Second day of salmon fishing was well worth the struggle yesterday! We limited out with two 30 lb Kings for Dad and Papa.

After the first day of fishing at the Columbia River Bar, Papa Mullinax landed the big fish of the day. A 30 lb king salmon.

Watch the video

Streamclip is an easy to use video encoder, but it also has a quick way to grab frames for still use.  Of course it doesn’t do more than it says it does.  It creates a jpg from a frame of video with a few options depending on your use.  This isn’t David Leeson’s Voodoo super tool.  All I want from Streamclip is a lossless frame from my video that I can work on for print use.

Here’s the quick how-to.  Or at least what I do when I need to grab and go.

Streamclip menu for frame grabs

After clicking on this I get a dialogue button asking for the quality of the image.  I want the original size, (because I trust photoshop more for upscaling any images,) and bump the quality to the highest quality.  If this is video from a tape MDV camera that is interlaced, I select the deinterlace option.

After that, I open it in photo mechanic and place it with my other photos from that assignment, fill out the iptc data then push it to photoshop for normal print processing.

There are times when I may use the filter Noise Ninja to help clean up the quality, but for most frame grabs, you will know what images from video can be improved and which cannot.

I hope this helps out.
-TJ

I’ll post my reflections on the rally later, for now read this post on NPPA.or to learn more about WHY we went over the hill. Click on the image to read it, it’s a good writeup. (photo in capture my Cliff DesPeaux)

I just wanted to recycle some of my facebook comments and photos about the family trip to support Tony Overman at the Olympian and to visit my cousins in Maple Valley this past Saturday.  It was a quick turnaround that tested the kids and Kim and I’s patience, but it was well worth taking a day to be with dear friends and family.

Friday 4 p.m.

Hey all — Kim, the kids and I plan on packing up to stand behind our dear friend and photojournalist Tony Overman in Olympia this weekend. He’s been such an ardent supporter of photojournalists in the Northwest that I hope you can stand with him this Saturday.

Saturday 11 p.m.

Just got the kids in bed. What a day! Thanks to everyone who could make it to Olympia today and also those reaching out to Tony during this difficult time right now. As one rally sign put it clearly, “we are all Tony.”Truly, support and solidarity among colleagues strengthens all of us pursuing noble goals.

I plan to update this post tonight with more commentary from me as well as links and comments from other sources.

Images from our trip

“You are so much more Zen with your iPhone photos — you gotta channel that instead of worrying about A1″ ~ Danny Gawlowski.

It’s such a simple device. That little iPhone.  When asked about my few photos from 2010, Danny nailed the fact that when I shoot with the ‘it’s gotta be for A1′ tomorrow, that I make sure the technical stuff happens and put aside feeling and shooting for the moments.

Another comment in the same vein was from Kevin Martin:

(photo below) “2.  Compositionally, this photo is very affective.  There are all kinds of symmetry, repetition of form, and leading lines going on here.  When you make a picture like this, you are safe.  Go take a risk…”

Cary Campbell from the Daughters of the American Revolution tightens one of over 1,500 wreaths during the nationwide Wreaths Across America event on Dec. 11, 2010, at Tahoma Cemetery in Yakima, Wash. This is the third year Campbell has participated along with Civil Air Patrol in the event to honor fallen soldiers.

Another thing Kevin mentioned on getting out of that safe shot was:

“…use your long glass, and try to make a photo from the ground level looking down the rows at the wreath bearers.”

I’m really glad he pointed this out because earlier this year I was focusing on the safe shots.  But lately I have been trying to use my distance shots in better ways — that may not work in the end. But when they do, I can get good stuff.

If I was able to show Kevin my full gallery on this wreath assignment, he would see that my secondary shot was this.

So to close this mini post.  I love feedback and these guys are hands-down awesome to go over what little photos I took and tell me what I needed to gear me up for next year.  Thanks so much guys!

(note to Kevin — I fixed the cutline for the wreath laying woman too…  it was put into the gallery with the wrong one. Thanks for noticing so I could fix it! 

Well the night before Dad’s second surgery all of us were stopping at Whole Foods off Denny Way in Seattle when I ran across a mythical white iPhone 4.

The phone was being operated by an Italian businessman waiting for coffee. I showed a bit of curiosity and asked if it was some type of cover when he explained, “no I’m on a trip testing out the new white model debuting in Italy in February.”

After talking with him a bit about how I liked the white version he let me look it over explaining their apple group was struggling to keep the edges from yellowing after several weeks of use. He was confident the new white body will hold up better over time.

There wasn’t any memory size indication but it provided the model number A1332.
Kinda fun if it’s legit. Nice white body too. He did not know when the white one may appear in the US.

