tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20021429271100219362011-11-27T18:45:31.064-05:00Lessons and Adventures in Photography.Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.comBlogger431100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-76710926339367989402011-04-18T14:14:00.009-04:002011-04-18T15:45:31.728-04:00

This past weekend, Liz and I took a weekend respite from our hectic work schedules to get away for a couple of days in the VA mountains. Liz had purchased a one night stay at the Homestead, a plush resort in Hot Springs. The small sleepy town is famous for a few things - the multitude of warm mineral rich springs, the home of legendary golfer Sam Snead, and of course, the Homestead itself. To

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-30412058575870210452011-04-11T10:47:00.010-04:002011-04-11T13:57:32.194-04:00

As many are aware, I owe the rekindling in my interest of photography to some loveable mutts at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Control facility many years back. I had just moved to Charlotte and was slightly bored. During this time, I was still shooting film and would often travel to the mountains on weekends to hike the trails and shoot the waterfalls. It was a fun time filler but the drives

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-26234201665376749832011-01-19T14:57:00.004-05:002011-01-19T15:50:30.362-05:00

Mount Trashmore, the single great attribution to making garbage a recreational playground, is the highest elevation in the relatively flat Virginia Tidewater. Decades ago, with Virginia Beach growing beyond leaps and bounds, some visionaries had the masterful idea of turning the city landfill into a man made mountain (ok, hill) that would provide endless entertainment possibilities. In it's

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-61734231407099178082010-11-01T17:31:00.010-04:002010-11-01T18:06:30.313-04:00

Happy belated Halloween everyone! On Saturday I hobbled down to the ocean front to photograph the Wicked 10k, an awesome J&A -hosted 6.2-mile race where most of the competitors dress up in some insanely creative costumes. I've received several emails requesting when I was going to post the photos on my my website for sale. Well, it is going to be a couple of weeks due to a couple of reasons.As

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-52457552823645869292010-08-19T11:47:00.005-04:002010-08-19T12:19:06.587-04:00

I've been in a creative slump lately and decided I needed to break out of it before I stopped shooting altogether (well not that drastic but still needed a spark). With the football season about to start, I decided to look around Flickr for athletic oriented shots and while doing so, I stumbled across some of Joel Grimes' images. I checked out his site a couple of years ago and was in awe of

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-88327319836966135352010-07-06T08:26:00.013-04:002010-07-06T10:47:42.515-04:00

6-years ago I was volunteering at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Control when one Saturday morning, a vet tech (Joy) came running down the hallway calling my name frantically. Earlier the night before, CMPD officers raided the home of an animal collector, a lady that kept taking in pets with disregard for giving them care and routinely abusing them. There were 10-dogs that were confiscated, all

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-2795304190209388092009-11-24T10:30:00.003-05:002009-11-24T10:39:07.871-05:00

Following Sara's shoot at the Cavalier (see previous post), we grabbed a cup of coffee... well, hot chocolate for me and then hustled up to 85th street to do some Christmas card portraits of Noelle's and Holly's kids. The breezy conditions felt like a full blow gale rolling across the open beach and the temp must have dropped another 10 degrees in the short time between shoots. I have to hand

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-49529161593658905352009-11-24T10:17:00.005-05:002009-11-24T10:29:54.205-05:00

If you recall from earlier posts, Sara has had me over to photograph her twin babies as well as doing a family portrait. For Christmas, her husband requested some individual portraits of her so on Saturday we set off to the old Cavalier Hotel to gab a few. It was not without it's trial - stiff wind, cold air, and hotel security which eventually, though politely, ran us off the property. I love

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-80654537060560663602009-11-24T09:53:00.005-05:002009-11-24T10:16:54.295-05:00

Last year I met Jamie while playing on a kickball team in Va Beach (I know I'm still a kid at heart!) and a month ago she emailed me about shooting her and her fiance Joe's wedding in May. They will be getting married in the Outer Banks on the beach which should post challenges of its own. Jamie asked if I wouldn't mind shooting their portrait seeing that they had no photos of the two them

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-41215903855709881262009-07-17T09:09:00.009-04:002009-07-17T09:35:27.549-04:00

I don't know exactly when Park's Ave Apartments & Rooms were built but I understand from my parents that they think that they were there in the '30s. About 20-years ago, Virginia Beach began a revitalization program for the oceanfront after tourism dropped due to the decline in property maintenance. The Park Avenue row houses became a rundown, poverty ridden spot situated between a new

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-51209799232721726172009-07-17T08:36:00.002-04:002009-07-17T09:07:08.575-04:00

I can't believe how far behind that I fell on my blog - my last post was just after the Shamrock half-marathon in in March! Just because I have not been writing, it doesn't mean that my life and photography have come to a complete standstill. Actually the opposite has happened!Since the Shamrock, I've become a mentor with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team-in-Training to assist a new

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-29061813528470764722009-03-23T15:16:00.006-04:002009-03-23T15:23:12.417-04:00

The sun was just beginning to cast it's first light over the horizon as the gun sounded, sending 7000 runners on 13.1 mile journey around the north of Virginia Beach. The 35-degree morning was the culmination of a much longer journey that we have taken over the last several months. Back in October, I first approached you requesting your assistance with raising $1900 for the Leukemia and

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-49493166792046190022009-03-11T20:16:00.011-04:002009-03-19T12:29:18.135-04:00

Saturday was the first truly beautiful day of 2009 with the temp reaching the upper 70's. Shaun and Christine have been trying to arrange a family photo shoot for a couple of months but it seems that every time we made an attempt, the weather was horrible or someone had to go out of town. Well I was excited when Christine pinged me on Friday and asked if I was available for Saturday afternoon.

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-31489173952555348932009-02-24T12:42:00.008-05:002009-02-24T14:00:09.910-05:00

So what do you do when you can't find someone to model for you, it is too nasty out to go searching for an image, and you've been suffering from a lack of creativity? Try shooting some self portraits. Seriously, I'm not kidding. SPs are a good way to practice your portrait lighting and allow you to experiment on shots without worrying about ruining a client's session.This past weekend, I dug

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-17345911229060118392009-02-18T20:35:00.007-05:002009-02-18T20:55:36.310-05:00

Okay, this image was a year in the making. I have a lake behind my townhouse which draws a plethora of avian life. During the spring, summer, and fall; there are everything red-winged black birds to an amazing white bar owl that I stumbled across one evening. During the winter months, the list of available species narrows but you can regularly find white egrets and blue herons just along the

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-85982488964257958022009-01-28T12:32:00.017-05:002009-01-28T13:03:44.889-05:00

I recently received a request on DGrin for information on how I created an image of an angel. Btw, the angel is my niece Savannah and she truly is an angel! The Ariel image was created for the LPS Challenge: Sin or Virtue last year. Here is the final....When I envisioned it originally, I planned to purchase or rent wings from a theatrical store for my niece Savannah to wear. Well I couldn't

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-79859699907810849732009-01-02T13:21:00.006-05:002009-01-02T13:32:43.288-05:00

I wish you a happy and prosperous 2009! May you find strength in the love of friends and family, enlightenment through your creative pursuits, prosperity in your ventures, laughter in each day, humility in your charity, and peace in all you do.Happy New Year!!!

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-71203471492407835682008-12-16T09:02:00.004-05:002008-12-16T11:03:17.474-05:00

First I would like to thank everyone that has donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) thus far. Your donations are going to a truly worthy cause. For those that haven't heard, I have joined the Team-in-Training (TNT) to raise money for LLS research and patient family support by collecting donations as I prepare to run the Shamrock Half-Marathon in March.I am excited at how much you

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-2852910255051608232008-12-07T18:05:00.009-05:002008-12-08T09:49:06.139-05:00

If you ask me a couple of days what I was doing this weekend, you probably would have received the answer that I was thinking of bailing on a volunteer photo job in order to ice and stretch a sore achilles tendon I strained earlier in the week. Thank goodness I didn't or I would have missed what has got to make the top-5 events that I have photographed. 200 hundred Santas, 7 bars, and unseemly

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-30932670916382257902008-12-02T14:41:00.007-05:002008-12-02T15:15:53.921-05:00

All right, here's the background. A few weeks ago I did portraits of a friend's twin 4 month old infants and they loved the photos so much that they invited me back to shoot their family portrait. When I say family, I mean husband, wife, and SEVEN kids ranging from the twin infants to college students. The first thing that threw me was the height difference between the children. There are pretty

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-17791292851114499192008-11-14T13:10:00.010-05:002008-11-14T13:58:05.165-05:00

Sunday afternoon Skyler had her last soccer game of the year and I was excited to be there to see it. Not only is Skyler on the team but the team is coached by her father, my brother-in-law Jake. I figured this was a good time to break out the Bigma and practice my sports shooting. A little known piece of history is that back in 1991, I made my first venture into photography sales shooting little

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-25348491340951814932008-11-13T14:07:00.007-05:002008-11-13T14:59:31.336-05:00

While up in Blue Ridge Mountains on Sunday, Dea, Jake, Skyler, Caleb, and I took the opportunity to take a few family portraits (well, I hid behind the camera. lol) after we finished breakfast. We drove up the Parkway, stopping at various overlooks to see if they offered a nice background. Most of them had far too many distractions to make a decent backdrop; however, we luckily found a few that

