David Cox Photography: August 2007

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Heather's Birthday at Casa de Este

I tried something new this weekend by setting up a small portable studio at Heather's birthday party. We had some fun. We got some nice pics and some stupid ones (think alcoholically challenged). You be the judge.

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Monday, August 20, 2007

Tumbling Jitterbugs

Our friend Ari had her last gymnastics class this weekend for a while. We got a chance to hang out and I got to take some pics.

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DaHeBeGeBees at Dirty Dog Bar in Austin

On Friday night, DeHeBeGeBees reunited for their first show in many years. It seems that essentially everyone who had ever played with them was there and at one point were all simultaneously on stage. The highling for me was their former keyboardist James Speer singing his near world-famous cover of Ray Charles' Georgia. Awesome. Amazing. And some nice pics too!

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Friday, August 17, 2007

Austin Apartment Association Bowling Night

The Austin Apartment Association held their annual Bowling Night Extravaganza at 300 Lanes in North Austin Thursday August 17.

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Recommended Reading

As a portrait photographer who shoots a lot of children, clients often ask me for tips on taking better pictures of their kids. I have looked at many books, but have found How to Photograph Your Baby by Nick Kelsh to be one of the best. The book is spiral bound, simple, task-based, and has many excellent tricks. Highly recommended!

Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs was possibly the book which most significantly changed the way that I think about light and the manner in which I shoot. Now in its 2nd edition, I consider this to be required reading.

Although out of print for more than 15 years, Tom Schroeppel's Bare Bones Camera Course is an inexpensive, concise and no-nonsense introduction to the camera and lenses. Written on a typewriter with hand-drawn line drawings, it is truly bare bones but absolutely useful. If you can find it, get a copy.

Recommended Gear

Many folks ask me what camera they should purchase. My experience is that small point-and-shoot cameras and more frustrating and slow than they are useful. I recomend a basic SLR-style camera for almost all users. Currently, my favorites are:

Canon XSi 12 megapixel digital SLR

Canon XTi 10 megapixel digital SLR

Canon XT 8 megapixel digital SLR

If you absolutely cannot handle the size or cost of a SLR camera, then buy a compact camera knowing that it will focus slowly, shoot slowly with a long lag, and take pictures which are significantly more noisy than those taken by an SLR.

I do not currently recommend any compact cameras.

Currently, I am using and recommend the following gear:

Canon 40D
Canon 28-135 IS
Canon 85mm f1.8

Canon 100mm f2

Sigma 80-200mm f2.8

Canon 550EX Speedlight

Lumiquest Softbox

Manfrotto Tripods & Monopods

Alien Bees Strobes

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David Cox Photography