THE LITTLE MAN:

And now for Something very different from me. 

I am entering an essay contest for a local Coffee/Books store.
The PROMPT for the story was "From the outside looking in, you’d never guess what could truly happen at Editions..."
I have had some of my photos/artwork on their walls since the day they opened and my mind went to one in particular.
The image above was the inspiration for the story, it's not exactly as it is in the story, but it is the basis for it.
This photo was printed on metal and was up on their wall for about a year or so.

 - LISTEN TO THE AUDIO - 

THE LITTLE MAN:
A short story by David Roman

From the outside looking in, you’d never guess what could truly happen at Editions…

     Driving by Editions in the sleepy ex-mill town of Kannapolis, NC you would assume it was what it seemed to be, a great place to grab a cup of joe. Maybe find a paperback to read while you enjoy some local artists' work.   You might think that the people working behind the counter were just like the rest of their neighbors, normal folks, selling great coffee and books.  

  That’s what Allen was thinking on that cool late September morning when he walked in to grab his normal order, a Caramel Crème Latte.  He had been coming to Editions for a long while now, well over a year.  He enjoyed the friendly staff, who always made him feel like one of the family.  This Tuesday morning was no different than dozens before, he had time to kill before work, so he was walking around the store checking out the books and some of the artwork hanging from the walls.

  One piece, in particular, was a beautiful metal print of a beach, he wasn’t sure where, but it was a sunset shot and the photographer captured the pier, the fun of the people in the sand, as well as the beauty of nature.  He had seen this print many times but had never really looked closely at it.  For some reason today as he was looking it over, he noticed something he didn’t see before.  Under the pier right where it met the shore was a man, but unlike the other people who looked more like a painting of people, this man was perfectly clear.  You could see him digging in the sand, he had a metal detector, a faded red shovel, and a blue and red striped bucket, he looked like he had already made a small hole.  It was strange that Allen had not noticed this man before, as the man really did look different than the others in the print.  Allen really didn’t think a lot about it, as he moved on to other photos and then realized it was time to head to work.

  It had been a few days since Allen had been inside Editions, he had been using their drive-up window to get his morning dose of sugar and caffeine.    But it was a nice day, he was early for work and the drive-up line was pretty long.  He went in and got his usual, and began his wandering.    Allen again walked by the beach sunset photo, he didn’t think much of it, and as he walked past he had to go back and check it out again.   Something was not right.  It took him a few minutes to realize what it was.  The little man with the metal detector and shovel was not under the pier anymore.  In fact, he was nowhere to be seen in the photo.  This made him question if he had really seen the man before or just imagined it.  

Again, he realized he had to head to work.

    That Saturday he made a special trip to Editions to check this photo out again and to talk to Dawn, the owner about the photo.  It was pretty busy and so he grabbed his usual and asked Dawn when she had a min if she could talk about the photo.  She said it might take a little.  Allen went back to the photo and again checked it all over for this little man.  He was nowhere to be found, but this time, where he had been the first time he saw the man, there was a small mound of sand and a bucket.  Almost like something had been buried in the sand, or someone was stacking the sand up to make a sandcastle.  

     Dawn was able to come by after a few minutes and went to speak with Allen.  He asked her if she had ever noticed a man digging in the sand under the pier.  Dawn said, “I don’t think I have ever seen anyone like that in this photo, but I do know the photographer, he is local and might have some information.”

Allen got the name and email address of the photographer and set about shooting him a quick email.

He asked the photographer if he had noticed this man in the photo, and if so, did he have a better shot of him.

     It was a day or so before the photographer answered back stating that he had no idea what Allen was speaking of.  He included a close up of the pier and where it met the beach.  There was nothing there, no man, no bucket, no pile of sand.  Nothing.     The photographer said he would be glad to meet him at Editions if Allen wanted.  

     They met up the following afternoon.  The photographer, David, brought a printout of the blown-up section of the beach photo.  Clearly, there was no man, no pile of sand, and no shovel.  When they walked over to compare this to the metal print on the wall, they matched perfectly.  What was in the metal print, looked exactly like what was in the blown-up section.   Allen was confused, he swore up and down that he saw the man, the blue and red striped bucket, the shovel.  But David assured him those things were just not there.

     Allen decided it must have been his early morning brain playing tricks on him.  He really didn’t think much about it for the next few months.  Fall moved out and Thanksgiving came and went. Christmas time came and he thought he wanted to find something special for his wife Teresa. She loved the beach and he thought that maybe he would get a smaller print of the beach sunset, the photographer had a lot of sunset photos to choose from, and he was sure he would find the perfect one for his wife.

     He started to look through the photos, most were empty beaches, or lakes, amazing skies, and the colors were beautiful.  After a few minutes of looking, he found a smaller print with another beautiful beach scene, this one was a similar beach location to the metal print where he had seen the little man.   It showed a smaller section of the beach looking out from under the pier, the same pier from the metal print.  He hoped for a minute he would see the little man, but he wasn’t there.

