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