Hutch Graphics Blog

Sports Links

I've had a busy Spring shooting some sports . . .ie, Soccer, Baseball and some Lacrosse.  I'm posting 18 different event links below. To view the galleries simply click on the links you wish to view:

Penn Manor Girls Varsity Lacrosse vs Cedar Crest

Penn Manor Boys Varsity Lacrosse vs Elizabethtown

Penn Manor Boys Varsity Lacrosse vs Manheim Township

Penn Manor MS JV Girls Soccer vs Ephrata

Penn Manor Freshman Girls Soccer vs Ephrata

Penn Manor Freshman Girls Soccer vs Manheim Township

Penn Manor Freshman Girls Soccer vs Warwick

Penn Manor HS JV Girls Soccer vs Conestoga Valley

Penn Manor HS JV Girls Soccer vs Ephrata

Penn Manor HS JV Girls Soccer vs Hempfield

Penn Manor HS JV Girls Soccer vs Manheim Township

Penn Manor HS JV Girls Soccer vs Wilson

Penn Manor HS Varsity Girls Soccer vs Conestoga Valley

Penn Manor HS Varsity Girls Soccer vs Ephrata

Penn Manor HS Varsity Girls Soccer vs Hempfield

Penn Manor HS Varsity Girls Soccer vs Wilson

Penn Manor HS Varsity Baseball vs McCaskey

Penn Manor Freshman and JV Girls Soccer vs McCaskey

I hope you enjoy the photo galleries!  All images are available as prints in different sizes or I can design a nice "MVP poster" with multiple images assembled in a collage and personalized with your name and your school team's name.  Black and White, Sepia, Color, etc. conversions are also available.  These keepsakes make wonderful birthday and graduation gifts or they can be used for college recruitment purposes.

The prints can be mounted on foamcore and ready to frame.  They are authentic archival photographic prints which are sealed for water resistance and UV ray protection.

Please email me at: info@hutchgraphics.com for any additional details!

Thanks for visiting!!

hutch

 

The Masters . . . .

Once in a while an opportunity presents itself for you to do something that might be on your own "Bucket List" (ie, the movie with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson).  Well, a few weeks ago one of the items on my own personal "Bucket list" presented itself in the form of an invite to the Masters Golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia.  This is something that as a photographer AND avid golfer I've dreamed about doing most of my adult life.

So enter my brother-in-law Scott . . .  yes he hooked me up! Many many thanks to you and your sales guy Jeff, a southern gentleman for sure.

I decide to attend the Friday tournament round with Scott but since Augusta has very strict camera guidelines I was only able to take my camera into the course on camera day which was Wednesday the practice round which included the famous Par 3 Contest.  Let's just say that getting into the practice round was not easy because I didn't have a ticket and was at the mercy of the scalpers!   I can attest that the scalping industry is alive and well though.  But my mind was made up that there was no way I was not getting through the gates of Augusta with my camera since I traveled the 600 + miles!!  Mission accomplished.

It was a beautiful day and I only got patron privileges as far as camera access but I made the most of it.

 
Friday was also a great day to watch the competition.  Seeing Gary Player, Ray Floyd, and Fuzzy Zoeller hit tee balls off of the 11th tee up close and personal was so awesome!  If you ever get to Augusta the 11th tee is a hidden gem of spectating spots because no one seems to want to walk up that hill - of course I did :-)  Many -but not all - players were very talkative and courteous to the patrons before they hit their shots.

A Few Random Thoughts about the Masters:

1)  Pristine best descibes the property.

2)  Very orderly - Everything and everyone has it's place

3)  The Staff seemed very nice and accommodating

4)  The course truly is up and down more than TV shows.  No. 10 could be a small ski slope.

5)  Traffic wasn't too bad

6)  Food was very reasonably priced

7)  I could retire on the proceeds from a few days of receipts of money spent by the patrons on Augusta merchandise.

8)  I must be good luck for "El Pato" the winner Angel Cabrerra.  I saw him play at Oakmont in the US Open a few years ago and he won there too.

9)  I was really wanting Kenny Perry to win.

10)  I'd like to go back again with a press pass someday.

To see more images click on the link below:

www.hutchgraphics.com/lr/The Masters

I hope you enjoy my photo diary of a Day at the Masters.  I had a blast!

jeff

The Occasional "Perk" . . . .

