Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Before and After Part Two
This is another photo I found that needed something. Still does, really, but it was one of the first shots I ever took with the Canon 20D - quite a while after I had gained some experience with the 10D. The first photo wasn't exposed well, and didn't have any kind of punch. The second photo adds some grain to the color (grain can sometimes help slightly blurry photos look more focused), and creates some tension by adding a hard border. The color also gains some richness in the second, becoming more like the original scene - with the sun going down and lighting the landscape with warmer colors.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Archives
It seems like forever since my last post. Maybe it's because I haven't been feeling very creative lately, and I've been extremely focused on school and all the things we've been doing lately (open house, and yearbook deadlines).
My day is such a chaotic, wonderful mix of craziness and unexpected events, by the time I get home I'm pretty exhausted. I just want to play video games, read, or paint miniatures (yes, I'm a geek).
Since I don't have much new material, I took some time this morning to go back through the archives. This photo, taken in mid-2003 at 6:45 in the morning was a sort of awakening for me.
It was a morning of an amazing, thick fog that still couldn't hold back the radiant sunrise above it. The light was trying its best to fight through, sending amazing streaks of yellow through the trees all over the country landscape. I took several hundred photos that morning with an old 4 megapixel Nikon point-and-shoot. None of them really worked out, except this one. I was trying too hard to take pictures of the light coming through the fog, instead of using the fog and lighting to my advantage. This was the one - the photo that first, to me, made me say "wow." It wasn't perfect. This is the uncropped, in-camera version. The color is off, my perspective was hurried (I didn't really know at the time that this spot would be so cool), and even my focus was a bit off.
But... when I got home to check out my shots on the monitor, it was this photo that grabbed me and told me "this is what I need to be doing." It was one of the most exciting moments in my photographic life.
I've been out to this spot several times since - usually whenever I get a new camera - and I've gotten much better shots at this location since.
No matter what, though, I don't think I'll have quite the same "wow" moment again, and this little 4 megapixel digital capture will always be among my favorites.
My day is such a chaotic, wonderful mix of craziness and unexpected events, by the time I get home I'm pretty exhausted. I just want to play video games, read, or paint miniatures (yes, I'm a geek).
Since I don't have much new material, I took some time this morning to go back through the archives. This photo, taken in mid-2003 at 6:45 in the morning was a sort of awakening for me.
It was a morning of an amazing, thick fog that still couldn't hold back the radiant sunrise above it. The light was trying its best to fight through, sending amazing streaks of yellow through the trees all over the country landscape. I took several hundred photos that morning with an old 4 megapixel Nikon point-and-shoot. None of them really worked out, except this one. I was trying too hard to take pictures of the light coming through the fog, instead of using the fog and lighting to my advantage. This was the one - the photo that first, to me, made me say "wow." It wasn't perfect. This is the uncropped, in-camera version. The color is off, my perspective was hurried (I didn't really know at the time that this spot would be so cool), and even my focus was a bit off.
But... when I got home to check out my shots on the monitor, it was this photo that grabbed me and told me "this is what I need to be doing." It was one of the most exciting moments in my photographic life.
I've been out to this spot several times since - usually whenever I get a new camera - and I've gotten much better shots at this location since.
No matter what, though, I don't think I'll have quite the same "wow" moment again, and this little 4 megapixel digital capture will always be among my favorites.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
New Year
A new year, same as the old year. Just the number at the end is different. Is that a bad thing? Not for me.
Can't say the same for everyone, though. As I sit here at Panera, drinking my coffee, the room is filled with business-types, busilly typing on their laptops, impeccably dressed, absorbed in their work. Sometimes that's me too - creating lesson plans or something for school.
Mostly, though, I can't help but feel that, for most of these people, what they do, what they are most absorbed in, doesn't really matter.
I sound like a nihilist here, maybe, but it's true.
Spreadsheets, financial analysis, work orders - all meaningless garbage.
We're all so busy in our lives,how often do we take time to step back and just think for a moment about how we spend our time?
I hope that, as this world spirals more and more out of control, 2007 is a year in which more people take a moment to ask "what am I doing here?"
I know I sound cheesy... hopelessly optimistic, but it's not too late to change things. It's never too late to make a difference, one day, one moment at a time.
Can't say the same for everyone, though. As I sit here at Panera, drinking my coffee, the room is filled with business-types, busilly typing on their laptops, impeccably dressed, absorbed in their work. Sometimes that's me too - creating lesson plans or something for school.
Mostly, though, I can't help but feel that, for most of these people, what they do, what they are most absorbed in, doesn't really matter.
I sound like a nihilist here, maybe, but it's true.
Spreadsheets, financial analysis, work orders - all meaningless garbage.
We're all so busy in our lives,how often do we take time to step back and just think for a moment about how we spend our time?
I hope that, as this world spirals more and more out of control, 2007 is a year in which more people take a moment to ask "what am I doing here?"
I know I sound cheesy... hopelessly optimistic, but it's not too late to change things. It's never too late to make a difference, one day, one moment at a time.
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