Sarah Palin

Late last year, I had bought my wife a copy of "Going Rogue" by Sarah Palin. She had wanted to read it and I was also semi-interested in seeing what she had to say as well. I remember when the book signing tour came through I gave serious thought to standing in line to meet her. When I made it to Borders and I saw the line, I said 'forget it'. It was four or five people wide and went on for two to three hundred yards outside of the store!

Well Kim loved the book and was an enthusiastic 'Palinite.' With Christmas coming up, I saw that Mrs. Palin had released a new book, "America By Heart". Well this is one of those 'no-brainer' gifts that I know Kim will enjoy, so I grabbed a copy. Two days later, I hear that there will be a local book signing for this one as well. I thought if I could get the book signed by Sarah Palin, my no-brainer gift would be elevated to something really special. I couldn't tell Kim what I was doing and I didn't know for sure I even would, remembering the lines from the last time. Well publicity for the book signing made it impossible for me to hide what I was going to do, but I still was very doubtful I would go through with it.

This time, the event was hosted by Meijer in Carmel, IN. When I arrived, at 3:00p, I could see no line outside of the store. Once inside, I could see an area sectioned of by very tall black curtains and a table full of books and the instructions. I had to buy a new copy of the book here and now in order to get it signed. The book signing started at 6:00p and once I bought the new book, I had to get in line and I couldn't leave the store.

Well I am used to standing in line for a long time at Meijer, but this was different and it was decision time. When I was a teenager I gave no thought to waiting three or more hours for the doors to open at a concert so we could make a mad dash for the best seats, but I wouldn't do that for a concert any more. I thought, what the hell, I've come this far. I picked up a copy of the book and headed to the checkout line.

Turns out there was a line forming inside the store. They were snaking them up and down the aisles on one side of the store. I had my iPod and a new book I could read, so I settled in at the end. People were making the best of the accommodations, sitting on the bottom shelves and chatting away. Periodically, Meijer would send someone around offering cookies and bottles of water. I would have preferred a nice lawn chair. I tried to keep to myself, but occasionally the ladies around me give me sideways looks or tried to involve me in their discussion. I decided I had better participate, since they were making an effort. Representatives from the publishing company came around to verify we had a valid copy of the book with a receipt from that day and they told us Sarah would be working from a pile of books at her side and we would be surrendering the books we were holding back to them in the signing area. Well most if the conversation turned to grumbling from then on, until the line finally started to move. I estimated that if she signed 500 books in two hours, she would have 14 seconds for each one of us. The publishing people mentioned that she likes to challenge herself to see how many she could do, so we may be pushed through faster than that! As we approached the curtained signing area, I noticed quite a few security people and local law enforcement. We are told to remove our coats and there are to be no pictures taken once inside.

Now I can see how this is working. An assistant slides a book in front of her, she locks eyes with the person approaching, reaches out her left hand to shake theirs and introduces herself as she is signing the book with her right hand. She thanks them and is on to the next person. Well here we go, I will get my turn in front of the famous signing/greeting machine and then it will be over. The lady in front of me starts to cry as she predicted she would when it was her turn. my heart suddenly starts pounding harder as I realize it is my turn. What should I do, should I try to say something clever? My mind races as I quickly consider and dismiss several approaches to this situation. Then, I lock eyes with her. My mind goes completely blank as I feel her hand reach out for mine and she says "Hi, I'm Sarah Palin." I stammer out "Hi, I'm Bill". She holds on to the moment, still looking at me and asks me what kind of work I do. I said "I'm a photographer" Unbelievably, I see her scrambling for another question to engage me! "What kind of photography do you do?"  "Portraits mostly" I answer. "Yeah? Hows business?" I kind of chuckle at her persistence  and I say "Not too bad, but it could be a lot better." "Ok, well it was nice meeting you!" she said. "Nice meeting you as well" I tell her. I turned and walked out, smiling from ear to ear and in complete shock. That was surreal. I felt like she wished we could go somewhere and get a cup of coffee.

I know I did.

Award-Winning Photographer!

Halloween has come around again and, as is my custom, I decided to take a photo of Stevie in his costume. This year it was a fireman.



It is not hard to pull the character out of Stevie.

Ok, no biggie, shoot it and put the camera away. The evening's festivities ensued.

