BrianHursey.com

Im march a non-profit organization contacted me requesting use of my
pictures in their magazine.  The group is IAPMO (International
Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials) they are having a
conference in Atlanta in September/October.  The released this
magazine to I think all of the members of the international group.
They have listed four of my photos located at  Page 2 upper left hand
corner, Page 3 left two photos, and page 4 bottom photo. I am excited
that I have finally been published on print. Just wanted to share it
with you all.

You can download the article at
http://brianhursey.com/files/drought_article.pdf You need adobe reader
to view it.  You can download the reader at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/ however most people already
have it.

Well the last week was fun. Last week I when to Panama City with Katrina’s family. I was the only man on the trip. However who cares it is Florida and it almost cost us nothing for a week rooms in a rented house.  I had fun taking pictures and eating and lying on the beach in the morning.  I messed around with some long exposure sun set photos. I really enjoyed doing this. I mainly used a tripod and shot three separate exposures. See bellow

What I really like about vacations is the food. It is nice being able to go out to eat every night and try place you have not eating before. I have some suggestions for people who go down to panama city

-Boon Docks:

-Bayou Bills Crab House

I had some fun messing with photography. I decided to try and shoot sun sets I read that you can set your camera at f22 to take the photo. I did this and I noticed something on the results of the photos. My sensor was dirty. Now I have to find some sensor cleaners.

I am trying to get ready for a wedding I need to shoot next June.  Friends weddings and family events are always good practices. I have gone from a person who uses as wide open of an aperture as possible to a person who tries to decide on what aperture to shoot depending of the situation. My lessons have included shooting at a wide open apiture with natural light at a wedding reception. This has changed into a shooting less of a wide apiture with a flash at weddings. This allows me to have a wider focal range. This way if I am taking a picture of two subjects I will be able to keep both in focus because of DOF. It did not seem to big of an issue with my 50mm 1.8 lenses however when I got to 85mm it became more of an issue. So its a win lose situation. I don't use natural light however I don't have as many DOF issues with subjects. 

 The next issue I have discovered. Well I have known I need this for a while. However I was never planning on taking pictures at weddings.  So I invested in some good fixed focal length lens. My 85mm f 1.8 for portraits and my 50mm 1.8 lens.  The problem is that you do not have the flexibility you would have with a variable lens So what I need to do is get a variable lens so I can have the flexibility I want. What I am looking at right now is a  SigmaZoom Wide Angle-Telephoto 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG . This should give me the flexibility I need. To gather the shots I want. 

List of equipment I would like to get before next summer:

1.  SigmaZoom Wide Angle-Telephoto 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG .

2. Canon430EX Speedlite E-TTL II

3. Replacement 50mm 1.8 lenses - Autofocus does not work any more on my old one.  

 Here are some shots that I took at the past two weddings I was at.

You see I have started using raw photos instead of jpegs. The reason I do this is because I like having the ability to fully manipulate files if I need to. This allows me to be able to recover issues cause by over exposure or under exposure that you can not recover with jpegs.

One issue I have been having is that the open source tools that I use do not read canons raw format correctly. I always have to manually adjust color and exposure each time. This normally takes me 5-10 min a picture to adjust where I want it. To me it seems what is the point of manually using a white balancer and filters if I never have the pictures look the way I have taken them.

So I have found a work flow that keeps the color and exposure. I have found that if I export useing to *.tif useing canons "Digital Photo Professional" after that I open it up in my raw photo editor of my choice. That tool is rawtherapee.

Jpeg generated from Canon's Proprietary software to use as a baseline test:

Rawtherapee *cr2 unchanged conversion: (note the color difference in the from the baseline)

New work flow export to tif then open with rawtherapee: (note the color matches to jpeg created with canons software)

Well I have been waiting to get my film from my Canon A-1 Film SLR camera developed.  This camera was released in 1978 and my mom bought one and used it through my childhood. When I started becoming interested she gave me the camera. Some people ask Brian why do you like shooting film.  I get greater satisfaction out of how my photos turn out with film vs digital. My main camera will still be my Canon 350d EOS DLSR however I still want to shoot film for scenery architecture and portraits.  With film you have to know what you are doing to get your photo. I know because the majority of the photos that I took did not turnout the way I wanted them to do. When a photo turns out it I get a greater joy and satisfaction out of the photo.  

This is why I am going to continue my photography adventures with my Canon A-1 and continue to take pictures. My next project is going to be black and white architecture pictures.  I am going to search for some moderately inexpensive but good B& W film. From what I have been reading film B&W in most cases still has a better result with film.  I originally was going to get my film developed and have prints done and then I was going to scan the 4×6 photos into my computer. However after reading I can just get the film processed negatives from target for $1  and I can add a target cd that has 1500×1000 jpegs on it for only $1.99. The target cd has a better resolution of photos than the $3.99 kodak cd. See some of the photos I took with the A-1 bellow.

Well I have always wanted to try and capture sports photography. Most of the churches players in the team are in my bible fellowship class. So it has been like a get together each game. I have been trying to catch action shots of the games. I have been using my 85mm f1.8 to take most of the photos and it has been going well. So what do you all think?

I found this really cool tip, I have had issues with using the built in flash. The reason I have always had issues was because of the harsh light produced. I have always liked using natural light so that the photo is not washed out. This is the reason I have two lenses that are at f1.8, my 50mm and my 85mm ,and I do not have the money to get the canon flash that I want.  The problem with having the aperture wide open is that you have a really shallow focal range. This is not good when photographing events with two subjects, one normally is out of focus. This is great for single person portrait photography, but not for events. I found that f2.8 is a good range when taken pictures of multiple people, and in that case for indoors you really need a flash.  Anyways I am ranting lets get down to making a diffuser.

 Supplies:

1. Camera with a popup flash Examples: (Canon 20D or XT,  any Nikon SLR)
2. You need a white plastic film canister. I use Fujifilm 400iso for my film slr so this will work. "Ohhh no I haven't shot film in years"  Sometimes photo labs have some extras laying around. Next time you get photos ask nicely and maybe they will give you one. 
3. Ruler 
4. X-acto Knife

First of all measure the width of the plastic on the side of your flash… Its ok to have it to small you can go back and trim.. Notch it with the measurement and then cut. Take you time X-acto Knifes are sharp. :)  I have cut my self a few times in my life.

Second slide the canister on the flash. If it is to snug trim a little so the cap will fit on, you want the canister to keep its original shape.  Note: I had to Notch out the inside of the cap the same width of my cut before to have the cap stay on. You always can use clear tape to hold the cap on.

Finally go out and shoot. With the diffuser it reduces washout and harsh light and shadows and warms the picture. 

 One tip I would recommend adjusting your exposure by at least one stop to compensate. Tip from John Wallom

Without Diffuser: 0 exposure

With Diffuser: +1 exposure

Idea found at: http://photojojo.com/content/diy/diy-film-container-flash-diffuser/

I hope everyone had a good easter. Katrina and I went down to visit family in Carroll county. It is always nice seeing every one.  We first went to our old church and went to the easter service.  It was very nice seeing everyone.  After that we ate lunch at Katrina's parents house, and got to watch my niece egg hunt. It was funny because some of the eggs did not have candy in them she would open them up see if there was candy in them then drop the ones that did not have candy on the ground. We had her pick them up and I put pennies in them for her.  I got to use my new 85mm lens. I really enjoy using this lens. We went to my moms after that and had a nice home cooked meal and got to visit. It is always nice getting to see her. BTW I love meatloaf…

This is a serious subject, but one I think about all the time. I have Cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) it is defined as a malformed collection of blood vessels within the brain, characterized by tangle(s) of veins and arteries. Why is this a bad thing you may ask?  Well, over time the integrity of my blood vessels in my brain decreases. This can cause sort of like bubbles in the week spots. These can burst causing aneurysms. This can very easily kill me, or severely damage my brain.  I know it is scary but it was a realization that I had to find out at thirteen years old, that is when they discovered my AVM.  

You see I have epilepsy, I had my first seizure when I was 7 years old on a trip to my grandparents in Louisiana. I had a seizure and went face down right into my pizza. They originally thought that I had meningitis. However they never found any evidence of that.  I remember having the worst headache of my life while driving to my family’s house. Next thing we stopped at pizza hut in Montgomery and I remember watching mtv on a big screen. Next thing I knew it felt like some one was grabbing my head and shoving it towards the floor. It is a very weird feeling. I woke up with every one crying and looking very worried. It is interesting. It sounds like you are listening through a sea shell when you wake up. Hearing is slowly regained.  You wake up not knowing where you are and scared. It is a very helpless feeling. I spent the next 4 days in the hospital undergoing tests and I got to use one of the first MRI’s…. It was new technology then. Well I think I have had a total of 7 grand mall seizures I think they call them something else now days. I have more not as sever seizures in my life. This can include loss of time, to just seeing stars..  Well MRI’s slowly got better and better over the years. When I was 13 they saw white spots on my results. At first they thought it was tumors.. Ya 13 years old and you might have brain tomors. Kind of scary… Well they sent me to Gwinnet medical center to get an angio gram.  They then discovered that I have a AVM.  The interesting thing is, now this is not 100% proven, but when I was a child I was slow development wise.  Then all through school I had sever learning disabilities. This includes dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADD or some people call it ADHD… I was a very hyper child. So I struggled all the way through school. People told me I would never graduate high school. Now I am a college graduate and I do unix support with EMC corp.  Well school was the hardest thing I have ever done, but with the support of family and friends I was able to succeed. So I think this covers most of the history behind my disorder. I might have missed something. However everything most likely revolves around my avm.

What made me think to write this post is I get head aches all of the time and the scare me.  Headaches for normal people are just a nuisance. However for me if I get headaches in the left back of my head that scares the crap out of me. This morning I was on my way to work and I felt a couple pulses of sharp pain from that area. The problem is I don’t know when it is severe enough to go to the hospital. I am not a big judge of that. I don’t like the doctor and I never have.  So its constantly a worry of mine and Katrina’s. I love my wife and I hope I never have a issue that she would have to go through with me.  

I also worry about treatment. You see it is a rare disorder AVM-afflicted people in the United States range from 0.1% to 0.001%, and there is only one place in Atlanta that can treat me.  The scary thing is to try and relay that information to the hospital when I get there. I may be completely out of commission. Emory hospital is the only place that can treat me. Ok now for the gross part they will have to drill a hole in my head to release pressure. Then they will need to life flight me to Emory and do angio procedure to send a catheter into my brain to cauterize or block the leak.  I am afraid that some dr at the local hospital will not know this and try to do brain surgery on me. This will probably kill me because you can not get to it that way.  So if any of my friends are reading this. If this does happen I need to be life flown to Emory.

So there it is my AVM post that I have never written. Hope I did not scare any of my family and friends. Its better to understand and accept the issue instead of hiding it. I know I will go to haven to be with Jesus. I just don’t want to leave my wife and family.

 PS: Ohh forgot one thing.. My seizures are under control by using Lamictal... 

Well we has some super cells came through the aria. They were lined up like a train cars, two of them came through oakwood ga producing winds, hail, and torrential rain that caused localized flooding of streets. The first cell me and my dog were in the bathroom under the stairs. We heard hail and banging for 4 min and than came out.  The second cell about 20 -40 min later, I got locked out of my house and truck when the second cell came through the area. My wife talked me into trying to make it 1 mile down the road to a friends basement where she was.  So I grabbed my dog and in a big hurry to get out of the door and make it to that house in 6 min. I locked my self out of the house and out of the car. So with my dog in the car and my self locked out I only could seek refuge in the garage. I left the door open so I could keep a eye of my dog and my car. Wore a hard back "Unix Network Programing" book as a hat and prayed. I knew the book would come in handy one day.  It was a very intense rainfall and hail storm.  I did get quite worried because channel 2 was piloting a coarse of a tornado towards the general direction of my neighborhood.   So I survived, scared my wife to death when she heard me in the garage and not able to into the house. 

I have always been fascinated by severe storms.  I knew I should not of left. I did not feel safe with out a basement.  Moral of the story is do not leave your house in storms. 

 CNN saw my pictures I submitted and selected them for CNN. They called me and asked me if they could use them I agreed. I dont know where they put them. Here are the links and the photos I submitted. 

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-4035

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-4034

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-4033 

First Super cell:

Second Super Cell:(Stuck in garage)