An "old" photo that I found on my iPhone. I had passed by this image a few times during walks around my neighborhood, and took this photo as a test shot, thinking that I would come back with my "real" camera when the light was better.
Well when I went back with my "real" camera, the mirror was gone (it had been there a few weeks). It just goes to show that saying "I'll get that later" doesn't always fly.
Taken with iPhone 3GS, edited with Photogene for iPhone.
OK, in my previous post, I featured this image captured in Disneyland.
However, I wasn't happy with it, which was just gnawing away at me in the days since I posted it. Finally, I decided to get a purely critical POV from objective eyes, and utilized a critique forum on Flickr.
After taking a couple of the suggestions in the forum, I edited it a bit differently in Lightroom, mainly getting rid of the ugly extreme vignetting and toying with the contrasts a little bit:
Could this be a better image? Absolutely! I took this with my point and shoot, so I was limited when it came to DOF. I wish the little girl had turned a bit more my way to reveal more of her eye. And I really wish that she hadn't worn a striped shirt.
However, I loved the image in that moment. This little's girl's pensive pose will always remind me of that October day in Disneyland on the Rivers of America. I also think the reflection on the banister is kind of cool, and it may not have caught my eye if she wasn't wearing that striped shirt.
Please feel free to tell me what you, esteemed reader, think of the image. Was the second edit better? Do they look the same?
Thanks as always for stopping by, and for sticking with me through my photographic journey.
I always have some sort of camera with me, and I make sure to charge my batteries in my point and shoot the night before I visit Disneyland. Usually I like to get photos of my niece, but I also love the photographic opportunity that Disneyland presents. It's a beautiful, magical place (no matter your age) filled with people and things you don't see on a regular day. I was on the "steamboat" taking a ride on the River of the Americas, enjoying the beautiful October day (Hello, this is Southern California!) and I noticed this little girl right next to me just leaning on the railing and enjoying the view:
I love the perfect profile of this little girl, and the contrast of her striped shirt to her smooth hair. The reflection of her shirt in the rail is something I noticed but didn't think came out until I started editing the photo. I created this as a B&W image in Lightroom 2 because the colors in the original were competing too much with her stripes. B&W also adds to the pensive mood I felt when creating this image. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on in this little girl's mind as we cruised down the river. I like that you can see a hint of her eye in this portrait, because for me, the photo just isn't worth taking if you cannot see an eye of your subject.
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Traveling to the nation's capitol was a wonderful experience, and I can't wait to go back. Of course, I would need some days just to take photos, but here are some photos I was able to squeeze in:
I used the Canon 15mm Fisheye in the Jefferson memorial. I knew beforehand that this would be the place to use it, as the memorial is round.
This image is so iconic of Washington D.C. The reflection of the Washington Monument on the Potomac River with a gorgeous blue sky just called to me. I really don't think my tour guide liked me at all, but seriously, how could I just walk by this image?
The Capitol was also a place I needed to use the Fisheye.
This detail of the Capitol Rotunda is just an image I love.
I loved this view of the Captiol, and the image just found me as I was walking by this view. A little bit of fall, and the white against that blue sky brings me back to that day.
I have two images that I'm keeping to myself for a little bit. They invoke a specific emotion, and I am trying to find the best way to coax that emotion out of the pixels.
Thank you as always for stopping by!
As I mentioned previously, I just love flying across the country. Unfortunately, my crappy wonderful little iPhone camera wasn’t able to capture exactly what I love about being airborne (and remember to take your Airborne before you get on a flight, seriously someone hacked up a lung on one of my flights).
Oh yes I love seeing the way the landscape below changes. I also love the whole different perspective you get climbing 10,000 feet in the air. Climbing is the key, as well as descending, because this is when the plane gets a fantastic angle of the world below.
On my recent trip to Washington, D.C. I landed in the evening and was on the wrong side of the plane. Leaving D.C. I had great afternoon lighting and a great seat to get photos from:
Since I knew the lighting would be awesome, I made sure to have the Canon 5D Mark II with me instead of in the overhead bin. I had my trust 24-105 mm lens on for versatility.
