Judgement Day

On August 29th two of my amazing friends Tee and Kelly got married in glorious fashion on the beach of Lake Tahoe.

For those of you who are wondering why I named this posting "Judgement Day"...Think about it, Terminator 2 Judgement Day...August 29th...Get it? Well the friends and family at the wedding sure did when the beautiful bride Tee walked down the aisle to the Terminator theme song which was an awesome touch to a great ceremony.

Our good friend Spencer lead the ceremony and many of Tee and Kelly's family members took part in the ceremony as well.

I was honored to be able to capture their special day from the lens of my camera(s). Below are a few of the photos I took on their special day.













Congratulations Tee and Kelly Dow!!!

If you would like to see more photos please visit my Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidduffy/

Track Days

I know it's been awhile since my last post, so first and foremost I would like to thank my friend Tyson for inviting me to this event yesterday because who knows how long it would of been before I'd use my gear.

This weekend at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno there was an autocross event in the main parking lot (where they normally have RVs for sale). There was also a big car show going on but paying $20 to look at other people's cars didn't seem like that much fun to me.

The autocross event was a new experience for me. It was really cool to see the different types of cars used for this kind of racing. It is a lot different than your normal drag racing and you really have to know how to drive your car to compete well in an event like this.

Below are a few photos I took at the event.











Hopefully I'll be updating this more often. So until next time...

-dave

St. Patty's in Monterey

Well actually in Watsonville, CA. My wife and I went down to the beach for the week of St. Patty's to clear our heads and to take a break from school and work. This certainly wasn't a photography trip but I bring my gear anywhere I go just in case something worth taking a photo of pops up.

So on the 2nd night there we had a new moon which means that there is very little light in the sky which allows the stars to shine bright. So I went to set up my gear for a star trails shot and then I realized that I didn't pack my tripod...That is almost as important as bringing the camera when doing star trails. So I figured what the hell and rested the camera on the rail of the deck over looking the ocean. The wind was blowing pretty hard that night so I actually ended up taping the camera to the rail to make sure it didn't fall off, which would of been bad because its at least a 30 foot drop off of the deck.

Below is the photo that I ended up with. The lights to the right are small planes that were flying over the ocean for the hour that this shot took to complete.



So let me know what you think. Hopefully I'll be updating this more often now that spring/summer is here and I'll being out shooting more.

Until next time...

Head shots and what not

So this weekend I had the pleasure of shooting some head shots for a friend of a friend named Teresa, although I would now consider Teresa a friend of mine as well. Teresa was in town for a few day from LA and needed some head shots taken so I was more than happy to help her out.

I appreciated the fact that Teresa asked me to do these for her because with winter being here I haven't done much photography at all and really needed to get the gear out again and shoot.

This was the first time I was able to use the studio my friend Mr. Sibley and I setup in his new place which worked out really well.

Below are a few of the photos I shot this weekend. Again I would like to thank Teresa for making me get my gear out and shoot again. Don't forget who did your first head shots when your a big time actress in LA!






Please let me know what you think. Comments are always appreciated. To see more of my photos please go to my Flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidduffy/

Until next time...

On a cold November evening...

Last night I decided to head out around 8:00pm to try and get a decent star trails photo because the moon was almost non-existent. My plan was try to go out to Washoe Lake but as I was on the freeway I decided to stay on I-80 and head west.

I ended up at the Floriston exit a few miles before Truckee. There are these big tunnels you need to go through to make your way up the mountain. So after exploring my options I picked out a spot. I didn't realize how close I was to the train tracks though, so it was a interesting experience having a train sneak up on you in the middle of the woods when it's practically pitch black outside.

But once the train passed by I setup my equipment. The end result consisted of roughly 45 minutes worth of 30 second exposures. The exception to that was this photo I captured of a car driving through the tunnel. I didn't include it in the star trails stacking because it would of thrown off the exposure way too much. But by itself it is an interesting photo.



So excluding the above photo, this is the star trails photo I captured.



Also I decided to turn my photos into a small AVI file which you can view at http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidduffy/3069727703/.

Please let me know what you think. Comments are always appriciated. To see more of my photos please go to my Flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidduffy/.

Until next time...
Mr. Dizzel

Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos or "Day of the Dead" is a holiday that celebrates friends and family members that have passed away. This is the second year I have attended the San Francisco Dia de los Muertos celebration and this year was no less amazing than the last. This year was the 30th anniversary of the San Francisco celebration so the mayor officially named November 2nd as Dia de los Muertos day in SF which was a cool thing to be apart of.

I started my solo mission to SF on November 1st. It was raining when I left Reno and continued to rain until I showed up at my Aunt's house in Menlo Park. At this point I was crossing my fingers that it wasn't going to rain during the celebration.

As I passed over the Bay Bridge I took this photo.



Once I made it to Menlo Park I was able to spend some time with my Aunt and Uncle which was nice because I don't get to see them as often as I'd like.

The next morning the weather had cleared up and I headed down to Height street to meet up with my good friends Jason and Linda. We ended up just hanging around Height street for a few hours. I picked up a new pair of kicks and we had some pizza from Escape from New York.

Once we were done on Height it was about time to head down to the celebration so we parked at a BART station south of SF and took the BART down to Mission.

The celebration started at the corner of 18th and Bryant street and circles around the block and ends at Garfield Park were all of the community alters are placed.

Right before the celebration started our good friends Tee and Kelly showed up and we all walked to parade together.

Here are some photos from the parade and the alters.













If you would like to see more Dia de los Muertos photos please check them out at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidduffy/sets/72157608634346014/

Candy apples and razor blades

Two of my favorite holidays have recently passed, Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos. My wife Alana and I were married on Halloween and this year marked our 4 year anniversary. This year to celebrate we had a Halloween / Anniversary party which ended up being a very good time. Many of our friends new and old showed up to help us celebrate. I set up a mini studio in the garage to try and capture some "professional" looking Halloween photos. Here are a few that I took.











Thank you to everyone that helped us celebrate four amazing years together!



If you would like to see more of the Halloween photos please go to.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidduffy/sets/72157608633183112/