Taylor Guitars Road Show - Gand Music & Sound

Wayne Johnson inspects an x14ce guitar

with a florentine cutaway, ES electronics,

Sinker Redwood top and Macassar Ebony back & sides

Wayne tries out one of the new Solid Body Taylors

Dave Hager shows off a cutaway version

of a GS body with ES electronics inside

Dana Behl works on a neck reset

Dana shows the proper technique

for restringing a guitar

Last night, I attended the Taylor Guitars Road Show which was held at Gand Music & Sound in Northfield, IL.

Wayne Johnson who had played with The Manhattan Transfer for many years was on hand to help demonstrate various Taylor guitars and also to help unveil the new solid body electric guitars that Taylor Guitars will be offering very soon.

Taylor's regional sales manager, Dave Hager and Taylor Guitars repair technician Dana Behl were there as well to help explain the various technologies offered by Taylor.

The new solid body electric guitars look very promising. This is a new venture for Taylor and they have high hopes for it. A couple of years ago, Taylor started making electric guitars with the introduction of the now legendary T5 model which is a hollow body guitar. The new solid bodies have a lot of competition but I think these models will do just fine in the marketplace. To see more photos from the Road Show, click here.

Photo notes: These images were taken with just the ambient light at the store. The Fuji S5 pro was set for both aperture priority and manual modes depending on what was being shot. A strong floodlight was directly over Wayne Johnson which confused the camera's aperture priority mode. Switching to manual mode saved the day. (Exposures: ISO 1600, f2.8 and various shutter speeds which hovered around 1/80 second to 1/125 second.) Lenses used: Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR and Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 XR DII SP.

The Hallway

I love taking photos of the bride as she walks down the hallway. This one has been cropped to give a pseudo - panorama look.

Something about the converging lines of the ceiling and wall moldings and the darkening of the lighting in the background always looks interesting to me. Add a little camera tilt and it completes the effect.

I'll bet the brides are always a little anxious too whenever they leave their hotel room. After all, in just a short time, they'll be married! That's got to be a little scary! LOL

New "Simulated Leather" Albums

A new flushmount album has become available and it's a really nice one!

These albums are less expensive than my standard leather albums and about $100 more than the bordered vinyl albums; but their simulated leather look (ok... it's vinyl too) is much nicer looking and feeling than the older vinyl albums.

These albums have padded and textured vinyl covers and have less of a "sheen" to them compared to the other vinyl albums. The corner edges are rounded too, just like the leather albums. And, because they are true flushmount albums, you can easily put panoramic page spreads on two pages as well! The photos go from page edge to page edge... no borders to mess with. Another nice feature is the gutter (the space between panoramic prints.) It's the smallest spaced gutter I've ever seen... even smaller than the leather albums!

Construction of the albums seem to be very high quality as well.

I think you will really like these albums. For 2008 weddings currently booked, the new 11x14 album has already outsold all other album sizes and types and I haven't even had a demo until now! These albums are available in 10x10, 12x12 and 11x14 sizes. Cost? Well, the large 11x14 album is about the same price of the 10x10 leather album! Keep in mind that a panorama print in an 11x14 album measures 22x14 in size! That's HUGE!

You may be wondering why someone would buy the leather 10x15 album since this album is so great. Well, the leather versions do have advantages. They are a little narrower and a little longer. There is a bunch of leather options (standard leather, glove leather, suede) and a bunch of color options. The vinyl only comes in black, slate or brown. Also the leather album has a front cover cameo option at no additional cost. That's not available on the new albums. And you can specify the gilding color (page edges) on the leather album but not on the new albums. You can also add additional pages to the leather albums if needed, whereas the vinyl albums are only available in 12, 16 and 20 page varieties. Lastly, the leather albums have spray coating protection on the pages. That's an option on the new albums.

So the choice is yours... leather or simulated leather (vinyl). Either way, I think you'll agree that both albums are top notch!

Tale of Two Guitars

On the left is my 2006 Taylor GS-MC (Mahogany Back and Sides / Cedar Top) and on the right is my 2006 R. Taylor Style 1 (East Indian Rosewood Back and Sides / Engelmann Spruce Top.) Although the body shapes are the same, there is a night and day difference in the tone of these two guitars.

It could be argued that the differences in the woods is what is causing a change in the sound, but it's more than just that. This is the third GS guitar I've owned and each one was different. But none of them compared to the richness of tone from the R. Taylor.

The GS-MC (now called the GS5 for 2007) is a warmer sounding guitar than my GS-MS (Maple / Sitka Spruce, currently known as a GS6) or GS8 (Rosewood / Sitka Spruce.) I think it's a great guitar for fingerstyle playing, but it holds its own when strummed as well. Like all GS guitars, the bass response is much better than on other Taylor guitars.

But the R. Taylor - Style 1 guitar is a totally different guitar! It may look similar outside, but it's made differently inside! The bracing is different, the wood quality is higher and from what I've been told by Taylor Guitars, the wood is thinner as well. This guitar projects a lot louder, the mid-frequencies are the best I've ever heard and it has incredible overtones, sustain and string separation! As for bass, well, there's no comparing the quality of the bass to a standard Taylor. The R. Taylor blows them all away! Deep, rich and powerful.

R. Taylor guitars are made by five of Taylor Guitar's top luthiers. Less than five hundred guitars are made each year from this group of artisans and each guitar is hand built. Although a lot of technologies are shared between the regular Taylor line and the new R. Taylors, the limited production R. Taylors get special treatment. The best woods are used on these guitars and hand construction techniques are used to make them as well. This all adds up to guitars that sound different from the main production guitars.

Both guitars have K&K Pure Western Mini pickups installed. The GS-MC has Gotoh 510 Delta 1:21 tuners retrofitted as well. These come standard on the R. Taylor guitars. Both guitars are keepers! At least for now...

Tight Squeeze

Every week, I look for images and interesting stories to put up on my blog. This week, this image grabbed my attention.

At Saturday's wedding while heading down the elevator to get to our ride to the church, the bride, one of her attendants and I squeezed into the small elevator in the hotel. I immediately took a quick shot as the attendant was adjusting the bride's dress. Inside the cramped elevator were mirrors all around. I figured it might make an interesting shot because we'd be able to see the bride's face in the mirror. But not only do we see the bride, but you can clearly see me taking the photo! Not often do you see me in any photos... so to see me at work is something that's very rare.

On occasion, a guest will try to take my photo. It seems they like seeing me at work and try their best to photograph the photographer. When that happens, I usually turn quickly and take a shot of them, taking a shot of me. It's just a little retaliation on my part!

This shot is interesting though. I caught myself while working!

Two other things made this wedding stand out.

While heading to the church in the rented trolley car, a car tried to turn left in front of the trolley and almost hit us! At the last moment, the trolley driver swerved and we missed the car. I was ready to take photos of the impending accident, but never got the chance.

Also, while at the reception, one of the priests came up to me to tell me that he appreciated the fact that I was very unobtrusive at the wedding. "I hardly knew you were there and I appreciate you making the effort to not disturb the ceremony!" (It was a LONG Catholic ceremony!) How nice! I was really touched to hear that because many photographers have been blasted by the clergy lately for being such trouble at weddings! I thanked the priest and told him how much I appreciated his comment.

It was a fun time shooting on Saturday for a very nice couple. I'm lucky to have such wonderful clients!

The Truth About Wedding Photography - Anyone Can Shoot It!

There. I said it.

It's TRUE! Anyone with a camera can shoot a wedding!

Let's say your friends just bought a new Nikon D80 camera. Better yet... let's say they spent the money and got themselves a new Nikon D200. And, they splurged and bought one of the fancy 17-55mm f2.8 DX lenses to go with it. And, to top it off, they got themselves a Nikon SB-800 flash with a nice diffuser too.

Wow! They must be really able to shoot your wedding right? After all, they have the same basic gear that many wedding photographers use. Same camera, same lens, same flash. Oh, and they bought plenty of Compact Flash cards too, so they can shoot 2000 or more images as well!

But to be safe, you went ahead and contacted a couple of professional photographers. Wow, that guy is going to charge you $2500 to shoot the wedding! And then, another guy had the nerve to say it would cost $5000 to shoot the wedding and to make an album! Are they crazy? The whole camera system doesn't even cost $5000!

So you decide that perhaps your friend with the new fancy camera can do just as good of a job. And you don't expect him to do this for free... so you offer to pay him $1000 for his time and effort. That's more than fair right? You had checked out Craigslist and found some "pro" photographers offering to shoot weddings for $500. So giving your friend $1000 is more than fair!

In this case, I would agree with you. Paying him $1000 is very fair! It's twice what some guys will do it for and they are in business to do this! Your friend is getting double and he's not really doing this professionally.

Ok. So your friend shoots the wedding, goes home and puts the images on Photoshop Elements and fixes some of the shots that did not come out too well and then prints up 4x6 images of all the photos and gives them to you. What? They don't look as good as you thought they would? Why is that? He's got the same camera, same lens, same flash, lots of Compact Flash cards to get lots of shots, but it still doesn't really look that good? Something's not right here. What is it?

Lack of experience! Lack of artistic vision! Lack of technical expertise!

Now you know why some of these wedding photographers are charging $2500 or $5000 or more for a wedding. What you are paying for is not the camera. You are paying for their ability to give you quality images and quality albums based on their professional abilities.

Anyone with a camera can shoot a wedding. But would you really want them to?

Einstein

Every now and then my daughter and I find a "stuffed animal" at a store that grabs our interest. But on a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, we didn't find a stuffed animal, but this guy caught our attention instead.

Anyone want to explain the Theory of Relativity?

"Before and After" - Lincolnshire Marriott

"Before"

"After"

In the daylight, the fountain at the Lincolnshire Marriott looks pretty good. At night, it takes on a whole different look!

Time exposure shots are lots of fun to do, but requires either a tripod and a remote shutter release or something to lean against and a steady hand. For this shot, it was the latter.

"Hey, Take Our Picture!"

While wandering around outside late at night trying to scout out some additional locations that I could photograph my bride and groom, I was approached by these two ladies who ask me to take their picture.

So I said, "Well, give me a good pose!"

This is what they came up with.

Sometimes you just get lucky! I find that without telling people how to pose, sometimes they surprise you and come up with some good ones on their own. Too often, photographers don't let their subjects try different poses on their own. I always try to let people pose themselves first. If they don't come up with something good, then I'll suggest something. But in this case, I just didn't need to do that.

September 11, 2001 - We Will Not Forget

Six Years Later...

9/11 - We Will NOT Forget.

Another New Blog Name

Once again, I've changed the name of my blog!

After reviewing the topics I discuss most, I found that it comes down to just a few things: Photography, Weddings and Guitars! So ok... perhaps there isn't a Lot More like the name implies, but that just leaves it open for me to be able to add more if I want! :)

Those three topics seem to be my favorite, so I figured I should name the blog after them!

My faithful visitors also seem to be from three catagories as well... current and potential wedding clients, photographers and musicians! Well, ok... a bunch of friends and relatives who don't fall into those three catagories visit often too.

Don't worry... things haven't changed concerning the blog... just the name.

Carry on!

Texas Guitar Show - St. Charles, IL

Today, I attended the "Texas Guitar Show" which was being held at the DuPage Expo Center in St. Charles, IL. It runs Sept 8 and 9.

My friends Jim and Alicia got there before me and had already purchased a "Lefty" Taylor DDSM (Doyle Dykes Signature Model) and a Fender acoustic guitar amp!

This is one of the nicest DDSM's I've ever seen! This guitar has got incredible Quilted Maple on it's back and sides!

Alicia met Doyle earlier this year at one of his Taylor workshops at Sam Ash Music in Lombard, IL (see my May 17, 2007 post about Doyle and Haley.) So now she owns one of his guitars!

Ironically, I had recently sold my DDSM and got an email message from Doyle yesterday about it! Don't worry, Doyle has forgiven me for that.... NOT! :)

The show was really interesting. I've never been to one of these kinds of shows. But from what Jim tells me, the show in Arlington, TX is much larger. Still, it was fun to go see all of these guitars in one huge room! I was surprised to see people buying guitars with CASH! Wow... that's a lot of $20 bills!

To see more photos from the show, click here.

Sometimes a Windy Day Isn't So Bad

While taking photos outside, we were hit with a sudden gust of wind.

Instead of just waiting until the wind died down, I decided to keep shooting. The movement of the dress and the bride's hair gave some "action" to what would typically be a static posed shot.

Sometimes having a little wind isn't such a bad thing...

Chu-Ske The Mouse Fighter

My nephew gave me the trading card on top because he knew I liked Bruce Lee.

The trading card is Chu-Ske, the Mouse Fighter. According to the card, Chu-Ske is "A fiery mouse, travelling the world to become the strongest fighter in the world of mice. Be careful not to touch him, or you will get burned."

This card is from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game by Konami. The kids like playing and trading with these cards. When I was younger, we had baseball cards. But I also had James Bond cards (still have some from the movie Thunderball) and Batman cards (my brother has these) and also Star Trek cards! We'd buy these card packs at the local store and trade them with our friends.

As we would go through our cards, we'd say things like, "Got 'em, got 'em, need 'em, got 'em..."

Anyone collecting baseball cards will always remember the lousy stick of gum that came with the cards. A couple of chews of the gum and that thing would turn rock hard and all the flavor would be gone. (Wasn't that good to begin with!) Yuck! Still, we bought the cards, chewed the gum and then stuck the cards in the spokes of our bicycles by holding them there with clothes pins attached to the front and rear forks of our bikes. That was how we got the cool "motorcycle" sounds when we rode our bikes.

Man, those were the days!

What Have I Been Dealing With This Week?

What a CRAZY week!

Like many in the Chicago area who got hit hard by storms last Thursday, our home was without electricity for three days! And to make matters worse, our home had six inches of flood water in the family room, utility room and washroom too! Our entire neighborhood was hit hard and many families were in just as much trouble as us. We could hear the sound of portable gas generators running all day long.

We lost a lot of items to the flood and now we need to contend with the probability of mold growth. Most likely, we will need to replace our flooring as well as walls...

Because of this disaster, I am running slightly behind in my Photoshop work, but I'm still covering my weddings!

As I was busy photographing a wedding last Friday (see Sunday's post), my in-laws all pitched in and helped us clean up the house. Without their help, we would still be dealing with this flood. Our neighbor helped us as well by bringing over his portable sump pump and we borrowed electricity from a neighbor across the street who luckily did not lose electric power.

So we have been living in a totally messy house for the past week since all that was downstairs is now upstairs trying to dry out. It's not fun.

On a brighter note, I spent the entire day today in a training class to improve my skills with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Scott Kelby, the president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and also the world's number one selling author of computer training books (or something like that) was the instructor.

Lightroom has become a major part of my photography workflow this year and with this training, I should be able to work even more efficiently. About 500 people were in attendance at this training with many from out of state. It's nice to know that so many professional photographers took a serious interest in improving their skills. That's proof again that continuing education is vital to success in this industry. It takes hard work and dedication to continuing education to keep our skills sharp on both the photography end and the post production computer end. This benefits not only us, but also our clients as well.

Group Photo At Pheasant Run

This image was taken at last Friday's wedding.

Working with the DJ, we gathered all the people at the reception for a couple of shots with the bride and groom. We took one serious shot, one smiling shot and one "goofy" shot. Guess which one this was?

I was situated in the balcony area of the reception hall and had my camera on a tripod pointed down at the group. We had the house lights brought up and I took the shot with only the house lights. Not bad!

The White House

I recall taking this image of the White House many years ago with a cheap Sony Mavica camera.

I had been on a trip out to the Washington DC area and remembered once driving past the general area years ago but never getting to see the White House. So on this second trip, I wanted to make sure I got to go see it.

