Reference: Epinions

I've written the following product reviews at Epinions. I updated the review on the Toshiba laptop today. I rewrote the review for the Sony camera a couple days ago. If you enter more than 200 words you'll create a full review instead of an express review... difference? Full reviews can generate dollars based on how helpful the review is considered by advisors. Express reviews don't generate dollars.

• Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-F717 Digital Camera
• Olympus Camedia D-510 Zoom Digital Camera
• Toshiba Satellite 5105-S701 PC Notebook
• Rio Volt SP100 Personal CD Player

I like Epinions because you hear consumer opinions on the products. Check it out.

Club: Sex & Sedection at Oslo tonight

Just a note to say I'll be there! I'll revise this with a review and links to photos soon.

Reference: Robert Biggerstaff

I was looking this site over and found it interesting. He has some good tips for models starting out and some photo processing tips that I'll read through. He is also using Paintshop Pro rather than Photoshop, which is where I'm at now as well.

weekend wrapup Aug 23

Woodward Dream Cruise was Saturday... what a blast! I spent a lot of time coordinating resources around this year's cruise.

So looking back on how things went...

We had a list of over 20 models we contacted and it looked like 10-12 would be coming for the photo shoot. I turned my information over to Heather to finalize bringing the models together so I could work on photographers and our process. I created a flyer for us to hand out that listed FAI Home Theatre Store as our sponsor.

I wanted to have the Cruizin Capturz website up and running, but it seems the information to get it rolling just isn't coming together quickly. I've been looking at Smugmug, Fotki, ezPrints, and a couple others. The standings when looking at availability of money from sales, look of the site and customizable features:

• Smugmug - has a slow payout rate requiring $500 per month or $200 per quarter in profits. I love the interface and it is what I have been using for www.fuzzytek.com. It is fairly customizable. Rating: 3 of 5
• Fotki - has great payout rate goes direct to PayPal, however the quality of the site looks like home photographers. I'm wondering what a co-branded professional site can look like. Rating: 4 of 5
• ezPrints - need to get specifics on payout rate. Default interface looks good. Nice features and Smugmug uses ezPrints as it's under the surface provider. Rating: TBD
• others - I got a call from ezPrints on Saturday saying they would send a list of their partner sites. Lew then told me he is a ezPrints partner, but his information given so far is sparse.

Photographers shooting: Mike (TimeFragment) and Lew (Darker Side of Midnight). Other photographers were interested but had other commitments.

Saturday morning arrived - RAIN. I'm learning that rain produces "rainy flakes"... models that can't handle rain and they flake out / no show. The t-shirts from FAI arrived, then Lew and Mike. We had t's for Mike and I, Lew is a larger fit than the shirts we got.

Heather got dropped off, she is fabulous and dependable. She is like a business partner for me. I'm blessed to have her around. Heather dressed up in a black and white polka-dot dress and brought her hair up. Mike, Lew, and Heather got themselves out to Woodward a bit after noon. The rain had stopped, sidewalks dried up and there were still heavy clouds in the sky.

I tried to get farther in setting up a site - decided to simply use my Comcast homepage as a place-holder site and point the domain www.cruizincapturz.com at it. Then it was time for me to get out there too. Rachel let us know she was out to Woodward selling calendars and would meet up in early evening.

We worked just a couple blocks of Woodward taking photos mostly in the street. Heather would run out, pose on the car while we would take photos. As we were working along Woodward Rachel showed up with the calendar folks... selling calendars along side us.

Around 3pm Heather drifted into Lover's Lane and picked up something for the afternoon. Mike, Heather and I headed back to my house, a bit hungry and ready to unload photos. Lew had wandered farther south down Woodward to meet a friend. Within 10 minutes of getting inside the skies opened up and sheets of rain fell. Heather changed up, we ordered some pizza and as we were getting done the skies had cleared up. Bright, sunny, beautiful skies waiting for great photos!

We pretty much hung out at Chester and took photos in the street again. We saw a few cars pulled over for laying rubber by the police officers stationed on bicycles on the corner with us. Heather got a cute photo with one of the drivers pulled over. The officers also had a little confrontation with some guys that kept crossing traffic and acted up at them.

