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Bill Pador > "Gorilla in Our Mist" 10-4-09 - This Beautiful Silver Back Gorilla came up to the plexi glass enclosure to see what I was doing while at the Bronx Zoo which gave me the opportunity to shoot this great portrait of her just before she left to go play with her baby. What an incredible & beautiful animal up close and to experience nature so close up is a wonderful feeling and to know your SAFE with 2" of plexi glass between you is also comforting LOL Since she could probably tear you apart in a matter of seconds. * PP consisted of minor Level & Curve adjustments and then I used Silver Efex's for the B&W conversion. * Best viewed XL * Have a Great Week Everyone PS: I like this shot so much I had it printed on a 16" x 20" to frame on my own wall ! ~BIll~
Bill Pador > "Join a World Wide Experiment" *(Long But PLEASE READ)* Hello Everyone, I have been thinking about this project for a LONG time now and I would like to present my idea to you all. First I'd like you to meet my good luck charm, "Smiling Joe" (shot in HDR during a private moment when I caught him reading MY magazine. Everything must have went well, he's SMILING LOL Anyone have a match?). This little fellow has been a part of my business career for the last 12 years and has brought me tons of luck & success with all my business decisions. He sits on top of my desk over seeing the daily operations here at Bill Pador Photography and also my previous business which was Z-Rated Motorsports when I raced cars & sold high performance parts. What I want to do is to send 'Smiling Joe' on a World Wide Adventure to visit as many corners of the world during the Spring & Summer of 2009 and to have his photo taken at every stop on his journey along with creating a log/diary of his adventure. At the conclusion of his trip he will be placed back in my office where he belongs but will be surrounded by a complete collage of the images along with a copy of his journal for one of the coolest conversational pieces for my clients & friends to read & enjoy and I will also create a special gallery on my site as a promotional piece including everyone of you who participates, including your images, links to your web sites and posting the journal entries that you make while you have 'Smiling Joe' in your possession to create a virtual 'ROAD MAP' of his journey. I will also attempt to submit the full story & images with every one's name & web site to some of the worlds most popular photo magazines who may be interested in doing a story on this experiment ! Think of the possibilities of having your name & web site being seen by 10's of thousands of people. If not for anything else it will be a ton of fun to see how creative people can get with 'Joe' and how many miles he will travel during his journey. * * If your Interested READ ON * * My plan is this: 1) Collect a list of fellow photographers who want to be part of this project & be part of history, show off their creativity, have some fun and possibly have their work seen by tons of folks around the world. 2) Once I have a list of artists/photographers who want to participate I will map out "Joe's Journey" and plot the trip trying to make him cross the United States and then head over the pond for his over seas trip and then finally returning to good old New Jersey. The trip will take place over the Spring & summer and hopefully return by Fall. 3) The trip will be documented & mapped out using 'Google Earth' with the total mileage he traveled, the time it took to criss cross the world and other fun statistics. The images will be placed in the gallery in REAL TIME when I get them so everyone can track his journey as it happens ! 4) Each photographer will get to have 'Smiling Joe' for minimum of 72 hours and will be responsible for shooting him in various places, such as Historical Landmarks you may live by, Outdoors with scenic back drops such as mountain ranges, extreme weather, at family events such as parties, weddings or even while your vacationing or business trip etc. You will be required to shoot him in at least (3) different locations using your own creativity as your guide so that 'Joe' gets to have a good time while on his trip. Take him horse back riding, take his picture in front of the Golden Gate Bridge or Mountain Range, sitting in a vintage car (Matt), make him part of your cultural celebration, take him out to dinner or your favorite watering hole, just use your imagination & creativity to show 'Joe' having a good time like you would any other friend! LOL The use your own post production techniques to bring the images to life in your own way, then pack him back up in his tiny box and send him off to the next person on the list, simple as that! 5) 'Joe' will travel with a small note book/journal so that you can document what you did with him and how much fun he had while in your company. Again use your creativity while writing the story, make it funny, make it sad, just make it interesting. We have enough characters in the daily group who know how to make us laugh with their own image commentaries so I know it will be an interesting read when it's finished. You don't need to write a book, just a few short paragraphs about what 'Joe' did during his stay with you. 6) Joe has room on his back for each of you to Autograph him, so toss your mark on his back to show he's been with greatness and some of the best photographers/artists & friends in the world that I know. SIMPLE REQUIREMENTS: To participate, the only thing you will be required to do is take his