Prequel To The Sequel

moved to wordpress

2009-04-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

I moved to wordpress. thebradmeyer.wordpress.com

cheers

Brad

Church with the 5d2

2009-04-12T02:22:00.004-05:00

I got to test out the 5d mark 2 tonight at my church's easter vigil mass. My first vigil was when i converted to Catholicism 9 years ago, and ive gone to every one since (mostly because my dad is part of RCIA and he has to be there). Last year i took photos, and this year they were excited to have me back. It was harder then i expected, it was very fast paced and people were in my way alot, thus not so good pics. The camera works great too. ISO 6400 is the greatest invention ever, and everyone needs to invest in a camera that can do it.

Panorama

ISO 6400 FTW!!!

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

4 days until full frame goodness

2009-04-07T02:20:00.002-05:00

India Night

2009-04-05T01:58:00.003-05:00

Tonight i shot Vinay performing at India Night tonight. It was part of his gift for a GD project we had to do. His performance was really cool and interesting. I was shooting at iso 3200 (NOISE) and now there is a ton of jpeg artifacting these pictures, but oh well. I wish i had my new camera for this shoot, it would have come out so much better, but ill have to wait one more week.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

Ebertfest fanatic

2009-04-03T01:01:00.003-05:00

I went out to Urbana today to take pictures of this 90 year old lady who has been to every Ebertfest. She was extremely nice and it was fun to shoot her and bust out some off camera lighting. Sadly, the story is not gonna run in the paper, and it seems whenever i take portraits of someone with off camera lighting, it flops, argh.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

Concert from friday

2009-04-02T02:05:00.003-05:00

Last friday night on break i was bored and decided to go to the Rosaline show. It was pretty good, im kinda bummed i missed the first few bands. I shot Rosaline, Cadence, and Dorians Decay. All of em were good and you should check em out. Im happy with my results considering the show was in a cafeteria.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

Trip to Chicago

2009-03-26T01:02:00.005-05:00

Me, Ned, and Dean went to Chicago for the day to shoot. We walked around for 8 hours and my ankle is now paying for it. We walked 3 miles to Calumet, payed 8 bucks for a mediocre burger, hung out at the bean, and road the subway. It was a good day, im just mad the sun never made it out.

A shot i took first then Ned and Dean proceeded to steal the same shot. Im indecisive on the color balance of the photo, and/or whether it should be Black and White.

American Gothic statue

Bean shot with some off camera flash

Using the Bean as a reflector for my flash so i could light Dean from the side.

Ned suggested we eat at the Billy Goat Tavern. The burger was not worth 8 bucks.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

Track Practice

2009-03-24T17:11:00.003-05:00

I stopped by the high school today to shoot some track practice. Weather wasnt looking to good, and the pole vaulters were not gonna jump, but i persuaded the coach to let them so i could get some shots in. I magic armed my camera to a pole to get some over head shots of them planting.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

Big 10 tournament day 1

2009-03-13T21:49:00.003-05:00

I just got done going through all my photos of tonights game. We beat Michigan which means i get to shoot tomorrow against purdue (i just found that out). I set up a remote camera and got alright results, nothing spectacular and hopefully i know what to tweak so i get more and better images tomorrow from that. Also i didnt shoot as well because the first half i was placed in a spot i dont like to shoot from. Now we just gotta find a hotel to stay in for the night.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

Unofficial

2009-03-13T21:45:00.005-05:00

Last weekend was unofficial, and it was probably the most fun i have had shooting. I planned to stop shooting around noon to participate in the holiday, but the day just got more interesting taking pictures and i didnt stop shooting. I made it into a ton of parties and met so many people, it was a blast. I cant wait for next years to take more photos.

