So long, and thanks for all the fish

Hello,

I know that it has been a long, long time since I posted my last blog. Life, as we all know, can happen with such force, that we lost sight of the little things.

So, why not make the little things bigger!

I am shutting down this blog. It's original purpose is mixed, and unpolished. the concept hard to employ where I am at now in life, and not to mention that someone else already has this blogs name as their site name.

So, with that said, I encourace you to begin reading and following my new blog, http://uncommongeek.com It is already a lot better than this blog, and is goign to be more personal to me than this blog ever would.

And with that... so long, and thanks for all the fish!

Here and there: How I got to where I am - Part 1

Part 1

I doubt that any one of my friends would be unaware of the fact that I am a photographer. At the very least, they would be aware that I have an extreme interest in the hobby and have gotten paid for a few gigs. But what a lot of people don't know is how exactly I found photography.

It goes without saying that I'm a very creative person. I first started creating images in middle school. Some would say that I was a troubled child. I had a friend who was an artist and I really liked his drawings and paintings. So, wanting to be just like him I picked up a drawing pencil and started to draw. I found that drawing was a good outlet for thoughts that I could not express into words. I started by copying existing pictures free hand and went on to create my own personal works.

My ability to draw helped fuel my already out of control creativeness. On top of the drawing, I was also writing stories and doing role playing, such as D&D, Vampire, Wraith and various card games like Magic: The Gathering. Anything that would fuel my imagination.

But one aspect of my creativity would not survive.

My freshman high school art teacher was Mrs. Abbny. She was a fan of my art and always tried to push my artistic ability to the next level. Not only was I doing projects for class, but I was also trying to show her that I can go to that next level with my personal stuff.

For this art class, we could choose to do what ever we wanted for our final project. At the time, I was a huge SPAWN fan. I decided to make a poster of Spawn. I pored all of my creative fuel into the fire for two weeks. The black Sharpie marker had to be a specific shade of black with a certain type of tip. The pencil had to be 0.5mm lead with a certain type of pencil body. You name it, it had to be perfect.

I got an A on the final project, needless to say. Mrs. Abbny wanted me to enroll in her drawing class. How could I say no?

I should have said no.

All of my talent was gone. I had no inspirations, no abilities of traditional art left within me. The fuel for the fire was all used up. She was devastated by the lack of technical ability of the assignments I turned in. Thankfully, she game me a C-. I deserved an F.

But hope remained.

My high school offered the opportunity to let students go to Vocational School for their Junior and Senior years. In 10th grade, I took a field trio to our Vocational School to see what they offered. I looked at 2 classes; Commercial Art and Commercial Photography.

Commercial art brought back slight feelings of failure. The look of disappointment on my former art teachers face, the frustration of sitting outside at school on a small hill overlooking the schools pond, sketch pad on lap and pencil in hand. Looking at the drawing and not having it look anything like what I saw.

I spoke with the Commercial art instructor about my artistic history. It seemed as though she understood all to well what I went through. She told me that Commercial Photography might be what I need.

My group walked across the JVS campus. Some of the other kids leaving the group to go to programs that were along the way. I rounded a corner and caught the faint smell of something I never smelled before. The odder was coming from the Commercial photography lab.

The remainder of my group walked into the lab. Cubbyholes for each student was to our left. A bulletin board to the right. After the cubbyholes was a large open space with flash units set up, a seamless gray background pulled down, and a stool in front of that with a Nikon FM10 camera on a heavy duty tripod. At the time, I had no clue what any of those things were. But I was curious.

One of the photography students was our tour guide. She was a Junior by the name of Bridgette. She showed us the studio space, the color processing lab, the black and white film processing lab, and finally the dark room.

While we were all in the dark room, Bridgette was explaining the process involved with black and white print developing. I still remember how it felt when I saw the image rise up from the white nothingness of the paper. It was so breathtaking! While the paper was processing, she asked my group, "So, how many of you here are here to just get out of class?" Almost everyone in the group raised their hand. Then she asked, "How many of you are here because you are truly interested in photography?" I quickly raised my hand without hesitation, eyes still fixed to the paper in the odd smelling liquid that would later be known as Polymax T Develiper.

