Category Archives: family

ART, career, family, Kansas, Lightroom 5, location shoot, photography, Travel

Been there, Done that?????

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_JDZ8515A

Have you?  Have you been to that place more that once where you start to shoot the same photos the same way?  STOP……. don’t go into autopilot.  You know what works, now look for something different.  Whether a different angle, different lens, different time of day or a new technique, explore it.  Dare to be different, that how you become better.  Don’t go home with the same or similar images.  STIMULATE YOUR VISION!!!

Techy stuff:  camera-Nikon D800 and Nikon D600.  Lenses Nikkor 14-24 and 70-200.  Processed in Adobe Lightroom 5.  Locaton, Macksville, Kansas, population aprox. 500.

More of my work:  http://zwink.com

family, location shoot, photography, Sports

Pajolie’s Opening Day

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Today was not only Pajolie’s Opening Day in her first season of T-Ball but the first opening day for our family.  Pajolie, aka Payton Jo, is my oldest granddaughter.  Although she has tried dance lessons this is her first softball experience.  In organized softball the first weekend of the season is accompanied by the league’s pomp and circumstance ceremony.  You can tell the newbies.  They are the small young girls that are wondering what this is all about, what they should do.  Next year they will be the veterans.

Payton’s sister and dad were there to experience it along with her.  Three year old Parker, had big eyes, it was hard on her as she has always been her sister’s companion, now on the sidelines, a spectator.  I could sense it, watching her stare at the scene and all the older multicolored uniformed girls.

Four o’clock, game time.  Actually more like 4:20, and the Blue Diamonds were ready to play.  In the crowd were her Mom, Dad, sister, Patti  and even Zoey (our Frenchie) there to see the action.  Along about the third inning her Uncle Joe and cousin Jameson came to participate.

A great day to start a career, a great day to enjoy the family.  Keep your head down when swinging Pajolie and run hard……. and enjoy every inning of the game.

The techy stuff:  Shot with the Nikon D600 and D800.  Images processed in Adobe Lightroom.

Team Sponsor:  Zwink Photography  www.zwink.com

career, family, location shoot

Whose Story is this?

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I don’t know what the attraction is but cemeteries draw me to them.  Is it curiosity, a little macabre or the photographer in me.  Believe me, I’m in no hurry and definitely not looking for a resting place.  That, will be someone else’s problem.  I won’t be around… lol.  Sometimes I’m alone, sometimes Patti my wife will go with me.  I’ve never asked her why, we just do.  Often we start out together exploring but often separate.  And then quietly call the other when there is a perceived story to share.  We don’t do this at home, only when we’re traveling.  Maybe it the anthropologist in us that looks for clues about the past and the culture we’re invading.  I could write more on my thoughts, but I’ll hold onto them.  Maybe for an addendum if there’s enough curiosity.

TECHY STUFF:  The above images were taken at a abandoned, unattended graveyard we came across at Port Allen near Glass Beach on Kaua’i.  What was interesting was all the writing on the markers and headstones in one area were all Japanese or Chinese, the middle part to young Hawaiian children that died within the first couple years and then the other side to a small section of Hawaiian families.  We don’t know their stories, but we sure speculated for a while.

My real work:  http://www.zwink.com

P.S.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL MY FRIENDS, READERS AND FELLOW BLOGGERS.

career, family, location shoot, photography, San Diego, Sports

It just won’t go Away

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THE AZTEC WARRIOR

     Sometimes, if you’re lucky, during your career you’ll make images that will stay with you the rest of your life.  Images you enjoy, images that strangers will know.  You know, the image you may see on a poster or a wall print that someone comments “that’s nice…..”  Then you get to proudly say, yes I took it.

     I’ve been lucky to take a few of these during my shooting career.  The above image was taken for the Aztec Warrior Foundation after SDSU decided their mascot Monty Montezuma was not politically correct anymore in the eyes of the school administration.  After a fallout of public outrage and the efforts of the Aztec Warrior Foundation, Monty was reintroduced to the school and fans.

     But, I digress some.  What I also wanted to point out is that these situations can often profoundly affect your life.  I met Monty, aka Carlos Gutierrez, while we were both on the sidelines during the Aztec games.  We became (and still are) close friends, had a few excellent adventures and I became his unofficial photographer.  His passion to promote and support SDSU and it’s athletic program genuinely rubbed off on me.  I have friends that cover baseball and other sports that have also developed lasting friendships from their photography exploits so I’m not the exception.  It’s a reality, embrace your passion and your subjects.  It will affect your life.

More of my work can be seen at:  www.zwink.com  My archived work which includes Monty is at www.bigstudioz.com

family, Kansas, Lightroom 3, location shoot, photography, Travel

Can You Go Home?

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Images from 2012 Macksville Journey

  Someone once said you can’t go home and have it be the same.  So true.  I’ve been going back periodically to visit and documment my home town of Macksville, Kansas for several years.  I become melancholy after being here for a short while, knowing the town I grew up in will never be the same.  The town viewed and experienced through the eyes of and 18 year old are long gone.  As time has passed the town has decayed.  Gone are the stores and restaurant I worked in and sat end talking endlessly with friends.  Many have closed and buildings have be shuttered or torn down.  I still love to explore as my curiosity is greater than ever.  As a photographer, I try to capture what was, but I never will.  Life was simpler then.

More of my visit: http://zwinkftp.com/Macksville_2012/

More of my work, my vision:  http://zwink.com

The techy stuff: on this trip I only took a Nikon D700, 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200 nikkor lenses.  Processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.

Apple, camera phone, family, location shoot, photography, Uncategorized

Eye on the Iphone4

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I finally ordered my Iphone4.  It should be here early next week.  I can’t wait.  Finally it appears it has a camera that is actually useful.  I have not actually tested it but I have used each generation’s camera and cried…… For a high end phone there was never anything high end about the camera.  Can you believe not one version had a flash?  My wife’s cheap $99 camera phone had one, but not the Iphone, until now.  The new Iphone4 will have a 5 megapixel camera, digital zoom capability and a led flash.  Can’t wait to play.

I’m not convinced there is any professional use for the phone except for scouting photos and creative fine art.  Don’t get me wrong.  There has been some great “art” produce and posted on the web.  One of  the top photogs creatively using  the Iphone is Chase Jarvis who not only has shot jobs with the Iphone but has written a book and App about the Iphone.   Here’s a link to his blog: /blog/2009/09/the-best-camera-iphone-app-book-community/ If you like to shoot photos with your phone check it out.

I’ve been trying to do more personal shooting, but I can’t take my D3 with me all the time, I want to stay married.  So the Iphone is the choice for me.  Because it’s really limiting it make you use your imagination and creativity more.  I don’t think that I would ever use one on a job, I’m not that crazy, but it sure is fun when there’s no motivation to shoot other than to have fun.

Hopefully with the Iphone4 I won’t have to take a separate pocket camera or separate video camera.  Less, is definitely better.  I can’t wait for it to arrive.  Maybe eventually there will be an Iphone photo on Zwink.com.

The lead photo is of a maniquin photographed in a store display window in Kauai, Hawaii with a Apple Iphone 3G

My other work can be viewed at: www.zwink.com

babies, career, daughters, family, location shoot, photography

Pink Dress

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Payton's Pink DressI am a procrastinator…… there, I admitted it, finally. Obviously I am if I’m just now jumping on the blogging bandwagon. I’m not sure what it is, whether it’s to show a little more insight into who I am, drive traffic to my great website www.zwink.com, talk about my life or maybe just explain a little bit about a gorgeous little girl who has totally messed up my life.

I was born May 5th, 1955. I’ve had a great life growing up in a nurturing small Kansas farm town and eventually moved to San Diego. I like to say I was a kid in Kansas and became an adult in San Diego. I’m now a commercial photographer based in San Diego with a great wife and three grown kids. Even as they grew up, I was consumed with photography. I always wanted to be where the action was to shoot and document it all. And I did what I could. The Super Bowl twice, World Series, All Star games, Rose Bowl, Holiday Bowl and the America’s Cup just to name a few of the biggies. So then it happened……

Payton Jo Rohrer was born July 3rd, 2007 to my daughter Tiffany and her hubby Chris, aka “Dough”. I was asked to be in the labor room with them until the doctor came in and kicked me out. I was overwhelmed when I saw her for the first time. Even though she was my grand daughter I didn’t realize you could be attached emotionally to someone else’s child like I was with her. Wow….. almost like when her mom was born. While I was staying with them in Arizona for the next few days I started questioning whether I’d been around enough for my daughter and her sibs as they grew up. Tiffany so tactfully said that “I was there when she needed me”. I still wonder. So I now strive to find that balance. I don’t want to miss more of my family growing up, any of them.

I really am trying to find that balance. I’ve started to market more for architectural work. Maybe if I go and look for the work instead of waiting for it I can spend less wasted time at the office. Don’t get me wrong. If anything I feel more passionate about my work and feel after all these years that I finally know what my “style and vision” is. More on that later.

So, enough for a first entry. I hope to use this blog to share a little of my life, travels, my photography and family including the dogs and cats. I’ve never kept a journal before so this adventure could get rocky. I hope you enjoy it.

My other work can be viewed at: www.zwink.com