The next day, there is mention of a photo contest with a fall/Halloween theme and it looks like everybody is sending in pictures of their kid in their Halloween costume. I'm thinkin' I got one in the bag of Stevie, why not participate? So I sent it in.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the contest has nothing to do with the merits of your photo, but everything to do with how many of your friends you can get to go online and "Like" it. Now it is a campaign. We rallied as many of our friends to go online on our behalf as we could. (If you responded to one of these pleas, you have my heart-felt thanks). Unfortunately, the winner had a gazillion friends mobilized for a landslide victory. We were, however, able to maintain our status in the community with a very distinguished finish at third place.

If you have ever been to our little town, you will have noticed a landmark in the form of a giant pink elephant hoisting a martini in front of the liquor store. It is in the spirit of our fabled landmark that I reveal to you my distinguished prize.





Obviously, I am going to have to address my rates in light of this accomplishment. I recommend you book your project before they go into effect! :)

I Lost Something

I guess you could say I am kind of obsessed with pushing myself to be better, particularly where my photography is concerned. When I am driving, I am listening to podcasts about technique either with the camera and lighting, post production or business and marketing. When I am home I make time to read books along the same lines. Since I made the switch to 100% digital photography, it has been an all consuming immersion into 'catching up' with the technology and current business practices.
Along with the new tools, my creativity has bloomed into areas that I had always wanted to do, but didn't have the resources to explore. Photography is expensive and when you are shooting film, experimentation is a days long process and every click of the shutter cost money. Progress came slow and required you to keep meticulous notes. Today's cameras take all the notes for you (if you care to read them) and the screen on the back immediately tells you if you are getting the results you want.
I find that I am lazy with photography theory now. I fall into the trap of priority programs in the camera and just manipulate the settings I need to for the effect I want. Another way of loosing your camera smarts is shooting the same thing over and over again. You know, that certain portrait set-up you always use to yield F:8 at 1/60th. You can take the lights out of the bag, eyeball their distance to subject and never consider changing the settings on your camera, because you are getting paid and you know this always works.
I recently came across an old issue of Black and White Magazine which seems to really be a catalog of print collections that galleries are hoping to sell. Well the images are stunning and interesting, mainly because they are black and white. Then I started thinking all of these amazing images were made without the benefit of a camera that was more of a 'computer with a lens' than anything else. The people that took these images had to know what they were doing.
So I am missing black and white film. There, I said it.
I performed a little experiment to rekindle the old fires of yesteryear. I can't grab a roll of black and white film and go shoot (actually, I could. You won't believe how much useless darkroom equipment I have in boxes, just in case), that would be stupid given all of the niceties I have grown accustomed to with digital, namely instant results. I put my camera in Manual Mode, which shuts off all of the computers that want to push you around. I set the camera's Picture Control to a setting that emulates contrasty black and white film, put the camera on a tripod outside and composed in the view finder. I used my light meter, a Depth of Field Calculator and used the screen to verify results and evaluate adjustments. I focused manually based on my DOF calculator's reported hyper-focal distance. No need to check focus in the bright sun light, which is impossible to do anyway. Just like in math class, I think you should have to know how to do it the long way before you are allowed to take any short-cuts.
The image above is my pick from the few I shot today. The beautiful thing about shooting in black and white is that it reduces your composition to shape, contrast and texture. It is another way to keep your creativity excited about the next corner you are going to turn. As for me, I have re-acquainted myself with some of the theory and science that I love about this medium and along the way found some of the subtle beauty that has been missing from my work for a long time.

Wind Farm

Last December, I was driving north on I-65 in heavy fog and snow. Apparently, I don't get out of town very often, because shortly after passing through Lafayette, I was startled at the sight of a huge windmill lumbering around like a 747 cartwheeling out of the sky. It is like 300 feet tall and each of the three blades on it are 125 feet long. Due to the fog and snow, visibility was greatly reduced, but my awe was compounded by the distant sillouettes of many more trailing off in the distance. There must be hundreds of them or more!
I had stumbled on a huge wind farm in northern Indiana and I decided I would have to make a point, in nicer weather, to come back up here and get a better look. Now, if you live in a part of the country where these things are common, forgive me for being so fascinated. Since last December was the first time I had seen anything like this up close, it all seems like science fiction to me and something new that must be documented. I decided the ultimate would be to photograph them in the twilight as the sun is rising. Since I hate the cold, that meant waiting until May. Last week, my son Isaiah and I made the pilgrimage up north.

