Carroll Creations. and a new year.

My wife has gotten into sewing and cooking quite a bit. So for her Christmas present, I created my wife, Sarah a web-site / blog. The identity:



Which is meant to look like two letter C's
For Christmas she sewed a whole bunch of things for friends and family. So I bought sew-in tags also. Additionally, I've had been secretly photographing her meals, so she'd have post to make as soon as she gave it to her. She already has a couple posts, so go check it out. Her most recent post was a recipe for  blueberry sorbet.

CarrollCreations.com




In other news, my new years resolution is to blog more. :)

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

New Year and a New Identity

First, you might notice the new design of the blog. It's actually a whole new jdonut design, which includes my smugmug purchasing and proof gallery.

I now also now have DTXphoto.com. That site will focus on commercial photography, while Jdonut will now be more of a parent company to DTX and it's other affiliates. They've all come together under Jdonut.

Also shown in the top banner, they are:

Jdonut.com

(Jdonut Photography, LLC - the 'parent' company)

CarrollPortraits.com

(People and Portrait Photography in Denton / Frisco, TX

TXAerial.com

(aerial photo service covering all of Texas)

DentonWeddingPhotography.com

(but not just limited to Denton)

DTXphoto.com

(Dallas Texas Commercial Photography)

Hope you like the new design, and the new DTX site. This will be the Jdonut blog, which will apply to all photography by Jonny Carroll. Other things to keep an eye out for this coming year: A new staff member, more frequent blog updates as well as other social networking photo uploads, such as facebook, flickr, and even twitter.

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

Same lightning strike, two angles, two strangers.

I came across this photo on facebook today, never blogged about it, and had to.



At the time this was taken, March 2007 I believe, was one of my first lighting photo shoot outings. The other photographer Charlie Mcrae, did not know me, nor did I know him. He found my photo online somewhere and sent me a message saying he had the same strike. Now Charlie and I are good friends, he shoots weddings with me, and we grab lunch ever so often. How cool is that!?!

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer


Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
Dallas, Texas TX Aerial Photography
Real-estate 360 Virtual Tour production
Dallas, Denton Texas Wedding Photography
Dallas Frisco Texas Denton, TX Portrait Photography

December

First blog post of December. Wow, sorry. The holidays are always a busy time for some photographers, and I'm fortunate to be in that situation, especially with the current economy. I'm so greatful and praise God to have such a wonderful job and people like you who make it possible. While I'll only blog about 25% of my shoots, I'm still lagging way being on blog posts currently.

With that said, I'll catch way up and make a statement that will make me ahead, rather than behind, for the first time in my photography blog's history. You ready?

New Years resolution:

To blog more often and to keep the online community, friends, fans in the loop on multiple venues: twitter, facebook, my blog and etc.

And because it would be just rude to have a post on a photo blog and no photo, here you go. This was from Monday while on an aerial shoot. A demolished Reunion Arena in Dallas, TX

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer


Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
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Stunting The Lot on street bikes.

A couple of my friends stunt on street bikes. I used to ride BMX with these guys. I finally got a chance to go out and see what they do. I even popped a wheelie of my own, but not quite like ones they were riding.

Before we could even get started:

The officer was very nice, and my friends very respectful. Turns out after 5 years of community stunting in this lot, the owners of the warehouse decided they didn't want it anymore. They were the first with the news.

I have respect for the guys who do this kind of riding in a warehouse lots as compared to on the highway, endangering other lives.

One the road again:

By the time we found another place, a vacant warehouse without trespassing restrictions the sun was down. This made photographing pretty difficult. I was still happy with the results however.

A fun night for sure!

VIDEO:

(go to blog if you can't see it)


-Jonny Carroll
Photographer


Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
Dallas, Texas TX Aerial Photography
Real-estate 360 Virtual Tour production
Dallas, Denton Texas Wedding Photography
Dallas Frisco Texas Denton, TX Portrait Photography

Navika Capital Interiors

This job sent me all over Texas photographing interiors of office buildings, apartments, hotels and etc. I always love the opportunity to travel, especially when the hotel is free!

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
Dallas, Texas TX Aerial Photography
Real-estate 360 Virtual Tour production
Dallas, Denton Texas Wedding Photography
Dallas Frisco Texas Denton, TX Portrait Photography

I-35 Motocross

I got the chance to go out and shoot some motocross.

