Tim McMurdo

back to the music

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

I have not forgotten about the Miami Valley Music Fest 2011. Before we leave the topic behind us, I wanted to share a little bit of one of the bands that we were lucky enough to catch while we were there. They go by the name of Blue Moon Soup and they played a fantastic bluegrass fusion. MIxing music like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and traditional bluegrass tunes, I have never heard anything like them.

The guitar, bass, fiddle, and mandolin players were outstanding and all were comfortable on the mic.

If you like blue grass and are in the mood for something new, check out Blue Moon Soup, I think you will enjoy what you hear. Seriously… go check them out before I have to reach for a big stick. Go on, get going!

wedding kids

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

I don't normally shoot weddings but when a great friend asks you to help out, you say, "YES, I would love to shoot the wedding!" That is what you say. It's not that I am too good to shoot weddings, it is more like I am terrified to mess up somebody's once in a lifetime event. One where you can not go back and have a "do over".

I shot lots of great images but I will not show them all to you. I mean, who wants to sit and look at pictures from a stranger's wedding? I do however, want to share these photos of the kids at the wedding. They are what made this a really wonderful event for me. This particular image is of my favorite little girlfriend, Josie. Josie is the daughter of the afore mentioned great friend.

This little boy seemed to get a real kick out of the flower's scent. It was as though, for the first time in his life, he did not smell like Play Doh, Crayons, and Cheese Doodles.

This little girl had the biggest eyes that I have ever seen. She was also pretty shy, not liking strangers and flash units.

Same boy as before. Later in the evening, he changed out of his micro-tux and showed us how to breakdance out on the floor. He was all boy and all energy. I'm glad that he didn't have a brother to multiply his activity level.

Josie has reached that age, where entertaining babies has become fun.

To wrap things up, here is a picture of Dad helping out with the clean up work. I don't know about you but, wedding kids can be the best part about attending weddings. They are all dressed up in little dresses and suits and looking their best. How can you not like that?

did i say there was dancing?

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

There was dancing in the grass. Jodi and the rest of the girls were there to entertain the crowds between bands. To get close to the audience, the girls danced on the grass, at times interacting with the crowd.

All of the girls performed together, in pairs, trios, and individually for about an hour before their set was finished. Talk about worn out. They were exhausted when they were done. The good news is that the crowd loved them and cheered them on all along.

Not a bad way to spend a Friday evening on a fine summer day. The weather was gorgeous, the heat was gone and the cool temperatures had everybody in a happy frame of mind.

The flavor of the festival is in the crowd

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

The girls danced this festival last summer for the first time and I distinctly remember the crowd being much rowdier. From crazy loudmouths to rather laid back hippies. The flavor of the new audience was much improved over all. Instead of howling and hooting at the girls, this crowd applauded, cheered and danced along with them.

There was still plenty of smoking and drinking of all kinds, but the audience was far more family friendly.

Did I mention the Hula-hoops? Because, there were a lot of Hula-hoops and somebody forgot to tell me that they had come back. Combined with the hippie kids, you could be forgiven for having flashbacks to the sixties especially if you are around my age.

I have to tell you, when your wife it going to belly dance infront of a huge audience at a music festival, hula-hoops kind of sets your mind at ease. Hula-hoops and young kids are definitely a good sign.

miami valley music fest 2001 pt. one

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

I have a backstage pass to the Miami Valley Music Fest 2011. You ask yourself, How did Tim score such a wonderful thing? Well, I tell you, you have to have talent, work hard, practice for hours on end, and know somebody. In this case, all of that hard work and that great connection comes in the form of my wife Jodi and her belly dance troupe. The girls were part of the evening's entertainment Friday night and as their designated roadie/paparazzi, I got to go along.

The weekend long event is Ohio's version of Woodstock. Local and regional bands line up to play on the two stages, dancers entertain, and the crowd has a great time. So much happened and I got so many great images that, I will need to show them to you in a couple posts. So, stay tuned and I will feed them to you over the next couple days.

I don't think you will get tired of looking at the images. You will see musicians in cool T-shirts, animals, hippy chicks, belly dancers, and much much more. What more could you want? I am after all a full service blogger.

the heat is gone!

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Finally, the heat has broken and we are enjoying cool days. I would say perfect days. The temperatures at night are in the upper 50s and the temperatures during the day are in the upper 70s. Perfection! Thank you Ma Nature for laying off the heat this week.

