November 26th 2008 - Yearling Photo Contest + More

The guys in the Tragic Hero Records band, Yearling and myself are hosting a "Photo Caption Contest" right now! Last time I worked with them, we did some shots the night before in a girls bedroom with a pillow fight theme. It was a blast. The photos come out well for the conditions we were set up in. The room as real small and I had to actually take most of the photos from the hallway outside the room. It all worked out in the end.

Anyway, back to the topic of the contest. If you head over to their myspace you too can join in and win some sweet Yearling swag. All you have to do is think of your best caption that describes the photo and leave it in the comments of the picture! You can win Yearlings album, "The View From Here" released on Tragic Hero, a Yearling T-Shirt and signed poster of the photograph of them on the bench in the park I did!

Head over now because the contest ends DECEMBER 1st!



I also just got back from Washington, DC again. I am beginning to become rather familiar with that area. I really enjoy that part of the country. So much history and the sense of being in the capitol of such a country is really awesome. I will have a lot of photos from both shoots up there as soon as they are public! So keep an eye, or two, open for those!




On a totally non-photographic subject, the new Volkswagen Passat CC is amazing!! I am a German made car man! I love my Passat that I own now and I will definitely be getting one of these once my lottery earnings are deposited in my account. Riiigggghttt.

The list of features that intrigue me can go on forever! I will name a few real quick.

3 Power Outlets
4MOTION®
12-way Power Driver Seat
Adaptive Front Lighting System
Brake Pad Wear Indicator
Fuel Pump Shut Off
Fully Galvanized Sheet Metal (As usual)
Heated Washer Nozzles
Multi Function Steering wheel
Navigation System with rearview camera
Rain-sensing wipers
Tire Pressure Monitoring System
Vented Front 4-Wheel Disc Brakes
...Just to name a few!





www.BRETTARTHURPHOTO.com

November 17th 2008

After my last quick trip to Greensboro, NC for a shoot, I really started to think about how important an assistant is no matter what the magnitude of a shoot is. I ended shooting solo and it was a pain. It may have been for a few different reasons. One being the comfort of having a trusted partner to help set up and tear down. On another hand, and more importantly to me, is having someone to be able to hold your lights and boxes when bags and battery packs don't do the trick. Being cold and windy this time of year, it is hard to be able to keep your boxes from twirling around if you are trying to snap some shots. Putting things up and together and taking them down is easy, it surely is a luxury, but I did for a long time myself and made it.

While my photography grows, I hope to grow and incorporate more hands at each shoot. With some of these larger shoots, it is 100% necessary to have help. With actual shoot times of 30 minutes, 20 minutes and maybe even less, it is so important to make sure you have everything ready and set exactly to your standards before your client walks in front of the camera.

My shoot in Greensboro was a little last minute for me and I scrambled around trying to get things ready and make sure the locations were secure and etc etc. Unfortunately, my right hand man couldn't make it and I ended doing it all and it was a lot harder than I remember. Most likely because I have collected a lot more lighting, modifiers, stands, booms and the rest of the nine yards.

So, for all you youngin's, like myself, as you grow as a photographer, do your best in picking out a good team of reliable individuals that share a passion just like yours!





In the next month or so, I will be launching a NEW BLOG and a lot of new material for everyone to enjoy. I am going to work my hardest to get some more behind the scenes action for you, in video of course!

www.BRETTARTHURPHOTO.com

November 12th 2008 - Breakin The Law!

While I was up in the D.C. area this past weekend, I did a shoot for a really awesome newish band who is already on the rise, The Downtown Fiction. Check them out when you get a chance.

We headed to Manassas to the national Battle Park. The band picked out the location and so we headed there and set up. It was a really beautiful Saturday and not too many people around. Right as I was starting to take some test shots, a off duty park ranger pulled up and, well, I will sum it up real quick; he asked us to leave. I talked to him a little bit and make my argument and he made his. My argument being that there were no signs anywhere on the premises and he argument that he ignorantly stated was as followed, "young man, there are no signs posted saying you can't kill someone, but that doesn't mean you can."

Unreal. So we got a ticket and we left.

Here is a quick video that Cameron of The Downtown Fiction took on his cell phone. It is short and most of the conversation is missing, but it is funny to see how pissed I was.





The shoot went well after that nonetheless!

The Yearling photos are done! I was stoked to see these printed and up in venues! You can check them out on their myspace as well.

November 5th 2008

NEW UPDATES TO BRETTARTHURPHOTO.COM!
Today I finally got around to updating some images on my website! It feels good. I will have a lot more coming soon and I finally added some material to my Behind The Scenes section of the site.






Today has been a great day! No electoral phone calls! This election was definitely one I will remember for a lifetime. Today in New York City, reporters said there wasn't ONE copy of The New York Times to be found. Yeah, its the day after the election and all, but you can you imagine the volume of printed newspapers! It is incredible. It is actually refreshing to hear that people actually care about the news and care enough to get out of their pj's and hit up a newsstand to get the paper.

I am looking forward to see what the next four years bring. This country needs a turn around more than ever and I hope we can do it!

In other, worrying, news today, Digital Railroad (drr.net) shut down. Over 1300 photographer and agencies were notified that their archived material and sites would go down in 24 hours. As we all already know about the Photoshelter pull-out, this worries me. On top of that, Getty bought Jupiterimages for $96 million and just last year there was talk about them Getty buying them for $400 million. I hope that within the next year or so, as the economy makes a comeback, that the industry will turn itself back around.

November 4th 2008

Election day. It is finally here and I can see and hear it now! No more calls from these ridiculous people haggling me about voting. A call here and there is fine, but I got an average of 8 phone calls to my cell phone from Monday of last week to yesterday! Come on people, I know who I am voting for and I have told them a million times!! Yeah, so go out and VOTE today! Your vote DOES count and it will make a difference!!

I finally finished edits from my last couple shoots and found some time to post to my blog. Which by the way I am very pleased with how many people have been stopping by to read my rambling! The Belson photos will be going public a few days along with the Yearling photos! I am happy with the outcome of each of those. I have been working on a few other projects that I will post and talk about soon!

Yesterday I got a package in the mail from WMG containing some pretty sweet postcards of The Cab who I shot awhile back. They printed out thousands of these cards. A total 5 different cards are available, one for each member of the band! My scanner was acting a little funny today so I only scanned a few, but I will scan the rest in tomorrow or the next day!

I am off to Washington DC and Baltimore this weekend for a couple shoots and I am super excited about both. I can't wait to get up there and have a good time shooting these two amazing bands! Wish me luck and safe travels!

The Cab Postacards

Front Side:




Back Side: