365 Project - Day 110

Day 110

Happy New Years to everyone! 2010 is going to be an amazing year. Today's shot was of some Cat Tails that came out of their shell with heavy snow on top. For the new year I encourage everyone who reads, tweets, forwards, or somehow comes across this post to do the same. No matter if you're a Photographer, Teacher, Father, Mother, Musician, Designer, Manager, or some one looking to be one of the above. Remember, you set your limits, so don't short yourself!

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.
Ja mata! Brain

365 Project - Day 109

Day 109

Tonight I had planned to shoot trailing car lights off of the highway. But after meeting with a bride for a consultation, I was inspired to capture an image from my wife's memory box. During the meeting, we had talked about keepsakes and the different meaning behind items that were saved for the future. The image is of a silver Lasso that was draped around Perla and myself at our wedding in Mexico, it symbolizes Unity. If you have a memory box, what is something special in yours?

*Thanks Jasmine & Chris; Perla & I had a great time talking with you both.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 108

Day 108

Today is a good day for Bokeh. Mainly, I wanted to get a shot like the one above before the Christmas tree was put away for the season. For the past couple of weeks I have wondered how I could incorporate this warrior into the 365 project and Christmas tree lights seems like the appropriate place. The Terracotta Soldier is from Xi'an China, I traveled there in 2001 and bought this one just after touring the museum. The museum was amazing, seeing the row and rows of warriors with weapons and horses for Emporor Qin. From China to Ohio he is now guarding the Tree of Lights until next year, in the closet.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 107

Day 107

It was a cold morning today, lots of snow falling, and I got stuck in a thorn bush. I have watched this fields for about 2 months now and thought today would be a good snow shoot day. Tomorrow I will have to dress a little more weather & thorn conscious before venturing out. I already have my eye set on another patch of trees, just depends on how clear the roads are in the morning.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 106

Day 106

This morning I went out the local park to find a shot of the day. I came across a tree stump that had some interesting fungus growth on the side of it. Initially, I shot this from a side view, but the top down view had more of an impact, once I changed my perspective. While I love this view of the fungus, I can't help but wonder what it would have looked like from the bottom up.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 105

Day 105

There was a nice sunset today that I wanted to capture. When I got outside the light had started to fade, so I quickly setup my tripod at a low angle for a long exposure. Then framed up the shot for the large tree in the foreground; I later converted the image to black & white in post production.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 104

Day 104

Just a quick present shot today, hope you got something good! Happy Holidays everyone!

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 103

Day 103

For 'Themed Thursday' the word was 'Anticipation'; the shot was a winner but the ticket was not. I wanted to gel 2 flashes one blue and other red but didn't have any gels, so I taped colored CD cases to the flashes to get the colors I wanted. Using off-camera flash to the illuminate my hands and the lottery ticket, flashes were placed to the high right and at table level left. In addition, I used wirelessvaried power level via the master flash for the slave unit.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

Marry Christmas~

365 Project - Day 102

Day 102

When shooting outside at night and it's cold, you should either dress appropriately or shoot quickly. I did neither tonight. So I ended up catching a shot of a light post because of the texture of the pole due to the frost that accumulated on it, and I was losing the feeling in my finger tips. After the holidays, I'm will look for a pair of warm gloves that will allow me to adjust camera settings with them on.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 101

Day 101

There is something about the texture and patterns of rusted objects that just catch my attention. I actually shot the above image from several different angles and really like all the images. In the end, I settled on this one due to the object in the background that seems to encompass the foreground subject in white.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 100

Day 100

The last 99 days have really flown by, it's almost hard to imagine what I would have been doing had I not joined my 365-tweeps a little over 3 months ago. This project seemed like a mountain with an invisible peak high in the clouds. But now the peak is visible and I am more than focused on reaching it. Can't wait to hit the next hundred.

The image for today was taken around midday, in a field just behind a playground. This was literally the last leaf left attached to the branch. I was drawn to this subject by the 'Y' shaped branch and the shadows on the leaf. The color of the leaf complements the background colors in the bokeh (blur) area.

Manual Monday: I read 'Wireless Manual Flash with Varied Flash Outputs (pg.42)' in my Flash Manual today. Didn't know you could vary the outputs using the Master unit to Slave flash units based off of groups A-B-C.

Larger version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 99

Day 99

This is my last day in double digits. Moving forward, my aim to take my approach, capture, and final images up a notch as well. There will be a few theme weeks and other projects that I will incorporate into this one. Via Tasra365 [Check out her new site if you haven't already!!], I will participate in her 'Theme Thursday's' as well. Today's process was all about vantage points. There was another shot that I wanted but needed to a higher position to get the image the way I envisioned it. I will need to go back out and find a better position to shoot from in the coming days. After I looked at what was around me, since light was fading, I noticed the snow resting on top of some weeds to my front left. I moved to eye level, repositioned my tripod, and settled on a composition that worked. Then waited for about 10 minutes for a break in the wind to capture the above image. I opened the lens up to get a good blur, but not all the way open so subject would be completely sharp.

Large version on Flickr

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 98

Day 98

Cake, balloons, presents, and a big lovable rat. This was shot with the Nikon S630, not bad for a point & shoot.

Enjoy...Because we did...

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 97

Day 97

I just love it when water turns to silk, just takes a tripod and a long exposure. Have a good weekend and happy shooting.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 96

Day 96

Today's image was under the theme of Cold, but it turned out that my computer was being seriously cold towards me. For some odd reason, I couldn't upload any of my images for Day 96, after a lot of troubleshooting I was finally able to upload the images and edit the shot. For cold I used some ice in a small wood chest, lit from the camera left, bounced off of a foil card.

Larger version on Flickr.

*If you haven't read PDN's Focus on Weddings it is online as Skip Cohen blogged recently. The new publication is nicely done and well written. I have to send a huge thanks out to Skip Cohen for the feature in an article! Thank you Skip.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

The Tavolier's Portrait Session

Recently, Perla and I did a portrait session for Carolyn & Mike at their home, and it was a blast. I think the hardest part was to stop laughing because we all were having such a good time inbetween and during the shots. What a great couple to hang out with and photograph. You both Rocked it!

Thanks Carolyn and Mike!

 

 

 

365 Project - Day 95

Day 95

Tonight we setup our Christmas Tree. After it was up I was tempted to shoot a Christmas tree light image, but instead added one of Sara's mini-toy dogs for a different type of shot. Keeping with the theme that it doesn't matter what the dream is, as long as it's big. For those wondering, No, the dog's leg isn't always like that, I safety pinned it up...so he can pee on the big tree.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 94

Day 94

With only 6 days left before we arrive at the next milestone of this journey, it seemed only right that today's image reflect following your dreams because the sky's the limit. Seriously, only takes hard work, follow through, and discipline. So for the following week dream big, write out some goals, make a plan of action, and get uncomfortable! Go out and shoot something that you always wanted to shoot but haven't, make it a gift to yourself. No time? Make a sacrifice, skip your favorite show and don't DVR it, spend the time improving your skill, knowledge, and understanding of your craft.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brain

365 Project - Day 93

Day 93

Today I found a barn not to far from my house, complete with horses in back and hens running around in the front. Initially, I was trying to get a shot of the hens, but needed a longer lens as they keep running away from me. I decided to capture the side of the barn instead and show the texture of the wood.

Large version on Flickr.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 92

Day 92

Since today was a rainy & gloomy day, Perla and I decided to do a little abstract photo work. We drove around until we found a construction area where I saw the above pallet just past the entrance gate. Needless to say, I was able to get past the gate and capture the image; my thought was to convert this image to black & white in post-production to bring out the texture of the wood.

Larger version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 91

Day 91

Recently Scott Bourne made a post on Photo Focus titled "Are your images more photographed than lived?"  which talked about 'seeing' a photographer's journey in an image rather than just seeing a snapshot of a scene.

