January 26, 2009

Moving over

Hey folks! I am moving my blog to http://www.valophotography.com/blog/simon - go check it out. More info on what is happening to come!

If you have a wedding booked with me already, I will send out an email letting you know what is going on, for other people interested in booking with me, still send the requests to me, but we will book you under the business Valo Photography.

Expect big things!

Labels: , , , , , ,

January 14, 2009

Brewlypse!!!

I am working on coordinating tons and tons (okay, not that many) of models for a shoot that I have coming up over a span of 4 days. January 21st-25th (24th is my birthday, just to let you know...). I am still looking for models, so if you, or someone you know might be interested check out our website at www.brewlypse.com. We are looking for all types of people: Big, small, skinny, fat, old, young... everything! I still need about 20 more models so any leads or people you can throw my way would be helpful!

Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer

Labels: , , , , , , ,

January 13, 2009

Jus Sayin...

January 10, 2009

Buizzzzy

I have been amazingly busy. From the holidays to getting ready for a new business venture (more about that in a few days) I have been swamped. I have been booking a lot of weddings and getting ready for senior season as well as doing a few stock shoots hear and there. I bought a new camera (the amazing Canon 5d Mark II), new wireless triggers for my lights, and some more storage space for my photos... yikes.

I am currently looking for models for a large shoot we are doing towards the end of January. Check out more info here: http://www.brewlypse.com

Here are a few photos I shot with my new camera:

Shot a promo card for an event coordinator and friend Stef of Star Fire Events who is putting on a fashion show in Milwaukee in March. More on that later.

Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer

Me just being me...

Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer

Don't normally take photos of landscape, but here are two that I shot the first day of my new camera. Pretty.

Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer

Polar bear plunge January 1st in lake Michigan. Crazy folks...

Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer

Shot with a Milwaukee designer, Tena Her, and model in the freezing cold. Shots turned out awesome!

Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

December 9, 2008

Get out and Shoot

Hey folks... weather here in WI is kinda gross right now. Not so fun to wander around outside when you might be putting your digits in danger of going black and falling off. (Like that guy in Mr. Deeds) The thing is though, that when you shoot or when you are an artist of any kind, you need to continually do your craft when it is easy and when it is hard. One of my friends, a song writer, was telling me something one of her professors said, "You need to write a bunch of crap before you hit gold." Uh... okay... so that isn't very catchy or inspirational like I thought it would be, but you get the point. I try to make it a point to shoot at least once a week at the least so that I am constantly learning and finding out new things about light and my camera.

That said... I went downtown yesterday night and took a few photos with two friends: Paul Sparks and Jake Rohde. Had some apple cider at Altera and got a chance to talk photography and creative stuff. It was good stuff.
I didn't get a whole lot of photos, but I did get a few to share with you:

Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer

Labels: , , , ,

December 5, 2008

Simon's Slamtastic Apple Picking Photo Op

Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer

I like taking photos of people. I charge because a brothers gotta eat... well... I am sure I could be fine if I didn't eat for a day or so, but I would be hungry. I also like to see lots of people. My thought is that photography + lots of people = fun. Unless it is photography + lots of people + riot = not so fun. There was no riot, but there was apple throwing and eating and tractors and goats... (no goats were harmed and are not pictured for their kids sake. ha. kid. whatever.) So next time Simon has an event, this is why you should be there (Hillbilly House Party sometime in December) ->

Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer

If you are in these photos and want any of them, shoot me an email, leave me a comment, or give me a call and I will get them to you.

Labels: , , , , , ,

December 4, 2008

Homestead Apple Orchard

A while back, a few friends and I went out to the Homestead Apple Orchard in Maple Plain, MN to hang out and shoot some photos. I will post more later tonight, but here is a sneak peek.

Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer
Simon McConico Minneapolis Commercial Photographer

Labels: , , , , , ,

December 2, 2008

Tech Tuesday - Snow and Mexico

A little explanation: Being a digital photographer takes not only skill as an artist, but also skill in knowing how to work with the equipment that you have. Technology has been something that I have had in my life nearly all my life. I want to use these posts to break down some technical stuff into something that makes sense to the average folk. That way I don’t feel like such a nerd when I say words like terabyte, sync speed, or aperture. That said… onto the post!

It is snowing in Wisconsin. I don’t mind the snow, being that I grew up in Minneapolis and was trick-or-treating in boots and a jacket (pretty sure you couldn’t even see my sweet clown outfit), but sometimes the sun is nice. All of the lamenting seems kinda random, but it all has to do with my hard drive.

Hmm… odd logic sir. Weeelll… A few months ago I was running out of space on my hard drive and needed to find a solution to that. When you shoot photos and keep them all on your hard drive, after a few years you build up quite a bit of space. I started shooting with film when I was younger, but it wasn’t really love at first click. I had to wait for the subpar photos and pay money to see them even though I paid for the film. Kinda felt like a rip off to me (in fifth grade??). I eventually got a point and shoot digital and started clicking away. I have an archive of images from 2003 till now and that is quite a few 64 meg memory cards later. Now I am shooting on 8 gig cards with 8 meg files (soon to be 25 meg with the new Canon 5D Mark II) and the files were piling up.

For those of you who are not technically savvy here is the deal in laymen’s terms:
1000 (k)ilobyte = 1 (meg)abyte
1000 (meg)abytes = 1 (gig)abyte
1000 (gig)abytes = 1 terabyte

A lil guestimation:
A photo on 5 megapixel camera (megapixel is different than megabyte) is about 2-3 megs.
A photo on a Canon Rebel XT, 8 megapixel camera is about 6-8 megs

So now that you get the idea of how big the photos are, I had about 1 terabyte of info on several different hard drives. That is a loooot of stuff. Granted there was quite a bit of music in there as well, but the majority of them were photos.

The solution to store my stuff was to buy a Drobo. It is a lil black box thingy that you put hard drives in and plug into your computer. (I am sooo technical) I initially bought 2 terabytes because I thought that would be enough to consolidate all my photos and info I have collected over the years. I was wrong. Sad. That is a lot of stuff! So over Thanksgiving I picked up two more hard drives for a total of 4 terabytes. I popped the drives in my black toaster and they ran like a charm. Simon = stoked. I have space. I can take more photos.

All of that to say that I was going through some of my old photos (only 2007, but still) and found some shots from Mexico and thought I would post them to warm me up on this cold December evening. If anyone is getting married south of the border, let me know. I would love to shoot your wedding and de-thaw.

Simon McConico Milwaukee Wedding Photographer Mexico
Simon McConico Milwaukee Wedding Photographer Mexico
Simon McConico Milwaukee Wedding Photographer Mexico
Simon McConico Milwaukee Wedding Photographer Mexico
Simon McConico Milwaukee Wedding Photographer Mexico
Simon McConico Milwaukee Wedding Photographer Mexico

Labels: , , , , , , ,