Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

I swear it’s taken me at least a thousand hours over the last three days, but the new website is up and running in all its virtual glory. This has been a labor of love since day one (day one being last Friday night) and it is a culmination of the genius of at least [...]

Brand spankin’ new website design

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

This is just a test to see if the Sharepress plugin I just installed is working correctly. If so, this post should be picked up automatically and posted to my Facebook wall. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. I’ll even throw in a picture, too.

Sharepress Plugin

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

Just joined the meetup for the Lubbock Camera Club! I’ve got a lot of trips lined up this year, and I already know I’ll miss the first few meetups they have scheduled, but hopefully I’ll get to do some photography field trips in April!

Lubbock Photography Club

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

Been looking for a travel tripod for quite a while now, and finally settled on one. I could’ve gone with something more expensive, lighter, carbon fiber, etc., etc., but that would have shot my bill up by at least a hundred bucks. I read reviews about the Gitzos and others that sounded pretty amazing, but [...]

Travel Tripod

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

So I’ve recently started taking Trey Ratcliff’sHDR Tutorial and have been itching to get out and take some photos. We’ve been having some gnarly weather here between the cold and the extreme winds, but I braved the elements this evening to venture out and snap some shots of the technology building across the street. Keeping [...]

Photo of the day

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

It’s that time of the year again, when the dead rise from their graves to plague mankind with their insatiable hunger for brrrrrrraaaaaaiiiiiiinnnnnssssssss! At least, that’s what the founders of Zombie Walk Houston are going for on this, their fourth annual walk of the undead. This year’s walk was to benefit a great charity, the [...]

They live!

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

I’ve added a new section to the photography dropdown, high dynamic range (HDR) photography! I’m really excited about this section because I’ve been waiting for a while now to try shooting some of these (although, to be honest, the shooting wasn’t so much the holdup as the processing). High dynamic range photography deals with taking [...]

New Photography Section: HDR!

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

So I finally got around to buying Joe McNally’s book The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes and have been reading it religiously (that is to say, not often enough). Joe’s got a lot of experience, a great sense of humor, and tons of practical tips (if you’re lucky enough to be a [...]

Porch fun!

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

For those who don’t know, Nikon doesn’t make battery grips for its lower-end DSLRs. The advantage to this? The pricetag is a lot lower on a third-party grip. The problem? Well, there are a few issues one wouldn’t expect with an official product from Nikon. I got my “professional vertical battery grip” through Amazon here. [...]

Review: Battery Grip for Nikon D3100

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

Okay, so this test comparison might have been even more flawed than I thought. I just discovered something interesting about the S2. Apparently, because of its “Super CCD” it can actually record image data that will result in a 12-megapixel final image. Weird since it’s only a 6-megapixel camera. Anyway, after some testing, I noticed [...]

Fuji’s Super CCD can produce 12-megapixel images when shooting in RAW format with the S2

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

Lately, I’ve been messing around with a new camera I was given (thanks Susie!) that has some interesting features, despite being a few years older than my other cameras. Behold! The Fujifilm Finepix S2 Pro! It’s a beastly thing (though not as gargantuan as my D90 with the MD-80), but it’s still got that Nikon [...]

Camera Comparison Test

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

Here’s a portion of my review of Tokina’s 11-16 mm f 2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Autofocus lens for Nikon DX-Format DSLRs that was recently posted on B&H Photo Video: I had originally bought this for an upcoming trip to Copenhagen, but I can’t believe how much I’ve used it already. It’s a great lens [...]

Lens Review: Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

Holy crap, I just discovered there’s a light meter app for the iPhone. Best of all, it’s FREE. Amazing.

Best app EVER.

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

So the wildflower season has started here in Texas, but things are looking a little sparse this year. Unfortunately, around Houston the pickings are pretty slim. Usually there are some great spots around Independence inbetween Brenham and College Station, but as of a few weeks ago, zip. Finally found a good spot around Memorial and [...]

Wildflower Season

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

So, it was recently suggested that I should put some of my photos up for sale on the site. Of course, I’m thinking, “Who else would want to buy prints of my photos besides me?” Well, you never know, so I might as well get started now. Coming soon: Photos for sale!

Sell yourself!

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

I had to say goodbye to someone very dear to me this past week, and I was saddened to discover how few photos I have of her left. Note to self: never stop taking photos. You can never have too many of someone you love because you never know when that’ll be all you have [...]

Saying goodbye

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

A few milestone events in my life over the past weekend, one of which was my teary-eyed farewell to the film format. Okay, I do still have a holga in my trunk, but that’s already been promised to someone else and shouldn’t really count. My days of shooting and (eek!) developing film are now a [...]

Bidding F4rewell

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

Here’s my review of the new Nikon D3100 on B&H’s website: Great value for a fraction of the D7000 By Magellan from Houston, TX on 2/6/2011 Ease of Operation: 8 Pros: Easy To Use, Fast / Accurate Auto-Focus, Fast Shutter Speed, Good Image Quality, Good Image Stabilization, High ISO Performance, Quiet Cons: Low-res LCD Best [...]

Review of the Nikon D3100

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

Just finished editing photos taken at the George Bush Library on Friday for the Red Dress Fashion Show sponsored by The Heart Truth, a campaign for women about heart disease. It was a lot of fun for a great cause and I got to hang out with a bunch of photographers, both amateur and professional. [...]

Heart Truth Fashion Show

Brian C. Parks Photo+Design

Just got back from Vegas and had an excellent time catching up with old friends (and making new ones!). The weather was great, we won a little money, In-N-Out was amazing (animal style!), we lost a little (a lot of) money, the AEE was in town, we drank a bit (of a lot of things), [...]

88 Miles West