December brought a little bit of snow for us. Not much, but enough to take some photos before it melts with the upcoming 50 degree plus temperatures we are expecting this coming week.
We just launched our new Etsy shop! Teetotelers will be offering handmade screen printed T-shirts and tote bags. Several of the designs are inspired by our original photographs. It's a fun process, and so far the results are turning out great. Additional designs as well as T-shirts we be available soon.
We visited Québec City, Canada for the first time last week. What a great city to visit! One of the nice things about Québec, is that after only a 7.5 hour drive (from MA) you can experience an old world European feel.
The Old City where we stayed is filled with historic architecture, quaint shops, and great restaurants. 15 minutes outside the city are the 275 ft high Montmorency Falls. These impressive falls are 98 ft higher than Niagara. Also nearby is the beautiful farming island, Ile d'Orleans. A single main road takes you around the perimeter of the island passing spectacular views of the St. Lawrence river, farm stands, cheese shops, and even a Creme de Cassis cellar.
If you are looking for a great place to stay, I highly recommend Hotel Maison du Fort. The hotel was very fresh and clean and the owner was super friendly and helpful. Located right in the Old Town near the Citadel, we were able to leave the car parked and explore the whole city by foot.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/_FrWgOMjfeo?hd=1]
I was commissioned by one of my clients, Kitchen Associates, earlier this week to photograph a kitchen that they designed and installed on Martha's Vineyard, MA. The newly built house had a nice bright and open layout with beautiful views toward the ocean. Unfortunately, the overcast weather was not the best for enjoying the island, but at least it made for nice photos. Arriving early for the boat back home gave me some time to play around with the new panorama mode on the iPhone 5 ... pretty amazing!
A few weeks back I posted some behind the scenes photos on the latest video I was working on for CAL Business Solutions. They wanted a case study video on one of their clients, Amax Incorporated. Here is the finished film. [youtube=http://youtu.be/PGmc_kByfEo?hd=1]
I stayed up until 12:01 am last week eager to be among the first online pre-orders. After waiting an additional 30 minutes for the apple store to come back online, I realized that the pre-orders start at 12:01 am Pacific time! Being on the other coast, I went to sleep and set the alarm for 3:00 am. It was worth it though, UPS delivered my new gadget this morning! I know it's pretty ridiculous to go through all that trouble and fuss over a phone. But, at least I didn't camp out in front of an apple store for a week!
I'm really excited to play around with the new camera. I'm upgrading from an iPhone 4, I usually skip the "S" models. This should be more than adequate as a point and shoot replacement. The new panorama mode looks great as well.
Anyone else excited?
I'm currently in the editing stages of a new video about a distributing company who deals exclusively with Stanley Bostitch office products. They had a nice product display rack with loads of colored staplers which looked great as a backdrop for the interviews. Here's a screen grab from the video and a behind the scenes shot.
New moo cards came today!
Here is one of our bees hard at work in the garden. When you sit and watch them for a while, you really understand the term "busy bee". And busy they have been this year! We are on track to harvest a minimum of 80 pounds of honey come this fall, maybe even closer to 100. Not bad for 1 hive! I will keep you posted, maybe even a honey harvest video.
As you might have noticed, my blog site has changed a bit. BaumgartFoto is now Baumgart Creative Media! The changes are in name only. "Baumgart Creative Media" better encompasses all the services that I offer on a professional level, such as photography, videography, web content, print design, and more. I will continue to post photos of interesting things I find, see, and do, as well as other business related topics. Although this blog now reflects my business, it will still remain laid back and somewhat personal. Thank you so much for following and I hope to continue to make it enjoyable!
Yours Truly,
Jeff Baumgart
This one is from the Newport, RI coastline. There is a nice walk that goes between the sea and the backyards of the mansions. I like the dramatic clouds and the way the iron work is rugged and at the same time kind of dainty.
"Inconceivable!" "Go away or I'l call the brute squad! I'm on the brute squad. You are the brute squad!" "Mawage is what bwings us togeder today." "Have fun stormin' the castle! Think it'll work? It'd take a miracle" "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die!" "If not, I shall be very put out" "Get back witch! I'm not a witch, I'm your wife! And after what you just said, I'm not sure I want to be that anymore!" "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
I could go on and on! This has to be one of the most quoted movies, and definitely worthy of being called a classic. The Strand theater in Clinton, MA plays a selection of classic movies on Monday nights throughout the summer. Tonights showing of The Princess Bride can't be missed!
What are your favorite Princess Bride quotes?
A few entries back, I posted some photos of Gloucester, MA taken with my new Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8 fisheye lens. While this was a fun lens, I decided to return it and get the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 ultra wide angle instead. This is much more versatile, has a great wide angle range, and is also fun to shoot with. I will also get more use out of it for shooting video. Anyways, I took it out this afternoon to downtown Clinton, MA. I love coming here, so many interesting things to shoot, and just the next town over.
Sunday morning was a beautiful day for a hive inspection. The queen was located thanks to the orange dot on her back. Sometimes she's difficult to find among 50,000 other bees! The hive is looking active and healthy. There was plenty of fresh larvae and capped brood. That sounds gross, but it is a good thing. This was also the time to add on the second deep. I don't really know bee stuff, actually I have no clue. I'm just repeating what I hear from the "real" beekeepers. All I contribute is the photos and video. Anyways, it's a very interesting hobby for all of us involved.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3MlSh4wAeM?rel=0&showinfo=0&hd=1&w=600&h=378]
Can you guess this household item? I was playing around with some creative off camera flash techniques. While it looks like the room was pitch black, it was actually normal day brightness. Some pretty cool effects can be achieved with a fast shutter speed (1/250), small aperture (f/16), and a tiny burst of diffused flash (1/128) from the back/side. With those camera settings the bright ambient light of the room is turned to black and the only light visible is from the flash illuminating the side of our mystery item.
We spent the day in Gloucester and Rockport last weekend. It was the first time testing out my new Nikon 10.5mm f2.8 fisheye lens. It's a lot of fun, but I may return it and go for the famous Tokina ultra wide 11-16mm f2.8. While I love the fisheye effect, I think the 11-16 might be a lot more versatile, especially for video. Any thoughts?
I don't sew, but my wife does. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Today brings the first day of spring, but temps here in New England feel more like summer. Crazy! Danboard doesn't care. As long as the flowers are out and there is no rain to make him soggy.
