Tim McMurdo

private reverie

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

I am a big fan of people. I really like them in all of their infinite variations. I like watching them and I love listening to their stories. If they have a talent that I envy, then I am even more impressed. What I don't like are crowds. I don't like the feeling of being pressed in by people.

When I saw this woman playing the fiddle at the Faire at New Boston, I noticed that she always closed her eyes while she was playing. Was that to escape the press of on lookers? Did she need to run from the crowds?

My first thought was that she was like me and by closing her eyes, she could pretend that the crowds were not there. However, the more I watched and listened, the more that I realized that she was caught up in her music.

More than just listening, she was experiencing the music in a very personal way that could not be shared with the rest of us. I imagine that she could feel the notes as they vibrated loose from the instrument and rose into the air. Hers was a private reverie. A oneness with the music, not an escape.

When I am editing a photo on my computer, I sometimes have a similar experience. I can become enmeshed in the image. If I am working on a landscape, I let my mind wander within the scenery. If the image is a portrait, I can sometimes lose myself in the person's eyes. To go even further, I can relish the brilliant colors in a photo, letting my eyes absorb them and process them. Tones, contrast, and saturation become like the individual notes in the fiddler's tune. Like the woman lost in her music, I can become lost in the beauty of an image.

it’s a sign!

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Many of you may not know that, although I have a passion for photography, my passion also extends into my work as a marketing professional. This week I started a new job with a nationwide non profit organization based in Columbus, OH. I'll be their first marketing manager and I have to tell you that the challenge ahead of me is very exciting.

Starting with a new organization can be daunting. My new work home represents a step in to a new market for me. I have traditionally marketed capital equipment and the new job focuses on people and the services that they need. I have a lot to learn in a short period of time. The good news is that the people in charge have their act together. In one short week, they gave poured a lot of information into my head and embraced me.

A lot happened this past week but I knew that I had found my new home when I walked in and found my name on an office door. The room had a fresh coat of paint. On the desk was a company coffee mug, a box of business cards with my name and title, and a catalog for office supplies. Soon, my new laptop and phone arrived. The impression that I recieved was that they put as much thought into welcoming me as we both put into the interview process.

I think it's a sign.

code academy

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

A couple months ago, I suggested that every photographer, that has a photo blog, should know a little HTML programming. The Folks at Code Academy have put together a fantastic site that teaches you how to perform some basic coding interactively. If you are interested, give them a try.

my birthday hafla

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Sometimes you live in a waking dream. A dream so wonderful that you hardly believe it is real. So was my birthday. We celebrated my birthday at a halfla. Not familiar with the term? Hafla translates from Arabic as "party" and is a private event at which belly dancers dance for each other and not for the public. Family and friends tag along but the focus is on the girls showing off for each other.

Although my wife has been belly dancing for years, I have never been able to attend a hafla. I've been invited a few times, but always thought it was really for the girls. This time, Jodi insisted.

All evening, I enjoyed watching the girls dance. As different groups of girls showed their skills, they were cheered on by the other girls.

Some danced in gropus and others danced individually. There were many troupes fromt eh area in attendance. Almost all of the women you see in the images and at least one of the men are dancers.

As much as I enjoyed watching the girls dance, the highlight was when they called me oput ot the center and danced around me with theior veils. Talk about turning red! That is what I call a birthday celebration! Thanks all of you wonderful ladies, I had the best birthday of my life.

Oh and in the last image, my wife is the pretty one dancing on the right of the image. My life is full of suffering.

the set up – cincinnati sunrise

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

I've gotten a lot of great comments and questions about the Cincinnati Sunrise series and thought you might appreciate knowing how I planned for the shoot.

The original idea was formed during one of my many return trips from Atlanta. Inevitably, I would end up going through Cincinnati at night and always thought that the view of the city at night was spectacular. I would think about how it would look at sunset and sunrise. Being a morning person, I naturally tended to gravitate towards the sunrise version.

One of the most common questions that I have recieved was 'How did you know where to go?' I don't know Cincinnati that well and finding a place to shoot the sunrise with so little time to experiment seemed daunting. When I don't know an area, I turn to google maps and this time around Google was able to nail the location for me. I use google maps quite often and it has proven to be pretty reliable.

I knew that Mt. Adams, to the east, of downtown had great views of the city and the river. If I wanted to catch the sunrise reflected off of the buildings, Mt. Adams would have been a great choice. I wanted to capture the sun rising behind the city, so Mt. Adams was out. I did know that there was a ridgeline to the west of downtown and started looking in that direction.

Zooming in and switching to terrain view, I could see that there were two parks on the ridge to the west of downtown that might fit the bill. Wilson Common was closer to the city but, Mt. Echo had the Ohio river between the park and the city. To me, Mt. Echo seemed like the better location. To check, I searched google images for photos from the park and was able to confirm that the park had the perfect view.

The next step was to nail down the sunrise itself. To do that I turned to a wonderful and free program called The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE).

If you are not familiar with TPE, it is a nifty little program that gives you all of the information that you could possibly about the moon and sun. You get times and directions to both the setting and rising sun/moon. In addition, you get the times for all three morning and evening twilights. We all grew up thinking that if you wanted to find the sunrise, you turned due east and there it was. In actuality, due east is not really correct. The direction varies with the date and location.

TPE uses the Google Maps API and draws lines from the location you chose to show where the sun and moon rise and set. Following the lines from Mt. Echo, I was able to see that the line for the sunrise bisected the downtown Cincinnati area. Perfect. As an added bonus, TPE showed that the moon would also be in the east during the sunrise.

So, before I even left my house, I was able to know the following:

1. That Mt. Echo was in the perfect location and had a great view of downtown Cincinnati

2. That the sun would rise behind the city

3. The time of sunrise and twilight

4. That the moon would also be in the eastern sky during sunrise

At this point, I was comfortable about the time and location. Another web search informed me that the weather would also be good. All that remained was to prepare and pack my gear. Here is what I brought along:

Sony a55v body

18-55mm lens

70-210mm lens

Heavy tripod

Remote shutter release

Small flashlight

Spare battery

Spare memory card

With those items packed in my back pack, I was ready to go and I had a reasonable expectation that the shoot would be a success. The next time you are searching for a location for an image that you have in mind, look on the web. Check google maps, the weather and google images to find the perfect site for you. You will be surprised at how well prepared you can be without even leaving your couch.

cincinnati sunrise

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

I recently celebrated my birthday by treating myself to the sunrise from Mt. Echo west of Cincinnati. Mt. Echo is 9 minutes away, so I had to get up at four in the morning to be on location with pleny of time to set up my equipment. Afer seeing the resulting images, I have no regrets about waking up so early. The view was spectacular and the sunrise did not disappoint.

I created a few shots with my 70-210mm lens but most of the images were shot using my 18-55mm. I liked the wider angle for shots from this distance. To steady the shots, I used my heavy duty tripod and a remote shutter release.

As the sun rose behind the city, the buildings were silhouetted against the light and reflected on the surrounding buildings. I managed to see a gorgeous light show that morning. I continued shooting until the sun was well above the skyline. Along the way, I shot a series of images that I will eventually stitch together to form a panorama. I'll be sure to let you have a peek at the results when I am finished. Meanwhile, enjoy the sunrise over Cincinnati.

wilderzebraffe-a-beast

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

While I was at the zoo, I came across this critter and could not find a sign showing the animal's name. I wish that I had because, I don't think I could even dream up an animal like this. I think it is half zebra, half wilder beast and half giraffe. Once again, my imagination has nothing on reality.

Wilderzebraffe-a-beast, I will remember you for a long time to come.

thursday packards

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Dayton is lucky enough to play host to America's Packard Museum. I had been to the venue once before as part of a corporate event and always wanted to return during the day, when I could put my camera to good use.

