PHOTOSBYSTICKS - Images By John Akingbola

The new blog is finally up.

2008-09-01T21:52:00.001-07:00

My new blog is finally completed and I am very excited about what I have done so far. The new link is www.photosbysticks.com/journal. If you have the RSS feeds activated please update the link so that you can get your feeds as they are posted. Also, the new blog is totally new and I won't be transferring old posts from blogger although the old blog will still be alive and well to view all my old posts.

There is a new post already on there from the wedding I shot last weekend. Let me know your thoughts. Leave a comment! it's really easy now and everything is done inline with the posts.

See you on the new blog!

The PHOTOSBYSTICKS website is up next and it should be up in a couple of weeks.

The next few weeks.......

2008-08-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything which is largely due to the fact that I am currently out in Louisiana for the next 3 weeks for engineering work. It's a great opportunity to do some field work and I'm enoying every part of it.

I have not posted on the blog because I have been working on some major branding for PHOTOSBYSTICKS which you will get to see soon in the next couple of weeks. The blog is up first and I hope to be done with the XHTML coding soon. I've been working since last week trying to create a new layout and new link for the new blog which is looking really cool already. Some pretty cool features are been implemented and I am calling it THE JOURNAL. Easy accessibility for users is top priority so be on the look out for that. The website will be launched shortly after that so it's all getting crazy and I'm trying to make the deadline I have set for myself...It's always good to have one so that you can keep on track.

Anyways, I have not turned on my cameras in over a week....It hurts! Good news is that, I'll be shooting a wedding in Indianapolis in 2 weeks so that's quite exciting! I hope to head out to New Orleans sometime this week to shoot a few things and get to visit places.

This will probably be the last post on this blog (*sob sob*) so be on the look out for the new one. I'll post the link once it's ready to be launched.

This blog has served me really well and I am glad that the last few months have been nothing but spectacular! The future is definitely looking great!

See you all on the new blog...SOON!

God bless!

Here's the last photo I took on my 40D on the flight to Louisiana.

Biodun & Jare :: Engagement

2008-08-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to shoot the engagement session of Biodun and Jare while in Houston last weekend. Biodun is a college friend who lives in Norman and Jare is her hubby who lives in Houston and absolutely loves it there. One thing I can't stand in Houston is the "terrible" heat which Jare kept telling me was not bad at all. I was shocked that people can actually get used to it down there and like it so much!

These 2 are absolutely in love and it was fun hanging out with both of them. Jare kept cracking me up with his funny stories as the evening went on. I also got to know the full details of how they met back in Nigeria through Biodun's sister, Rhoda. It's always good to hear such stories and I was deeply happy for both of them and I know they are indeed "meant to be" and they seem to complement themselves in every way possible.

These 2 are troopers too. We had to schedule to finish up the session on Saturday morning @ 6.30am and these guys were indeed ready to go. It was incredible. I really had fun with these guys.

They will be getting married in December this Christmas in Nigeria and I am hoping to catch some of those if engineering life permits!

Thanks Biodun & Jare for letting me share the little time with you. I had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy your images.

Here are a few of the images:

Yetunde & Jide :: Wedding Ceremony

2008-08-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day last week Saturday as I shot the wedding ceremony of 2 college friends. Yetunde & Jide's story is simply amazing and it all started a couple of years ago. Houston was very hot but that didn't stop their guests (Over 750!) to show up. And 750 is not a typo, it was a HUGE wedding and VERY well planned. Shout out to The Event House. These guys planned the wedding in the best possible detail which I rarely see at big weddings.

It's always interesting to see the reaction of people whenever I'm lying belly flat on the floor with my white shirt (for some reason I like wearing white shirts to weddings!) trying to get a great angle which is what I did for the entry of the bride with her father as they started their walk down the isle. It got emotional as the groom shed tears of Joy as his beautiful bride walked down the isle. That was the highlight of my day. I remember somebody saying "Oh my God Jide is Crying". I ran over to the front of the church (which was not permitted but I took my chances anyway) to get a close up as it happened and I got the shot with the tear streaming down his left cheek. I was totally blown away..I thought that was just great and was so happy to get it in one frame.

I enjoyed shooting at the church since it was all natural light...No flash allowed! The 70-200mm sure came in very handy.

The day was great. The live band moved the crowd during the reception and it was just a day of Joy. Thank you Yetunde & Jide for letting me capture your day. You guys believed in me from the very first time I had a camera in my hands and trusted me with a lot. Thank you Thank you Thank you!

One of my goals this year is to shoot as many weddings as possible and this is my 5th one already and I am loving it. #6 Coming soon!

I am grateful to all the people that are always encouraging me and giving me tips on how to be a better photographer. I am few days shy of being 1 yr old in the world of digital photography and only a few months old in wedding photography and the journey has been simply breath taking.

I got a message from a friend of mine this morning. Peep this:

********http://www.abigailseymour.com/index.cfm?catID=2
thought I'd pass this along to you, one of my friends wedding
these some good pics but in comparision to yours

THEY can't touch THIS!!!!! you're good!!! *********************

I am not trying to put myself on any pedal stool but it's simply humbling to see that people compare my work to some great photographers out there. I am simply excited and I know that the sky is JUST THE BEGINNING.

Check out some of the images below:

Houston Wedding :: Sneak Peek

2008-08-04T19:20:00.001-07:00

I am back from Houston and a little Tired. It was a long Saturday with only 5 hours of sleep the previous night but I enjoyed every bit of the wedding. I had to be up @ 6am to shoot an engagement session @ 6.30am. Talk about a full day. It was all worth it though.