After the demo in the dark room, I lagged behind the group to ask all sorts of questions, all of which I can't recall. After school, I told my mother about my day. About how the Commercial art instructor understood my problem and how it made me feel remembering advanced drawing class. But, as I started to talk about the photography lab, my face lit up. My mother and father said I could go to Vocational school to learn how to be a commercial photographer!

To be continued...

Long time coming...

For those of you who know me (either in school or in the work force), you know how much I want to be a fashion photographer... Pretty darn bad!

One of the main reasons why I chose to go to the Ohio Institute of Photography and Technology (now, sadly, known as Kaplan College) was because they offer a fashion photography class. I have tried, and often times failed, at putting a fashion edge to my work. I've come to discover that I tend to rush through shoots. I either get excited and forget what I originally wanted to do, thus forgetting to move the light, or have the model look into the light (Thanks for the reminder, Libby :) )... Or, I got a project or two behind, and I'm trying to play catch up. Take your pick. I won't mind...

Now that I think about it, it might be because sometimes I hear people talk about how oddly posed fashion models are, and that no one would ever be in that position/pose in real life. And I might, in some small way, be afraid of what some people might think.

Fear has held me back from a lot of things in my life. Here recently, held me back creatively. Fear of not getting the basic project requirements in an image. Fear of someone telling me that my work isn't good enough. Being shy and afraid to go up to women who would be perfect to model for me...

I've been stuck for a while now. Libby, my instructor, helped me realize this. I'm starting to get so focused on getting projects done that I'm forgetting what makes a good photograph stand out. It also doesn't help that I've been in wedding class this quarter, and I HATE weddings! But, good news has come...

I'm in fashion class this coming quarter! Just in time for the fall! I've been waiting for this class since November 2008! I was once told that people at school knew me as "The guy who really wants to be a fashion photographer."

I think it will be really good for me to be doing something that I really want to do for an entire quarter. Learning how to light clothing (side light blacks to show detail), and to not feel as though I'm being judged for having my model be in a funny pose. If it works for Vogue, then it can work for me! And why should I be afraid if people don't like my work. If I don't like the work they are producing, then why should I listen to them and take what they are saying to heart? Exactly!

Dayton Art Institute shoot with Heather

My Port. 2 instructor gave me the opportunity to do an extra credit shoot. I asked her what the guidelines for the shoot were, and she replied "Shoot what you want. Shoot for yourself!" I will never turn down the option to shoot for me! For what I like!

So, I got the model. I got my assistant. I got the location and time I wanted to shoot (or so I thought!).

I picked up my assistant, Tyler, and we proceeded to head to the model's house, which is in my hometown of New Carlisle, Ohio. I thought it was going to be simple: Take 75 north to 70 east, get off on 235 north and be there in no time!

I was wrong!

70 east was a parking lot! The interstate was closed down for an hour and a half! Tyler went to see what happened, and it turned out that a car was on its side up against a wall! Don't know if anyone was hurt (I hope not!).

We finally get to the model's house, picked out wardrobe and headed out to the Dayton Art Institute!

I originally wanted to try and use nothing but a reflector. Just to see if I could stand not using my standard one speed lite with a shoot-thru umbrella. But, because the light had changed from what I originally wanted it to be, that was kind of difficult. But, it did work for a few shots.

Since I like how it looks, I reverted back to what I knew (but I will practice with the reflector, I promise!). A speed lite and an umbrella. We got some fantastic shots! Heather is a great model despite her lack of experience! And Tyler, with his experience at being an assistant with weddings, handled every issue and task with nothing but professionalism!

Great model! Great assistant! Great shoot!

Long time, no blog

A lot has happen since May of 2009.

In my opinion, my life would be better if half of it didn't happen. I will spare you a lot of details. But, honestly, I feel that I am a wiser man for it. Though, sometimes, I feel like a damned fool for all of it.

Getting back to the photography aspect of this blog...

I had a few weeks of where I was seriously doubting that my career goal as a fashion photographer was indeed for me. As in, did I want fashion to be my main career in life, or was photography as a whole meant to be more as a hobby. I was worried when this happened.

