Had an amazing time at Vantage Communications shooting their executive portraits. Hanging out with this group can hardly be considered work.

Don’t forget, Macbeth can do your company’s shoot in our studio or in your own office.

Had a great time photographing the Orlando Sandal Premiere for REBUILD Globally, an NGO working in Haiti to provide income for locals, and to recycle tires and other materials. They are doing good work, and would be grateful for your support, in whatever form you can provide it.

Here’s a few of the photos from our shoot. Check them all out on Rebuild Globally’s Website, as well as find out information on their amazing organization.

Last fall Macbeth was asked to do another very rewarding photo shoot. It was for a group called QUEST who works with the Florida Autism Center for Excellence or FACE located in Tampa.  We photographed all of the children and young adults who are benefitting from the organization as well as the teachers who work there. The photos were used on the home page and through FACE’s website. Macbeth always enjoys the chance to help out the Florida community and stand for a good cause. This was a benefiting experience for FACE and a rewarding one for Macbeth.

We got to witness a rare and fascinating sight last night…  a total lunar eclipse.  And here in Central Florida, it was a cold and clear night.  Over the space of an hour, the moon went from a blindingly white disc to a surprisingly dim orange dot.

As it was approaching complete eclipse, I walked outside with my 70-200 mm (non-stabilized) lens on the 5D II, and shot hand-held for about 20 minutes.  After some experimentation, I ended up manually set on f/2.8 at 1/125 at ISO 6400.  Yes, there was a lot of noise to clean up, and much of it is still there (click image for larger).

The first shot was taken at 2:22 a.m., and the last one was at 2:42 a.m., EST.  I’m sure there are much better shots on the scientific web sites, but it was fun to see what I could capture in my front yard.

Random trivia:  the last time a total lunar eclipse happened on the night of the Winter Solstice was in the 1600s.

On Black Friday, a day that many use as their big Christmas shopping day, I was fortunate to be able to spend a 24-hour shift with the Orlando Fire Department’s Station 1, on Central Ave in Downtown Orlando.

Thanks to friend and fireman Pat Kelly, I was granted permission to go wherever the firefighters went, and photograph everything they do, for the whole shift.  Obviously, I avoided photographing patients, and was careful to stay out of the way when things got hectic.

Firefighters work a 24 hour shift, followed by 48 hours off.  They start at 8:00 a.m., and usually arrive half an hour early to have some overlap with the previous shift.  This allows them to brief each other on what took place the night before, and be ready to go if the alarm goes off right away.

The station has about 16 firefighters on duty at any given time, and each has a designated position on a particular vehicle.  When the alarm goes off, the dispatcher specifies which vehicles are needed to respond, based on the type of emergency.  I was given the ok to ride on either engine, and had my own designated spot where I could see what was going on, without being in the way.

So what’s with all the doors?

Behind all those garage doors are a lot of specialized vehicles:  There are two engines (Engine 1 and Engine 101); a “rescue” — which looks like a red ambulance; a tower truck — with the big giant ladder for high-rise fires; 2 haz-mat (haz

ardous materials) vehicles; a truck towing a boat for water rescues; and one or two other specialty vehicles.

Between emergencies, there are jobs that need to be done, paperwork to be filled out, and equipment that needs to be cleaned and maintained.  In addition, there is a TV room with recliners (for watching football), a well-equipped workout facility, and several bunk-rooms.

A quiet day at Station 1

The following is an attempt to illustrate what goes on in a typical day at the the station.  Having said that, there is no “typical” day, and every shift has a new and different challenge.  Also, there is a well-known phenomenon that occurs whenever a civilian rides along: nothing very interesting happens.

True to form, it was a quiet shift.  The most common phrase I hear when sitting around waiting for the alarm to go off is:

“You should have been here last week…”

That’s about it.  We went back to bed after that last call, and woke up at 7 a.m. to pack up and get ready to go home.

It was a predictably quiet shift (always is when someone’s riding along, looking for some excitement), but it’s always interesting and entertaining to hang out with the highly-trained professionals who work for the Orlando Fire Department.

I extend my great thanks and gratitude to all the firefighters who answered my questions, allowed me access, and were genuinely fun to be around.

I’d welcome your feedback on this story.  Thanks for reading!

– Jim

Earlier this week Macbeth was asked to photograph the employees of the Orlando Humane Society. It was a pleasant surprise when we found out we got to take some shots of their favorite pets too. The photos we took will be used for the employee’s professional networks and possibly in the Orlando Sentinel. The Orlando Humane Society is more than essential to the Orlando community. It is operated mainly by volunteers and organizes many community outreach programs such as rescue, relief from distressed families, and relief from over crowding of other Florida Humane Societies.

Macbeth is very supportive of all efforts made by the SPCA to help Orlando’s animals in need, and loved being part of this project. If you are interested in individual or family portraits with your pet for the holiday season we would be delighted to arrange that. If you don’t have a pet of your own, don’t forget that all of the pets featured here are up for adoption, and the Orlando Humane Society would be more than happy to help you with any animal needs.

His courage and strength caught the eye of Habitat for Humanity’s “Home at Last Program,” which builds homes for injured war vets. They have chosen Cornelius from thousands of other applicants. Macbeth was also able to give back to Cornelius by photographing the optimistic soldier and his family. They were thrilled to have been chosen after a tough adjustment to Cornelius’s loss of vision. The photos will be used for the Home at Last Program’s fundraising project, which begins spring 2011.

Rachelle and I spent the day photographing the step-by-step for four breakfast recipes, each one from a different Bed and Breakfast around the country.

The recipes will be posted on www.InnTheKitchen.com, as many are already.

To make this timelapse video, I put my back-up camera on a tripod in the corner of the room, and set it to shoot one photo every 5 seconds for the full 5 hours.  This came to just under 4,000 individual photos, which, when put together in a movie, compress that time to 2-1/2 minutes.  Enjoy!