Here is one of my images from the wedding during the couple's first dance. I used an off camera flash setup on a stand triggered by pocket wizards. I totally turned everything to black but highlighted the bride and groom alone in a pretty intimate way. I wanted to do something special and I got it during the first few seconds of the dance.

It's definitely a FAV already.

This Weekend | Houston Bound

2008-07-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I posted something....Engineering life is pretty busy for me! But I am having tons of fun working on a new project!

I'll be heading to the H early Friday to shoot the wedding ceremony of two college friends of mine. I did their engagement session (my first ever) last year and was quite pleased with myself after about 2 months of learning how to shoot with a DSLR camera. I will be gone till Sunday so I should be posting some photos early next week if possible.

While I am there, I'll also be shooting an engagement session of another friend getting married in December. I'm hoping to shoot their wedding in Nigeria also if Engineering life can allow me the time. But we'll see how that goes. A destination wedding will be sweet!

I'm already thinking outside my box once again on how to make this wedding better than my last and I'm pretty positive it will be a good one. I'll be shooting with another Houston Photographer so that'll give me an opportunity to network with photographers in Houston.

By the way, has anyone ever shot a wedding where the church imposes certain rules and regulations that MUST be followed or else...? Well I was quite amazed last year when I saw the form photographers will have to fill out before shooting a wedding ceremony. I had not given it much attention until this week. I guess every church has different rules. I've posted a snap shot of what I will have to follow come Saturday. I just hope it doesn't hold me back from documenting important moments.
Oh by the way....Flash is not allowed in the church chapel! That is quite exciting (You think I am crazy huh?). Natural Light all the way. I guess it must be well lit indoors so the need for a strobe is 0. I love noisy images anyway so if its not well lit, my 30/40D should be more than happy to handle the noise. We'll see how it goes!
Wish me luck!

Lifestyle Portrait Session | Ms. Seyi Adeoye

2008-07-20T11:48:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I did any outdoor lifestyle portrait session so I decided to do one with a good friend of mine who also lives in Tulsa. The plan was to go out shooting all evening and Seyi was quite convinced that she's not a "picture taking" type of person. I told her not to worry, get dressed and God will help us achieve something...LOL! Maybe not that way but I told her we'd just have fun and be ourselves.

We were out driving through Tulsa downtown Saturday evening and couldn't find any interesting places to shoot so we headed to somewhere else. We found a spot which was not so great looking anyways but I was pretty certain we could use it to the fullest. It was around 7.30pm so the light was quite soft and that made our evening much more interesting.

I'm not that into telling people what to do when shooting, so I told Seyi to be herself and will help her out if it was necessary as far as her body position goes.. One thing I noticed she loved to do is LAUGH! Yes, LAUGH! We started off by talking about how weird the location was and she made friends with 2 bugs I think. But that didn't stop us, so I pretty much cracked her open by making her laugh. The first few frames I took produced the first shot which I showed her. She was going crazy! I was laughing all through and was not surprised because she was very natural in front of the camera so we continued our fun time shooting.

She's such a cool person to be around and she loves to write. Our last location for the evening was her campus (ORU) where I told her to take a seat and do what she does best...WRITE! I thought she was faking it but she was actually writing and couldn't stop because it was her moment to put her thoughts down into writing again. I know she'll be posting that soon. Trust me she's so good with words. Oh by the way, the first time I saw her handwriting, I was in shock. It looked like a computer font....No kidding! She's got the wonderful talent of writing and she's got her own inspirational blog called INSPIRATIONS OF SADE. Trust me you need to read it everyday, it's my new source of inspiration.

Here are a couple of photos I want to show off. There are more but I'm reserving those for something special....You'll get to know soon!

Wedding Moments

2008-07-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

There is a reason why I love to shoot weddings. The moments are simply stunning.

The photo below was at the very first wedding that I ever shot with my new Canon 30D back in February. I had only been shooting with a DSLR about 5 months without any professional training and I was quite scared but excited to take on the challenge. It wasn't a paid gig (you have to start somewhere trust me) but I still wanted to deliver very strong and story telling images regardless. I had started shooting for OU's newspaper/ yearbook at the time and as a photographer, I was drilled on how much you need to tell stories with the images you create.

The fact that it is very possible to freeze the story in a moment as it happens is what drives me to shoot. I have not shot portraits in a while due to school and shooting more events and weddings and I'm not regretting it at all. Not that I don't shoot portraits anymore but I love the fact that when I shoot weddings, I'm not in control of anything...except my camera of course.

The point is.......Moments simply can't be anticipated. You just have to be prepared as a photojournalist to freeze those moments as they happen.

I remember when I took this shot. The bride must have been overtaken by her emotions that she couldn't look up for a while once she got in front of her groom to be. Only God knows what she was thinking at the point but it kept me busy recording her emotion on camera. It was simply stunning!

Alex & Ofi | Wedding Ceremony

2008-07-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to shoot another wedding ceremony last weekend in Oklahoma City with another photographer from Tulsa. The groom is a friend from College and I was excited to document the beautiful ceremony with my images. I wasn't able to do any preparation shots since the official photographer covered it. It was a long 8 hours but was worth every second. One of the emotional moments was when the bride walked down the isle with her brother. Her dad passed away years ago and it was one of those moments when she cried. The ceremony had both the formal ceremony and the traditional reception ceremony with cool attires and all that good stuff.

