not know if was Will Turpin from Collective Soul, so I picked up the pick and handed it back to him. I wouldn't have stolen it, but I may have asked for it. So I waited patiently for my flight trying to rack my brain on how I new the gentlemen in front of me. As luck would have it I boarded the plane and realized I was sitting next to one of the members of the group. I did not recognize him since he started with them in 2008. I got on my computer and goggled Collective Soul and what do you know it was Collective Soul. Their drummer Cheney Brannon was sitting next to me and we started talking. They all live in the greater Atlanta area. We talked about the group and also family life. I have to say that it was a great conversation, and I really enjoyed learning a little more about the band. I have followed them since they started, but I must admit I did not know they had released a new album in Aug. Cheney told me to check it out and I like it. Still a wonderful band, and really down to earth.
Well we landed in Denver and I was still too shy to request a photo opp, and they were tight on their connection. I proceeded to go and teach my final class of my tour (not as impressive), however I had a first. Bill Koter and I went to teach the class and when we showed up at the facility we realized it was in an older movie theater. It was awesome. I had a huge screen and plenty of comfortable seats. This has been one of my more memorable trips. Gotta love the West.

Terrence

Parthenon, Nashville TN

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Parthenon in Nashville this fall. It has taken me some time to actually get this photo uploaded to my blog. It doesn't really matter how long it takes since my sister and I are the only people who follow my stuff. Thanks sis. I cropped this image like this since I had a lot of extra non-essential items in the image. I really wanted to draw emphasis to the main subject and not have it lost in the jumble. Buildings like this amaze me since they show the world how much we appreciate all of the culture they have given us. I am tired of the other parts of the world giving not pointing the finger at us, and stating that we are too stuck on ourselves. There are multiple organizations that are stepping up to help the Haiti survivors (note I said survivors and not victims) one of whom is the LDS church which will have 80,000 pounds of needed food. Our President Obama has pledge millions of dollars that we do not have, but it shows that we are ready to help others even if our leaders cannot help Americans. I just wish that people would see that Americans are genuinely good people, but we have some very influential bad apples running us into the ground. We need to get back to our roots and find our foundation that made us the best country in the world. Just my two cents.


Terrence

Upcoming Star: Ashley Harris

My work for Nikon gave me the opportunity to use the new video feature of our cameras. I am responsible for a video training segment. To do this I need to really push the video to the limit. I contacted a friend here in ATL and together we captured this wonderful woman with video. I knew the quality of Nikon's video was amazing, but after getting done with the shoot and compiling the video segments into the song, I was blown away. The video is amazing and the cameras are unbelievable. Here is a still from the shoot, and I will notify everyone once I get the final edit approved by Ashley and posted. Keep checking back for more updates.


Terrence

Faithful Slots CES 2010

I had the wonderful opportunity to work the CES 2010 trade show. It was a great opportunity since I was able to see a little different type of work. Nikon does not do an exhibition show which means they do not have every piece of equipment on display. They also do not release anything new during that show. We had quite a few customers who wanted to see the latest announcement, which is hard to show since they was none. It was great being able to see the mass market side of the business and also hear about the show. I would have loved to seen the rest of the show, but I was too busy with our own location. I heard that Microsoft was a site to see.
My trip was not full of pictures since the show did not get over until after twilight; however, I was able to shoot with Jason Stewart on the last day of the show and I got some great examples for my video segment.
My most memorable shot came as I was sitting in the airport waiting for my plane. If you have never been to Vegas you can gamble until they make the final boarding call. As this shot shows there were plenty of slots, but not a lot of players. I truly love the shot since it depicts a merging of beliefs. It was shot with a Coolpix S640 so I would not draw attention to myself. I hope you enjoy.