The angle during descent is pretty awesome:
In between I love seeing the desert below me:
And I love to see the land begin to change:
Until it looks like nothing I’m used to seeing
I really need to fly across the middle of the country more to grab some more cool shots. I would love to be right at the point where the land changes from desert to lush vegetation (I think I may have been napping at that point).
Thanks as always for stopping by!
On a work trip to the East Coast and flew to Washington, D.C. To see the sights since I have never been there. It seems that I got here before my luggage did.
I love sitting right next to the window because as a geographer, I can see the changing patterns of the land below me. As a photographer, I can document the ways the physical geography changes.
I made and edited this image in my iPhone somewhere over Missouri (I think).
Thanks for stopping by...if you see my luggage, tell it to do the same.
Who doesn't want to have this view right this very moment?
Taken a few years ago in Oahu, Hawaii with Canon rebel XTi.
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I like exploring themes in photography, this one in particular being geometric. I saw this image while walking in Disneyland California Adventure.
The image of the popcorn all alone in the frame just looked so...sad. And I love the break in the geometric pattern.
Canon Powershot SD780, which is apparently a popular little camera.
And of course I look for geometric patterns in nature.
This shot is a similar composition to the above popcorn photo. I really like breaking the monotony of color/pattern with a pop of color in the lower third of the photo.
Shot with Canon 5D Mark 2, Tamron 90mm macro lens, f/5.0 at 1/1600, ISO 200.
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Boy am I happy that I a) had my iPhone camera with me and that b) I made this image when I did:
Edited in the iPhone 3GS using Photogene and Best Camera apps. Ambient lighting only.
I walked by this image while running some errands one weekend. Something about it spoke to me, and for a split-second I thought, "Oh I'll grab it on the way back to my car." But then I dropped my shopping bag, took out my iPhone --This image screamed best Camera App-- and grabbed a shot or two.
On my way back to my car, the shopping center security guard had two teenage (or tweenage) skateboarders off to the side of the low wall the broken skateboard was sitting on, and my subject --gasp!-- on the ground.
This image reminds me to stop saying, "I'll get that later". There might not be a later, no matter the subject matter.
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It was recently suggested to me to rotate an image from the 3rd Annual Scott Kelby Photo Walk at the Venice Canals, CA. My response was, "But I like it this way better." However, I thought about it again and rotated it. Now leave it up to you, my faithful readers, to tell me which image you like better and why.
The original image:
And its rotation:
Go!
Ah, the Night-Blooming Cereus, a magical flower. She blooms for just one night in July or August, starting to open her petals to the world just after the sun sets. Getting larger and spreading her petals further, she gives off a beautiful fragrance to lure pollinators for the duration of her short life. She reaches her apex of beauty, and then daylight breaks. Princess Cereus closes her petals to the world as the sun rises, and then dies.
Not even the most handsome, strong prince can save her. But luckily my eye caught her.
Of the macro flower photos that I have taken, this is one of my favorite flower photo shoots, and here is one of my favorite images from the evening:
Since the Cereus only opens for one night (key word here), I got to try my hand with the strobes. It was now or never, as Elvis sings.
Using two Canon Speedlite 580 EX II's, one slave was bounced off of a white diffuser, while the master strobe was held above the flower through a diffuser by an innocent bystander (whatever family member I could dupe). of course I used the Canon 5D mark 2 in case there were any low light issues.
My dad also partook in the photographing of the flower, so we switched off as flash holder. In other words, I got a taste of my own medicine.
This was a fun and challenging macro shoot, since I usually do my macro photography during the golden hour, or inside where I can control the flower of choice.
I hope you enjoy this beautiful flower, and I hope she blooms again next year!
