I had a chance today to do a time-lapse photo shoot of the load-in of the STOMP set at the Paramount Theater here in Seattle. The set is cool and goes together very quickly -- even faster through the magic of time-lapse photography.

In the video, you'll see them hang and focus the lights, assemble and put up their main set piece, and then install and paint the dance floor.

Some technical tidbits: I shot a frame every sixty seconds over a five hour period using my Canon 10D on a tripod connected to a laptop running Canon RemoteCapture. I imported all 301 photos into Windows MovieMaker, with each photo representing one second of video. I tossed in a fade transition between each photo (thanks, to Chris Hugill on the MovieMaker team for showing me how to do this automatically) and spit out the video.

Enjoy!

STOMP Load-In video 6.5MB WMV format 2 min 48 secs

This was not a good year for photography for me. While I have a lot of photos, they're mostly snapshots. The few somewhat artsy photos I took were virtually all on business trips I took. I didn't make time in 2005 to go and shoot, and it shows. I'll have to do better in 2006.

Anyway, here are my favorite photos of 2005 (that I shot).

My friend Richard clearly had a better year (as usual). Here is his 2005 collection.

(Note, as you may have noticed, I don't post photos of the kids here. Too many weirdos out there. Let me know if you want access to the family photos.)

I finally took my Lensbaby Christmas present out for a spin yesterday. (Briefly, the Lensbaby has a flexible body that allows you to push/pull/twist it to selectively focus the image.) The boys and I went to The Museum of Flight here in Seattle. While Michael (5) dreamed of blowing stuff up in a fighter plane and Andrew (8) snapped photos with his new digital camera, I messed around with the Lensbaby.

It's a bit tough getting anything to be in sharp focus and to really get the effects you're visualizing, but it was fun and a neat way to see the world. In addition to the weird focusing of the Lensbaby, it's fixed focal length. I normally shoot zoom lenses, so it was interesting to have to compose a different shot because I didn't have the flexibility to zoom in or out (sometimes I could move, but in a museum full of people, it's not always possible to get the right location). All of this meant I had to think a lot more than normal, which is good. I find it very helpful to force myself out of my normal shooting patterns to really start seeing images again. Good reminder for 2006.

Anyway, I got a few good shots. I like how the defocused areas create a sense of motion or of elapsed time -- both good for a museum with a lot of old planes. You can check out a few of my favorites here.

As an aside, the Museum of Flight is fantastic. They've added a new wing since I was there last. This new "Personal Courage" wing is dedicated to the warbirds and stories from WWI and WWII. I love World War II warbirds in particular (especially the Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, of which they have two -- actually the Goodyear FG-1 variant, but whatever). They also have a Concorde, Air Force One (the 707 version), and 747 and 737 prototypes outside for viewing and touring. It's a great time if you like history or planes; if you're in Seattle, I recommend it.

Lensbaby photos from the Museum of Flight

Two of my friends Chris Wilson and Charlotte Lowrie) have picked up the Lensbaby, and I have to admit, I'm really tempted. The Lensbaby is this funny lens with a plastic accordian-like body. You push, pull, and skew the body to focus the lens, but because the lens can move out parallel to the film/sensor plane, you can selectively focus on parts of the image, throwing the rest into a beautifully artistic blur.

It's a super fun way to shoot and forces you to really think about the composition. What's more, it's pretty cheap ($150). You can add macro lenses for another $30 or so.

It's on my Christmas list; who knows, I might even get one. If not, I'll probably pick one up for myself.

More:
Article/samples on Photoworkshop.
Gallery of photos from Lensbaby.com Lensbaby photos on FlickR.

The IE Program Management team took a little break Friday and went to Kaspar's for a little cooking class. Talk about too many cooks in the kitchen!

Anyway, I think everyone had a good time, and no one was hurt so I consider the event a success.

Photos here.

I took a ton of photos this year, mostly snaps of the kids. I did manage to produce a few shots that don't show Michael hitting Andrew with a stick though. Here are my favorite shots of 2004 (some have appeared here before.)

Enjoy.

Photo by Darren Dean

This site shows off the winners of the 59th College Photographer of the Year contest. There are tons of really amazing photos. The contest seems to emphasize photojournalism and documentary, so many of the shots and portfolios were very impactful and told great stories. It's worth spending some time here.

I finally got around to posting a few photos from my recent recruiting trip to Puerto Rico. This is a bit of a mismash of the shots I liked plus a few illustrating my interviewing office at the University of Puerto Rico.

See the photos

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Some of my esteemed colleagues and I stepped out Thursday night for Rockaraoke at the Fenix Underground. This is the karaoke that you know and love, but in front of a live band instead of the cheesy videos.

There were definitely some people who sang who were really outstanding and clearly went very often (they knew the band, the band knew them). There were also some singers with more courage than talent. We mostly fell in-between those two ends.

I've sung with live accompaniment before, but never in a nightclub/rock stage like this. It was pretty fun. I think I'd do it again. For the record, I sang Garth Brooks' Friends in Low Places. Garth's job is secure, but I'm happy to report not everyone in the bar left to go to the bathroom during my song.

Anyway, check out the photos.

Well, once again my connection with MSN Photos comes through. I had a chance to pose for some photos for a stock photo shoot; my friend Charlotte (editor of MSN Photos) wrote a story about the shoot and included some photos of me in the article. She did a great job (especially with the other guys); it was fun being on the other side of the camera for a change.

Who knows? If her client picks up my photo for their ad campaign, you may even see me in ads all around Washington. Yeah, probably not...

Go for the Drama, by Charlotte Lowrie