Some days my job as a photographer is pretty cool.  Stressful but cool.

So last week I'm sitting at my computer in my studio and doing some tax prep for April 15th - yuck!!  The phone rings and my client, Turkey Hill Dairy, needs a professional photographer in a hurry (the next day) to photograph the World Series trophy and their employees as it makes it's tour around the country.  Yes that's right.  The Philadelphia Phillies employ atleast two individuals to escort the prized 2008 World Series Trophy (the actual one not a stand-in) on a tour for their corporate sponsors.

Now this isn't the type of job which you'll unleash all your creative energies on.  This job requires someone to plan for and manage about 200 hundred people coming in and posing with the trophy with the clock ticking.  They gave me 75 minutes.  That's right 75 minutes. Oh and the conference room where you'll be shooting isn't available till right before that time frame.  Great.  So I realize that given the speed of this job it will require my Travelites for the fastest recycling time and approx. 200 pics.  Battery powered speedlites weren't an option.  They couldn't tell me if they're would be 50 or 400 people so I planned for the worst or best depending on your point-of-view :-)

Pictured below l-to-r are:  Evan Wright, Colin Wright, and Tom Wright

Things actually went very well.  I set up my laptop tethered for file viewing and had someone making sure that eyes were open and we got the shot. Some people even took their kids out of school to come in for the shots.  We kept things moving along and I even had about a minute at the end to do a few creative shots of just the trophy.  In all there were about 150 finished images processed in Adobe Lightroom and posted to the web at the end of the day for the client to preview.

Congratulations to the Phillies and all their fans!!

jeff

 

You Never Know Who Will Be On The First Tee . . .

I gave myself one day to "recreate" while out in Arizona and boy what a day it was.  I was exhausted from the long day of shooting and chasing the light at the Grand Canyon and Sedona the previous day so I was enjoying my morning coffee in my hotel room just browsing the Arizona Golf magazine.  Anyone close to me knows I'm a golfer - almost to a fault :-)

So I flip the page to the TPC Scottsdale ad and my interest perks up because I know the PGA tour is due there in two weeks.  I'm thinking no way I'll be able to get on that track right?  So what the hey I call and they say come on out and they can put me with a twosome.  So I'm getting pretty excited about playing a tour quality course.  (Ask any true golfer what that feeling is like going to play a strange course and just multiply that by about 4.)

So I rent clubs, go to the range, hit some shots - not too bad for rentals- and I'm told my group will be along in a few minutes.  Cool . . . I'm ready.  What happened next I was NOT ready for.  The actor (aka "Mr. Peterman" of Seinfeld fame) John O'Hurley and his wife Lisa walk up to me and introduce themselves.
I'll be spending the next 4 hours with them.  Yes you read it right.  And guess what?  I actually took a camera along.  Whodathunkit?  Thanks to our caddy "Chelsea" for the shot.

We had a great day which I'll remember forever.  My golf game was "forgettable" that day but for once in my life it just didn't seem to matter.  They are truly nice people and great golfers especially his wife Lisa.

I had no trouble remembering her name because of my lovely bride Lisa :-)

jeff

Imaging USA in Phoenix, Arizona

I made the trek to the southwest for my first trip to the Imaging USA Conference in January and I wasn't disappointed.  As usual the trade show portion featured some of the newest and coolest equipment and trends in our business.  Usually that means some purchases for my business. (See future post on Canon 5D Mark ll)

The real reason I went is for the information and knowledge that can be gleaned from listening to and interacting with established and successful pros in the photography business.  From the CEO of PPA, David Trust talking about branding and marketing - to listening to Hanson Fong explain how there is virtually no one he can't pose successfully.  I had a chance to listen to pro's Harry Benson, Greg Gorman, Eric Meola, Bob Davis, Denis Regie, Jim Divitale, and Anne Geddes to name a few.  It was truly inspiring.  I'm looking forward to next years in Nashville, TN.

Of course I also took my photo gear along and drove up route 89 to the Grand Canyon to see the sunrise and do some shooting.

For more images click on this link:

www.hutchgraphics.com/lr/Grand Canyon

Waaay behind . . . .

Over the holidays and into the new year Hutch Graphics was very busy so the recent posts are more like playing "catch-up".

