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pete collins
Illustrated guide to photography

Here is the class I have put together to illustrate how photography works. It was first shown at Photoshop World 2015 in Las Vegas

Illustrated guide to photography

2021 Regions Tradition / Rick and Bubba Show

After a year off due to Covid, the Regions Tradition Golf tournament is back and today was the Celebrity Pro/Am. Had a great time with the Rick and Bubba show and the gang. Then it was tee time and I was able to walk the course with Bubba, Charles Barkley, Bo Jackson, David Toms, and new Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin. Coach Harsin was a delight, Bo was a rock, Bubba was a smooth criminal and Charles Barkley was in top form… both with his gregarious nature and no hitch in his swing. He played really well and only said something inappropriate once a hole... my kind of guy! This group was a joy to photograph and these are only a glimpse of the time/fun that was had.

Musicians Hall of Fame: Nashville Oct 2019

So my good buddy Royce DeGrie invited me to shoot the Musicians Hall of Fame with him. It was such a great time to be with him and being right in the middle of all of these legendary musicians. The folks both on-stage and running things behind the scenes were a joy to be with… everyone simply loved the music that was being played and honored and there was such a sense of fun and mutual appreciation. If you are ever in Nashville, make sure to visit the Musicians Hall of Fame Museum. I have quite a few projects going on right now, so my plans to write several installments about my time and some tips/techniques I used is not my top priority. So I will give one key tip… if you get a chance to shoot the rehearsals and you have all access… position yourself between the sound booth/engineer and the artists. You will end up being able to get some fun/unique shots as they tend to spend a lot of time looking in your direction while getting the sound dialed in.Most all of these are straight out of the camera and there are just too many to choose from, so I am just posting what pops out right now, or I will never get any of these up. :D

Enjoy the pics.

2019 Regions Golf

So the week I resigned from a pretty crummy job, while waiting for my paperwork to clear for my new job, the Regions Golf tourney came around again. I decided to forego carrying all my big gear and go with my travel Canon G3x with a 24-600mm zoom. Reason: Testing the practicality of this type of system will also reducing weight and not fiddling with multiple lenses.

Pros:

Weight savings: Wonderful, a lot less tired walking 18 holes in almost 90 degree sunshine.

Big zoom: goes up to 600mm

Silent: Great to shoot during the swing or anytime and not disturb. (Side note: images not as exciting without the ball flying… so less of a plus than you would think.)

Pivoting LCD: Great for all angle shots. Less strain on back to get down low. Shoot over heads. (Wish all cameras had this, but I understand the pros and cons as far as feasibility and things like waterproofing)

Image quality: More than enough for daytime golf shooting

Cons:

Slow: Since it uses the LCD screen as viewfinder… Battery drains quickly unless you constantly turn it off, but that leads to missed shots in the time it takes to turn on.

Slow: Auto focus just takes time and sometimes hunts and fades at that crucial moment

Slow: zoom is by a toggle/motordriven. Not the fastest to get from 24mm to 600mm. Can miss action

Did I mention slow: Frame rate ridiculous. Click: wait, wait, almost there, Click.

Bottom line: I wasn’t shooting for anything beyond a few pics for a website and my own fun, and I know that the camera I used is getting older and not purpose built for what I was doing… but sometimes the challenge can make it fun. This time it was just too frustrating… I would not do it again. I was able to work out the timing factor as the day went on, but after shooting with the Canon 1DX or the 7d II with their lighting fast reactions, this was just too painful. So I will endure the pain and always take the bigger gear, because at the end of the day I would rather be tired and have shots that make me smile rather than have more energy and be bummed by the shots that got away.

Nothing shocking and controversial here… just an interesting side experiment.

Playing around

Lots of stuff going on, but I have neglected to post anything for quite sometime. Here are some images I made playing around with some objects that I have lying (laying?) around the house just for fun.

I found this Marvel piece in the dirt and I found out what it was a while back, but have since forgotten. Make up your own story.

I found this Marvel piece in the dirt and I found out what it was a while back, but have since forgotten. Make up your own story.

Seeing what I could do with a cheap lure and some rusty metal. Like the combo.

Seeing what I could do with a cheap lure and some rusty metal. Like the combo.

Shot these with my 24-70mm. Still missing my broken 70-200.

