Meeks Digital Studios | The Blog

Lighting: The Next Generation

2009-11-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

Our new Litepanels 1x1 Bi-Color LED lights arrived today. With light output equivalent to a 500w tungsten fixture (sometimes referred to as a "hot light,") the Litepanels 1x1 Bi-Color lights utilize over 1,100 daylight and tungsten-balanced LEDs on a 1ft by 1ft fixture to produce beautiful, infinitely-adjustable light while drawing only 10% of the power that a hot light would use. Not only are they power efficient, but these Litepanels are also lightweight and do not produce any heat. At just over 3lbs per fixture, you can place them just about anywhere, and the production's talent will ultimately be much more comfortable due to decreased operating temperatures on set. The lights can be powered by a wall outlet or by any number of battery options for ultimate portability!

We will be utilizing the Litepanels 1x1 fixtures for many of our productions, so stay tuned for some beautiful lighting results!

Coastal Flying

2009-08-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

Something I always look forward to.

2009-05-30T02:05:00.000-07:00

Every Memorial Day Weekend, a group of pilots gather for an event that they look forward to all year long. The Watsonville Fly-in and Airshow is held in Watsonville, CA and accommodates about 100-250 antique and classic aircraft and their pilots, as well as an eclectic military display and some of the best airshow performers in the circuit.

This is something I began attending with my dad when I was 11 years old, shortly after he bought his plane. 5 years later, at 16, I flew to the Watsonville Fly-in by myself on a student pilots' license and won the youngest pilot award.

This fly-in is still something that I enjoy attending on a yearly basis with my dad and all of our pilot friends. It's always a fun-filled event (save the weather, which is most commonly overcast and 50 degrees every Memorial Weekend) with tons of entertainment for all - provided either by friends or by harassing the 13 year-old wanna-be army kids who "patrol" the airport and keep us pilots all in check (sometimes even keeping us away from our own airplanes because they can't tell us apart from the general public.)

Anyway, in light of having a new and very kickass video camera to shoot with, I decided to put together a little sample of what the weekend is all about for us. I hope you enjoy it!

Credits
Camera Operator: Trevor Meeks

Many thanks go out to the CAP (Civil Air Patrol) - also referred to as the Fantasy Air Group - for putting up with all of our crap. You kids are going to make great rent-a-cops some day.

The Collaborators!

2008-11-13T01:10:00.000-08:00

The Sean D. Tucker Collaborators Aerobatic Team performed their last demonstration of the season on Wednesday, November 12th 2008 at the Petaluma Municipal Airport in Petaluma, CA. These pilots are not only performers who travel the world doing aerobatic demonstrations at airshows, they're also instructors at the Sean D. Tucker School of Aerobatics (aka Tutima Academy of Aviation Safety.) Sean D. Tucker flies the red Challenger II biplane, while his son Eric flies the red and white Extra 300. Ben Freelove, a good friend of mine, flies the silver and blue Extra 300. Last but certainly not least, Bill Stein in the holographic Zivko Edge 540.

The music in this video is "Desperate Guys" by The Faint.

Thanks for watching!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREVOR!!!

2008-09-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

(and since I'm queen of this blog right now, changing things up here, i have every right to post and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the owner of this blog, Trevor Meeks!) You deserve a wonderful day, week, YEAR!!!! :)

much love!!!!
Blog Designer Extraordinaire

Holiday Order Deadlines

2007-11-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

With the holidays around the corner, I'd like to make sure that everyone receives their orders a bit early so as not to be bogged down by holiday delays. Please have your orders finalized and submitted online before the following dates! Happy holidays!

Album orders: November 30th

Gallery-Wrapped Canvas orders: December 3rd

Photographic print orders: December 7th

New Orleans Engagement Session

2007-11-20T21:06:00.000-08:00

I photographed Christiana and Joe's engagement session today in the Garden District and French Quarter of New Orleans, LA. I'm down here for the week for Thanksgiving, and in addition to today's session, I'll be shooting some location bridal images of Christiana tomorrow here in the Garden District. Enjoy!

Beautiful Homes

2007-11-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

I've been commissioned by Amanda Brumme and Grace Meeks of Architects Nash & Nash to photograph some of their recently finished residential projects. With the wonderful company of Kristy Behrs (Wreckless Photography) I photographed a series of interiors of a home here in Sonoma for Amanda and Grace's website, www.nashandnash.com.

30proof is at it again...

2007-10-11T14:40:00.000-07:00

Within the next day or two, you can expect to see my current website come down and something new will go up. Sam and Jesse at 30proof Media are designing the temporary site right now that will keep everyone on their toes for the official new site which should be released sometime this winter. The temporary site will includes a flash-based slide show type view of my most recent work, links to the online ordering section for clients and a new and improved contact form.

Check back soon for an update, but expect the new site to launch by this weekend!

Nothing feels better...

2007-10-05T16:09:00.000-07:00

...Than the wind in your face and open air all around you!

I had the opportunity today to fly with a friend of mine that owns an open-cockpit 1929 Fleet Biplane. I photographed the airplane a few months ago and had one of the now-famous images printed on Canvas, but I'd never actually flown in this airplane with the opportunity to take photos at the same time. Well, needless to say today was a beautiful, clear, cool day with puffy cumulus clouds and deep blue skies. Bob and I flew around for about 30 minutes and I snapped some photos... I hope you enjoy them!

Oh, and of course you can click on each image to see a bigger version... they look a lot cooler that way :-)

The studio is back!

2007-10-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

After being out of commission for a couple of months due to my busy travel schedule and associated disorganization, I've finally gotten the studio cleaned up and ready to go for the winter season! I'm slowly releasing information about the studio out into the public, also hoping to grab other photographers' attention if they are looking for a rental studio in the North bay. There will be a ton more info available when my new site is released, but for now we do have some nice new images of the studio to share. Enjoy!

Fiona & Nick's Engagement Session

2007-09-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to be posting Fiona and Nick's engagement slideshow - this couple rocks! I've known the bride-to-be for most of my life, and she and her fiancée nick are two of the most down to earth people you will ever meet! This shows in their images, which were shot at Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma/Schellville, CA. Their wedding is in October, and I'm looking forward to the awesome scenery that this location will provide for their wedding photos!

View the slideshow below... Enjoy!

KISS Albums coming soon!

2007-08-10T00:57:00.000-07:00

At this point, you're probably asking yourself, "What are KISS albums?" Well, you will just have to wait and see...

Okay, I give up. KISS albums are a new product that I'm rolling out for clients, and they are probably the sweetest leather albums available for photographers to date. The new KISS albums feature hand-crafted genuine leather covers and beautifully printed flush-mount pages! I design all albums by hand, so no two are ever alike.

"What does 'flush-mount' mean?" you ask? Well, flush mount albums are different from normal books in that the pages don't curl down into the center where they are bound to the cover. Instead, the KISS books are designed so that when the pages are open, the inside surface is completely flat, allowing your photos to spread seamlessly across the entire width of the book!

Please refer to the online client galleries for pricing and options on the KISS albums, and definitely expect to see a sample of one of these books in my studio within a month or so.

Mindy & Matt Slideshow

2007-06-11T18:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little slideshow that I made with some of my favorite images from the weekend in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Enjoy!

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico wedding images coming soon!

2007-06-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

I'm in Phoenix, AZ on the way home from a FANTASTIC weekend in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I worked closely with Dustin & Tiffany Izatt of Digital Izatt Photography shooting Mindy and Matt's wedding at the Riu Vallarta hotel & resort just outside of Puerto Vallarta. All I can say is WOW!!! The location was amazing, the beach wedding was very relaxed and the colors and sounds of the ocean and the rest of the tropical surroundings totally made the shoot! Check back tonight or tomorrow for more images. Here's a quick teaser for now...

What a weekend!

2007-05-29T01:01:00.000-07:00

I spent the majority of Memorial Day Weekend in Watsonville, CA at the Watsonville Antique Airplane Fly-In & Airshow. The fly-in is an annual get-together which consists of 100 or so antique (pre-1955) airplanes and their pilots, a bunch of aerobatic pilots who put on an airshow, and usually a lot of sun exposure and the resulting pain. Well, this weekend wasn't exactly the warmest weekend that Watsonville has seen this month... In fact I think it was as cold as it could possibly be for this time of year!

Anyway, needless to say I did a lot of flying and had tons of fun. The day before heading off to Watsonville, I had the opportunity to go up for a photo session with a friend of mine who makes a living doing aerial photography, except this time I was on the other side of the camera. The following three shots are courtesy of Ryan Davis. He shot these images of my friend Tom and me flying my 1950 Cessna 170A over Sonoma, CA from another aircraft in close formation.After freezing our butts off on Friday and Saturday in Watsonville, my friends and I took off for a private airstrip near the Sacramento Delta to warm up in the sun. I snapped the following image of my friends Danny and Tyler landing their 1949 Cessna 170A on the grass airstrip.

New site in the works!

2007-05-15T00:30:00.000-07:00

The folks at 30proof are cooking up a brand spanking new site for me! New features will include a fresh new look, more information and resources for clients, and updated portfolio galleries that I'll be able to edit more freely. Check back soon for updates and a sneak peek of the new site! I can't yet say when it will go live, but anyone reading this blog will be the first to know!

I Love Flying...

2007-03-16T01:25:00.000-07:00

As a little kid, I was always fascinated by airplanes, helicopters, birds and anything else that flew. I always hoped to get the opportunity to fly or be a pilot one day. Well, here I am all grown up (well, sort of) and private pilot with my own airplane. I can't begin to express the immense feeling of thankfulness that I have to be able to do the things that I do.

Yesterday, my Aunt and Uncle came here from Hawaii. They had not seen the studio or my new plane, so naturally a full tour was in order. After a quick studio tour, we headed out to the airport, loaded up and went for one of the most amazing flights I've ever been on around the Bay Area. The following photos were taken with my Uncle's camera on the flight:

30proof Media turns One!

2007-02-16T01:53:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Jesse Evans, Sam Evans and Jennell Haynes (aka "The folks at 30proof.") Their company 30proof Media became incorporated one year ago today in the state of California.

30proof Media provides a myriad of services, including web, print and graphic design. Kudos to Jesse, Sam and Jennell for their continuing efforts to serve their clients with top-notch products and support!

Visit 30proof Media's New Site

2007-02-04T18:54:00.000-08:00

Super Bowl Sunday, and there's not much else to do but take photos. The shoot today was for an advertisement for a car wash product called "5 Star Shine." A friend of mine, David Gray, does auto detailing and uses the product, and he was asked by the company to help promote their product by having some photos taken and submitting testimonials to them for their website. The cars in the photos are "S" Model Mini Coopers, owned by (from left to right) David Gray, Me, and Grace Meeks (My Dad's wife.)

David Gray of Great Day's Autoworks.

2006-12-20T20:01:00.000-08:00

UPDATE:
Warren and I made it home this past Friday evening. While the blog had not been updated in some time (due to the lack of internet service for the last few days of our trip) I will be updating the blog to include the rest of our flight as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and continued support. Check back soon for those updates!

2006-12-12T21:37:00.000-08:00

Day 6:
This morning we woke up to high winds and heavy rain in New Orleans. Joe took Warren and I to the airport around Noon, and we sat in the FBO getting weather briefings and watching the weather move in for a couple of hours. Around 2pm, we got a loaner car from the airport and drove a couple of blocks to a bar & grill for lunch. At 3pm, warren and I walked outside to clearing skies and light winds. We headed back to Lakefront airport, obtained another weather briefing from flight service, hopped in the airplane and headed West yet again.

Our flight today was about 3.5 hours, and we watched the sun set towards the last 45 minutes of the flight. The last part of our flight was made at night, on the way to Huntsville, Texas, which is about an hour north of Houston.

Bill & Una Grace, my dad's wife's parents, live in Huntsville and met warren and I at the Huntsville airport when we landed. They treated us to an excellent home-cooked meal, and we will stay the night with them tonight before departing in the morning for El Paso, Texas.

2006-12-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

Day 5:
We left Tallahassee this morning around 8:45am with beautiful weather and nice tailwinds. The weather briefing that I received earlier in the morning informed us of a weather system moving along the Louisiana/Texas border, which would not enable us to make our original intended destination of Huntsville, Texas tonight. I re-planned our flight to New Orleans Lakefront airport, which is on Lake Pontchartrain on the North side of New Orleans.

Although the flight from Tallahassee to New Orleans lasted about 2 hours and 45 minutes, Warren fell asleep about half way through, and discovered that the shoulder harnesses in the airplane make it extremely comfortable to take an in-flight nap!

We landed around 11:15am in New Orleans and called my cousin Christiana, who we met up with for lunch during her lunch break from work. Warren and I took Christiana's car when she went back to work, and drove down to the French Quarter to check out the sights and walk around the Bourbon Street vicinity.

This evening, we went to dinner with Christiana at Landry's, the restaurant where her boyfriend Joe works in the French Quarter. I had Blackened Shrimp & Crab in some sort of amazingly delicious Creole spicy sauce, then a huge plate of Crab Cakes which I was unable to finish, but I'll save them for breakfast tomorrow.

We are spending the night with Christiana, her boyfriend Joe and their dog Dixie.

2006-12-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

Day 4:
Again, another 8am wake up call, and another early taxi to the airport. Warren and I de-iced the wings of the plane with a towel, and by the time our pre-flight was done, the temperature had risen to around 50 degrees; the warmest temperature we had seen for the past few days.

We departed Wilmington around 9:45am and flew about two hours to Beaufort, South Carolina where my friend Scott Thomason is based at the Marine Core Air Station. We had brunch with Scott, then took off and continued South.

Warren called home somewhere near Charlotte, South Carolina (Below)

A few hours later, we landed in Quincy, Florida which is North of Tallahassee. After topping off the fuel and talking to a few of the skydivers there, we flew South to Tallahassee, where the FBO there got us a hotel for the night.

We will depart tomorrow morning around 8:30am, and we are hoping to make it to Huntsville, Texas tomorrow night.

