Perez Studios

I have been pretty busy and haven’t had a chance to post on the blog.  Things have been crazy.  I tried applying for a job closer to home but didn’t have much luck with that!  I will have to keep trying.  I have a couple of things that are on my plate at the moment.  I had a wedding Saturday that I did and plan to upload some photos from that just as soon as I can.  Last week I went on a field trip with my daughter’s class to Columbia in California.  It was a nice place and a lot of history.  I heard the teachers say how glad they were the weather was cooler than it usually is because it could have gotten hot. 

Here is a photo of the old school house at the top of the hill.  I threw it in Photoshop to add some effects to it.  I had this other shot in mind but there were some people in the way and the rest of our group was leaving me behind. 

That all for today.  Thanks for reading.

Manuel Perez

I finally got my new camera.  I thought it was time to purchase a new camera and after shopping around and looking for the best performance for the best price, I went with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II.  The camera shoots great.  At 21.1 Megapixels the quality is amazing.  After charging up the battery for it yesterday when I got home from work, I hooked up the 28-135mm lens and the 580EX Flash to it and fired up a couple of shots to experiment with the Live View function.  I still have a lot to learn on it.  I was originally using the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, which was only 8.2 Megapixels.  This is a big jump for me, not only in quality but in price.  I originally paid $499 for my Rebel XT back when I bought it in 2005 or so.  I bought it off of this one website that is no longer up and running.  Back then that was a steal for the Rebel.  I had to get the 5D off of eBay for about $2000.  I bought it new, because I just don’t think I would ever buy anything used again over my years of experience on eBay and in real life. 

I plan on taking it with me to the Fresno State graduation this Saturday to see my wife’s cousin graduate.  I hope the test shots are great.

Thanks for reading!

Manuel Perez

I got to join the Firebaugh Police Department last Saturday to experience them shooting to qualify on the gun range.  I must say it was an interesting experience.  I had the Sgt. come by the day before and ask if I would be interested in taking the photos for the officers and the cadets.  I told him I would be glad to.  I arrived at the range and saw how the police officers turn up the heat with their 9mm handguns, AR-15’s and shotguns.  It was interesting. 

I am working with the Sgt. to get some photo release forms so I can post some more photos up here to see but for now this isa ll I can share.

Thanks for reading.

Manuel Perez

I finally finished ordering all the photos for Cal Ripken Baseball Saturday.  They should be here soon.  Once they arrive we will sort through them and put them together according to who ordered what and put them into envelopes.  We plan on delivering them on the day of the awards ceremony for the program.  We will be having a booth setup with all the envelopes and photos and we will also have some other items to display. 

Now that the photos are done we still have a couple of projects planned.   I got to join the Firebaugh Police Department Saturday for a barbeque and watching them qualify on the pistol range.  It was interesting and I plan on posting some of the photos on here tomorrow.  We also have a wedding planned for later on in May which is going to be great and I cant wait to see the happy couple at the altar. 

Now that all the photos are backed up I am now ready to make use of those 4 Seagate 1.5TB drives to configure them as a RAID 5.  The problem was that the motherboard I bought didn’t support a RAID 5 and Vista doesn’t support a RAID 5 without a separate controller so I went out and bought one.  It cost me about $112 on eBay but its worth it if you plan on having a lot of storage and redundancy.  The whole purpose of the RAID 5 is to have three or more hard drives act as one big drive giving you speed and redundancy.  If one drive fails then you quickly swap that drive out with another and it rebuilds itself keeping your data safe and secure.  I started the RAID 5 initialization on Sunday and it said it was going to take about 33 hours to initialize all the drives and give me a total of 4.5TB.  Now, my C drive or my OS drive is on a Seagate 1.0TB drive which I plan on using the RAID for keeping backups of the C drive along with my photos and downloads. 

That’s all for today.  Thanks for reading.

Manuel Perez

Today I have the privilege of interviewing the amazing talented Jill Carmel.  Jill, I really want to thank you on behalf of myself and all the readers out there for doing the interview. 

Perez Studios: When did you decide to become a photographer?
Jill Carmel: I decided to become a photographer when I was 19 and had to choose between becoming a scientist or an artist.
Perez Studios: What does photography mean to you?
Jill Carmel: I believe artists have place in this world – to make it a better place to be through aesthetics or to raise awareness. For me, I’ve found that I can make people lives better and put smiles on their faces through my work.
Perez Studios: How technical is your photography?
Jill Carmel: It is very technical, but I’ve been doing it so long now (nine years) that everything comes almost automatically at this point. I’ve got my technique really dialed in for the look that I love.
Perez Studios: How do you feel about cropping?
Jill Carmel: Cropping is a lot of fun and can completely change an image based on where you want to draw the eye.
Perez Studios: Define the word "beauty"!
Jill Carmel: For me, beauty is that quality that makes you lose yourself for a moment in how good something makes you feel.
Perez Studios: How does your personality change when you look through the camera?
Jill Carmel: Something in me clicks on and I am completely concentrated on what I’m photographing.  I lose myself in the moment and forget about everything other than the subject in front of me.
Perez Studios: Who are your influences?
Jill Carmel: There are too many to mention. I gather inspiration from other photographers, magazine, clothing catalogues, design blogs, people, nature…if I see it and it makes something in my head click, I go with it.

Perez Studios: What are the biggest personal or professional challenges you face on a daily basis?
Jill Carmel: Always being better than yesterday.
Perez Studios: What has been the single biggest obstacle against growing as a photographer in whole? Jill Carmel: Fighting my own fears, but this is also the most exciting part about being an artist.
Perez Studios: What are your favorite subjects to photograph?
Jill Carmel: People
Perez Studios: Do you ever have photographer’s block and if yes how do you deal with it?
Jill Carmel: I look around me on the web, outside, in magazines until something catches my eye and I try to recreate it. By the time I’m done “recreating” it, it’s usually turned into something completely different from the original thing that I saw.
Perez Studios: What types of assignments are you attracted most?
Jill Carmel: Ones with love and interaction. My favorite moments are the “in-between” moments.
Perez Studios: Do you think of yourself as an artist and what do you think of the word artist?
Jill Carmel: Yes. An artist is someone who works to uplift the society through aesthetics.
Perez Studios: How do you describe your photographic style?
Jill Carmel: Fresh, bright, simple and intimate.
Perez Studios: What has been the most surprising or most predictable reaction to your photographs?
Jill Carmel: Crying…

Perez Studios: What would you have done differently during your photography career so far and could this be an advice to others?
Jill Carmel: I would have had more confidence in myself in the beginning.
Perez Studios: What are your thoughts on the paparazzi and their effects on photographers and photography?
Jill Carmel: They are not artists (per my own definition) so they are not relevant to the world of the art of photography.
Perez Studios: How do you feel about digital manipulation and to what extent do you utilize it? Jill Carmel: I think it’s wonderful because straight out of the camera images do not represent what I see out of my own eyes. I use Photoshop in such a way as to bring pictures back up to what I with my own eyes.
Perez Studios: What other thoughts would you like to share?
Jill Carmel: The more artists there are in this world, the better and I whole-heartedly admire anyone who has the courage to embrace the artist inside of them.

Visit Jill Carmel’s websites:

http://www.jillcarmel.com

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sacramento-CA/Jill-Carmel-Photography/115606608078

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jillcarmel

Blog: http://jillcarmel.typepad.com