Commercial real estate photography is something I really enjoy doing. There is a professional standard expected, and when the results are delivered there is no better feeling of accomplishment. Immortalizing brick and steel in a memorable photograph isn't as easy as walking up and snapping a photo. Angle, light and composition are three key elements in making any good photo, but when it comes to large structures those three elements are even more vital.

Things I look for are direction of light, time of day (going for the softer light in the evening or morning, depending on the direction of the face of the building), and the angle that catches the most detail and design of the structure. Additional bonus elements include foliage, foreground structures, and water. With this photo of the Pikeville Medical Center in Pikeville, Kentucky, I was lucky enough to get some very nice golden hour evening light on the face of the building, along with the orange color of the leaves lining the Emergency Room Entrance.

This photo was taken on assignment while shooting in Eastern Kentucky for a regional bank and it's rural branches. If you are in need of commercial real estate photography, or perhaps images from an entire location, area, region, please contact me for a custom, affordable photography rate.

I forced myself to get back out on the street Monday afternoon since I haven't been out in a while. Most of my shooting lately has been paid jobs, either real estate or the recent festivals I've been posting. It gave me a chance to use my new Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ300 camera, which I like, but still not sure the 1/2.3 sensor is big enough to give detailed, sharp photos. While street photography is forgiving in regards to sharp, crisp images, I'm still wondering if I should send the Lumix back for a better quality street-savy camera. The verdict I came to was they seem 'sharp enough,' and the stealthiness of the camera makes it easier to get more candid shots, so I'm going to take it out one more time this week and make a final decision whether to return or not. The photos will be in this gallery for a few weeks before I pull them down. Feel free to comment.

Shooting photos of the Plymouth, Indiana Blueberry Festival Hot Air Balloon Glow on Labor Day Weekend this year proved to be similar to playing a game of Whack-A-Mole, the arcade game that you use a mallet to hit the toy moles that randomly pop out of their holes.

A Hot Air Balloon Glow is performed at dusk with the balloons using their burners to light up the inside of the balloon, giving a glowing effect against the dusk sky. A brilliant sight for sure, but the problem with trying to photograph the event is that they rarely have all the balloons lite at the same time. Apparently the burners get very hot and can only blow the fire in short bursts, with the longest being maybe four or five seconds.

For most of the event, which lasted about 10 minutes, the announcer had each balloon fire up their burner one at a time. Only twice did the event announcer ask the balloons to light up at the same time, and even then a few were late in getting their burners fired up, while others had already did their burst.

But I was able to get two or three shots of three or more balloons glowing at the same time. Therefore I consider it a success. I was hired by the First Federal Bank in Plymouth to shoot some photos of the Hot Air Balloon Glow, along with the spectacular Fireworks display immediately after all the balloons were packed up and carted out!

I've never been spelunking before, but had the opportunity yesterday when I was hired on assignment by the First National Band in Bellevue, Ohio to shoot some photos of nearby tourist attraction Seneca Caverns. It was interesting 45 minutes of contorting through crevices and not being able to stand up straight for this 6'3" individual - all while protecting a camera on a tripod. But, alas, another adventure I never would have went on if not for photography!