Security was very high, but it was just before the 911 incident had occurred in 2001. So you were able to go right up to the fence which keeps the property off limits from the general public. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, The White House looks SO SMALL!" It wasn't as grand as I had thought it would be. I remember seeing photos of the White House when I was young and imagining it would be this huge home. It wasn't.

I had heard that right after 911, all tours had ceased to the White House. I'm not sure what they are doing today, but I hope things have opened up for tourists to see now. It's a real pity how times have changed since the 911 attack.

I've never been on a White House tour. Maybe one day...

Here's the Sony Mavica that took the photo above.  Yes, it recorded onto 3.5" floppy disks!!

Who Writes This Stuff?

I've noticed lately that Fortune Cookies no longer include "fortunes!"

"Promote literacy. Buy a box of fortune cookies today."

What?!

What kind of Fortune is that? That's Marketing... not Fortune Telling!

Who writes this stuff? You can't even use the time-tested, "... in bed" comment after that fortune either. It doesn't make any sense then... LOL

If you don't know what the "... in bed" is all about, just think of a fortune you would normally receive in a good fortune cookie and add the words, "in bed" after it. You'll get the idea. For instance, "You will have great success." Now add the words, "... in bed." Don't blame me... I didn't make this up. Blame Confucius!

Ear Manipulation

When I was younger, I recall going to a grocery store that was run by some of my relatives on my dad's side and getting my ear pulled by my "uncle" whenever he wanted my brother and me to do something for him.

Then, a couple of years ago, I went to the Museum of Science and Industry with my young nephew where we saw a display of someone getting his ear pulled with a caption that read "Manipulation." My nephew immediately said, "That's what Auntie does to me!" (Disclaimer: Not my wife... another "Auntie"!)

At this past Saturday's wedding, the bride wanted a photo taken with her brother. So she immediately grabbed his ear to get his attention. "He's your younger brother, isn't he?" I asked. "Yes," she said. "Figures!" I replied.

Seems to be some kind of trend here, don't you think?

International Wedding Weekend

This past Friday and Saturday, I photographed two weddings.

Friday's wedding was an African wedding uniting two African families from different parts of Africa... Cameroon and Kenya. Family members and friends flew in from all over the world for this wedding from as far as Africa to as close as New Jersey. Of approximately 150 people who attended the wedding, only 6 were from the Chicago area!

This group of guests were really a lot of fun! I couldn't help laughing at all the jokes they kept playing on the bride and groom! And wow, do they like to dance! We were treated with everything from traditional African dances and chants to dancing the Electric Slide! They were a great group to be with.

The next day, I photographed a wedding uniting French and Chinese families! It was a treat to hear French being spoken one minute and then Chinese the next! Families came in from France and from Washington DC. Since the annual Air and Water Show was happening downtown that day, I wondered if we might have problems navigating through the area to get our shots before the wedding. Our wedding was at The Drake Hotel. But because it was raining on and off Saturday, I think people just stayed off the streets a little more than usual. We were really lucky because whenever it rained, we went to an indoor downtown location to shoot. Then when it stopped, we'd drive over to another outside location to get our shots! We had a great time trying to figure out where to go next and getting to know each other while taking our photos.

Later at the reception, we were all treated to a Chinese "Lion Dance." During the dance, the bride and groom feed the lion a monetary gift given in a red envelope which is said to bring everything from wealth, good fortune, health and happiness.

Yes, I'm tired after two weddings in a row, but I had fun...

Window Light

Here's a variation on the "classic" window light pose.

Most often, photographers who use window light for portraits have the subject INSIDE the room allowing the window light to stream in to create its magic. But this shot I took has the subject OUTSIDE of the room!

The sunlight makes for nice hairlight and detail lighting. The warmer light from inside the room blends nicely with the outside light creating a warmer tone and nice modeling to the face as well.