Rachel got in touch with Lew and got herself ready for photos with us. We then went over on the south-bound side of Woodward just north of Normandy (13 1/2 Mile). It was a good spot to catch drivers stopped for the light. We shot photos there until dark, then it was back to the house and everyone relaxed as we unloaded photos.

So here it is Tuesday night and CruizinCapturz is not up yet. I've had photo shoots on Sunday and Monday that have pulled me away from home/computer and into some paying work that I really needed to focus on. Late afternoon I contacted ezPrints but it was too late for the research they need of Lew's account status with them. Tonight I'll review some other provider options and get things ready to assemble the site.

PS: WEEKLY OPPORTUNITYCars and Models

One more thing resulted from my conversations with Bob Jenkins of Side Effect. I've got the opportunity to bring in models for photo shoots at a car meet sponsored by MADD that happens weekly at Lakeside Mall on Monday nights in the parking lot outside the doors from the Food Court on the south side of the mall. The easiest approach to get there is off Schoener.

Seeking talent: model, photographer, hair stylist, make-up, wardrobe...
Call me and let me know you are coming each week by Sunday noon. I need to know what talent we have lined up. Please be advised ... if you're gonna flake out, that's the time to say that you aren't going to make it. Please know that I don't hold that against you until it becomes regular behaviour.

I love having people that show up regularly and we can establish a relationship. It works great for the car meet too because the people attending will be looking for you to be there! We had several people this time say they would bring a different car next week for the photo shoot. As word spreads that we have the models for the meet it will continue to grow.

Last Monday before Woodward Dream Cruise there were about 150 cars. This week's meet (even with the dramatic black clouds) had about 80 cars. It isn't just old classics, but those are preferred.

Talent for this Monday, August 22 (week 34) was:

• Rachel Schmidt - model
• Mike (TimeFragment Photography) - photographer
• Stephen (Fuzzytek Photography, LLC) - photographer
• Erica Lowell (Figo Salon) - hair stylist
• Dino Mangano - photographer

We would like to thank all the folks from FAI Home Theatre Store and attending the car meet. You are some great people! Thanks for making us feel welcomed.

Band PS: Side Effect

I guess people do find opportunities through MySpace :D

Sunday, August 21 I was asked to come to a recording studio for a photo shoot with Side Effect. This is a band consisting of Annie Richards and Joker with Bob Jenkins added to form Side Effect. The group is a major contributor to MADD and SADD. I'll be posting more about how to buy the band's CDs and where to catch them live.

Bob and I clicked in conversation over the phone. When I got to the recording studio everything just fell into place great. These are some very nice people, and I met their families too. We captured some fun family photos and great photos for publicity of the band. The weather was spectacular - deep blue sky with scattered clouds, a breeze and the outside of the studio is painted cranberry. The colors combination is beautiful.

The CD cover is going to be black and white, but I can imagine some posters created from the color images for promotion.

Casting: Woodward Dream Cruise

We have people networking to create photos around the dream cruise. Get support from MUA, hair, wardrobe, photogs, ...

My house is 2 blocks from one of the busiest spots along Woodward at 13 Mile. I live north on Coolidge - so the comforts of an air-conditioned home are available. We can retreat / regroup to create different looks through the day.

Classic car owners love models posed with their car. We're going to be selling photos through the internet. Proceeds get split back to the people & resources creating the print. Watch for www.CruizinCapturz.com.

One thing to consider is creating the photo opportunity so it is unique. We need wardrobe, MUA, hair artists to create vintage looks. Recognizable look-alikes would be fantastic. Going through this effort we want to keep people from swarming the shoot, so there will be some strategies developed.

Please note this post will be updated. Last update: Aug 19 @ 12:30pm.
Due to the nature of collecting money for photos this shoot is limited to talent aged 18 and up.

Process: Nightshot adjustments

Before I posted the nightshot photos from the filming I adjusted them in Paintshop Pro. I used the "Hue / Saturation / Lightness" tool and set the green to -65 saturation, and for master changed the hue -25. This brings it closer to a black and white look. I stored it as a script then processed the batch.

