You've been shot * Fotobia.com

2011/2012 New Year's Eve Sydney Harbour.

2012-01-03T10:44:00.003-05:00

A short stop action video I shot of the infamous fireworks during New Year’s Eve in Sydney Harbour, Australia. Crossed one off the bucket list. Don't want to go home...

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

12-11-2011: Buccaneers vs Jaguars.

2011-12-12T01:59:00.001-05:00

12-11-2011: Buccaneers vs Jaguars., a set on Flickr.

Photos I took from the NFL game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, FL. The Jaguars won 41-14.

It was a great game with lots of action (finally!!!).

MOVEMBER l 2011

2011-12-09T02:03:00.003-05:00

MOVEMBER l 2011, a set on Flickr.

We recently wrapped up a photo shoot to celebrate the moustache and raise awareness for men's health (get your boys checked men). As expected it was a ton of fun and we met many awesome characters. Enjoy the photos.

For more information on Movember visit www.movember.com

Click here to see photos from the series. Epic moustaches everywhere for Movember!

All photos ©Daniel Goncalves

2011-7-8: NASA STS-135 Space Shuttle Atlantis

2011-12-08T14:36:00.001-05:00

2011-7-8: NASA STS-135 Space Shuttle Atlantis , a set on Flickr.

Historic last Shuttle Atlantis launch ending the space shuttle program at NASA.

12-5-11: Chargers vs. Jaguars

2011-12-08T14:33:00.001-05:00

12-5-11: Chargers vs. Jaguars, a set on Flickr.

Photos I shot during Monday Night Football.

Movember book.

2011-11-23T11:55:00.000-05:00

Last year we teamed up with Movember Jax and did a portrait series of people who participated in Movember. We ended up putting together a little book on Blurb to spread the word, raise awareness and raise some research funds.

GROW MO by Daniel Goncalves | Make Your Own Book

It's Movember time again. All profit from the sale of this book will be invested into research and the fight against this merciless foe. The price is the printing cost plus a $5 markup to be donated.

If you didn't get the book last year there is one big reason to get it this year. DISCOUNT! If you enter BIGTEN in coupon you get $10 off. But hurry and order your copies soon because the code expires Nov 30th.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

10-2-2011: Saints vs. Jaguars.

2011-10-04T13:10:00.001-04:00

Drew Brees and his Saints came marching into town. Wow is that man a phenom! Unfortunately the Jags were left with an L. Can't take away from Mr. Brees though.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Burro Fall/Winter Lookbook

2011-10-04T09:45:00.001-04:00

A few months ago I had the privilege to work with the awesome people over at Burro Bags in Jacksonville, FL. We shot their fall/winter lookbook.

Burro is a small indy company and they're blowing it up. They got started making custom messenger bags made out of recycled billboards for the bicycle culture. The bags are functional, very comfortable and are all handmade by the super talented crew. They also sell screen printed goods like t-shirts, make pedal straps and hip bags. Their growing at such a great rate that they decided to put together a lookbook and I'm humbled they chose to work with me.

It was a pleasure working with such creative people who are doing big things. I was given all the freedom to do my thing and there was near zero directing. This made it all very real as I was documenting people having fun.

Special thanks to:
Jack "Diablo" Twachtman- kick ass creative director for the shoot
Patrick Carter- design ninja, check out those moves here
Everette Smith- 8 armed octopus assistant

You can check it out the lookbook directly on their website http://www.burrobags.com/lookbook/

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

My USA TODAY cover

2011-10-04T08:09:00.004-04:00

If you've ever heard me talk about photography and about how to get work in this industry you've probably heard me say that 90% of it is luck. You still need the 10% (which is the hard part, being able to do the job & deliver the goods).

This morning is a perfect example.

Last Thursday morning I received a random call and e-mail from the senior photo editor from America's largest circulation newspaper, USA TODAY. I was to shoot a feature for the cover of the money section. Did I mention randomly? I thought someone was pulling my leg getting me back for all the pranks I pull (on a daily basis, my poor wife).

While editing photos late last night, I received an e-mail from the photo editor giving me a heads up that the story was being pushed up to run today AND that it had made 1a (front cover). I'm stunned, humbled, amazed. It's unfortunate that the story is about someone who is struggling financially but I was glad to help tell this story.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2011-10-03/jobs-craigslist-unemployed-economy-classified-ads/50647040/1

If you pass by a newspaper box or see the USA TODAY in the break room take a peek. It's not on their website yet but if you have an iPad, download the app, and you can see the front cover there. But only if you're really bored.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Remembering Stetson Kennedy a national treasure.

2011-10-04T02:11:00.004-04:00

Back in 2008 my publisher told me he was giving me a very important assignment. I was to photograph Stetson Kennedy. It wasn't only important because it was Mr. Kennedy but also because of his age this may be one of the last portraits taken of him.

Embarrassingly I have to admit, I didn't know who Mr. Kennedy was at the time. When I started to do my research on him I soon realized how important this man was.

He was an American author and human rights activist. He is the man that infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s and exposed it's dark secrets to authorities and the world. Surprisingly he had to fight to get the authorities to listen. Incredible.

When I met up with Mr. Kennedy he was very kind. I had to speak loudly and repeat my words as his hearing had just about disappeared. His face, hands and the clothes he wore showed the character of a man who has seen and experienced many things. He had me a bit wound up after telling me about this huge gator that always hangs out under the porch. The problem was the gator wasn't there and we didn't know where he was or where he'd pop up.

A few ago my publisher sent me an e-mail stating that Mr. Kennedy had passed away earlier that day. I was sad to hear this but was happy to see that he kicked around his paradise Beluthahatchee estate for almost another 2 years. His ashes were spread into these waters recently. I truly know how amazing this man was and the national treasure he is and know his spirit is alive within the waters of the Beluthahatchee.

Remembering Mr. Stetson Kennedy. October 5, 1916 – August 27, 2011

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

9/11/11: Jags vs Titans on 10 yr anniversary.

2011-09-13T15:54:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday was a day with mixed emotions. There was excitement for the start of the football season and a whole other range of emotions because it was the 10 year anniversary of 9/11.

I decided to set up a remote video camera to shoot stop action video of the opening ceremonies. It was beautiful with that flag the size of the field. Incredible.

Photos from the game.

We will never forget.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Today I turn 10 years old!

2011-08-24T14:41:00.003-04:00

Today is the 10th anniversary for the Air Transat "incident" on Flight AT-236. For my family (including the 300+ people on board) and I, today is a very special day. We stared death in the eye then somehow were given a new lease on life. I truly have appreciated ever second I've had since that day and am thankful for whatever time I have left.

I'm so lucky to have married such an amazing woman who loves me unconditionally and I get to wake up every day and do what I love. I have a wonderful family which I love very much. I'm glad we were all able to unsay our goodbyes 10 years ago this date. I'm also very thankful for all the friends and amazing people that make life so freaking awesome!

There are times that it's easy to get caught up in the day to day and forget to appreciate what all that I have. It's days like today that ground and humble me to my absolute core.

I wrote about my experience last year for the first time. You can read it here if you're interested. There are a few documentaries that were made, two of the better ones were National Greographic and Dateline. You can see the NG video on youtube, it's a 6 part series if you are bored and have the time

My sweet wife bought me the dvd of the movie they made on the heroic pilot Robert Piche. To be honest, I've tucked it away and was hoping to watch it for the first time with mom, dad, sis and wife. Although my family is not here I have decided I'm watching it tonight. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be an emotional wreck but it's time.

To all the survivors, cheers, and to everyone else, cheers as well.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

I'm doing time.

2011-08-09T20:00:00.000-04:00

I've recently been sentenced to prison. Food prison. They say you do the crime you do the time so I've sentenced myself. I've never smoked, I quit caffeine (never been a coffee drinker but guzzled diet coke) last November and I've never been much of an alcohol drinker. I should be in perfect health. The problem is that I've been eating very poorly for many years. I'm not sick but I don't want to get sick and realize that I can't just keep eating whatever without consequence down the road. I grew up in a mom and pop supermarket. We also had a bakery. It was a busy environment with a lot of easy and unhealthy options and I grew up never really eating what I should have.

I watched a documentary by Joe Cross, an Australian, on juice fasting while working late (Fat, sick and nearly dead). I told my wife about it since she's Australian and we realized that my mother had given us a juicer that has never made it out of the box. I decided to sentence myself to 30 days without chewing any food.

The reason I'm calling it food prison is because I'm assuming that when you go to jail, you don't get to do the things you like. You loose it all. It's an extreme punishment that will hopefully rehabilitate you into making some sort of change. Hopefully into making better decisions and break the cycle.

What is juice fasting? It's one of those extreme detox things. I've never done a detox before. For a period of time you just drink fruit and vegetable juice that you drink right after juicing in a juicer. No smoothies, just liquid juice and water. Nothing else can be ingested. The idea is that you're taking in more fruit and veggies than you could possibly eat because you are not taking in any fiber. Apparently you also get "living" enzymes and nutrients that you don't get from cooked food or bottled juice. It's a way to detox your body and give your digestive system a chance to heal up and sort of reset.

I'm in no way a healthy foodie type of dude. I definitely don't eat enough veggies/fruit (never have) and when I do it's usually cooked. I don't know if I buy into the whole thing (especially about the living enzymes ect) but I figured I'd give it a try. It's not supposed to be dangerous as you're still taking in (limited) calories and plenty of vitamins and nutrients.

I'm currently serving day 23 of my 30 day sentence. I have to say, it's been a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I'm definitely weak when it comes to food. It's a huge part of my life and who I am. I LOVE food. I find myself being kind of miserable about it a lot of the time. It turns out I haven't really felt a lot of the positives that others seem to advertise. Energy has been super low (makes sense to me as my caloric intake is much lower) and my head has not been "clear" since day two. Apparently you're suppose to get a ton of energy and your mind is suppose to be super clear. I'm still waiting for these things. My wife who is also doing "time" for 30 days has stopped getting her caffeine induced headaches and says she thinks she will give up caffeine. I'm sure that will be hard for her as she's a big tea drinker.

It's really weird to not have chewed for 23 days. REALLY WEIRD. I miss it, I find myself fantasizing about my favorite foods. At the same time, I'm really not enjoying this so I'm finding myself wanting to eat better so I never have to do time again. I'm actually looking forward to doing a ton of cooking. I went through the pantry and took inventory of all our spices and food and started making a list of wonderful things to cook.

Another interesting thing is I've noticed how important/big food is in my life. Socially it's been very awkward because normally when I hang out with friends it involves food and drinking. I'm also noticing that when I am around friends that food and the lack of it is mostly what I'm talking about. I'm sure that's extremely annoying to those around me(especially my poor wife who is also trying to get through this without thinking about food).

I didn't realize how much produce it takes to make a glass of juice. It can get really expensive if you're buying at the big supermarkets. Luckily we're about 5 mins away from a big produce market. It feels great supporting those guys and it has saved us a ton of money. Produce is literally 30-90 percent cheaper than the chain supermarket across the street.. It's been fun going there about twice a week. I've had a great time building friendships. My wife mentioned that we went from being on a first name basis at Five Guys (mmmmmm)to being a first name basis at the market. That feels good.

What do I expect to get out of this experience? I've lost a few pounds and I hope good things are happening inside my body. I hope to go to the market more often and to use juice to supplement what I eat. I also hope to cook more veggies at home and eat in more often. At this point, anything sounds good so long as I can eat it. They say you'll find yourself not being disgusted by unhealthy things but I'm not sure that's going to happen to me. I find myself craving all the things I've always loved. I'm a food guy. I just hope to cook more of it myself and control the quality of what goes in.