This shot was not planned. It was "grab" shot. I saw the subject leaning in from the window, so I raised my camera and took the shot. I had been shooting images inside for a while and just happened to see this subject peering in through the open window. I shot it as quick as I could relying solely on the camera's aperture priority mode to capture the right exposure. I couldn't have asked for a better shot! True "portrait quality" for something that could have easily been just a snapshot! This shot is right out of the camera. No post production Photoshop work was necessary other than very slight cropping. And yes, this is a JPG image... it was not shot in RAW format. (ISO 1000, 1/60 sec at f 2.8 at 70mm - Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR lens / Fuji S5 Pro camera)

Fishing at Busse Woods

Not too far from my Schaumburg office is a forest preserve called Busse Woods. I used to get up early in the mornings and go there to fish. I haven't done that in years.

I found it very relaxing to be out there by myself and just sit on a stool while waiting for the fish to bite. I'd catch bullheads or catfish, but an occasional walleye came my way. But the most common fish I caught was a really small fish called bluegills. They are so small, they always get tossed back into the lake. I recall one time my daughter was with me and she caught a frog! That really "freaked" us out!

I usually did the "catch and release" that other anglers do, but once in a while, I'd bring home my catch if it was legal size. And yes, I had a fishing license!

Last week, I went back out to Busse Woods to do some photography with a friend who is getting into photography. So I showed him my favorite fishing spot. This may not be the best place to fish, but it looks nice and it's a good place to go if you want to have some time to reflect.

Taylor GS8e Custom with Cutaway

On July 2nd, I posted about the Taylor GS8 Custom I had purchased.

I removed the pickguard from this guitar and thought I'd post a picture of what the guitar looks like now. I prefer my guitars without pickguards.

Taylor DN3

I purchased this Taylor guitar on eBay and planned to use it as my "beater" guitar. I got an exceptional price on it and couldn't pass it up. It was in mint condition too!

What was to be just a guitar to use when I didn't want to use my more expensive Taylor GS8, has now become the guitar I use every week at church!

I added a K&K Pure Western Mini pickup system and external pre amp to the guitar and it is now able to be "plugged in" and amplified.

Even though this is Taylor's least expensive all-solid wood guitar, it competes favorably to their more expensive models. It's a basic guitar with very little in terms of "bling," but wow... it plays great, sounds fantastic and is everything I would expect from a Taylor guitar.

If you are looking for a reasonably priced guitar, be sure to check out the Taylor DN3. Add an inexpensive pickup from K&K and you've got an incredible guitar for the money. And if you can find a deal on a good used one, jump on it and buy it! By the way, installing the K&K pickup was so easy! You can add one of these great pickups to any acoustic guitar.

The Rabbi Was Late, But He Was Great!

Saturday's wedding was supposed to be outside, but because of the threat of rain, it got pushed inside.

We had "wall to wall" people at the wedding and we all had to wait. Since this was a Jewish wedding on a Saturday, the ceremony had to wait until sundown. But when the time came for the wedding, we were still waiting for the Rabbi to show up!

Unfortunately, the Rabbi was delayed due to a traffic accident which blocked the road and just could not get to the wedding on time. Twenty minutes after the planned start time, the Rabbi finally showed up. What a relief!

Although we all had to wait, it was worth it. The Rabbi was so much fun! He kept everything light, made everyone laugh and that was exactly what we all needed!

We may not have gotten an outdoor wedding, but we all had a fun indoor one. Did I wear a yarmulke? Sure did.

To the bride and groom... Mazel Tov!

Vertical or Horizontal?

Which of these two images do you prefer?

Both of these images were taken on 7-7-07. Yes... the biggest wedding day of the year. This was taken at the Embassy Suites in Schaumburg, IL.

The images were shot from the 2nd floor looking down. The camera was a Fuji S5 Pro with a Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 DX lens set at 17mm. Exposure was 1/20 second at f 2.8 with the camera's ISO at 1600. I steadied the shots by leaning the camera on the railing from the second floor.

No flash was used and only the natural light of the environment lit the scene. It wasn't very bright when I shot this image as it was taken after 10 PM, so no sunlight was available.

What do you think? Vertical or Horizontal (Portrait or Landscape)?