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Addendum (next day reflection)

The above post was filed from my phone so now I suppose I should fill in a bit more info from my computer today.

It was a strange happenstance for me to run into something like this.  I was very surprised to see someone so casually using a phone that is by all accounts only being tested in California.

I typically pay attention to tech moves, not just Apple stuff, so personally it was just nice to see the phone I may upgrade to down the road.  (I currently own the white 3GS, and it was a good conversation starter with the gentleman.)

This was more curiosity for me than anything. I was in the grocery looking for yogurt when I spotted a well dressed man scrolling through something on a white iPhone4.  I had heard of cases that can replicate the white look and casually asked him if it was a case.

He responded just as casually that it wasn’t and preceded to explain that it was in fact a iPhone4 that was being tested.  I mentioned that I would like to get one eventually (showing my 3GS phone to him) and if I could take a look.

The request was granted, then he decided to point out the antenna improvement (it wraps around the body now) without being prompted.

When I looked closer to the edges (to see if it was some kit build) he mentioned the white phones were having problems with the edges yellowing after being used, but he thought it was solved with this particular version.

Altogether, it was a slightly surreal, casual discussion from a curious shopper to a businessman taking a break with his phone.

Before departing to continue looking for yogurt, I asked if I could take a quick picture with my phone.  He set it down and turned it over (I think because he had some type of Italian social networking, message app open at the time) and that was the end of it.

I departed, complimenting his phone with a thumbs up and a ‘va benne!’

Overall, it was a nice phone.  It was just as nice as my sister’s black iPhone4 in quality engineering.

It surprised me yesterday when I learned that even though it’s shown on the Apple web site, the test versions haven’t been seen out and about.

My impression today: the phone seemed legit and the user was very polite.  If it was a fake or modified phone, it really didn’t seem that way to me.  Ultimately it was just a nice talk about a nice phone with a polite Italian.

Just a little commentary on this photo of my nephew and a trend in my storytelling acuity.

Lately I have noticed that while working on a shoot that I’m familiar with, that familiarity might be impacting the type of visuals I chose to capture.

The above image is the latest example of… what should I call it… hmm — maybe ‘method photography.’  Kind of like method acting, but with a camera.

method acting : noun
a technique of acting in which an actor aspires to complete emotional identification with a part, based on the system evolved by Stanislavsky and brought into prominence in the U.S. in the 1930s. (dictionary)

Yea, this sort of works for what I have been feeling lately.  That when I have a subject, like swimming, to which I have over 15 years under my belt as a competitor and coach, I unconsciously avoid shooting common/banal moments.

Instead I look for things that strike a chord with a particular memory, sensation, setting or mood. I try to find moments that are uniquely tied to the subject’s emotional truth.

That’s where the staging photo resonates for me.  I didn’t bother shooting the start, the curled up tension before the starter buzzer or the act of swimming as a still photo.  They were old-hat.  Been there, done that.

In that moment I saw myself, sitting in the shade with a breeze putting a chill on the excitement of championship swimming.  Young enough to see the pool length as an ocean.  Nerves on edge, toes upturned, knees knocking while rubbing arms to beat back the shiver. Focused, looking down the lane past the starting block drowning out the crowd noise.

For me, the moment right before being called up onto the block was surreal and especially so during my first couple years competing.  These were emotions that I understood and capturing them felt gratifying.

This scene portrays a moment that may be a bit too insider.  But to a former competitive swimmer they should evoke small, unique memories of times past.

At the end of the day, however, I fear images that have storytelling layers known among a small group fail for the general population.

method photography : noun

a technique of capturing a moment that is emotionally unique to it’s subject, however understanding its complexity escapes the general public. (TJ)

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Some of the most profound storytelling images provide a path for everyday viewers to put themselves into.   I feel that on stories that I really know, I sometimes miss the photos that people can identify with and readily understand the layers within the image.

If I go to shoot something I’ve never been exposed too, I find myself approaching it as an everyman.  Ya’ know — ‘just tell the story stupid’ — kind of direction.

Then on the flipside when I’m investing time with something dear to me, I push hard to capture those few, sometimes fleeting moments that not everyone may understand.  All the while muddling though the moments most people can identify with because I’m in pursuit of that unique moment.

Ultimately  — on known subjects, I want to provide that insider/unique perspective to the public and I’m concerned that because of that desire I am not making the everyday blue-collar photo stronger.

This is probably something that I will be talking with the great people at the herald who are willing to lay it down when I need help.

Who knows, maybe I’m doing fine. But I will be paying closer attention to more general subject images after my time-off this week.

A lightning storm blew threw about 12:30 a.m. and I was able to capture a bit. This version was edited on my iPhone using the lo-mob photo app.