Elizabethton Wins AAA Category - Smoky Mountain Band Competition - Oct 24, 2009

Last night I had the privilege to watch and photograph some of the best H.S. bands in the area. When I saw that the Elizabethton H.S. band was competing, it was a special occasion for me because, 1 my great niece was competing with this band but, 2 I was a member of this award winning band in the mid '60s. I am adding several of the images I shot in no particular order. I hope you enjoy them.

University of Tennessee Photo Students - Winners at the 2009 TN Valley Fair Photo Contest

WOW - UT photo students do it again. Last year (2008) our UT photo students walked away with a ton of ribbons (see the 2008 photos of UT student winners in a previous post on this blog below). This year (2009), the number of winning ribbons and 'Best of Show' winners is even more impressive. The total number of photo entries this year was reportedly to be more than 700, the largest entry volume in the history of the fair photo contest. This makes the UT wins even more impressive.

I want to congratulate each of you for your obvious effort and expression of talent. I also want to congratulate all of our instructors and helpers for doing such a wonderful job of teaching, helping, encouraging and making this event such a success for not only the contest winners but for the Photography Certificate Program of the UT Professional and Personal Development Department.

I have requested that every winner who is a UT PPD photo student send me their winning images with category and placement. I am still missing some winners, so if you are a UT photo student and won a ribbon and you are not listed here, please send me your information and I will add your images. tom

Color Categories Portraits of Children
1st Place - Steve Smith


3rd Place - Jeannie Owen


Portrait of Teenager or Older
1st Place - Rebecca Fairbanks


2nd Place - Russell Bryson


Candid of Children
1st Place and THIRD BEST of SHOW - Rebecca Fairbanks


2nd Place - Bryan Lynn


3rd Place - Steve Smith


Candid of Teenager or Older
1st Place - Jamie Dahl


2nd Place - David Senn


4th Place - Patti Googe



Landscape
1st Place - Teresina Wheaton


2nd Place - Paul Schubert


Waterscape
1st Place - Sharon Cottrell


2nd Place - Wes Sims


Skyscape
2nd Place - Paul Schubert


Animal - Domestic
3rd Place - Beth Fellheolter


Animal - Wild
2nd Place - Rebecca Fairbanks


3rd Place - Patti Googe


4th Place - Jeannie Owen


Insects
2nd Place - Vic Kaminsky


Plant and Flowers
2nd Place - Sierra Tajen


3rd Place - Steve Smith


4th Place - Vic Kaminsky


Plant World, Other
1st Place - Sharon Cottrell


3rd Place - Bryan Lynn


4th Place - Beth Fellhoelter


Inanimate Objects
1st Place - Bryan Lynn


Architecture
1st Place - Jim Holladay


2nd Place - Russell Bryson


4th Place - Colleen Meyerhoffer

Photo Decor
2nd Place - Kevin Johnson


3rd Place - Sharon Cottrell


4th Place - Sierra Tajen


Humorous
3rd Place - Holland Rowe
No Image Available

Black and White Categories
Portrait of Children
2nd Place - Lori Douthat


Portrait of Teenager or Older
1st Place - David Senn


2nd Place - Debbie Hendrix


3rd Place - Angela Campbell


Candid of Children
1st Place - Rebecca Fairbanks


Candid of Teenager or Older
1st Place - and BEST of SHOW - Rebecca Fairbanks


2nd Place - Patti Googe


3rd Place - Russell Bryson


Architechture
2nd Place - Kevin Johnson


4th Place - Terena Boone


Animals
1st Place - and SECOND BEST of SHOW - Teresina Wheaton


Plant World or Objects
1st Place - Terena Boone


3rd Place - Patti Googe


Photo Decor
2nd Place - Patti Googe


Color or Black and White Categories
Macro
1st Place - Rebecca Fairbanks


Motion
2nd Place - Terena Boone


3rd Place - Patti Googe


4th Place - Jamie Dahl


Abstracts, Special Effects and Computer
2nd Place - Rebecca Fairbanks


4th Place - Larry Perry

Apparently some student showed the Admiral how to use PS

Exotic
1st Place - Larry Perry


Patriotism
1st Place - Russell Bryson


2nd Place - Jim Holladay


4th Place - Larry Perry
Image censored due to inappropriate political statement (I don't want the FBI knocking on my door)

Nightscape
1st Place - Jamie Dahl


2nd Place - Bryan Lynn


4th Place - Paul Schubert

Knoxville Time Lapse

I tried a little experiment a couple of days ago doing a set of individual images and blending them into a little flash movie just to figure out how to do this. Now that I sort of have a hang of it, I plan to do more.

Note: It appears the resolution is all messed up between my html version and by blog version... all blurry and yuckie...back to the drawing board. Stay tuned.

Until I get the resolution issue figure out, if you want to see a clear version of the Knoxville skyline as it gets dark, check in out directly on my web site here.

http://www.tomgeislerphotography.com/Albums/Knox%20time%20lapse%201024x768.html


tom

UT Photo Certificate Photo Contest Winners 2008

I was fortunate to be one of the judges for the 2008 version of the University of Tennessee Photography Certificate Annual Photo Contest. The other judges were; Larry Perry, Wade Payne, Kendall Chiles, Ron McConathy and Brad Cottrell, all are instructors in the certificate program. We all agreed that this year's entries were the best and hardest to judge since the contest started three years ago. The first year's winner was Bryan Lynn, last year the winner was Ross Ramsey and here are the winners for this year.

First place - Chad Smith (Fireman)



Second place - Emily Jones (Flower with Bee)



Third place - Colby MeLemore (Portrait of Brunette)



Honorable Mention - Pat Postma (Water Reflection)



Honorable Mention - Emily Jones (Floating Leaf)



Honorable Mention - Patti Googe (Smoking Gun)

Nutcracker on Ice 2008

I have been the photographer for the Ice Chalet and the Nutcracker on Ice for 21 years. A few years ago I started inviting my UT photography students to come to the performances to get photo practice shooting the productions that are extremely beautiful but very difficult to photograph. The stage lighting is constantly changing from very bright white light to very dark colors. Couple that with the tremendous speed of the skaters and you have a real photo challenge on your hands.

Here are a few images from my photo efforts this past week at the Nutcracker on Ice.

Photo Lessons and High School Session

Many of you may not know that in addition to teaching photography at UT and my wedding and family portrait business, I also teach private photography and Adobe Photoshop lessons.

One of my previous UT students, Leslie Gibbs, has been working with me on a private lesson basis off and on for the past year. Last week, her lesson was a couple of environmental sessions of her daughter Brittany and school friends Taylor, Caylor, Raven and Jay and Preston.

In these lessons we worked on balancing the ambient light with fill flash, the use of diffusers and reflectors, posing techniques and of course final enhancements in Photoshop. Obviously, Leslie is progressing very well, I am very proud of her.

Here is a sampling from two recent sessions. Actual photos by Leslie Gibbs

More Winning Images from the Tn Valley Fair Photo Contest

When I requested images from my students who won prizes at the fair last week, David Scott was out of town (some secret governmental spy business, I'm sure) and he did not get my email. He has now sent me his winning entries. As you will see, they are very nice. Great job, Dave.

1st Place - Abstract, Special Effects, Computer-Generated Images

2nd Place - Portratis of Children-Infants through age 12

3rd Place - Candid of Teenager or Older

3rd Place - Candid of Teenager or Older/Black & White or Toned Prints
Here is a winning image from one of my future students who is just now registering for my class

Kat Gorney - 3rd Place Plant World, Flowers

tom