Race For The Cure

I was able to witness something quite amazing Saturday. I participated in this year's Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure Run/Walk. I got volunteered by my wife, who, in turn, was persuaded by a mutual friend to take up the cause. I was thinking this could be fun and at the least, an opportunity to be there and take some photos, not as an observer, but as a participant.

Now I knew this was a popular cause, but I was not prepared for the number of people that were all involved, in some way. I kept saying over and over,"Would you look at all the people!"

Shortly after we started, I took a photo of the crowd ahead of us, then turned around to snap the crowd behind!





This was a really big, exciting party of sorts. While we were all glad for sunshine, I think everyone would have appreciated it being about 10 degrees warmer. Oh well, it adds to the camaraderie between total strangers. All around were cheering teams with crazy names and home made t-shirts. Some of the younger 'participants' were less enthused.


Every so often, you get close to someone that has been tragically affected by breast cancer and you feel a wave of the serious life and death struggle that is the reason for this gathering.



I can safely say we will be back next year.

Isn't Cereal Cool?

Hello! I have been extremely negligent with my blog of late. These are my excuses:

1). December doesn't count. I am reduced to something similar to the walking dead and I am not responsible for any of my actions or lack of action during that time.

2). Spent all of January gearing up marketing for my new (old) portrait business Pictures of You. While I have been frantically getting the word out about Bill Anderson Photography to everyone I meet and explaining it is a commercial photography business, it never fails that someone will ask about personal portraits. I don't want to send mixed messages to anyone, so I decided the best thing to do is market two separate photography businesses. Bill Anderson Photography for all of my commercial clients and Pictures of You for my retail clients.

3). I got an iPhone for Christmas. This thing peels your attention away from everything else! Suddenly all of your conversations revolve around the new apps you have and what new apps your friends have. Some of my friends have cut me off as they don't have an iPhone and cannot bear any more demonstrations of how cool this phone is. One good thing, everybody knows I am still around due to my almost daily iPhone picture posts to Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Since I had the phone, I had to get Chase Jarvis' Best Camera app so I could become a complete iPhone monkey for all of my friends.

So I'm sitting here typing out all of my excuses and guilt about not keeping the lines of communication flowing and I realize I am not the only one at fault here. Where have YOU been? Are you following my blog? Have you subscribed via the RSS feed? Are you following me on any of the social networking platforms I mentioned before? Have you ever commented on anything I have posted? Few things are as difficult as a one-sided conversation. It would be nice to hear from someone now and then.

There. I have cleared the decks and I am ready to forge ahead. Stay tuned-in and check in with me every now and then. We can all get through this together.

-Bill

Headshots for the Unemployed

I was thinking about reaching out to a friend that was looking for a job and offering to do a professional business portrait for them. You just know a prospective employer is going to check you out on Facebook or LinkedIn, plus I thought the photo would be a nice inclusion in their resume package. Well, before I could present my offer to them, they found a job! Then I thought, if it was a good idea for my friend, it will be a good idea for everybody else too.

On September 21st, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm I will be at the Noblesville Library, in the North Meeting Room, providing free professional business portraits to anyone that is unemployed and looking for work.

Looking for a job is a difficult business, especially with the pressures of providing for your family. I know you need encouragements, like a new suit and a great resume. Hopefully, these portraits can be another layer of confidence, or just a general assistance in helping someone land that next job.

Please pass this information on to anyone you know that might be able to benefit from this event. I am trying to reach as many people as I can. If you have any questions or would like to participate contact me at bill@billandersonphoto.com

Parables of Jesus

It has been two weeks since my last post because things are picking up around here. I was asked by my friends at White River Christian Church, in Noblesville to create a set of images for a sermon series they were doing on the parables Jesus used when He was teaching. The idea was to have one image for each of the seven stories they were going to cover in as many weeks.

Now, if you are familiar with these parables, you know they are usually complex little stories that illustrated a different complex little idea. My challenge was to boil it all down to the essence of the precise point that was being made and then devise a single image that would convey that same idea. This assignment was a blast for me because I got a chance to use all of the tools in my bag. With the pressure of a looming deadline, but no direction whatsoever, I had to dig into the creative reserves and make quick decisions to keep the project moving forward. There was no time to rethink things and no committee to discuss them with. Once I decided what the image should be I went and set it up the way I saw it and that is how the image was.

Fortunately, they were delighted with them and decided to put large prints of them around on the stage to help illustrate the messages. I have to send out a big thank you to my son Isaiah for being my patient model in four of these images.

