Here we go again...

So it is 80 degrees here in Austin, Texas as I type this. It couldn't be more beautiful...

Having been a fan of Magnum (and a majority of the other photographers that have passed through the agency) since I picked up a camera, I was very excited when I heard Sebastiao Salgado's 'Workers' photography exhibit was coming to the Austin Museum of Modern Art late last year. I had totally forgotten about it until a taxi driver (who I was photographing) told me about the exhibit just yesterday.

Click HERE for more information about the showing.
photos by Austin photographer Patrick Meredith www.meredith-photo.com

Some of the photographs were simply amazing. Bizarre, beautiful, heartbreaking and thought provoking rolled into a single lump, if that makes sense. The glimpse into the working lives of the sulfur miners in Indonesia was just....amazing. By far the best $5 I've spent in a long time.

A view of one room of the AMOA, which is currently showing Sebastio Salgado's 'Workers' photographs

Salgado also has a book, titled Workers, that showcases the collection. The AMOA has this book, along with several other books showcasing Salgado's photographs, for you to browse through as well. You can find it on many major websites used for under $50. I'll be buying it once I have the chance.

I broke the rules taking these two photos...

So as I was leaving the exhibit, I noticed a large police presence traveling north on Congress Avenue, followed by an even larger group of people carrying signs and yelling for "Peace in the Middle East"...

So I made about 10 frames and kept riding my bike...

Protesters call for peace in Israeli and other Middle East countries during a demonstration in downtown Austin on Friday.

In other news, I've been shooting a lot of of stuff with an old 120 film camera I got for christmas from my dad. I have a couple of projects going with all these 120/127 cameras I've got laying around. Now all I have to do is develop the film. yikes. I'll just add that to the over 30 rolls of 35mm film I need to get on as well. Someday...Someday. :)

I may be attending another photography meeting tonight, so hopefully I'll have some more photos to show. I'm still working on some of the dancing photos from last week. Here is one more....

'more to come'

oh no

photo by Austin photographer Patrick Meredith www.meredith-photo.com

I'll eventually upload some more photos here as I go through the take from last night...

"reporters should be barred from wars"

Straight from Joe the Plumber.

Read it and watch the video HERE


...Amazing

Some recent photos

Josh ,a fellow Austin photog, brought out some big guns for a small photo shoot inside a little warehouse/parking garage in Austin last night.

Check out this rig! A 20x20 silk with six Alien Bees packing some heat...photos by Austin Photographer Patrick Meredith

James was nice enough to park his Mini underneath for the first test run...It looked so small underneath the silk...


After setting up the rig and positioning the lights, we all took turns shooting the cars from different angles, moving the lights around a bit. Josh, the knee pads guy (can't remember your name...Doh!) and myself stayed for a little over four hours...My feet were defiantly sore by the end of the night

Everyone, except Nutter in the background, chimps from Josh as he fires away.

Interior of the Mini. I had never seen the inside of one of these cars and it was pretty cool!

After the Mini, we shot a BMW that wasn't much bigger than the Cooper. I should have pulled my truck underneath to get a nice photo of that big dent on my tail gate..

I also had the opportunity to shoot a portrait of a nice fellow over at Reagen High School here in Austin. The kid, a sophomore, is seven inches taller than me and can dunk. I don't think ANYONE at my high school could dunk...

I used a simple four light setup for this shot. One light in a silver umbrella directly right of me as key, one to his left that was snooted and pointed towards his shoulder, one to his right that was aimed at his shoulder/the ball and one up really high on a stand, snooted, pointing at the basket.
I got just a bit of spill on the background and killed it off with a slight levels adjust in post. An easy fix, but even easier if I had just flagged one of the flashes a bit better.

Till next time!
PM

Good news!

Not only have I been shooting some very cool assignments this week, I am also getting together tonight with some local photogs for a small 'strobist' shoot.

But the best news of all?
I got accepted into the SportsShooter VI Academy being held in California in April! Sweet!

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/2150

(that's all)

2008 Favorites

2008 marked the year when I started my freelance photo career and in that time I have photographed thousands of people, the NFL, every college and high school sport and traveled over 14,000 miles going to assignments across Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
I've battled flat tires, extreme heat. bad directions, late clients, pouring rain, poor cell service, terrible stadium hot dogs and weird hours.
2008 also marked my two year anniversary with my girlfriend, I got Hank, I turned a quarter of a century, and a bunch of other memorable stuff that no one else cares about.

I hope 2009 is just as good....


With that, here are a couple of my favorite shots from this past year. I gave a back story to some of the photos on my sportsshooter page @ www.sportsshooter.com/meredith/2008

I'm going to buy Soundslides next week and start my multimedia stuff!

Best of luck to everyone in '09!