Tallassee Homecoming 2013

Tallassee High School's Homecoming was last week, and that meant there was a homecoming parade last Friday. I was going to be there in support of the students in my youth group, so I figured I'd take some pictures while I was at it.

I posted the pictures to Facebook in two separate albums, and prints are available for purchase through my SmugMug.com site (it's a trial membership which I may not keep, but I figured it couldn't hurt).

Here are a few of my favorite pics from the day:

My camera's for the task were my Nikon D70 with a 170-500mm lens attached for close-ups and an 8MP Sony Cybershot for wider shots. (Yes, I know I'm in need of an update to my personal equipment. It wasn't worth the trip to borrow a couple D90s from Village Photographers. I do have a newer/better point-and-shoot, but I can't find the battery charger for it. I digress.)

I got swarmed by kudzu bugs, and most people assumed I was with the newspaper, but it was a good learning experience. I should have bumped my ISO up another notch and gone with a tighter aperture for a greater depth of field; there are a few pics where the float rolled quick enough to bring part of the subject(s) out of focus. That's just part of the trick to using a long lens on approaching subjects, I guess. A headband would have also been nice too keep the sunscreen and sweat from running into my eyes. A sign reading "Smile and Wave!" would also have been helpful.

Good times. I'm looking forward to the Christmas Parade already. Tallassee, AL is a fun little town to take pictures in.

Tallassee Sunset and After

A couple weeks ago, I grabbed my camera and took to the streets to get some pictures around Tallassee of a sunset. Here are the best of that outing:

 A few nights ago featured a so-called "super moon," the moon being at its closest point to Earth in its orbit and full. I was leaving Montgomery after shooting the Huntingdon College graduation, and the whole way back to Tallassee I was contemplating pulling over on the side of the interstate to catch the moon close to the horizon (the moon is magnified by the curvature of our atmosphere when near the horizon). I held back until I got to the where Hwy-229 crosses the Tallapoosa River on the way into Tallassee. Here's the best of my attempts to shoot the moon, plus a bonus pic looking down the road.

(The one above was actually taken after I got home to my 170-500mm lens and better tripod. Thank you again, Diane Koart.)

These images were made possible, in large part, due to the fact that my wife allowed me to purchase Adobe Lightroom 4 as a reward for getting our taxes done. I've really enjoyed it.