Photos
« Previous EntriesToday’s picture: Nuts the Secret Ninja Squirrel
Thursday, March 11th, 2010If you’ve read my blog at all, you know that I have a friend named Nuts. He’s a secret ninja squirrel. We’ve been together for the last 3 1/2 years ever since we linked up in Iraq, and we’ve formed a somewhat beneficial bond: I put a roof over his head, he fights international terrorists. It really does work quite well. Knowing that, and the fact that we haven’t had a good picture of him lately (he comes and goes so much), I decided that my picture today on my test run of a 365 would focus on him, properly. I have a long weekend coming up, and it just so happens that he’s coming along for the ride. Perhaps we’ll see more of him next week. On a side note, don’t expect anything else from me at least until Monday.
This was done with my G11 and portable camera kit.
Today’s image: Back Pain
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
My inspiration today comes from my body. I tweaked my back somehow in Iraq and it’s causing a little pain today. These are something I was given by the VA for it, but I’ve only ever taken about 5 or 6 of them since they pretty much knock you out. Useless sitting in my medicine cabinet, today they serve as fodder for a picture.
Still testing out the idea of doing a 365.
Thinking about a 365 project… started with a lawnmower.
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010p>For the last month or so, I’ve contemplated doing a 365 day photo project (a picture a day for a year) to try and jump start my photographic passion. Sometimes life just gets too busy and photography, since it’s not required, gets pushed to the backburner. I’d like for that to change, at least some. I want to do a project that will make me push myself creatively, mentally, but also stylistically and artistically. I want to broaden my photographic eye, so to speak, and a large project like that just might work. Right now I have some commitments that might interfere with a picture every day, but we might be able to find ways to work around that. I’m testing the waters right now, so here’s my first attempt at ‘branching’ out a little bit:
I had some yard work to do amongst a busy schedule yesterday so I figured I’d try and squeeze a picture in during that time. I mounted my D80 with a Tamron 11-16mm WA lens to my lawnmower via a superclamp and went ahead moving it around. It was very hard to get one clean capture since the ground isn’t perfectly flat so I decided to make a run on some concrete since it was smooth.
We’ll see where this goes. Wish me luck.
Some G11/portable camera kit pictures from Valentine’s
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Not a big update today, but I wanted to share a few of my re-edits from my unfortunate loss last week. I took my portable camera kit out on my wife and my Valentine’s date a couple weekends ago, hoping that maybe something would pop that we’d want to photography. We used the Lumiquest Softbox III and the SB800 in one of the pictures, the rest we took next to this very cool looking wall that also happens to be very background/photographer friendly. I also took some pictures with my DSLR but I figured these pictures taken with a point and shoot were more interesting, considering it was a point and shoot after all.
I should note that I shy away from retouching because, frankly, I’m not too good at it. So if you see any stray hairs, it was a windy day, and I’m no Photoshop master.
Click here to see more pictures…
Some results from my G11/SB800 portable kit
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
I know that sometimes I write about something and leave you guys hanging and waiting for more info (like my year old promise that I’d review the 28″ Westcott Apollo Mono softbox) but today that is not the case. I was so excited after putting together that portable kit that I went ahead and did some preliminary shots using models a few of my buddies as subjects. It took me a brief moment to put it all together (including the Lumiquest Softbox III), I used the light meter to get my readings for aperture and distance, and then we were set to go. This is exactly the reason I put this together and am so excited going foward: its quick, its light, and for what it is it produces respectable results. Remember: this is a point-and-shoot.
Click here to see the pictures…
From an old LG flip-phone to the Motorola Droid: what can I as a photographer get from a cell phone camera?
Friday, January 8th, 2010
If you look at the marketing points for the Motorola Droid, Verizon’s latest and greatest (and heavily advertised) smartphone, you’ll see some interesting tidbits: 5 megapixel camera, dual LED flash, ability to take shots at night, calculate missile flight patterns while simulateously making you the best omelet you’ve ever had. You’d be correct if you assumed those marketing points mean almost zip. We could discuss the technical matters at length, but I’ll just say this: trying to cram all of that stuff into a tiny area on a phone probably isn’t going to get you the best results. But more on that later.
Instead, after playing around with cell phone cameras, specifically the ones on my most recent two phones, I’ve really wondered at what I as a photographer can realistically get from photos I take with my phone. When you think of what you need to take a quality photo, a cell phone really doesn’t fit in there anywhere, at least not for me. Yeah, some people like Chase Jarvis have been able to find a market for that sort of thing (a very small market), but, personally, I find the pictures in his book to be pretty… boring. Perhaps its not my taste, but, do I really want to see a picture of a ladder just standing upright with a little mobile Photoshop thrown in? What’s so compelling about that? Anyways, I hope not to offend, I respect Chase’s work a lot, but for that particular project I just don’t “get it”.
Nonetheless, I won’t say that quality photos can’t come from a cell phone, and as the saying goes, the best camera is the one that’s with you. So, what is the point of all of my rambling then? I guess I’m just trying to figure out what my perspective should be when it comes to camera phones: is it an artistic tool or is something that you’ll get a cool picture or two out of by sheer luck (i.e. conditions being just suitable enough for the camera on the phone to be able to take a decent picture). To be honest, recently I’ve seen it as both. Let me explain why.
Canon G11 Hands On (with some quick shots and a coupon for 10% off)
Friday, October 16th, 2009
I’ve been searching for a small, portable camera for some time. A frustratingly long time actually. Not wanting a point-and-shoot (P&S) camera because they offer me no creative control and not wanting to carry around my DSLR because it can get quite bulky in some scenarios (like riding my bike around town), I was left with few options. Actually, more like two options.
It was either going to be the Canon Powershot G11, Canon’s latest entry into their successful G-series of advanced P&S cameras, or the Panasonic DMC-GF1, Panasonic’s smallish DSLR-type camera packed into a smaller body. Being honest, if not for the price difference, I think the GF1 would have been my preferred purchase, but, economics rule and the G11 was nearly half the price. So goes the way of the world.
How To Save A Life
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
How to save a life.
If you’re at all into modern music, you listen to the radio, watch televsion, at some point you’ve probably heard The Fray’s hit song “How To Save A Life”. Chances are that just by reading that you’ve heard the words being sung in your head by the group’s lead singer Isaac Slade. I know I did as soon as I finished typing it. It’s catchy, it has a nice sound to it. Specifically for those reasons recently the youth pastor at my church did a series on witnessing and the theme was “How to save a life”.
You’re probably wondering why on earth I’m mentioning this on a photography blog and my answer would be the picture at the beginning of this article. See, we have this guru of Powerpoint guy that works with us in youth ministry named Tim. The guy’s a stud at combing the internet looking for graphics to use for our youth pastor’s slides during his messages and subsequently putting them together with all sorts of crazy and appropriate fonts. He makes the usual drab graphics stuff have some life to it. Unfortunately (and rarely), he couldn’t come up with anything to go with this series, so they were scratching their heads trying to come up with an idea.
By all accounts, if you can’t find what you need, create it. Cue the guy with the camera who loves photography. They had some rough ideas and volunteered some of our teens for the picture and asked me if I could put something together. Well, I’m not sure if this was their original idea, but as soon as I got the gist of the message and the target audience I had something in mind: an aprehensive teen looking over his shoulder at some other students near their locker. With a visual in my head, I brought my gear to the church and went to work.
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An afternoon spent shooting my wife (nowhere near as bad as it sounds…)
Monday, August 24th, 2009
Sometimes weekends work out exactly as planned, others they just kinda wander around and do their own thing. This past weekend was definitely the later and we have cancelled plans and rainchecks to thank for it. Of course, stuff happens to all of us, right? Eventually, you’re even the one doing the cancelling and giving the “hey we’ll do it again” speech. So what do you do when you suddenly have a Saturday night open and no desire to drum up new plans? You make lemonade. Wait… that didn’t come out right. It has something to do with lemons, I know that. Anyways, make lemonade (the real sugary kind).
And that’s what I did. I got the chance to do a “photo shoot” with my beautiful wife, who is very sweet (AND the lemonade sugar joke comes full circle I’m an idiot). We’d been wanting to get a proper photo of her done so she could post it on a beta webpage she’s testing for her school’s website. So, I figured why not use the time to experiment a little and maybe have a happy accident if we nail one. Fortunately, we had a few keepers.
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A birthday celebration from a different perspective
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009DISCLAIMER: What you are about to read is nonsensical, unrealistic, completely 93% fabricated un-truth, or what some people might call stupid. So, if you don’t like any or all of those, maybe go do something else for a moment while I entertain my slightly overdeveloped (or underdeveloped depending on your point of view) creative side. However, if you don’t mind reading something completely ridiculous with a few very… ‘interesting’ pictures thrown in, then proceed. Know this though: gummies were harmed in the making of this story.
Click here to read if you dare… (or if you’re just a little interested)…
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