The 2009 calendar was put together and distributed as gifts and marketing pieces.  It was very well received and I had  some nice feedback from people.  As mentioned previously, the format is 11 x 17 inches and spiral bound at the top with duotones for the monthly illustrations. Some copies are still available - FREE and can still be purchased for shipping & handling fee of $12.99 + applicable sales tax.  (While supplies last!)

                                COVER                         

 

                            BACK COVER

Already working on the calendar for 2010!  :-)

jeff

The Very "First" Hutch Graphics Calendar for 2009

Some of you are aware that I was chosen as the featured photographer & published this past year by Turkey Hill Dairy of Conestoga, PA in their 2008 calendar.   That was simply fantastic for me as a photographer and the public relations side - they printed almost 250,000 - didn't hurt either!

With that in mind, it has always been a dream - perhaps "goal" is a better word - to one day publish my very own calendar.  For years I have collected authentic Ansel Adams calendars and books because he served as an inspiration to my photography and I have the utmost respect for him as an artist and what he brought to technical side of photography.  He achieved levels of quality in his profession that we all should aspire to.

So . . . this year, in association with Happyjack Productions, I'm publishing the very first Hutch Graphics calendar!  In years past this would not have been possible but with the advances in digital printing technology moving at warp speed these days - voilla!  It is comprised of stock images from my archives which have been converted to duotones in Adobe Photoshop for rich looking black and white photo illustrations.  The format is single page full spreads measuring 11 x 17 inches and spiral bound on top. 

They should be available right after Christmas.  More info to come!

jeff

A Sure Sign Winter is Coming . . .

This was a fleeting moment during our first snowfall of the winter season.  On November 21, 2008 a quick moving wet snow moved through our area in the morning.  I left the studio for a few appointments and drove past this waterfall as usual but today was different.  This was what I saw:

I usually always have some kind of camera in my vehicle but, yes,  Murphy's Law - one of the few times I didn't have my camera with me!!  So I made a few calls to change some things around and turned around and went back and got my gear.  Glad I did.
I'm just sorry that I don't have my business info displayed on my vehicle.  (I'm going to do something about that)  While I was shooting along the edge of the road a few people just stopped their cars, gazed, commented -  and one guy yelled out his car window . . ."it doesn't get any prettier than that!"  He was right.  The snow painted this landscape around the waterfall which I found striking when converted to black & white.  I'm hoping I've done Mother Nature some justice.  And to the woman who wanted me to sell her a print . . . not a problem :-) 

Wouldn't this make a nice Christmas gift for someone special - or yourself??  I can see it tastefully framed on your wall!

jeff

Capture Info:
Canon EOS 1DS Mark III Canon Lens 70-200 mm f2.8 Shot @ 70 mm ISO 100 .8 seconds @ f32 Polarizing Filter.  Post Processing in Adobe Lightroom & Adobe Photoshop CS3.

The Moment It Clicks

Ordinarily I leave the book reviews up to the experts but this is one book I could not put down.  Joe McNally, along with the prodding of Scott Kelby, has put together one awesome book on one of my favorite subjects . . . the making of photographs.  Along with his fabulous images, he explains the process of making some great images in some very tricky situations which is a big part of the crazy business of photography.
Granted it "will not trip the trigger of a romance novel reader" but if you have any interest in what a photographer goes through while on assignment it is a must read.

I hear Annie Leibovitz is publishing one on the very same subject as I write this.  Honey -  can you say Christmas gift??

jeff

Certification by PPA

Recently, I've received my Professional Certification from the Professional Photographic Certification Commission - the leading certification agency of imaging professionals.  That certificate lasts for 5 years and I will need to be re-certified again in 5 years.

Some people have asked what was involved in that process.  Basically it was a written exam covering any and all aspects of photography.  Surprisingly little about that test covered the digital realm but unsurprisingly it focused a lot on lighting and exposure.  The second part of certification was 20 image submissions representing a cross-section of my work to a board of experts with many years of experience.  I was lucky enough to succeed on both parts in the first try!

I found it to be a great learning experience and want to continue to learn and be inspired by others in my profession.  PPA is a great organization to belong to and I recommend it to anyone looking to further their education in the photography business.

For more info on PPA go to this link:

Professional Photographers of America