Punkin Chunkin 2013

I've always watched it on The Science Channel, but until last year, I didn't realize how close The World Championship of Punkin Chunkin actually is - just a few hours away, in Southern Delaware, halfway between the Chesapeake Bay and Rehoboth Beach.  2013 was my first Chunk as a spectator.  I'll preface by saying that what you see on The Science Channel is nothing like the actual event's atmosphere - Discovery Communications has some fantastic videographers and editors that manage to condense three days of competition into just one hour of highlight footage. Unfortunately I missed the Trebuchets, which were my largest interest in the competition.  I did, however, see most of the Air Cannon class, and a few of the Centrifugal and Catapult Chunkers.  "Bad to the Bone," the Chunker I wanted to see most, unfortunately broke down and was unable to Chunk.  Other highlights included  "Chunk Norris," and the Human Hamster Wheel powered Chunker, to which the crowd cheered, "GO, HAMSTER, GO!"  Pumpkins were painted green for visibility, though they often travel so far so quickly downrange that you still lose sight of them.  Occasions where Chunkers "pied" resulted in tiny gobs of green pumpkin spraying onto spectators due to the strong wind contestants were firing into.  It was a blast, and I can't wait for the 2014 Chunk!

See all my Punkin Chunkin photos on Facebook... and don't forget to Follow me for updates!

Many long distance Chunks, a few pies, and a handful of breakdowns... but nothing compared to Young Glory III (Punkin Chunkin World Record Holder), which was the very last Chunker to fire in 2013's competition.  Young Glory III fired with brute force of air pressure; so much that it blew off and collapsed the last 1/3 of its barrel.  Clearly my 1D X is an overpriced 18 megapixel GIF machine, because at 12 frames per second, I captured Young Glory III's self-destruction.  Luckily for the team, the damage didn't look too terribly difficult to fix for next year's Chunk.

The result was so impressive that Kari Byron live-tweeted it.  I replied to her, and Tory Bellaci retweeted my photo.

An air cannon just exploded and flew over my head! pic.twitter.com/JHqIn9o8N8

— Kari Byron (@KariByron) November 3, 2013

Here's the air cannon malfunction @KariByron talked about. @DavidBuerkPhoto: More on http://t.co/KAH0CQK2ie soon. pic.twitter.com/fKccOuy13Y

— Tory Belleci (@ToryBelleci) November 4, 2013

I later posted the GIF above, to which Tory responded,

@DavidBuerkPhoto@KariByron That's cool!

— Tory Belleci (@ToryBelleci) November 4, 2013

My pleasure Tory!  Thanks so much for retweeting, and taking the time to respond back.  Hey, if you're reading this, can you get me a photography job at Discovery Communications... or at least a Press Pass to next year's Punkin Chunkin?  I'm 100% completely serious, dude - Discovery is a dream job for me.

Here's "Young Glory III" in high-res.  See you all at next year's Punkin Chunkin!

I also have a few video clips of the Chunkers below. Don't forget to Follow facebook.com/jdbphoto to keep up to date on all my latest work and adventures!

Maryland Renaissance Faire 2013

This was my first time ever going to a Renn Faire; It was a lot of fun! It's too bad I went on the very last day of the Festival this year. The jousting served as my first test of the 1D X's abilities as a sports camera - even from my less-than-ideal spot as a spectator, the AF easily locked onto and tracked each knight as they barreled toward or away from me. Still ecstatic!  I hope to soon have a full write-up about my impressions of 1D X - we'll see what I decide to make out of it. I think since it was so close to Halloween that some people decided to just wear their Halloween costumes...  Some didn't really fit in...  Namely The Hulk, Captain America, and Darth Maul.  But I give them props, since many of them were well done.  My favorite was definitely the gun slinging priest - the man actually IS a gunsmith.

Here is proof positive that jousters have balls of titanium...

Panama City Beach Aerial Photography

This was my first foray into aerial photography via helicopter. It is EXTREMELY fun - I'm hooked! Since this flight along the Emerald Coast, I've had two more helicopter flights for which I was hired for aerial photography. I can't wait to do this more often!  From the air you could easily spot schools of fish, and a fair number of sharks and stingrays - they are surprisingly easy to identify from hundreds of feet up at over 100 MPH.

They're not amazing, but I also took some quick video while in the air.

Katie's Cars and Coffee Catch-Up

I've been very busy the past few months, and haven't been able to make it out to Katie's lately.  I've had several meets waiting on the back burner until I could finish some client shoots.  Here are four separate car meets, all in the Northern Virginia area:

Katie's Cars and Coffee, August 10th, 2013

This Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport is the same one that was damaged by a delivery truck while parked in New York City just a few weeks later.

Katie's Cars and Coffee, August 17th, 2013

Many of these photos were shot with my new (at the time) 90mm Tilt-Shift lens.  Tilt-Shift all the things!

Chick-Fil-A Sterling, August 30th, 2013

All of these photos were shot using my Retrofit Lubitel 2 75mm lens.  I got several comments on it by folks wondering what on Earth I was shooting with.

Katie's Cars and Coffee, September 21st, 2013

This blog post has been republished by J. David Buerk onto Oppositelock.  For the full set of photos, view the album at his Facebook Page. All photography is by J. David Buerk, and is copyrighted All Rights Reserved.

MPSC in Miami: 2013

Recently I flew to beautiful Miami to photograph the Military Personnel Services Corporation's annual off-site conference, at Turnberry Isle Miami Resort.  It was an amazing trip, not only because of the lovely warm Florida beach weather while the DC area endured non-stop rain, but also since it was made more significant to me as it marks the first time a client has flown me to a destination for a shoot.  Over the course of several days, I sat in on conference sessions, and enjoyed the party atmosphere at cocktail hours and hosted dinners each night.  It was a very enjoyable trip, and I began missing Miami the moment I stepped off my return flight into DCA. Check out all of the photos on the client site (password required).

And with my recent aerial photography from helicopters, I of course took some interesting photos on the flights to and from Miami.

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With all the work I've done (and continue to do) for Dulles Airport over the years, this was the first time I've flown through DCA - I was very impressed with JetBlue's service, and loved the free satellite TV - I watched Criminal Minds and Law and Order: SVU while I edited photos...  no different than when I normally edit, just a lot more altitude ;-)

I did manage to get some interesting views of Alexandria on the way into DCA - you can see the Masonic Temple behind Virginia's side of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge.

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This trip also marked the first time I've used the 1D X on a major job - it's an amazing camera and worked flawlessly for me. The image quality is breathtaking out of camera, and best of all, ISO noise doesn't exist... you can only call it grain now, because it is so natural that it looks like film!  Phenomenal!