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-8871880479253680522008-11-12T12:10:00.012-05:002008-11-12T13:04:23.199-05:00

On Saturday, I drove up to Lynchburg for a 2-day vist with Dea, Jake, Skylar, and Caleb. It was a great visit. Skylar and Caleb are as adorable as ever and took great pleasure in beating up their uncle Trav. It also gave me a chance to shoot a ton of photos including landscapes, portraits, and sports. Iso 200, F/11.0, 1/750 sec, 20mm - 5 image HDR The first set that I have to share are high

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-33944394324840668502008-11-04T12:49:00.006-05:002008-11-04T13:28:38.759-05:00

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team-In-Training fundraising and training kickoff meeting for the Shamrock marathon/half-marathon is this Thursday night. I'm excited to report that we have already raised over $1000, more than half of the $1900 goal that we had set 2-weeks ago. The generosity and caring leaves me speechless! Special thanks to those joining the team recently including: Jill

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-45947587672491739122008-11-03T11:20:00.009-05:002008-11-03T21:35:21.895-05:00

Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of photographing two very nice families down at the VB oceanfront. They were a referral from Jill Beninato over at Sit.Stay.Smile Photography. Jill specializes in pet photography and digital art; so if you have a 4-legged critter at home, you will want to stop by her site for a visit.The families requested some journal style shots as well as the standard

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-9383912311527620302008-10-29T09:09:00.012-04:002008-10-29T23:02:32.094-04:00

On Sunday, I spent a couple of hours shooting photos of my friends Sarah and Richard's 4-month old twins. This was definitely a change from the haunting image I did a week ago!Iso 200, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/750 secHow on earth can something so small and seemingly immobile make you work that hard to keep up? As expected, most of the time one would be cranky and the other happy and then they would

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-9011281832023448282008-10-24T13:35:00.008-04:002008-10-24T14:10:18.700-04:00

I'm excited to say that I am embarking on one of the more important, maybe the most important, activities that I have committed to in my life. I have joined the Team In Training (TNT) for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). TNT was founded 20-years ago to raise money to help victims of blood cancers with the ultimate goal being to help find a cure. In exchange for training assistance for

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-17327553897349463392008-10-19T21:30:00.008-04:002008-10-20T10:09:21.602-04:00

Okay, I openly admit that this is one of the most disturbing photos that I have taken and to believe that it came on a day that I walked in a benefit for ALS survivors is almost as scary. The catalyst was the latest round of the Digital Grin competition series with the subject being the interpretation of a Edgar Allen Poe poem about a nightmarish dream. As soon as I read it, I formulated the the

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-19809061934885102212008-10-06T09:38:00.004-04:002008-10-06T09:49:11.409-04:00

Having botched Saturday evening’s shoot for a photo to enter in Digital Grin’s DSS 9 competition, I drove out late yesterday afternoon to Lynnhaven Inlet. The image that I was looking for was a silhouette of one of the local fisherman throwing a cast net backlit by the setting sun. First glitch occurred when I got down to the northern bank of the inlet, a place usually teaming with net fishermen,

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-475756529201826332008-10-05T16:28:00.007-04:002008-10-05T17:04:17.104-04:00

OMG, this is inevitable! You plan out a shoot as meticulously as you can. Every detail is scoped - time of day, direction of light, flash units, white balance, models, on and on and on. Then the time comes and everything falls apart.Iso 200, f/6.3, 1/60 sec, 62mm, Nikon SB900 + Vivitar 285HV for fillThe sun is setting on the opposite side of the field than you expected (oh yea, go check out the

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-21452663147867216102008-10-02T16:19:00.002-04:002008-10-02T16:28:13.292-04:00

Lately I have been reading complaints on various message boards about people downloading photos from the photographers’ websites and using them on their own personal websites. The main target of the rants has been kids downloading photos and posting them to their MySpace or Facebook pages. I didn’t really give it much thought until last night.ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/2500 sec, 112mmOver the weekend I

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-70077327648181908042008-09-29T14:09:00.010-04:002008-09-29T22:58:00.077-04:00

What an awesome weekend! Saturday morning I woke up early to meet some old friends down at 79th street and surf the product of hurricane Kyle that had passed far offshore on its way to New England. It was the first time that I had been in several years so looking into 5 – 8’ swells in a heavy downpour from the deck of a borrowed 8’2 egg was a little intimidating at first. I was late getting into

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-39799962277639833062008-09-24T20:38:00.007-04:002008-09-24T22:56:57.704-04:00