photos & email them to me, write a quick story in the journal and send him on to the next person after having him for a few days. I will include a pre-printed mailing list & labels IN ORDER of where 'Joe' is to be sent to next, just pack him up in the same box and ship him to the next artist. It will only cost most of you a few bucks to mail him since he only weighs 67 grams and is a little bigger then a pack of cigarettes. I would need to know who would be willing to be the one to send him over seas which might cost a few extra dollars so I can map out who the last person in the United States will be to have him. Then I would need to know who is willing over seas to send him to the next country once I have the total list of people and what countries he will be traveling to. This will all be worked out before his journey starts to make sure everyone is ok with the small fees. I estimate that shipping will be around $2.00 - $3.00 for each USA participant and maybe $8.00 $10.00 to ship him over seas and/or from country to country. "IF YOUR INTERESTED" Please post your Interest here in the comments, Just Post a YES I wanna play and the STATE/COUNTRY you live in for all to see. Then please send ME a personal "EMAIL NOW BY CLICKING HERE" or (billpador@gmail.com) enclose your FULL NAME & MAILING ADDRESS so I can add you to the mailing list and if your willing to ship 'JOE' over seas if your the last one in the U.S.A. or CANADA to get him or from overseas back to the USA and I will send you an email back with more information. Don't forget to pass this info on to your other SmugMug Buddies ! That's It ! Like I said I have been wanting to do this for YEARS and I have finally planned it all out to make my idea a reality and I would like you all to be part of it. It should be a LOT of fun seeing the gallery of where JOE travels to and where he gets his picture taken and the story book should be a blast to read. I hope you all want to be part of this, lets get this started and have some fun !!! ~Bill~
Bill Pador > OK So I finally got away from playing with my crayons & back to the great outdoors. I was going to take a ride to the Hudson River this afternoon to capture the USS INTREPPID Aircraft Carrier returning from it's 2 year referberation in dry dock to it's new home at pier 86 but I had chores to do like picking my daughters up from school, darn it. So While searching for a good spot to grab some fall colors I located this side road by my house which leads to a camp ground. It has cobble stone lined roads and the tree color was spectacular with the sun bleeding through the trees in certain areas highlighting the leafs nicely. We are nowhere near fall colors in full swing yet just selected areas are starting to show the change of season so you have to go and look for them. Thanks for all the great comments on the crayon project maybe I'll revisit them some time in the future again. Hope you all have a wonderful night and look forward to seeing some of your fall color images !
Bill Pador > An Apple a Day keeps the Snow Storm Away - - NOT ! 3/1/09: Time to baton down the hatches kiddies, We are in for one hell of a ride in the next 12 hours or so, here in New Jersey there is one word we fear and know means business when we hear it and that is: "Nor' Easter" and when they hit they hit with a fury. We are in the beginning stages of an Nor' Easter Snow Storm right now and having only snowed for the last 2 hours we have 3" on the ground already and they are calling for 15"+ in my area in the mountains of North West NJ. I'm NOT Happy about this because of several reasons, one is that the low pressure they bring kills my spinal injury and makes for a rough night sleeping, plus I don't feel like snow blowing anymore LOL Oh well no need in crying about it, it's here and I might as well photograph it tomorrow right ! UPDATE: It's 2:00am and I posted 3 hours ago we had 3" of snow, well in 3 hours it dumped 7" MORE and there is 10" on the ground now, I just measured. OMG this is BAD !@ I found this apple in the fruit bowl tonight and not only did I feel like playing with low light & water but Bill got a New TOY ! OnOne's Photo Frame Pro 4 ! I gotta tell you if you like to play with Frames, THIS is the program for you, with over 4500 stock frames in it and the ability to customize each of them along with stacking up to like 16 frames on top of each other the results are limitless. I just loaded it and took a quick look see and i was like WOW that is a LOT of frames LOL. So I decided to use it on this shot and this is just a basic stock frame that came with it and I blurred the edges (oh you can do that too). I love the reflection of the flash in each water drop in this one. Look forward to posting some snow shots in my EXTRA gallery later on this afternoon, so for now it's good night and have a great week everyone ! PS: Be sure to read my special message above in my gallery description ! ~Bill Pador~
