Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Are you in Roanoke, and looking for a really good car?
Buy the one I was supposed to get! http://lnk.ms/5cTzj
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Tower of Gabel
My second castle shoot was a lot closer to home, so close in fact that we only had to go a little further than our back yard. Like most days around me, you should always expect the unexpected.
This site was found after pulling up a site dedicated to castles. The link for the part of the site where this building is discussed is HERE. If you check it out, it will tell you what we knew before arrival.
Yet again another chilly day, I had started two days prior attempting to contact John. I had no luck doing such and had the same for that day as well. My plan was then to just head up there to see if I could just find the place. I didn’t want to repeat the same mistakes as last time, even if it was close by.
The instructions on the site mentioned earlier were so accurate, that it was almost scary (How often do you ever really get great directions?). After hopping out of the vehicle I saw what you are seeing in the picture above with the tower a distance away behind me. I didn’t really know what to think when I first took a survey of the land. The architecture was different from anything I had ever seen.
There were some cars parked up there, but we seemed to arrive un-noticed. I was really hoping that someone would come out, because I didn’t want to trespass on someone's land, but now that I had seen it, I wanted the pictures. I figured that no one was home and so I began shooting the castle. I planned on coming back again another day to try to get pictures of the inside of the place, but for now I was fairly happy with what I had seen.
I had gotten a few shots and decided to try again another day, to see if I would be allowed to walk through it. After jumping back into the car to leave, and in the middle of moving forward to leave, I heard someone holler. The owner had noticed our presence. I got back out of the car to greet him, and explain that I had attempted to call, as I had no wish to disturb him. At that point I began learning a lot.
John was absolutely one of the nicest and friendliest people I had ever met. He took us into his home, and began showing us around telling the history of his land.
I only took shots of the upper part of his house while there, out of respect for him. We dropped in and so he was not really prepared for visitors.
He began showing me the photos that he had taken of his work in progress, which he began recording after he had the wall to his tower 8ft high. It was really cool to see how he pieced everything together. He next showed us a clay sculpture that aided him with some of the decisions as to what the final result would be.
We next walked out to the tower and then slowly worked our way to the top. The whole time he answered questions, threw out some facts and figures, and told us some of his memories about building the place. It was so interesting, and so much information to take in.
I think that the most interesting part of the building process was that the materials used were all, or almost all natural or recycled. This was something he built by hand and had very little help in doing. I can’t imagine what it was like lugging all of those rocks up there.
I don’t want to give it all away, I want to leave you with an adventure too. I recommend that if you get a chance, to call and stop in for a visit. John is a very nice guy, and basically only asks that you respect the property (you know, make sure it looks as nice as the way you found it or better). If you live in Roanoke, it is a really short drive. Let me know if you get the chance to visit. Tell him Bouncerman sent you… I am on his guest book.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Not Deer Run, But Bull Run
All of my life there has been a special place in my heart for castles. I quickly came to two realizations:
1. There is more than one type of castle
2. There are castles in the United States
Every castle I had ever seen were in pictures, and in other countries. One of my special projects is shooting castles, and I was rather worried about how I was going to get a shot of something that I didn’t have access to. Google to the rescue yet again proved me incorrect, and so my first shoot took place at Bull Run Castle.
On the way there, we ended up getting lost, and so many things seemed to be going wrong. By the time of my arrival there, and after seeing that this place didn’t fit the bill for what I have always considered a castle to be like (that changed a little at the next shoot), I would have rather had my teeth all pulled, minus the Novocain (well maybe it wasn’t THAT bad). I was not at all excited, but I decided that I was going to put as much effort into it as I possibly could muster any way.
When I got out of the vehicle it was horribly cold, so I began shooting in earnest to grab as many shots as I could before my hands eventually froze stiff. As you can see in the picture, there was a Truck there, but the doors were chained shut, so there was nobody there to try to get the history of the building, or even grab some inside shots.
I got some really good shots while I was out, but the best part came once my hands became thawed out. On the way back to Roanoke, and after missing out on shoots at two other locations, I had the time to enjoy the shots that I did get.