I shot this cat at the end of the heat wave during a photo outing with my friend Jim last weekend. The poor critter didn't want to move. The day was beginning to get hot and the cat was cool laying on the porch.

When approaching this shot, I decided that placing the focus on the feet while the head was visible in the background would be interesting. I like the way it elongates the cat by forcing the eye to start at the cat's feet. Your eye naturally wants to go to the cat's head. Paws + Head = Elongated cat.

Bet you didn't know I could control your eyes that way, did you? I'll bet that, after moving to the head, your eyes went back to the cat's rear paws. Let that be a lesson to you. I don't have to stop at controlling your eyes. I can control your mand and your body as well.

Watch this:

send me a pie, make me a cherry pie and send it to me

Did you suddenly have the urge to bake a cherry pie and send it to me? Internet magic is a powerful thing. I'll try to use it responsibly.

send Tim a cherry piiiiieeeeeee

flower in window

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Good morning good people of the internet. If you are a bad peson of the internet, then you are on your own.

Today's image is pretty simple. A potted oxalis plant in the kitchen window at the farm. This image is straight forward. The difficulty lies in the dynamic range of the camera's sensor. I wanted to show the blue skies in the background while still showing some details in the shadows of the flower. A rotating polarizing filter helped to pop the sky by increasing the contrast between the white clouds and the blue sky. Without the filter, the sky would appear almost wite with little distinction between clouds and sky.

Exposure	0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture	f/5.6
Focal Length	50 mm
ISO Speed	100

Have a great day.

god, king, and country

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Leftenant Stewart Copeland of the King's Own, 5th Hussars didn't see himself as a hero. He was only a soldier with a job to do. He had men that counted on him and expected him to make the right decisions at the right time and hopefully get them all out alive.

The enemy had shown up in force, appearing in long dark lines across the field of battle. They were here for the same reason, doing their own duty to their god, their king, and their country.

It was Copeland's duty to be the first out of the trenches, leading from the front. How he wished that he could be in the rear, cozy and safe from the enemy.

The mission was a good one and the planning was sound. They had practiced and rehearsed until every man knew his job inside and out. Copeland looked at his watch one more time. Midnight and time to go. Silently, the Leftenant slipped over the top of the trench and led his men into no man's land. Ready or not, they were on their way. To glory or to their death.

opportunity calling

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

There are times when I plan a shoot to the smallest detail. I will have the subject in mind, I will check my gear, set up lighting, reconoiter the site, and in everyway possible be prepared to shoot exactly what I have in mind.

On other days, I simply walk around with my camera hanging off of my shoulder and let the shot come to me. Both situations can be rewarding. In the first, I enjoy seeing the positive results of my hard work. In the second, I am wrapped up in the moment of unplanned inspiration. In each situation, I know that I have a great shot in the camera the moment I press the shutter button.

To me being a great photographer has to be a mix of hard work and inspiration. When I become one, I will let you know if I am right.

living the life

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

When I was young and growing up outside of Boston, my parents had two VW vans. They were not as fancy as this one but, for a kid growing up, we drove in style. The oldest was a 60s era rectangle with two doors on the passenger side. Dark blue on the bottom and a white top, we called the vehicle Fritzi. The 70s era microbus was light blue and had the first sliding door that I can remember on a car. In so many ways, these vans were ahead of their times.

When our family would go camping, my father would take out the center seat and replace it with a plywood box he had made. the box acted as storage but, would also fold out into a bed. Fritzi's windows had striped curtains for privacy when camping. We really looked like a hippy family when we were heading down the highway as we played I Spy and Punch Buggy.

We didn't have a lot of money when we were young. My father had to do all of the maintenance on the VW himself and I can remember that there was not much heat to speak of during the cold New England winters. However, when you are young, you don't realize any of that. All you know is that, when you all piled into Fritzi's cavernous interior, there was adventure ahead of you. Camping trips, beaches, forests, zoos, and road trips all bore witness to my family rolling and laughing down the road in a big VW bus. We might not have had much money but, we sure thought we were living the life.

Exposure	0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture	f/5.6
Focal Length	35 mm
ISO Speed	100

This image was shot just after dawn and was steadied using a tripod. I had been out shooting the sunrise over a field of corn when, I spied this church van on the way back to my car. I thought the rich morning light created a nice atmosphere for the bright colors. The original image had a giant power pole on the right hand side and heavy electric lines in the sky in front of the van. I removed them in Photoshop because they distracted from the van.

Author: Tim McMurdo