In a world of so many great photographers and writers, I am venturing into some unknown territories, leaving comfort zones, finally very willing to practice the art of seeing. By maintaining the practice of posting daily photos, I hope to continue learning about the possibilities that I trust are out there for the taking.
I spent last night on the workflow of photos I took (Stacy let me be the still photographer and will list me as such in the credits!) over a four hour period during filming of Mimimize Me.
I loved being a still photographer and feel very grateful for the opportunity to learn so much in a very friendly environment. Stacy was born to be a videographer. And now I’m thinking I was born to be a photographer. Maybe someday soon I can make some money shooting for money to support my expensive hobby. I’m looking at a lens (only looking LR) at a lens that costs $11,000!
Here is the link on my Smugmug Portfolio if your interested in viewing the photos.
On the heels of the recent blog entry on Life is Short, I find this on a wall in Stacy's home while shooting.
By the way, December 4th, I will be celebrating 2 years having had no sugar and no white flour products! So no eating cookies for me over Thanksgiving.
I’ve decided to shake things up a bit. I always complain about not having enough time to do what I want to do. I don’t work and I still can’t find time. So……….
I’ve claimed Tuesdays as NO Calls Day. Tuesdays I’m not scheduling anything other than what I want to do. It was scary to claim this day but I did it.
Yesterday I did something for myself. I didn’t go to my regular Monday night meeting. Instead I drove to the Corona Library two hours away and attended a SmugMug Meetup lecture by Scott Robert Lim on Fashion Photography with Portable Lighting. So glad I didn’t miss it. He is one hell of an educator and photographer.
He gave a large discount to us and I purchased some of his lighting gear and spent much of today becoming familiar with it.
Determined to learn lighting, I'm practicing on myself. I'm holding the strobe stick/umbrella set up with my left hand. Camera, set to 2 second self timing, is on a tripod in front of me.
Testing SRs scottrobertstudio.com Deluxe Radio Trigger Package and a 33 inch umbrella on a Strobe Stick.
More testing. Ray smiling for the camera even after I made him stand in this pose too long.
After shooting the previous shots, while walking back to our condo (400 yards away) I got Ray to pose for 3 shots before he resumed putting.
Here is the stick/umbrella combo.
Sherali’s 35th Birthday was Sunday. I shot photos during the party and hope I’m able to find the time to put the photos all together in a Blurb.com photo book for her.
To see the photos click here.
Good friends, Perry and Sherali.
Tailwinds planned a backpack to make up some miles she had missed during her 2008 PCT thruhike. Liz and I are joining Tailwinds to backpack about 80 miles of the PCT from south of Pinchot Pass north to Vermilion Valley Resort on Lake Edison. We begin our hike September 4th.
Fred flew Tailwinds to the Mammoth airport this morning. Tailwinds waited in the airport while Fred graciously took me up for an hour and 15 minute flight over the Sierra. We found Taboose Pass trail and flew the route Tailwinds, Liz and I will be backpacking. I shot off over 300 photos. I was so excited I didn’t know which way to look first. Flying over my playground has to be one of the highlights of my life. Tailwinds’ mate, Fred, has flown his entire life. He made me feel so comfortable I forgot to get nervous or feel sick. Thank you, thank you Fred.
Below are some of the photos from the flight.
Mt Morrison or Laurel Mt at Convict Lake.
Mountains as we flew south from the airport towards Bishop.
Taboose Pass
West side of Taboose Pass where we will descend 3 miles to the PCT.
More of the area we'll be hiking through.
An isolated cirque lake.
Shot while flying north from Taboose Pass.
Colby Meadow, lower right corner, is where Fred and Rowland will horsepack in to meet us. Colby Meadows is north of McClure Meadows along Evolution Creek.
Happy Linda.
Fred and Tailwinds.
Fred's Bonanza - V-tail
There are more shots I’ll be uploading to the portfolio section of this website, later.
I hadn’t shot a photo for the blog last Friday. Moments before we left to go out last Friday night, I got my camera because I was curious what the skylight fixture lighting the bathroom (and Paula) would look like. After I took a few photos of Paula she asked if I wanted her to take one of me.
And yes, I did ask Paula if it was ok to post any of the photos we took.
Fat arms me.
Nice back Paula!
I had a great time on the Scott Kelby 2010 3rd annual PhotoWalk last Saturday. I believe there were 30,000 photographers all over the world who participated in this walk.
Once I got the courage up to join in on this worldwide photowalk, I googled where I might find a local group going out. Bob Adams, was our local Riverside PhotoWalk leader. Fifty of us took off on the streets around the downtown Mission Inn area in Riverside, CA, an hour’s drive away for me.
I spent much of the beginning of the walk with Kevin Toohey, the gentleman with whom I’d recently taken two photo classes. Midway through the walk we met another new friend named David. Kevin and David have been photographers their entire lives. I learned a lot during the walk from both of them. Meeting up with both of them made the day very special.
This morning David sent me the two photos he’d taken of me. The two photos I shot of both David and Kevin were out of focus. Drat. That just means I’ll have to shoot with them again.
On last Saturday's Scott Kelby's 2010 Photowalk in Riverside. Photo taken by David, a new friend I met.
David took this shot of me as well.
I uploaded more of the photos I shot on the Riverside Photowalk I participated in last week on my Flickr site (my old site I haven’t used in a long time).
After having warmed up to the idea of walking in the water.
Pure joy.
To be so uninhibited.
Waiting.
I’ve had two lessons with Kevin who lives in Corona. It’s quite a drive to his house but I’ve learned a lot. I had no idea how much I didn’t know about my camera, lighting and other basic considerations related to settings appropriate to good exposure. He’s got me shooting in manual mode now!
Like anything else, I learn so much more when I ask for help.
Kevin Toohey
Me.
Looks mad, but he's not. I'd been reading about portraiture, asking Ray to try out different poses and I think he was about done with being my model.
Wanted to take the action of shooting portraits, rather than just reading about taking portraits. So before the meeting Susan and Debbie posed just across the street from the meeting while we were waiting to be let in to the room. I’m using the Canon D40 fitted with a Sigma 18 – 250 lens.
Thanks Susan.
And thank you Debbie.
Melissa came over this morning. I asked her if she’d be willing to give me about 20 minutes so I could practice some with my flash equipment.
I ended up not using the flash equipment and shot this photo in the living room with ambient north side floor to ceiling window light.
Canon 5d Mark II, 70-200mm lens at focal length 140mm.
f/2.8, 1/30th sec, ISO 320
Now I’m headed back to watching the OneLight off camera flash DVD to see what I was doing wrong.
Melissa allowing me to practice shooting portraits.
Thanks Melissa.