The place definitely needed some TLC but I hope some time soon, they fix it up right and not let it go to waste. It is listed on the internet as being about 45min. west of Washington DC, and though I don’t really have much first hand information on the place, I can look back and be glad that we didn’t have to meet anyone there. That would have been a nightmare, but at least there were lessons learned now instead of later when it could be more important.
Long Awaited Retirement
Looking back at my previous posts and their dates, I realize how quickly time really flies by. It isn't that I have forgotten about the blog in any way, it is just the fact that my life has gotten busy. An even larger portion of a reason for not posting has been not knowing what to write or what to say. For everything that I was about ready to post, there were bigger and better changes to what has been going on. I just hate having to go back and make edits… I prefer to be correct the first time.
The heading of this post spoke of retirement... this is true. I am 35 now, so I am still way too young to completely retire, but after 14 yrs, 5 clubs, numerous altercations and a body that gets too tired and sore to continue down the same path; I have decided to hang up all of my security shirts. Since becoming a bouncer, I have almost always had at least one other job, and in some cases, multiple jobs. Ask just about any honest friendly bouncer and you will find that they probably do the same thing. At one point I had even mixed it with college classes. As much as I will miss seeing everyone on the weekends, I will try when I can to visit the clubs on occasion. This is not to say I will never be seen in one of those shirts again, but probability says that I will not be.
After the success of my work in photography, I began receiving more and more requests from people to do work for them. I began to realize how happy photography actually makes me, and began the process of researching a business in photography. As of January 4, 2010; Bouncerman Photography became a reality, and has begun testing all of my abilities. Under the guidance of my promoter, I have begun working on projects that are soon to be seen by what most of us know as "The right people". The special projects are many times in other states or other countries; so when all goes well, I will be traveling more than ever. Outside of the special projects, I am doing portraiture of all types, some art and a variety of other work.
At one time not long ago, I contemplated the end of Bouncerman.com; and I had to make some decisions that at the time were really tough to make. I won’t bore you the readers with the gory details of the thought process I went through, so I will skip through to the part of what is happening on this site. Truly, not much will really change, except that once the photo business gets some of the wrinkles ironed out, there will be a lot more that will be posted here.
Some of the pages that I have included for the site are in a shambles and close to looking like they were abandoned. At the moment they are in limbo while I figure out what needs to be done to them. My thoughts are that when I find a way to pencil in some down time, I will work on posting to those areas. Right now I am working on getting a primary camera and using the camera that I have now as well as the video camera to document some of the behind the scenes stuff. I think it will be fun to post bloopers and show you in that way what goes on in my life while on location. Either way, I look forward to as always; sharing more about me, and what I do.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Truth From The Depth Of Rumors (Part 1)
Not long ago I created a post entitled Rumors, and it is now time to reveal some information on this…
“Bouncerman’s artwork is going to be on exhibit” – This is/was true. I felt it important to leave it as a rumor because at the time I knew little about what was going on with it. With the information I have now, I feel confident enough to tell you what was revealed to me earlier this evening. According to my sources, the piece that I called “See You In Roanoke” was in fact on display either in Old Dominion University, or at an exhibition that the university sponsored. Apparently it did well enough to win all three blue ribbons in it’s category (Best Collage, Best Idea, Best In Show). If there are any errors in this, again I will post an update.
At the moment, that is the only rumor that came out that I have any information on.
Anyway, on to other Bouncerman news… Later (fairly soon) I will be opening yet another website, which will be separate from this site, but will link up to this site. Bouncerman.com will remain basically the same, but will be adding backstage content from the Bouncerman Photography site. Things like bloopers, and new ideas that I have, or have tried. I decided to do it this way because I have seen how everyone reacted when I added photos to this site. Photography and art have quickly become a huge part of my life.
Being things that I love to do, blogging and photography/art have really changed things for me in a lot of ways. Those that have known me have heard me say that I have been wanting to retire from club work. Because of current events, I believe that I can now start a new career. I am still new and small in the business, but I have seen that between contests, portrait shoots, and contract jobs I can make a great deal of money.
