365 Project - Day 141

Day 141

Some days I feel like I can't think of the next location to shoot, but then after a ride down an unfamiliar road that next image just shows up. Today, I went driving through Portage Lakes Park camp grounds and found some incredible views. From behind some bare trees, to over the frozen lakes, and even some people ice fishing on the lakes. My plan was to take advantage of the wide angle lens I had and the fading sunlight. In addition, I decided to add the vertical version as well because it has similar but different feel to it. The vertical image feels like a larger image. What do you think?

Large versions on Flickr1 & Flickr2.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 140

Day 140

Tonight's image is another throwback image. Yes, these are gold fronts and yes, I used to wear them all the time (in the mid-90's). I got these in the summer of '95 in NYC, fun times. I keep debating about popping them in for Holloween every year but in the end decide against it, as I'm sure my teeth have changed over the years and I would be left with a headache more than anything else.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 139

Day 139

Tonight's image is of a few crayons that Sara was using to draw with. She has been getting better with drawing smiley faces, so I decided to capture the 3 crayons that she had been using the most lately.

Note for today: Always check the moon cycles so you know the best day of your 365 to shoot it.

Turns out that tonight was a Wolf's Moon (a.k.a huge full moon!). I captured a couple images on the way home but decided to not make it the main image for today as I shot the moon yesterday. But here is a peak at what was going on in the sky early this evening.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 138

Day 138

Today's shot was from the parking lot of my job as saw the moon as I left the building. After I got my gear, just needed to position myself to get a composition that I liked. My thought process was to include clouds in the shot with the moon as well as under expose a little to make the scene more dramatic. There is something about ominous clouds that I just love when shooting in the field, really wish there were some mountains in the area to add a sense of depth. Weather permitting, I will try to get back outside tomorrow for the daily picture.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 137

Day 137

After coming off of a fun series (Sara) I'm thinking about doing another one, possibly head shots. This evening, while I was setting up the camera, Sara asked me to "Take a picture of the baby?" holding the above doll, so that is image #137. I decided to use cross lighting and turn the doll to a slight angle, to have the light show some depth. Also, I liked the way the light on the left brought out the eyes on the doll, that was actually a nice surprise. Since Sara is already sleeping, I will have to get her approval in the morning.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 136

Day 136

Today's image is a little bit about the guy behind the camera. If I'm not taking pictures, then I'm listening to music...usually all day, everyday. For the most part, I listen to just about every genre in English, Spanish, and Japanese. Recently, I've been on a Soca music kick and have been listening to a lot of music from Trinidad & Tobago, I'm even thinking about trying to go to carnival next year. One of my favorite sites to visit is Izatrini.com, they have monthly podcast of Reggae and Soca mixes. Definitely worth checking out.

note: sometimes while listening to my ipod on shuffle, I'll get the theme song to 'Blue's Clues' or 'Go Diego Go'. This is because I keep some of Sara's music on there for when we are driving, that always makes me laugh.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day135

Day 135

Concept for today's image came from Sara, she actually squirted me with a water-filled spray bottle. So I decided to try to capture a few images of mist from the water bottle. With a spray bottle pointed up and a flash behind the bottle to the camera left, Perla sprays the water and I the trigger the camera & flash. We learned pretty quick that waiting too long to shoot exposes a misty mess and too soon is also a so-so shot. I'm going to have to try this again, this week to play with the lights and angles, as well as adding gels to the flash to get different colors. So this is officially attempt one of Misty Water images. Not sure if this will be a week long series yet, but it's got potential.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 134

Day 134

This is my Takoyaki set, upside down. Takoyaki is Octopus balls, well, actually balls of batter with pieces of octopus, ginger, green onions, and tempura bits in it. It's an awesome snack and usually available when you come out of the train stations.  When in Osaka, I bought a box set of cooking utensils to make Takoyaki back in the States. I have only used them once so far but I'm getting in the mood to have some more Japanese food.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 133

Day 133

Just wanted to catch the shape of my desktop speaker, like the way they look with an applied vignette and negative space on the right. On a cool side note, Sara got to play a real violin today at the music store, and did pretty good for her first attempt. Now it's time to look for an instructor.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 132

Day 132

I can say that this weeks theme of photographing kids, my daughter to be exact, has taught me a lot. To watch the lighting, backgrounds, keeping them engaged, making it fun, and coming away with a solid image. Today's image is probably Sara's best acting ever, feels like she's saying 'Not again! I just want to watch Blue's Clues'. I have to give Sara props, as she let me photographer her all week and didn't get fussy about it...for the most part. The above image was shot in the living room and as it turns out, the Black Velvet Cotton fabric I use for the smoke trails works well as an all around background. I just laid the fabric across the front the the couch, which is about 3 feet from Sara, and shot at a low angle. For the lighting, I used a speedlite [1/4 power] in a shoot-thru white umbrella to the camera right. It was about two feet from Sara. I got this pose by asking Sara silly questions, so it was either a result of a question or she was just really tired of me. Either way she gets a break and ice cream tomorrow.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 131

