Scott Diussa Photo Travels

Rugby World Cup - Wellington, New Zealand

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:30:30 -0500

Hi Everyone! I’m going to the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand soon and have started a separate blog for that trip like I have done for other events that I have gone to. So, please click the logo above or click HERE to go to this new blog page. I hope you enjoy the new direction I am taking and please leave me comments on what you think...

Thanks,
Scott

So... What’s next?

Thu, 1 Sep 2011 09:22:57 -0500

As you can see, I’ve been a bit lack luster about posting blog entries here in recent months. I’ve been asking myself why that is and I’ve come up with a few reasons. The first reason is that I’ve been in my office for awhile working on some big projects and getting myself organized for the Fall which is going to be really busy. So, the shooting of cool stuff just hasn’t really been there. The last cool thing that I shot but didn’t post images of was the NASCAR race at the Kentucky Motor Speedway in July. That turned out to be such a miserable event because of the massive traffic jam getting to the track that I didn’t even want to think about it after I got home... So, here are some pics from that event to share since I hadn’t already...

Air... To... Air!

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:03:20 -0500

As you can probably guess... It’s Reno time again! This week I’m out at the Reno Air Races Pylon Racing Seminar. I missed this event last year due to being at the World Cup in South Africa so I’m really happy to be back this year. As always I’m attempting to take on way too many projects in the midst of working an event so I’m not sure what I will finally end up with after the weekend is over. But, in the meantime I had one of the most incredible opportunities of my lifetime and that was to photograph my favorite airplane AIR TO AIR!

My good buddy, Moose Peterson, offered me a seat in a Beachcraft Bonanza that had the door taken off to make it a photo plane. That was an interesting experience to be strapped in a harness just in case you fall out but it was a very easy flying aircraft and our pilot, Kevin, did a superb job. We first photographed a two seat P51 Mustang that my boss’ boss was in the back seat of at the time. (He certainly had fun!)

Places I’ve Never Been...

Wed, 8 Jun 2011 15:27:19 -0500

Based upon the fact that I have a flight leaving soon I’m just going to post some images from the past few days with my good friend, Bill Fortney and the wonderful people of the Bio Communications group! I got to got to places in the USA that I have never been to before but who better to show me the way that the one... the ONLY... Mr... Bill... Fortney! :-) (Imagine a great game show voice there!)

We were in Page, AZ and went to Bryce Canyon, Antelope Slot Canyon, Zion National Park and Lake Powell. So, enough of my typing... I need to upload this and get on an airplane! Here’s a very quick edit straight from a Nikon D7000, Cooplix S9100 (which died in the sand that poured onto us in the slot canyon) and a Coolpix P7000.

Jackson Hole

Thu, 2 Jun 2011 11:47:47 -0500

A couple of weeks ago I was a part of a workshop in Jackson Hole, WY with a great group of people from the New Media Consortium (www.nmc.org) along with Larry Johnson and Bill Frakes. I had not been to this part of the country since I was on a family vacation in the sixth grade! It turned out to be two of the nicest days weather-wise that we could have hoped for. I shot mostly D7000 but actually started to use the two new Coolpix P300 and S9100 cameras even more for a bit of it. It was just great to be around a group so hungry for knowledge and willing to learn new stuff. I managed to get through a few of my initial favorite images and thought I’d do a quick post here for you...

I have another awesome trip coming up with Bill Fortney so I know I’ll have some good stuff to share with you from that trip as well. For now... enjoy...

Accept - Chicago 4/22/11

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:41:09 -0500

This past Friday I once again had the pleasure to photograph one of my favorite live bands... Accept. (www.acceptworldwide.com) I posted images of Accept from their first US show in a great number of years last May at the Gramercy Theater in NYC (link here) along with the story of how I met Accept guitarist, Wolf Hoffmann. Well, after a very awesome and successful new album “Blood of the Nations” and a very extensive European tour, they are now playing in the US and if you can catch one of their shows, don’t miss it! They are a great live band! Besides photographing the show the biggest highlight of my day was hanging out on the tour bus (pictured above) with Wolf and Mark Suban (from Nikon). It was really nice of him to invite us in and chat for a bit... Here’s a shot that Mark took of the two of us...

The Music of Led Zeppelin

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:00:00 -0600

Recently I had the privilege of photographing a very cool show... The Music of Led Zeppelin with Randy Jackson of Zebra and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. I had photographed a similar show last year that Randy did with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and that was The Music of Pink Floyd. Both shows were great and if you have the chance to see one of them you should! You can check out their website HERE.

