Watching Fall Leaves

Have you ever wondered how leaves change their colors? We all have seen trees that go from green to gold to brown in a matter of days, but how do the individual leaves actually make that transition? That was what I was wondering when I set up a little experiment using a scanner and some leaves collected in the yard.

My process was to scan the leaves daily and then make a time-lapse movie of the transformation. If I was being totally scientific, I would have scanned them at exact intervals of time. I got busy during the week and skipped a day or two, but one can clearly see the amazing transformation.

Each leaf represents a specific kind of tree and each changes differently from the others. All of them seem to lose moisture and dry up. Some whither a little and others a lot. One even seems to rot pretty quickly. If I was a scientist I would be interested in the structure of the leaf, the water content, bacteria or microbes present etc. Since I am not, I'll just marvel at nature's beauty.

Where My Designs End Up...

One of my favorite Graphic Works clients, EES, was kind enough to send me a snapshot of her (Linda)  at a trade show. Rarely do I get to see where some of my designs end up so this was a treat for me. I have been working with EES for over 10 years and they fantastic people with innovative cleaning and odor control products for industrial in institutional use. They also have a retail division that sells the wildly successful BugBand insect repellents made with Geraniol. From humble beginnings, BugBand is now sold in huge retail chains and even in different countries around the world. That stuff works wonders at keeping insects away from you. 

I have created package designs, displays, retail signs catalogs and web sites for BugBand and EES so I have a lot of interest in their continued success. Thanks EES for being such great clients and friends.

New Employee Video Made with Canon 5D Mark 2

One of our long-time clients asked up to film a welcome speech aimed at new employees. We created a portable set in an office with noisy AC vents and interstate 285 within viewing distance. This room was our only option so we went with it. High ambient noise can cause issues when trying to capture clean sound, even with good mikes. Our solution was to shoot the speech and then record some ambient dead space on the tape. Then we filtered out the AC unit and traffic noises in post production by isolating the sound waveforms.The film was created using a Canon 5D Mark 2.

New Web Site Launched for Atlanta Business Photography

After weeks of sorting, editing and writing, I am finally able to launch AtlantaBusinessPhotos.com ... a portfolio of photography, illustration and retouching. Some of you are already familiar with my photography services for personal portraits and events seen at AtlantaPortraitPhoto.com, but I needed another portfolio for just business-related photography and illustration services.

I built this site for Graphic Works, aka the "day-job" that I have held since 1992. While most of the photography on it is mine, the site is meant to represent the work of 3 other photographers and artists that  are employed at Graphic Works. We have been producing more photography and video content over the past year and needed a way to share this with our clients. Give it a look...

Facebook Page Launched for Masqueman Photography & Design

I have finally embraced Facebook for self promotion. If I ignore the Gangster Wars and the Farmville games, I actually find it a very useful and tool to keep in touch with people. Heck, 500,000,000 members can't all be wrong, can they?

Family Photos

Last summer got to go back to Virginia for a nice long family visit. I only get to visit my childhood home about twice a year now so and I really enjoy spending time with my family and all my nieces and nephews (who seem to be growing like weeds).

It was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, and it was kind of mind-blowing that they had been together so long. They have been married 10 times longer than I have. I started so late that I will never catch up.

We have not had a family photo in 20 or 30 years, so when all the planets aligned and we jumped in for a few shots. Their next door neighbor did the clicking, and all of us were amazed at how fat we look, that is why I am only showing head shots. I can only say this since it is family and they would agree.

Summer Spiders

One thing that has always signaled the end of summer for me is the appearance of huge spiders in my doorway. They have gorged themselves all summer long on moths and mosquitoes and they are spinning their last webs of the year. Where do they go after the first frost? Who knows, but they always return next year.

This fine fellow was hanging a web in my parent's porch in Virginia.