Right now, I am getting bookings quickly, and even have some scattered throughout next year. Christmas time seems to be really busy, but look for more content soon!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
JAOTP (Just Another Online Thanksgiving Post)
Since directly after Halloween, I have seen one thing in particular that has really peeved me while shopping. I get that the stores want to get as much product out as possible, so that they can make their money (it’s business, I get that); but what I hate is that it seems as though Thanksgiving is almost bypassed and they throw Christmas stuff out on the shelves. Christmas season is about giving, which is great, but I feel like so many times it becomes really easy to forget the things that we have to be thankful for.
I suppose that maybe the reason I feel this way is because I have had many times where I have had to be without the things that mean the most to me. I can even remember back to some times where there wasn’t enough food in the house to feed everyone, so the kids ate and the adults went without eating. While I hate the fact that we had to make decisions like those at one point in our lives, it definitely could have been much worse. For that matter, there are people that have to make similar decisions on a daily basis. I could go on and on writing about times I have gone through, or even writing about those way less fortunate than myself; but everyone has had some degree of tough times.
Looking back, I never would have dreamed that I would be where I am today. I am truly blessed to have (what I consider to be) the best family anyone could ask for. I am thankful for them, and those that are friends that are like my extended family. Without all of them life would be pretty dull (Friends and family, you know who you are, there are just way too many to list and I don’t want to exclude any names). I am thankful for finding seemingly hidden talent this year. Between blogging and photography it has become part of my life. These are things things that have really made me happy this year, and show me new ways of looking at life. I am especially thankful that with that talent, I have been able to make some money, and even more importantly see people smile.
On that note, a friend of the family has shown up here, as well as some family so I need to go for now. I hope that you too are able to find blessings in your life, and that you have a great and safe holiday.
Cheers!
Questions that you would like answered, comments or suggestions regarding the site itself, email me at Bouncerman@Bouncerman.com
No News is…. No News.
So many times you hear people say “No news is good news”, well I say that is rubbish, because no news is no news. I have been waiting for news good or bad, to post on here about the photo/art things I had had going on. While it is true that I have had some more news, none of it has been definite yet; and I want to post something that you can take to the bank.
Any way until I hear some more, here are some shots I got while out of town.
As you will notice, some of the photos have a stamp on the bottom. While most of my photos do not get any post-production work, some I decide to do for artistic purposes. At the moment I am testing out some software to add to my Christmas list.
I finally found a way to get the kids here to stay still…. wish this worked in the real world.
Within 5 minutes… a change in the sky.
The next shots were on another back road near rose’s house.
And the last photo is a light up toy that I did continuous shots of while it flashed.
So goes life… I have nothing better to shoot than a self lighting play toy LOL. Mom always said I was easily amused.
Questions that you would like answered, comments or suggestions regarding the site itself, email me at Bouncerman@Bouncerman.com
Friday, October 30, 2009
Rumors
I am the type of person that doesn’t usually pass rumors around, but I have been hearing some things that may be going on locally; that have to do with me.
“Bouncerman’s artwork is going to be on exhibit”
“Bouncerman may be on a local radio station soon”
You may or may not have heard these rumors, but here is what I know…
Right now those statements are neither a truth nor a lie. They are possibilities though. Right now there is a lot of planning going on and I have to see what happens when all of the dust settles. My art work has been seen, and has the possibility of being in at least three different places. I will keep you posted as soon as I get the final decisions. As far as being at the radio station, if it happens it will be due to the art, so I won’t be working there. Right now this is also something that is in a planning stage, and as soon as I I get final results, I will post it here.
Questions that you would like answered, comments or suggestions regarding the site itself, email me at Bouncerman@Bouncerman.com
New Store Item
del.icio.us Tags: Bouncerman,Gear
An art piece with words of wisdom that I made with my own photo to remind me when I begin to stand too close to the tree.
Questions that you would like answered, comments or suggestions regarding the site itself, email me at Bouncerman@Bouncerman.com
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Building My Softbox
Well, I have to say that as of this point, this project was the most enlightening, interesting, time consuming, and fun “make something better” projects that I have spent in a long time. While I of course am not the creator of the original device, I had to basically reengineer everything about it. It had to be light weight, easy to transport in almost any vehicle, durably constructed, and be able to put out varied amounts of light. Wow, what a tall order!
