South Coast Travel Guide

The 2015 -16 South Coast Travel Guide is schedule for distribution on the first week of June. I’m reminded of the amount of work required in getting the guide to print every year.

Where the South Coast Travel Guide is distributed

We supply the guide to small business on the South Coast from Fall River east to Wareham Mass. Businesses like coffee shops, restaurants, local small business, at local events, town halls and so on. There is no cost to the public for the 80 page guide.

What Makes it a challenge to produce

Not only relating to the photography, of which this year I shot most of it, including the cover. The work is in the all the details and content… especially the events and town sections. They require constant update and editing.

This South Coast Travel Guide publication is good for one year, so once the content is in edited and printed, it’s done, no changes until next publication! So as you might have guessed, it’s a little stressful hitting the deadline. No in fact it’s really stressful hitting the deadlines because there is a certain few people we are always waiting on for copy. Or should I say harassing for copy.

I should also mention that in order to make this publication possible it requires advertisers, and someone who’s job it is to sell advertisements to these people. Have you ever sold print, cold calling, business to business?

Then there’s the printing, shipping and 5 months of delivering to the nearly 275 locations.

What is the reward?

It’s a marathon, what makes it worth it though is all the calls, emails and such from people who really enjoy the travel guide as a resource.

HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH DIAMONDS

Photographing Diamonds

I’ve shot a lot of products over the years but when it comes back to photographing jewelry, HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH DIAMONDS is always a tough one. Especially when there are 250 diamonds on one piece! Diamonds are NOT all the same color— meaning if you’re shooting a piece with 30 diamonds you’re going to see a difference in color. The more you blow it up the more you’ll see a color difference.

What are the variables? Well, I’m NOT a gemologist, but I would assume the cut and the natural color of the stone along with how it’s placed in the setting will make a difference. And I’m not even referring to “colored stones” or the color-treated diamonds. There you have to deal with all sorts of issues deep blues, light blues, reflections, etc.

The Light Setup I use

I’ve tried all types of light setups from LED’s to Florescent, tungsten, and strobes, I don’t lean to any one of them in particular. I suppose if I were looking for a warmer temperature maybe for gold or colored yellow diamonds I might shoot with Tungsten lamps, as that color temperature runs around 3000 — 3380 Kelvin.

Fluorescent Lights run anywhere from 3200 to 7000 but I shoot with 5000 Kelvin lamps in general. So it’s a little cooler. What I find more of an issue is keeping the glare off the diamonds, and trying to get a somewhat consistent color out of the piece. I find if you shoot straight into the piece you won’t get the surface glare that comes from shooting on a cross angle. A light diffuser is a must, however. I use the photo booth picture.

Light meters, gray cards, and custom white balance are all good things to have to lessen the variables. As you will have enough to deal with.

Diamond Facts

The Diamond is the hardest natural substance found on Earth
Diamonds are made of just one element – Carbon
Most diamonds were formed 1 to 3 billion years ago
If you picked up a diamond in the rough it would look just like a pebble
The largest diamond ever found was 3,106 carats
Diamonds come in a spectrum of colors, blue and pink are among the rarest
Diamonds sales have grown three-fold in the past 25 years
Arkansas is the world’s only diamond mine open to the public and is a dig-for-fee operation for tourists and rock enthusiasts. One out of 100 visitors finds a diamond.

Colored Diamonds

Out of 10,000 carats of diamonds mined, only 1 carat will be a fancy color. Out of Australia’s mine 30 million carats a year, less than 1/10th of 1% are pink diamonds

Color-treated Diamonds

Color-treated diamonds are regular natural diamonds that were color enhanced. The main methodology is called High-Pressure High Temperature or HPHT

Let me know if you have questions.

Lester Palifka talks about his ties to the Charles Morgan

Once on board the Morgan it’s hard for one not to notice the rigging, cords and cords of rope, nearly endless, and neat. The colors, texture and arrangement were amazing, I knew this was a highly managed system. But I left not learning the back story, until a couple of weeks later when I received a comment on this blog post from a very learned and passionate gentleman.

Lester Palifka found my blog site while searching the internet for photographs of the Morgan. In the comments he asked if he could have some of these photographs for his collection. He told me he had amassed some 9000 photos over his lifetime, and explained that he was on-board the Morgan and piloted her while on her 38th Voyage.

What impression does your Avatar make?

Admit it, we judge people by the way they look.

What if you ran an add looking for someone to fill a position, and you had 7 prospective candidates apply, they all came to the table with nearly identical skills sets. Out of the 7 you only need 3 or 4 to come in for an interview. Now the question comes down to who do you ask, how do you make the selection out of this group?

You’ve probably done this before. You pick the last two “on sale” items left in a store, let’s say it’s a shirt, and their black. Comparing them side by side and their an exact match, now you look for the smallest of details, a thread out of place, missing button, anything that helps you select the “better” of the two.

Southport Maine, Loafing Rocks, Booth Harbor

A Place called Loafing Rocks

I’ve never been to Southport before, it’s an island town in Lincoln County Maine. The 2010 census pegged the population to about 606 full time residents. Seems like a low number, even in late September there was a good amount of people buzzing around the small center village of Southport.

