As an active wedding photographer, I regularly take time to see what other photographers are doing, in the Oklahoma City area and in other areas too. I would be irresponsible if I didn’t! In my recent web travels, I discovered a whole ring of Guides that are aimed at giving some kind of “free” information to brides. I can’t tell you how many of these articles are full of useless, sometimes hilarious information.
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May
16
2008
New website design and domain name - JohnBurchell.comPosted by: johnb in For Clients, For Photographers, My WorldI’ve been working as much as I can on my new website. I’m a much better photographer than I am a website designer and creator so I’m still working on it… I believe it’s at a point where it’s beginning to have merit, so I’m mentioning it here. Please check out my new website and tell me what you think… http://www.johnburchell.com I only have one gallery - the wedding gallery - up right now. I may actually be moving in the direction of strictly photographing weddings. I still haven’t decided. I still love photographing people in portraits and at events and I love photographing products and still life, but the weddings seem to be what people are calling me for most often. Please check it out and tell me what you think. - Oh - and if you found this blog post from my new domain name, then congrats to you for finding it! It’s still a work in progress and I haven’t made the official conversion. Thanks for your continued support and I look forward to photographing you soon !
May
14
2008
More about the Oklahoma School of Professional PhotographyPosted by: johnb in For PhotographersI didn’t have time to go into it as much as I should have but I didn’t want to bore you. If you read yesterdays post about PPOShool, you know I’m a believer in it. If you want to check out the site for yourself, here’s the link: http://www.pposchool.com/ . Something worth mentioning about this summer’s class - There are going to be several wonderful intructors and they are coming from far and wide. This is something really special for us here in the heartland to have all this great talent coming our way. The 2008 lineup is:
Pick your path and the cost is ONLY $399 for mempers of the Professional Photographers Association of Oklahoma. An aspiring photographer is only $50.00 per year, an Active photographer is $90.00 per year. So even if you have to pay to join the PPOK as an Active photographer, the cost is less than $500.00. This will be the best money you could spend on a seminar.
May
13
2008
Recent Wedding PhotographsPosted by: johnb in For Clients, Gallery, Wedding Chapel, wedding photographsHere are some photos of a beautiful bride that I photographed at a recent wedding at the Thunderbird Wedding Chapel in Norman, OK http://www.thunderbirdchapel.com
May
13
2008
Oklahoma School of Professional Photography - 2008Posted by: johnb in For Photographers, My World
I copied their graphic off their website, I hope they don’t mind. Their website is http://www.pposchool.com. The school is coming again and I’m very much looking forward to it. I attended for the first time last year and I loved it so much I’m not only going back, I’m going back to hear the same instructor. I learned enough about photography to comfortably start booking appointments and photographing all kinds of people. During the last year, I’ve photographed several seniors, several families and several weddings. I have also met and worked with several photographers in Oklahoma and Texas. The education I got last year at PPO School has more than paid for itself. If you love photography and want to learn more or if you are considering photography as a professional career then you are sure to get something valuable and useful. I’m not being paid for this message in any way. I’m just letting people know about it because it’s not marketed on the internet that well. I had been looking for schools or seminars, on the internet, where I could learn more about photography for years. Somehow PPO School never made it into my web browser even though I searching for this specific thing! It’s a great experience! it’s fun and educational! The classes are small enough to get really personalized attention and the price is unbeatable for the quality of information you get. People come to this school from Texas, Kansas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Last year, I met 3 other photographers that were in John Woodward’s class that were from out of Oklahoma. I look forward to meeting you there! I just wanted to let everyone know that I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth, just haven’t been able to update this particular BLOG in a while. I’ve been busy making photographs and keeping everything going on the home front. Oh an I had to have a surgery a couple of weeks ago that kept me pretty well unable to do anyting for very long. Obviously a lot has happened since my last post and I’ll be doing my best during the next couple of days to get everyone all caught up. More to follow! It was a lot of rain and temperatures right around freezing that caused the ICE. It crept in on Saturday night, attaching itself to all the trees and powerlines. The weakest of these gave way and fell to the ground early. One very large branch from the neighbors tree broke off and landed on our roof. Hopefully no real damage, just a nice Yule log on the roof. We had no idea this was only the tip of the ice cycle! The roads were generally free-wet but not iced over. Sunday, the next day, it continued to rain and it just kept sticking to the trees, powerlines, clotheslines, flag poles– anything outside with a surface. Throughout the evening you could hear the horrible crack of limbs and trees buckling under the weight of the ice. Emergency crews and blazing vehicles were busy all night. Along with their flashing lights and loud sirens of the the lights