Since I had not attended the rehearsal, I just had to go with the flow while anticipating some more dramatic moments. One of the cool things about weddings is the fact that you get to think of more creative ways to make a new wedding better than the previous one (True!). This one was no exception and I did some new things which you will be able to spot easily. I did some things with the video lights and got some more interesting angles. I remember being under the table when the toast was going on to capture another exciting moment with the whole bridal train while some people had fun stepping on me...My back hurts from that! Trust me I put my body under some interesting stress while shooting weddings and it pays off very well. People often wondered why I was flat on the floor shooting. I'm sure they thought I was crazy! Story telling is my passion and I try to deliver it in the best possible way. The couple's first dance was quite interesting as they were joined by friends/family which made it quite hard to focus on the couple. So instead of quitting, I brought out my off camera shoe cord and used the flash to bring out the couple while rendering everything else mostly black. I figured it would be cool to have a type of spot light on them instead of keeping everyone else in the light.

I chose to use a new post processing tone today so tell me how you like it. I always know what PP I would use as I shoot...I think that helps my work flow a lot more.

Thanks Alex & Ofi for letting me document your special day and I hope you both enjoy your photos.

Feel free to leave comments wether you know me or you don't. Thanks!

PJ #4

2008-07-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

PJ #3 - You, Me and The Dog.

2008-07-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

The title says it all.

PJ #2 - Leave A Note

2008-07-08T19:17:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of my ongoing photojournalism. Yesterday was for the 2 Man Band and today is about a city artist who wants you to leave something while you listen to his songs. I watched him perform live to a cheering audience and was quite nice to see people drop some bills. Everyone was looking @ me crazy because of my 70-200mm. That thing always get people to notice you and I can't seem to live without it. I didn't see people give money yesterday though and there were 2 of them...HMM!

I'm not only shooting Bands all week so don't get bored already. I promise something different tomorrow evening. I try to shoot when I get home from the gym and I'm loving it. Photojournalism is not as easy as it sounds as you always try not to piss people off with the camera in their face. I'm still scared of shooting subjects directly in the face because I had a terrible ordeal once. I'm trying to slowly creep out of that situation and hopefully shoot more creatively and to make people more comfortable when Im around with my camera....It really doesn't hurt at all..LOL!

Anyways enjoy and let me know your thoughts.

PJ #1

2008-07-07T21:44:00.001-07:00

Shooting around the streets of Tulsa. Hopefully will be finding more interesting things to shoot. Not the normal thing I do but it's always good to go out and shoot.

My Equipment

2008-06-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

I've been asked lately by a couple of people/friends about what equipment I use for shooting. I am a huge canon fan and I think their products are great!

The full equipment I carry with me all the time are:

Canon 30D and 40D bodies. I'm anxiously waiting for the new 5D MKII if it's true!
Canon 70-200mm IS L lens
Tamron 17-50mm DXII lens (a great lens by tamron) - Canon 24-70mm replacing this soon.
Canon 50mm 1.8
Canon 480EX/580EX flashes with off camera shoe cord. I use the 480EX more than the 580EX for some weird reason.
Pocket wizards for portrait shoots
Wescott white umbrella + Stand
Lots of rechargeable Batteries
15" Macbook Pro
Lots of flash cards

All my camera stuff + laptop fits in 1 lowerpro bag. My lighting stuff fits in a smaller canon bag.

I think that answers it all. Now to something to look at.

The image below was shot with my 40D and 17-50mm lens. Flash on camera left manually set to 1/4 power and triggered by pocket wizard. 1/125 sec @ F4. Minimal post processing in adobe lightroom.

This Building

2008-06-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

I will be shooting a major traditional engagement ceremony on the 60th floor of this building tomorrow for 8 straight hours. The son (Daivid) of a well know Man of God (Bishop David Oyedepo) will be traditionally asking for the hands of Kemi (a college friend of mine) in marriage. I did the pre-event consultation on Monday and It looks like its going to be pretty elaborate and I can't wait to get started.

Stay tuned for photos from the ceremony later this week!

The Wedding Reception|Mike+Christen

2008-06-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

Mike and Christen had a wedding reception for friends and family at the Colcord hotel in Oklahoma City on Saturday since they had a beautiful destination wedding not too long ago. I had talked to Christen's mum, Debbie a couple of weeks back and I was very excited to be a part of the ceremony. The celebration was filled with a lot of Joy/happiness and I was having a good time as I snapped away. You can tell that the bride and groom are in so much love which made it easy to capture their emotions as the day went on. This was my first time shooting an outdoor event at night and I was glad I had my off-camera cord for my flash to be able to balance my exposures using the flash. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun. Here are some of the images from the night.

Thanks Mike+Christen and most importantly, thanks Debbie for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this special occasion.

The Stunning Bride| Christen Hope Crim

2008-06-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of shooting a beautiful wedding reception last weekend in Oklahoma City. I will be posting more detailed photos from that later on. I did a quick portrait session with the bride and groom before the ceremony started and I shot this photo. Guess where this shot was taken? Trust me it wasn't in any studio. With the right exposure, I was able to turn most of the background black and light the stunning bride using a shoot through umbrella and my 580EX flash.

I love when clients know what they want and can communicate that to me easily. I didn't do much directing as this bride was easily calling the shots. I only had to snap.

More coming soon.

First Wedding | Tanisha + Bernard - Part II

2008-06-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

First Wedding | Tanisha + Bernard - Part I

2008-06-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to second shoot the wedding of Tanisha and Bernard last weekend at the First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. It was a beautiful ceremony and I was able to capture some wonderful moments as they happened. Being my first second shooting opportunity I learnt quite a lot from the main photographer as he directed and made sure everything went well as far a images go. I'm beginning to build myself as a wedding photographer and to be able to capture such a wonderful time in the lives of 2 people.