When I put a camera into my hands everything slows down, I’m not there just to snap a picture and run, or show it to someone… I become part of the environment. It’s a time of mixing colors, seeing the light and blending in, so much beauty can be seen when your silent.

Jane and I are on the board of our local City Art Museum, she along with her husband Bob own the Cottage in Southport, which they call “loafing rocks”. This is where I stayed recently for a weekend. The coastline offers some of the finest pine and stone ledge landscapes I’ve ever seen, mixed with some wild flowers and blue ocean the colors are magnificent. Truly a magical place and I’m so happy I had the opportunity to stay there.

Protected: DENNY DEMELLO

Martha’s Vineyard Photo Adventure

Martha’s Vineyard is a grand destination for the photo bug, I can attest to that. I’m lucky to be only just across the bay from this beautiful Island. I’d recommend if your heading down to the area either take the Island Queen from Falmouth or even the high speed, Sea Streak out of New Bedford, the high speed will cost you, over the Island Queen if New Bedford is closer for you then it might make sense.

If your not staying overnight and you plan to shoot during the day don’t forget to bring a polarizer filter as this will be needed not only for the mid day sun, but to bring out the rich blues of the sky and the ocean. There is so much to see and photograph.

So start packing for you Martha’s Vineyard Photo adventure!

Westport Mass

: Westport Harbor, MA.

Town of Westport MA.

Westport Point, located at the southern most tip of Main Road where it meets the river and Westport Harbor. The harbor is also referred to as Acoaxet which means “black swan”.

According to Westport Historical Society the Point area was settled and developed into farms in the early 1700’s. Family names like Gifford and Macomber were some of the first to settle there.

Main road came about once the Harbor Area was built, it most probably was a Native American trail prior to the road. Wharves, maritime activities and the ferry built in 1712 operated through to the 18th century.

During the Revolution, small private boats used the Harbor as their base of operations.This protection was due in part by the complicated network of channels and dunes which kept the British from landing troops in the area.

Today this picture-rest harbor is bustling with sail and powerboats along with a few commercial fisherman. The area is a popular spot for summer rentals.

J.J. Best Banc

What they do…

J. J. Best Banc. is a collector car finance company and have been in business for several decades. The scope of their financing is pretty large, it includes antique, classic, exotic, hot rods, kit cars, muscle cars and sports cars. They finance collector cars throughout the United States. This is a specialty business and they know it well. If your interested in a collector car and need some financing do check them out. BestBanc

Where and when is the commercial used…

J. J. Best Banc. places advertisements during classic car auctions which are hosted all over the United States. They buy their media based on where and when these car auctions run. They buy on national broadcast tv, channels that cater to this kind of demographic. Someone watching these auctions may not actually be there physically but may have a car in mind that they want to purchase, thereby leading to a call to J.J.Banc.

What we were hired to do…

J.J.Banc asked for creative that demonstrates that they are a bank, and that the payment was the primary directive. There are a lot of moving parts in this 30 second spot, to be honest, to me it’s right on the edge of having too much information. The owners and managers wanted to show payments and include names and photos of the cars that relate to the payment. Overall the spot conveys that J.J. Best will give you a decision on financing of your classic car within 5 minutes.

Charles W. Morgan

Morgan Facts:

On her first voyage her crew was made up mostly from residents of Martha’s Vineyard and it was a long three years, three months and 27 days at sea. First in the Azores and then around Cape Horn to the Pacific.

The Morgan would complete 37 voyages , it’s first with complete with a 35 man crew it would kill and “try out” 59 whales. On board the blubber was turned into oil, used for lamps, this oil would be housed in 32-gallon casks.

She would return home to New Bedford with an amazing 2,963 casks of whale oil, which was just about total capacity of the ship. The Lucky Mogan as her name was called, this reputation came from surviving many storms and an attack by Pacific islanders.

According to historians at Mystic she was profitable as well, her lowest fetch was $8,977.50 and her highest was $165,407.35, which back then was a very profitable catch.

Her brief and final voyage began Sept.9, 1920 and ended on May 29, 1921.The ship would spend the next three years at a pier in New Bedford Harbor, it was thought she would be scrapped.

On June 30,1924, the Morgan would be hit by a drifting steamer called the Stankaty, what was worse the Stankaty was ablaze. The Fairhaven fire department sayed the Morgan but it was seriously damaged.

Edward H.R. Green heir to one of the world’s biggest fortunes, a credit to his mothers conservative nature, Hetty Green, the “witch of Wall Street” as she was so UN-affectionately called. Green would form and organization in 1925 that would repair and preserve the Morgan and that they did. In 1939, the Morgan Fund Committee was formed with intention of moving the Morgan from Round Hill in South Dartmouth back to New Bedford. But with the oncoming war and depression the Morgans fate was about to change. The trustee’s of the Whaling Enshrined would agree to send the Morgan to Mystic and the Mystic Historical Association, which is now called the Mystic Seaport now home to the Morgan.