Can't wait to get out of this joint and get me some big ol' steak!

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

NASA: ULA Atlas 5 rocket launch AUG 05

2011-08-06T11:47:00.001-04:00

I was very fortunate to shoot from the Atlas V launch from the roof of the VAB yesterday. It was a pretty cool experience to be able to roam around freely after the launch. I found the Discovery Shuttle tucked away into a corner in there! Very cool.

Here are the photos shot from the rooftop and from the remote camera on the launch pad. So glad I nailed the remote camera shot this time!

I also attached the Canon G12 to a rail and shot a stop action video. Make sure you watch till past 15 seconds to see the plume shadow. Pretty cool.

Thanks to Ben Cooper, NASA photographer, for being freaking amazing and sharing his knowledge/expertise. You can see his amazing work here.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

St. Pete Grand Prix

2011-08-01T16:14:00.000-04:00

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted. Shame on me. Things have been rocking and rolling this year. We finally bought a space and opened up a photography studio in Jacksonville. It's still got some finishing touches to go but it truly is a dream space come true for me. I will post some photos soon-ish. Promise-ish.

Speaking of dreams come true. It was only a few years ago that I went to my first St. Petersburg Grand Prix. I took along my trusty Canon 10D and my Sigma 70-200, bought my ticket and went to my first motorsport event ever. Man, what a buzz/rush. I loved it. I came away with great shots (which were actually pretty horrible) and a really bad sunburn and my ears were ringing for about a week. Totally forgot sunscreen, hat and ear plugs. Fail. I remember seeing media getting great access and I said to myself. ONE day that will be me. I will make that happen (touche but true).

This is my 3rd year shooting the race and I can't believe my wish came true. I get to wake up everyday and do what I love. It wasn't easy but I've arrived with a one-two kick.

Anyway, it was a great race, super exhausting and I loved every minute of it. I see my race photos getting better every year but I'm no where close to the level that I hope to get to. So long as I keep trying and see my work improve I will keep grinding.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Peg Game Nervosa

2011-04-12T16:38:00.000-04:00

Had some fun with the new Canon G12 and my wife at Cracker Barrel on the way to Helen, GA.

Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Boxing Portraits

2011-04-12T16:32:00.000-04:00

Boxer portraits have been in my bucket list for a long time. I'm happy to have had the opportunity to photograph some in Denver a couple of days ago. Boxers have a very tangible feeling in their eyes. Even the young ones. Very awesome and a very fun shoot.

All photos ©Daniel Goncalves, fotobia.com

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Crazy January.

2011-01-30T11:59:00.001-05:00

It's been a loooong month this January. Kicked it off in freezing Niagra falls with empty stomachs for over 24hrs, in the rain among a sea of drunk people, frozen toes and great music (Bare Naked Ladies, Kardinal Offishal). Poor wife was sick and right by my side through it all. Fun times.

We finally bought the property that has become Fotobia Studios. Wonderful news to share as we've finally opened up a studio here. Very exciting. Not so exciting was all the work we had to put in (paint, finish floors, buy furniture ect, ect). It's been a bit of a money pit but we've got a lot done in the couple of weeks we've owned it (considering my lil sis came to visit for 4 days in which no work was done). TV and internet will be in this week just in time for Super Bowl, holla! Pretty much just need to organize my desk, paperwork and equipment in the storage room and we're pretty much good to go. I know my wife is happy to have our home back. Camera equipment everywhere can be very overwhelming, who knew.

It's been a great experience and I look forward to it all being completed. I will post some photos up of the studio once everything is up and running. It looks awesome so far. Very clean, minimalist and simply awesome. What a dream workspace it is for me. It's turned out even better than I could have dreamed of. Can't wait for you all to see it. It's even got a camera museum of sorts lol.

I thought I'd post this cool photoshop video with CMY-Killer for a laugh taking us into February. Hope it's as exciting as January was.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Movember: Help me kick cancer in the balls!

2010-11-10T18:54:00.001-05:00

This Movember I’ve decided to donate my face to raising awareness about cancers that affect men. I shaved off my beard and am growing a luxurious mustache. This is my first time without a beard since college! I feel naked and swanky. My commitment is the growth of a moustache for the entire month of Movember, which I know will generate conversation, controversy and laughter.

I’m doing this because:

· 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in his lifetime

· 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime

This is a cause that I feel passionately about and I’m asking you to support my efforts by making a donation to support the great work of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG. To help, you can either:

- Click this link http://us.movember.com/mospace/532414/ and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account
- Write a check payable to Movember, referencing my name or Registration Number 532414 and mailing it to: Movember, PO Box 2726, Venice, CA 90294-2726

The money raised will help make a tangible difference to the lives of others, through the world’s most promising prostate cancer research and LIVESTRONG’s programs that support young adults and their families battling and surviving cancer.

For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please visit
http://us.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs/.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Lost Luggage & Packages

2010-10-12T18:34:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy few months here. Things have picked up lately and life has been busy good. We've also had a few gigs overseas and in Canada.

Air Europa lost one of our bags in Madrid on the way to Rome back in August. A few weeks later, after many failed attempts to get our luggage to us, they had told us it was lost for good. I received an e-mail last week while I was in Toronto mentioning our red bag had been found and that it was in NY! How random. We didn't fly out or in from NYC. Today we checked out mail and were happy find out luggage with all of our things in it. Fantastic. We did have insurance so we were covered but it would be a pain to replace everything.

Two other packages also came in the mail today. One was from Canon. This was my second attempt at getting Canon to fix the shutter issue with the 5D. Hopefully this will fix the problem for good. The other package was from the good folks at Think Tank Photo. They send a couple of replacements for two products that had some quality issues. Thanks guys for taking care of business.

October is going to be another action packed month. We have a trip to NYC coming up in a couple of weeks and lots of shooting before/after.

I wonder what other packages will come in the mail next.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

The Carnation Revolution.

2010-09-23T23:32:00.000-04:00

The thought of taking history classes in high school and college was not a good one. They were a requirement and I would sit through them and think that it was such a waste of our time. History is in the past, why should I waste my time looking back. Full steam ahead, we write our own future! The only thing that really stuck with me was the old saying that, "history repeats itself."

I received a netflix movie in the mail called, "Capitaines D'Avril." It's a movie about the 1974 coup that overthrew the right-wing Portuguese dictatorship on the 25th of April. While growing up, my mom would tell my sister and I stories about repression and lack of freedom of speech.

She would talk about the PIDE (secret police) and how everyone lived in fear. Censorship. If you said anything against the government you would be arrested, tortured and possibly executed. There is one story that cames to mind as something that is hard for me to forget.

My mom was taking a college entrance exam, similar to the SAT's. There was a proctor and many anxious and nervous students working through the exam as the clock ticked. She recalled, all of a sudden the door opened, two men marched in armed with guns. They went to two of the test taking students. After shouting out whatever offense they accused him of they executed them. They left just as quickly as they came. Incredible. The thing that use to bother me about this story was that the proctor told the students that they could leave but doing so they would fail the exam. Mom stayed and finished the exam with two dead students in the room. Growing up in Canada I couldn't begin to grasp the concept of being afraid of what you say much less that you could get killed for it..

Today my mother turned 69 and I thought it was a funny coincidence that this movie arrived on the same day. I did the math and my mother was exactly my age the year when the Carnation Revolution happened.

I started to think about some of our family history. My grand mother was a child in Fatima, Portugal, during the apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima to three children in 1917. She was out herding sheep when the "miracle" happened on Oct 13th. My mom had a relative (aunt or grandmother, can't remember) that was tied to a horse and dragged to her end by the Spanish troops during their invasion of Portugal. My sister and I have lived through the Persian Gulf War in 90-91 and we are living through a war right now. It's all important. Knowing your history is important to understanding who you are and how it influences how you think. The more I think about stories from my parents, aunts and uncles, the more I learn about who I've become today and how I see the world I live in.

I've very grateful for living in a democratic nation, a wonderful free country. America. Living in free North America I am untouched by the many injustices that happen around the world. Now I know that looking back we realize where we come from and where we might be headed. Most importantly I know that we have the power to not repeat history if we don't want to. Happy birthday mom...you really need to retire...seriously.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

The 9 year old photographer. My Air Transat flight 236 story.

2010-08-24T03:39:00.007-04:00

Today is my 9th birthday. Admittedly I'm in my early thirties but I do celebrate a second "unofficial" birthday.

We all have experiences in our life that shape who we are as people and who we become as adults. Like everyone else I've had milestones and events that have influenced my way of thinking and made me the person that I am today. Some of those events are private and we try to keep it that way. Many of my friends don't know that I used to be a young kid that was in medical school on the way to changing the world. They know me as a photographer. Some of my friends know and wonder how I went from becoming a doctor to becoming a photographer.

9 years ago something happened that shook me to my core, broke me down into nothing and I saw everything clearly. This event was something so big and significant in my life that it's hard for me not to get emotional while thinking about or talking about it so I've kept it private. Something I share with my family and a few close friends. If you've met me in the last 8 years, chances are this is something you don't know about me. Today while reminding my wife about my "birthday" we chatted and I began to think. Why should I not share this story with friends and other people? It might influence someone to see things differently.

So what's this big thing that I have to have a second birthday for? I died and was born again. It's not a religious thing or some corny type of deal. It was the real deal for me.

Here's my story.

I was an over optimistic med student when I found out my favorite uncle was diagnosed with cancer. He situation quickly worsened and I took a leave of absence. I came home. He was in Portugal and I knew I'd go see him for the last time.

Mom, dad, lil sis and I booked a flight to visit Ti Chico. Little did we know that my uncle could survive my entire family. This is how it all began. It was an Air Transat transatlantic flight from Toronto to Lisbon. We would later on find out it was flight # AT 236. I think it's about an 8 hour over night flight. We'd get there in the morning. Energy was mixed, excited to go visit Portugal and see family while somber to see my uncle in the state he was know it would be the last time. Flight 236 departed at 8:42pm with 306 souls on board. All were unaware that in less than 6 hours their lives would be changed forever.

Everything was normal, we had dinner, they turned down the lights, the TV monitors were playing some outdated movie that I didn't want to watch but couldn't turn away from. My dad and mom had fallen asleep, my sis and remained I awake. I remember one of those candid camera shows being on the tiny LCD, I think it was called "Just for Laughs." I think we were in the delirious state that lies between almost asleep but awake enough to laugh at what we were watching. Everything was great, expected.

Next came the unexpected. It was pitch dark outside and all of a sudden I felt the plane start to shake violently, quickly followed by what felt like when you go down a roller coaster and your stomach ends up in your throat. Adrenaline kicks in, everyone wakes up and screams, I lean over and see flight attendants panicking while putting on their life vests. I scream over to them, "what is going on?" they seem to ignore my question. Flight attendants scrambling to put on life vests. This I've never see. I catch a glimpse of one of the flight attendants eyes. There was a very honest and human look in them that you can't disguise. I knew that something really bad wasn't going to happen. A flight attendant comes out and starts, "Attention, everyone reach under your seat and pull out your life vest," panicked Portuguese passengers should back, "o qe?" which means, what? Followed by a plea for her to speak in Portuguese. She starts out, "Attencao passageiros..." and then breaks down and starts to cry, she could not deliver the message. My attention shifts to the fact that the engine noise is gone. Where has the comforting hum of the engines gone. Something has gone very, very wrong, the plane continued to shake.

