For Spring Spectacular, student engineering societies from the Cockrell School of Engineering hosted a public outreach fair for Austin-area children.

ASME’s booth had kids build a structure to protect a water balloon from bursting after a drop.

As usual, hit the thumbnails for larger versions.

ASME’s booth had kids build a structure to protect a water balloon from bursting after a drop.

Not all designs protected the balloon sufficiently:

It’s a week of craziness. There were two major service/outreach days: Engineering Day at the Museum and Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. Each of the student societies competed in and hosted competitions, including capture the flag, Rock Band, talent show, lip-syncing contest, and a canned food drive/building contest.

Throughout the whole week, student societies also scrambled to complete scavenger hunt items like “Make an origami zoo (at least 20 different animals)” and “Make UT clocktower out of legos.”

The student chapter of ASME at UT competed, and won its sixth consecutive year. See the official writeup, Engineers Week — 18th — 25th February, 2011.

Most creative picture with the “Clock Knot” involving only a society’s members. Originally I wanted to do a flash composite, but this was deemed to be too time- and labor-intensive. So instead, we used the geography to our advantage. Inspired by “I Should’Ve Had a V8″ by Ryan Brenizer.

All of one’s society officers with Alec (bonus for another organization’s officers picture)

Sometimes it’s strange that these are still some of my favorites. Three years later, it is funny how little equipment I had and how I would have exposed differently. ISO 200 indoors, even with lots of windows? Was I afraid of noise or what? I used my 50mm prime lens the whole day and carried just camera and lens. At this point, I didn’t even own an external flash.

Some of them are curiously specific:

• Close-up of groom’s adorably nervous mug waiting for his other half
• Bride with her happy, proud parents and/or stepparents
• Groom with his happy, proud parents and/or stepparents
• Bride/groom with college alums

Others rather obvious:

• Exchanging the rings
• Close up of hands
• The Kiss

It’s like a scavenger hunt! I propose the following items:

• Overzealous guests with cameras, attempting and failing to hide in the foliage.
• Guest annoyed that other guest is blocking his/her line of sight.
• Bride jumping out a window
• Keg stand
• Members of the bridal party propositioning each other
• Bored guest checking facebook/twitter on iPhone 3G
• DJ doing something embarrassing
• Guests clinging to the wall to avoid the dance floor just like in sixth grade
• Guest leaving who’s totally going to get arrested for drunk driving
• Best man flirting with bride
• Maid of honor flirting with groom
• Women fighting over bouquet
• Bloody nose after bouquet toss fight
• Group shot of all ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends
• Kid trying to drink ‘adult beverage’
• Kid with “it wasn’t me” look on his/her face, while another kid cries
• The rings… somewhere on the floor after dropping them while setting up a cool ring shot
• “We’re so not getting back the damages deposit.”

So yeah. Shot lists are silly.

This is a photo I took in 2007 at a crawfish boil my friend Bruce had at his house in New Orleans. Like the mannequin photo, it’s in my desktop wallpaper rotation.

This is through the windows of the then-unopened Levi’s store. The mannequins are not yet set up and dressed.

It’s on rotation as one of my desktop backgrounds. After fellow photographer Christine Tremoulet saw my laptop desktop background and asked if I had taken the photo (it was a Mac one included with the OS) I decided to actually use photos of mine instead.

If you were at a wedding in 2009 and possibly late 2008, chances are the bouquet toss was set to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”. This is also, according to some one of the best videos of all time. A fellow photographer posted this version as an alternative: Single Ladies – Pomplamoose.* As a cover, it shifts the medium of song and music video into a videosong. Every sound is shown on screen. Although not always simultaneously, there is generous use of split screen. The description reads, “we love this song. the chord progression in the chorus is genius. hooray for beyonce and her songwriters.”

What?

The other night I was bored (and procrastinating other things) and did some research. The default start for background research: Wikipedia’s article on chord progression and song structure and various linked off of there. Here are two articles about the chord progression and song structure of “Single Ladies”:

• Analysis of “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)”
• “Single Ladies” by Beyonce: A Compositional Analysis

Try listening to the harmony and bass lines of a popular song. Listen for the changes. Still confused? Watch Rob Paravonian Rant about hating Pachelbel’s Canon. In addition to his comedic value, the rant brings out the common chord progression everywhere. Even in punk rock.

*Francophone readers might note that pomplamoose sounds like pamplemousse, French for grapefruit.

Back to photography, then. One of the best videos of all time is shot in black and white on a huge wraparound white seamless background. Super-awesome Atlanta Photographer Zack Arias wrote a multi-part tutorial on using white seamless.

The transitions in the video between the gray background with dancers’ shadows and white shadowless is done entirely by changing lighting ratios. All in camera. White seamless is particularly versatile in photography for this very reason. Multiple looks, all by changing the way the scene is lit. Very light against white, against black/dark gray, silhouette against white. And in theory, all available by just turning lights up and down.