Photography is a passion of mine. Especially as an art form. I use to draw... a lot... when I was in middle school and high school until one day, I picked up my pencil, and found that I couldn't draw anymore. Shortly after that, I discovered photography. I found a new outlet for my creative energies, and it slowly became a passion for me!

One evening at work (I work for Eastman Kodak right now, in case you didn't know that), I was talking to a co worker about photography. They are an advanced hobbiest, so they know more than the average bear. While talking to her, I started to feel the passion for photography build up inside of me. It was at that moment, that no matter what doubts I have within me, that I should strive to see my goal through!

I finally have my site up! www.troycopesphotography.com Bookmark it! It is still a work in progress. I will keep adding and taking images away from it probably for the rest of my life. The main site is hosted on deviant art. They started a online portfolio service, which is free if you choose to not use your own domain name. It is a nice flash site if you are on a budget. You can link your pictures straight from your already existing deviantart.com profile, or upload all new content! Just go to www.portfolio.deviantart.com to get started! I do plan on making a facebook page for the business as well... haven't reached a decision yet.

I am also completely obsessed with Melissa Rodwell's blog! You should book mark that as well! www.fashionphotographyblog.com

Now, for the geek portion of the blog!

I can not wait to see the new Tron movie coming out in December! I plan on seeing it in IMAX 3D! The 3D trailer for it looked SO amazing!

Gotta get back to editing!

21st century brings 21st time the world should end.

http://www.december212012.com/

I got a message for all of you 2012 believers;

So far, the world was suppose to end over 20 times since the beginning of the 20th century. Just because the Mayans got board writing down dates doesn't mean that the world is going to "Come to an end."

Look at it from a logic viewpoint. Do you really think that calendar companies who put out the calendars with those cute puppies on them have a big warehouse the size of Jupiter with calendars printed that go all the way to the year 3000? No, they do not. Does that mean that when they do print a calendar for a year, that the planet isn't going to end for another year? And when that company goes out of business, then the world will end?

I'm sorry, but as with Heaven's Gate, their is no mother ship coming for you.

My first blog on here (it includes the word zombie!)

Ever since I created an account with Blogger.com, I've been trying to rack my brain to figure out how to break in my blog. My original plan was to post my experiences at the Professional Photographers of Ohio show, and how I got to meet Jay Stock and his good friend Rebecca Anne, and how I met Elizabeth Callahan of Callahan Photography (who has quickly become a very good friend of mine).

But for some strange reason, that wasn't feeling right. Especially since I planned this to be a photography blog.

Brain: But hey! Your title is "the photo geeks blog." A big part of it being the "G" word.

Me: You're totally right! What would I ever do without you, brain?!

Brain: Be safe from zombies?

So after a failed attempt at trying to keep my brain while still being safe from zombies, I decided to do a repost of a blog that is very dear to my heart, and also shares some of the most cherished memories from my childhood.

Enjoy!
-

"Remembering my roots" original post on myspace September 30, 2008

Being able to download a lot of retro arcade games on my 360 has set my mind into a vintage whirlpool of memories. I've played a lot of games in my day. A Lot of games.

Sherman, set the way-back machine to 1983 to see where it all began.

My earliest recollection related to gaming is from when I was around two years old. My family whet to visit my uncle one summer, and as most parents do they try to find ways to keep young children occupied for a long as humanly possible. My uncle, being the intelligent man that he is, mentions that he has an Atari video game system that my brother and I can play with. So, my parents left us not so much to our own devices, but one that would form the basis of the years that would come.

I don't remember much about playing the actual system. I have flashes of everyone gathered around the small TV watching me play Pitfall. My uncle having a big smile on his face, and my brother, with his arms crossed, having a salty look on his face (as he often did when I was the center of attention). From what everyone tells me, I was the only one who has ever played that Atari who could get past the first alligator in Pitfall. YAY!

Now, let's revisit 1984/'85

Their use to be a gaming store near Huber Heights called "Troll and Unicorn" that sold exclusively RPG's and related items. I remember going in there with my father and brother to pick up a limited release special edition Excalibur MKIV mech statue/toy for my brother. It was first run, and met its fate at my hands years later. But RPG's weren't going to be the reason why Troll and Unicorn was going to become one of my most treasured memories.

As every geek knows that the movie TRON came out in 1982. I was born in 81. I didn't see TRON until it aired on the Disney channel around 84 or 85. It is my number one favorite movie of all time. Shortly after the movie came out, they released the TRON arcade game. You played as the hero of the movie (the TRON program) and advanced through various stages themed from the movie; battling grid bugs to reach the IO tower, battling game grid tanks, defeating the MCP, and my personal favorite… Lightcycles!

All of the times that I went into Troll and Unicorn, I didn't know that they had an arcade game in there (turns out, they had only enough space to have one game at a time, uprights only), until one day the owner showed my father his newest machine.

It was the TRON arcade game.

The owner handed me a dollar in quarters and pulled out a step stool for me to stand on so I could play easier. I was in heaven! What made this whole event better, is that the first stage I played in the game, was my favorite scene in the whole entire movie, and all sequels to the game that where to follow… LIGHTCYCLES! Needless to say because of my young age, and this being only the second time that I remember ever playing a video game (I think I may have played the blue edition hand held of "missile command a few times) I died. I was unable to beat the lightcycle stage even with four quarters. But that didn't matter, because I got to play the most awesome arcade game ever! And it was in Troll and Unicorn!

I played TRON a few more times before they got rid of it. I always complained when the joy stick wasn't glowing. I vaguely remember refusing to play it once because the stick wasn't glowing. Eventually they replaced it with "Return of the Jedi" upright machine. I was confused when I got there, and didn't see TRON. But since it was ROTJ, I thought I would give it a shot.

It wasn't a bad game. The graphics where better than TRON, somewhat between the NES and the SNES in comparison. The controls looked like the steering wheel from Knight Rider. But I missed my TRON.

My parents told me years later when I asked what ever happened to that store, that they didn't know why it closed down. But every Saturday I would ask if I could go and play TRON.

Christmas, 1985

After my brother and I's new found love for video games took off, our parents took us shopping one day. Back then, the place to go for anything in New Carlisle was one town east, in Springfield at the Springfield mall. We entered the mall at the Sears entrance. And wouldn't you know it. On an end cap, they had a display of "the most advance game system in the world!". The Nintendo Entertainment System. My brother asked if they could get it, and my mother replied "maybe for Christmas." Which every child knows means no. The only thing I remember of that day is seeing the box, and remembering that brand new, the system cost $125.99.

So, my mother kept to what she said might happen and got us an NES for Christmas. I don't so much remember opening the present as I do seeing my parents confused as hell trying to figure out how to hook it up to our TV in our bed room.

Sometime after August 22nd, 1987… and several beaten games…

Growing up, we had a couple living in a house that was behind ours down a long lane that connected to our drive way. They had a son that was close to my brother's age at the time, and they also had a Nintendo. They had a lot more games than we did, and every now and then, they would let my brother and I borrow some games.

One of the games that they let us borrow was "The Legend of Zelda", the grey cartage edition. This game had it all! Action, adventure, myth, lore and even a princess to save! Problem solving that didn't involve math! OMFG! I had to own my own copy… but how?

I asked my parents if I could get my own copy of the game. The next thing I remember is the whole family going to the mall, and letting me pick out my very own copy of The Legend of Zelda. I vaguely remember something about the clerk suggesting that I try to find the gold cartridge. I also remember looking through the window of the box and seeing gold. When we got home, I opened it up, and BLING! I was holding in my hands a first run LOZ gold cartridge.

I got the game in 1987. In 1991, four and a half years later, I finally beat it with almost non-stop playing.

To this very day I play that game. And to this very day it is still my number one favorite game of all time.

That was a major turning point for me as far as video games go. Very few games I've played after LOZ have posed a much of a challenge as Death mountain (which ate up the majority of the game play, that's where we get the 4 years). Zelda 2 is impossible, and A link to the past was equal in fun, but easier in the grand scheme of Zelda games. Ocarina of Time took one week to beat. Enough said.

"But what about 'Twilight Princess'?" I hear you asking.