I started off hanging with the guys and getting Bernard comfortable with the camera since I had to shoot him pretty much dressing up which was quite interesting but he got comfortable after a while. The best man (groom's brother) kept the guys occupied as he told some interesting war stories from his soldier days. I then moved into the bride's room to capture some images as she got ready.

One of the interesting things I enjoyed was getting to see the bride in her gown even before the groom could. I think that's a wonderful opportunity and capturing that moment was a lot of fun as you get to witness the joy and emotions as the bride prepares for an important moment in her life.

Post processing for these was pretty straight forward. It was a black and white colored wedding so turning them into sepia made me really happy. Although I kinda told my twin I was keeping them mostly colored..Sorry James! I lied.

Here are a few of my favorites images from the day. I still have quite a lot to learn but still very satisfied with these. By the way I'm a lover of noisy images....Is that weird?

Enjoy!

Ready - Set - Go!!!!

2008-06-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

It's officially Wedding Season...At least for me and I second shot my first wedding today! Weddings are a different ball game and I'm learning the details as much as I can. I was invited to shoot the wedding of Tanisha and Bernard today with J Wiggins of Concepts Production in Oklahoma City earlier today. I will be posting more images soon but for now enjoy this one:

Celebration In Houston

2008-06-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week as I've just relocated to Tulsa OK and starting my working life on Monday. I was in Houston for the second time last weekend to shoot a 50th birthday and Graduation ceremony for Tomi Olagundoye and her Mum. It was a beautiful event and I had tons of fun shooting. There was a surprise host/guest who flew in all the way from Atlanta who is also a Nigerian Movie star. I couldn't believe my eyes but he was right there in front of me (If you are a Nigerian viewing this blog you will easily recognize him). I started off by capturing some preparation shots as Tomi had a surprise make up artist show up for her mum's special make up before the event officially kicked off. There was a lot of Joy in the air and I was very pleased to have helped captured this important celebration for the Olagundoye's family.

I've shot four 50th birthday celebrations in my 11 months of shooting professionally and I'm indeed grateful to God for blessing me with a talent to be able to capture important moments using my cameras. It's been great and I'm delighted to continue to learn more and more. Enjoy these photos:

More From Dr. Oreofe's Graduation Ceremony...Signing Out.

2008-06-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

I have 2 more events planned out for June already...One of which will be a traditional Engagement ceremony. It's a huge deal for me because I'm shooting a well known family (I'll keep you in a little suspense). I wonder how I got it myself but hey it's all God. I will be posting soon enough.

I'm signing out for this week as I'll be relocating to Tulsa OK on Friday and shooting in Houston on Saturday. It's crazy but I've never been to Houston before. Weird I know! I will be posting images from that once it's all done.

The Man, The Cake, The Celebration......Dr. Oreofe Adesina

2008-06-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy weekend as I'm trying to get ready to move out of Norman Oklahoma To Tulsa in a few days. I also had to shoot Dr. Oreofe's Graduation yesterday at the Civic Center and Laquinta Inn for the celebration. He's also my cousin so he's going to be my eye doctor! I will be posting more images from his graduation later on this week but wanted to share a few that I worked on earlier. Thanks Dr. O for letting me shoot. He doesn't like the Dr. before his name but he MUST get used to it because I kinda like it. Oh by the way, his cake was.....INCREDIBLE.

Baby Tosin

2008-05-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

I got a chance to hang out with Ms. T with her dad/mum yesterday. She's such an adorable little Queen who loves to do all sorts of interesting things. I had scheduled a session with her parents since the day of her naming ceremony which I covered a little bit of. Yesterday was my first time shooting baby photos and man...Babies move so fast! It wasn't so tough to get some cool photos of this kid as she kept me working for over 2 hours of shooting. I was on my belly half of the time which was so much fun in the grass...although I started to hitch a little bit. She's only a couple months old and she's reading some cool books. I think she's growing real fast which is so cool.

Tobi and Marie are so in love with this little angel which is indeed awesome. Check out the nice combination she and her mum had on...Talk about dressing with style at only some months old!

We got to do some cool studio setup shots later on also. They blew me away cos I've never shot a baby before and I still don't consider myself a HUGE PROFESSIONAL. I'm still learning a lot.

Thanks Tobi, Marie and Tosin for the wonderful opportunity to capture some lovely moments of your wonderful family.

I had a great time.

Eve of Nations 2008 - Sorry for the long wait

2008-05-27T18:19:00.001-07:00

I know a lot of folks have been waiting to see photos from this year's Eve of Nations. It's been quite hectic as I have a lot of back work to finish up and I'm getting there as fast as I can. I worked on these photos earlier today so that I could share some of what happened. For those who don't know, it's the largest international event put together by Students under the International Advisory Committee. Lots of international student organizations show off their countries to an audience of over a thousand. I think that is always cool. Anyways here are some photos from the night.

Fallen

2008-05-23T23:43:00.000-07:00

In honor of the few men and women that continue to fight for this Nation......

Tony Foster Jr #1

2008-05-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

I decided to shoot photos of Tony today since I owed him some photos as far back as last year I think. We took some photos just for fun today and it worked out pretty nicely. Location? A Parking Garage. I'll be posting more from today later on next week.

POWER

2008-05-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here's something for the week. I got back to shooting today after a well deserved break. I'm still enjoying being off for the next couple of weeks before starting my new Electrical Engineering Job. I will be very involved in power engineering so I leave it in God's hands. It's definitely worth it to always trust in God and walk in his path. I will be an Engineer by day and photographer by night....Best of both worlds!

