Two Hours: Six Images

My new ride. Well not completely new as I have had it for a month and put 342 miles on it as of today, but still new enough. This was the first shot I took, of the six total for the shoot. I got to the event early and decided to experiment while I waited for others to ge there.

Photography is a funny thing. My photography group came to the bridge to shoot photos of the bridge, the scenes around the bridge and the sunset. What ended up happening was after the sun went down, Nathan and I started painting with light for the group members. If you don't know what Painting with Light is, take a look at this below (images by Kim Courtright)....

I didn't take any photos because I was helping do the painting, which is why I had to use my friend's photos. All in all it was a good time. Everyone laughed their butts off as Nathan and I painted various scenes and each other.

But before the flashlights were broke out, I was able to capture a few more images of the scenery that was presented us on this night.

Like I said... the night was glorious. The night was fun. It isn't about how many or how few photographs you capture. It is about the quality of the photos you capture.

Anything can be photographed. Nathan and I proved that with a small LED flashlight and some creative light painting. All it ever takes is for you to open your mind and figure out how to make the scene photographic.

Grab yourself a flashlight and try to prove me wrong.

One Ring (light) to Rule Them All

My friend Nathan Smith of Smith Fine Art invited me over to his studio to play; and boy did we ever play! Using a is studio lighting (a ring flash, SB-900 and a studio strobe) we had some creative lighting fun. Nathan provided me these copies of the work to process while he processes the same images using this style of porcessing. He did promise to zombify at least one of the images of me. All in all we simply has fun. He stood behind the camera, I made faces through the ring light and we made adjustments to the lighting and experimented to our heart's content. Like I said... it was fun. Thanks for inviting me over Nathan. I know you were laughing throughout the process, but sometimes it sounded a little like nervous laughter, so I hope I didn't scare you too much. I was really having fun.

Creative lighting is a blast. While there are some rules to follow, rules are not laws and therefore can be broken. This shot includes an SB-900 backlighting my head against a black backdrop, a ring light illuminating my face and a studio stobe lighting my hand reaching through the ring light.

Oh the fun that can be had using a little pent up angst, an experimental model and equally experimental photographer. Give it a try sometime.

I loved the framing of this shot.... a small glimpse of the ring flash, an outstretched hand and a seriously pissed off expression allowed me to convey "Come here, I about to whoop your ass!" This was one of the shots where Nathan's laughter was more on the nervous side. He had nothing to fear though, my rage was focused more on the intensity of the insanely bright ring light... that hurt my eyes bad for the first half hour.

This is a scarey version of peek-a-boo. My goal here was to create the illusion of peeking around a corner or through a toilet seat. I think that I even shot this one through a remote trigger. Again using the small glimpse of the housing of the ring flash, used to illuminate me, it gives an illusion of depth and that I am coming from behind something.

No ring flash housing is visible here. But rather the appearance that I am coming our of the darkness at you. I am not kid friendly at Halloween for obvious reasons. I promise that I am genuinely a nice guy. A little odd, but nice.

I can't explain what I was trying to express here, but for me it appears to be a mixed emotion of seduction and loathing. Nathan, I neither loath you nor wish to seduce you just so that we are straight.

This was a complete High-Key process. The ring light was reverses, to face the camera and a SB-??? on camera flash was used to light my face. I really like how this turned out.

A simple composition of light using the ring flash to light my hand and face (notice the light dropping off from my hand to my face?) and the SB-900 to light the backdrop behind me.

And to wrap things up... something a little sinister and something a little mellow to let the lights do what they do best.

 Thanks again Nathan for inviting me over. I am serious about doing this again sometime... I had a blast!

Condoms and Cameras - Dealing with Weather

Springtime in Oregon is a wonderful time of the year for some stunning photos in which you can include the sky.

This is a prime example of panorama photography bring enhanced by spring storms... http://bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=4642790759&size=large

Other examples include;

A little HDR photography to make the skies sing for the photograph. This is very close to how the human actually sees the scene. The human eye can see over ten stops of light, a digital camera sensor, or film for the matter, can see a range of about three stops.

