Somber Sunset Clown

Fall Fun Fest, Chapter Three: Halloween Edition

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Halloween is one of our favorite days of the year. It’s like a DragonCon that everyone attends! We’ve been saving up some creepy and Halloween related photos for today, taken with a variety of techniques. Hope you enjoy!

Here are a few from the Gwinnett County Fair that we’ve been holding onto for a creepy day:

Happy Creepy Clown

A beautiful, partly cloudy day for the happy clown.

Sleepy Creepy Clown

The creepy clown gets sleepy a little later in the day.

Somber Sunset Clown

Sunset brings out the somber tones in these clowns.

The next week, we attended Historic Oakland Cemetery‘s Spirit of Oakland special tour. It was a lot of fun, with costumed actors playing the roles of some of the more famous people buried at Oakland.

A Toast.

Apparently, whoever this character is, a bullet to the eye precipitated his burial at Historic Oakland Cemetery.

Reflection by a monument.

This was one of the tour assistants. They were all dressed in old-timey garb. I was happy to catch him in a moment of reflection.

Austell Light Painting

We are rarely at the cemetery in the evening, so I took advantage of the timing to light-paint one of my favorite mausoleums.

The following night, we went to Corn Dawgs corn maze. It was a great place to do some more light painting and long exposure photography and try to catch the creepy spirit of the season.

Electric Corn Maze

I took this one from the top of one of the stands overlooking the corn field. I had to wait for people to walk through the maze with their flashlight in order to capture the spirits.

Phantome Corn Maze

“The Phantom Michelle.” This was a fun combination of three different photos to get different elements into the picture. If was hilarious to see the other attendees reactions to Michelle walking back and forth with a red spotlight under her face through the corn maze.

The next week took us to Owl-O-Ween in Kennesaw. I had a lot of fun trying to capture the fire dancers, something I’d like to do more of in the future.

Fire Dancing Devil

I was able to practice some rear-sync flash techniques while doing a long exposure to capture the trail of the flame.

Frosty Owl

I channeled my inner street photographer to capture this ice sculptor in the process of fashioning an owl. I had to go with an old-school Fujifilm-type processing on this one.

Have a safe, happy, and tolerably creepy Halloween!!

2014 Fall Fun Fest Chronicles Chapter Two: Conasauga Falls and Family Photo Shoot

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CarraBrian

Some crazy fun chaos on a blanket!

The Fall 2014 adventures of Garber Geektography continued last weekend with a family shoot and a “quick” two mile hike. We started off the weekend with a fun shoot with our friends Carra and Brian at Alexander Park in Gwinnett County, GA. The light was great to work with in the fields of tall grass. It was a crazy fun shoot, since Carra and Brian have one-year old twins, a toddler, and a four-year-old. They have such a great family.

Walking towards the sunset.

Walking towards the sunset.

The deceptively easy trail.

The deceptively easy trail.

We spent most of the weekend indoors with my family cheering on Duke, Baylor, and Texas A&M. Yes, that is an eclectic mix. Our cousin, David Helton, plays linebacker for Duke, so there is one connection. I graduated from Baylor, and, oh my, was that a great comeback, or what? My sister and her husband are Aggies, so we pulled for them despite the loss.

A detail shot of the Falls that Michelle directed. We had to put up one camera since it isn't weather sealed.

A detail shot of the Falls that Michelle directed. We had to put up one camera since it isn’t weather sealed.

On our way home from the Knoxville area, we stopped off at Conasauga Falls for what we thought was going to be quick two-mile, in-and-back hike. The first part of the hike was deceptively easy, with a gradual downhill slope and some switchbacks.

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The cascades of Conasauga Falls with some hints of autumn color.

The golden light at the end of the tunnel?

The golden light at the end of the tunnel?

 

It got a little more slippery as we approached the falls at the bottom. But the hike was definitely worth it when we got there.

Of course, we need to remember that when you hike down to the bottom of the falls, it means you need to hike back up. We stopped along the way for a few shots to catch our breath. One lesson we learned is that when the hiking trail fairies provide you with walking sticks, you should take them up on their offer. It might have lessened the burden.

On the way back up, Michelle pointed out the cool textures in these wooden waves.

Waves in the wood.

Waves in the wood.

 

Bodh Gaya

When Vocation and Avocation Meet

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Various work opportunities this past summer led me to some pretty awesome photography experiences. I’ll be blogging some retrospectives about those in the next few months as Michelle and I prepare for even more adventures. In the meantime, I wanted to share this month’s edition of Tableaux, the Mercer University‘s McAfee School of Theology magazine. This month’s theme was “Leaders in Research, Leaders in Service,” and it chronicles many of the activities of the students and faculty at McAfee from this past year. It also features a lot of my photography from trips to India and Israel. I love what Lesley-Ann Hix did with the layout and design of this issue! Special thanks also to Barrett Owen (editor-in-chief) and Kate Riney (managing editor) for inviting me to publish the photos and column for this issue. I have a brief column about my experiences in Jerusalem, as well .

Mercier Orchards

2014 Garber Geektography Fall Fun Fest Chronicles: Chapter 1 “How about ‘dem Apples?”

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In the middle of grading and writing, we did find some time to escape last weekend for our favorite season of the year. Our first stop was at Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia, to get our annual supply of apples. It was a bright, sunny day, which made for some harsh lighting conditions, but I was able to get a couple of environmental shots. I love how the winding paths on the hillside drive you through the whole orchard. We also found out that our favorite apple is the mutsu, or crispin.

Mercier Orchards

Mercier Orchards in October

I was also grateful to have my Lee Seven5 polariser in my bag to bring out the sky in this shot:

Mercier Orchards in October

Mercier Orchards in early October

Having come home with a plentiful harvest, we rested up for the next day’s adventures, which included getting Sargon back into the groove of agility training at the Canine Ranch.

Sargon's motivation for training is his tennis ball. Really, it is a quite unhealthy obsession.

Sargon’s motivation for training is his tennis ball. Really, it is a quite unhealthy obsession.

We also ran into his pal, Beauregard, training on the A-frame.

Beau strutting his stuff.

Beau strutting his stuff.

We ended the day with Sunday in the Park at Historic Oakland Cemetery. We were overjoyed to learn that I took first and second places in color in the photo contest, and Michelle took second in black and white! The mausoleums were open, so I played with some HDR while we were there.

Mystical mausoleum at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.

Mystical mausoleum at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.

They also had a car show there, and Michelle captured this emaciated passenger. A cool, spooky shot to get us ready for later in the month.

Whew, I'm famished!

Whew, I’m famished!

What are your plans for a great Fall weekend?