Commencement #3

2008-05-14T20:53:00.001-07:00

Commencement #2

2008-05-11T14:24:00.001-07:00

Commencement #1

2008-05-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

This Photo is from the graduation commencement program on Friday. I decided not to wear my gown but instead get close to everything as part of the student media press. The sky was just perfect as it made the back drop more vibrant and colorful. I had tons of fun shooting. More photos coming soon.

The Reward

2008-05-06T14:24:00.001-07:00

It's been an awesome Semester for me and I'm grateful to God for the wonderful opportunity to have been a part of the Student Media at the University of Oklahoma. I entered a portfolio competition a couple of weeks ago for Student Media and I won the award for 1st place! I was very excited and I'm quite happy with all I've been learning for the past months.....It's been a good journey so far and I know there's more to come.

Graduation is this weekend so I'm going to be quite busy gearing up for that. I'm finally done with undergraduate life so it's time to have some fun and turn to a new Chapter. Look out for some photos from graduation this weekend.

Last Photos For The Daily - Retirement!

2008-05-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

These are the last photos I shot for the Daily and one of them is running today. It's been a fun semester shooting for the paper and I've learnt a lot as a photojournalist. Things are so different from being a regular photographer especially with adding "cutlines" to all photos been dumped on the server....Such excruciating pain!!!!

These photos are of a retiring OU professor who has been here for 50 years....WOW! It was cool to shoot someone retiring since I was shooting my last photos too, I guess I'm leaving with a bang!

Enjoy

Stomp Down 2008

2008-04-28T20:54:00.001-07:00

All photos are courtesy of OU Student Media.

Life as an Engineering Student....Almost Complete

2008-04-28T13:22:00.001-07:00

It's officially 12 days to graduation and I am all pumped up! I finished both my capstone(last week) and digital design lab (today) and I'm excited it's all over. I took a couple of photos as I was finishing up on my final report.....MISSION TO MARS.

The HC12 Board

The HC11 Board

My hommie Jesse. His expression after I told him to smile......

The Report is done.....Nicely bound too!

Stomp Down Sneak Peek.....The Bad Boyzzz

2008-04-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

IGNITE, Sneak Peek.

2008-04-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a long 2 weeks for me due to school work which was mainly capstone and some other important projects I had to focus on. It's been tough finishing up but I am glad it's almost over....CAPSTONE is done!

I got back to shooting on Friday and it was quite weird getting back into the hang of things but I think I got my groove back quite easily.

I will be doing quite a lot of shooting this weekend and it started with this year's Eve of Nations - IGNITE! I think it's the best so far. Everything was great and it was a lot of fun as various students showed off their culture. Here's a quick sneak peek: The lights were pretty exciting.

Check Up - Goals for 2008

2008-04-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

It's the 4th month of the year and I'm sure we all have some goals we've set out for ourselves this year. I have quite a bunch and God indeed has been greatful and most importantly more real to me this year! It's amazing. The Bible says write the visions and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that read it. I've set out different goals for myself and it's great to look back and see where I am now so here it goes:

Get closer to God and continue to change - Always in progress
Graduate in May - 3 weeks baby! Check!
Get a Job before Graduation - Check!
Shoot weddings in 2008 - Shot 1, 2 more Scheduled, more to come. Check!
Learn from other photogs - Check!
Mentor 3 people- 1 down, 2 more to go. Check!
Make new FRIENDS - Check!
Get a website - Check! Not up yet but secured.
Learn from OU student Media - Check!

More to come but I'm very excited about these!

God's Gift

2008-04-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Balance

2008-04-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

Deep Cries Out To Deep

2008-04-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

The Fair

2008-04-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

The Jump

2008-04-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Kids! Do not try this at home.

M's Birthday

2008-04-08T11:31:00.001-07:00

It was Mandona's birthday last weekend and a bunch of us were out celebrating with her @ Chillis. I was so tired from the big event but still managed to get a few frames. Although it was all about M on Saturday, I also used the opportunity to capture my friends that kept saying "hey you've never taken a photo of me before" So there y'all go. I will add it to my "Project meet my friends" gig I'm working on.

Pure

2008-04-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

More From the Big Event

2008-04-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

It was officially my last BIG EVENT as an OU Student....YESIR! Graduation is in 5 weeks so I'm all pumped up. It's gonna be great! Big Event was a huge success. I tried getting front page with the last photo on the daily but second page wasn't too bad either. It was fun shooting people work...LOL! I didn't do much but it turned out very well and the school was very excited about the good job that was done. Thanks to all the guys that made it awesome. I'm sure many lives were touched in the process.

Big Event

2008-04-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

This year's Big Event was on Saturday April 5th and had over 4400 Students signed up! I will be posting more from the day shortly.

The other View

2008-04-04T00:02:00.001-07:00

Travis

2008-04-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

I met 2 photographers this week. I had an interview with Shevaun Williams who is an outstanding commercial photographer in Norman...Man she rocks! Today, I met Travis who is a Freshman and has been shooting for 6 years. We shot at the IAC Global Feast together earlier today. He also shoots for party pics in Norman. I think that's tight!

I guess it's my "meet more photographers" week!

IAC - GLOBAL FEAST

2008-04-03T17:20:00.001-07:00

The Yellow Night

2008-04-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

The Prayer

The Phone Call

Victory Announced!