For the last few weeks, I have been kicking this idea around and trying to figure out what would constitute a lived image vs. a snapshot image. I've re-read this post numerous times, was ready to start a conversation via email with Scott on this topic, and even looked back through some of my older nature images and compared then to my current work. It got to a point where I thought 'maybe I'm thinking about this too hard and missing the point all together'. Either way, this was something to really think about.

And while this will be a topic that I will continue to mull over, I have arrived at my own 'understanding' of lived vs snapped images. For snapped images, I think there isn't a connection in the image either between the subject and photographer or between the subject and remaining scene. Why? Because there is no vested emotion from the photographer and what he or she is trying to capture. There are some images that you see and you can just feel the photographer's connection to the subject/scene. I think this comes from the photographer contemplating the final image, scrutinizing over the composition, waiting for the right light, seeing all the possible angles, settling on the one that emotes the feeling he/she wants to evoke, and then dialing in the right combination of settings to achieve the proper capture to then make a final image.

For the above image, I was driving by a field and saw a few cattails on the side of the road. I was ready to jump out, shoot an image, and go home (it was pretty cold this morning). But I ended up walking around, laying down, and even standing on my car to see different angles (I'm so glad I didn't just snap the image this morning!). For me, this 365 Project is about growth and discipline, but what I'm also learning is to slow down and see the art around me. With slowing down to see the art, I am also taking more time to capture the art and emotion by incorporating more thought in my process. It's a win-win situation.

Enjoy.

Bonus image today!

Large versions on Flickr.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 90

Day 90

Today, I wanted to keep playing with lights. I pulled out the fabric from the smoke shots [D.77] and set it up to make a small backdrop for the bear; draping the fabric over empty boxes and sitting the bear, on a smaller box, in the foreground. My next step was to place a flash, flagged to control light spill on the background, low behind the subject for a rim light. Next, I used an on-camera flash bouncing off the wall, to the left, to directionally fill the subject and trigger the second flash. The rim light covers most of the subject to help separate it from the background.

Also, I wanted to send a Big Thanks to Skip Cohen for giving me the honor of being featured in one of his articles in the PDN's 'Focus on Weddings' [will add a link to the online version once it's up]. I can't describe how great and humbling it is to see your own work in print. Thank you Skip.

As always...
Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 89

Day 89

Time to Celebrate tonight and what better way than with wine glasses. Of course, I'll need a little wine with them to complete the picture (offline). This was a simple setup using on-camera flash bouncing off the ceiling to bring out the shape of the glasses. I like how the glasses stand out from the black background due to the reflection from the flash.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 88

Day 88

Today was a windy, snowy, rainy, with a bit of sunshine kind of day, classic NorthEast Ohio weather. For the above shot, I was on a balcony and decided to get a interesting view of the storm clouds and architecture that surrounded me. I really like how the lines are angled against the sky in this image as opposed to being a straight on symmetrical composition, this make the overall image more appealing to me.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 87

Day 87

Day 87 is for all my true geeks out there. I just had to get the Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter shot for the blog. This homemade fighter is located in Kent, Ohio sitting outside Mike's Place Restaurant. Before blogging the X-Wing, I did a little research and found out there is a Wookieepedia loaded with all kinds of Star Wars information and facts [I know, Wookieepedia!]. If you haven't seen Star Wars and the X-Wing Starfighter, you need to rent all 6 and lose a weekend of your life.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 86

Day 86

A few days ago I received this 'GoBoda' baseball cap in the mail from Jim Garner's GoBoda Company, they make shoulder strap lens bags. The hat was a 'Thanks for ordering' gift because I ordered their new Boda Bag V.3, which is a cool, sturdy, secure bag for your DSLR lenses and accessories. This past summer I got the chance to meet Jim Garner, a very talented photographer based in Seattle, at Skip's Summer School '09. Jim produces amazing imagery and designs albums for his clients that showoff his ability to capture the story of the wedding day.

For today's shot I wanted to get an image that focused on the hat and logo, while keeping the rest of shot in the shadows. Thanks for the hat again Jim!