*all images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

last basketball game of the season

2009-03-01T22:02:00.003-06:00

i shot the last regular season Illini basketball game tonight against Michigan State. It was a bummer we lost but our score was really close to them most of the time, hopefully in the tournament we come out on top. I set up Trevor's camera remotely underneath the hoop. The shots came out extremely soft and i think its because i wasn't shooting raw and the cameras noise reduction screwed them up. I also shot with a tilt/shift lens for a bit, it was sweet but takes some getting used to. Those images didnt come out exactly like i wanted. Im gonna miss getting free food at the games until next season starts.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

Daily Herald here i come

2009-02-27T19:30:00.004-06:00

So today i got a call from the Daily Herald saying they want me as one of their interns for the summer. Of course i accepted it. I figured i would not have gotten it because ive only been shooting for the Daily Illini for a semester and a half and that im not a journalism major. Its unpaid which is a bummer, and i have to drive an hour to get their, but im so excited to take photos all summer and hopefully get a lot better.

celebrating mardi gras with champaign police and not my friends

2009-02-27T02:51:00.002-06:00

On tuesday night i got the privilege to join Champaign Police on several bar checks through out the mardi gras night. Riding around on the Patty-Wagon was great and the cops were hilarious and never stopped cracking jokes. The night was really interesting, i got threatened a couple times and called an asshole quite a bit. I felt like a bit of a jerk, but its part of the job i guess. This was probably the toughest shooting conditions ive been in, shooting at night in terrible lighting. Auto focus was not working well that night.

A slideshow consisting of mine and Brennan's, a fellow photog a the DI, can be viewed here.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

wrestling

2009-02-21T17:22:00.002-06:00

I shot wrestling for the first time last night. It seemed a lot less interesting and face paced to when i wrestled in 7th grade. I got kinda bored towards the end because its really redundant, and there was only 1 pin out of the whole meet. I really need to keep on on posting everything i shoot, but ive just been so busy with work its hard to keep up.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

Rosaline promo shots

2009-02-17T01:48:00.002-06:00

I made it up to Chicago saturday night to shoot some promo shots for Rosaline. The guys were really cool and were pretty good models (the best ive had). I wish i had a little bit more space to try some more lighting set ups out, but those will be for another day. Also, i wish i had some soft-boxes instead of umbrellas, but oh well.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

Tennis (is not my favorite sport to shoot)

2009-02-11T02:31:00.004-06:00

Tonight was my first night shooting tennis, and after a couple minutes of being their, i was not having fun. The 20D was just not cutting it with its 5 frames per second. I really wanted a 1D mark II(I) the whole time. Also, lighting is terrible, but extremely soft because all the lights point UP towards the ceiling? Also i got yelled at by the officials for moving around to much during the games, and for being to close to the "playing area" and had to move 3 feet to my left. I making a mental note to myself to try and retire from tennis matches, or at least untill i have a camera that shoots 9+ frames a second.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

remote camera shooting

2009-02-08T23:24:00.002-06:00

I woke up way to early today to get a camera up behind the backboard for the basketball game. I didnt have a magic arm, so my camera position wasnt the greatest, but some random guy let me borrow his extra one. I fired off about 300 shots on the remote camera, and only got 1 useable image. Even though i got only one shot, i am super happy and proud about it. We threw it up on AP and its already been picked up by one other paper, and hopefully a couple others. and i just bought my own magic arm so i can do a lot more of these shoots.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

protraits and such

2009-02-03T23:47:00.004-06:00

Today i had to wake up early to go take portraits of the new dean for graduate students. I was excited for this because i could finally put my off camera strobe and umbrella to use for work. im really happy with how they came out because i did them in about 15 minutes. In the afternoon i got to take a tour of the new (and only) supermarket on campus. It opens soon and they were getting it ready by stocking shelves and assembling some final things.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer the Daily Illini

what a week(end)

2009-01-27T18:23:00.006-06:00

This weekend i had to shoot 3 sporting events, Track, Wheelchair Basketball, and Gymnastics. Track was alright, im made i missed polevaulting and all the other field events. I got a sweet picture of a runner crossing the finish line. Wheelchair basketball was probably the hardest sport i have ever shot, its much different then regular basketball. And today i shot inside the power plant here on campus. It was extremly cool taking the tour around everything, i even made it on top of the roof. It was a bad idea wearing my white sweatshirt tho, soot was everywhere.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

what a week(end)

