I could not be any more pleased with the performance of the T2i. It is an exceptional camera, especially for the price. I am really enjoying the HD video is shoots and the extra photography features it has.
Last week I began shooting my new short doc on crime prevention. I am trying to only use my fixed focus 50mm lens. However, on the first night out, I realized that this could pose many new challenges for me. My first set of interviews went from one person to a group of people, each talking to me. The fixed lens only allowed me to focus on one person talking. Although the images I got were exceptional, the restrictions on what could be seen may pose serious problem during production.
To avoid complications with point of view and settings, I have decided to create more of an artistic doc. I am going to shoot it similar to a sound slide, but in a movie format. What I mean by this is, I will have the audio covered by film that relates to what is being said, but will never show you the person talking. I will however have the subject doing other tasks during his/her dialogue. I have noticed that this technique is becoming more popular, but something I never thought about trying.
Today, I am riding along with Seattle SWAT to obtain images and footage for this film. I hope it is a fun filled afternoon! I will keep you posted on the progress of this short doc and the preparations I am making for my quickly approaching trip to Brazil.

It has been way to long since I have had the time to update this site! I have been continually taking pictures, finishing up school, preparing for Law School, and a trip to Brazil. The pictures I have taken over the past month are waiting to be sorted, edited, and posted. Since my last update a lot has happened. Here is an overview of recent events:

Film:
I recently produced a PR style film for a local homeless shelter. This film is waiting to be approved by the shelter and then will be posted on my Vimeo account as well as under the film section (1811Eastlake).
I am beginning to plan my next film and will begin production in 2 weeks. This film will be on another local issue in Seattle, possible homelessness.

School:
I recently walked in the graduation ceremony for the University of Washington. I graduated with a BA degree in communication.
I have also been given the opportunity to travel and study abroad in Brazil for my final quarter at UW. In Brazil I will be making a short documentary film on Human Rights issues as well as studying Brazil's history and Portuguese at a local university. Before I leave for Brazil I will create a blog that will be continuously updated with pictures, short movies, and experience notes. Please check back for the link to that page.

New equipment:
In preparation for my trip to Brazil I recently upgraded all of my equipment. I purchased the Canon T2i, a 12-24mm wide-zoom lens, a new fluid head tripod, audio equipment, and many other little accessories which will help increase the quality of future productions.

Future:
As this new hobby, film and photography is keeping me busy, I am also working on applying to Law School. At this time, I am beginning to consider taking a year off from school and finding a job in production at a local television or radio station. At this time, I am not sure what I am planning on doing for after I return for Brazil, but I do know it will either be audio or video production or Law school. I will keep you updated as I make this decision.

Name Change:
As my focus begins to turn away from photography and towards film, McNamee Photography may soon become McNamee Productions. When this change takes place, the site may be down for a few days as I reorganize the lay out and update the content. This change will most likely take place in the next few weeks.

As always, if you have any questions about what you see, problems, or suggestions, please contact me. Although my replies have been a little slower recently, now that my schedule has opened up a little, I will have more time to catch up on past projects and update/revive this site. Thank you for showing interest in McNamee Photography!

Ryan

As you can tell by the lack of site updates, my schedule has gotten very busy lately. I am staring at the ever approaching LSAT test date, finals, a film due date and my college graduation.

I was recently awarded the Pioneer Newspaper Journalism Award for the production of "The Homeless Neighbor". Although I do not have very much information about what this award entails, I do know that the awards ceremony will be next week, and my multimedia team was selected from a very talented pool of applicants.

I am still waiting to hear back from Lean Forward Media about the "The Digital Divide", a film produced for the Baby Boomer meets Video competition last month. As soon as I know the outcome of the competition I will post it on the films page.

With a little help from a photography friend, I am now quickly learning how to use my camera. For example, the two images above, the first one was taken in RAW and with a low ISO and the second was taken with a high ISO, faster shutter speeds, and in low quality. If you look in the city or people section of my site, you can see the latest additions are crisp and clear, whereas the older pictures taken have some major clarity issues. With this new knowledge, I will go out and attempt to re-capture some of my favorite images in a higher quality this summer.

If you have contacted me recently about images you see on this site, I apologize for the delay. School has consumed my entire life and has left me little time to catch up on emails, or enjoy the soothing sound of a shutter click. After graduation, I will begin to update this site with images I have taken recently.

With school in full swing, I have not had a lot of time to go out and experiment with photography. However, I am still taking pictures when I can. I recently shot a High School production of The Music Man.  This was a great experience. I had to quickly learn how to shoot moving objects in changing stage lights as well as find spots to shoot in so I was not in the way of people getting ready or watching the show. One image can be seen above. Of the 1,500 pictures I took, only 120 were good enough to move on. A few of them are still questionable but unique enough to keep. I am currently showing the selected images to students and parents before I make the page available for public viewing.

I am currently working on a new homeless documentary as well as finishing a documentary on technology use. I have used this opportunity to take a few pictures at different set locations. Realizing that a few of these new pictures are similar to ones I have already posted, I am beginning to experiment with contrasts and exposure settings on my camera and in Photoshop. One example is the middle image. That picture was taken on a bright and sunny day in Seattle, the sky was blue and the tree was green. 