Tell me if you think the original green tint is more interesting. You can see more nightshot mode in the video clips taken. I'm using a Sony Cybershot F717 if curious about the camera.

Film: Zombie Short

Cast and Crew Zombies,
uploaded by Fuzzytek.

Some of us had a slightly different Saturday night than normal. We shot a short film with zombies. The key photo here shows the full cast and crew.

Thanks to my friends for coming out for the shoot. You were all AWESOME! These are photos of the friends I invited. They are just a few of the zombies on hand as extras.

Heather - from Model Mayhem, One Model Place, MySpace. She attended the July 31 photo shoot. She will be around for Woodward Dream Cruise. Heather is interested in Living for Sundance.

Starr - from Model Mayhem, One Model Place, MySpace. After lots of online messages this was the first time I met Starr.

Mike - from Model Mayhem, MySpace. He attended the July 31 photo shoot. He will be around for Woodward Dream Cruise.

Rachel - is listed at Model Mayhem, One Model Place. She had a photo shoot with Mike earlier in the day. She will be around for Woodward Dream Cruise. This was the first time I met Rachel.

Christina - I met her at the Majestic Cafe where she works.

AJ, Kolton, Deborah - {what a cool family photo} see notes below...

Will - I got to know through Landmark Education, we went through the Introduction Leader Program there. He's become my pal around town, and journalist. He posts articles to Wikipedia.

Andrea I'm sorry we didn't hook up and get you there, bummer about loosing your cell phone the night before. I'm glad we saw each other at Bleu.

Deborah, thanks for taking me up on a rather interesting way of first meeting, having connected with each other through the internet. It was probably one of the most unusual requests - "Would you come to a run-down area of Detroit without make-up and in clothing ready to be shred? You'll have zombie make-up applied." Geez that sounds kinky! Oh and thanks for allowing me to use the knife on your clothing. Muuuaahhhahahahaha!

Make-up for the film took quite a while to apply, from 7:30 until 10:45, and there was still a bit more make-up going on for Jamie as the lead zombie. During make-up I was taking lots of photos, and assisting in shredding clothing. Everyone's spirits were livley as they saw the resulting effects applied through the photos taken.

It came time for filming the movie and I went to my spare battery and realized... it was dead. OH NO - I must have swapped batteries during the make-up segment and forgot I was on my second! I rushed to put 5 minutes of charge time into the battery. It resulted in 30 minutes regular time. Knowing how nightshot mode drains the battery... I didn't get much time on it. Very disappointed.

There was a mist of rain coming down outside. It was the perfect environment for the film, the street lights were shining off the blacktop as the zombies pursued the humans from the factory under the railroad tracks. Zombies lurching attempting to run down the street. So desperate for human flesh, life energy. The sequence was captured six to eight times, then it was changed up a few additional takes. There are video clips in this gallery.

I went in and got a better charge on the camera, and took a few photos of the zombies with bile spilled all over them.

The zombies were set loose on the town. I'm very curious to hear reports of the havoc they caused around Detroit. Send me links to blogs recounting your experience and I'll link them here.

The completing segment of the film was then shot with the humans and lead zombie - Jamie. Remember, this is a five minute short when editted. There were a couple segments filmed and the rain was coming down harder. Focus through the rain was rather interesting in auto-focus mode. I was using night-shot mode because I couldn't use a flash during filming.

Things wrapped up around 2:00 am. Will came back over to Tangent saying they had met the folks from Planet Ant at the bar.

Thank you one and all for a fantastic time! There WILL BE more opportunities for movies, so stay in touch.

Related blog links:

The Voices in Frank's Head

revised posting

Club: Detroit Fashion Week Afterparty

Gino and Andrea,
uploaded by Fuzzytek.

There was a wild time at Bleu after the fashion show at 4731 Gallery on Friday. Tonight is the final night of Detroit Fashion Week. The place to be is 4731 Gallery on Michigan in Detroit.

Photos from the fashion show will be the next set that are published. Watch for a posting of photos from the skateboard art exhibit at the Bankle last week. Sorry these are going up out of sequence. The dates will be shuffled after posting to put them in chronological sequence.

Prints of the photos (from full size originals) can be ordered on this site. You can also reach the gallery by clicking on the title of this post.

Fun: Urban Dead

I was doing a little surfing around related to zombies and uncovered this massive multi-player web-based zombie apocalypse game. I joined the game - I haven't been playing games in quite a while. Good thing that there are a limited number of actions I can take in a day in this game.

So if you join I'm in the western suburb called "Pitneybank". Let me know if you join too. There's also a forum and huge map of the metropolis.

Film: Zombie Short

It looks like all the slots for the zombie short are filled now. A few reminders to those coming:

• WEAR clothing that can be shredded - be in costume and ready for make-up/hair to be done. Arrive before 7pm if possible.
• Bring a change of clothing for after the shoot - it would be nice to hang around afterward a bit. Perhaps head to Bleu for dancing.
• Have my cell phone number available for contact 248-259-3980. My home phone will ring through to the cell. If you call after 8pm USE A TEXT MESSAGE - We're filming!
• Call if you have questions

Don't forget DREAM CRUISE next Saturday. I could use assistance in several areas, call if you can assist a bit. I'll update the post and move sequence around.

NETWORK SHOOT: Abandoned in Detroit Sept 24

Heather,
uploaded by Fuzzytek.

There will be a network/open photo shoot on September 24 in Detroit. We will meet at 10am and photos will be taken until dusk. The location will be an abandoned building containing graffiti and some remarkable architectural details. The night before the shoot we will call around and inform of the location.

Realize this is an abandoned building. Take precautions: boots (no open toes), flashlight. You may want to change shoes once at a place you want to pose. Also recommend a couple outfit changes. You might bring a wrap/cloak that you can lay on or cover if it gets cool. Daypack to carry things, include water & light snack.

We need to know how to reach you, so send an email to one of the people coordinating...

• Stephen "Fuzzytek" - stephen_boyle2020@yahoo.com
• Big Lew "Darker Side of Midnight"
• Mike "TimeFragment"
• Heather "MichiganGal"

In your email give the following details. We'd like to carpool people coming in to reduce the number of vehicles showing at the location and minimize attention.

• Name(s)
• Modeling site IDs (OMP, MM, other)
• Phone (cell preferred)
• City you are coming from
• People on the shoot that you know
• Special skills - make-up, hair, wardrobe, graffiti
• Props/equipment - flashlight, gloves, first aid kit

Photos from our July 31 open shoot at the Piquette Market ruins are shown below. The coordinators for this event were all present for the 1st shoot.

Announcement: Detroit Fashion Week August 8-13, 2005

Brian Heath (affiliated with 4731 Gallery) was at my open photo shoot on July 31. He handed Lewis Dennison and myself a flyer on DFW05 Runway Fashion Shows.

Student Designer Runway Show
$5 cover, doors 7pm, starts 8pm, Thursday Aug 11

Featuring designs from:
(Wayne State Univ) - Leeanna Laliberte, Rosemarie Tedesco, Kelly Kaminski, Crystal Hall, Heather Hobbs, Tracy Hill-Faulkner, Alaina Ferrarelli
(from Michigan State Univ) - Chantel Cozart
(from Western Michigan Univ) - Tonya Richardson

Independent Designer Runway Show
$10 cover, doors 8pm, starts 9pm, Friday Aug 12

Featuring designs from:
Dana Keaton for DivaGroove, Eugenia Paul, Chantel Cozart, House of Cedi, Michel Delon, Diamondancer, Detroit Remedy, Detsitti

Official DFS Afterparty @ Bleu
Doors 10pm, Friday Aug 12
DJs: Mike Anthony, Shawn Michaels, Urban Kris

Glam Slam Runway Show
$15 general admission, doors 9pm, starts 10pm, Saturday Aug 13

Featuring designs from:
Luxe of Birmingham, Studio Couture of Southfield, Shapes of Royal Oak (with Jewelry by Metals in Time of Royal Oak)
Special closing runway show by:Betsey Johnson of Somerset

Updated information and online ticket sales: http://www.cameronscottparties.com/ or www.7431.com