Day 131

It's Theme Thursday, and today's theme is 'Growth'. Since this a week of Sara, I was trying to think of a way to show how much she's grown. After going through a few ideas, I decided to do a picture in a picture image with Sara sitting near picture from a year prior. The only way I could get Sara to sit down was to put a spinning-top on the table and call her name for her to look up as I took the picture. This shot got me thinking that by the end of this project, I will take an early image and compare it to one from the end to see the growth in the work. Maybe I can use that as my conclusion image to bring it all together.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 130

Day 130

The tip for today's image is to let the kids do what they love, and then photograph it. Sara is a big fan of the Violin. Anytime she hears one being played, she runs to her toy chest to get her stuffed guitar and something to use as a bow. Then she puts the guitar under her chin, makes a serious look on her face, and starts to play along with the music she hears. Tonight, we grabbed the guitar, a marker, and she begun to play as I hummed out tunes and took a few shots. I wasn't too worried about trying to get right in her face, as the idea is to capture what she likes to do. Out of the several images that I took, the above shot shows her playing as if she really has a violin and has forgot I was photographing her. I couldn't ask for anything more. Now time to find a violin for kids.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 129

Day 129

For day 2, of my week long 'Photographing kids' theme, I decided to use wrapping paper as a background for some jumping shots. To help keep Sara in a certain area, I had her assist me tape a 'X' on the floor, which also made her feel part of the process rather than just thrown into it. Next, I had Perla stand just in front of the 'X' to set my focus point. After locking the focus, I set the aperture to F8.0, which gives a greater depth-of-field, as I knew Sara wouldn't stay exactly on the 'X'. Since wrapping paper is reflective, I used off-camera lighting (Pocket Wizards to trigger) and flagged (Tapping black foam material on one side of the flash blocking light spill) the flash as to not get any hot spots. The paper was held up with a light stand, a Super Clamp, and kept from rolling out extra paper with a paper clip.
Once everything was ready (about 10 minute set up) we told Sara to find the 'X' and jump on it! Of course we jumped too. I held the flash off to the upper left, while Perla triggered the camera with a release cable as Sara jumped. We did about two sets and then let Sara get back to her playing. Cleanup took about 10 minutes as well, so all in all about 30 - 40 minutes start to finish. The results were great, maybe next time I'll use brand new roll as there are a few wrinkles on the paper.


Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 128

Day 128

Today, and for the rest of the week, I will be taking pictures of my daughter to try out different techniques. Some of those techniques will be using non-conventional light modifiers, backgrounds, tricks to get little ones to cooperate. To be fair my daughter may not fully cooperate for the next 5 days but we will give it our best. One trick to used is to make a game out of the session and keep it short. That means having your settings pre-dialed in, giving yourself room to move around and having several options for your 'shot'; all of which I will go into more detail with over the next week.
For the image above, I wanted to use side lighting via bouncing the flash to my left. Occasionally I'll use a reflector to bounce light into, tonight I used a silver windshield sun shade. You can also use it as a reflector to get a little fill light on your subject.


Enjoy.
Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 127

Day 127

Last night, just as I was getting ready to post the image of the day, I looked out the window and saw tons of fog. This morning I got up early and went out to shoot. Unfortunately for me, most of the fog was not there anymore. To my surprise, in place of the fog I found the sidewalks and parking lots to be extremely icy, which was difficult to navigate while carrying a camera bag and tripod. After a few slips, I found a good location to setup and fired off some images, and then headed back home. Now I'm thinking about what to do for tomorrow's image.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.
Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 126

Day 126

Another set of spirals. I know theme Thursday is over for the week, but I saw these screws and just had to capture them. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be extremely foggy, so I plan to go out shooting in the AM to see if I can capture some tree lines in the fog. I really love shooting on foggy days.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.
Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 125

Day 125

I think I exhausted my daughter today with all the playing and running we did. As she was relaxing, I decided to get a quick shot of her feet resting on each other. Because I was wanted to convert this image to Black & White, I turned the ISO up to get some grain in the image. I took a few shots from different angles but like the one above the most because of the curve the toes make. Sometimes you don't have to include a face to make an interesting image, especially with kids.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.
Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 124

