Wonder Twin Powers Activate

Sorry that I have been so remiss in uploading photos. I have been diligently taking photos but sometime life gets in the way of processing them and uploading.  My new year's resolution is to become more diligent with my postings.

With that said here is the first of hopefully many new posts to come.  For this photo shoot I used my friend's new beagles (Jasper and Poppy) as subjects and played with red filters (to enhance the black and white photo quality) and action shots (what better way to get practice at capturing high speed action than to try and capture the movements of two puppies?). Here are the results.

Parklands: North America’s Crown Jewels

Okay so I am thinking of entering three of my pictures into a photo competition and need to make a decision as to which three. I figured I would turn to my friends for help choosing. Let me know which ones are your favorites by leaving me a comment. Also, check out the Filoli post on my blog which has some potential contestants in it and please check back as I may add some other potential entries as I continue to take photos this month (contest entries due at the end of May).

EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

The Theme: Parklands, North America's Crown Jewels

Some of the finest places to visit and appreciate in Canada, Mexico, and the USA are located in our park

systems. There we discover plants, animals, waterfalls, canyons, forests, deserts, rock formations, historic

features, snowy peaks, reflecting lakes – the list is almost infinite. This exhibit is a celebration of treasures on

lands that are owned by the public, and are therefore accessible to all. Your subjects can be any aspect of the

park systems: national, state or county. Besides the usual icons, we welcome the subtle and hidden locations

that reveal something special and capture the appeal of the place.

The Parklands Exhibit will consist of the 30 entries juried to be exceptional, finely crafted photographs that

reflect the theme.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6 (okay so this one is actually Lisa's and I am thinking of entering it for her)

Photo 7

Photo 8



Photo 9


Photo 10


Photo 11

Filoli in bloom

Its springtime in California and my thoughts immediately turn to Filoli Gardens and its incredible displays of floral masterpieces. So I loaded up my camera and headed to the gardens with Lisa to meet our friends Tom and Tristan. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the gardens did not disappoint. The day provided many opportunities to test composition and lighting. Here are just a few snaps from the day.

Bay Area Bandits

In late February I was sharing some of my pictures from Tucson with a friend from work. She liked what she saw and asked if I might be interested in helping her out with a project she was working on. It turns out she is a co-owner of a women's football team and they were looking to take some promotional photos. I immediately said yes. It wasn't until she had walked away that I was like, "crap! What was I thinking?" You see, most of the photos I take are of landscapes and buildings, or other things that don't move all that much.

What was I going to do? I didn’t want to let the Bandits down. After much deliberation I e-mailed my friend to set her expectations appropriately (low, that is) and then called my friend Lauren for a tutorial on photography. Our tutorial focused on the following features:

1) How to interpret the histogram feature on my camera to properly set exposure level.
2) How ISO effects exposure level and quality of the picture and how to use it in conjunction with the exposure level button.
3) How to use white balance and set it in a variety of light conditions.
4) How to use the single point of focus feature as well as locking focus.
5) Understanding different shooting modes.

Armed with these new techniques I went to meet the Bandits and do a 2 hour photo shoot. The focus they wanted was not pictures of them in their gear in typical football poses but rather a focus on muscle groups, their strength and the fact there could be a femininity in football. Here is just a taste of what we ended up with.

Note: I also had a 2 hour tutorial on Photoshop with Lauren that helped in the final presentation.

Tucson, AZ

In February we headed home to Tucson with our friends Tom and Tristan. I took the opportunity to start playing with the functions on my camera as well as with composition. For many of these shots I adjusted the ISO setting to get more light into the picture. On one of the days we were in Arizona we went down south to see the Sandhill Cranes south of Elfrida and visit Bisbee and San Pedro House.

Seed pod

Bisbee Copper Queen mine - a study of thirds.

In Bisbee we found a shop with really cool metal sculptures.

Viewing the cranes we were buffeted by winds. I liked how this picture captured the feel of the day.

Sandhill Cranes coming in for a landing...

...and taking off again.

We got hit by a couple of storms which resulted in snow in Arizona. This photo was taken early in the morning after a rain storm and took several tries to get the ISO just right so as to capture the rain drops in greater detail.




The remaining shots are of my family and were taken to play with portraits.

Apollo- my parent's new puppy.

Jalyn sporting her new t-shirt that we made at a MSD outing. I loved taking her picture because every time you said photo op she immediately went into a pose.

Jalyn and Bernie (my brother, her father).

Exploring Sea Ranch with a fish eye lens

My 2009 resolution is to take the training wheels off my trusty Nikon D80 camera and explore taking better pictures. I also want to play around with composition, lighting and perspective. Knowing what my plan was, I set out just before the new year with a fish eye lens and my camera set to raw to get a jump start on documenting my world.