I don't believe in over-explaining art so I won't tell you why I did what I did, but I will give you the parable that each photo illustrates.

The Sower

3 Lost Things

The Talents

The Growing Seed

The Pharisee and Tax Collector

The Mustard Seed

The Wicked Tenants

I look forward to your comments and I hope you have a great week!

Oliver Winery

"And now for something completely different"

For our anniversary, Kim suggested we tour Oliver Winery. My immediate reaction was "Seriously?" with doubt all over my face. Then I though about it for a minute and I realized it could be kinda cool.

We went down on a Tuesday, so there weren't a lot of people there and I was able to relax enough to really enjoy the place. We were also fortunate enough to get a tour, a feature usually reserved for the bigger weekend crowd. They took us through a portion of their facilities, enough to get the gist of what they do to make wine and a full background on the company. After the tour we went to the wine tasting room.

Now I have to tell you, before our visit to the winery, my only experience with their wine was the transparent red stuff they sell at Meijer and Walmart. That stuff is only a heartbeat away from Kool-Aid. Once in the tasting room, I was first of all surprised by all of the varieties of wine they produce. I have always heard they make such great wine, but I could never find any of it before. Anyway, I ended up being quite impressed and we went home with several bottles of amazing wine. If you can find it, I highly recommend one of their dessert wines called Maximun Port.

After a few sips of the good stuff, we ventured outside to check out their botanical garden area. This is the point where I decided I need to take some pictures. There was an incredible variety of flowers and everything had these neat little signs under it telling you what it is (even the weeds!).

Please click this link here to see the full set of images from that day.

Hamilton County Co-Op

I was in Noblesville taking pictures when I noticed a huge group of grain silos just south of downtown. They seemed old and weathered, which is probably what caught my eye, that and the fact that they were so huge with intricate pipe structures. There was no way the camera wasn't coming out of my bag.

I approached the property and started taking pictures. I assumed it was abandoned, just like the Fortville Grain Company I had written a post about three weeks ago. Off to my right, I noticed a man coming toward me with a nervous smile on his face.

"The boss don't want nobody taking pictures." I had already written him off as someone passing through on his way to somewhere else. Then I realized he must work here.
"What?"
"The boss don't like people taking pictures, unless they ask him about it first. Even then he wants to be careful about who can take pictures.
One time he gave a photographer permission and come to find out they had a girl out here taking nude pictures! The only other time he allowed it was for a heavy metal band to shoot a video."
Sensing he was telling me to leave without getting the pictures I had walked over here to get, I offered to speak to the boss directly.
"Well, he's out of town right now"
I assured the guy I was only intending to walk once around the outer perimeter of the property and usually, I manage to keep my clothes on while I work.
He seemed to run out of objections and agreed to look the other way.

Standing close to these silos was like being at an Apollo rocket launch, without all of the cool smoke and fire, of course.

Check out the full set of images from that day here. As always, I look forward to your comments.

Old 238

Highway 238 has been under heavy reconstruction for over two years now. For my purposes, it is the fastest way to get to Noblesville or I-69, though there are alternatives. I can remember, when I was dating my wife, that I could make it from my door to her's in 12 minutes, but that was before they tore up the road.

In the process of building the Saxony Corporate Business Park and Hamilton Town Center shopping mall some of the roads and access had to be reconfigured. As a result, there is a section of Highway 238, perhaps a mile long, that has been clipped off though it still sits there inaccessible.

Seeing that little strip of unused highway sitting there reminds me of that last scene in the original Planet Of The Apes movie. Its the scene where Charleton Heston makes it out to the beach and discovers what's left of the Statue of Liberty.

My wife and I share a house now. I guess I don't need that little piece of road anymore either. Recently, I walked it... to feel like Charleton Heston.

The full set of pictures are here. Don't forget to leave comments, I read them all.

Fortville Grain Company

I have taken a new direction with my photography and I would very much like input from anyone reading this. The blog is open for comments as well as my direct email. I am going to be making posts with some of my images on a weekly basis. I would like to have a huge number of subscribers to my blog available to shoot some feedback to me as I make the posts. If you don't currently subscribe to my blog, consider this my invitation for you to do so. I would also encourage you to invite all of your friends as well. Thank you.







These images are from an abandoned structure in the middle of Fortville, Indiana. It used to be the Fortville Grain Company. You can see the full set of images here Click on the section called "Proof/Events"

I appreciate your comments.
Take Care