By taking seven stops of expsoure, all that this scene needed to get proper exposure (no over exposed sky or underexposed ground), and merging the images together using special software I was able to replicate the what I saw with my own eye and share it with you who would have otherwise never have seen it.

Sometimes under exposure of the sky is exactly what is needed to get the viewer to see what is important in the frame.

In this case the silhouette is accentuated with and used as a divider to separate the reflection on the water from sky. More importantly, the treeline provides some contrasting texture to puffy clouds in the sky and the mostly flat reflection on the water.

Water adds a new element to any scene. Water carries light and reflections on its back for the delight of not only the photographer, but the viewer as well. Don't be afraid of a little rain; embrace it.

A little rain, while discouraging to many photographers only helps me see the possibilities. There are things you, as a photographer, can do to protect your equipment from the elements. Buy weather resitant or waterproof camera bag is one method. Use some kind of protection on your camera while you shoot in the rain; a rain guard, a condom (yes I said a condom) on a point and shoot or as my good friend Nathan Smith pointed out during a lecture on caring for your gear, even a grocery bag with a rubber band can work well as a rain coat for your camera.

Now I know I mentioned condom above, and yes I meant it, let me be clear here. There are certain types of condoms that you should stear clear from. The rules for condoms and cameras are a follows:

1. 
   
   No lubricant (liquid or powder) or spermacide.
2. 
   
   Clear or translucent
3. 
   
   As big as needed to completely cover your camera.

The rule of thumb for condoms and camera is, the less effective it is for birth control (no spermacide, lubricant to prevent ripping, etc) the safer it is for your camera. Place your camera in a condom, stretch the tight, so that it becomes as translucent as possible, and then double knot it. After that, shoot to your heart's content. And while I won't recomment it, you could even put your camera on or in the water for some truly unique photo ops. Just be prepared to explain to everyone else why your camera is wearing a condom.

Condoms can also be used on the end of your tripod legs to keep sand, salt water and mud off the legs

Enough with the condom uses... Now get out there and shoot. You no longer have the excuse of "It's raining outside".

Stormy Highway

 

A photographer doesn't pack up his or her gear in the face of some foul weather. Instead the photographer sees the opportunity to capture a unique moment that others fail to see.

The Path

Nothing more to add now.

Glorious Bridge

Glorious Bridge, originally uploaded by MonkeyPaw2u.

After the members of my local photo group cancelled their plans to attend shoot at this bridge because of rain, I still chose to go. As a result, I caught some of the best skies in the one could dream of.

This is what seperates hobbiest from up-in-coming pros- Willingness to go out when others are not.

Stormy Roads

Stormy Roads, originally uploaded by MonkeyPaw2u.

I was digitally published by Qwertypics... Read my story and how it lead to this image: "My Personal Narnia" bit.ly/cLlV6a

This was shot yesterday during a stormy weather photo-road trip. Taking the time to see what is around you, even while drive (athough care should be taken when doing this) is important. Stop and look because there is always beauty all around you.

Stormy Fields

Stormy Fields, originally uploaded by MonkeyPaw2u.

I was digitally published by Qwertypics... Read my story and how it lead to the image: "My Personal Narnia" bit.ly/cLlV6a

This shot was taken today during a winter-like storm. Braving the uncomfortable can produce the best results. Five minutes earlier it was raining and hailing so hard that traffic on the freeway, which I was in, was slowed to 40 mph.... visibility was a mere five feet.

But the sky glorious and worth the drive.

Focus on the Canon

Prepping for the Fair

After last year's submission fiasco with the State Fair, I decided that this year I would start preparing early. I have until the first week in August to get my images selected, printed and mounted for display. Out of the six entries (the max allowed by an individual) three were accepted for display. One of the three rejected images was disqualified due to the fact that I submitted it into the monochrome category and it has a little splash of green color in it and the other two did not score enough points. But the fact that I had three displayed, when 1400 were submitted and only a little over were actually displayed made me feel proud about my accomplishment. No awards were given, but I was happy just being displayed.

This year, as of now, I have narrowed my images down to sixteen so far. My selection process now begins by grading each image on its own merits and narrowing the selections down to three color prints and three black and while prints.

