Bristol Ren fair 2008

[big john]

Hi everyone, I am new to this board, as a matter of fact this is my first post! I have enjoyed looking at other people's photos from their ren fairs all across the country and thought I would share mine from the Bristol ren fair in Wisconsin. You can see my photos at the following link:  www.cmuetz.smugmug.com  just click on the ren fair galleries and enjoy (or not, its up to you!)

Chris "Big John" Muetz

[Friar Rohn the Chronicler]

The only thing I could say is...... IMPRESSIVE ...... some of the best work I've seen posted here. I've bookmarked it to learn from your techniques. What camera and lenses do you use?

Friar Rohn

[big john]

Hi Friar Rohn, Thank You. If you go back to the oldest galleries most of them were taken with a 4 megapixel Kodak point-and-shoot. I did play around with photoshop elements 2 at the time. As time went on and my craziness for photography really began, I started investing in Canon D-SLRs ( first was a Canon digital rebel, then a canon 20D and now I also own 2 Canon 30Ds that I use for weddings) and some decent lenses.

Now that I am making some money with my photography I can invest in some even better gear as time goes on. The big thing with me was that I started slowly and gradually built up my gear as my experience grows. I am still learning new things every time I shoot, and taking photos at the ren fairs is genuinely one of the most rewarding, fun and satisfying things I get to do with my photography!

Chris

[Margrett]

Welcome "Big John"! I lurk on here and post every once in awhile. Nice to see you here too!

Margrett (of the Guilde of St. Lawrence, a/k/a Kerri-Ellen)

PS Give your wife and kids a hug for me :-)

[Dustin]

Big John, it looks like your Stronghold photos are from Saturday, or possibly late Sunday. Am I right? I was there from just a little after opening until around 5, and it was raining and cold most of the time. You might have seen me - I was the guy in the tie-dye ren shirt. Great photos, by the way.

[Friar Rohn the Chronicler]

My first digital cameras were a Sony CD-500 (5 MP) that used mini CD's to record to. Back then, there were only 1-2 megapixal cards that limited storage. Then I upgraded to a Sony F-828. Most of the digital photography was high speed paintball photography. Most photographers would be considered nuts to take their equipment onto a field with weapons shooting balls like machineguns at 280 feet per second. My cameras were encased in custom fiberglas enclosures or modified underwater camera cases. I did it for about 7-10 years fairly regularly, but because of age and health reasons, I had to fade away but still get recognized when I shoot photos of the RenFaires. The Oklahoma heat was brutal inside the padded suit. I had to wear that type of suit because I took more hits than the players or refs, especially from crossfire in the tournaments. The paintball players....well, I never charged a one in all those years. I mostly enjoyed shooting tournaments and scenario games and posted them on one of my best friend's forums for years.



I upgraded my cameras from the Sony's (loved them because they could take a beating) to a Canon 40D. I have two lenses, the standard f/3.5 IS lens and a 70-200 f/2 lens with a Canon Speedlite rigged on a bracket. Currently I've focused my hobby (I never charge) to doing free wedding photography for family's that cannot afford services (I leave it up to various ministers and priests that are long time friends to evaluate who needs a break). The paintball players, never charged a one in all those years. Mostly did tournaments and scenario games.

I've always enjoyed our local RenFaires, so at this last year I took my Sony F-828 and took a couple of thousand photos from 3 different weekends of all the playtrons. On the last day, I dropped off 50 sets of double DVDs at the front gate and left. I heard later they went very, very quickly. Next year, I won't go "mundane" and get fitted for a Good Friar's suit to blend in to the background.

I loved your photos because many were taken with such natural expressions. I've never seen such color variations as you brought out with the playtrons dressed as "wood fairies". We don't see that down here. I can't state how much I enjoyed them. Your style and technique is way above average than the photos I've seen posted before. Now when I show up a various Renaissance functions, most assume that (due to my new camera equipment) I'm from one of the local newspapers or a magazine. I want to improve my skills by learning others styles and techniques. One of new techniques that I trying to perfect is called HDR (High Dynamic Range). The Canon can take 3 RAW photos of the same subject (Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) option and one will be under exposed, normal, and over exposed. Then I run them from a program called Photomatix that creates a 32 bit photo with much more intense color and depth seen in most normal RAW photos. Check out some of the examples.

http://www.hdrsoft.com/

I wanted to take some new shots of my nephew's complete new noble class doublet and slops but it was a windy, bright day and the technique looks best on a stationary object (no hair blowing) and with a darker cloudy day for contrast. I'd like to take some shots of him with this type of background and settings at one of the few Gothic style churches in town (nope, I didn't take this photo but would like to have this type of detail in the background).