Bill Pador > "Deep Orange Glow" I shot this from my front porch During an approaching storm the other night the sun started going down and the colors were bleeding through the storm clouds creating an awesome sky. I shot a hand held 3 frame bracket -1, 0, +1 then brought it into Photomatix to create an HDR, Tone Mapped it and then into CS3 where I adjusted Levels, Curves, Contrast. Then into NIK Color Efex to boost Pro contrast and then finished it off with Imagenomic Noiseware and keyline frame. I just wish I would have grabbed my tripod to make things easier in blending mode but it came out pretty good for hand held anyway. The Smiling Joe Project is coming along nicely, I've been busy putting together all the logistics of the plan and should be sending out another email to everyone in the next few days with more updates and how this will work for everyone. Don't worry, it's a simple process for you all and nothing but fun involved, it's me who is tearing his hair out right now LOL Not really it's not that bad, just a lot of paper work (which I hate) but once it's all done it will run like clock work (I hope LOL) IN the mean time I've been able to recruit 2 more countries, India & Australia to his overseas adventure. So as of now he will be traveling to "7" different countries on 4 different continents, not bad ! Thanks for every one's participation, I'm VERY excited about the whole thing. Have a Great Evening Everyone, ~Bill~
Bill Pador > "The Red Barn" Using the new version of Topaz Adjust 2.6 this red barn found new life. I love the textures & colors this software put out and makes it so easy to grab the Dave Hill look. I found this old barn on the way to drop something off to my daughter at school and stopped in the middle of the street to shoot it LOL. It's actually in someones front yard. We're getting ready for ANOTHER snow storm tomorrow bearing gifts of 6"8" of the white stuff, boy am I tired of this ! Enjoy your Day, ~Bill~
Bill Pador > Fish Eye Frenzy 10-17-09 Well I finally took the plunge and bought a Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8 Fish Eye that I have wanted for a very long time for weddings & landscapes (OK I wanted it for FUN Too) LOL but if I blame it on the business expense it justifies the almost $800 price tag on this little lens. I was out in the field all day with it yesterday after buying it and I had a BLAST ! I knew it was gonna be fun but not nearly as much fun as I had with it already. I shot this in a open field by my house, my hand is about 3' off the ground and nowhere near the leaf but I was learning how to manipulate the distortion of the lens and came up with this little creative shot. I'll be using it on a live shoot tonight shooting a rock band client of mine on stage, so I should be able to get some really colorful & creative shots using this bad boy. If you've always wanted a fish eye I say don't wait any more, just go get it, it's THAT MUCH FUN ~! Have a Great Weekend Everyone ! ~Bill~
Bill Pador > The Great SILVER BACK GORILLA Here he is ladies & gents, the endangered Silver Back Gorilla. Photographed at the world famous Bronx Zoo NY City on 7/5/08. I took a trip to the zoo today for the first time in my life for a photo shoot. After living within 60 min. of the zoo for most of my life I thought it was about time I made a visit and see what they had to offer, I must say I had a WONDERFUL time and for a photographer, subject matter is EVERY WHERE to shoot. The day started off very overcast and I knew I wasn't in for the best conditions but decided to still take the trip. It rained on me from the time I entered the gate until the time I left putting the weather seals of my D300 to the ultimate test, I'm happy to say they past with flying colors and kept the electronics dry as a bone, whew LOL. This Silver Back Gorilla is one of over 20 they have at the zoo (there are 2 families from what I understand). They are kept in separate sides both of which can be seen from the same observation room and they are only separated by a small electronic fence and some trees. The observation room is below the wooded area which slopes upward in a natural jungle setting. The only draw back is the THICK Plexiglas's partition that you have to shoot through. So that plus the fact that I had barely any light outside from the rain made this a very difficult day of shooting, but the D300 managed it very nicely and confirmed that this is one hell of a camera to say the least. Anyway THIS Gorilla was a real HAM, he was only about 10' away from me most of the 60 min. I photographed his family and really liked having his picture taken. They are SO SMART it's scary and act & move just like humans. They were all pretty cool and loved the attention folks were giving them. One male & female even decided to have a 'NOONER' love making session right in front of us for all to see LOL and brought many LAUGHS & CLAPS during the 60 seconds or so it took them to finish, it was VERY funny and to see some of the parents scrambling to cover their younger kids eyes almost made me spit up my soda (yes there's a shot of that in my zoo gallery too LOL) I'll find out what this fellas name is and also post some more info on the families in my Zoo gallery that I have posted and hope all of you take a look at it, I worked very hard to get the shots in the gallery and there is some amazing animals in it. I want to share it for the enjoyment of all who don't have the resources to visit such a wonderful place. Please VISIT MY BRONX ZOO GALLERY HERE and see some great animals like TIGERS, GRIZZLY & POLAR BEARS, Lots of Birds, Giraffe & the Gorilla families (TIP: It's best viewed as a SLide Show so you see each picture enlarged and it's 18 pages long. Sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee while you view it.) Be sure to give this image a Thumbs Up vote if you like it & Thanks for your comments & visiting my galleries ~Bill~