Mail for Room 812

2008-04-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

Smudged

2008-04-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

Team Work

2008-04-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

Images From Memphis

2008-03-31T17:40:00.000-07:00

I've been working tirelessly on post processing of the photos from Memphis last weekend....Thank God this week of school isn't as crazy as last week! I had a lot of fun but was quite disappointed about the technical difficulty I experienced - Loosing tons of photos. I am still working on recovering as many images as I can and it's been quite a success.....Thank God! The good thing is that I let my Client in all the whole thing as soon as I noticed that there was a problem and she was very calm about it which gave me quite a bit of relief and I'm working tirelessly on recovering as many of them as possible. I still don't know what could have happened and I hope it doesn't happen again...EVER!

Anyways after a long day of post processing, I'm posting these to show a little bit of what happened on Saturday. The colors were very vibrant and the couple looked very happy and excited about the day! The Energy in the whole place rocked and I was happy to have been able to capture some of it.

Sprayed!

2008-03-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

I was in Memphis TN last weekend shooting a 50th Birthday/20th anniversary ceremony party for Dr. and Mrs. Adeleye. It was a long weekend as I lost some of my files due to some crazy and I'd say very insane technical difficulties because I don't know what in the world could have happened. I'm still working on restoring my images and will hopefully share some of them soon. Anyways this one caught my attention while I was doing some post processing on some recovered photos.

It's tagged Sprayed!

FOCUS

2008-03-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

FEEL

2008-03-26T23:14:00.000-07:00

OLUWATOSIN

2008-03-26T23:10:00.000-07:00

Patrick

2008-03-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

To Worship You I Live

2008-03-23T18:31:00.001-07:00

I shot this image during the Easter service this morning. Since I had my camera with me, I quickly exposed what I could since it was really dark where the congregation was seated..So sorry for the noise which I tend to like by the way.

Two things stood out to me as I watched this young man worship his maker during a worship song. The cross and the young man's hands lifted in "surrender mode". I say "surrender mode" because I strongly believe that it's necessary to always surrender to God ALWAYS. We are nothing without HIM and most people don't even realize that. The image screams out " I surrender all to you Oh God! Thank you for dying for my sins." This image speaks strongly to me as a Christian but more importantly the need to always live to WORSHIP God. It's not only about raising your hand but making the art of worship a LIFESTYLE.

The Cross

2008-03-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

HE LIVES!!!

2008-03-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

He is not here, he has risen! Remember how he told you, while you were still in Galilee: "The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again." Luke 24:6-7.

Drop

2008-03-20T22:53:00.001-07:00

NUT FREAK!

2008-03-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

ELECTIONS

2008-03-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

Old School

2008-03-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

I'm on Spring Break this week but still have tons of school work to accomplish and trying to shoot as much as I can.

Here's a photo I shot today with the 40D.

SELF

2008-03-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

Shot with the 30D + 50mm 1.8.
1 Strobe + Umbrella ----Camera Right @ 1/2 power.

Organ

2008-03-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

50 TON Organ Consisting of 2 Consoles and owned by the University of Oklahoma.

Step Up!

2008-03-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

IMAGES and the way they communicate.....

2008-03-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

I was looking through my computer and found this image of a student I shot @ Norman High School a couple of weeks ago. There's something striking about it and I'm sure it would communicate differently to different people once looked at.
I took this photo when I noticed that something caught the attention of this student. What is was, I don't know but it's looks interesting.

The question is: What do you think when you see this?

Andrew & Angela Culp

2008-03-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

Andrew and Angela got married at the Northwest Christian Center in Oklahoma City on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and I could feel all the emotion and energy in the room. They are definitely a match and are so in LOVE. I wasn't the official photographer for the day but I couldn't resist shooting as always. It was short and sweet but I'm glad I had the opportunity to be a part of their day.
I wish you both the very best!

PRICELESS

2008-03-02T00:03:00.000-08:00

3 photos from Andrew and Angela's wedding in Oklahoma City tagged priceless! More photos coming later....I'm so tired! It's been a long day.

Playing with Light - Adam Pinkney

2008-02-27T16:21:00.000-08:00

It was a pretty calm day @ work today so I decided to play with some STROBIST setup - One Light/Umbrella only. My Canon 430EX did a great job giving me some interesting light and my good friend/co-worker, Adam played the subject as we did some interesting things with just one light using the elevator door as our back drop (I absolutely love that door!). We had so much fun doing this today - hopefully no one got mad with the flash going off countless times.

This is also a part of my project for the year - "Project Meet My Friends" where I shoot as many of my friends as possible before I graduate in May. Adam is also graduating in May so it's an exciting time for both of us.

A little bit about ADAM:

He's a journalism/mass comm major and this dude is VERY good with video Editing as IN....VERY GOOD!!!
He's also an inspiration to me and I don't think he knows that. He's such a great guy too. He's one of the cool brothers I have in OU and myself and James changed his name from ADAM to ADAMU cos we think that's the naija version of his name...It should be.

Anyways enough words moving onto some photos:

Dance Marathon 2008

2008-02-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

Over the past eleven years Dance Marathon has swept the campus at the University of Oklahoma raising over $500,000 dollars for the Children's Miracle Network, Oklahoma Children's Cancer Association, Children's Medical Research Institute and Camp Cavett.

Here are some photos from last night.

Last Semester = Most demanding one!

2008-02-20T21:38:00.001-08:00

My twin James and Nemo getting busy during their study time. I took this shot when I got tired of reading books over and over again and wasn't making any sense out of them. I had to relive the stress somehow!

