Musical Weekend

A while back (months) some friends decided to have a musical weekend. The always wonderful Wine & Spirit played at the Altar Bar once again drawing a crowd. Free Candy also made their Pittsburgh debut the same night. They played two shows that weekend, one following Wine & Spirit at the Altar Bar and again at the Hard Rock Cafe two days later. They celebrated the occasion by giving away free candy as their name suggests they do. But apparently many people at the Hard Rock are not fans of candy, because the night ended with many pieces left.

So while at these small concerts I decided to break out my handy dandy camera and take some pictures. (Who's surprised?) There were many worthy shots and even a few videos. This was my first time trying to capture some videos with my Nikon D3100 and I learned a very important lesson, a tripod helps a ton. Unfortunately I don't have one, so I'll stick with still shots.

One thing that surprised me is the quality of the lighting at the Altar Bar. The stage is pretty evenly lit allowing for me to concentrate more on composition and less on worrying about whether the shot will require extensive post processing. The back of the stage is lit as much as the front even though it is under a quite large overhanging platform. I was even better than the Hard Rock's lighting.

More people from Slippery Rock attended these concerts than usual which isn't hard to do when there are two Slippery Rock bands playing. I even managed to catch up with a few friends. When not taking pictures, there was always someone to talk to. This needs to happen more often.

The Altar Bar

A few weekends ago I attended a concert at the Altar Bar in Pittsburgh and tested out my new 55-200mm lens. The wonderful band Wine & Spirit was playing along with several other local bands providing me with plenty opportunity for testing under various conditions.

I'm not quite used to how much it zooms in. All the cameras and lenses I've used in the past didn't even come close to the amount of magnification it performs. My least magnifying lens is 18mm. That's more than 10x magnification! It may seem insignificant to you but to someone like me who's only seen that amount of magnification in microscopes it is kind of a big deal.

The lens far exceeded my expectations for zoom. I was able to capture close-ups of the people at the back of the stage.

This was also the first time I need to switch lenses while on my feet. Things happen so quickly at the concerts that there is no time to return to my camera bag to swich lenses. I was nervous through the whole procedure. I kept my other lens in a small bag over my shoulder so I wouldn't need to carry my big camera bag. When the time came to switch, I brought the small bag to my front and opened it. Once there I switched the lenses and put the bag back behind me. All this while being careful nobody walked into me, it is a bar after all.

Braddock

About a week ago was the first SRU Braddock Care Break of the year. Just like all prior care breaks to Braddock, we performed various tasks in Braddock, North Braddock, and Turtle Creek (not crick). Some of those tasks were picking up litter, painting, helping at the local food bank, and cleaning up the library. Even though individually they may seem insignificant compared to the larger community, it is by these small steps that the communities and residents benefit.



This year held particular significance for me. See, this was my first care break as an alum. You might be asking why I would attend an event organized for students. The answer is simple, it's a worthy cause. Braddock is one of the most run-down and impoverished communities perhaps in the nation. It wasn't always that way and there are people who want to see it return to its former glory. I met some of those people the first time I attend a Braddock care break. Seeing their dedication made me realize how bad things can be even a few miles from my home.



Last year I missed an opportunity to attend one of these care breaks. Coming back this year reminded me of how my work makes a difference in the community. Its something everyone should experience. If you have a chance to volunteer in your or any community, don't pass it up. Your work will be appreciated potentially more than any you've ever done.

Not Much New Here

I recently purchased a new camera (Nikon D3100) and wanted to shoot some victims people with it. Wine & Spirit presented me with the first opportunity with their little concert at Garfield Artworks with Verona Red and Atlas. And it was an excellent opportunity to test how the camera performs in low light. The artworks had only one light directed toward the stage. In the photo above you can see it shining on the left side of the image. Plus it didn't help that all the walls and ceiling were stark white creating a poor background. Needless to say I didn't get many shots I consider worthy of public viewing.

More importantly I heard and met a wonderful new band! Verona Red played songs which I didn't want to end. All of their songs impressed me, which is quite an accomplishment. You should listen to them on their myspace page. They also had some of the coolest merchandise I've seen in a while. If you didn't attend the concert you really missed out. The band has local ties so there's a good chance they'll return in the future for you to see and hear.

Focusing

Wow, three months since last time. That can't be good. I have to check facebook and twitter to remember everything since then.

In late October I visited SRU for homecoming. Every year, my photos of homecoming are technically nice but lacking compositionally. This year was no different. The weather is usually overcast giving soft shadows and pleasant textures. But there always seems to be something in the frame which I don't want.



The success of my homecoming photos motivated me to once again participate in Project 365. I loved the first year doing it and learned a lot about photography. This time, I will be trying to do the same, but with more enthusiasm. It's been a lackluster beginning, but I expect to improve shortly. This year's phots can be found in my Take 2 set.

In other news...

I recently began messing around with Unity. For someone who's worked almost exclusively in 2D it is a bit daunting to add the third dimension. Right now I'm still going through tutorials and such. If you know of any good resources please let me know about them in the comments. So far the most difficult part is understanding the choices of the makers of the tutorials. The engine is capable of primarily running two languages, JavaScript and C#. For some odd reason the developers chose to write everything in JavaScript. I understand how it makes the engine more approachable, but JavaScript leaves too many questions unanswered.

If that last paragraph interests you, you will be glad to know I started a new blog focusing exclusively on my software engineering antics. it is very young and my experience with technical writing is limited to the few papers from my computer science classes. Give it time, I very much want to make it succeed. Check it out at brianturner.info.

Time to go prepare for the AFC Championship. GO STEELERS!