inside the house kept flickering, each time signaling at least one more house just lost power. We were lukcy, we never lost power. The young tree in our front yard lost 2 large limbs. The older trees across the street in the park had lost a lot more. The neighbors tree lost 3 more limbs, one of them taking out a section of wooden fence that runs between his house and mine. I watched the younger tree in my backyard bend farther and farther as the ice just kept making it bigger and bigger. It would break if the rain kept falling, it couldn’t take much more. And when it breaks, it will certainly pull the electrical wires from my house and the other neighbor on the east. He’s got cerebral palsy and confined to a wheelchair. I made sure to let him know what could happen soon. The overgrown tree branch would most likely take out his electricity and mine. Monday morning, almost everyone stayed home from work. But for those that did go in, we really appreciated them being there. All throughout Monday, it continued to rain, temperatures still around freezing or below with a little wind to cool it off of bit more. The trees and electric wires, light poles and everything outside just kept getting heavier and breaking. My tree broke in the back yard and pulled the electricity of my wheelchair bound neighbor off his house. It went all dark. Even though I’d extended the invitation for him to call if he needed anything, within moments of his house going dark, someone in a mini-van pulled into his driveway to take him off somewhere else. The tree pulled all the electricity off my house too, but my lights didn’t flicker that time. The sound of limbs cracking and trees buckling under the weight of the ice continued all day. I did what I could to keep the tree branches out of the street in front of our house so emergency vehicles would be able to get through if they needed to go that way. That night the temperature began to rise and began melting the ice. I found out that an old Target store had been comandeered by OG&E and was the acting as a hub for hundreds electrical workers that had come from surrounding states. There were what looked like hundreds of large trucks with buckets and spools of cable. There were also many large tour busses which would indicate they had been bussed in. Tuesday the work crews were busy clearing the roadways from larger logs and branches and powerlines that crossed the road. This will take several weeks no doubt. Tuesday night, I went to a local auto parts store in Midwest City, to buy some wipers for the truck. There must have been 300 people in this little parts store. All lined up and the tension was tough. Everyone in the room looked like they were about to burst out into a screaming fit anytime soon. They were all supressing emotion and were on the verge of an outburst. I asked a lady standing off to the side: “Do you know why everyone is standing in line?” “Yes” she started to tell me, “They were supposed to receive 100 generators. They took everyone’s name and gave us all a number. They will call our number and we get to buy a generator. But they only got 60 generators in. I happen to be number 64.” My heart just sank as the reality hit me. All these people in line don’t have any electricity and they’re hoping for the chance to buy a generator. My broken windshield wiper became very insignificant. I left without buying anything. Later that night, when I got home after my meeting, I heard the sound of electrical generators rumbling in the distance. I would have sworn there were hundreds of them and I could confirm at least 64. Now we’re trying to find an electrician that can repair the damage done to my house when the tree fell. This process is going to involve OG&E, the electrician, the city inspector and OG&E again. This means we’ll be without electricity for at least two weeks. The cost of staying somewhere else, eating out and repairing the damage and is nothing when compared to the joy of being able to participate with my wife for our daughter’s first Christmas. Jorryn will be a year old January 16. Its doubtful she’ll remember this first Christmas, but her mother and I won’t forget it for sure. It will be a Merry Christmas indeed ! I heard president Bush declared Oklahoma a disaster zone and that it was the 8th time this year for our great state. I don’t know what that means really, but it sounds pretty serious. Here are a few images from a recent portrait session. I really loved working with all the people that came in. Thanks again for taking time to share part of your lives with me.
That little guy had such a personality! I went by the camera shop today to pick up a few things and I got to meet the local Nikon rep. I got my hands on a D300 and took a couple of shots there in the store. This is definitely one sweet camera! This camera is the high end amateur/pro version and has a lot of the same features the Pro D3 has. Some of the features worth mentioning:
Plus a few more things. I had a blast with the new 51 point autofocus tracking, continuous shooting and the 3 inch view monitor is a dream! The camera shop had them on sale for around $1,400.00, which seems to be a really good deal. I’m real tempted to upgrade, but I’m sticking to my plan and upgrade next year. If you’re into Nikon Camera, or even if you’re not, thats one sweet camera. It is hot! It supports Wi-Fi, so you have the camera store the images you shoot straight to your computer! I could go on, but Ken Rockwell has already outlined this camera quite well. I’ve been eye-ing his post and it was a real pleasure to actually get my hands on one of these things. If you’re in Midwest City, you should drive through Joe B. Barnes Park after dark. Enter from SE 15th Street, just west of Douglas Blvd. Turn north into the park and and see the Christmas Light Display they have there.
A Great looking Nativity Scene
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