This is a sport that I was very much into as a child, in fact, it could have been what started my career in photography, just shooting pictures of my friends and such doing extreme sports.

But as I moved away from those sports, I stopped photographing it. And when I could, I'd ride instead of photographing. This was the first time I really went out since I've become a professional to shoot motocross. Even being there for only a few hours, I was very happy with the result.

VIDEO:

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer


Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
Dallas, Texas TX Aerial Photography
Real-estate 360 Virtual Tour production
Dallas, Denton Texas Wedding Photography
Dallas Frisco Texas Denton, TX Portrait Photography

Carving pumpkins

Sarah and I hosted a pumpkin carving party at our house. It was a lot of fun, and we had a great turn out. Over 20 people attended throughout the day some to watch the Dallas Cowboys dominate and some to carve.

This was a shot at the very end of the night.

Here is my wife, Sarah carving.

and her pumpkin:

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer


Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
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Real-estate 360 Virtual Tour production
Dallas, Denton Texas Wedding Photography
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Trip to the pumpkin patch

With fall and halloween comes pumpkins. And with pumpkins comes what might become an annual trip to the pumpkin patch for the nieces and nephews. Perhaps one day, for a kiddo of our own.

Meet Conner who's warming up to the camera.

Jessalyn, who knows that Uncle Jonny will almost always have a camera in front of his face, and she loves it!

and Griffin, who once upon a time loved the camera, but in his terrible two's just love mischief.

But with a quick release monopod umbrella lighting rig, I was able to snap a great shot of.

Here's the three in one shot. It was not nearly worth it to try to get all three to look at the camera and smile. Personally, I prefer to shoot them doing their own thing anyway. Kids will be kids.

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer


Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
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Fill lighting indoors.

The importance of lighting a room.

The top image is obviously preferred. There is nice soft white light coming from windows to the right which illuminates the bedroom, but misses the bathroom. The result is a yucky yellow looking bathroom. The fix: a couple wireless diffused flashes. I set up one to the left 1/4th power and one to the right at 1/2 power. For this shot I just used Canon speed light flashes trigger by pocket wizards. They were on light stands and shooting through umbrellas for a diffused effect. The trick was to match the strobe with a slow shutter speed to make the natural light and artificial light nearly equivalent.

Now in the final shot you have a nice white bathroom, and an even better lit bedroom. A shot that makes this hotel room even more appealing, and consequently the difference between amateur and professional shots.


-Jonny Carroll
Photographer


Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
Dallas, Texas TX Aerial Photography
Real-estate 360 Virtual Tour production
Dallas, Denton Texas Wedding Photography
Dallas Frisco Texas Denton, TX Portrait Photography

Amber and Josh

Josh is in the military and stationed in Iraq. He came home for a little while and Amber jumped on the opportunity for a photo shoot. I shot their wedding back in December of last year, but because of his situation, they were not able to get engagement photos. This was kind of like their engagement shoot.

'

These photos were in Richardson at a park near Campbell and 75. A neat place that I had heard about, but never been to before. Sarah Carroll was my assistant and light holder. She did an excellent job.

VIDEO:

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer


Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
Dallas, Texas TX Aerial Photography
Real-estate 360 Virtual Tour production
Dallas, Denton Texas Wedding Photography
Dallas Frisco Texas Denton, TX Portrait Photography

Jude and family

I promised you guys photos of my new nephew Jude.

I snapped this one while in Austin @ 1 month.

Here's another shot of their whole family that I grabbed while visiting last month.

That's my brother, his wife (Beth) and little Jude.

My brother has actually become quite a good photographer. You can see more pictures of Jude on Beth's blog as she's an avid blogger.

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer


Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
Dallas, Texas TX Aerial Photography
Real-estate 360 Virtual Tour production
Dallas, Denton Texas Wedding Photography
Dallas Frisco Texas Denton, TX Portrait Photography

University of Houston - Robertson Stadium

I was able to book a job with the University of Houston to take aerials of their game this last weekend, September 26th against Texas Tech. It was a sell out game, and a record crowd. Not only that, but there was a climatic game changing score and fun game.

This job presented many challenges for me. Not only was it night time, and my only source of light would be stadium lights, but I was also in a helicopter which would bring a lot of vibration and require a very fast shutter speed.

EVEN MORE! I'd be flying in restricted airspace over a NCAA open stadium with over 30,000 people. We had to go through all sorts of paper work with the FAA to get permission. It was great to learn how all that was done, and a wonderful event to cover.

I shot the first half from the helicopter and was on the ground for the second half. Here are some action shots and captions:

Texas Tech kicker Donnie Carona takes flight while kicking the ball deep to Univeristy of Houston's Tyron Carrier to start the second half Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson stadium.

University of Houston's Bryce Beall (25) breaks though his offensive line against Texas Tech Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson stadium.

University of Houston's wide reciever Tyron Carrier (35) catches a high pass against Texas Tech Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson stadium.

Texas Tech Brett Dewhurst (30) tackles University of Houston's wide reciever Tyron Carrier (35) after a catch Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson stadium.

Texas Tech running back Baron Batch (25) breaks tackles Saturday night, September 26th at Houston

Texas Tech Detron Lewis (17) makes an open field move after a catch on UH sophmore Marcus McGraw (55) Saturday night, Spetember 26 2009 at Houston.

Texas Tech's Aaron Charbonnet runs for a touchdown against UH Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson stadium.

Texas Tech's Aaron Charbonnet runs for a touchdown against UH Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson stadium.

Texas Tech's Aaron Charbonnet runs for a touchdown against UH Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson stadium.

University of Houston wide receiver James Cleveland (19) catches a pass against Texas Tech Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson stadium.

A University of Houston dancer cheers on a record breaking crowd at Robertson stadium Saturday night, September 26, 2009 against Texas Tech.

University of Houston Running Back Charles Sims (5) runs for a first down Saturday night, September 26, 2009 against Texas Tech.

University of Houston Running Back Charles Sims (5) runs for a first down Saturday night, September 26, 2009 against Texas Tech.

University of Houston Running Back Charles Sims (5) is brought down by Texas Tech Defensive Back LaRon Moore (28) Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

University of Houston Running Back Charles Sims (5) is brought down by Texas Tech Defensive Back LaRon Moore (28) Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

University of Houston Cornernack Brandon Brinkley forces an out of bounds fumble after a catch by Texas Tech Detron Lewis (17) Saturday night Spetember 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

A Texas Tech dancer cheers on a record breaking crowd at University of Houston's Robertson stadium Saturday night, September 26, 2009.

University of Houston middle line backer Marcus McGraw (55) brings down Texas Tech receiver Adam James (82) Saturday night, September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

University of Houston Linebacker Matt Nicholson Saturday night against Texas Tech September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

University of Houston holds Texas Tech Quarterback Taylor Potts short of the endzone to force a 4th down tunrover Saturday night September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

University of Houston wide receiver L.J castile (10) stiff arms Texas Tech Linebacker Brian Duncan (57) Saturday night September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

University of Houston Quarterback Case Keenum (7) pass leads to an interception by Texas Tech Saturday night September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

Texas Tech safety Will Ford (7) intercepts a pass to University of Houston widereceiver Tim Monroe (24) Saturday night September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium

Texas Tech safety Will Ford (7) celebreates an interception with teammate Cody Davis (16) against the University of Houton Saturday night September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

Texas Tech DB Nathan Stone (40) and DS Austin Burns (50) celebreate a little too early on a road loss to the University of Houston Saturday night September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

University of Houston Quarterback Case Keenum (7) leads the cougars in their final drive against Texas Tech Saturday night September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

A cute domestic Cougar gives University of Houston photographer Stephen Pinchback a wave Saturday night September 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

With less than a minute remaining, University of Houston quarterback Case Keenum drives one into the end zone to put the cougars up 29 to 28 against Texas Texas Saturday night, Septemeber 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium.

University of Houston quarterback Case Keenum celebrates with teammates a last minute touchdown to put the cougars up 29 to 28 against Texas Texas Saturday night, Septemeber 26, 2009 at Robertson Stadium. The Cougars would go one to win the game.

University of Houston students and fans rush the feild at Robertson stadium Saturday night, September 26, 2009 against Texas Tech after a last minute touchdown which would lead to a victory for the cougars in front of a record attendance of over 32,000 spectators.

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer


Dallas, TX Commercial Photography
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