Day 124

We arrive at another Theme Thursday with today's theme being 'Spirals'. After looking for some spirally objects, I happen to turn and notice one was staring me in the face. The front of my fan had a spiral design, funny how I didn't even notice it while looking around the house. I settled on the image above after shooting the fan from several different angles. In post production the image was then converted to black & white with a boost of contrast to make the blacks richer. Today was a good lesson in actively observing your surroundings. Because I had seen the fan on a daily basis, I didn't notice the spiral design on the front while looking for a spiral to shoot.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.
Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 123

Day 123

I was thinking of a way to shoot something for the MS Society for today's picture. My initial thought was to photograph the keyboard and then put MS smack in the middle. But after I started shooting, I envisioned a keyboard that had 'Cure MS' on the bottom row. Once I got the image captured I start working through the layers to re-arrange the letters, and I'm very satisfied at the end result.

Earlier this week I said that I would talk about planning to give back to your community now instead of waiting for the holidays. Do not get me wrong, holiday giving is important and needed. However, organizations serve the needs of their clients the entire year. Your support and volunteer hours are appreciated as much in July as in December. A message that really hits home due to the devastation that just happened in Haiti. So why Cure MS? For the last two years, Perla and I have given our time and talent to the MS Society Buckeye Chapter, for their MS Walk in Akron and Cleveland, Ohio. We volunteer to shoot the team pictures and images of the overall event. After the event, we edit and send the images to the MS Society so they can upload them to Flickr for the participants of the walk to download the images. We would like to get to the point where we could print images onsite and give them out, but doing so would require several printers and assistants as larger team have upwards of 30 people.
For 2010, we are honored to be shooting the Akron & Cleveland walks again. So my suggestions is contact an organization and see if you can give them coverage of an event that they might hold. You never know what that can lead to, including the amazing people and families you will meet. In addition, there is no doubt that you will learn a lot about whatever charity or organization that you take part in. Start early, Start now.

Large version on Flickr.


Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 122

Day 122

I originally shot a nature image for today, but at the last minute I decided to go in a completely different direction. The above shot is of a JR & Subway Rail map for Osaka, Japan and text that I wrote out in Japanese. The text says 'I have a dream'. The reason it's being shot on the map is it's a reminder that a dream without a plan might get you to a destination but with a lot of wasted time and money.

For example, let say you have just landed in Osaka Kensai Airport (which is my favorite airport in Japan) and were told to go to Kita-Senri, Osaka. Waiting at a specific address in Kita-Senri is everything you need to make your career 100% successful, you just need to find it. Along the way to will learn the skills that will move you in the proper direction as well as prepare you achieve that dream. Next, you are handed a map that is in Japanese, but the only problem is you cannot read Japanese. On the positive note, you have somewhat of an idea where Kita-Senri is, so you start taking train after train looking for your destination. Inadvertently, you get stuck in the Osaka Loop for a few hours. Now completely confused, you decided to go back to the airport where you started and try again fresh. Unfortunately you didn't know that Osaka had two airports, and you end up at the wrong one.

I could go on and on about the issues one could face trying to navigate in places they're not familiar with, but I think it's more important to shed light on ways to make it to your destination. First, research the 'unknowns' of the journey, read up on the subject, learn the terminology, the language, and the best tools to help you navigate your way. Next, know your destination and understand what are the key factors for knowing you have arrived. Once you know your destination, you can then document small goals leading up to your ultimate goal. Try to be a detailed as you need to be so you can monitor each step towards goals and measure your success. While I know there are plenty of other steps I can add, the last will be to Ask For Help. Seems simple, but too many people forget this step and try to get there on their own. Either because they are scared of what people might say or think, when they ask for help or they believe they know everything there is to know about getting to this new place, so they do not seek help or accept it.

Now, replace Kita-Senri with a job in a field that you are passionate about and the train lines with the growth and steps you need to reach you full potential at that destination. The train fare is your investment in yourself and studies that take you between each step. Each stop the train passes along the way are goals that you have to complete to move on to the next one. The people you ask along the way are mentors, friends, and family who will do their best to help you take the next needed step in the right location. And the map is your plan.

Now go find your map!
Enjoy.

Large version on flickr.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 121

Day 121

Today I wanted to try something different, I was inspired by reading Skip Cohen's blog post from a couple days back about experimenting and Mixing up the Formula. I hope everyone mixes it up this week.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 120

Day 120

For the last week my images have been all outside, taken in the early morning and some last at night. Capturing these shots I have really began to appreciate warm clothing and shelter. Even though I gripe about my gloves not being up to parr, they are certainly better than nothing. There were a couple times that my hands were seriously in pain from the cold while trying to capture the image I wanted. The image above had me thinking about all of the people out there who have less and have to stand strong for their families in these cold and tough days. For all those reading this post, if you are able to, make it a goal to give back to your community this year. Later this week I'll highlight a few options including ones that we are going to be a part of in 2010.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 119

Day 119

It was a perfect day to be out and shooting, I hope everyone took advantage of it. The above shot was taken over the top of a waterfall, most of the front was froze over so I just wanted to show off the view. Also, I used a Graduated Filter that fades from 2 stop [dark grey] to clear to expose for the snow while still retaining the sky. If you don't have this filter you can always take two captures, one exposed for the snow and the second exposed for the sky, then use layers in post-production to blend the images together.

large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 118

Day 118

For day 118, I was set on getting a night shot. While I was capturing a few street scenes, I noticed this Transformer Station was catching my attention. The station sits back from the curb, so without a wider angle lens I decided to shoot it straight on. Using a long exposure with a small aperture to get the light to flare out and to retain a large depth of field to keep the image sharp. Before my next night shoot, I'm going to invest in another set of gloves, my current pair cannot keep the cold out anymore.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 117

Day 117

The forecast calls for 5-12 inches of show by tomorrow. Plus this morning we had a small ice storm making the car an impenetrable box, even broke the scrapper cleaning it off. With the ice storm in mind, I initially thought of taking some iced-up-tree branches for today's image. But once I arrived home, Sara began trying to catch the falling snow on her tongue. My first thought was "Shot of the day!". The above shot seemed to be a nice change up in the subject matter for today.
Side note for all newbies to snow... don't eat yellow snow! Seriously, it's not lemon flavored.


Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brain

365 Project - Day 116

Day 116

Today was a quick afternoon shot. I actually would really like to shoot a set of trees in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in this similar manor, but it will have to wait until this weekend when I have more time. The main time consumer for this kind of shot is finding the right angle for the proper execution. The next shot like this I will have to tweak my angle some and possibly use a wider lens.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 115

Day 115

Silent Swings.

I remember as a kid how much fun it was to swing on swings. Between my younger sister, older brother, and I, we would usually compete to see who could swing the highest. After getting as high as we possibly could, the next feat was to see who could jump from the swings at the highest point. The above image reminded me of all the fun times we had and made me wonder 'Why is it that kids can be so fearless?' Is it that they are just unaware of the consequences? Do they not know the sting of failing? Could they not understand the risk of, perhaps, landing slightly wrong and have to spend the rest of the summer at home in a cast? Personally, I think it's their ability to believe in their dreams and themselves that makes some kids so fearless. One might say 'Kids don't have responsibilities like a family to worry about, they can afford to take more risk.' I think kids do have responsibilities but we don't see the value in them. For instance, tearing a hole in new clothes; I would not worry about holes, but a kid might be fearful of getting scolded when arriving home or even losing the privileged to go out to the play anymore. But they might risk it anyway, just to see if they can and to say they tried. Unfortunately the 'I can do anything' mentality can get broken down in adulthood and cause us to forget how it felt to accomplish a dream, like swinging into the sky. My advice to everyone reading along...keep swinging you, might be surprised where you end up.


Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.
Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 114

Day 114

Either the snow could not stop all the plants from growing, or this plant just was recently covered. Whatever the case maybe the above image should make you appreciate not giving up when times get hard [and cold]. One thing about not quitting in the face of adverse circumstances, though there is no guarantee that you get through it unscathed, but you will know that you can get through it.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.
Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 113

Day 113

For today's image, I went to the park as the sun was setting. It was very cold outside but I ended up staying out for about 1 hour walking around and shooting. I really like the background and the silhouettes of the branches and berries in this image .

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 112

Day 112

Just a shot of some Yuan I still have from trips to China back in the day. I really like the colors & designs in the money over there.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 111

Day 110

What can One image a day do for you? It can teach you how to better manage your time, so the impossible becomes possible. I can't tell you how many times I said "I don't have time to do a 365, between my full-time job and family." But with help from my family and friends, I have been able to achieve more than I could have imagined, and I'm not even at the half way mark yet.

Another thing that One photo a day has done is re-energized me to complete other projects that I started but didn't finish. Today's image is for a project called "A Girl & Her Ducks." The idea for this project was to create a blurb book around my daughter and her favorite rubber duckies. There is still a long way to go and more planning needed, but I wanted to challenge myself to start shooting for this project again. So for those following this journey, you will get to see this mini-project as it develops towards completion.

If you haven't noticed by now, One image a day allows you to explore and use more of your ideas that would otherwise be lost or forgotten.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.