The museum is located in an old Packard dealership and by matching the period cars with the proper building, the museum has hit a home run. When you walk in, you are immediately immersed in the experience. Walking from the show room to the old maintenance area, you get the feel of both the front end and the back end of the dealership.

The cars range from the turn of the twentieth century to the mid fifties, when the Packard went out of production. During this era, cars were bathed in design details that you can't see on modern automobiles.

This was my first time shooting cars and I struggled to find a good way to shoot the wonderful lines I found, given the poor lighting in the museum. Still, I had a fantastic time trying.

With a spare afternoon to spend in Dayton, most people automatically think about visiting the incredible U.S. Air Force Museum. I don't blame them, the AF museum is incredible. However, If you prefer cars over planes and missiles or if you have already seen the jets, the Packard museum provides an outstanding alternative.

From early race cars and dump trucks to vehicles owned by MacArthur and Al Capone, the museum's collection is really impressive. Go and see it, you really won't be disappointed.

A quick note: While going back and researching facts for this post, I noticed that I was only charged $5 to enter the museum, the senior rate. This was the day before my fiftieth birthday. Do I really look like a senior already? Don't you have to be retired to be considered a senior?Maybe I should just relax and enjoy the discount.

you can take a cross town bus… zoo part two

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Earlier this week, I posted about the wonderful birds that I found at the Columbus Zoo. Located in, of all places, Columbus, Ohio the zoo is a popular destination for folks living in the area. Today, I wanted to finish up our trip to the zoo by showing some of the animals and also by giving you my overall impressions. To start off, here are some of the animals that I saw:

My wife doesn't like zoos at all. She thinks that the animals must be sad to be locked up in cages and enclosures. After visiting some questionable zoos like the Cincinnati zoo or the Atlanta zoo of the seventies, I can understand where her feelings come from. I like zoos. I enjoy the opportunity to see exotic animals from foreign lands. I don't want to see any animals living in poor conditions. However, I think that zoos have a role to play when it comes to education and conservation and as long as the animals are well cared for physically and mentally, Bring em on. I want to see some animals!

The Columbus zoo is a world class zoo. The animals are sheltered in habitats that closely match their natural environments. From Brown bears to apes, I saw animals with plenty of room, ways to entertain themselves, and safe. The zoo has done a remarkable job of balancing the publics desire to see the animals with the animals need for a healthy home.

That last two images might be part of the zoo's success. The animals are placed in environments that are engaging. Activities are built into the animals daily lives. The zoo is used to train researchers. I saw the student's throughout the site, making notes and recording video. I think we can thank Jack Hanna for the way the zoo sees its mission. His vision of a modern zoos role in education and conservation has produced seed changes in the way modern zoos are run.

Thanks Jack. You've done well.

tuesday was zoo day – part one

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Tuesday, I spent the morning at the Columbus Zoo. The zoo is an institution in the area and as famous for it's celebrity spokesman, Jack Hanna, as for the animals. I have lived in Ohio since 1994 and I am embarrassed to say that in all those years, I have never visited the zoo.

I'll share pictures of the animals tomorrow along with my impressions of the zoo as a whole. However, I wanted to show the birds first. Not only do I love the colors and variety of the birds but, I was really impressed with how they were displayed.

The birds were grouped by geographic region with multiple species in each large aviary.

The birds were accustomed to people being nearby and were easy to photograph.

The high light was the aviary set aside exclusively for the lorikeets. You could feed them by hand with a sugar solution. They would climb onto your shoulders or arms and eat from your hands.

I know exactly what you are thinking. How cool is that? I think that I am going to gather up my friends and return next Talk Like a Pirate Day and get a picture with a keet on my shoulders. Polly want some sugar? Come on Polly, get over here, I don't have all day. Polly?

Just in case you need more inspiration, here is my favorite song about going to the zoo:

Author: Tim McMurdo