Larger version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

Project 365 - Day 85

Day 85




Today is another "Holiday Lights" shot. The above scene was from an assisted living community that put a good amount of time into their displays. It was a fun place to walk through and photograph.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 84

Day 84

The lights are starting to go up, the stores are getting crowded, and snow is in the forcast. The holidays are here, so more lights tomorrow.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 83

Day 83

When the animals come out to play, my daughter and I go wild on the imagination front. The above scene is a elephant next to a road, which leads to a cave at the bottom of a mountain. The road was made with my scarf, and the mountain was from a pillow, shaped like a big dog, propped up. It's cool what a little imagination, lights, and a semi-patience almost 3 yr old can do.

Large version on Flickr.


Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 82

Day 82

Inspiration is always better as a result of you starting something. The above image was a product of playing brainstorming with my daughters letter magnets, it was the third idea that I came up with. The idea was to adhere the letter to the inside of the bamboo lamp shade and use a flash to illuminate from the back, while shooting directly at the shade. Since 'INSPIRE' wouldn't fit on one panel, I decided to split it between two and shoot from the corner. The background was rendered black by putting the aperture to f16, which really isolates the letters and shade.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 81

Day 81

Tonights attempt was to catch ice falling into a glass of water. I think the overall image could have come togeteher better but I would have needed more time to experiment with the setup. The background was too close (noticed in Post Production) to the suject and light, the shot should have been cropped tighter, and proper timing on catching the splash. All in all, I learned what not to do for this kind of shot and sometimes your failures are your successes.

Yes, even this one is on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 80

Day 80

Quick shot of my daughters piggy bank using side lighting.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 79

Day 79

Today I needed to make a stop at the grocery store and came across Brian S., a volunteer for The Salvation Army, who was ringing the bell for donations. I put a few dollars in the bucket and went into the store. While waiting at the checkout, I realized Brian would make a good picture of the day and also the picture could help bring awareness. Even though the Red Buckets usually come out around November, The Salvation Army takes donations in many forms all year. From monetary donations to clothing, old cars and most importantly volunteers time. They even have a link to a site called Volunteer Match
that will match your skill or trade up with a Salvation Army need and location. I did a quick search and found another location where I will be spending my time giving back for Charity Fest. You never know who you can help or impact with your donation. Giving back to your community year round should be present in everyone's mind, but especially in this season. By the way, Brian (pictured above) rung that bell for 4 hours straight today with the temperature in the mid 30's.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 78

Day 78

Today I was downtown and wanted to get a shot of the Akron Civic Theater marquee. I really liked the old school look of the marquee against the building; it gives a throwback feel to the whole image. While exploring downtown, I noticed there were plenty of older looking structures that I would love to go back and shoot in the future. I might do a themed week of old structures refreshed with modern venues.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 77

Day 77

Today it was time to do something new, so welcome to the great smoke out without BBQ. First things first: if you're going to try this open a window to get some ventilation. For the background, I used black velvet cotton with really good results; however I did attach flags to my flashes to avoid spill onto the background. We had a lot of fun playing with different angles and lighting setups throughout the process. Originally, I saw the smoke colored images a few years back, I looked them up online, and found a really good tutorial from Sensitive Light, he has spent some serious time at his craft and it shows. I think these turned out well being my fist time. I can't wait to give them a second go in the future.

There are 7 large versions on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 76

Day 76

Nihonshu [Sake] time. I bought this Sake barrel in Japan a few years back and now it's the perfect subject for day 76. This is a quick post tonight, as it's time to open a 'fresh' sake bottle and unwind for the night. Image big on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 75

Day 75

Happy Turkey day and early Black Friday. Before all the food preparation were finished, here at the Palmer house, I snuck off to grab the above image. After a 15 minute drive, I stumbled across a farm with some grazing Angus cattle. Luckily for me several of the cows were close to the fence, which allowed me to use short lens for the image. They were also very friendly and curious, while I was composing the shot and getting my settings dialed in, I kept wondering "Cows can't spit, can they?" No flying spit, but its mouth was dripping quite a bit while I was there.

Enjoy.

larger version on Flickr

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 74

Day 74

Nature photographers used to piss me off, I loved their work but secretly hated envied where they lived. While they lived in Colorado, California, New York, New Mexico, Michigan, and other picturesque states, I was stuck in North East Ohio. Their nice states had amazing wildlife around every corner, the most colorful of flowers, mountains for backdrops, perfect sunsets, rivers and streams filled with the clearest water, and rock formations coming out their ears. North East Ohio had awful weather, gloomy days, brown grass, and brown colored streams to match. As for wildlife, there were a few deer, but most of them were found upside down on the side of the road.

The shot above was taken down the street from the house I grew up in. My siblings and I used to throw rocks in this canal as kids, watch leaves float under a bridge above the canal, and had to put up with horrid smell it produced each summer. Today, I was able to see the forest from the trees by just stepping back and seeing the potential in the scene that I passed by day after day. It wasn't until I became serious about photography that I was able to see all that Ohio had to offer and how to capture it.

Larger version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 73

Day 73

Reflections.

The lines in the above shot seem endless with the reflections, especially the horizontal ones and tend to pull you into the image. That is the cool part about incorporating lines into your images, they can lead the viewer's eye through the image the way you intend. Larger version on Flickr.

Just a quick post today.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 72

Day 72

Today, I'm finding inspiration under a lawnmower, well at least to some extent. The above shot reminds me of the saying "The dirt under my nails has a story to tell." But, what stories can the underside of a lawnmower tell? More than likely, it will tell of the many yards it has graced, the stones that nicked its once flawless steel, and the endless amount of grass that it encountered. Likewise, the dirt on my camera will speak volumes of its journey.

From the shutter depressions, while attached to a tripod in the middle of a small stream, to being lugged around through an open field to catch a sunrise. The memory card latch would talk of the times the owner was informed there was 'No CF Card' in the camera, but he still would open that latch and sighed in disgust. The sensor is pissed, extremely pissed! There was a piece of hair blocking part of the view and the owner fished around, like a blind dentist looking for an off colored tooth, for a day to get it out. The camera body can tell of all the cramped bags it has lived and traveled in; it can also describe, like the lawnmower, the grass it was placed in while its owner used an extra camera. Or how it was placed upside down on the shutter button causing a 6 shot surprise when editing later.

What is your camera's story?

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 71

Day 71

From this project, I'm finding out that I enjoy shooting sunrises and sunsets. There is nothing like shooting everyday to help you hone-in and develop your style. Today, as the light was fading, I wanted to get a sunset shot before it was too late. Once I arrived at a parking lot with a clear view of the sky, I planned to incorporate the parking lot lights into the image. In addition to the image above, I shot a verticle composition including only one light posted on flickr. When I turned around to leave I saw the following view:

So it's a two shot day! For shot #2 I use Hyperfocal Distance, this allows everything from the foreground to infinity to be in focus. This is a technique I learned at a workshop with Don Gale a few years back. For example, at the 24mm, f22, if your focus point is 3.3' ahead of you, then everything from 6' to infinity will be in focus, good up to 11x20" prints. This is a great technique for landscapes.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 70

Day 70

Today's image "Last Leaf" was captured at around 3pm this afternoon. In a busy yard there was this one tree leaf left; I wanted to show off the colors while leaving the background black. I positioned a flash under the leaf set at 1/16 power and underexposed, shooting from above, to render the scene black but to illuminate the leaf. Getting the image right in camera makes for little post production, after the file was downloaded I added a very little contrast, the border, and logo.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 69

Day 69

For today's shot I wanted to direct light around the bottle, bounce back to give a rim-light, pop the background, and slightly light the front of the bottle. Yes, that is asking a lot but it's not impossible. My favorite part about this image in the rim-light on the right. Even though I would have liked to have a continuous rim-light running top to bottom, the slight separation is still a interesting look. I will have to look for a better background, foam paper does not stand up well to scratches and folds. One good thing about the light hitting the background is that is helps separate the subject [bottle] from the background on the left side. Even thought the whole bottle is not within the circular flash pop, I think it is enough to give the image some depth and the label helps bring the rest of the bottle from the background.

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian