Chronicle of A Stay In Kentucky

[zjgilbert]

A number of months ago my dad and I went to a number of distilleries in Kentucky along with a group of bourbon enthusiasts from a board my dad made. I took a number of photos, but never got around to editing them. I've been working on fixing a few of them up over the past few days. I took photos at Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (Producers of Willett, Johnny Drum, Old Bardstown, Rowan's Creek) and Buffalo Trace (B-TAC collection, Buffalo Trace, Old Weller, Van Winkle, Blanton's Ancient Age, etc.) Most of my shots were at KBD. Here's the result of my shooting. I hope you guys enjoy.

Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (KBD):

 

[zjgilbert]

 

[zjgilbert]

And here's Buffalo Trace (B-TAC):

 

[zjgilbert]

Hope you guys enjoyed. I'd already had the pictures in at that resolution, not realizing how huge they were coming out. Constructive criticism always welcome. Since I didn't add a watermark to them previously (not used to posting my pictures on the web in high res), all of the above images are copyrighted material. You may use as desktops, but nothing more without my consent.

 

[Greyson]

Really nice work, you've obviously got a good eye for composition and arrangement. I think I even spotted some golden sections in there, really very impressive. Good use of lighting and tones, especially in the black and whites. The only negative I'd say is that you had some slight (very slight) blurring on some shots, but I get that occasionally when I use my Fuji S5 Pro, and I know it can be hard to avoid. But as I said, overall really really nice work. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[idbowman]

Man oh man...these photos are fan-freaking-tastic. Seriously good stuff (I'm stealing a few of them to use as my desktop wallpaper, btw). Those two right above the Ford logo are so cool, they don't even look real (in a good way). Otherwise, I dig that whole classic, rustic, Americana feel.

From a guy who cant photograph worth a darn, but who loves to look at the work of others, many thanks for this post!
:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

 

[zjgilbert]

I really appreciate the feedback, guys. Feel free to use whichever you like, as long as they're only for desktops. If you'd like to use them for more let me know and I'll get back to you.

 

[zjgilbert]

Here's a link to some of my other work. I was a bit less experienced for some of the shots, so I don't think they're as good as these ones. https://www.brothersofbriar.com/t18677-some-of-my-photography#234219

 

[Greyson]

If you are looking for a place to showcase your work, and get more technical criticism than I can offer really, I'd highly recommend joining http://500px.com

Its a great place for artists and photographers to present their work under copy protected conditions and get lots of feedback. I use it regularly, and it has some incredible images on there, some of them just blow me away. Actually, yeah don't go there. Keep your pride and your ego safe, I know I got mine smashed when I saw what other people were able to capture...

 

[Dutch]

Outstanding work! You might want to consider selling those for publication in one of the Bourbon enthusiasts mags. 8)

 

[zjgilbert]

If you are looking for a place to showcase your work, and get more technical criticism than I can offer really, I'd highly recommend joining http://500px.com

Its a great place for artists and photographers to present their work under copy protected conditions and get lots of feedback. I use it regularly, and it has some incredible images on there, some of them just blow me away. Actually, yeah don't go there. Keep your pride and your ego safe, I know I got mine smashed when I saw what other people were able to capture...

Lol I may end up checking it out. I'm still new to it though. I've been doing this stuff semi-seriously for about 6 months now.

 

[zjgilbert]

Outstanding work! You might want to consider selling those for publication in one of the Bourbon enthusiasts mags. 8)

You know, I'd actually thought about that. I don't know how to go about doing that though...any suggestions?

 

[Dutch]

I know a local photography guy, who collects pipes, and is also a Bourbon connoisseur. Let me ask him for some suggestions, and I'll let you know his recommendations.

 

[zjgilbert]

I know a local photography guy, who collects pipes, and is also a Bourbon connoisseur. Let me ask him for some suggestions, and I'll let you know his recommendations.

That would be awesome. I really appreciate it!

 

[Greyson]

I don't know if its the same over there, over here you usually approach the editor or publisher and provide a couple of sample shots with a cover letter, if they are not the right point of contact they should direct you to whatever submissions department they use. Email not mail, I guess these days. If they want to use your shots (I've never heard of publishers stealing samples but I'm sure it must have happened) they should request your full shoot and discuss what they might pay per shot that they use, or a flat fee for the lot. I actually took modules on this stuff at university and it basically went obsolete as soon as they handed me my diploma. Pretty annoying.

Anyhow, last I heard freelance work didn't pay very well, so perhaps its best not to get your hopes up, but hell, its better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Edit: Its always better if you have somebody who knows somebody. Ignore what I said and go with Dutch

 

[Dutch]

Just sent him a link to check out this thread. Hopefully we will hear something back soon.

 

[zjgilbert]

I'm really not looking to make a living off of it. I'm currently using a Dell 1750 for my photo editing, and if you don't already know, it sucks. I can hardly run photoshop and I'm limited on how much I can do with lightroom or my computer gets bogged down with all the changes. It's only got 2gb of RAM and a 2.3 ghz processor. My goal is to get myself a Macbook Pro, but as I'm sure both of you know they're rather pricey (about $1,400), so every little penny will help. I found the email for Malt (Whiskey) Advocate's publisher/editor, so I'll shoot him a few pics and see what he says. I'd still really appreciate it if you contact your friend, Dutch.

 

[Greyson]

Ah, Dell. This is probably incredibly snobbish of me, but as a gamer, Dell is like kryptonite to me. Ah I'm sorry, that sounds horrible, I don't mean it that way... exactly... I've usually built my own, lets put it that way.

 

[zjgilbert]

Ah, Dell. This is probably incredibly snobbish of me, but as a gamer, Dell is like kryptonite to me. Ah I'm sorry, that sounds horrible, I don't mean it that way... exactly... I've usually built my own, lets put it that way.

My dad has always built my desktops for me. I've never really cared about having a decent lap top, so all I wanted was something that could type up papers and surf the internet. Now that I'm actually doing something more though I really wish I'd gone for something better lol

 

[zjgilbert]

Just sent him a link to check out this thread. Hopefully we will hear something back soon.

Thanks a lot, Dutch!