Bill Pador > "The Coffee Kid" The Coffee Challenge...01/12/09 The Challenge: Show us your interpretation of the word, "Coffee." The Participants: Kre8ive, John (300m), Karina Boese, The Curious Camel, Creative Deviance, Johnloguk, Lady Kate, MyKey, Trevlan, Fotoeffects, Hillary, and myself. The Result: I figured it was time to have some fun with one of these challenges and this one had me laughing my butt off. When setting this one up I started off in my studio and set the Still Life Stage up. Well there wasn't enough room for me to set the lighting up the way I wanted so I brought all my stuff upstairs to my kitchen area and set up on the table. Lighting used was a Nikon SB-600 with portable soft box attached to the left table height @ 7 O'Clock for shadow fill and as the main light SB-800 with mini soft box at 5 O'Clock placed on the floor and aimed upward @ 45'. Both units were triggered using Nikon wireless TTL system. The SB-600 was triggered as a Rear Curtain at 1/8 power and the SB-800 fired straight out @ 1/4 power bouncing 1/2 of the light off the ceiling which is white. A small 2' round white reflector was placed on a chair at 1/2 the height of the table facing the left side of the doll for slight filling purposes. I used my Nikkor 18-200 VR and shot the image from 7 O'Clock from about 3' away with the camera twisted to the right. Shot in RAW I headed for CS3 Bridge to adjust the Blacks and then into CS3 where a touch of NIK Color Efex was used to boost color slightly and then Focal Point for some addition DOF & Movement Blur were added. Finishing off with OnOne Frames 3 to give it the black custom blurred vignette and then OnOne Photo Tools to add the Black frame & Key line. Total Time Spent was about 40 min. from start to finish ! PS: I had a lot of fun with this because I had a HELPER, my cat Oreo saw the need to hop on the table to SUPERVISE me but he kept knocking the doll & coffee bag over until I asked him to please stop which he did but only after destroying the set just one more time LOL. I laughed so hard during this one that it was worth doing the shoot just for the humor I got from Oreo. I guess the smell of the coffee attracted him to the set but I refused to make him a cup because he's wired enough without having extra caffeine running through his system :) So instead he went over to the Water Cooler and got himself a drink, yes he DRINKS from the Water Cooler by himself and doesn't spill or waist a drop. I shot a frame of him doing his little trick, if you'd like to check it out CLICK HERE Thanks for looking at my challenge shot this week folks ! ~Bill Pador~
OK So I finally got away from playing with my crayons & back to the great outdoors. I was going to take a ride to the Hudson River this afternoon to capture the USS INTREPPID Aircraft Carrier returning from it's 2 year referberation in dry dock to it's new home at pier 86 but I had chores to do like picking my daughters up from school, darn it.

So While searching for a good spot to grab some fall colors I located this side road by my house which leads to a camp ground. It has cobble stone lined roads and the tree color was spectacular with the sun bleeding through the trees in certain areas highlighting the leafs nicely.

We are nowhere near fall colors in full swing yet just selected areas are starting to show the change of season so you have to go and look for them. Thanks for all the great comments on the crayon project maybe I'll revisit them some time in the future again. Hope you all have a wonderful night and look forward to seeing some of your fall color images !
Bill Pador > OK So I finally got away from playing with my crayons & back to the great outdoors. I was going to take a ride to the Hudson River this afternoon to capture the USS INTREPPID Aircraft Carrier returning from it's 2 year referberation in dry dock to it's new home at pier 86 but I had chores to do like picking my daughters up from school, darn it. So While searching for a good spot to grab some fall colors I located this side road by my house which leads to a camp ground. It has cobble stone lined roads and the tree color was spectacular with the sun bleeding through the trees in certain areas highlighting the leafs nicely. We are nowhere near fall colors in full swing yet just selected areas are starting to show the change of season so you have to go and look for them. Thanks for all the great comments on the crayon project maybe I'll revisit them some time in the future again. Hope you all have a wonderful night and look forward to seeing some of your fall color images !
OK So I finally got away from playing with my crayons & back to the great outdoors. I was going to take a ride to the Hudson River this afternoon to capture the USS INTREPPID Aircraft Carrier returning from it's 2 year referberation in dry dock to it's new home at pier 86 but I had chores to do like picking my daughters up from school, darn it.

So While searching for a good spot to grab some fall colors I located this side road by my house which leads to a camp ground. It has cobble stone lined roads and the tree color was spectacular with the sun bleeding through the trees in certain areas highlighting the leafs nicely.

We are nowhere near fall colors in full swing yet just selected areas are starting to show the change of season so you have to go and look for them. Thanks for all the great comments on the crayon project maybe I'll revisit them some time in the future again. Hope you all have a wonderful night and look forward to seeing some of your fall color images !
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Bill Pador Photography is a Member 'Professional Photographers Association of America' & 'National Association of Photoshop Professionals' Specializing in Weddings - Sweet 16 Parties - Portraits
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