All lights turn off, TV's off, P.A. system off, emergency lights light up the floors marking the rows that had an exit door. Another clearly tense voice takes over and tried to address the 300+ passengers without the aid of a P.A. system. "Everyone put on their life vest and prepare for emergency ditching at sea." Huh? What the hell does that mean? Are you kidding me? "The captain has informed us that we are two hours away from Lisbon and we will not make it. We are preparing for an emergency ditch at sea. When you hear BRACE, BRACE, BRACE, lean against the seat in front of you, fold your arms and brace yourself."

WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT????? Oh my God, what is happening. We're going into the Atlantic? Now? Why? Is this a Joke? Are we part of that Just for Laughs show? Stop playing, come on. No joke. I was in denial. This fully loaded Airbus A330 was going into the ocean and all I knew was that my poor family were there with me. It hit me. This wasn't going to go away. This was it. This really was it. The end. Unimaginable death by catastrophe. We were going to be that statistic on the safest form of transportation. The worst of it was I was going to see my entire family a miserable death. That was the part that made me want to puke. People cried, cried our to Our Lady of Fatima, deals were publicly being made with God. I looked back and saw a young couple cradling their newborn with a life vest around it's body. Really wished I could have puked.

I couldn't think of anything worst that could possibly happen. It couldn't get any worst. It's going to happen now. I thought my dad was going to have a heart attack and thought, I hope he dies in peace before we crash. Terrible thing to think. My sister went into shock, couldn't breath, cried uncontrollably. My mom was in a similar state. I was numb with anger, I wanted to cry, break down, give up. There was nothing left but to accept and let the course run itself. We gritted our teeth waiting for impact. Adrenaline did interesting things to me at that time. I accepted with anger that we were going to die, accepted that there wasn't a thing in the world I could do but wait and watch my family die.

My mind had quick conversations with it self. I made peace with God, with myself. Realization, acceptance followed by an anger I've never felt before. Angry that I had worked all my life to get somewhere and then hope that I would finally be happy sometime in the future. Angry that I had not really "lived" life. Had not experienced anything. Nothing really when you think about it. I found myself wanting the simplest of things. "Take everything, leave me naked without anything, let us live, I can be left with nothing and I will feel like the richest man in the world if we can live past this." Then I'd think, "o.k, let me not die without feeling my feet on firm ground just one more time." Who lets a man die without letting him place his feet on the ground one more time. Such a simple thing and I couldn't have it. "Please, that's all I want, just to feel ground, concrete, dirt, anything. Give me one second with my feet on the ground and then you can take me." It's interesting what currency you find most valuable when you see it all about to end. You're willing to have nothing for the rest of your life, be homeless, suffer a terrible disease and still be grateful if you could live that for just one more day and know that your family is o.k.

I couldn't accept that I had no power, that I couldn't do anything. My mind still going 1000 miles a minute. It was incredible how clear things were, how long every second felt like, I could see, feel, smell EVERYTHING. I found myself going through every imaginable sequence of events. We were seated in the front of the aircraft. "If we nose dive in, the plane breaks just behind us if we don't die on impact, I can pull my mom and sister's buckles simultaneously, grab and pull their life vest cord and send them up, hold on to seat so I don't float up, go across isle for dad as the plane falls into the sea, pull my cord." I'd reach over to both their seat belts and memorizing the distance. What if the plane skids in the water? My mind recalls random video sequence of a plane ditching near a beach, it rolls, breaks up and almost everyone dies. There were survivors but this was literally off a beach in daylight. We were two hours away from land, it was pitch black and it was the cold Atlantic ocean. "O.k, plane breaks at the tail, we have slightly more time before water comes in but we have to find a way to an opening very quickly." This was followed by many more grim scenarios. Mind speeding through everything. It was driving me a bit crazy. We were told to take off our shoes earlier. I thought to myself, "if I take off my shoes I won't be able to use them to push off sharp metal, ect, if I need to I can always take them off later." I thought, if my glasses are on my face and I hit the seat in front of my, I could loose my vision and I will not be able to help my family so I put them in the seat back in front of me. I then thought, I might need them to find my family among other passenger's faces so I put them in my pocket.

"When the hell are we going into the water, I'm so tired of this, just get it over, we're going to die, I get it," I thought after what felt like an eternity but were only a couple of mins. I had to be strong. I couldn't change what was going to happen, I could only do what I could do which was be strong for my family. Try to ease their pain in our last few seconds alive. I turned over to my sister who was still in shock, looked at the poor old guy across the row, I locked eyes with him and told him in Portuguese that we would be alright. I hoped he believed me but it looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

Next I did the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. "Look at me Belinda, look into my eyes, we're going to be alright," I told my lil sister,she knew were weren't going to be o.k. "Hey! Look at me! I said everything is going to be o.k. Would I lie to you right now? Would I? No. I swear to you I will not let anything happen to you guys. We're going to be o.k." I don't know how I did it but I tried so hard to make her believe me that I think she did. I was going to watch my lil sister die, I wanted to cry, I wanted to die. I wanted to be human like everyone else on that plane but these were my last moments, our last moments, I had to make it count. I wasn't going to change the world, I wasn't going to cure cancer but I had done something more important. I felt like I had given my sister air, given her some peace, given her some clarity to do what she needed to do for herself in those last few moments.

"Come on, when's this going to be over I thought," every few seconds. "Please just make this end right now God, make it quick, don't make me see and hear them suffer." It was torture like no other. I'm unable to explain it. It's that car crash you see about to happen, you're going to hit that tree, split second, terrible feeling, crash, screams, pain. It happens all in less than a second but feels like minutes. Our seconds were turning into minutes, waiting for impact, you see it coming, but there is a lag, an eternity before impact. On an airplane you can't look ahead to see exactly when it will happen you can just look out the side window. I remember my my mind going places that I thought were unimaginable. At one point I thought to myself, if I had a gun with 4 bullets I would put my family and then myself out of misery. Just to end it without us all suffering what we knew was coming. What a terrible thing to feel and think. "Just get it over with. Can't deal with it. Can't be strong for much longer, need to let this rage out of me," I thought.

Later on we found out that those white knuckle, torturous last few seconds that were filled with terrible thoughts, all while waiting for the impact stretched to fill an unbearable 32 minutes of misery. I still can't explain how terrible it was waiting, expecting it to be any second now and that going on for 32 mins. It felt like an eternity of waiting for a very bad thing to happen. The whole time the plane never stopped shaking. You could hear the plane cut through the air, no engine noise, muttering of prayers, crys, pleads. The whole time.

CLUNK! Something falls, oxygen masks. The cabin was not pressurized I guess. The air was a bit thin and had a distinct smell. My breathing has been fast, heavy, deep and hard ever since seeing the panicked flight attendant. We put on the masks. My mind has a flashback to the movie fight club. "Oxygen," says Brad Pitt, "you know why they put oxygen masks on planes?" Pitt opens up the emergency leaflet and points out to Norton. "Oxygen gets you high. In a catastrophic emergency, you're taking giant panicked breaths. Suddenly you become euphoric, docile. You accept your fate. It's all right here. Emergency water landing - 600 miles an hour. Blank faces, calm as Hindu cows." The masks weren't calming me down, I took mine off, I was breathing too hard, it felt like there wasn't enough oxygen coming out. I was hoping what Brad Pitt said was true so my sister would be calm like a Hindu cow. I think it did work on her, she looked more calm. It really was like a drug.

By this time there was a little light out as the sun started to peek from the horizon and then I forced myself to look out the window. I had to be brave. I had to keep my eyes open. I had been on roller coasters, terrified, closed my eyes, hoping it to be over then regretting having done so. This was it, I could see us dipping towards the water, quickly, "o.k, here it comes, shit, here it comes," teeth grinding. I could see it, and here we goooooooooo. I let out what I thought was my infamous last "F" word and kept my eyes open watching, ready, seatbelt pull, life jacket cord pull, ready, ready and then the captain pulled the airplane nose up, we were going so fast, I see land. What? Euphoria? No, we're going too fast, mind switches from crash in Atlantic to crash against a mountain or worst into some houses killing more people. I start imagining burning plane, scortched flesh. This is terrible. We're going soooooooo fast, plane is shaking, pitching and rolling, here we go, coming down quick again, shit, here it goes, oh shit, the wing tip is going to hit. I see what seems like a runway, shit, wing is going to hit, it's going to hit, here it goes, wing tip will hit runway at this speed, we will go into a roll, oh no. "BRACE BRACE BRACE" someone calls out. BOOOM it feels like the head of a hammer coming down on concrete, plane bounces off the runway and starts to go up again, split second again, CRASH, terrible sound, stomach going to throat then back to feet, scraping sounds, vibrations so intense that you can't see straight, screams, cries, you can feel something tearing beneath your feet, skidding, skidding, stop, please stop please stop.

Creaking sound, burning smell, momentary pause of silence. What is going on on?? We were two hours away from Lisbon? We hear a flight attendant scream a combination of fuel, fire, explosion. Mad panic, doors open, slides deploy. Mom, sis, seatbelt pull, grab them push them in front of everyone, "Run, go and don't stop, just keep going!" I screamed, hold back mob of people, grabbed dad's seatbelt, pull, "Go!" I follow. It was like the scene of a movie. Unbelievable, firetrucks speeding towards us, men in space suits putting out fire with huge tubes spitting out foam.

I start running towards my parents savoring what I had begged for. Feeling of ground under my feet, both concrete and the fresh, cool, dew covered grass. Family was o.k, people still running. "Keep going guys!" I was so happy. Euphoric moment. Happiest moment of my life. Nothing else mattered. They were o.k. I looked back at the airplane and saw a man on the ground, I don't think, I ran back towards the plane. I could die now, it really didn't matter, I was so happy my family was alive with just a couple of scratches on them. I ran to the man laying on the grass and spoke to him in Portuguese. "Sir come on, the plane is on fire and is going to explode." He didn't move. "Come on, you have to run...are you o.k? He was conscious, and I couldn't understand why he wouldn't get up and run. He said, "I can't, I'm a paraplegic." Shoot, he was a pretty big guy. Someone had helped pushed him down the slide, and he had toppled down a few yards from the slide next to the grass. "Where's my wife, I want my wife," he said in Portuguese. "First we have to get you away from that plane then we'll find your wife," I said. I tried picking him up and started pulling but realized I couldn't do it quickly enough so I yelled and called someone over to help me, hesitantly the gentleman ran over to help me and we moved him to safety. I grabbed a flight attendant and explained his situation and asked her to help me find his wife. I found myself carrying another woman that had hurt herself coming off the slide. My eyes scan the horizon one last time. Everyone's clear, safe. I ran back to my family and gave/got the best hug ever. What the hell was I thinking running back to the plane? I don't know. I think I had so much anger/adrenaline pumping through my veins that I felt like I could have picked up the plane and thrown it into the ocean. Everyone was o.k. A few hours later I saw the man on a stretcher in the airport, he called me over, he remembered me. He wanted to thank me and told me he had found his wife and she thanked me as well. Poor guy, he missed his wife and was powerless to do anything back there. "We're all family here, no need to thank," I told them.

We had everything we would ever need. Days later we found out that there was no fuel on the plane, the burning smell was the landing gear that caught on fire. The tires exploded on that first impact and the grinding was us tearing up the runway as we went down it. That was one of our many lucky breaks that day. Had that not happened we would have gone off the other end of the runway back into the ocean.

It turned out that the whole ordeal from when we first realized we were in trouble (lost the first engine, dropped altitude and 2nd engine was pushed to full throttle) to the time we first touched down was an unnerving 32 minutes! 32 minutes contemplating your end, waiting for it to come. I can't explain how long that is in that type of situation. We glided for 19 minutes without ANY engine power. 19 minutes! It's a record. The plane touched down hard at 06:45am 1,030 feet down Runway 33 with about 200 knots (370 km/h). The aircraft bounced back into the air but touched down again 2,800 feet from the approach end of the runway and came to a stop 7,600 feet from the approach end of the 10,000 feet runway. The plane speed at touch down was 370 km/h compared to 260 km/h and there were no brakes.

Another lucky break we had landed at the Lages airport on the island of Terceira. It had an extra long runway (I think it was about 2 miles long) and is an emergency landing site for NASA. Also there is an American military base there at the airport. When National Geographic put out the documentary I found out that as soon as we lost engine #1 the captain changed course and headed south towards the islands. A bus picked us up from the airport to take us to the army barracks and I was still very amped up. I had gotten my camera finally and had asked him if he could stop so I could get some photos of the plane on the runway. The driver was an American military person. I asked him, "what the heck happened out there??" He said, "I don't know, all I know is that we had search teams being sent out to recover bodies and that you guys are really lucky that didn't happen. I don't know who was looking out for you but something/someone sure did. You guys had every lucky break imaginable. Without anyone of those breaks this would had a very different outcome. Even the tailwind helped you guys out." I looked back at the plane as it sat there unbelievably straight down the middle of the runway, snapped another shot and went to my seat. Wow, how do you like them apples?

The biggest break of all was our amazing pilot. Captain Robert Piche. Our white knuckled, captain in shining armor with ice water in his veins! Earlier on I was trying to walk off my nervous energy and found myself outside the terminal by the runway. I wasn't suppose to be there but it didn't seem to matter, we seemed to be able to do whatever we wanted at that point. Isaw two men in what looked like pilot uniforms being briefed next to the runway by the military. I walked over to them, looked at who I later on found out was Piche, "excuse me, are you the captain?" "Yes," he said in a French Canadian accent, "oh wow, thank you so much for saving my family's life. You are a hero, you saved so many lives today, thank you!" He looked at me, smiled and said, "I'm just doing my job." Unbelievable. True hero. I was humbled. I knew what I went through and I could not imagine what he went through knowing exactly what was wrong and having to be responsible for 300+ plus lives. Not one person died. I can't believe no one had a heart attack! Just 18 people with minor injuries. Crazy.

We had torn up the runway so badly that the plan had dug itself in. The airport would be closed for at least two days. We were on an island. We can live here forever, I don't care. Then it hit me, "Ti Chico, we have to go see my uncle." A commercial boat offered to take passengers to another island that had an airport. We could go or stay in the army barracks for a few days while they removed the plane and repaired the runway or take the boat. We took the boat over to the island of Sao Miguel. I remember laying there wanting to puke. Everyone had fallen asleep in the rocking of the ship. I went outside and layed on a bench, it was chilly. My lil sis wasn't watching I wanted to finally cry but found that I physically couldn't. It didn't matter, we were o.k. When we got to Sao Miguel, we had to fly again! Nightmare. That's another story that we won't get into at this time.

Timeline:

4:38am-fuel started leaking
5:45am- diverted to Lages Air Base in Azores
5:48am- emergency declared
6:13am- engine no 2 flamed out 217 km from Lages Air Base, full thrust to engine #1 on left wing and plane descended 6,000 feet (this was scary and when when the passengers first found out something was very wrong).
6:23am- Mayday declared
6:26am- engine no 1 flamed out 120 km from Lages Air Base
6:45am- plane touched down hard on runway 33

Well that's it. That's my story. That's my little secret. I ended up seeing my favorite uncle for what ended up being the last time and I saw everything else in my life for the first time. It's an experience in which I learned things about myself. I saw what I'm capable of when things got a little hairy. I saw the good and bad in me. I finally knew what was important. I finally saw that every second was a tremendous gift. When we made it back to Toronto I kissed the sidewalk in front of our house. It was a dirty sidewalk but it felt so good.

Life isn't about working towards something and hoping you'll be happy when you get there. My lesson was that life is a path, make sure you pick a destination that you want to go to. Walk towards it and make sure you enjoy every step of the way. I truly did see that and I can honestly say that I live my live to that doctrine. That's why medical school went bye bye and now I'm doing what I love. I have been so lucky and fortunate to have a loving family and amazing wife that is so supportive in everything I do.

If I die tomorrow I can say that I am at peace with myself and everything in my life. I will no longer regret not having lived my life. I've for the most part enjoyed all the extra 3285 days (give or take a couple). I keep the life vest I wore as a reminder to not sweat the small things that don't matter when it's all said and done.

Happy birthday lil sis. Turns out I didn't lie, that's why you believed me even if I didn't believe what I said. Looks like we're not so easy to take down ;)

Big bro

P.S. I found out yesterday that a movie was made on the incident and the life of Captain Piche (unfortunately it's in French). I'm happy to hear he's doing much better now. A few years back I had heard that he had turned to drinking and had a very tough time. Again another long story. Here's the trailer. Enjoy.

Reddi Arts painted mural in San Marco (Jacksonville, FL).

2010-05-19T22:47:00.000-04:00

Today I shot and documented two murals. One was Shaun Thurston's graffiti mural in 5 Points and the Reddi Arts mural in San Marco. I hope to see more spring up around the city in the near future.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Shaun Thurston painting graffiti mural in 5 Points, Jacksonville, FL.

2010-05-19T22:34:00.000-04:00

If you've been to the 5 Points neighborhood in Riverside then you have seen the cool mural on the Fans & Stoves Antique Mall? It was defaced some time ago and I was disappointed in myself for never documenting it. I took it for granted and always thought it would be there to shoot tomorrow.

Last night we were walking past and noticed that there was a new graffiti mural being painted. I snapped a quick photo with my phone camera and decided to go by again today hoping I'd still see the artist in action.

Sure enough, the "dude" was doing his thing with aerosol paint cans. We chatted a bit and I found out the dude is local artist Shaun Thurston. Very cool. I've admired his work around town (Lomax Lodge, Shanty Town). I snapped a few photos with the fish eye lens and went on my way. I will definitely go by and get some more photos of when it's completed.

Don't forget to document the big and little things around you. It's important. Things change, times change, memories fade, photos last forever.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Close encounters: Review of Canon's EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens.

2010-05-18T15:28:00.001-04:00

I've been playing with the new Canon 100/2.8L IS macro lens this week. It is the first (and only as of now) lens to have Canon's new generation of image stabilization. CPS (Canon Professional Services) sent me an evaluation copy to play with for a couple of weeks.

I've never used a true macro lens before. Some people might not realize the "macro" imprint on the side of the lenses in your camera bag are not true macros.

One word describes this lens. WOW. Talk about sharp. All of the photos above were taken hand held (that's right no tripod macro photography is here) and some as speeds of 1/60th of a second and slower.

A few other observations. I liked the size/weight. It balances very well with the Canon 5D. It's very light for an L lens but still feels very solid. It's made of engineering plastic which is good stuff, don't be fooled into thinking it's not up to par with it's L family. The lens hood is very nice as well but I did have to remove it a few times when getting in ultra close as it would cast a shadow or hit the subject if I wasn't careful. I was able to hold the hood against a table top or against a tree to help steady the lens.

Depth of field was expected to be small but I didn't expect it to be so small at 2.8 at very close distances. Very cool effect, sometimes it looked like I was only getting about 5mm depth of field. Beautiful bokeh and background blur.

Conclusion? This is a great macro lens and a fantastic portrait lens. It's pricey compared to Canon's non L version. I have not had a chance to play with that lens but I'd say the L is very worth the money. It might join the ranks of the 300/2.8L IS as my lighter favorite lens. Lets see if the wife gives approval to buy one so I can get a real macro in my tool bag.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Happy visual surprises.

2010-05-03T13:45:00.002-04:00

Happy visual surprises. We look for them but these visual moments usually have a way of finding us. Yesterday I found these two guys in small town Macclenny, FL. My wife and I drove over to buy some things from Craigslist. We were greeted by Wayne, his son and his wife. A super friendly family who collects all sorts of nostalgic things.

I told Wayne that I'd have to come back and photograph them and he said, "anytime." I then ran to the car to get my camera and shot four frames as the sun went down. His wife said, check this out. She went to a shed, grabbed a large bowl full of pellets, walked us over to a small man-made lake and started throwing them into the lake. Hundreds of hungry catfish went into a frenzy. I told her, "you'll never go hungry, fresh seafood in the backyard, not that you need it since I'm leaving here today a lot poorer." Wayne was quite a salesman and we left with more stuff than we originally planned.

I will definitely take Wayne up on his offer and be back soon.

Daniel Goncalves Photography. Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

1st Anniversary!

2010-04-29T13:58:00.000-04:00

Today is the blog's first birthday! It's been exactly one year. How time flies. I better start saving up for a college fund.

We've got some exciting things in the works and will keep you posted once things have been locked down.

Thanks to all the readers and everyone's support this past year.

Daniel Goncalves Photography Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Photo shoot with Jacksonville Jaguars cheerleader Kayla.

2010-04-23T00:39:00.003-04:00

Kayla's got a great smile and a great big heart. It was great to work with her.

Check out the Q&A here, If you enjoyed the photos please tweet this.
Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Arena Football League, bring it on.

2010-04-17T05:15:00.000-04:00

Football is here even though the NFL is a long ways away. This was my first AFL game ever and it was pretty exciting. Action packed, highly entertaining and lots of scoring. It's football in a hockey rink as I like to say.

If you've never been I highly suggest you go at least once. Tickets are dirt cheap and a great entertainment value.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

MPS Group Championships

2010-04-12T05:11:00.000-04:00

Some photos from Sunday's finals. Lost my glasses the day before and my knees were sun-fried (note to self, apply sunscreen).

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Details that keep me sane.

2010-03-31T16:26:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I had the pleasure to shoot the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. We had to check in at 7:30am and the days were pretty long. The sun was relentless Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

On Sunday, race day, we were hit with a storm and we waited all day and afternoon to find out the race would be postponed till Monday.

By the time Monday rolled around I was physically and creatively drained. When I find myself feeling that way I give myself a mini-assignment. Take up to 5 minutes and go find detail shots around me.

This kind of re-energizes me and gets my creative mojo flowing again. I love shooting IndyCar.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

3-21-10: Duke vs Cal: NCAA Championships

2010-03-31T15:07:00.001-04:00

Here's a taste of the action between Duke and Cal. Wish it would have been a closer game to bring out more intensity in the players. Will Duke win it this year?

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

3-21-10 Wisconsin vs Cornell: NCAA Championships

2010-03-25T02:10:00.000-04:00

I was fortunate to shoot the 1st and 2nd rounds of the NCAA basketball championship on assignment this past weekend. That meant 4 games on Friday (Friday was at arena 9am-past midnight), and 2 games on Sunday and a whole lot of editing.

Good fun and it all begins again tomorrow as I head over to the St. Pete Grand Prix for the weekend. I'm sure I'll catch up on sleep one of these days.

I hope you enjoy some of the photos. Cheers!

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Photo shoot with Jacksonville Jaguars cheerleader Samantha.

2010-03-23T17:45:00.000-04:00

Sam is a super cool, super confident young lady. She didn't need much direction from me. I pointed the camera and she went to work. I'm sure she's going to have an awesome career in broadcast.

Check out the Q&A here.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Photo shoot with NFL running back Rashad Jennings.

2010-03-17T16:38:00.000-04:00

Jennings was a pleasure to shoot. He's a gentle monster. I've seen him do some pretty amazing things running the ball last season as a rookie. Keep eye on him he's going to be doing some big things in the NFL.

You can check out the Q&A here.

Gear: I shot with the canon 5D and with profoto gear. 7b pack with softlight reflector (beauty dish) and grid. Love the portability of this system.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Photo shoot with NFL player Derek Cox.

2010-02-22T12:30:00.000-05:00

This was a fun shoot. The lighting was a bit challenging but it turned out well.

I used my Profoto 7b pack for the first time on a shoot and it was fantastic. It was great because I had two shoots that afternoon and the portability was awesome. The heads were fired through profoto's white softlight reflector with grid attached.

Check out the interview here

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Photos from 2-9-10 Black Eyed Peas "The E.N.D. World Tour 2010."

2010-02-10T16:03:00.002-05:00

Here are some photos from last night's concert with LMFAO, Ludacris and the Black Eyed Peas that I shot for the paper. It was hands down the most entertaining concert and live performance I've ever been to. I highly recommend it if you can catch it. The concert is touring America and Europe.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Photo shoot with Jacksonville Jaguars cheerleader, Kelli S.

2010-02-08T12:45:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot and interview with Kelli, a three year veteran cheerleader with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

If you want to check out the interview check out the article at: in the paper here. It's a good one.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

John Mayer Concert Photos

2010-02-07T13:31:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos from last night's concert that I shot for the paper.

You can find them on the www.eujacksonville.com website soon.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

NFL portrait shoot. Tiquan Underwood

2010-02-05T16:47:00.000-05:00

Back in October I did my first Jaguars Profile. This is a column I started at the paper to help readers get personal with their Jacksonville Jaguars. The format is I do a photo shoot with the player and then we sit down for an informal interview.

Tiquan is a true gentleman. Great hands and blazing quick feet.

Check out the interview at: http://www.eujacksonville.com/story2.php?storyid=1180

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Funundrum!!!

2010-01-22T16:30:00.000-05:00

Have you been to the circus lately? I forgot how much fun it is. Here's some photos from the first few minutes of opening night of Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey's "Funundrum" for the paper. For more info & tickets visit www.eujacksonville.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

12/18/09: NFL: Photos from Jaguars vs. Colts game.

2009-12-21T00:58:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos I shot for the paper on Thursday night.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

12/6/09: Photos from Jacksonville Jaguars vs. HoustonTexans game.

2009-12-09T02:48:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos I shot for the paper this past Sunday.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

11/22/09: NFL: Jacksonville Jaguars get win vs. T.O. and the Buffalo Bills

2009-11-24T21:22:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos shot this Sunday on assignment for eujacksonville newspaper. Enjoy!

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

WWE Monday Night Raw: Photo shoot.

2009-11-19T15:19:00.000-05:00

The WWE crew rolled into Jacksonville at the Veterans Memorial Arena in October. It was cool shooting wrestling on assignment for the first time. I had not watched wrestling since the days of Hulk Hogan and I was in grade school so it was pretty cool so it it up close and live. Some of the superstars at the event were John Cena, Randy Orton, Big Show, Snoop Dogg, Mark Henry, Kelly Kelly, Shawn Michaels and Triple H.

The Tech Side:
All photos were shot with available light with monopod. Two camera bodies, Canon 5D and 40D set on aperture priority trying to keep the shutter speed up by adjusting ISO. Canon 70-200/2.8L with IS on, and the Canon 24-105/4L with IS on.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

The Jacksonville Sharks: AF1 team name unveiling

2009-11-18T14:23:00.000-05:00

Today Jacksonville got a new arena football team. The Jacksonville Sharks.

Here is pricing information for season tickets and other information.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

The Color Purple: Photo shoot.

2009-11-18T02:38:00.000-05:00

Tonight I shot the musical, "The Color Purple" for eu jacksonville newspaper. It was opening night and I had not seen it before or read the book. It was good.

All photos were shot with my Canon 5D and the 300/2.8L IS. The camera and lens were stabilized by a monopod. I was a few hundred feet at the back of the theatre which is why I brought the 300mm. The ISO was kept as low as possible where I could limit the amount of noise and still avoid blur.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

The newspaper industry is on the down and out right? Maybe not.

2009-11-17T11:55:00.003-05:00

With what seems to be daily closures of newspapers all over the country we see the newspaper industry falling into what looks like an inevitable extinction.

Daniel Gross wrote an interesting article (see it here) about the health of the newspaper industry. He mentions that all businesses have declined sales as a result of the economy and made a rather obvious point. Daniel wrote, "There are plenty of members of what I call the 40 percent club: businesses, many tethered to finance and credit, that have seen sales plummet by nearly one-half. These include automobiles, homes, luxury apparel, and diamonds. Many other components of consumer discretionary spending—hotels, restaurants, air travel—have fallen off significantly. Do we draw a line from trends over the last few years and declare that in 15 years there will be only a handful of hotels?"

Audit Bureau of Circulations shows that newspapers have a decline of over 10% in circulation during the last 6 months. Advertising dollars have also dropped accordingly. Despite this some newspapers are profitable. Daniel wrote, "by the way, you can still make money publishing newspapers—even in a period when advertising has plummeted. Check out Gannett's third-quarter earnings report. Its newspapers pulled in more than $100 million of operating income on revenues of $1.04 billion. In the first three quarters of 2009, advertising revenues were off 31.6 percent, but circulation revenues were off less than 5 percent, even though many of Gannett's flagship papers lost subscribers."

Personally I don't know where things are headed. I hate being realistic but love being optimistic. Unfortunately I think that the print newspaper industry is headed to extinction. Wish it wasn't so but it seems to be headed that way. As with everything, technology evolves, communication and distribution has evolved and will continue to do so. Print is just too slow. Nostalgic but slow and limited in it's use to spread the word.

It seems that I get major news updates via Twitter updates these days before I even get around to picking up a paper.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Unbelievable photos with a leapord seal for Nat Geo.

2009-11-17T03:07:00.002-05:00

National Geogrphic photographer, Paul Nicklin, got some great shots over a four day encounter with a leaport seal. Simply amazing.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Is Arena Football coming to Jacksonville?

2009-11-16T15:04:00.003-05:00

There's a new arena football league, Arena Football League 1 (AF1). I'm going to be attending a news conference announcing a Jacksonville's newest sports team this Wed. The team name and other details will be announced at that time.

Jacksonville Sports Group is responsible for bringing arena football in Jacksonville for 2010. The games will be played at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. Jacksonville has not had an arena football since it's departure in 2002.

The season runs during the spring and summer which will avoid competition with the Jaguars and Gators. This should be a nice to gap fill during the Jaguars and Gators off season.

http://www.arenafootballone.com/

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Vincent Laforet: one important question

2009-11-11T00:26:00.000-05:00

With Canon's introduction earlier this year of the 5DmkII the line between still and motion photography has blurred.

While up in NYC a few weeks back I had the opportunity to play with the "not on the market" Canon 1DmkIV. I was in awe. Can't wait to get one.

Later that night I had the chance to talk with Vincent Laforet. If you're not familiar with Vincent, he was handed a 5DmkII to make a video before the camera was announced. He had never shot video before and shot "Reverie" (posted below) in only a couple of days. This blew the photography world out of the water.

The most important question I had for Vincent was if he would go with 5DmkII's full frame or the 1DmkIV's crop factor. He said, without hesitation, 1DmkIV. Why? The 1DmkIV is the next big leap in technology (like the recently announced Nikon D3s). It can shoot at 102,400 iso. Not a typo.

Laforet said it was incredible when he shot a photo in a room he couldn't see in and a plant came out sharp and as bright as day on his viewfinder. The sensor can see more than his eyes could he said. That opens a lot of doors especially for us sports photographers shooting available light.

Nocturne: shot with the yet to be released Canon 1DmkIV. Believe it or not it was shot with available light! These hybrid cameras are changing the playing field.

Reverie: The video that set this whole hybrid movement. Shot with 5DmkII.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

2009-11-11T00:01:00.001-05:00

I thought this was a fun video. It's a nice little piece to watch while you're suppose to be working, uh hem.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

11/8/09: NFL: Jags win at home vs. the Kansas City Chiefs

2009-11-10T16:17:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos shot this Sunday on assignment for eujacksonville newspaper. Enjoy!

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Video on conflict photographer James Nachtwey

2009-11-10T12:45:00.006-05:00

When I first heard about James Nachtwey a couple of years back I was told that I needed to watch the documentary "War Photographer." How right that person was.

James is the true embodiment of a documentary photographer. He gives up everything, including a family. The ultimate sacrifice. A life I personally could not live but one I have admiration for.

This documentary drew very concrete lines in my mind of what I'm willing to do and what I'm not willing to do with my photography. I realized that I wasn't as brave as I thought I was. It cemented my love for photography. It helped me see how my photography is a part of who I am but that there are other parts of me that I'm not willing to sacrifice.

I had the pleasure to listen to James live in NYC at PDN's PPE (Photo Expo Plus). His soothing and monotonic voice doesn't distract and contrasts with the amazing storytelling images he shows. It was impossible to leave that room without feeling very strong feelings. You can't walk away without the feeling that not all is right in this world. Thankfully we have James to tell the stories that we don't want to hear.

Check out this video.

If you don't know James get to know him. If you're a photographer, watch "War Photographer." If you're not a photographer, watch it anyway. You'll never be the same again.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Amazing photographer, Ben Watts, on Designing Minds.

2009-11-09T13:52:00.002-05:00

Awesome Aussie street photographer. Props to Ben for leaving awesome Australia while he was at the top to start over in NYC as a struggling photographer climbing to the top.

Check out his story and he came to be at the top of the photography game.

Part 1/2

Part 2/2

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

First outing with the Fat Gecko.

2009-11-08T18:42:00.003-05:00

Last night after watching the Gator's game with some friends we decided to do a test shoot with the Fat Gecko (a suction mount camera stand).

I had seen different write ups on the Fat Gecko but was always worried about putting my $$$ camera gear on two suction cups mounted to a car or whatever. While I was up at PDN photo plus expo a couple of weeks back I got to see one first hand and got to test it out to see the build quality and it's suction strength. I was impressed and placed the order.

So here's the set up. I shot with the Canon 5D with a 15mm lens to try and get as much in the image as possible. We did two angles. The first shot we tried was with the camera facing straight ahead in the direction we were driving. I used a Pocket Wizard radio on camera to trip the shutter on the camera and I used another Pocket Wizard inside the car to trigger the PW on the camera. So all I had to do was hit the test button and the camera would take a shot.

Remote camera setup.

The best part of the shoot was watching people pull up then seeing the camera on the hood of the car, or seeing people pointing when we pulled up to a red light. Too funny.

The second shot we did was with the camera facing the windshield. Same set up but I added a third Pocket Wizard attached to a Canon Speedlite 580ex II. This way we get the cool ambient streaks of the street lights but we get some light in the interior of the car.

With flash (inside car) triggered by a Pocket Wizard

Without flash

My impression of the Fat Gecko mount is that it is strong and confidence inspiring. It's pretty solid and most of the parts are made of metal. You're suppose to be able to mount your camera to planes with this thing. Can't wait to try that!

It was a fun, quick, experimental test shoot. Now we'll have to come up with some cool ideas to use this new toy...I mean tool!

Keep shooting.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Profoto Soft Light reflector or Mola beauty dish?

2009-11-02T00:19:00.001-05:00

I'm looking to buy a beauty dish to us with my Profoto 7b system. I'm looking at the Profoto Soft Light Reflector and the Mola Demi. They're both approx the same size (Mola is about 1.5" wider) and pretty close in price as well so that will not make a difference while making the decision.

The beauty dish I end up investing in will have a white interior surface.

It would be great to hear from anyone who's used both. If you've used either one let me know what your thoughts are.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Profoto Soft Light Reflecto.

Mola Demi 22"

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Think Tank, Profoto, Sun-Sniper Steel camera strap and more.

2009-11-01T23:49:00.003-05:00

We're back from PDN's Photo Plus Expo (PPE) and it was a great event and even better this year. I really do love NYC, if it weren't so cold..... It's only a 2hr flight, good compromise.

As it happens every year, we go to PPE and always come back with more gear then we left with. That's always a good thing.

We spent quite a bit of time with the folks at the Think Tank. After taking time to get to know the product time up I decided to pick up two of their products. I'm tired of killing my shoulders when transporting gear while traveling and on assignment. I've been wanting to get a roller case. Think Tank has just released the "Airport Takeoff" roller. This is the one we ordered, you can click here for more info. Can't wait to for it to arrive. Also waiting to receive the modular system belt combo. This should be an immense help for my sports shooting and save my shoulders.

The nice folks at California Sun Bounce gave me the brand spanking new Sun-Sniper Steel camera strap to test out. I've seen similar sling-style products out on the field and have wondered if they're really useful. This particular version has a shock absorber and I'm sure I'll be very thankful for that. A steel wire is embedded in it which can't be cut to help prevent theft. More info here.

I will be testing this strap, the Airport Takeoff and belt system from Think Tank while shooting next week's Jacksonville Jaguars game . I have a feeling my shoulders/back will be very thankful and that I might be even a bit faster while reaching for my gear (if it's possible to be any faster lol).

I've also decided to move to the Profoto strobe system. I've put a lot of thought and research into the different systems and I'm sold on the Profoto system. You just can't beat the availability to rent Profoto anywhere in the world and that will be helpful during editorial assignments away from home. My plan will be to invest in an Acute 2 2400 pack with heads as well as the portable battery operated 7b generator with super action-stopping short flash duration.

Considering that most of the work I do at the moment is out in the field it will be nice to not have to be tethered to an electrical outlet. So I'm buying the 7B first and then growing into the Acute pack. So we have a 7b, two 7b pro heads, Profoto bag and a bunch of other Profoto goodies on the way. Can't wait.

I'm also awaiting a couple of shipments from one of my favorite places on earth. B&H Photo. Lots of new gear and lots of testing. I will try and put up some reviews in writing or maybe I'll try to do some videos. Haven't done any video yet but we'll see.

I'll be bugging the poor lady downstairs asking, any packages today? :D

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Palm Pre Photo of the day.

2009-10-25T11:47:00.000-04:00

Hanging out in New York City. Love this city. PDN Photoplus was fantastic!

New website progress, PDN Photo Plus Exp, Canon ID Mark IV

2009-10-20T12:36:00.001-04:00

I know I've been incognito lately. Sorry. I have some good reasons. One Click Photo Project took a lot of my free time as well as working with livebooks on the design process. I can't believe how long it takes to get a website up with them. It's been months! I'm sure it'll all be worth it when it's finally up. We're hoping for later this week in time for the NYC trip. Which leads me to PDN Photo Plus Expo!

We're heading up to the great NYC again this year and it should be fun. I hope Canon will have the just announced (yesterday night) 1D MARK IV so I can get my fingers on it.. I'm surprised they used the number 4 as it's bad luck and didn't skip to 5. It's all the same to me. I've been waiting for this camera for a while as opposed to going the 5dmkII route. I'm a bit dissapointed it's not full frame. Will have to re-evaluate. Expected price is $4,999 for body and ships in December. You can read more about the announcement here.

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Autographed Jaguars cheerleader photo give-a-way!

2009-10-06T12:22:00.000-04:00

A few weeks back I did my first Roar cheerleader photo shoot and Q&A for euJacksonville. I have an autographed photo from that shoot to give away tomorrow at the One Click Photo Project.

The first person to participate in tomorrow's project who comes to me answers the following two questions will win.

1) What is the first name of the cheerleader? 2) What city was I born in?

Good luck and see you all tomorrow!

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Mark your calendars for "One Click Photo Project: Portrait Series"

2009-09-29T23:10:00.016-04:00

***UPDATE*** We're giving away passes to the early birds for movie premieres. First shoot first served. Thanks to www.eujacksonville.com for donating the passes!

Please help spread the word any way you can. Blog it, tweet it, e-mail it, forward it, Facebook it, flip it or throw it. Let's make some history together and make this a great photo event.

Remember the goal is to shoot as many people as possible from 6-8pm. So I need you all to show up and not give me a minute to breath. Make me work hard.

I greatly appreciate your help in spreading the word and look forward to a great collaboration with you all. Thank you for your support!

Daniel Goncalves Photography
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Arizona Cardinals game photos.

2009-09-26T17:17:00.004-04:00

Goncalves-1392
Originally uploaded by Fotobia.com

Blackouts suck but it doesn't mean you have to miss all the action.

Check out some of the game action at the Jaguar's home opener. If you click on the photo it will take you to the flickr album and you can see the rest of the photos in the set.

You can also see the photos and read more about the Jaguars at eujacksonville.com

Stop this black out madness and buy Jags tickets at Jaguars.com

Enjoy!

Daniel

Shoot with Jacksonville Jaguars cheerleading captian Laurie

2009-09-25T22:53:00.012-04:00

I'm very happy to report that my idea for doing a Jaguar player and Roar cheerleader profile piece has come to be.

My first Q&A and photo shoot with Roar cheerleader Laurie and WR rookie Tiquan Underwood have been done and will be up on eujacksonville.com soon. You can also see the print version in EU Jacksonville's October issue.

Make sure you come and be part our "One Click Photo Project: Portrait Series," Oct 7th (artwalk) at the Main Library.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

New LiveBooks website progress.

2009-09-24T16:44:00.003-04:00

It's been a long, long, (did I mention?) long wait. Looks like LiveBooks is still healthy on the sales front.

I finally got to speak with my web designer today for the first time. We went over the overall design idea for the site and I'm pretty excited to see what she comes back with. I'm suppose to get a mockup in 3-5 days then we make changes.

I hope to have the website up for our One Click Photo Project on Oct 7th. Lets see how we go.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Fire dancer: my Palm Pre photo of the day

2009-09-19T22:55:00.002-04:00

Saw this random fire dancer tonight & thought I'd try to shoot with my phone camera. Kind of cool considering.

One Click Photo Project coming in OCT.
Find out more about upcoming projects at: http://fotobiashoots.blogspot.com

Tweet me @fotobia

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Slice of Tattoo Culture:Portrait Series photos have been posted.

2009-09-14T16:42:00.004-04:00

Goncalves-0199
Originally uploaded by Fotobia.com

We had the opportunity to add to our "Slice of Florida: Portrait Series" photo project this past weekend.

The latest addition was a impromptu photo shoot with really cool people at the Jacksonville Tattoo Convention held at the Wyndham Riverwalk Hotel in Jacksonville, FL.

Thanks to all the super cool people that were a part of the project and thanks to the organizers of the convention.

View the rest of the photos from the shoot at:www.Fotobia.com

Follow us @Fotobia

Daniel Goncalves
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Be a part of Slice of Tattoo Culture: Portrait Series this weekend.

2009-09-11T16:14:00.005-04:00

This weekend is Jacksonville's Tattoo Convention. The organizers just informed me that we can go and do our portrait series there. Fantastic. I've been wanting to do a tattoo project for a long time.

We will have our portable studio up and will be shooting portraits for our Slice of Florida photo project. Come by and say hi and be a part of it. This is your chance to show off your ink and share it with with other people.

You can get all the W5H on the convention at ConventionPros.com.

For more information on the Slice of Florida: Portrait Series click here.

See you soon!

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

My Pam Pre Photo of the day.

2009-09-11T00:05:00.003-04:00

My Pam Pre Photo of the day.
Originally uploaded by Fotobia.com

Right place, right time. I noticed this gorgeous car just outside of the old San Marco Theatre. Camera phone moment.

Click on photo to see my other photos of the day.

Gone in 50 seconds: my fastest portrait session.

2009-09-09T16:41:00.007-04:00

I was on assignment a month back to get a portrait of Wayne Weaver the owner of the NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars.

We kept running into scheduling challenges with Wayne as the NFL pre-season had just started and we were approaching deadline at the newspaper.

I got the call saying, "Mr. Weaver will be available for you tomorrow at 2pm. You'll have to make it quick, you have 15 mins at most." The Jaguars had an away game the next day and I knew Wayne was super busy.

We met up and chatted as we walked to the spot where we were going to shoot. I had two shots down to nail lighting. After a total of 9 frames shot and exactly 50 seconds later (I only noticed how fast it went after looking at the metadata on the photos), I shook Mr. Weaver's hand and thanked him for his time.

He was a gentleman and didn't pressure me on time but I respected his time. This is the fastest portrait I've ever taken and it was interesting and challenging to do so.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

It is possible to over use duct tape. Palm Pre photo of the day.

2009-09-07T15:42:00.000-04:00

One Click Photo Project coming in OCT.
Find out more about upcoming projects at: http://fotobiashoots.blogspot.com

Tweet me @fotobia

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Don't be Coy with Me. Palm Pre Photo of the day.

2009-09-06T23:00:00.001-04:00

Don't be Coy with Me. Palm Pre Photo of the day.
Originally uploaded by Fotobia.com

Funny looking koi fish outside of a shop in Fernandina Beach, FL. Cool expression, almost looks like it has a human face and lobster claws. Anyone else see that?

Come see my latest work at the Beards & Brushes Art Show.

2009-09-04T02:51:00.007-04:00

Make sure you come out to the opening this Saturday and see all the wonderful artwork from local artists (including yours truly).

Here is your opportunity to come and see some of my very recent photography work from my portrait series, "A Slice of Beard Culture."

This should be an interesting and fun show.
See YOU there!
Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Slice of Fetishcon: Portrait Series photos have been posted.

2009-09-02T00:39:00.010-04:00

I have just finished posting photos from the portrait series on my website Fotobia.com.

For more information on the "Slice of Florida: Portrait Series" photo project click here.

For more information on the "Slice of Fetishcon: Portrait Series" click here.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Canon announces the EOS 7D.

2009-09-01T00:37:00.013-04:00

I was hoping the 7D would be a full frame sensor camera. Still a very impressive camera and a nice upgrade to the 50D line.

Some of the highlights and new technologies for Canon:

-Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. Built in Speedlite Transmitter! I know Nikon just came out with this so good job putting this out Canon. Hopefully this will come with all the new cameras! The next 1D or 5D probably won't have it as they don't have built in flashes.

-18MP APS-C CMOS sensor (same size as 50D but with more MP's).

-Dual Digic 4 processors allow for 8 frames per sec. Drool.

-Canon's amazing HD video that was introduced with the 5D which is forcing today's photographers to evolve.

Now only if the 1D mk IV comes out full frame, and has built in wi-fi along with HD video ect I'll be in heaven!!! That might be my next camera. Maybe they'll release it while I'm up at PDN Photo Plus in NYC this Oct :D

PDN already has a review out. Click for PDN Review

I think Canon needs to get me on the testing team. What do you think?

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Are photo contests great or are they really bad?

2009-08-31T17:13:00.006-04:00

I just received an e-mail from a colleague from the local artist co-op. It was titled, "Call for Photographers: City of Gainesville Announces First Annual Photography Contest."

It's great that they're doing a photo contest. It's terrible how they're doing it.

I'm all for "good" photo contests. The ones where the photographer gets recognition AND doesn't get taken advantage of. I'm even for the ones that you have to pay to enter (PDN holds them almost monthly). At least most are honest and will only use your photo to promote the contest in the future. Some of these contests can actually help launch your career or take you to the next level. You have to know which is which and then make your decision to enter.

The Gainesville photo contest winner gets the privilege of getting their work used for free. They will show the photos in an exhibition which is great. I would never enter these types of contests without reading the fine print and you'll see why if you read on. I also think that the City of Gainesville should be a cash or equivalent prize for every photo ENTERED (Gator's tickets, gift certificates, ect.). That's right, every photo entered. Why? Because they are acquiring your permission to use each and every one of them. They're not offering any sort of compensation to anyone. The organization is saving considerable money and has the advantage of "hiring" several photographers for free.

If you want to involve the community that's great but don't take advantage of it. It seems that these days organizations hold "contests" so they don't have to pay someone to do the work. Some are more honest than others. Some are fine, enter this contest and we'll put your photo in our magazine or in an exhibition. Cool. So long as the fine print doesn't reveal the real motivation that most people entering don't realize.

Be careful when entering contests and read the fine print. Many of these contests state that they can use your photos indefinitely on their websites and promotional materials. Some even state that affiliated companies may do so. Another common thing in there is that by submitting you agree that you have a signed model release. They will most likely use your images for advertising. If you took a photo with someone in it and it shows up on a billboard. Guess who gets sued? The organization and you. The responsibility falls on the photographer and you can be sued for not having a release even if you didn't get paid for your work.

"By entering the contest, you certify that you have the authority to and that you hereby grant to the City of Gainesville, Florida (i) a nonexclusive, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license to reproduce, distribute, publicly display and publicly perform the photographs you submit to the City of Gainesville, Florida, and (ii) the right to use your name, city, state and country of residence in promotions and other publications. " In other words, they can use any photo that you enter (even if you don't win) forever, anywhere, however they like without giving you a dime. This is "irrevocable," meaning if you change your mind, too bad. Make sure you understand that.

By holding these contests the organization gets multiple photos into their stock library that they can use forever and however they like. This means they don't have to hire a professional or license an image for use and pay the proper price for it. This along with the microstock industry are killing the commercial photography industry. It's a shame and I realize that this is something that will continue to happen more frequently.

Maybe I'll hold some sort of honest photo contest in the future!

Watch your back and best of luck :)

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Canon EOS 7D pics and specs leak out

2009-08-30T01:06:00.004-04:00

It looks like a 7D is on the horizon. Specs look great. I'm very happy as I bought my 5D just before the mkII came out. Bummer. I love the 5D.

I've been waiting for next 1D or 5D successor. Looks like it's coming. Woohoo. Can use this as a full frame sports body w/8fps. Fantastic. Can't wait!

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Photos from "Slice of Beard Culture:Portrait Series."

2009-08-25T03:18:00.004-04:00

Joey
Originally uploaded by Fotobia.com

I have posted some of my favorite photos from the Friday's shoot on Flickr. I will have to pick a couple to put up for an art show at Bogda Gallery on Labor day weekend.

Please help me pick a few? Click on photo to go on the flickr gallery and post a comment letting me know which are your two faves?

I'm planning on squeezing another portrait series shoot or two before the big Oct 7th one. Will keep you up to date on what's going on.

Thanks for your help and hope you enjoy.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

My Palm Pre photo of the day.

2009-08-25T03:13:00.004-04:00

#Palm #Pre #photo of the day. Aren't Vespas cool?
Originally uploaded by Fotobia.com

I don't have an iphone so I'm using the super cool Palm Pre smart phone instead. I plan to start posting my Palm Pre photo of the day regularly. Eventually it would be great to get into the habit of doing it daily.

Click on photo to see my photos of the day on Flickr.

Cool retro Vespa against a really cool wall. I will definitely shoot against that wall, nice background.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

"A Slice of Beard Culture: Portrait Series" was a success!

2009-08-22T00:35:00.017-04:00

We wrapped up our second portrait series tonight at Steamworks pub in Five Points.

This is part of my "A Slice of Florida: Portrait Series."

I was so excited about the shoot that I got on a roll and just figured I'd push though and post the photos tonight.

I've just finished up some rough edits and have posted the photos at www.Fotobia.com for all to see.

An super thank you to Sean Collins from Jaxbeard.com (make sure you check out the redesigned site by Sean). Same goes for the people at Steamworks for letting us set up our portable studio and for my wonderful/supportive/helpful wife.

We will enter a few of tonight's portraits into the Beards & Brushes Facial Hair Art Show which opens Sept 5th at Bogda Gallery. Tell me that's not a first :) If you have any facial hair inspired work make sure you get it in the show.

Mark your Calendars and make sure you're at the "big" project Oct 7th Art Walk.

More details at click here.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

We have decided on a charity to work with on our One Click Photo Project!

2009-08-21T15:57:00.008-04:00

I have some great news to share with you. After much consideration we've chosen a great charity to work with on our photo project.

We need you to come join us and be a part of the project Oct 7th during Art Walk. It's free. For more info: http://fotobiashoots.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-click-street-photo-project.html

We were hoping to work with a charity to help raise awareness and raise some money.

I met with Carolyn Lane the founder of "Dog Meets World." It's a fantastic charity. They're holding their launch party this Monday. They're fresh and new and we hope to spread the word through One Click.

Dog meets world will have a table set up adjacent to our portable photo studio. Make sure you stop by to pick up some information, sign up to be a "phodographer", donate some cash or buy your very own "Foto" stuffed toy.

The Vision for Dog Meets World: www.dogmeetsworld.org

In late 2008, Dog Meets World was founded to fulfill a dream to photograph the children of the world. To seek children in their own settings, print their image to keep for a lifetime. We have replicated Foto, the stuffed dog, to enable scores of world travelers to participate with this international project. The dream of Dog Meets World is to empower travelers to make real connections to people in other cultures, in essence to become photo-diplomats. A picture makes anybody a "somebody". Dog Meets World clothes people in acknowledgment and affirmation and feeds their souls, which indeed is priceless.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

A Slice of Beard Culture: Portrait Series tonight!

2009-08-21T01:03:00.005-04:00

If you have a beard, a mustache, crazy sideburns, if not you can draw one or grow one very quickly. Boys and girls. Chicks with beards are cool too (fake beards that is!).

This is the second photo project and part of my A Slice of Florida: Photo Project.

Come out tonight, Friday 21st, and get your photo taken. I'll have a portable studio set up and we'll have some fun. Come show off your facial hair! Photos will be posted on Fotobia.com and some will be on display in upcoming art shows.

Location:
Steamworks at Five Points
822 Lomax St
Jacksonville, FL 32204

Time:
9pm-11pm

See you there.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

About the Photo

2009-08-18T14:53:00.006-04:00

I just got an e-mail asking about the lighting for the portrait series setup. It's been a while since we've done an "About the Photo" post so I guess this is a good time to do so.

Here is a photo of the set up:

The people at Fetishcon were very generous to set us up with our own conference room to do as we please so this was good. It was away from the distractions.

So here are the specifics:

-10ft white seamless paper background
-4 Strobes
-2 strobes with white reflective umbrellas on the background
-2 strobes with shoot through umbrellas for soft light pointed at subject from either side of model. I mixed up the ratios a bit to add just a bit of depth and metered with my Sekonic meter w/pocket wizard module.
-Triggered the flashes with a pocket wizard.

I think that just about covers it.
Cheers.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

A Slice of Fetishcon: Portrait Series Photo Preview

2009-08-18T14:14:00.008-04:00

This past weekend we kicked off our "Slice of Florida: Portrait Series" in Tampa, FL with our first series of this long term photo project.

We've been super busy but wanted to give you a preview of what we shot. There was a very wide range of people/characters. It made for a very interesting shoot.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

"A Slice of Florida: Portrait Series" Kicks off this weekend.

2009-08-15T23:21:00.010-04:00

Our world is full of regular people. Boring people like me. Others go unnoticed until they let themselves go when in their domain.

I've begun the first chapter of what is planned to be a long term photography social study.

A Slice of Florida.

Amidst the sea of regularity, a few people stand out. This is the inspiration for this photo project. Have you always wondered what your neighbors are really like? How about that nerdy guy two cubicles down from yours? Who knows what they're up.

Our first project is "A Slice of Fetishcon." Every year people from around the world and meet to share their fascination of the fetish lifestyle.

This was personally as fun a project for me as it was challenging. In this first "Slice of" project I had to step out of my comfort zone and enter a world unknown to me. It turns out the "Fetishists" are normal every day people who have a very interesting hobby. They're your neighbor, your accountant, and your every day doctors.

I'm really impressed at the confidence everyone had in themselves and how well they played their role/character. Very friendly and nice people. I didn't really know what to expect or how well our project would be received. We were praying to get at at most 5 people. Much to our delight we had over 30 people come pose. The subjects ranged to your regular joe to fetish industry icons and some porn stars.

We had one rule. Be yourself, do what you want, no rules.

Tomorrow is the last day of the shoot with quite a few interesting people booked.

Next Thursday will be our second project. "A Slice of Beard Culture," Portrait Series. It should be another fun one.

October 7th will be our third project. "One Click Photo Project." This will be the big one in downtown Jacksonville during artwalk. We hope to have a really big turn out and make some history. You can read more about this project and find all the details at: http://fotobiashoots.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-click-street-photo-project.html

Shoot you soon.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

"One Click Photo Project" Portrait Series

2009-08-12T20:53:00.011-04:00

We're very excited to share some news with you. We have hinted about a photo project in the works over the past couple of weeks. A date and location has been set. All that's missing is you!

Please help spread the word so we can get as big and diverse a crowd as possible.

What:
"One Click Photo Project," Portrait Series
A large scale street social/photo project in downtown Jacksonville, FL.

Idea:
Daniel will take one photo of each person. He will treat the photo as if it's on a film camera and it's the very last frame on a roll of film. One photo & no looking.

The photos will then be displayed on Fotobia.com 1 week later. An exhibition will be held at the Main Library during December's Art Walk.

This photo project aims to show "A Slice of Jacksonville." Daniel hopes that the project will show people's guarded and unguarded moments in that first click of the camera's shutter. This is the third part of a long term photography social study.

Any proceeds from sales of prints will be donated to charity.

When:
October Artwalk
Oct. 7, 2009 -Street Photo Shoot.
Time: 6-8pm.

Dec. 2, 2009 -Photo exhibit.

Who:
Daniel Goncalves, photographer, Fotobia.com, will be heading the photo project.

Where:
Street Photo Shoot and Exhibition.
Downtown Jacksonville, Main Library
303 N. Laura St.
Jacksonville, FL 32202

Benefit:
The photo project will help raise awareness and funds for a non-profit organizations.

Help spread the word and make history!

New York New York. Palm Pre phone camera photo

2009-08-11T14:04:00.000-04:00

Taken on Las Vegas Blvd. No flash. The Palm Pre's camera stuns me. All are hand held at night. I'm very impressed and having lots of fun with this camera phone.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Alone in Venice Palm Pre Photo

2009-08-11T13:49:00.000-04:00

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Dividing lines.

2009-08-11T13:46:00.000-04:00

Another Pre phone camera photo.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Palm Pre Photo of the day.

2009-08-11T13:44:00.001-04:00

This photo was taken at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

The manequins were interesting especially combining the word flawless.

I'll try to post more Pre phone camera pictures of the day. I take them but don't always remember to post them.

Daniel

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

My Super 1st Wedding Anniversary!

2009-07-20T16:31:00.002-04:00

Who would have thought that me, Daniel, would get married before he was 60? Not me! Then came along a special little lady. She walked in my life and everything was turned upside-down in a great way.

She's is so kind, smart, generous, a fantastic cook, an amazing person and most importantly mine!

I just want to thank you for giving me a wonderful first year of being married. I can't wait for our next 1st wedding anniversary which is in a couple of weeks (8/8/09).

That's when we had our "church" wedding as pictured above in Monte Carlo, Monaco. In celebration we're taking off Las Vegas style for a nice little getaway.

Happy first my wonderfully-amazing-super wife.

My first Worldwide Photo Walk!

2009-07-19T02:55:00.013-04:00

Scott Kelby put on the Second Annual Worldwide Photo walk yesterday. His first photo walk last year had around 8,000 walkers in 236 cities. Wow. Crazy right? This will blow your mind. Yesterday we added up to around 27,000 photographers in 914 cities. Not bad considering Scott is a marketing genius and very smart business man.

The wife and I thought it would be cool to head to Gainesville, FL and photograph a city we have not been to before. I have been there once to shoot a Gator's game but didn't see much of the town. Man I wish I had gone to UF. What a campus.

Laurel & Aaron were the leaders of the group and I believe we were close to 50 photographers strong. Miraculously we avoided the dark cloud that threatened to spoil our fun. The photo Gods spared us and we headed out and had a great time shooting and getting to know each other.

If you missed the photo walk this year make don't make the same mistake next year. www.worldwidephotowalk.com

One of my goals was to post on Twitter throughout the event and I did so (& even posted photos from the Pre). You can follow www.twitter.com/fotobia

I also just uploaded my favorite photos from the photo walk onto flickr (my first time using it). Check it out. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotobiashoots/sets/72157621671345962

I promised I'd get the photos up tonight so I have. It's really, really late and I'm going to sleep now. Good night everyone.

(p.s.) It turns out that the mating bugs in the photo below are called "stink bugs." Interesting. Dirty little buggers mating in public.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

First blog post via Palm Pre.

2009-07-12T02:11:00.000-04:00

This is a test post with the Palm Pre. My wife & I went for a bike ride to the Riverside Arts Market. Perfect opportunity to try out the Pre cam. Here are a couple of snapshots.

Have a fantastic Sunday!

The Palm Pre is finally here! First impressions & review.

2009-07-10T14:19:00.007-04:00

We've been on the waiting list since this new smartphone from Palm (Sprint is the carrier) came out and finally got a pair of these smartphones yesterday evening. I definitely stayed up way too late trying to get to know the new phone.

I've had the Treo 650 (Palm OS) since the day it came out (paid way too much for one back then ($650 I think??). It's been an invaluable tool over the years. Very intuitive, great build, fantastic screen, fantastic calendar, notes ect. Loved the universal search, would search for everything including e-mails, texts, phone contacts ect.

Browsing was incredibly, INCREDIBLY slow. Painfully slow. Also no multitasking, you could just do the iphone multitask which is play music at same time (isn't Apple so advanced? This technology was out before my treo).

A few first impressions:

Multitasking is amazing and fast. It's incredible on how fast you can work on this thing.

Sprint's reception I'm surprised at with and initially disappointed. I thought AT&T was bad. Their coverage map shows us as being in a good range, better than ATT's map and I'm having trouble getting any signal where the ATT phone is still getting a bar. Strange.

Internet: I've had it hooked up to my wifi network so data hasn't been a problem. I'll have to test out the phone's internet speed and reception in a bit when I head out.

Keyboard: It's comfortable and more than adequate. I notice my right thumb sometimes hits the top when typing but that's the only gripe (if one at all).

Screen: Beautiful. It looks a bit small but you get used to it. Looks like I have a few bright spots across the bottom of the screen. Will have to see if my wife's pre has the same problem. Might have to bring it in.

Camera: It's a pretty basic camera but it's good for a camera phone. The only control you have is for flash (has one built in). Not real controls to the camera but this might be added in a later update.

Music/speaker: Pretty nice, fairly loud and great sound for a little speaker. Haven't used the MP3 player yet just the Pandora app.

Battery: Sucks so far. I've read that Palm is fixing this but this can be a real deal breaker. The phone doesn't seem to be able to make it through a work day without being charged. Not a good thing.

Phone application: Pretty basic. A bit dissapointing, was expecting it to have a few more features (the treo 650 had more features).

Notes application: Very dissapointing. It's more of a post it note board which is cool for that purpose. It's no where close to the notes application that I have on the treo 650. They say that should be coming out soon. Same goes for the office suite. You can only read documents on the pre but they should get that working soon so that you can edit/create word documents and powerpoint presentations on here.

Calendar application: Pretty cool idea. As with everything pre, nice eye candy. I like the compression accordian thing where it compresses down vacant time so you don't have to scroll as much. Shows all your calendars in one place...well...it's supposed to. I can't get all my google calendars to show up on there. I've tried everything. Might be a bug with the pre or with my pre specifically. I'm not sure but will have to look into it.

Synergy: This is the Holy Grail. This is something that all other smart phones will work on getting to the market as well. It basically grabs information, in real time, from all your e-mail accounts, outlook, calendars ect and presents it to you in a simple way. All at the same time. I can see this making life very easy. It pulls photos from your friend's facebook accounts and puts them in your contacts automatically. If they change their phone number or e-mail it automatically adds that change to your address book. Very cool!

Open Source: Just like the android platform. It's open to developers to make whatever they want which opens things up

Universal Search: I know the CEO came from Apple and that's suppose to be a good thing. Seems like it's more Apple then Palm. It doesn't seem to be searching notes and maybe calendar. I'll have to test a bit more as I might have just been tired.

Settings: I also wish there was a dedicated settings icon where you could change all your different settings for everything (screen, phone, alerts, e-mail ect). It seems to take me forever to work out where to find these individual settings compared to the treo 650. It's a bit frustrating but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Value: Sprint seems to offer a fantastic deal. Unlimited text, mms, internet, sprint tv ect with 1500 mins to share between two phones & 7pm nights for $129/month. Amazing compared to what I was getting for two phones on AT&T. I was paying about the same with a 20 cent charge for any text I sent/received.

Great smartphone. Many improvements needed to get it to the level the Treo 650 was at when it was released 4 or so years ago. It's a shame a lot of the bugs haven't been worked out before it was released but then again it's a completely new OS and the synergy is pretty cool. I'm a bit frustrated that I'll have to keep my treo by my side for some of it's functionality while I wait for the pre to catch up on a few things.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

News business card in the works

2009-07-08T22:18:00.007-04:00

We've been hard at work trying to revamp our image over at Fotobia.com.

The make over has started with new cards in the works and a new website is being designed by Livebooks to pull it all together. I've needed a good website to showcase my photography and do it in a simple and clean way.

Here's an idea of what the front of the business card will look like. The back will have my contact information. I designed it with the help of my ever patient and truly wonderful wife.

(The jpg above is rendering a bit funky because it was converted from CMYK to RGB. It's also coming up blurry.)

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Fireworks photo tips

2009-07-03T22:17:00.006-04:00

Do you get frustrated every time you try to shoot fireworks photos? Like most people I got frustrated over the years. It's tricky because you have literally a few minutes to experiment and try to work it out before the show is over. You then get to wait a year to try again.

Here are a few tried and true tips on how to get that cool Independence Day fireworks photo.

1) You need a tripod. You can use one of those tabletop ones if you don't have anything else. Sturdier tripods work best. Put your camera on it and try to find out where the fireworks will be launched and try to envision where they will be in the sky. Go ahead and compose the shot in camera and lock down the tripod.

2) Remotely trigger your camera. I like to use pocket wizards to remotely trigger my camera. These are fantastic at totally eliminating camera shake that you get when you press the shutter button (it's wireless so you don't have to touch the camera or even be near it. A less expensive and more feasable option is a cable release.

If you have a dSLR you can get one made for your camera system. If you can't get one or simply forgot yours at home (it's happened more than once to me) here's a back up tip. Use the self timer option on your camera. This is a good back up if you don't have a cable release or don't have it with you.

3) No flash!!!!!! Don't be one of those people that uses flash for fireworks photos. I will throw something at you and it will hurt. Your on camera flash is good for 150 ft at best and that's a top of the line accessory flash at full power. Those fireworks are not going to be lit up by a flash.

4) Settings. O.k, this one is tough. It's always hard trying to work it out. Set flash to manual (not auto) and set focus to infinity (furthest away). Flash off of course. I like to shoot in the camera's manual mode. That gives me the greatest control over a subject that is hard to predict and one that I have no control over.

My starting point is 100iso (less noise, if you use a higher iso you will get nasty image noise). Aperture f/8 and a shutter speed of 2 seconds. I'll shoot first couple of photos and get instant feedback on my lcd. I'll then move the aperture up or down depending on if it's too dark or bright. I'll change my shutter speed to control the trail of lights (if they're blurry I'll speed up the shutter, if I want more motion in the light trail I'll slow down the shutter).

5) Have fun and enjoy it. Don't get frustrated if you don't get that killer shot the first or second time out. It sometimes takes a few times and a few years to nail it. If you stick to the above guidelines you're well on your way. Enjoy the light spectacle and remember what we're celebrating!

Stay safe and shoot away.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Sushi photo shoot

2009-07-02T12:00:00.007-04:00

Here are some photos from yesterday's Sake House in Riverside. The food is yummy!

More photos from the shoot can be viewed at www.Fotobia.com.

Enjoy.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Waterspout/tornado photos over St. John's River!

2009-06-26T18:31:00.008-04:00

I caught these while driving home about an hour ago. Was able to grab some quick photos. This is most impressive thing I've ever seen. Incredible. I was trying to get to the river as it was moving away from us but was having trouble getting through traffic. Was still able to snap a few photos. The waterspout actually went across the river and touched land over at Orange Park possibly becoming a tornado then made it's way back. I stayed with it until the water spout died down and I started getting pelted with hail the size of quarters (time to run for cover).

Hope everyone is safe, enjoy the photos.

Feel free to link to this page images are copyrighted.

July cover shoot for EU Jacksonville

2009-06-20T00:37:00.015-04:00

What do you do when it's 100+ degrees outside and it's nice and humid? You take your camera gear outside and go shoot at the pool.

That's what we did for the July cover shoot today. Katie was a great model and a pleasure to work with and Rachel Best Henley was a fantastic creative director and assistant.

Our inflatable lounge chair was not working for us, fortunately enough there was a random one sitting so we had to commandeer it to use. The photo gods were there to help us today.

I have posted more photos of the whole shoot at http://www.Fotobia.com. Take a look.

Have you been shot? Fotobia.com

Teva Mountain Games have begun!

2009-06-06T04:08:00.021-04:00

All the greatness of the Teva Mountain Games is back and better than ever. Last year was my first year shooting it which makes it easier to plan what to shoot. It's a jam packed weekend with all types of sporting competition.

Here are some of the pictures I took today (I'm posting this in the wee hours of the morning so these were shot on Friday).

More to come as the games go on. Enjoy.