    The print was reasonably priced and he bought it as well as another one of an empty beach scene.  Allen figured he would find a couple of older frames at the Habitat for Humanity Restore Store to mount these prints.

Allen framed them and wrapped them up for his wife for Christmas.

     Christmas morning came and presents were exchanged back and forth with his wife, son, and two daughters.  His wife loved the framed photos, thought they would look great up on the wall in the family room.  His two girls, 6-year-old twins; Cindy and Verna, helped their mom hang the photos just like any 6-year-olds would, by making it ten times harder to do. 

    The holidays came and went like they seem to do, way too fast and getting faster every year.  Allen headed back to work after his holiday break and grabbed his coffee on the way in.   He didn’t have time to spend inside this week.  It was a few weeks later, closer to the beginning of February that he and his wife Teresa went to grab a cup of coffee at Editions and to spend some time in the store just wandering around.

     Teresa was looking through the photos in the stack of smaller prints and found a duplicate of one of the two he had purchased for her.   She called Allen over and showed him the print, telling him “Allen, this looks just like the one you bought me, but it doesn’t have the man in it like the one at home”.  Allen was taken aback, “What?  What do you mean the one at home has a man in it”?  Allen had not looked over the photos since he wrapped them up.

     Teresa told him “The one of the pier has a little man sitting next to a bucket and shovel with one of those, what do you call them, metal detectors”.  Allen told his wife that he wanted to go home and check the photo out for himself.  Allen had never mentioned the little man to her, he thought maybe Dawn had told Teresa and they were playing a game.

     Allen and Teresa arrived home a few minutes later, they went straight to the photos.  Teresa pointed to the one looking down the underneath of the pier and said “See, he’s sitting right there”.  Allen looked and was shocked to see the man sitting under the pier; plain as day.   Allen couldn’t understand it at all, but there he was, sitting just like he had spotted him the very first time, next to a bucket, a shovel, a pile of sand, and a metal detector.  Not knowing what to say, or how this was possible, they both shrugged it off. 

      Later that day Allen emailed the photographer, this time he didn’t ask about the man, he asked where these photos had been taken.  The photographer told him on Pensacola Beach.  The pier there is famous.

     Allen decided then and there to book their summer vacation on Pensacola Beach.  He got a hotel right near the pier.  No, he didn’t think he would be able to find a lone man from a photo from years earlier.  He just wanted to see this place for himself.  His wife and kids loved the idea.  Even with their vacation months off, they would talk about their trip nearly every day.  Asking dad if they might walk on the pier in “moms’ photo”.  

     Time came for their trip; school had let out for the summer and it was time to head to the beach.  They arrived, got their suitcases unpacked, and settled in the hotel.  That evening after supper they all walked along the beach from the hotel up to the pier.  They all felt like they had been there before as the photographer captured it so well.  The weather was beautiful, with the breeze blowing in from the ocean, making the heat of the day fade.

     A few days into their vacation Teresa and the girls were playing in the sand near the surf, while Allen and their son Mark played in the breaking waves.  It was one of the hotter days of the summer, well into the 90s, nearing 100.  It got too warm for the girls and mom so they moved under the pier.  Cindy and Verna were playing in the sand making themselves a sandcastle.  They asked mom to help, she jumped right in to help.  

     As evening came, they all decided to head out for some fish at a local restaurant.  They headed back to the hotel, got showered, and dressed for dinner.  They enjoyed some grouper sandwiches, a local specialty, deciding to go walking on the beach after dinner.  

     While walking hand in hand Allen noticed that Teresa’s wedding ring was missing.  He asked her where it was, she was shocked, she had not even noticed it was missing.  They started to panic, trying to remember when she had seen it last.  It took her awhile but she remembered having it when they had gone out early in the day to the beach.  As they had been up and down the beach and in and out of the surf, they both were upset, thinking they would never see the ring again.   As it was getting late and the sun had already set, they decided to try and look for the ring in the morning.

     Allen had a very fitful night's sleep.  He woke up early and went to the front desk of the hotel and asked if they knew of anyone who had turned in a ring.  The desk clerk told him that unfortunately, no one had turned anything in, but he did know of a man who walked the beach most evenings with his metal detector.  He had not seen the man in a while but said he lived across from the hotel.  Allen decided to take a chance and went to the man’s house.  

     An older woman answered the door.  Allen explained his situation to the woman and she started to get a tear in her eye.   She explained that her husband Herbert had taken ill last summer.  He had to give up his evening walks after suffering a stroke.  She told Allen her Herbert had loved walking the beach, with his metal detector looking for “treasure” as he called it.  Unfortunately, he had passed late last September and she had not had the heart to get rid of his “Treasure hunting tools”.  She told Allen he was welcome to use them to look for the ring.  She said she would go get them.

