Thad Allender photography & multimedia785-840-8044
thadallender@gmail.com
Photography
Do It Yourself Lightbox
Professional product photography is one of the most overlooked aspects of running a successful online business. Bad photography can loose you sales. Good, clean product photography can increase sales. Read more for a professional product photography solution on a very tight budget.
Duluth Minnesota
If you ever have an opportunity to visit Duluth, Minnesota, do it. It’s quite an amazing little city on Lake Superior.
Online Convergence Award
I’m excited to announce that the mining series that I helped direct, photograph, videotape and multimedia-ize won first place for online convergence in the Associate Press Managing Editors contest for newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. It was a huge group effort, with Mike Belt reporting for LJWorld.com, Brian Powell and Greg Hurd producing [...]
Storytelling Using Google Maps
One of the coolest new features on Google Maps is the ability to create “My Maps.” I geo-tagged photos and 360-degree panoramas to a Google Map from a project that explores the long-term health, environmental and economic-related effects that mining has had on parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Click the image above [...]
Rattlesnake Roundup Resurrection
I’m resurrecting this audio slideshow from a few years ago because, well, it’s rattlesnake roundup season. I photographed and reported this story for the Lawrence Journal-World after thumbing through an events calendar for Kansas. Rattlesnake roundups are under increasing scrutiny by wildlife groups and animal rights activists as studies have found the species [...]
Kansas Wind Energy
Last week I spent a few days traveling around Kansas shooting video and photos for this story for the Lawrence Journal-World about wind energy. When I arrived back in Lawrence, I had put 1,000 miles on my VW Rabbit, clicked more than 1,200 accuations on my Nikon D200, and logged about 5 hours of HD [...]
Wakarusa Fest Photos
Just to set the record straight, I’m generally turned off by jam bands, dead heads, and patchouli oil. For the fourth consecutive year, thousands of tye-dye wearing music lovers set up camp at the Clinton Lake State Park for the Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival. The four-day festival has basically become what Woodstock [...]
Shawnee Mission Skatepark
I think that I’ve shot this same photo of Phil Wasson at least 10 times. And every time, I still love it as much as the first. Anyway, for those that don’t know, this is Phil airing the bowl at the Shawnee Mission Skatepark. It’s a fun place with lots of fast [...]
Woodward Vacation
Phil Wasson at the State College, PA trails.
Ever since I was 15 I wanted to visit Woodward. To say that waiting 14 years takes patience would be an understatement. Props to Dennis McCoy for making the trip happen. He’s a bad ass for sure. And, I still owe him money for [...]
Time Lapse Photography
Take a peek at three time lapses that I shot a few weeks back for the Lawrence 24 Hour Project.
Massachusetts Street. Total time lapse: 24 Hours. Frames per hour: 60. Total frames: 1440.
My backyard. Total time lapse: 30 minutes. Frames per minute: 60. Total frames: 1800.
Target. Total time [...]
Time Lapse Experiment
If you live in the midwest like I do, you likely experienced 40 to 50 mph winds today. I headed out the Haskell-Baker Wetlands south of Lawrence, Kansas to capture the gusty afternoon sky. The result is 30 minutes of real time compressed into a 90 second time-lapse containing 900 photos.
Watch the time-lapse [...]
Audio Panorama Tutorial
One of the latest additions to my multimedia toolkit is the audio panorama. Click here for an example. Some have requested a tutorial, so here it goes, albeit brief. This tutorial assumes you understand the basics of capturing a printable panorama. Need tutorial on this, visit this Adobe tutorial.
Three places at once
I photograph Kansas University basketball games for ljworld.com and kusports.com. For Saturday’s game against Iowa State, I used two remotes mounted on the goal. I mounted a Nikon D200 vertically with a 17-35mm lens high on the goalpost, a Nikon D1H with a 10.5mm 180-degree fisheye lens at floor level underneath the goalpost, [...]
Halloween portraits
I shot a series of portraits on Halloween using both ambient and studio lights. The top photo was lit with one 800 watt head, diffused by a large Chimera softbox at camera left. The bottom photo was lit by a red neon light mounted to the ceiling of a shed.
Audio slideshows
Why should photojournalists gather audio?
Combining photos and audio tells a more complete story
Audio enhances the photos; photos enhance the audio
Enables us to get to know our subjects better
Makes photographers better journalists
Encourages project-oriented stories
Keys to Successful Multimedia
Plan the audio. Know the options: Ambient sound, interview, narration, or combo
What is the best way to capture audio? [...]
More BMX pics
These pics were all shot on Sunday riding with friends in Kansas City. From top to bottom: Phil Wasson air at Shawnee Mission Skatepark; Phil flattie from a curb onto an embankment; John Mann wallride on an overpass pillar; Justin Mann fakie wallride on the roof of an abandoned building; Dennis McCoy berm slider [...]
KC Overpass
Exactly 10 years ago this year, I purchased a Mongoose DMC bmx frame after seeing it a magazine advertisement. I passed many riding milestones on that bike, including my first 360, first decade and first broken bone due to riding. I loved the frame, but as I started riding trails more, I retired [...]
Halloween 2006
Halloween 2006 went down with its usual chaotic antics. Like every year, I waited too long to find a costume, than at the last minute, decided dressing up wasn’t worth the hassle. I brought my camera, lights and softbox and documented some of the costumes in an abandonded house on my friend’s property. There [...]