Busy busy busy

Well as you have probably noticed, I am finally trying to get all of this stuff going.  A lot has been happening over the last two weeks while I am on half day schedule.  First you may have noticed that this page is no longer http://photosbygi.blogspot.com/ but is now www.PhotosByGI.com.  Same website, just decided to get my domain registered to make it easier for people to find me.

Secondly, I have created a page for me on Facebook.  I have always had my personal page but wanted something I could show off for photography.  Check it out, log on, and add me as a friend.  You can find my page by clicking here.

Finally, I wanted a site where I could host all of my finished photos where anyone could view them and let me know what they thought.  I had originally wanted to lean towards something like Zenfolio.com but just couldn't justify the $100 a year that they want.  True it is a complete package that allows you to sell your photos and everything (and lets face it, even though this is just a hobby, making a little cash off of it would be great), right now I just couldn't justify the cost.  After that I was debating between Picasa hosted by Google and Flickr hosted by Yahoo.  Both are good services and very similar to each other.  I was really leaning towards Picasa because my blog, email, calendar and everything else is integrated with Google, I figured my photos should be too, but in the end I went with Flickr.  I will be posting web proofs of all of my finished stuff here as its done (you can still find plenty of pictures on my blog too).  On the off chance anyone loves a photo and would like to buy a copy, let me know and we can work something out.  You can find my Flickr page here.  I am going back through my older posts and adding links to the full sets under the preview pics.

Enjoy,

Troy

Auddie Final Shots

Auddie was the third model that I had the chance to work with on the Shop Talk photo shoot.  She was the only profesional model in the group which was a little intimidating, but she was also really easy to work with.  I have had her pictures done for a little while now, just haven't had a chance to post them because of the holidays and other stuff going on.  Here are a few....enjoy.

You can see the rest of Auddie's photos by checking out her set on my Flickr site.

How the hell does this thing work?

So I have been trying to finish getting all of my workflow and stuff setup for a while now, and it is definately a learning process.  A few weeks ago, I started working on a watermark to put on my web photos.  I came out with a few drafts, but they still needed work.  Also, I needed to figure out a way to add them to my photos because Adobe Lightroom (the program I do a lot of my editing in) doesn't allow you to add custom watermarks to the photos.  I could do it by hand using PhotoShop, but that would litterally take forever and a day to do a lot of pictures.  So, after a bit of googling, I managed to find a small Lightroom plugin that would do it.  Got it downloaded only to have issues setting the thing up.  Finally got the plugin to work.

In other news, I got most of my editing from my last outing with Liz done (they look pretty damn good if I do say so myself).  I should have them posted in another day or two for the world to check out.  Also, it looks like on Jan 8th, I am going to play hooky from work and Liz is going to drop Pumpkin off at CDC and we are going to go explore an old ghost town in the area with Kim.  That should be pretty exciting.

Sneak Peak of day shoot with Liz

er since our Shop Talk group shot, I have been wanting to practice photographing people more (can only shoot a tree so many times), so yesterday Liz and I dropped pumpking off at the day care center for a few hours and went out and did a little shooting.  We went to two places I had found on a previous trip and stumbled on one new one.  Here a few to peak at.  I should have the rest of them up fairly soon.

More Liz's Photos from Shop Talk Shoot

Here are the latest and greatest from our Shop Talk photo shoot a couple of weeks ago.  Liz was one of the three models that we had out there that day.  I was really happy with a lot of the shots that I was able to get (doesn't hurt that she's also my wife too).  Enjoy.

You can find the rest of Liz's set by clicking here.

San Diego Harbor

Some more shots from my vacation in San Diego.  All of these are around the San Diego Harbor area.

Finally Catching up on editing

So I have been pretty busy lately (well not really, but haven't had a chance to do a ton of editing for the last couple of days. I am finally getting a chance to work on some pictures that I have had waiting to be worked on for a while now. Over Thanksgiving, my family and I flew out to San Diego to spend Turkey Day with my mom and a few friends. While I was out there, I took the opertunity to get some pretty good shots. Here are the first few, expect to see plenty more as I get them edited and ready to post.  For these first few, if you are familiar with San Diego, you have probably heard of the roller coaster at Mission Beach.  This is right there along that stretch of boardwalk.

Fontana Photo Shoot

So after falling behind with it a little bit, I am finally done editing Fontana's photo shoot.  You might remember Fontana from our "Shop Talk" group shoot last week.  Take a look at some of what we were able to come up with.

You can see the rest of Fontana's photos here on my Flickr page.

Hunting for Photoshop Stuff

So I have been busy editing the photos from the other day, and I was talking to Kim about how she did some of her edit.  She turned me onto a blog that contains a lot of PS actions and textures and such.  Today I was bored and decided to really browse through it a little bit and see what all it had to offer.  The blog is CoffeeShop.  If you are looking for anything related to PS, check it out.

Shop Talk Group Shot

So today Kim setup a group shot for members of our facebook group "Shop Talk"  I was one of 6 photographers who went out there for the day.  We had three models, including Liz who has modeled for Kim before.  We were shooting in front of one of the gyms on base.  Its is on the historic part of the base and also we had a fresh snow fall.  This was my first time working with any models at all, and I have to say, I had a blast doing it.  I should have some of the photos up here shortly to share with everyone.

Welcome to my Blog

Well this is officially my first blog as Photos By GI. First let me introduce myself. My name is Troy Ward. I am an amature photographer who is also a member of the US Army. I have been in the Army for over 10 years, and am just starting as a photographer. I hope to be able to use this blog as a place to showcase some of my photos and for anyone who is interested, to follow my progression from Joe Schmoe with a camera to someone who is talented enough to make some good art. Please realize that this is still very much a work in progress, so check back regularly, because I hope that you will see a lot of changes over time.

A little bit more about myself. I am 29, and from San Diego, CA originally. I have been married to my wife Liz for almost 5 years now. We also have a 2 year old daughter, Emma. We are currently stationed at Fort Riley, KS and I have recently returned from my second tour in Iraq. Later on next year, we will be moving to the Colorado Springs, CO area so I will definately be looking to meet new people out there with similar interests. Other then that, enjoy and please feel free to drop me a note with any suggestions or comments that you might have.

Troy