If the rest of 2012 shapes up to be anything like this first week, then we’re all undoubtedly in for one wild ride of a year. While we took a break from shooting live music this week, there was still plenty to be done in the spare moments for I Shoot Reno.

Check out the links below for two upcoming shows that are sure to set Reno ablaze.

Continue down the page for a recap of the weekly Instagram fun and follow @ishootreno on Instagram for a real-time photo stream!

Upcoming: Tool @ Reno Events Center [January 14]

Upcoming: The Crystal Method (DJ Set) @ Knitting Factory Concert House [January 19]

2012-01-01 Grandmama Pat and Pixie the grandpup

This was taken at the dinner table for a birthday / New Year’s Day celebration with the in-laws. Pixie was looking as cute as ever in grandma Pat’s lap and this HDR image was ran through iCameraHDR and the fancy hearts and bling are courtesy of LensLight.

I’m pretty sure that Star Wars Madlibs are the perfect accompaniment to the trilogy … this shot has some added bokeh and light leaks courtesy of Picfx.

2012-01-05 Sorry I've been away so long heres a shot from my paper shredder — 2012-01-05 Sorry I've been away so long ... here's a shot from my paper shredder!

After taking a break from I Shoot Reno fun time and grinding out some needed office hours at the day job, this shot from the full paper shredder made me smile on the way out of the office Thursday evening. Can you find the word ‘Penalty’?

2012-01-05 My 1st contribution to the #ube_thu before and after party

PolyMagic is the cool frame app used here, FX Photo Studio allowed me to affix the before / after tags and #unitedbyedit / @unitedbyedit are highly recommended searches on Instagram. TONS of talent just waiting to be discovered!

Leftover Cristal photo from New Year’s layered atop of the blinds in the bedroom. Purple hexagons courtesy of LensLight sit atop of this early Saturday morning post.

Another NYE leftover of my gorgeous wife and chihuahua daughter. Frame Magic lets you apply that cool drop shadow and Squaready helped setup the square workspace to arrange within.

So there’s this place called Edible Arrangements which just opened here in Reno. As the name suggests, the arrangements they make (and deliver) are edible! Fruit is the medium and this shot used Juxtaposer, Picfx and PhotoForge2 to bring the fruitadelica to life.

My wife says that this is her new favorite picture of our chihuahua daughter. I have to agree, it’s pretty darn cute. ToonPAINT is responsible for the cool lines and FX Photo Studio painted in the dirty photo background.

2012-01-07 Did you catch up on your rest this weekend?

Another ToonPAINT + FX Photo Studio combination here plus Frame Magic and Squaready for the final product. Oh, and iWatermark for the copyright info.

Go On, Treat Yourself to Something Nice!

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Reno Santa Pub Crawl 2011 Flyer

With 7000-8000 in expected attendance, I was on the fence as to whether or not I would be bringing my Nikon D7000 camera along for an evening of Ho Ho Ho’ing in downtown Reno for the 2011 Reno Santa Pub Crawl. Well, I decided against it, having recently picked up an iPhone 4S and not wanting to trust thousands of drunk Santas (myself not excluded) with the well-being of my relatively expensive gear. The iPhone 4S (fitted with Power Support USA anti-glare (front) / crystal (back) screen protectors) fit snugly in my front pocket and required a much less demanding schedule of maintenance on this alcohol-centered outing than the bulky DSLR would’ve any day of the week; and with the newly re-designed camera in-tow, I felt pretty darn confident with this as my go-to shooter of the evening … even if I wasn’t fitted with the freshest iPhone lenses from Photojojo.

For most (I believe all except for the screen capture of the map) of the shots seen in this post (and recently in my Instagram feed), I used iOS 5’s HDR setting when shooting the originals and began the editing process by combining the HDR image + the non-HDR (original) image in iCameraHDR. The process continues in either TiltShiftGen, FX Photo Studio or picfx before finishing color and style and importing to Camera+ for part one of the border creation (round edges on a landscape-shaped image). Part two of border creation (placing a non-square image neatly within the confines of a square) takes place in Squaready and the photos are (finally) uploaded to Instagram (no filter) in the format seen below. This process was beyond horrendous using my previous device (iPhone 3G) and took nearly 15 minutes per photo. With the iPhone 4S’ A5 processor stepping up to the plate here in late 2011, this process can now be completed in 5 minutes or less … which means more time for prancing around downtown Reno with our hypercolor plastic glasses and Santa hats!

Memorable Highlights: Santa’s Package Package at Strega Bar, Tortilla Toss under the Reno arch at midnight, BBQ + Hot Wings at Men Wielding Fire

In short, we had a blast … and will be back next year for more festive celebration!