Life as a Computer Engineering student

2008-02-17T20:23:00.001-08:00

When I'm not shooting photos, I am building circuits in the lab. Yeah! It's quite interesting.

A photo of a recent lab design taken with my Nokia E61i camera. I got to build/simulate (with assembly language codes) a cool traffic light system using the HC11 board(check out the red/green lights). I think it's one of the coolest things I've done so far.
The report is due tomorrow and I'm so glad I got it done last Friday. I have to keep my priorities straight! I'm not just shooting photos all the time. Engineering is still my whole life!

BIG WEEKEND!!

2008-02-16T22:40:00.000-08:00

Untagged Photos from African Night 2008 - I'm way too tired from last weekend. It's been a total learning experience.

Mr. J.WIGGINS of Concepts Productions holding it down. Thanks a lot J!

Seven47

2008-02-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

A pretty upscale restaurant on Campus Corner - Seven47, tagged "Norman's Most exciting restaurant" is been featured as part of the upcoming 2008 OU Yearbook.

A menu with the "Seven47" label sits on top of the counter at the seven47 restaurant on Campus Corner.

Chilled assorted drinks ready to be served at the seven47 restaurant on Campus Corner.

International and Area studies senior, Stacy Sebastian serves a drink with a big smile to one of her customers on Tuesday night, Feb.12th 2008. Stacy has been working at seven47 since April 2007 and enjoys meeting people as she goes through her fast paced job.

4 shot glasses lay on the counter at seven47 restaurant on Campus Corner.

It was a PINK night!

2008-02-12T23:08:00.000-08:00

Female basketball: The OU VS Texas A&M game was all geared towards breast cancer an everyone spotted a pink T-shirt to show their support. OU Won 68-56.

I'm way too tired to tag these photos so I'll let them go tonight.

Attention

2008-02-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

A Norman High School student gives his full attention during a brief presentation on Africa in the school's auditorium on Tuesday, Feb. 12th 2008.

Photo Essay - African Week 2008

2008-02-11T22:21:00.000-08:00

My photo Essay for The Daily this week will be to cover in detail, this year's African Week on the OU Campus. The week kicked off today with a movie night.

Students at the University of Oklahoma watch a movie (The Amazing Grace) in the Union Food Court to kick off the events for this year's African Week tagged "I am Africa". The week will serve as a way to showcase Africa to the OU community.

Women's BBALL - OU VS COLORADO

2008-02-10T22:34:00.000-08:00

OU Continued it's winning streak as the ladies beat Colorado 82-66 on Saturday at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

I always try to shoot.....ANYTHING!

2008-02-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

Random photos from Saturday.......Before shooting basketball in the evening

Alpha Phi Aplha

2008-02-07T17:52:00.001-08:00

Here is a shot I took of some of the guys of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. (Kevin I hope you are very happy!)

Shooting for fun after a long day of school work

2008-02-06T20:48:00.000-08:00

It's always good to go out and shoot for fun whenever I have the time. I decided to go play with some interesting effect I've always seen with moving cars when photogs drag the shutter long enough. I caught up on that earlier this evening before calling it a day. I also have an interesting photo of a cigarette I found on the floor earlier today...You'll think I am weird but man I like to do weird things sometimes. Was a cold night but was very well worth it. I'll definitely do it again to improve on what I learnt.

GALAPAGOS Revisited

2008-02-05T12:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the photos I took last week of GALAPAGOS - A Norman OK band. The photos will be used in this year's upcoming OU Yearbook. Pick one when it comes out or let me know if you want to reserve one. I can hook you up!

Photos from GALAPAGOS coming soon!

2008-01-31T23:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a pretty eventful and highly intense week with school and various photo assignments and I'm thanking God for the strength to be able to juggle all these things together and still remain in one piece. I just got done dumping and viewing the photos of a band I took last night called GALAPAGOS (@ the DELI on campus corner) and it's for OU's Student Media yearbook publications for later in the year. Anyways I'm way too tired to start posting photos so I'll give y'all a sneak to see what happened. It's my worst lighting scenario ever. 3 Red bulbs and 1 Blue bulb....Need I say more?!?!

BILL CLINTON @ OU

2008-01-31T08:31:00.000-08:00

Bill Clinton was on OU'S campus yesterday with his daughter to campaign for his wife. I got there about 20mins early to get a good spot which was quite limited by the way. I had just my 70-200 to do the work for me so I got some pretty interesting shots of one of the most popular men in the world. It was all about Hillary so there was a huge crowd and some had to chill outside to listen to BILL speak. It was fun though. I got to meet one of Oklahoma's finest photographers too, J.WIGGINS.

On Assignment - Bedlam Series. OU wins OSU 64-61

2008-01-29T11:57:00.000-08:00

I don't usually shoot sports since that's a different photography turf and man...It's a lot of work. I got the opportunity to shoot the Bedlam Series played by OU vs OSU last night and it was quite an experience. The game was very close and real competitive. I was with another daily photographer so I basically backed him up. I think it went pretty well for my first time but I don't think I'll be doing it again because it requires so much. The space for photogs was so tight I had to stand/crouch the whole time. It was interesting on the other hand since it was a new experience...LOL! Anyways I got a couple of frames that stood out! Enjoy:

I Liked the head coach's expression here

Longar Longar

Can't remember his name but he's goooooood

OU Football head coach, Bob Stoops!

They all have the same expression. I thought that was magnificent!

OU's BBall Headcoach.

These last two photos are my fav's from the night.

And The Winner Is...............