The first concern was what to make the box out of. After going over a list of possible candidates, I found that none of them fit the bill. It had to be light, easy to cut, and light on the wallet. After wandering around the store for what seemed like an eternity, I stumbled across something I had never thought of. I bought 2 large sheets of dry erase board. The light fixture question was an easy one, as ceramic would add a ton of weight, I opted for plastic. Wiring and plug were the easiest of choices, but what do I use to keep the box together? Bolts would add weight, so I opted for the strongest but smallest zip-ties I could find, and I bought a lot of them.
Cutting the board was easy, but since I have not done carpentry work in forever, I had a horrible time getting the angles of the sides of the topless box to where I needed them. The idea was that the sides needed to flair, so that the opening to the box was larger than the base. I think I was just really tired when I started the construction. It took a few days for me to plan it out, and about 4 days or so to build it, as I have other things to do throughout a day as well. After all of the cutting and drilling was done, I had to do the electric work.
In planning I had decided to use 100 watt CFL bulbs (I do not have a hot-shoe on my camera, so I needed continual lighting), and to put a dimmer switch on it to make it all variable. Doing it this way, I would use 300 watts of power (12 bulbs) and put off the light equal to 1200 watts. While making a separate trip to Lowes, I met a store clerk there named Tommy, that informed me of an error in my plan. Apparently there are only certain CFL bulbs that could be dimmed (I had no clue), but he was more than gracious enough to show me the difference, and even tried to help me find an alternative solution. There are probably a ton of people out here that may have already known what he told me, I was so grateful to have him working there, that I went to the store manager to praise Tommy as much as possible. He saved me a LOT of time and trouble.
I considered using regular light bulbs (specifically daylight color for all bulbs mentioned in the entire post), but with their actual draw of 100 watts each, I envisioned 3 possibilities:
| 1. The box overheats, causing a fire and burning down everything around it. |
| 2. Blowing entire circuit breaker panels, and hearing the transformers down the street exploding. |
| 3. Baking my subject. Though a tanning area may not be such a bad idea at some point (maybe even fun), this was not the purpose for the box. |
I decided to make the box “manually variable” between 100 and 1200 watt output (add or remove bulbs as needed) and use the CFL bulbs. When doing a project like this, I just accept that it will probably not work properly on the first few attempts. As I had guessed, it did not work, and I did quite a bit of trouble shooting, until I found all of the electrical issues.
When it finally did come to life, it was a thing of pure beauty in my eyes… literally!
As you can see, it may not be perfect, but I can make it do what I need it to! And for the final weigh in result, it was born at 10lbs… not too bad.
Questions that you would like answered, comments or suggestions regarding the site itself, email me at Bouncerman@Bouncerman.com
Friday, October 23, 2009
Bouncerman.com Gets In Gear!
Not long ago, I posted about an idea to create Bouncerman.com logo gear. Since then, I have turned it from an idea into a reality + 1.1. I have decided to partner with Zazzle.com to make things`` I sell affordable, easy to buy, secure, and best of all if there are any problems with ordering, you will get great customer support.
Any new items that I add to the store, will be posted here on Bouncerman.com, and will also be announced on Twitter. The +1 comes to play because of my photography. Not only will you be able to get products with my logo on it, but you will also be able to buy photographs that I have taken on there as well! There are several options there for you, just check it out!.
It would all stop there, but I am feeling a bit adventurous, and +1 just wasn’t cool enough for me so I decided to add .1 (besides +1 by itself is just boring). +1 photography are photographs that I have taken, that I and/or others have really raved about and believe are good enough to sell to everyone in the general public. The one that is in my store now was bought as soon as it was seen. Normally with a photograph like that I might not put it in my store, but it marks a special place in history for me as my first sold, and it is gorgeous. Great shots make it into my blog, awesome shots are limited in number (as far as how many I add to the store) but you are welcome to buy as many as you want on there of course.
The .1 photography are photos that I again have taken, are usually projects, and fit in the VERY limited supply category. These are shots that have been viewed as good enough, or generates enough interest for me to consider them as high quality works of art. These are the pieces of art that I personally will have framed and on my walls. Framed and matted with care, Tru Vue glass in the frame along with acid-free only mat. Generally speaking, extra care and a few custom things will be added.