2009-01-27T18:23:00.001-06:00

Town Hall Meeting

2009-01-23T15:59:00.004-06:00

I had to shoot the town hall meeting last night for the paper. When i walked in, it was packed with people who wanted to know about the university budget. I was eyeing the balcony and wanted to do a sort of birds-eye-view picture (ive been looking at a lot of Vincent Laforet's work).

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

Wheelchair basketball

2009-01-23T15:52:00.005-06:00

I had to wake up at 6:30 in the morning yesterday to shoot wheelchair basketball practice. I picked noon classes for a reason, so i could sleep, so i wasnt entirely excited to wake up this early. But i had a lot of fun shooting these guys. They play the game different then people who walk, so it was interesting to see their technique and how they moved around so fast. Their chairs also take a pounding when they play, they gotta be built like tanks. I cant wait to shoot them tomorrow at their tournament, but again, gotta wake up early. oh well.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

More promos

2009-01-17T02:10:00.004-06:00

I shot promos again from Screams of Winter. I wanted to try my 2 light set up ( i really wanna get a third). We went back to the house were i am working as a set photographer for a horror movie, and where SOW shot their music video. Im shooting again for the horror flick early in the morning, so i should probably go to sleep soon.

*All images copy right Brad Meyer

New banner design

2009-01-15T19:38:00.006-06:00

I got laid off from work yesterday (2 day early before i was supposed to leave, so its not that bad) and i had all day today to work on some stuffy. I made a banner for my myspace/business. It amazed me how much i forgot my photoshop stuff because i hardly use it and Illustrator has taken over my life. here it is, tonight im gonna start on a myspace page design for a band.

Bored on a saturday night

2009-01-11T03:01:00.002-06:00

Tonight was pretty boring for me, i started making a beauty dish for my flash, hopefully i finish that up tomorrow. I was rummaging through my basement and found these sweet chairs that looked like they were from the 1800's. I remember my grandma giving them to us saying they were from her sister. My parents never used them because they never fit in with our house, but i think they are totally cool for studio portraits and im sure ill use them a lot. I decided to use these and put my brand new strobe to use i got in the week.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

so its decided

2009-01-07T23:05:00.002-06:00

so after looking at Vincent Laforet's blog for the past hour and a half, i will get the 5d mark II, and not a 1D series. His videos look amazing, and i want to shoot in pure darkness, which i happen to do a lot anyways on my 20D. And if i do the math right and dont spend money on stupid stuff i dont need, i should have it by the end of may, maybe earlier if im lucky.

Concert at Capone's

2008-12-28T21:24:00.003-06:00

So i guess im a day behind now for posting here. Last night i went to the Screams of Winter show in Mokena. It was such a nice venue compared to others, and I SAW MY FIRST BLACK METAL BAND. Ive only gotten about half of my photos edited, and will finish the rest up tomorrow and post some of those. The 2 bands shown are Screams of Winter and Unwritten Truth, check them out.

*Also i decided i want to start a photo essay on Screams of Winter, their progression of playing shows, practicing, and trying to get bigger, better, and more well known, and making it as a local band from the suburbs.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

Self portrait boredness

2008-12-28T01:13:00.005-06:00

Last night i was home all alone and bored out of my mind. I decided to practice my off camera flash skills and model my new sweatshirt i got for christmas. I put a shoot through umbrella up high on camera light and had a bare lightbulb shining at my side for a rim light on camera left. After doing this i was still bored so i decided to photoshop out the background and add my own.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

Horror Movie

2008-12-15T17:06:00.002-06:00

I had the opportunity to go home this weekend to be a Set Photographer for an independent movie. It was good experience i guess and it was kinda fun. The days were really long tho and i had to leave early to come back to school to study for finals.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

