Since Blog Wars Has Been Extended....

I was thinking the other day (always a scary proposition) on the bus to the St. Francis Dam site that it is odd that we humans go to great lengths to visit nature or historical places. I think our forefathers would laugh at what we go through. We are loaded on buses with folks we probably don't know, given provisions just so we won't faint away (like we can't plan ourselves?!) and guided to the exact location so we can "experience" the setting. It is almost comical. Anyway in researching a historical place, I too bought into this kind of behavior, at least I can report that I did hike up to the top of one edge of where the dam once stood :)

Point Taken

These two images were taken using a 5D, a Sigma 50mm 1.4 lens

1st shot 10 seconds, 2.5, iso 100

2nd shot 20 seconds, 2.5, iso 100

I find it particularly cool to shoot up close at night. Getting the focus using a small flashlight and then setting the lens to manual is about the only way to get this type of shot with a shallow DOF. Fun exercise Wendy.

Day / Night, Santa Clarita

Day / Night. Taken with my Canon ESO 5D. At 7:58 pm, f4, 15 seconds, 24mm, ISO 100.

Is it night or is it day?  Is that the sun or the moon?  Hmmmmm

Night to day.  f4 at about 25 seconds.  All shots were made at from 10-25 seconds. 



Santa Clara River Railroad Bridge - 1898

I shot this with a 70-135mm Canon lense set at 135mm, f5, ISO400 with a 30 second exposure. This image is pretty much "as shot" with some minor adjustments in Photoshop, taken about 1 hour after sunset. I like how the light colored weeds in the foreground seem to frame the image - totally by accident.

The house at night

I shot both of these at around 9 or 10 PM las night using the Canon 5D the top one was shoot at iso 100 and the second was shot at 1600. The only light available for both shots was a street lamp outside (wich could be seen clearly ) and in the first shot I also had some light from the TV in the room next to the kitchen help with the exposure. They were both extremely warm so I tried to fix that a bit.

Making food

I saw this photo op while out searching for the perfect desert shot. 

Dessert Contrasts

This is year three, attempting to get the perfect dessert/snow-covered mountain scene.  Any feedback appreciated.

THE SHERWINS

I shot this in Mammoth Lakes at about 7:00 pm. This is a view of the Sherwins. I used a Canon 40D with a 28-135mm lense at 56 mm, F4.5 for 120 seconds, ISO 1600. The sky was clear and the lighting was from the stars and a few town lights about one mile away. Even though I was using a tripod, the high winds left this image a little soft. Composing in the dark is surely a "hit and miss" affair. But, after a few attempts I got the composition I wanted. I played with the exposure in Photoshop a little and re-sized for the blog. If I could re-do this shot I'd reduce the ISO to about 400 and increase the exposure time. Did I mention it was 28 degrees or that my wife waited very patiently in the car for about 45 minutes?

This is on a path to the beach in Malibu. I was leaving and the sun was goin down, I looked at the pawn and it felt so paceful. I wanted to see if I was able to capture that pacefulness. I know some parts look a bit dark but I like it that way, it gives me that late feeling...

Filmore City Hall at night.

wish I had a great camera

Dear Old Town Pasadena

every visit there's something new to see and do.

wheres a great camera when you need one. blackberry will have to work for now. watching wendy's lectures on how different photographers defined landscape was inspiring. i suppose my definition status is: to be continued

Filmore Southern Pacific Depot

The Southern Pacific Depot was built in 1887 during the southern California land boom of that decade. Edith Moore Jarrett the first Curator of the Museum saved the depot from demolition in 1974 by purchasing it from Southern Pacific Railroad for a dollar.

The Depot was originally located much further west on the tracks than its current locaton. It was about 50 feet from Central Ave.

The depot had an additional 20 feet of waiting room. The photo with 2 windows on the west end included the waiting room. Where there are three windows that is the current configuration. When there was a waiting room there was also a bay window trackside which went away when the waiting room was removed.

Cliff side

Best shots are the local shots. viewing down the canyon of Vasquez rocks

Night and Day

So students, let's have a little fun. I like the spirit of competition! Let the blog wars begin. Keep this simple -- which photographic post (in response to mine) will solicit the highest star ratings in the next two weeks?

My brother-in-law sent me a link of photographs a few months back. The link shows several images taken at night but the end result of the image looks like daytime. In the last year I have played around with the idea myself. The results are so unreal and unbelievable - truly fantastic.

So again, keeping it really simple. Take photographs at night, but make sure they look like daytime. That's it - go for it. Worth the wait?

http://gizmodo.com/#!5742383/175-photos-of-day-taken-at-night

Technical hint? Use a tripod and f 4.0 to start with at least 5 second long exposure. Depending on the available light it may be longer. The new moon (dark moon) is tomorrow, so as we approach a full moon in the next two weeks the light at night will change significantly.

Another from the Hip

I love this style of shooting. You kind of know what you're going to get and you kind of don't. There were no auto focus setting used on this image. It was taken up on the hill at Wm S Hart Park.

Not one of the best focused pictures of all time, but this photo was taken about 2 or 3 years ago. I went through a stage that I enjoyed exploring and going on adventures to "haunted" or abandoned places; such as burnt down churches, asylums, abandoned places, haunted churches... just about anything and everything you can imagine. This image here was from an abandoned burnt down asylum. Probably one of the creepiest places I have ever been to. A lot of crazy good shots, and a lot of creepy a mind blowing experiences. It gives me a lot of mixed emotions due to the fact that this was a kids play set. I love this shot, even with the lack of focus, and the whole composition of the image is just amazing to me. I love this image, a lot! That is all! :]

Last semester I was lucky enough to participate in a student workshop with the Getty Museum. They brought in Documentary Photographer Sudharak Olwe. This experience has completely changed the way I shoot, before this my photos were mediocre at best, just asked Wendy. Afterward the strength of my images has improved immensely.

A big moment in my life.

I apologize for the late post, it has been a hectic week. But as for the image above I realize it isn't a very interesting picture, or aesthetically pleasing picture, but the time and subject of the image are what hold meaning to me. This picture was taken with my phone right after I bought my first DSlR. I was so exited and so grateful for my grandfather because he had co-signed for a loan to buy this very camera, and he trusted in me to really put his credit to good use. The point of this image was to document a particular time in my life that was a true turning point. It has got me to think about how often we take pictures and why we do. Whether it is for pleasure, for beauty, or just purely to document.. we ALL take pictures.