365 Project - Day 290 - Pole in the Sunset

Day 290

I was actually going to shoot into the pole, but as I looked in the top of the pole I saw a hornet hive. After seeing that, I opted to shoot it with the sunset in the background.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 289 - Roof

Day 289

Just liked the design of the roofing tiles, the pattern looked good. I shot this low, bringing in a few strands of a tall grassy bush to add some interest in the dark bottom portion of the image.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 288 - Krispy

Day 288

Donuts by Krispy Kreame, I have a friend who knows an employee working at a local shop that would us give fresh, warm, donuts whenever we passed through. Since I bought a box of them today, I thought it would be fitting to get a detailed shot of them.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 287 - Water 2 (Orange)

Day 287

Tonight's attempt at the water/orange juice splash in a glass, turned out much better. Using Orange juice to add a little color to the image and setting the camera at eye level enhanced the overall image. The trick to catching the splash was to hold off on the cabled remote a little longer than you want to, before triggering the camera. Also, have spare clean glasses on hand to retry with quickly.

For the vertical image just used one flash at the camera left, super-clamped to the base of a light stand. 580exi was set at 1/8 -3, camera at ISO 200, F.22, 1/250. For the horizontal image I used two flashes, the 580exi still at the camera left and a 550EX at the camera right both aimed at 45 degrees between 2'-3' from the glass each. The 580EXI was set at 1/4 +3, connected to the camera via a sync cable,trigger the 550EX wirelessly. Camera for horizontal image was set at ISO 100, F.22, 1/250.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 286 - Water 1

Day 286

This will be the first of several attempts at getting a water [or some liquid] pouring shot. I need to get some color into the shot for my next attempt.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 285 - Bliss #2 = Lyrics

Day 285

It was a full scale production tonight for the image of the day. Yesterdays theme, Bliss, was one that I actually wanted to do differently, but needed time to setup so I shot my other concept for it today. For me Bliss is Lyrics, as I am a lyricist and am always writing something here and there. For the shot I wanted to show:

1. Listening to beats/music
2. Writing lyrics
3. Written lyrics
4. different lighting setup

I decided to setup on the dining room table since is was glass I could shoot wide from under it and use 2 flashes to lite the scene. 1st flash in at 12" above the table, 2' above and to the back right of the camera. I have a while diffuser panel in front of the flash set at 1/8 -3 power. This flash is attached & triggered by a Canon OC-E3 - Flash cable. The second flash set to slave mode, at the camera's left parallel with me, up about 2' pointed at the wall at 45 degrees in my direction, flagged with black foam paper. It is also firing at 1/8th -3 power.

                                       (Cell Phone Pic of strobist  info!)


After this was setup I needed to write out some of my lyrics to fill the table with. Since I keep all my work on flash drive I just opened the text pads and re-wrote them on lined paper, scattered and flipped them on the table. My 'bliss' is reading the word play, concepts, and seeing the story unfold. Most of my inspiration comes from reading novels, movies, things I see on the day to day, and those little voices you shouldn't tell people you hear. :)


Enjoy!

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 284 - Bliss = New Suff

Day 284

It's theme Thursday today and the theme is Bliss. I'm sure all the guys will agree that there is no bliss like getting new stuff, especially electronic stuff!

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 283 - Shells

Day 283

Still finding reminders from the beach trip last week. Tonight, Sara and I pulled out a few shells from the bottom of her toy bag. Sara actually helped hold the LED light for this shot, so she gets half of the credit.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

My brother Dave

My older brother Dave is one of the coolest people you'd ever meet, he is intelligent, very artistic, and gets along with just about anyone he encounters (my siblings and I all share that trait). Dave visited some months back and we have a quick photo session the night before he left. Just wanted to post a few images from that fun night.

It's funny my daughter was scared of his piercings when she first saw him, but now sees the pictures of Dave on the computer and says "It's Uncle Dave!". We are making sure she sees his picture at least once a day, that way when we see him next she will warm right up to Dave.

*Dave, I still look up to you, seriously! Keep putting in that work so you can make your dreams a reality.

We love you Dave.

~ Brian

365 Project - Day 282 - Looking Down

Day 282

Looking down on wheat fields make for some interesting patterns. The fun part of this was trying to do the Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal Forward Lean' to get the shot...I'll be honest, I fell twice.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 281 - Up in the Air

Day 281

Looking at a few things differently today.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 280 - Duck, Duck

Day 280

This week I will have to recap about the OBX trip with some images that didn't make the blog. Above, is one of Sara's new toys; I used two LED lights on blue foam paper for the setup.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 279 - Store Front

Day 279

Back from fun in the sun to drive-thru cleaners.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 278 - Sunrise 5:47am

Day 278

This morning, I got up early to catch a sunrise, and it was 100% worth it. While on the beach, there were plenty of Sand Crabs scurrying in and out of holes in the sand. I actually chased one up the beach, then it stopped, raised it's claws, and turned to face me. As I circled around the crab it slowly turned as well keeping it's eyes on me. In the end, I backed off since I didn't want to go head-to-head with him because I was only wearing flip-flops.

Enjoy the Sun!