What about it? Since 1987, Link has been able to withstand the forces and energies of evil many, MANY times over. And you are wanting me to accept the fact that Link is now weak?! That when evil gets to strong that we cowers into the form of a wolf?! Is that what you're asking?! I think not my friend. Twilight Princess looks amazing, don't get me wrong there. But I refuse to accept TP as an official continuation of the Zelda legacy. Maybe someday I will look past it's character flaws and try it. But for now, it's right up there with the Oracle series, Majora's mask, four swords and wind waker.

With Zelda beaten, I was free to finally play some of the others games that my parents bought for my brother and I. And out of the majority of those, Iron Tank was the only one that I still can not beat! Though I do get a since of self satisfaction playing a game that lets me run over nazi fucktards =)

Christmas, 1991

Christmas of 1991 was a big year for my gamer development. The challenge of LOZ was a plesent memory, TMNT 2 was getting old with the discovery that the Contra code worked on it, and I was almost grown out of my Knight Rider PJ's.

While opening up our presents, my mother gave Devin and I each presents that where shaped the same. I was praying that it wasn't another pen and pencil set, and I was equally hopeful that it was the Nintendo Zelda game watch to go with my Mario Bros. Game watch that my teacher took away from be because I was more worried about saving the Mushroom Kingdom than learning math.

We opened the gifts, expecting the worst. Then, confusion filled our minds. We looked at each other, then back at the gifts that we just opened. They where Super Nintendo games. I had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time in my hands, and I forget what Devin had in his. We told our parents that we Didn't have a Super Nintendo. They said that the guy at the store told them that they would work in the NES. So, I cominced to explain to my parents the technical differences between the NES and the Super NES.

Our mother left the room. I was thinking that I hurt her feelings. Then she came back in with a smile on her face.

"Maybe this will help." She entered the living room with a ginormous box wrapped in black wrapping paper.

"*GASP!* OH MY GOD! A SUPER NINTENDO!" I yelled at the top of my lungs while jumping up and down repeatedly jarring the entire house. Our father laughing at my reactions. Devin was excited as well, but I don't remember him being as orgasmic as me. We rushed at our mother and tore open the paper as fast as we could. Once we saw it actually was a Super Nintendo and not a large pen and pencil set, we bother jumped up and down again.

After Christmas dinner, my mother hooked up the Super NES to our TV in Devin and I's bedroom. The first game we put in was Turtles in Time. We knew it was made by Konami, but we where in for a shock. A purple bar streaked across the top of the screen. It moved down revealing a darkened Konami logo. It got brighter and brighter, then it chimed! My brother and I nodded at the same time and we both said in unison… "Cool." without looking away from the screen.

A Christmas or so later, my Uncle called and wanted to know my opinions what system to get his daughters for Christmas; the SNES or the PlayStation. I didn't know much about the PS1, so I told him that the Super Nintendo was the better choice because it had more games (at the time).If I knew that they where going to make a PS2, I would have told him differently. Actually, as a matter of fact, shortly after the PS2 came out, I apologized to him about my poor decision. He said to not worry about it, because they had fun with the Super Nintendo. And I felt a little bit better.

Fast forward to sometime after Sept. 29th, 1996

When the N64 came out, I didn't know what to think. Mario 64 looked like shit compared to Super Mario World, and their wasn't that many titles for it at launch. But my mind was soon made up after one visit to Sears.

They had a demo of StarFox 64! One of my favorite titles on the N64! Fuck yeah I'm getting this thing! So I quickly did the math in my head… with my mothers help. If I sold our go-kart for no less than $175, I could get the system and StarFox 64 all in one trip. So my mother drive me out to Best Buy, and I got my N64 with StarFox, and after paying cash, I had 75 cents left over.

After several great titles, such as Mario Kart 64, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, StarFox 64 and a few others, the N64 slowly fell prey to more advanced systems. I later got a PS1, then a PS2, and now I enjoy the Xbox 360. From the Atari 2600 to the PS3, every system has their pluses and minuses. Remember the Virtual Boy?

It's amazing how far the video game industry has come since Pong was first put into a bar in the early 1960's. Now we have MMO's where people can interact across the world. No one ever thought that would be the future of gaming. It's refreshing to look back and see where it all started. Am I happy with the video game industry at the moment? Mildly yes. But, it's still young in the grand scheme of things. I'm personally waiting for the fully interactive VR game system that will be like the matrix. That would be as cool as the Konami logo!