It is not often that I post twice in one day. Let's be honest, I have trouble posting 2 days in a row so it must be something worthwhile to get me to do so! Jeff Mann just posted a great article on his site regarding tips on taking senior portraits that I feel will be beneficial to photographers of all levels.Photo courtesy of JKMann Photography Jeff has perfected the art of the senior portrait

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-44047180245722099122008-09-24T13:11:00.004-04:002008-09-24T13:46:18.292-04:00

There are a multitude of resources dedicate to photography and post processing of images. As expected, the internet contains thousands of sites dedicated to the subject. You can find websites providing all you need to know about Holga Cameras to others on infrared photography. There are a few though that I visit almost daily and highly recommend to any photographer or digital artist for the

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-50505575849672222942008-09-22T11:18:00.005-04:002008-09-22T12:41:46.149-04:00

Iso 400, f/8.0, 1/1250 sec, 500mmYesterday I went out to Oceana Naval Air Station for the air show to shoot some photos. Arriving early, I was directed to a prime parking spot approximately 1 mile from the entrance. To be fair, they had shuttle buses running but it was a nice morning and I needed the exercise; so I loaded my Sigma 50-500mm lens bag onto my camera bag, grabbed my monopod, and

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-77651398790143339832008-09-17T22:09:00.004-04:002008-09-17T22:45:38.017-04:00

SplinteredIso 200, f/22.0, 28 mm, 3 image HDROne of the best photo contests in which I have competed is being conducted on Digital Grin. It started of as a weekly challenge series where participants were vying for bragging rights and minimal prizes. Last year it morphed into the Last Photographer Standing (LPS), a format based on the popular reality show "Last Comic Standing" where a weekly

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-843177461787582192008-09-11T15:18:00.010-04:002008-09-11T16:06:17.925-04:00

Iso 200, f/13, 65mm, 5 image HDR For the first time in ages, I decided to actually leave town during my vacation. Monday morning I drove up to meet my parents and my Uncle Earl and Aunt Diana's cottage in West Moreland State Park. It goes to show that even a short trip can lead to a new source of inspiration. Only 3 hours from VA Beach, WMSP is a world apart from our busy beach town.Iso 200, f

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-5418134234608404602008-09-06T11:19:00.012-04:002008-09-06T13:53:40.765-04:00

Iso 100, f/5.6, 1/100, 250mmAnybody who owns a camera has at some point taken a photo of fido or miss princess. Face it, our pets are often our favorite subjects. One they are readily available to pose on a moment's notice (well, except for mine - Mahala hates the camera) and two they are cute as as all get out (even the dog that won the ugliest dog contest!) I first entered into pet

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-27826130662714449972008-09-04T16:28:00.008-04:002008-09-05T08:29:30.189-04:00

People often suffer under the belief that in order to compete in an event, they must be a master in their field. This misconception is often used as a crutch to protect oneself from what we think will be a moment of public humiliation. Instead, we hide in our safe place where we are only judged in a controlled environment, not having to worry that we will be criticized.The misconception is often

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-7779574467582036952008-09-02T20:46:00.005-04:002008-09-03T12:35:16.134-04:00

4:00 Sunday morning, I crawled out of bed, slipped on my running gear, headed down to the Virginia Beach oceanfront for the 26th Annual Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon. Last year I was up before dawn to get in position to photograph the event. This year I was there to run. Why? A couple of reasons with the first being that everyone looked like they were having so much fun during last year's race. More

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-86880050717711814752008-08-29T21:36:00.000-04:002008-08-29T21:50:10.268-04:00

I would love to say that inspiration for images comes naturally to me but truth be told, I think all of us need a little push every now and then to extend ourselves beyond the boundaries that we unintentionally set for ourselves. There are several sources that I look to for inspiration and I'll post these on a regular basis. Here are a few to start. I hope you are awed as much as I am and they

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-60572366958471460942008-08-26T22:04:00.000-04:002008-08-29T21:47:33.480-04:00

Before heading down to the oceanfront this past weekend to photograph the East Coast Surfing Championships, I went through the usual ritual of checking my equipment and ensuring that I had everything that I needed. On a previous venture, I got burned when I got down to the beach and realized that I left all of my memory cards at home. There wasn't even one in the camera! I ended up making a

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002142927110021936.post-25522311369233334772008-08-25T12:21:00.001-04:002008-09-03T12:44:15.445-04:00

To say that I was looking forward to this year's East Coast Surfing Championships is an understatement to say the least. This the first chance that I have gotten to attend since I moved back to the area after being out of state for the last 13 years. It is amazing how much this event continues to grow. In addition to the pro/am surfing, there was a skate/bmx demos, pro/am volleyball, pro/am

Travis Owneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677433830718688550noreply@blogger.com3