This particular venue, The Stranahan Theater, was a challenge. It was a very large theater and the seats went all the way to the front with no room to move around next to the stage. So, I found myself shooting from two side positions and one position all in the balcony. One lens that I have never used for a concert but was very happy to have with me was a 200-400mm VR lens. Since I wasn’t in anyone’s way with this large lens I was able to use it on a monopod. It certainly isn’t something that I enjoyed carrying around but without it I probably wouldn’t be posting blog entry for you! So, here are some of the shots from that show...

Something New... Basketball!

Thu, 3 Feb 2011 22:00:33 -0600

Out of all of the types of photography I have done I have never really gotten too many opportunities to shoot sports. This past weekend I had the chance to shoot my very first basketball game. I paid a visit to Purdue University and joined their head photographer, Andrew Hancock (who also shoots for Sports Illustrated), court side as Purdue went on to beat Minnesota. I learned a lot in a very short period of time. Andrew showed me their remote camera setups that they are using and explained how he shoots both with lights mounted in the ceiling as well as available light. We setup at one end of the court and had a great time...

Here are a few pics of the remotes and Andrew Hancock...

Phil Kennemore - 1953 - 2011 You Will Be Missed

Sat, 8 Jan 2011 13:55:14 -0600

On Friday, January 7, 2011 the rock and roll world lost a great family member... Phil Kennemore of Y&T. Now, if you have been on this blog for any amount of time you have seen me post pictures of various Y&T shows that I have had the pleasure of photographing and you have heard me talk about how much I enjoy this band and the members in it.

Here are some previous posts with images of the band...
Click Here and Click Here

Although I know Dave and Jill Meniketti of Y&T the best I have met Phil at each of the shows that I have been to. I do love the fact that Y&T always takes the time after a show to meet their fans and hang out a bit. The last show that I saw/photographed was this past year in Chicago and I remember when the band showed up Phil saw me (recognized me) and said... “I know you, don’t I?”. He proceeded to shake my hand with a genuine smile on his face and after I told him who I was again he said, “It’s great to see you...”. I know it’s pretty simple and but I do know that he meant it and that moment made me feel more at ease before I had to concentrate on photographing the show... So, the images that I want to share with you here are images that I took of Phil that last time that I saw him. He was always a great subject to photograph but that’s because he was 100% genuine. Bands that are genuine come across that way in pictures... or at least I think so.

First I want to show you my earliest memory of Y&T and Phil Kennemore... In high school I had the pleasure of having the “real” MTV that would air Saturday night concerts... this Y&T show was one of the ones that I remember the most of any that I saw. It’s from 1985 and this is where it all began for me... I like Phil’s bass line at around 2:09... you’ll see what I mean.

Concert Photography Class - Kelby Training

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:59:37 -0600

I wanted to shift gears today for a moment to tell you about my Concert Photography Class that’s available on Kelby Training. Click the image below and watch the first chapter. Alan Hess and I did this class back in early August down in Florida with the video crew from Kelby Media Productions and it was a blast to do. I have to say that it is much easier behind the camera but after awhile you sort of get used to it a bit especially when it comes to watching it. That’s the hardest part.

We shot segments with four different bands that they lined up for us. There’s a solo artist, a duo, a celtic rock band and a really hardcore metal band. Every musician that we worked with was great. They were real troopers when it came to playing for a virtually empty house in the middle of the day. Alan and I wanted a very loose feel to everything and I have to say that we hardly did a second take on anything! We had over eight hours of video that was edited down to two full hours.

The amazing thing about Kelby Training is that no idea is too far out there for them to consider. This was probably one of the more “out of the box” classes that they have done but that’s what makes Kelby Training so cool... they just want to deliver real, good and fun content. So, where else are you going to learn how to shoot concerts?

If you are wondering how this differs from the Photoshop World “Real World Concert Photography” pre-con workshop that Alan and I do it really is quite a bit different. Of course, some of the basic content is the same but that goes for any photographic workshop. But, the pre-con class is actually a shooting environment with a real band (Scott Kelby’s own Big Electric Cat). The classroom part is also very different and goes into more details based on actual shows that Alan and I have shot that aren’t in the Kelby Training class. So, each are worth checking out for a very full experience.

So, take a look at the first chapter for free and if you like what you see, sign up for Kelby Training and watch the whole thing! Let me know what you think of it. Thanks!

I Love Germany - Pretzels and Beer!

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:15:31 -0600

So, I’ve been promising pictures from our vacation to Europe! I’ve been finally getting to them so here’s the beginning. At least this will give me some stuff to blog about. I have to say that I think Facebook has taken my mind away from this blog a bit. Now, I don’t write nearly as much on Facebook and I never put pictures up there and discuss them unless it’s something simple. So, I’m not sure why that is but it’s nice to be sitting down to this once again.