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I got my first dSLR about 3 years ago, and although I had been interested in/surrounded by and dabbled in photography throughout my life, it turns out that I didn’t know squat. Instead of putting the camera on the little green box setting, I took it as an opportunity to learn everything I could about photography and my camera. I dove head first into photography, and found that I actually have a passion for photography, and cannot see myself without a camera. EVER. Since that fateful day, I have upgraded my camera, and am constantly working on developing my eye.
That being said, I have had those just getting into photography approach me with questions, and I have found some common themes. I have put together this list to help new photographers that may be a bit overwhelmed, and having been there not that long ago, I hope drawing from my experience will help the newbies.
8 Tips for Photography Beginners
One of my camera's first outings, this tree root was photographed multiple times:
I hope these tips are useful, and please feel free to add to this list on your own as you go along in your own photographic journey.
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As you may recall, I recently went on Scott Kelby's 3rd Annual World Wide Photo Walk. This photo won the best image for the local photo walk in Venice Beach, CA, but didn't get too far in the world wide contest.
Which is fine, I really wasn't expecting to win. And receive fame, fortune, and a ton of cool prizes. OK, or just the cool prizes.
But you, dear readers, have the power to vote for the People's Choice award:
http://worldwidephotowalk.com/peoples-choice/page/8/
It is the first photo in the sixth row. Don't be afraid to give it 5 stars all the way.
Thank you in advance for your vote!
And thank you, as always, for stopping by.
Testing out the ability to blog from my Flickr page.
What better than to test it out with a nice reflection of my favorite place? A different view of home, certainly I never really see it like this.
And taken on the fly with the iPhone, edited with Photogene.
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Humans just cannot seem to leave well enough alone. An example of this is Oat Mountain, a mountain in the Santa Monica Mountain range. It is owned by the gas company, and the peak is home to telecommunications, so it has been spoiled.
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Oat+Mountain+Mtwy,+Chatsworth,+CA&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.819956,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Oat+Mountain+Mtwy,+Chatsworth,+Los+Angeles,+California+91311&ll=34.309808,-118.60838&spn=0.031336,0.077162&z=14&output=embed&w=425&h=350]
Aside from that fact, well enough cannot be left alone. I recently went up there for the first time in about 18 months (I have been going there since I was a toddler), and of course brought my camera.
This photo was taken in February 2008, and note the wall on the right of the photo:
I took the following last weekend, July 2010.
Now, Oat Mountain is kind of a hike to the top, and the only way that someone can get to it in a car is by owning a key (which not to many people have access to).
I am sad that someone would travel to the top of the peak, with spray paint, just to deface a wall that very few people will see.
I noticed when looking through my Flickr set of Oat, that the scenery has changed (of course), but so has my eye.
In February 2008, I was taking photos like this:
And in July 2010, I took a photo like this:
Now, for those of you that say, "What kind of camera is that? It takes such good pictures!" the first photo was taken with m first SLR, a Canon Rebel XTi. The last photo was taken with my iPhone.
Quite interesting to compare the type of photography and to see my growth as a photographer.
A couple of my favorites from this latest trip up there:
Of course I found the flowers on the otherwise brown mountain.
I'm also experimenting a little bit with some Lightroom presets and customizing:
This aged tone really spoke to me for this photo, because the tree is old, and the surrounding vegetation is brown anyway. I always think warmly of Oat Mountain because it has been part of my life, so this tone reflected my warm fuzzies for it as well.
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Last weekend, Santa Paula experienced an influx of hot air balloons for the third Citrus Classic Balloon Festival. About 16-18 balloons showed up for a soiree of color. I caught a few photos as the balloons were rolled out and set up before the sun set:
Taken with the Canon 5D Mark 2 (the only camera I use anymore), Canon EF 24-105 L. f/7.1 to get a good amount of focus, at 1/80, ISO 100. Cropping and color correction done in Lightroom 2.
I liked focusing on the guys that were working with the balloons to get them up and running for us to enjoy.