While I am keeping up with school work, I have begun to play with micro shots. The first image you see is a close up of an object on my desk... any idea on what it is? Playing around with my +10 lens adapter, I took this image and  thought it looked interesting enough to keep. I think it is of something that people always look at but rarely consider looking at. That image has had its contrast and exposure altered in Photoshop as well. In case you don't know what it is, it is a stapler.

I will continue to try to find new ways to capture the different parts of my everyday life. Since I drive to the transit center and take a bus to school, I have different opportunities to take abstract, micro and interesting shots. For the past two years I have sat in the same seat on the bus to and from school. Taking my camera to school with me yesterday, I decided to sit in a different seat on the bus and was able to have an entirely new experience during my commute. I will look through the pictures I took and see if any are worthy of being posted.

I hope you enjoy the pictures I have available. Please keep checking back for new additions, I will post pictures from The Music Man, school and my two documentaries very soon. If you would like to know more about this, sign up for monthly email updates, and always remember that you can contact me at anytime.

I found a blog about night time photography and how to obtain the perfect look. Right after sunset I went down to the Arrora bridge to give what I read a try. I had the camera set at: ISO 100, f/8 and experimented with slower shutter speeds (around 5-30 seconds) and different angles. However, the passing cars and the wind gave the bridge a small vibration, blurring most of my attempts. I did get a few that I thought were interesting. Three of them are above. On the first one, you can see a few rain drops on the lens and on the third you can see something in the sky above the city. I will go out on a clear and calm night to attempt this again. I would like to get faint passing cars, stars, and a crisp city and will keep experimenting until I get that perfect shot.

Over spring break I have reorganized this site and added a few new categories. I have traveled down to Chambers Creek to photograph skim boarding as well as to various parks around Seattle to hike and take nature shots. Since a new quarter starts on Monday and I will begin to complete two short films, additions to the site may not come as often. However, just because the site is not being updated does not mean I have stopped taking pictures.

If you are looking for a photographer for an event or would just like a few pictures taken, feel free to contact me. I will work with you to determine a low and fair price as well as a time that will work for both of us. I guarantee that the quality will be just as good as a professional photographer and the cost and options will beat any in town.

Thank you for looking around McNamee Photography. Please contact me at anytime.

I would like to thank my grandparents for the donation of a Canon EOS 630, Silk 600 tripod, a 50mm, 28-70mm, and an 80-200mm lens. They all provide me with different zoom and frame options and the variations in the crop ratios from the old lenses to the new camera have given me something new to learn and try. 

Although I have not had the opportunity to try out the film camera, I am excited to learn the different techniques needed for film later this week. I am still investigating ways to put high quality film pictures online. I will most likely use my scanner for the time being and later have the images developed on CD's at Costco or Target. If anyone has any suggestions on how to digitize film pictures please let me know.

This weekend I took a trip up to the Snoqualmie Falls to hike around and take a few pictures. However, the map I had printed out led me deep into the mountains. Back tracking to the main road, I saw an old brick building hidden in the trees and decided to stop and check it out. The building, as seen above, was guarded by a fence and had no trespassing as well as condemned signs posted all around. Keeping my distance I tried to take as many pictures as I could. About 100 meters away was an old warehouse which I also explored. It was an old Mill and the brick building was its power plant. It looked as though it had not been occupied for at least a decade. On my way back up to the road I was met by a security guard for the Mill, who informed me that I was trespassing and the police had been called.
Suggesting that I stick around, I waited and talked to the Sheriff about what I was doing. I pointed out that there was no fence blocking the access to the warehouse or no "no trespassing" signs posted anywhere other then on the fence surrounding the brick building; which I respected. The Sheriff told me that kids like to go party down there and that the brick building was in some movie. Telling him that I am a freelance photographer who was mildly lost, and not down there smoking, drinking or destroying things, the security guard and Sheriff agreed to not press charges and let me go with a warning, as long as I didn't return.
Despite this set back, I was able to keep my pictures I took and learned to be much more careful when venturing out to get that perfect shot.
Unfortunately, my camera was still set for indoor shots from the warehouse when I began taking picture of the falls. Although I realized this while I was still down there, many of the pictures are washed out and needed a lot of editing to restore some of the much needed color. Overall this was quite an adventure and learning experience. I am grateful that no charges were filed for my curiosity and that I had the opportunity to explore this unseen and deserted compound.

Yesterday, I traveled all over Seattle to take pictures. I went out to Bothell for a study group and ended up spending most of my time taking pictures of the goats and chickens. At first it was hard to adjust to moving objects but after a little while I started to figure out what settings I needed the camera to be on and how to reduce the blur.
During another study break later in the evening, I went to across the street to the Cemetery. Unlike the the pictures I had before, these did not need any editing and produced amazing blue tones. The pictures of grave stones have been changed to black and white.
Before I went to bed, I took a trip out to Alki point to try and obtain cleaner city pictures which is more difficult then I thought without a tripod. Before I gave up, I began to experiment with overexposed micro photography.
With finals next Tuesday and Wednesday, I do not know if I will be able to spend very much more time taking pictures until next weekend. However, I will continue to post the ones I do have and respond to the emails I have already gotten.
Thank you for all of your interest in this site and my new hobby. I was amazed to see that over 200 people viewed this site yesterday. Please continue to come back and send me your comments and suggestions. They are all very helpful!

Welcome to my new site. As I stated on my About me page,photography is a very new hobby for me. As I continue to build this site in my spare time, I will attempt to keep a running blog about the techniques I have learned and information behind a few selected pictures. Enjoy!