2008-01-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

It was a long but fun day today. I had the opportunity to shoot some very beautiful and inspiring ladies. They are all running to become the next University of Oklahoma African Queen. It was planned to be very casual and I had a blast! They all had so much energy which was incredible and they were all natural in front of the camera. The photos below definitely shows each one's interesting personality.....I'm looking forward to see each one of them in front of a large crowd in the next couple of weeks as they do their thing. I'll post some individual photos later on.

Thanks yall!! I had a blast!

On Assignment - Presidential Candidate Jerry Curry @ OU

2008-01-23T21:18:00.000-08:00

Republican Presidential candidate General Jerry R. Curry (retired) was on Campus today to kick off his campaign as the next President of United states (Exactly how he was introduced) at the Meacham Auditorium. It was a very interesting one for me as it went by pretty fast but hey I got to take a few photos right before class.

General Curry will be making his campaign official tomorrow and I wish him all the best.

By the way.....Bill Clinton is going to be on campus next wednesday and I'm so excited about that. It seems like a lot of TOP guys are going to be floating around here this semester! It should be fun.

Project "Meet my Friends".

2008-01-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

It's my last semester @ OU and I'm so excited to be moving onto greater things. It's been fun all through and I'm thankful to God for the wonderful people I've met so far. I decided to start a new personal project called "Meet my friends" and I'm quite excited to be able to get photos of all my good friends before I leave college. I think it's a neat Idea and I'm so excited.

I kicked it off today and also tried something new - Some Studio Work!

I'm going to start doing some studio work and hopefully will learn a lot with using lights and anything else that comes with it.

Anyways I promised my good friend Nikky last year that I'd take her photos this month and since it was a public holiday today, I had the perfect opportunity to shoot some fun photos and learn as well.

Nikky is what I call a serious "smiley face" type of person. She can't seem to stop smiling which I love and think it's such a wonderful blessing because she inspires so many people around her including myself! She's just a darling and her photos really tell that story.

Here are a few from our little fun time today:

The Word - It Gets Me Going

2008-01-16T21:15:00.000-08:00

It's a top priority for me to always spend some time in the word each day (morning/evening) whether I'm tired or not, simply because it's highly essential to keep me going. I got back from a very long day today and before ending the day officially, I picked up one of the best things in life - The word of God. It's full of power and various teachings like we all know and it absolutely gets me going everyday.

I took some time out to read my best scripture tonight to remind me of my calling which I've gotten really addicted to and strongly believe in. There's nothing I do without thinking of this part of scripture. I was about to sleep when I decided to take a quick photo of a particular verse in the passage and I'm sure it's very readable! It's found in Isaiah 41:9-10.

PS: Don't neglect your Bible. It's your sword of Life and trust me without the word in you, you are basically empty!

On Assignment #2 - Cell Phones in traffic/Money Matters (Debt)

2008-01-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

Here's my 2nd assignment for the OU Daily which is running today (My debut I guess). They are both illustrations to further help to tell their different stories. The articles are: Study- Drivers using cell phones slow traffic and Money matters - Debt.

The links to the articles can be found here and here

I got stopped by the cops as I was shooting the first one due to some very interesting reasons which won't be disclosed...For security reasons!

Here are the photos:

Portrait Session - The Akande's

2008-01-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to shoot these fun guys(Dami, Fola and Tola) at the myriad gardens OKC this past weekend. They are doing a special portrait for their parents anniversary and we sure accomplished that and more. These guys are crazy! I say that because I'm quite close to them and we had a blast. It was 55 degrees that afternoon but they took it nicely without jackets. It was fun all in all. Here are a few from Saturday: I'm sure their parents will be very pleased to see these.

1 - 2 - 3 - Surprise!!!

2008-01-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

A suprise party was planned for my good friend, Seun Harris who Turned 21 yesterday. He had no clue it was planned and as he walked into the house he was in shock as everyone shouted SURPRISE and as my camera flash went off! I thought it was well planned. His brothers did all the inside work and man we had a blast together! Happy Birthday once again Seun!

As he walked into the house:

In shock!!!

Speechless:

The food was on point! Thanks Taiwo

Seun's brother, Seyi came up with the plan

That's Dami! She's loving cameras now.

He got a nice gift too:

Nice.....

It took a lot of people to make this happen:

From Boredom to a few Candids

2008-01-12T04:02:00.000-08:00

The title should be self explanatory!

On Assignment #1: Bipartisan Forum

2008-01-07T23:19:00.000-08:00

I bet you are all wondering what in the world "on assignment" means? I'll explain: Starting from next week I'll be working for my school's Newspaper/student media photography department and will be taking up different assignments. I think it's a neat idea to try to get some experience with Journalism and all that comes with it. It's a new turf but I think I'll do fine.

So anyways I got an email last weekend and was scheduled to be at a Bipartisan Forum on campus today in which Mayor Bloomberg (heard of him?) was among many other invited dignitaries. They basically talked about the upcoming Elections which I can't vote in by the way.

So my job as one of OUDAILY's photographer started officially today...How nice of them to get me in the groove. There were a bunch of protestants outside the venue but security was tight as always when the big guys come to town! There were also a lot of photographers there with HUGE lenses....MAN! It was crazy. I only needed 10 shots at the end of the day so I took a couple of frames (435 to be precise) in about 1 hour and a half.

I enjoyed it and I'm sure it will only get better by God's grace!

Golden Jubilee Celebration Part 1

2008-01-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

I covered the 50th birthday celebration for Mrs. Harris @ the Laquinta Inn in OKC last weekend. It was a lot of fun with a lot of smiles and great moments. I still have tons of photos to work on but here are some from the event: