The demo has begun.

This past winter, we were hit with several feet of snow that caused our garage to collapse. So, after waiting months and months for the insurance company to pay us, we’ve started the demo process. We’re going to build a two-story building where the garage was. I plan on filming and documenting as much as I can and sharing it on YouTube. I’ve already started and have posted two crappy, unedited videos up already. I’ll post them here below:

I’m planning on building a kick-ass home theater. You’ll want to follow that.

Made the front cover!

It was exciting to learn that I made the front cover of Greensboro’s local rag Yes! Weekly. I know it’s only because the play is fantastic and not because of the photo, but it’s still nice to see.

If you go to the article here you can see another photo that I took with credit.

I also did one more video to promote the final weekend of Fox on the Fairway. If you’re local, you only have three more days to see it so don’t miss it! Get your tickets here.

Backstage “drama” from Ioannis "Yanni" Batsios on Vimeo.

acting comedy Filmmaking fox on the fairway funny laugh nc plays stage theater twin city stage winston-salem

Fox on the Fairway teaser trailer

Last night was the pre-opening of the show, Fox on the Fairway, at Twin City Stage. I think they have all the big donors come and see the play before anyone else does. The director asked me to come and film it and make a short 30 second commercial for the show.

Here it is:

Fox on the Fairway Preview from Ioannis "Yanni" Batsios on Vimeo.

For this show, I did something I’ve learned never to do, I left the ISO on automatic. The corners of the play were too dark and when the characters stood too far in the front, they were too well-lit. So I didn’t want to worry about focusing, zooming and changing the ISO or aperture all at the same time. I was pleasantly surprised with the results after looking at the footage. In an uncontrolled environment, I would use this trick again. Camera Canon Mark ii with the 70-200mm 2.8f lens.

acting actors actresses fox on the fairway local theater group nc photography photos play promotional photography promotional videos theater twin city stage videos winston-salem

The Fox on the Fairway

Recently, I had the pleasure to do some promotional work for local theater group Twin City Stage here in Winston-Salem, NC. It’s for their upcoming play Fox on the Fairway which is about golf…I think. I mean, everyone had a golf club in their hands and they were constantly yelling at each other so it must be golf, right?

Anyways, here’s a nice article about the play in our local arts rag.

If you want ticket information, please visit Twin City Stage.

And below are the promotional photos and videos I put together. With direction from Philip Powell.

And some videos:

Fox on the Fairway – Meet the Cast from Ioannis "Yanni" Batsios on Vimeo.

Fox on the Fairway (Do you like comedy?) from Ioannis "Yanni" Batsios on Vimeo.

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Black Widow

I almost walked into a black widow as I entered my attic. Thankfully, I noticed something black hanging just above my head before just before I did. I took a photo with my iPhone so I could send it to my brothers. Hahahaha. What a joke. I had to break out the macro to actually see what I was shooting.

Then I made this to show why the iPhone shouldn’t be used for most photos:

I’m sure the camera phones will get just as good as an SLR, but it’s still a ways away.

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El Buen Camino 5K Run

A local community service, El Buen Pastor Latino Community Services, contacted me to photograph their upcoming 5K run. It was my first time doing this kind of event so I didn’t know what to expect. Elizabeth, the director of operations, told me where to go to pick up good running shots near the halfway point, but by the time I got there, the first couple of people had already passed. That’s when I realized that the first person was going to cross the finish line in fifteen minutes from the start of the race. I had no idea Olympians would be running! So I had to hustle myself to the end of the race to get the main shots.

I took several thousand photos, edited them down to about two hundred. If you want to see them all, click the link for my website here. Below are some of my favorites from the shoot:

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Ferris Wheel

They built a large ferris wheel in downtown Atlanta called the SkyView and it’s pretty cool. At about 20 stories high, it’s pretty large. I was there for the opening, but didn’t get a chance to ride it because of the poor weather. But I did get my camera out.

The life of an amateur

The forever student.