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 277 - Crabbers

Day 277

Meet Mac and Hank, awesome crabbers who helped us fish a portable dog water bottle that fell into the water. As a thanks, I told them I would put them on the blog tonight [Hank remembered me from the other day when I  was shooting on the boardwalk], along with their catch of the day! Hope your family and you enjoy the crabs.

Thanks again for the help!

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 276 - Beaches

Day 276

It was a day at the beach, nothing like the sounds of waves crashing in.


bonus image:

Those wild horses from yesterday were walking down the beach today. They were strolling by without a care in the world.

365 Project - Day 275 - Wild Horses

Day 275

We saw wild horses today with birds perched on their backs. So many amazing things in such a small place.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 274 - Boardwalk

Day 274

Another awesome evening in Duck, bypassed the sunset and went for images of the boardwalk tonight. On a side note, went to the beach and the sand was seriously on fire!

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 273 - Sunsets at Duck

Day 273

I really love it in Duck, NC! Although I did learn that having your equipment in an air condition location and then going outside into humidity will cause the lenses to fog up. I lost about 15 minutes of shooting due to the condensations on the gear.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

**I had too many images to choose from but above is my favorite.

365 Project - Day 272 - Duck, NC

Day 272

In Duck NC, and you cannot beat the sunsets. More fun tomorrow.

Enjoy

Ja Mata, Brian

365 Project - Day 271 - Red Doors

Day 271

Doors of an old fire station converted into an office building.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 270 - 1st Person Motion

Day 270

Another Theme Thursday! This weeks theme is motion, so I took a drive through a nicely wooded area with a slow shutter speed and small aperture. I was shooting out the window while driving...really not recommended at speeds faster than 20 mph. Now have to get a photo of a car moving, while I'm moving with it. So much to try, so little days left.

Enjoy,

Ja mata,
Brian

Welcome to the Photo Hub!

     The 'Photo-Educational Hub' of Akron Ohio, coined from Skip Cohen. I love the idea of Akron, Ohio being a hub for big names to come a teach workshops, and not just because I live in the area. We have great architecture, nature, cityscape, Lebron (for now!), beautiful gardens, wildlife, and plenty of hungry artist ready to learn and grow.

     With all that in mind, Skip Cohen has got Matthew Jordan Smith to come to Akron Ohio for a 2 day workshop July 19th & 20th, basically adding Akron, Ohio to Matthew's 'Your Creative Experience' Tour. Day 1 is a seminar from 7pm til 9pm and Day 2 is a 10 hour intensive hands on shooting assignment starting around 8:30am.

You can learn more and register for workshop here: http://www.yourcreativeexperience.com/

Let start this 'Akron Ohio Photo Educational Hub' off right with support for Matthew Jordan Smith's Workshop July 19th & 20th! There is a early sign up special in effect until June 30th! 

Brian

365 Project - Day 269 - Jelly Bean Fall

Day 269

Some day's you have to push a little harder to get something different. I started with just some shots of the jelly beans positioned out of a glass cup on it's side, some off camera flash, and bouncing the light from the camera left. After a few shots, which came out ok, I though about a shot of the beans suspended in air by lifting a glass off of the beans quickly. One obstacle was the lighting. Direct lighting caused too much spill, as well as side light, the only other option was snooting the flash. Instead of grabbing my long snoot, I had a single serve cereal box, which, conveniently enough, fit on the end of my 580EX. I opened one flap on the bottom end of the box to only let a slither of light out, and fired a few test shots at 1/64 +0.7 power. After I got my settings and flash positioning, I asked Perla to lift the glass (sitting upside down filled with jelly beans) as fast as she could, the above image is the result..

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 268 - Necklace

Day 268

Sara got has new jewelry today, just can't go wrong with Hello Kitty! Of course when we give her anything she tell us 'Happy Birthday!' Fun stuff.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 267 - Toy Horse

Day 267

My daughters new toy horse, which she rides around yelling 'Go Cowboy!' and making horse sounds. For this shot, I bounced the flash off the ceiling at 1/4th power, and used a pillow [under the horse] to bounce a little light on the underside of the horse for some fill-in.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 266 - Iisha & Corwyn

Day 266

We had an awesome time shooting an engagement session with Iisha & Corwyn, it was an absolute blast from start to finish. They had no problems warming up to the camera or being their fun loving selves in front of it. Perla & I cannot wait for the wedding in July.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 265 - Under an umbrella

Day 265

Rain, Rain, go away, come back on a weekday. I was really pouring today, good thing Sara had her butterfly umbrella.


Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 263 - Time

Day 263

Theme Thursday: Time. And it keeps on ticking.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 262 - Ruff

Day 262

My daughter really wants a dog, seriously. Luckily for us, Chuck-E-Cheese makes her forget about her longing desired. Shooting this reminded me of a few images from my good friend across the pond Prophecy Blur. While my image is of a stuffed dog, Prophecy had a read dog in some cool settings. Also he made a book from is images (beat me to the punch!), check it out - I'll be ordering one in a few weeks. - Back to the image above...This is Sara's stuffed dog named Fluffy.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 261 - Ice Cream Break

Day 261

This is just one of those night where I'm just relaxing. (Lit with a LED light at the camera left)

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian