365 project - Day 199 - Non-Candy Candy Necklace

Day 199

I used to love the candy necklaces. I would wear them on the hotest day, running around with my friends, sweat dripping on it, and still take a bite of the candy. My daughter also likes the necklace, but she has no clue that it's candy...yet. She like the smell of them but thinks it's a real necklace, so she always ask to wear it out in ublic. I'm just worried she will run into a kid that knows it candy and they will either tell her or take a bite for themselves. Either way it will be a problem,

Large verion on flickr and strobist info.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 198 - Springs Back

Day 198

Spring is finally here and we are getting a short warm up in NE Ohio. Of course, the flowers I wanted to shoot were wilted due to the cold, I shot the ones inside.

Large version on flickr with Strobist info.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 197 - Curved Lines

Day 197

Funny how a little bit of light from top a space heater can make for some interesting designs.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 196 - Dark Berry

Day 196

Playing with LED lights again tonight, but using strawberries. I like the looks of the light falling off of the fruit. I will have to give this another shot with a second light to see that I can get.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 project - Day 195 - Orange

Day 195

Getting a little fruit back into the mix. More importantly I have great news about Chloe the dog, she recently got adopted by a great family!  For the above shot, I lit the orange with a LED light 6" away at the camera left and a speedlite aimed at the background to blow it out.

Large version on Flickr with Strobist info.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 194 - Reserved

Day 194

I photographed the above sign as today we looked at reserving our rooms at the MGM Grand for Skip's Summer School 2010 this coming August. It's an amazing conference that I attended in Vegas last year, midway through the wedding season, that rejuvenated my creativity and helped me reconnect with nature photography, which is my passion in photography. The line up of speakers for 2010 [Scott Bourne, Joe Buissink, Jonathan Canlas, Tony Corbell, Kay Eskridge,  Kevin Kubota, Bobbi Lane, Cliff Mautner, Stacy Pearsall, Dane Sanders, Jasmine Star, Vicki Taufer, Kirk Voclain, Jerry Weiner and coming in from Australia,  Yervant] are more than worth the price of attending, especially with the early bird registration discount making the price $199 [which ends March 31st, 2010]. In addition to the speakers, another value of attending are the sidebar conversations, networking, new friends you will meet, and project you may become engaged in like this 365. I can't wait to see what we all start after this years Summer School! Get a seat Reserved For U at http://mei500.com/. 

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 193 - Carrot Pie, Carrot Pie!

Day 193

I know you thinking, What is 'Carrot Pie'? well my daughter Sara loves the song Poker Face by Lady Gaga, today she started singing "Carrot Pie Carrot Pie, something something face... po po po po po po po po po face." She was so happy to be doing her thing singing away in the back of the car. Since the song was on Perla's Ipod, I think we replayed the it about 10 times. It was funny to see her start smiling and nodding her head once the beat came in. I was trying to get video of her singing but she wasn't in the mood to be recorded tonight, so I will give it a try over the weekend and post the vid.

Large versuon on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 192 - Find the Light

Day 192

Somedays, it's as simple as finding the light...

large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 191 - Behind Gate # 3

Day 191

On my way back from fixing a printer issue at my moms house, I passed the old University of Akron football stadium. After driving around a little, I ended up at the entrance gates and thought they would make a good shot for the night. I have to give a shout out to Prophecy Blur as he had a Mothership Landed shot that inspired this one. The stadium has been replaced by a new one closer to campus and more state of the art. But I will have to come back to shoot more sections of this one. Really like the look of this shot...I can imagine putting a bride or a couple at gate 3 or 2 and shooting this again.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 190 - Dear Friend Chuck

Day 190

Today Sara got a surprise trip to Chuck-E-Cheese, which is indoor awesomeness for a kid and complete scariness for [most] adults. Luckily today wasn't a busy day, although Sara did manage to include herself in a kids party. She really loves that big rat and followed him around everywhere for hi-fives and hugs. The images tonight as the tickets Sara won today, well I helped a little, but for the most part it was all her. Using the LED flashlight again from a high left angle, closed down the aperture for render the background black.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 project - Day 189 - Corn Husk Doll

Day 189

Even though it's tough to tell, this image was of the bottom of a doll made of corn husk. While thinking of way to shoot it, I looked at the bottom and though that would make for a nice image. Husk was lit with a LED flashlight from the side.

Large verion on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 188 - Meet Chloe

Day 188

Meet Chloe, a fun and playful dog rescued by Paws And Prayers Pet Rescue Organization. While at a pet store today, we got to meet Chloe and her foster parent Cynda. She told us about the organization, how they rescue dogs and cats, and find loving homes for them. While Sara and Chloe played, I thought of photographing Chloe to showcase her and have her as the image of the day. Chloe was a good sport and hammed it up for the camera. If you in the area [Northeast Ohio] or really just want to bring Chloe to a loving home, send a message to Paws and Prayers , you can also search through all the other available pets for adoption on their website. (By the way, Chloe is Sara Approved!)

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 187 - Night of Celebration

Day 187

Tonight, we went to Kent State university to their annual African Night, which is a celebration around music, dance, food, and fashion from the many countries in Africa. We had a great time and Sara enjoyed all the dancing and music. The image is from the end of a performance by Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble , they did an amazing job! You can follow the link and see a few videos on the webpage [from 2004 & 2006] I can't wait until they post the video from tonight, it was really energetic and fun.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 186 - Follow the Lines

Day 186

Theme Thursday, kept it simple with the lines on the back of a chair.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 185

Day 185

More lighting tonight, this time I used two lights and a Japanese Sake container, called a Tokkuri. Normally, I use my speedlites [550EX & 530EX] in manual mode but today I left them in E-TTL, so I don't have the ratios and power settings. I started with one light then added the second after the first results. I like the line of shadow down the front Tokkuri, that gives it some depth.

Large version on Flickr plus Strobist info.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 185 - Pineapple Leaves

Day 185

Today, I went back to the pineapple to get a different angle from last time. I really wanted to emphasize the leaves on the fruit more than anything. Using one speedlight at 1/8 -0.7 power at the camera right, about 2' above the subject. I set the aperture to f.22 to render the background black...even thought I was shooting into a lit room. The shutter speed was at 1/60 with ISO at 100. A pocket wizard was used to trigger the flash. Learning and then applying new tricks with lighting is a lot of fun.

Large version on Flickr with strobist info.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 184

Day 184

Today I tried playing around with off camera lighting and sihouettes using a snow globe. I love the dark line around the glass globe and the little specks of glitter. Originally, I went for shooting the light directly into the globe, but that caused a lot of reflection off the glass. Once I started bouncing the light on the wall behind the globe, I then saw the cool sihouettes and overexpose background [at least on the left side of the image.]. A interesting shot would be with two lights to overexpose both sides of the image, but that will be another day with a different subject.
Large version on flickr with strobist info. I am trying to make sure I add the 'strobist' information where appropriate going forward, that way others can see/understand my setups...however basic they are.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 183

Day 183

Sara has a new duck to add to her baby duck collection. I'm going to see about shooting a few images for the Baby Duck book side project, this week. Tonight was just an intro to a new duck. More to come this week.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 182

Day 182

Columbia in the house. We stopped by a friends house who was making some awesome Colombian food today. While we were there, Sara became very fond of the truck above so they let us take it home. Before leaving, we had some fresh made empanadas and they were AMAZING! We ended up bring home about 10 more empanadas and I can't wait to eat them. :)


Large version on flickr along with strobist info.


Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 181

Day 181

The weekend is finally here! It's been a long week with all the traveling and getting back into the swing of things. But just as I've gotten adjusted to loosing 3 hours from the west coast, I'll loose another hour this weekend. Too bad you cannot just plug in sometimes to get recharged like rechargeable batteries. Until that day, I will just have to get more energy the old fashion way with more sleep, tea, and candy.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 180

Day 180

Now that I'm back from WPPI,  it's time to go through all the pamplets and brochures that I recieved from the vendors. While I got a lot of good stuff, one of the most stand out items was the wrist bands from Pictage with the words 'Follow Your Passion' on them. The reason I liked the them was because it's a small reminder to not forget about the passion that introduced me to the industry. Make sure you take time to follow your passion, you are the only one who can.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 179

Day 179

I'm back from WPPI, and I had a great time and an awesome experience. Now that I'm home it's time to catch up on all that I missed with Perla and Sara. Most of the people that I met in Vegas heard the story of Sara going through potty training and now that I'm back I'm happy to say she has been accident free for two weeks! The above image is of her Potty Chart, after the first day of trying we started the chart to help her 'want' to use the potty when needed. When I left the chart was a little more than halfway full, but now it's is completely packed with stickers. We are so proud of here so it's only right her hard work gets on the blog tonight. Now she did get a hold of my dentist reminder card and put it on the chart to decorate it...as well as the pink flower sticker. As far as the two 'symbols' (pee-pee & poo-poo), they are so she will know where to put stickers when she goes #1 or #2. Fun stuff! Congrats Sara we are so proud of you!!

Enjoy.

Ja Mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 178

Day 178

Today I met Larry and Eletta Niles at the Paris Hotel, they were celebrating their 7th anniversay and a birthday I believe. What caught my attemtion was they were drinking chanpane, eating crapes, and were full of smiles. I overheard them say 'we need someone to take a picture of us...' So I offered to take the picture for them with their camera, and then one with mine that I will send to them.

Larry & Eletta, just wanted to say happy anniversary, I hope you have a great trip home. And thanks for being the image of day!

Enjoy.
Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 177

Day 177

More fun with angles & reflections.

Enjoy

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 176

Day 176

Still enjoying Vegas and WPPI, here is a shot of the hotel I'm staying at. Getting ready for the Trade Show to start tomorrow.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 175

Day 175

Finally made it to Vegas. I thought the extra 3 hours would give me more time for an image...Vegas doesn't sleep! This was a shot from the Colorado Airport...

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 174

Day 174

Sky bound!! Well almost...It's rough when they overbook a flight. But I am heading out in the AM to get my learning on at WPPI!


Ja mata ne!
Brian

365 Project - Day 173

Day 173

Today's theme for Theme Thursday is Bokeh also known as blur. Photographing a tape measure was a great show how shallow the Depth of Field is at F4.0. Now it's time to prepare for WPPI.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.
Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 172

Day 172

I went back the abstract objects around the house for today's image which is the inside of washing machine. It's funny that if I start to look for something to shoot differently nothing stands out, but the moment I take a step back and stop forcing the subject everything falls into place. Origiannly I had the flash on a box point into the washer but was getting too much shadow cast, and I didn't want to snoot it because the light falloff would have been a bit drastic. I ended up putting the flash in the washer and letting it bounce to the left off of the other sides wall. I ended up turning the flash power down to 1/128th power so that I could open the aperture and get a shallower depth of field. I ended up liking the focus fall off with the dimples.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 171

Day 171

Tonight, I got to hang out with some awesome photographers, DJs, videographers, and wedding coordinators at my good friends the Nisly's Studio. It was a really fun get together and meetup to get aquainted with different vendors fro the area. Prior to leaving for the meetup, I got a shot of the shower rod for the image of the day, this one is SOOC [straight out of camera] hence no border or logo. It's going to be interesting to see how I post next week while at WPPI.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 170

Day 170

Today is the 4th official potty training day for my daughter and after a short rocky start she is getting the hang of it. So in celebration of her hard work, Sara received a small cake today, but with no mention of it being for the successes on the potty. With that being said, today's image is dedicated to her, since she didn't eat all of her cake I thought it would be the perfect capture for the night. Life is all about the little things and this is one that we can keep forever (The image not the leftover cake)...along with the Pee-Pee Chart and stickers!

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian