Bill Konway’s Photography Blog

Recently I had the opportunity to do a bit of effectiveness photography for Realtree.  They were looking for images of the AP patern which is more traditionally a deer hunting pattern, being used for waterfowl hunting in some flooded timber.  Flooded timber is not too tough to come by here in Indiana, except during the latter parts of winter when everything is froze.  Needless to say, we hit the road and ended up at what is one of the coolest places I have ever been to, Reefoot Lake in western Tennessee.  I guess this lake was formed about 200 years ago due to an earthquake that caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards.  But enough about geography.  The fishing for panfish I’m told is second to none and the duck hunting in the flooded timber of course is first rate.  Although the water here was open, (free of ice), we still broke skim ice each morning as we headed out to our locations at 60 mph in an open boat.  I still have brain freeze I think! 

The shot above is the final product and the images below are a few of the out takes.  This is another spot I want to return to and enjoy some hunting or at least fishing.

I’ve known for years now about people who spend the time between the end of deer season and the start of turkey season, looking for shed antlers.  I never really gave it a lot of thought though to be honest.  Until recently I had found a grand total of 2 sheds.  Neither of which were located while actually looking for them.  One was discovered as I tripped over it while trying to get a head of a flock of turkeys in Kentucky a few springs ago, while the other was located as I, uh, answered mother natures calling in some brush during a shoot in Tennessee.  Neither of these would be considered efficient shed hunting techniques by the “Pros”. 

 So let’s jump forward a few years to bring us to last week.  I’m not sure how it happened or what I was thinking but somehow the brother in law and I decided to go shed hunting on some property near home.  Really, I have no idea why I agreed to this.  But to make a long story short, in the course of about an hour and a half we found six sheds, the best of which can be seen below.  Now granted, if you’re going to find a shed, that is the kind of shed you want to find.

So now, as if I didn’t have enough to keep me occupied, I have managed to spend about a dozen hours walking other local farms.  The problem is this.  I ain’t found another single, danged antler!  What’s the problem?  Granted, I’ve found enough pieces of deer that didn’t survive the winter to probably create 3 new deer, but nothing with antlers.  Is there a book or something on techniques that’s going to involve looking at topo maps or something or studying moon phases thats going to help me find another shed?  Do I need some of that secret potion from the movie Moonlight Over Escanaba, (which is a very, very funny movie, if you ask me).  I mean come on, At this point I think, rather I know I’d be thrilled to find a spike, or a fork horn from last year that’s mostly eaten away.  I need to find another shed! 

My goodness the deer gods are being cruel this year.  First I never again see the largest deer I’ve ever seen anywhere, on my property at about fifty yards, 3 days before the season, then I pass on a 130″ + deer at a little over 30 yards because gun season is 2 ays away, and now this.  I can only hope that the turkey gods will be smiling shortly.  Wouldn’t it be cruel if I were to find a monster tom skeleton in my woods?  LOL!!!

I had the chance recently to photograph Mark Wills once again.  This time we were in Nashville and used the Hard Rock Cafe for our studio.  The first time I photographed Mark was on the set of the production of his most recent music video for a song titled Crazy White Boy, which in addition to Mark, featured Chris Brackett of Arrow Affliction fame.  As he was the first time, Mark was once again the consumate professional.  We used a combination of hard lights, soft lights, reflectors, and natural light, for the images, sometimes a form of all the lights at once.  Below are a few more.

Been a while since I have had, or taken the time to post anything here.  Between the ATA and SHOT shows, being under the weatehr, quitting smoking, and some other work in the background, time has been tough to come by.  One of the projects I’ve been working on for a while now is some new photos for Staywoods, which is the maker of the Warm Bag.  This is a very cool product.  Light weight, easy to carry and easy to use, the amount of warmth you’ll get from it is really amazing.  Here are a few of the photos we’ve done for them.  I’m also trying to pull together a bunch of other projects and events that will occur at different times throughout the year.  This summer I’ll be doing a couple of hours of instruction on outdoor lighting for the Professional Outdoor Media Assoc. event which as luck would have it, is taking place only about an hour from home.  Making plans to head to Beaver Island in Michigan around early June for some flyfishing for carp. 

The ATA and SHOT shows went well, I think.  You never really know until the phone starts ringing and that can take some time unfortunately.  I think I had a strong presentation, talked with the right people and had the answers that many of them were looking for.  If that translates into business is hard to tell though. 

For the last couple years, most if not all my work dealt with hunting gear.  Clothing, weapons, accessories, etc.  Some of that work has come from Rivers West.  Recently Rivers West asked me to shoot for one of their other lines of clothing which is still based in the outdoors, but there ain’t a bow or camo hat to be found!  Their outdoor line is more for the outdoor worker, or nature enthusiast.  At first it seemd as though it would be fairly easy, conceptually anyhow.  But I found that I have acquired this habit of seeing scenery with hunters in it, not everyday folk.  By changing my thought process, if you will, we did manage to nail some images that they are quite happy with and will be used shortly for the Outdoor Retailers show and their catalogue.  Here are a fw more.  Happy New Year to everyone.

The ATA and SHOT shows are right around the corner.  I’ve put together a new DVD slide as I have in the past but this year I’m also hoping to get it up here, online.  If that happens, I’ll let you know.  It’s sort of a compilation of what I felt was my best work from the last year.

A good friend, Chris Brackett, came into town for a few days along with a great deer he killed in Iowa for a few photographs.  The weather has just turned colder here and it made for some great shots.  Here are a couple of them, above, and below.  Work has been getting pretty busy with several clients all needing last minute stuff for the upcoming ATA and SHOT shows.  I’ll get a few of those photos posted here soon as well.  I think deer hunting season has now come and gone for me.  Although I only killed a single doe back in September during a special doe season in Michigan, I think it was one of my best and most enjoyable seasons ever.  Anyhow, in case I don’t have a chance to post again before Christmas, I want to wish everyone the most joyous Christmas season ever. 

Working at the newspaper had, uh, stressfull moments, to say the least.  However, little did I know how stressfull working for myself could be at times as well.  Here is what I’m in the middle of.  I am in Michigan to shoot for a client that needs their photos taken in the snow.  We have a bit of snow here, but also 30mph winds and looking for a high of maybe 10 degrees, before you add in the wind chill.  I’m also looking to be shooting for another client that has some clothing that needs to be shot like, yesterday…  OK, in a hurry anyhow.  Unfortunately, their clothing was shipped to my Kentucky farm, not the Indiana home.  So now that package is working it’s way from KY to MI.   Apparently KY doesn’t offer overnight shipping from all places.  Who knew?  OK, so maybe it’s somewhat understandable.   

So to top off this, I have a Pocket Wizard that’s been acting up so I ordered a new one and had it shipped to me here in MI.  All’s well except that the package has to be signed for.  They offered me an arrival time of 12/10/2009, between the hurs of 8am and 7pm.  How helpful is that?  I tried to get it changed to no sig required, but that can’t happen till after the first delivery attempt has been made…WHAT???

Alright, so now I have to get to the farm in KY to get some work done there, I also have a friend that has killed a decent deer in IA earlier in the week and since I couldn’t make it there for photos then, has frozen the deer in position for photos. 

Did I mention that I have to be in Galen, IL for a wedding this coming Friday?  ATA in Columbus, OH in  like 3 weeks, SHOT in Vegas in 4.  I need more time!

Have a great Christmas and New Years!

Realtree.com is currently running a photo essay I shot with Chris Brackett earlier in the year.  If you have a moment, check it out.  http://www.realtree.com/community/photoEssay.php?ID=356

I guess it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on here new.  Some of the things I’ve shot recently have been embargoed, which is common.  I’ve also had a bit of a break, so to speak.  I’m coming to the end of what I think has been my longest stretch at home, about 4 weeks.  After going full bore since about March or April, I almost don’t know what to do with myself.  Been shooting some jobs here at home and doing a bit of hunting as well.  Thankfully work has been going better than the deer hunting part.  My wife Stacy on the other hand killed her first deer, ever, last week here at home with a muzzleloader.  Me, I’ve passed up several small bucks, and at least one that I’m about to start regretting that would have scored about 135 inches.  Hopefully with winter moving in closer each day, I hope, I’ll be right back into the more hectic work, even if it means having to travel through snow covered roads.  I have at least a couple jobs that are waiting for snow.  Below are a couple shots of the final uses of a few photographs I made in the last couple months.  The Rivers West shot was done about 2 weeks ago.  We had to add a bit of extra rain via a hose to get it to look right but it was worth the effort I think.  The others are shots of packaging for Dogtra and their new line of “E” collars.

Recently I had the  opportunity to photograph friend and Christian music star Daniel Doss.  Daniel is also the worship leader at my family’s church.  We wanted to try and keep everything simple but still somewhat dramatic and eye catching. We set the lighting up similar to what I have been doing lately with some of my hunting industry clients except for the fact that I went with a more direct, hard light rather than a modified light.  I’m pretty happy with the results and Daniel seems to be as well.  The aperture spots have never really bothered me much, just part of the deal of shooting back into the sun, but I’m starting to wonder if maybe there isn’t a way to get the same image effect but to minimize the spots?  Below are a few more from the shoot.