Basketball again

2008-12-15T16:57:00.004-06:00

Ive been pretty busy shooting lately. I shot basketball last wednesday night. We killed Chicago State, and the second half i got the shaft on getting a good spot. It was annoying because there were people their with Point and Shoots and D40's and Rebels with kits lenses with better spots then other photographers with much better gear. Oh Well.

heres a link to a slideshow of the game.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and The Daily Illini

bored at 1:30 in the morning

2008-12-10T02:21:00.003-06:00

Its early into the morning, and i dont have class tomorrow morning and i was/am very bored. so i busted out the shoot-thru umbrella and flash and did an off camera shot of my roommate.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

Portraits today

2008-12-09T22:00:00.004-06:00

I had to shoot 2 people today, and i had about 45 min to do it in. the first was a professor who developed something to help bone regrow. The second was of a hockey goalie who was Illini of the Week. We shot in the locker room, which probably has the worst smell i have ever smelled in my life, and on the ice for 2 seconds.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and The Daily Illini

Basketball at the UC

2008-12-08T02:42:00.003-06:00

Saturday I got a chance to go to the United Center to shoot men's and women's basketball. It was totally cool to able to be on the same floor that Michael Jordan once dominated on, i would have never imagined that would have been possible when i was kid. Their were so many photographers and news people their, i was jealous over all of their equipment. I got some sweet shots, and im really happy with the one of Mike Davis doing the alley-oop, the place went nuts after that.

Heres a for a slide show of the game, and click this for a short slide show of the women's game.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and The Daily Illini

Jewish Memorial

2008-12-05T01:21:00.003-06:00

The Jewish center on campus held a memorial for all the victims of the Mumbai attacks. I didnt pay much attention to it because i was focused on my camera more. it was outside in a (heated) tent and it was full of people, which made it really hard to move around.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

Glowsticks

2008-12-02T01:49:00.002-06:00

I shot the Illini Glowsticking Club tonight. It was interesting to say the least, and really difficult to shoot. It was pitch black, and just hard to get a good capture of the light trails, keep them still, and get it in focus. The sticks kept going in front of their faces, and there were a lot of ghosts around them. Apparently its more then just flinging these things around, their are a lot of moves they know how to do, some involving several people.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and The Daily Illini

Screams of Winter Promos

2008-11-29T17:01:00.002-06:00

Today I wanted to do some promo shots for Screams of Winter to try out my new lighting system. We did it in like an hour because some of them had to leave. Im kinda happy with how they came out. I wish i had more time and brought my computer to view them and adjust. I also realized i need to get at least 1 more strobe to do large group shots.

Rosaline Show

2008-11-22T01:29:00.003-06:00

Tonight was the Rosaline reunion show. I was home for maybe 15 minutes before I left to see all the bands that played. So many people were there for Beneath City Lights and Rosaline. Both did really good and Im really happy with my pictures considering they played in a church cafeteria. I was experimenting with my off camera flash, and I didnt get what i was expecting, but that just means more practice.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer

RIP Rose Bowl

2008-11-20T17:00:00.004-06:00

I was in work today and had to make the cover for the football preview. Its a tombstone with Rose Bowl 2009 on it because the Illini's chance of going is pretty much dead. I kinda felt bad for doing it as a fan, but it is true and i like how it came out and how its straight to the point.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

Its been awhile.