Shot these with my 24-70mm. Still missing my broken 70-200.

Older lure, not photoshopped onto background, even though it kinda looks like it. Shot in basement studio one evening while messing around.

Older lure, not photoshopped onto background, even though it kinda looks like it. Shot in basement studio one evening while messing around.

Alabama Cross Country State Finals

Great year for Westminster... State Champs for both guys and girls teams! My two boys did great, Nate came in 2nd with his personal best for the year, and Daniel who has been injured blew away his perceived time to come in 18th overall and help the team with the gold. Here are some shots from the race. Feel free to download and keep any of the images. The team photos down by the lake got over-exposed due to my forgetting to change settings from the ceremony, so they are a little blown out. You can see where I realized my mistake, and the pictures return to normal exposure. Hope you enjoy.

Cross Country races

Proof of life :D

I am finally able to poke my head up out of the cave that has been my dwelling place for the last several months. My health has finally gotten better and I am getting back into the swing of things. I am still on the job hunt, but have had several interviews so hopefully something will break my way. 

Here is just a random image I am working on. I have been trying to improve my hand lettering skills, and of course adding my Pete touch. Hope you guys are doing well.

Westminster basketball

Here are some shots from the Westminster boys basketball game. Image sizes around 1000 pixels... contact me via my link on the bottom left of the page if you want a larger size.

Westminster basketball game

Was able to shoot the girls basketball team tonight... parents feel free to Click into the pictures and then Right Click and save any of the images. These images are around 1000 pixels long, if you would like larger files just let me know by using my contact link on the bottom left-hand side and tell me which number(s) you would like. Start numbering from the top left and work your way down... :D Hope that makes sense. Or you could just describe the image. Maybe if I do more of these I will number them. :D

First update of the unemployed...

Just a quick update to let you know what is going on.

Well folks, this last Friday was my last official day with KelbyOne, and I am working on a few personal projects that I hope will grow into something more permanent, but I thought I would let you see a couple of things that I am working on. Phototactics.com is a domain that I own and am going to develop for photo-training and inspiration... but it is still in the "Boy that sounds great, but how do I do it?" phase.

Meanwhile, I am working on my Kid's guide to Photography book. It will be a simple, easy to understand guide for kids or adults to understand how to take better pictures. It will be completely illustrated by me, by hand. Here is one illustration from the book. I am working on ISO at the moment. I was scheduled to produce this book with Kelby, but it was put on the back burner for other books, and now I am shopping around for a publisher... I have one in particular that I am leaning towards, but I want to have a good sample of the book done before I approach them.

I am talking to a few companies about doing some training with them on a freelance basis, and if you are of the praying kind... would love some prayer for where this could lead. We are obviously trying to figure out the best route in light of finances and insurance.
Speaking of health, nothing new to report at this time as far as my Thyroid... will find out more in a little bit, but my last check up showed improvement which is always a good thing.
Thank you so much for signing up for this newsletter, it really means a lot to have some folks that care, and I hope that this letter finds you well.

Sense of Wonder Kids Portrait workshop Tampa

Great workshop here in Tampa... and then immediately off to Vegas for WPPI, so no time to edit and blog about the time. This is the first smattering of images from the workshop. I ended up doing more facilitating the attendees than shooting for myself, so I have a limited number of images and tended to have more of a couple of the girls over the others. I wish I had more camera time, but the goal was to give the folks who came the most opportunities to shoot and grow and that was accomplished. Here are a few of the shots from the first evening at Old McMickey's farm. Details of the shoot below.

Sense of Wonder Workshop
Concept Brooke Logue Photography
Styling ‪#‎LeslieSchor‬
Wardrobe ‪#‎TheMerryLoveJoyCompany‬
Ava wearing ‪#‎TheStripedFigClothing‬ at the barn shoot
‪#‎senseofwonder‬ ‪

Pushing Pixels

Here is a quick composite I did for the friendly competition that I hold over at KelbyOne.com for out members. I had already combined the Gazelle and the snail earlier and that was the starting image I had them play with. I thought I would join in. I am pretty happy with it... I may do some more to it... primarily adding to the mossy area... but I am going to let it sit for a bit. Hope you like it.

Return of the Gaznail

Return of the Gaznail