Here are the candidates remaining.

Color Category:

This is a macro of a cattail. A fun little image I shot last spring while I was playing with my macro tools. While this may not make it to the submission stage, there is something about this image that I like.

Another macro, taken the same day as the above. I have a deep affinity for the decay happening in the world. I return this spring to see if I could find my subject again. I was hoping that with a year of experimentation I could try reshooting this subject, but alas the fence was removed completely. At least nobody else can ever recreate this shot with this subject.

Last year one of photos that was accepted was from a shoot I did at a civial war reinactment put on by the Northwest Civil War Counsel. I am hoping that this photo, from a different reinactment will recreate some of that point scoring magic again this year and get accepted as well.

Again with my love of decay. This photograph was taken on a heavily overcast day in Minto-Brown park. Much like my other decay subject I recently discovered that my subject has been completely removed from the park, and hence removed from being recreated by someone else, possibly more talented. I love this blend of grays, reds and oranges. Something about has held my facination for a while.

A late summer experiment using a 500mm lense from a friend of mine. The various levels of golden tones really play well with each other, which is why I have selected to be in the semi-final round of selection.

At the world beat festival my wife were having dinner before the headlining bad was supposed to play. Four men walked up and asked if they could sit with us while they ate. We said yes. We started some small talk and learned that they were the lead and rhythm guitarist, drummer and trombone player for the headlining band. They granted front stage access to photograph the show. Sila and Afro-funk Experience was an amazing experience, both the music and access to photograph them. This is the lead singer, Sila.

This is image that was disqualified for the monochrome category because of the slight green in the lamp post and benches. I am definitely resubmitting this photo again this year in the color category. I have title this "My Personal Narnia". It is without a doubt one of the more popular photos in my portfolio and a personal favorite due to the story behind it. This was photographed on my mom's birthday, the morning following an ice storm that was part of a week long severe winter storm that laid waste to us for over a week. I almost died this day while shooting some photos at the State Capital. The top of a tree at the capital, which I was standing under, broke under the weight of the ice and missed hitting me by inches. Following that, I left the capital and headed for this park in which I came across this scene. While at this scale you cannot see the ice, everything is coated with a half inch of ice.

Spring in Central Oregon is a place of wonder and amazement. This is the Three Sister's Mountains; North (right), Middle and South Sister peaks, just outside of Bend, Oregon. In the foreground is a horse ranch.

Results from the visit to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. Tulips are the most photogenic flower in my opinion. There is not guarantee of this photo being submitted, the only thing more photographed than flowers are people's cats, but it is worth considering.

This is from my most recent trip to the tulip farm mentioned above. Instead of photographing flowers as the subject, I wanted something a little more abstract, so I focused on communicating the colors which is really what makes the farm a unique place to visit.

This too was at a local civial war reinactment. To get this shot I had to get clearence from the event's safety coordinator and even then they were hesitent until I allowed them to substitute a real gun with a non-functioning replica. Well the shot still worked, as you can tell.

I am torn between these two. But alas, will need to iliminate at least one, possible both. I will just have to see how these fit into my grading system. If one makes it, that will be fine and if not, that will be fine as well.

Monochrome Category

These two self portraits have generated a lot of controversy for me. My wife doesn't like them, my coworkers are a little afraid of them but my brain loves them, so why don't I let a neutral third party be the final judge of their worthiness. I shot this one as part of a movie character series. This was my attempt to recreate the King Leonidas character in 300. But instead of screaming "This is Sparta", I dropped an F-Bomb.

This is my best impression of Hannible Lecter from Silence of the Lamb. In my mind I was saying to myself, "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti." This was a fun shoot.

In my processing of this image and the timing of the year, I called this "Goodbye to Summer". It seemed fitting. Funny how all of Black and White shots seem to have people in them. Is this a theme?









So that is my sixteen. I think the three black and white are a shoe-in, since there is little to no competition from my collection for them. Now what I will do is grade each of the images and post the results of my grading on here to see if anyone else agrees or disagrees with the voting.

Thanks for reading... Until next time, enjoy.