A few minutes later she came back with a metal detector, a faded red shovel, and a blue and red striped bucket.

Allen stared at them; every item was precisely what the man in the photos had with him.  He stammered “Thank you” and headed toward the beach. 

   With the tools in hand, Allen knew, absolutely knew where to dig.  He went right to the pier, to the spot he had seen so many times in the photos.  He waved the metal detector around listening for the beep.  It took most of an hour and a few false beeps later before he heard a loud ping.   He started to dig, before long he was sifting through the sand, and there it was - his wife’s ring.  As he was standing there, dumbstruck, he saw his wife walking up to him, she stopped about 10 feet away and said to him “You look just like the man in my photo.”   Allen showed her the ring and told her the story of the man who owned the metal detector and tools.  Neither one could quite believe the whole situation was real.  

     Allen took the tools back to the woman and told her they had found the ring.  She smiled and told him Herbert would have loved that his tools helped them find their ring.

The vacation went on and they had a wonderful time, playing in the sun and sand, laughing and eating.  

The vacation ended as all vacations do, too quickly.  

     A few weeks went by before Allen came home one day to see Cindy and Verna standing by the photos of the beach sunsets.   Allen asked them why they were staring at the photos.  

They pointed to the photo and said “Daddy, the little man, and his bucket are gone”.

I am in a Facebook group:  TWIRL THIS!!
It's a group for doing these kinds of Digital Edits.

I get asked a lot how I do what I do, how do I make the images I make... Etc..

In order to help people out in the group, I have put this little tutorial together.

MASTER / INITIAL IMAGE - Load this into Photoshop (we will be using PS for this, but i am assuming you know you to do some basic things, layers, masks, copy layers, mirror, flips)

Master ImageMaster Image

I always work on a 3000x3000 pixel canvas - so i redid my canvas to 3000x3000.

In order to get the "twirl" I wanted I redid the image (copying it, rotating it and stretching it) to look like this:

initial-image

Once I had this, I used an "action" that I built a while back to make this twirl.  If you want more info on the settings for "twirling" visit this blog page

initial-twirl

You will notice that the twirl kind of follows the way the image was top left to bottom right.

From here you have a lot of option, Make a copy (always 1st) then flip:

twirl-VerticalVERTICAL COPY twirl-horizontalHORIZONTAL COPY

From this I decided I liked the VERTICAL Twirl.  Took it, shrank the layers and rotated them 90 deg.

Layers are set to "LIGHTEN" to allow them to blend better.

Image-1Twirl rotated and shrunk

To keep the "mirroring" going, I flipped the above image over.

Vert-Before-MaskFlipped

Notice they are not exactly centered into the box, little seperation helps some.

But I dont like the "sharp" edges along the middle.  To fix this, i combined each of these (2) layers to form 2 new layers.
Then I added a "MASK" to each of these layers.

This allows you to "draw" over the images and mask out or keep areas.  I set a rather large brush with 100% hardness to allow the image to "feather" out.

Then I paint around the sharp edges to smooth them out.

See the BEFORE and AFTER below:

BEFORE MASK AFTER MASKAFTER MASK

Look close at the center parts.

Turn off the layers above to play with the left/right items.

To add some more layers to this, rotated and moved around:

twirl-4-vertical-1

Mirrored

twirl-4-vertical-2

Turning on the origional layers

twirl-5 twirl-6

Decided I wanted another "Style" of twirl, went back to the same image, did a little different twirl on that. (more rotation mainly)

Rotation-1

For this one I wanted to make this more of a STAR so I added duplicate layers then rotated those see the series below:

Rotation-2 Rotation-3 Rotation-4

Wanted these to be the corners of the image.  

Rotation-second-3

Combining these all together:

All-twirls-combined

I like to add some additional steps here.  First i duplicate this layer and take it into Topaz Labs "GLOW 2" and add a little "Fur and Feathers Glow" - This adds some defination to the lines. (or anyway I like it)

Topaz-Glow-FurFeathers

I have been adding some more things to my images.. I have some "glitter" brushes (not 100% sure where I got them, search google, there are ton out there for free).

This shows just the glitter items, mainly these little stars with some trails.  Every few items are on a new layer, this shows all layers combined.

glitter-flares

And here is the Final combine image:

FINAL TWIRLFINAL TWIRL (C) 2020 RomanDA Photography

If you enjoyed this, please comment below, or visit my FB page: RomanDA Photography

BEST OF 2019

A year where I snapped the shutter button over 22,000 times.  Its crazy to think that I took that many shots.
How do you pick the best shots?  What makes something "the best"?  

• Do you look at popularity of a shot? 
• Do you look at what the shot means to others?
• How about what that shot means to you as a photographer?

I can say this, I have been so proud to know that my work has helped expand the reach of multiple companies, people, events, churches and more.
 

INSPIRE CONF:

This will ALWAYS be an event that means the world to me.  Started by a close friend, this women's conference has grown from a few dozen ladies to (this year) well over 600. It takes a ton of time, energy, and lots and LOTS of running all over the place.

I am always looking for that "one shot" that captures the emotions or moment.
This shot below is one of these shots.  It shows the power and emotion of a room filled with Christian Ladies praising God.

As a photographer we are all about 1 thing.. L I G H T!   When you can capture emotion and light and dark all in one shot, its amazing.
This one took me about 20 angles to get just right.  Love the light streaks and the whole look.  One of my all-time favorite shots!
I am planning on being at the Inspire Conf 2020 with the new camera to take even better shots!
 

Linda#inspire2019
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Photo: RomanDA Photography

PLAYING WITH THE CIRCUS FOLK

I have had a total blast this year working closely with Cirq-U Circus University.  I was able to shoot multiple events this year for them, along with lots of public appearances.  They are some of the move awesome folks, they give and give and are so upbeat all the time.  

I was also able to capture their first public performance of the "Dragonites" Fire Breathing at the new Cannon Ballers Naming in Kannapolis.

I have loved every moment working with everyone at Cirq-u.  So much so, that I have also worked individually with some of their awesome performers.

SCARLET:

KATIE:

SANDBOX PROM:

I love love love this one.  Getting to use my talents to help capture this amazing event.  THE SANDBOX locks arms with the community to support the families of children with cancer, a life-altering, rare or terminal illness.  The prom is always one of the most amazing events of the year.  This was my 2nd year shooting this with the team of volunteer photographers.

CONCERTS:

I was able this year to work with the Independant Tribune shooting some concerts in Kannapolis.  These are always a blast to shoot, but also very challenging, light, people, heat, and more.

Sugarcreek in Kannapolis(C) 2019 RomanDA Photography

DO NOT DOWNLOAD
If you want to use for any reason, please message me

Sugarcreek in Kannapolis(C) 2019 RomanDA Photography

DO NOT DOWNLOAD
If you want to use for any reason, please message me   Rick Springfield - Kannapolis(C) 2019 RomanDA Photography




DO NOT DOWNLOAD
If you want to use for any reason, please message me

Rick Springfield - Kannapolis(C) 2019 RomanDA Photography




DO NOT DOWNLOAD
If you want to use for any reason, please message me

HDR created and tone mapped with easyHDR 3.13.0: [1] 20190720-RDA_8468.tif, [2] 20190720-RDA_8467.tif, [3] 20190720-RDA_8469.tif

Soo many more concert photos up on my FB page.

FUSION CITY CHURCH:

This is my church!  Love capturing what they are doing for their members and the community.

I also got to shot some great shots at Lake Community Church, where we have a ton of great friends.\

KANNAPOLIS CRUISE-IN

I have been shooting this event for years and years.  This year, it was plagued by rain, rain and more rain.  It only managed to run a few times this year.  I love shooting there, all the awesome cars, the people are always so nice, and i love the backdrop of Kannapolis.

Kannapolis Cruise-In(C) 2019 David Roman - RomanDA Photography

Kannapolis Cruise-in Nov 2019(C) 2019 RomanDA Photography Kannapolis Cruise-In(C) 2019 David Roman - RomanDA Photography

OFFICER BAILEY

I have known Office Bailey for most of her life.  We became blackbelts together.  She has always been an amazing young lady, working hard to make a difference in this world.  She got her "Ride" and wanted me to help capture some shots of her.
It was an honer to work with her.

RALEIGH GALEXYCON

I offered up my talents to work with the photography team at GalaxyCon Raleigh.  This was some of the hardest photography work I have ever done.  3 days (10+ hrs each) trying to capture panels, cosplayers, celebs and soo much more.

2019 GalaxyCon RaleighDAVID TENNANT & CATHERINE TATE Q&A


(C) 2019 RomanDA Photography

2019 GalaxyCon RaleighSUMMER GLAU
Angel, Firefly, Arrow

(C) 2019 RomanDA Photography

2019 GalaxyCon RaleighCREATIVE WOMEN ROUNDTABLE
Felicia Day, Lisa Corrao, Emi Lenox, Anne Wheaton


(C) 2019 RomanDA Photography

OTHER COOL THINGS:

This year I was featured in a web-magazine for my work at the Morris Day concert in Kannapolis.
I was also contacted by NIKON USA who will be using the following photo in their social media.

My work is always up for sale at Editions - Coffee and Bookstore in Kannapolis.  Magnets, Canvases, prints and more. Tell Dawn I said Hi!
This year I was able to shoot some great photos of friends, friends trucks, and lots more. 

Can't wait to see what 2020 brings!

David Roman - RomanDA Photography