For now, there is a pages link to my store on the right side of each page on my site, as well what you see under this paragraph displaying what is now at my store.
make custom gifts at Zazzle
Questions that you would like answered, comments or suggestions regarding the site itself, email me at Bouncerman@Bouncerman.com
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Jump Around, Sit Down, Shake Head, Repeat Process… Repeatedly
I can’t help but find myself laughing at several of the things that happen in my life. On my last post, I told about the mobile photo studio I have started to create, and spoke briefly about a light box (some call them soft boxes) that I have been working on. There is still quite a bit left to figure out for the studio, but my box is operational. I still have the mounting of it to take care of, but it works for the moment (I will tell more about that project in a post soon).
What is funny about it all though started when in total, after hearing that I am new to studio photography, people seeing and hearing about me building on the project; wanting to know if I had a business card. At that point, I hadn’t really considered it because it is something that I am doing for myself to learn, and possibly build on later. It was quite flattering that they would ask though, as I suppose maybe they saw me as a “Go Getter” of sorts.
Yesterday I was helping my parents by putting things back into storage for them. While working I ended up hurting my back a bit, which gave me a reason to look around. I happened to notice that I had put some business cards into my storage. This made me pretty happy because now I have a few when I really need them.
To make a much longer story short, a friend of mine was showing off the picture, and it was sold! It’s initial purpose was for me to hang up because I was proud of my work, but someone liked it enough to buy it. A question was asked about more of my photo projects, and my friend told them about the Roanoke Landmarks project. Someone in the room was interested in buying it, and it has yet to be made! What a day!
Questions that you would like answered, comments or suggestions regarding the site itself, email me at Bouncerman@Bouncerman.com
Monday, October 12, 2009
Picture Perfect… One Of These Days
After coming back to town some days ago, I got sick (wasn’t feeling well) and so my page has suffered a little bit. Over the past couple of days, I have just been really tired.
A bit of good (or at least interesting) that has come of it has been having a chance to do some reading. Some of it has been on astronomy, but a majority has been photography (besides it has been really cloudy lately). Since I have been feeling a bit better, I decided to start on another project; which will help me out on here later.
Pretty much everything I have done in pictures has been point and shoot, but the more technical side has always intrigued me. When I had gone to Fralin’s Market, I talked to one of the family who takes photos, who has wanted to learn more; but just doesn’t have the time. After suggesting looking on line to him, I decided to try it myself. I learned quite a bit just from free tutorials and some experimentation. Photoshop is another possible answer, but learning it can be in my opinion rather tedious. Some of the books are larger than those I saw in a lawyers office years ago. I will stick with the studio idea.
One of the first issues that I ran into was equipment. Most of it is big, heavy, and most of all VERY expensive. Someone on another blog made the statement that it was probably the most expensive hobby next to flying. The second problem was as I stated; big equipment. There is barely room at this house for me.
After doing some research, I found out that there are many photographers that have made their own equipment… and some of it produces better results! Doing it that way, I can tailor it to my needs by making it useable, portable and cost effective to my budget.
The first thing I bought was 2 white, and 2 black foam core boards.
Both of these have reflective properties, and both have the abilities to shade a subject if needed. Next I set the black ones aside, leaving one of the whites it’s natural color and painting the other sides silver, gold, silver/gold.
By painting them I get different color reflections, although to be honest the silver/gold board is just experimental.
Next was lighting. For now these work lights will be used as the primary lights, but I am working on plans for a soft box. 
Also bought was some A-clamps for holding things in place… so let’s see where we are so far in costs (values rounded to nearest half dollar)
4x foam core boards (2 black 2 white) $3.00
2x cans spray paint (1silver 1 gold) $6.00
2x work lights $6.50
1x pack of 2 Smart Energy Daylight lights $10.00
Unmentioned in the post is a fold up laundry basket for $5.00 which I tried creating a diffuser out of. So far it hasn’t worked, but I haven’t given up yet.
All totaled it came to under $30 dollars, which I don’t feel is too bad. I am not sure yet what types of photography I will dabble in yet because there is so many types. Either way I am looking forward to all of the experience!
Questions that you would like answered, comments or suggestions regarding the site itself, email me at Bouncerman@Bouncerman.com
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