2008-11-20T00:44:00.003-06:00

Havnt been able to update this the past couple of days because ive had a ton of homework. But i had more shooting to do after the weekend. Monday night was a meeting about the Chief. It was just to have people talk about the whole situation. Media could only stay for a couple minutes, so it was quick, kinda boring to shoot, but done. Tuesday morning i had to wake up earlier then i would to shoot a girl in a wheel chair. She suffers from dystonia, which i guess makes her muscles not work. She had to be "fed" through a tube that went straight into her stomach. and she had to have someone help her with pretty much everything, because she couldnt really move from the waist down. But she was still cool and laughed about situations, like getting hit by a bus which is kinda weird, and didnt let this bring her down. And last i did a shot of a beer can for image making class. eventually this will be a stencil and spray painted onto a rock or some dirt.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

a whole lotta sports

2008-11-16T20:42:00.005-06:00

WOW! what a weekend for shooting. Friday night (after i shot at the animal shelter and the ROTC vigil) i had to shoot volleyball (saturday night too). Its a really tough sport to shoot, just a lot going on and its hard to make it look good. Volleyball isnt one of my top sports to shoot now. Saturday in the morning we had a frigid football game, and we lost which didnt help enjoying it. Right after i had to rush to shoot the "Next Dance" of chief illiniwek. That sucked cause security kept telling me i couldnt shoot in the stands, when i was told i could (twice) by the lady that was in charge. Also it didnt last very long and i was stressed from the security guards, but i got a couple good shots. Sunday morning i shot womens basketball. That was fun, but the girls arnt as fact paced as the men, so it was a little easier. Im just ready to take a break from shooting for a while and nap.

Volleyball game saturday night.

My favorite picture i took of him. Im kinda mad cause i didnt get to enjoy it as much cause i was moving around all the time and focusing on my camera more.

womens basketball

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and the Daily Illini

POW/MIA

2008-11-14T17:53:00.002-06:00

So today on the quad the ROTC was holding a vigil for all POW/MIA soldiers. It was actually eerie and cool. a lot of good pictures came out of it, and the drill team performed which was sweet. Much respect for anyone who has been or is enlisted in a branch.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and The Daily Illini

Dog Shelter

2008-11-14T11:57:00.003-06:00

So today i somehow got talked into waking up at 9:00 in the morning to go shoot volunteers at the animal shelter. It was far away and it was raining and the placed smelled like dog poop (literally). The people i had to shoot were a half hour late so i spent that time taking pictures of cute cats. When they showed up, they said they were gonna have some dogs play and get to know each other better, but I'm pretty sure it was just two dogs fighting and kicking mud everywhere.

One of the volunteers with a dog.

The two dogs fighting (playing)

Just some cute cats i shot for your enjoyment

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and The Daily Illini

Low Gas Prices

2008-11-10T22:40:00.003-06:00

Today i had to shoot an assignment about how gas prices have declined so much since the summer. I thought it was going to be a pain but I finished it in about 5 minutes. The kid i shot was super cool and actually talked with me, which meant i got some good quotes and stuff for a caption. Also he just happened to pick the pump that was just right to get the sign in the background, which is what my editor told me he wanted.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and The Daily Illini

Student Patrol

2008-11-09T15:45:00.004-06:00

Last night i had to go out and shoot the walk-along people from the student patrol. It was cold and boring, all they do is walk. Nothing exciting happened this weekend which isn't the greatest, but oh well.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and The Daily Illini

Garbage Can

2008-11-06T18:49:00.005-06:00

The garbage can i had to shoot. The colors were sweet with the reflections.

My hockey picture, i think the wide angle is sweet cause its different then most hockey shots.

My propaganda poster for Image-making class.

Today was a pretty good day, i finished my image-making project that was a propaganda poster. Also the paper published my hockey picture that i really like because its something different and i just love wide angles. Today was the first time in a long time i had time to skate but the rain killed that, also i had to shoot a garbage can for the paper, and that sucked only cause it was raining and their was no one outside. I gotta design the Screams of Winter album cover tonight and hopefully i can get that done for them tomorrow.

*All images copyright Brad Meyer and The Daily Illini

First One

2008-11-06T00:04:00.004-06:00

So its midnight tonight and i decided to make one of these to show what i shoot with my camera and my occasional designs. Last night i had to shoot the election and i had to follow around Janie Miller-Jones. I would have liked to have followed around a different candidate to say the least but oh well.