The hats are from Mike Dupont, who did the pre-buy and annual inspection on the plane in Taunton, Mass. Thanks Mike, we couldn't have done this without you! Hats off (or on?) to you!

Thanks to everyone for following us along on our adventure. The blog seems to have become extremely popular, and Warren and I appreciate all of the support and encouragement!

2006-12-09T17:19:00.000-08:00

Day 3:
Warren and I got up around 8am to a beautiful but cold Connecticut Morning. After a quick cab ride to the airport, we were pre-flighted and departing New Haven around 9:15am in the crisp 20 degree air.

We headed West along the coast towards New York City, and transitioned a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) corridor straight down the Hudson river, under the airspace for the big NYC airports. The corridor took us South through downtown NYC following the Hudson, right across a few of the main bridges and very close to the Statue of Liberty.

From NYC we headed south for Virginia, and stopped at Accomac Co. airport in Melfa, VA for fuel. Total flying time from New Haven to Melfa was 3.1 hours. I took this photo of Warren with the 170 shortly after filling the plane up with fuel.

From Melfa, we continued South and arrived at First Flight airport in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, where the Wright Brothers achieved their first manned powered flights in December 1903. The airport is set adjacent to the Wright Bros. Monument, which is set atop the hill where Orville and Wilbur launched their "Wright Flyer" from for many of their flight tests.

Warren snapped this shot (below) of me with the 170 with the Wright Bros. Monument in the background.

First Flight Airport and the Wright Monument, as seen from the air (Below.)

From Kill Devil Hills, we continued South along the Outer Banks, which turned out to be one of the most beautiful parts of our route today. (Below)

We are staying in Wilmington, North Carolina tonight, and will update with more photos and text from today's flight upon arrival at our destination tomorrow night. We have quite a bit of flying to do tomorrow, so Warren and I are going to get some sleep, instead of updating the blog all night (which, honestly, we could.)

2006-12-08T06:55:00.000-08:00

Day 2: We woke up around 9am to a light dusting of icy snow, and realized that we might want to wait a while to depart, due to the cold temperatures this morning (it's 19 degrees right now.)

After checking aviation weather online, I discovered yet another hold back. Wind. The entire Northeast is blanketed by high gusty winds, so it looks like we will be spending the day here in New Haven. I'll update later. Thanks for stopping by!

2006-12-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

Day 1 of our journeys technically started lastnight, when we boarded the JetBlue flight from Oakland, CA to Boston, MA and departed at 10:35pm PST, arriving in Boston at 7:04am EST with very little sleep or nourishment.

We boarded a train, which took us from Boston to Lakeville, MA, which is near Taunton, where Warren and I were going to pick up the plane.

We met up with Mike Dupont, who worked on the plane and inspected it for me before I bought it. After talking with Mike and some friends of his, I took off to get myself current in the new plane, and shot a few landings with the brisk crosswind at the Taunton airfield. Needless to say, my first few landings in the plane weren't the prettiest things in the world, but at least I made it back in one piece for lunch. I did more flying after lunch, and finally ended up taking Warren around the pattern a couple of times before deciding that we would depart Taunton this afternoon, more than 12 hours ahead of schedule.

The weather was perfect today in Taunton, with 10mph winds and clear skies. We departed Taunton and flew Southwest over New Bedford, Newport and then turned West heading for New York City, where we quickly realized we wouldn't arrive until after dark. We ended up landing in New Haven, Connecticut just after sunset, where we tied the airplane down and got a hotel for the night (that's where I am right now.)

Mike e-mailed me a couple of photos, which are attached in this post. We took photos with Warren's camera today, but I don't have my SD card reader with me. I guess we'll use my camera tomorrow, or whenever we get the heck out of here. Cold weather is expected to come through the area tonight and tomorrow morning, so we may or may not get out tomorrow afternoon.

2006-12-02T23:14:00.000-08:00

Yes, the last few days have been awfully quiet on my blog. If anyone is wondering why, don't worry... I'm about to fill you in.

A few days ago, on November 26th, I made the final decision and agreements to purchase the 1950 Cessna 170 that I've been looking at for some time now. I've been making arrangements to fly (via JetBlue) to Boston, Massachusetts and pick the airplane up next week and fly it back to California. I've been doing a ton of flight planning and numerous other things to prepare me for the trip, so thats pretty much why I haven't been present much.

The flight from MA will most likely take me more than a week to complete, and I will cover around 3,500 miles of the North American continent, following the East coast down to Florida, then cutting west across the southern US via Interstate 10 all the way into California. I think it will be a truly amazing trip, and I'm hoping to be able to blog some of it along the way.

Thanks for stopping by. Check back soon for more details. I'm going to be taking as many photos as possible along the way.

About Trevor

2001-01-01T01:01:00.000-08:00

I am a filmmaker and photographer from in Sonoma, CA.