I played around a bit with this photo, keeping in mind the recent Creative Live weekend with David DuChemin, "Vision-Driven Photography":
Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, Canon EF 24-105 L. f/5.6 at 1/25, ISO 200. This particular photo didn't go along with my original vision, and I wish I would have done a few things differently with it, but I knew that it was important to the story of the balloons. In terms of editing, I used Lightroom to direct the eye a little bit by using some gradient filters.
In terms of the vision I had for this event, these photos are the closest to what I wanted:
The colors and the detail of the balloon are pretty much what I wanted (the execution to get exactly what I wanted was just a bit off).
I love this photo because it shows the wonder and awe that goes along with seeing these huge balloons lit up. It also looks a bit like the Wizard of Oz to me.
This little guy was tuckered out before night even fell:
I had to get his picture, his face was perfect.
Check out the rest of the set here , I really like how a lot of these photos turned out, and can't wait for the festival next year!
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My career happens to be Geographic Information Systems, map making for those of you not familiar with the term. Mapmaker, mapmaker, make me a map, find me a location..... (Just imagine Babs singing that!) Every year, thousands of my fellow GIS'ers and I attend the ESRI User Conference (the industry conference) at the San Diego Convention Center.
Here are a few photos of my take on the ESRI UC from this year, (July 12-16) recently featured on the premier GIS website, GIS Lounge:
The ESRI logo at the San Diego Convention Center.
Attendee Kelly Minniti solves "Where in the World?"
The new GeoLounge allows attendees to kick up their feet for a much needed break.
Check out the rest of the set and let me know what you think.
Thanks for stopping by!
Back from being on the down low... I participated in Scott Kelby's Photowalk again this year. I was part of it the first year in Santa Monica, CA, and had a great experience. I couldn't go last year because of a previous commitment, so I'm glad that I was able to cruise around with my camera this year. I made up for last year and did two photo walks this year: 1) Venice Beach, CA with leader Ken Shelton and 2) Travel Town, Los Angeles -- at the entrance of famous Griffith Park-- with leader Mike Kubeisy (see his guest blog on Scott Kelby's site here).
What is a photo walk, might you ask? It's basically a group of photographers that walk around a specific area to take photos, as you might imagine. The special thing about this one is that the photographer/Photoshop master known as Scott Kelby organizes a worldwide event each year. It's a great way to meet other photographers, and non-photographers can focus on a large group of people with cameras instead of just you by yourself. Today one woman told me that she saw the large group of us and thought we were paparazzi! Hey, it's L.A.
Anyhow, I got some pretty cool photos and met some really nice people. The day started out cloudy with the marine layer and all, but finally the sun came out for us and threw out some beautiful light in the Venice Canals/Beach. The day ended with some really nice light in Travel Town.
Something that photographers like to do is challenge themselves, and a photo walk is the perfect time to do so. The challenge I created for myself was to not take flower photos. For those of you that know me and my photography, that's a really difficult challenge. And I failed miserably.
Had I gone to Travel Town first, I would have had some hope. But in the canals one and then two bushes of morning glories came up and that was the end of my challenge. I give in to the plants.
Here is the photo that led to my downfall:
And then of course I couldn't stop:
I enjoy these photo walks because they are not like a workshop, where you are taught by a person how to get a shot. We are allowed to roam freely, finding our own shots, making our mistakes and learning from them.
The only drawback to photo walking is not paying attention to where you're stepping. I happened to be so focused on making photos in the pooch-friendly canals, that I didn't realize I had stepped in a canine gift. I'm thanking my lucky stars that I was wearing tennis shoes instead of sandals.
Please check out the rest of my Venice Flickr set here (Travel Town will be uploaded shortly).
A few of my favorites:
This is the photo I uploaded for the photo walk contest...I love it because it's a different perspective, due to the 15mm fish eye lens. I imagine that is is the view a fish would have out of the water.
**UPDATE This photo won the location photo walk contest! Now onto the big world wide contest! Thank you to all of those who have been supporting me.**
I also love this photo (which happens to be the other side of the above image):
I love the colors in the reflection and the pop of color provided by the boats. I went into taking photos here with a vision of capturing something that said "Venice Canals", and I believe that the above image did exactly that.
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I must say that I love the diversity of speakers participate in the IRIS lecture series at the Annenberg. The week before last, the DP of National Geographic Magazine spoke and had tips on what the magazine looks for in a photographer. Last week, the speaker was a photographer who has been in a plethora of publications, including National Geographic. It's still amazing to me that these speakers are there without cost to the general public. Last week's IRIS night lecture at the Annenberg by photographer Ian Shive continued the theme of water to go along with the current Water: Our Thirsty World print exhibit. His talk and accompanying images, entitled "Water & Sky: A Photographic Journey from the Arctic to the Himalaya" reflect the importance of water to the environment, as well as how humans interact with and use water.
The word that comes to mind is inspiring. Shive had a 9-5 desk job for ten years, and on his weekends would visit various national parks. Last year, he released a book about the national parks. Something to be said for leading a double life. Three years ago, he became a full time photographer and now travels the world so that he can share his experiences through photography.
Something I really took away from Shive's talk is that there are two stories to an image: 1) What the image conveys and 2) What it took to make it. He shared with his audience the latter story of his time with Search and Rescue on Mt. McKinley (aka Denali) in Alaska. His photos were absolutely breathtaking, and really spoke to me because I visited Alaska in 2003, and landed on Ruth Glacier on Mt. McKinley by way of a very small Cessna. That experience was one I will never forget for several reasons: 1) How many people get to do that, ever? 2) It was like being on a different planet, I couldn't believe this place existed on Earth and 3) That trip further revealed to me that I have a passion for photography (even if it took a few years to reveal itself to me).
He took us from Denali to India, up the West coast, and over to the Himalayas. He spoke of natural history as his genre of photography, and shared images form a salmon run that he photographed (as in, getting in the water with salmon and nudging them around). This was the last of that salmon run, so it truly was history.
Shive's images and story made me resolve to get out to beautiful places and actually make some pictures. It reiterated that we can read all about photography and look at other photos, but as photographers the goal is to get out there and shoot.
Thanks to the Annenberg for sharing this wonderful speaker, I look forward to seeing former Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti speak next week about his photographic journey.
And thank you for stopping by!
This is my second week in a row of culture in Los Angeles. Who would have thought? On Thursday evening I was lucky enough to attend yet another IRIS lecture at the Annenberg Space for Photography. This lecture featured David Griffin, the Director of Photography for National Geographic Magazine. In a word, his talk Inside National Geographic Magazine was fantastic. Now, I have been a fan of National Geographic from childhood when I would steal borrow my older brother's subscriptions that came to the house to flip through the pictures. It is safe to say that now I appreciate the photos in the magazine a little differently. But I still borrow his magazines (shh!).
Griffin spoke honestly and openly about the things that National Geographic (NG) looks for in a photographer: talent, planning and flexibility. These things are crucial to the magazine, and the photographer needs to be able to consistently communicate a sense of place, people, action, and must have technical prowess. Consistency is the key, in that a person can have luck and snap a good picture, but as a NG photographer, one needs to have the skill to create good (NG standards here) images on a regular basis. Griffin touches on this point in the following video from February 2008, which also shows some of the images that he spoke of at the Annenberg:
TED Talk: David Griffin on how photography connects us
Griffin also spoke of the innovations in photography that NG has had in the past, from the first photo published in the magazine in the late 1800's as just an illustration to accompany the technical article to the newest innovations that are in practice today for the photo essays. He also spoke of the innovations that the magazine is making in this digital age as print circulation declines, such as NG on the Apple iPad.
Getting a glimpse inside of this magazine's photographic process was an amazing and inspiring experience. I truly enjoyed every moment Griffin spoke and could have easily listened to him for a few more hours.
Thank you to the Annenberg for making quality speakers available for these IRIS nights. I look forward to many more of these lectures (such as photographer Ian Shive next week).
And as always, thank you for stopping by!