Over the Thanksgiving week Michelle, her sister, Carol and I took a trip to Munich, Zurich and Paris! The three of us have traveled before together and the last time was three years ago to London and Paris. So, Paris was the repeat on this trip. It’s such a great city and we only had a couple of days there the last time so we wanted to spend more time there and still could go back and not see the same things twice! What a great travel city!

We landed in Frankfurt, Germany and then had to take a train to Munich right off the plane. I found that the language barrier wasn’t really an issue since most German people speak English to some degree. When it came to understanding how our Euro Rail passes worked that was very helpful. We didn’t realize that the train trip from Frankfurt to Munich was like five and a half hours! That was no big deal since we found a really comfy cabin on the train and made it home for awhile. We met a couple of really nice people this way and had some great conversations. It was very handy that we were right next to the bar car so what did I get first??? Pretzels and Beer!

Junkyard Jazz

Mon, 6 Dec 2010 16:37:44 -0600

Hi All... I’m back from vacation... and from a multi-media workshop in Kansas as well. From one right to the other. It’s good to be home this week to start to catch up on a lot of stuff. I wanted to take a minute to let you know that I have just gotten to looking at some of my vacation pictures today! One week after I got back! So, if you are wondering why I haven’t posted any it’s because I have been too busy to even look at them.

In the meantime, I have something from the workshop last week that I’d like to share with you. This was a workshop put on by Nikon which featured Bill Frakes and Laura Heald and it was held at the University of Kansas. They have a great photojournalism school with a very nice facility for doing a workshop such as this. I found out when I got there that I was going to be a team leader for a group of students which was a surprise. So, they assigned me to the “musical” photo story.

This photo story was about a group of local senior jazz musicians that play every Thursday night at the American Legion hall under the name of Junkyard Jazz. We set it up before hand that we would be coming to do a story on them and they were very gracious to allow us the time to do so. The students all used Nikon D3s camera, most for the very first time, and came out with both great still images as well as videos. So, as a group we all gathered around a 27” iMac computer and put the project together in iMovie. I also had the opportunity to do some audio editing lessons to teach them how to clean up the audio interview.

It was a great project and I didn’t shoot any of it. I sure did get a lot better at iMovie real quick! So, I think I learned as much as they did over the course of 24 hours from shooting to final project.
I hope you enjoy it.

Vacation Time!

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:17:58 -0600

Finally! It’s vacation time! I feel like I’ve been working toward this moment for months now. Tomorrow I (along with my wife and her sister) head to Frankfurt, Germany to experience some new European locations including Munich, Zurich and a return trip to Paris. All train travel, no driving, no computer, no cell phone, no email... only two new cameras (D7000 and P7000) and as many memory cards as I could gather!

This is actually the lightest packing trip that we’ve ever done. We are bringing only small suitcases and half the clothes for the trip. We’re going to have a new experience and that’s to do laundry in Paris! There actually is a website on how to do this which I thought was pretty funny! But, I’m sure it will be very helpful since none of us speak, read or write French.

So, I wish I could blog some stuff from there but since I am going computer-less it’ll just have to wait until I get back to share my images with you all. I’m packing a very light amount of camera gear as well. I’ve got the D7000 with the 16-85VR and 70-300VR lenses along with two small mics for doing some video. I also have my trusty P7000 camera as well. I always feel that I need to have at least two cameras with me on a vacation. First as a backup in case something malfunctions and also because sometimes it’s more appropriate to have a small camera in places where a DSLR can draw attention to you. Some places don’t allow “professional cameras” but will allow a compact camera. The P7000 is perfect for those situations!

I’m excited for each city we’ll be in. And, I’m excited to revisit Paris. We were only there for two days the last time and this time we get five days! Let’s hope the weather holds and the planes and trains run on time!

So, here are a few Paris shots from the last time we were there...

Flower Power

Sat, 6 Nov 2010 13:27:10 -0500

As I continue to go through two months worth of images that I have yet to look at I keep finding some subjects that were just quick and fun to work with that would be worth a blog post. This post is a group of images of this funky hippy VW bus that was in Jeffersonville, NY during the Eddie Adams Workshop. It was a bright, sunny afternoon and I was taking an hour or so to just walk around town with my P7000 and I came across this very colorful subject. I really love this little camera and I can’t wait to take it on vacation in a couple of weeks!

Reno Extras

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 16:50:03 -0500

I’m back from Photo Plus and had some time to work on some past image editing that I just hadn’t gotten to yet. So, I had to go all the way back to mid September and take a look at some of my remaining Reno Air Race pictures. I decided to just do a quick entry with some extra shots that I liked and I hope you like them, too.