The first full moon of the year . . . maybe

Last night was supposed to be the first full moon of the year. My mother in law called me to tell me about it.
So David and I set out, tripod in tow to try and capture the first full moon of 2011. Again, no such luck, if you remember on the first we were out looking for the first Sun Rise of the year but it was too cloudy. Again, the clouds have won. So instead I tried a little night time photography. I've always been fascinated by Terry and Sasi's night adventures.
While out there in the cold, my tripod finally gave out! It's pretty old, and I knew I would be needing a new one soon, but I just wasn't ready. So now I'm in the market not only for a blog site but also a tri-pod. It's all part of the New Years Challenge. LOL
Twilight and a partially frozen lake

This next one was hand held - i'm surprised it turned out with that slow of a shutter speed, but it worked.
A lonely park bench
.
So if you cannot shoot what you set out to do just turn around and shoot something else. It'll all be fine in the end.
I had a couple of questions about my photography groups - these are local groups I joined just do a google search for "meet ups" and "photography groups" in your area and you should have the information you are looking for.

thanks for stopping by
I appreciate the comments.

Landscape photography . . .

One of my goals for 2011 was to join a photography group. I've accomplished that already. Actually I signed up for two photography groups. One of them is informal. Just getting together for meetups and such. The other is a bit more structured and is based on learning, sharing, participating and showing your work, as in contest(sigh). This is all part of the plan of continuing my photography education and growth.
Yesterday was our first meet-up. We got together in the state of Michigan. It was really cold! We had 9 (total) dedicated photographers who withstood the elements. We spent in excess of 4 hours walking and taking pictures. We walked in town and then went into a restaurant to warm up. Then we went to the lake/beach, then we went to a carousel house. It was so much fun meeting new photographer and making some new friends. I look forward to our next outing.



Pier Workers
please note that they are walking on ice. The Pier was completely frozen over with the waves still splashing over. I was walking on ice but it was not that narrow.








I haven't found a niche in landscape photography yet. I haven't studied it enough to figure out how to make them interesting, now give me a person and I've got that!
The Copper man. Is he real or not?


Read: 11 Surefire Landscapte Photography Tips

Images Viewed: AutoMatt

Helga Kvam

D-360 Just don't give up . . .

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”

5 Day count down. What will I do? It's always hard committing to do something. My fear? That I will run out of steam by the time winter rolls around again. I am, however working out a plan and once I commit it to the cyber world, I'll have to stick it out.

I am so proud of all of my 365 project friends who have stuck this project out. It has not been an easy road, at least not for me. Today is one of those days where I could just say forget it, but no, I'm committed.

I thought today's challenge was food photography so that's what I did. Here's lunch
Curried beef chow fun. We took a little trip to China Town. Food photography is not my "thing." I'm not even sure how to make food look good, but I gave it a try.






After Nikhil's suggestion I went back and tried this image in black and white. I still don't care for it but it was worth a try.

Yeah I still don't think food photography is my thing.

Article read: How to Use Your Camera Flash at Night

Images Viewed: Dainel J. Pesta

D-355 What will we do at the end of our projects?

I know I've brought this up before, but what are you planning on doing when your 365 day project is over? I have 10 DAYS LEFT!
After the 10th day I will take a very short break. Maybe a week or so. I'll catch up on some sleep and spend some time with my family.

I've had several suggestions that maybe I should write some tutorials on lighting. I'm no expert on lighting but I guess we can learn some more together. Any other suggestions?
When you come to my blog, what would you like to see? Learn? share? I am open for suggestions. I'll probably start writing some tutorials if there is an interest for that.

The daily shoot
#ds402 Make a photograph of a circular or round object today.

See the tree reflected in the bulb? Part of my home is also reflected in there.

I had several to chose from today

The colored reflections are not lights, they are jingle bells that are reflecting light.


bulbs, beads, lights and icicles all make for great bokeh.

Empty


Halo, the bearded dragon was content riding around on my son's head


Images Viewed: Sandra Nykerk

D-346

The daily shoot #ds393 Make a photo of a pair of subjects today. People or inanimate objects are both fair game!
Couldn't decide which to share, so all three it is





and finally a picture of my miniature dachshunds, Reesee & Twix. They are 10 & 12 pounds full of personality!
They were not to happy about dressing up either, but I was holding their treat. LOL


I have a young friend (Khalila's best friend) who is going to college for Photography and Graphic Design. I spent a couple of hours with her last Saturday at the abandoned church. I've challenged her to better her photography and she's accepted.
If you get a chance drop by her blog Challenge Accepted and leave her a few words of encouragement. We should help, push, motivate and mentor our younger generation to do better than we have. I have not doubt Miss Alexis will go beyond anything I've even dreamed of doing photographically speaking. Good luck hon, and you know I'm only a phone call away.



Images Viewed: Scott Robert Gallery

338-339 Depth of Field and Shadows

Internet issues have kept me away.

Yesterday's picture: The daily shoot #ds385 Illustrate or show depth of one kind or another in a photograph today.

Target Practice


Todays challenge: #ds386 Make a photograph today with strong direct light that casts crisp dark shadows.

It's my daughters snowman
light/shadow created by a flash light.
Punk Snowman


a couple extra from yesterday

D-333 Peak into my world

or at least a peak into my living room.

#ds380 The Golden Ratio has been used in art for millennia. Use or illustrate the Golden Ratio in a photograph today.

The fact that you can see my whole living room in that bulb was a nice surprise. I was concentrating on the Christmas tree bokeh.


In 36 days and I would have completed the second year of this project. I have accomplished the goal that I set out to do - Improve my photography. I feel pretty satisfied that I have accomplished that, there are several more goals that I still need to accomplish. Tonight I need to spend sometime brainstorming and putting pen to paper (away from the computer), to see what unravels.


Do you set yearly goals? Do you track your progress throughout the year?
The end of the calender year and the beginning of the new year always get me to writing things down. I do however constantly update my goals. Is there a specific time of year that you decide to revamp your goals?


Images Viewed: Another site that's well worth a look at: Visual Meanderings

D-332 Halo

I'm calling it quits early tonight. I'll catch up on blogs tomorrow.
. . .night zzzzzz

Halo





Images viewed: Sid Black's Flickr

D-331 Meet Capone

My oldest son who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 4 years after high school then moved to California for a couple of years, has recently moved back to the area. With him he brought his small pony, I mean large Dog. LOL

Meet Capone . . . what a sweet dog!





because of his brindle markings/color he blended in with the fallen leaves and fall ground, it was a little difficult at first. He's a pit mix with boxer, we believe. He was adopted from the humane society. My son loves him so much and the feeling is mutual.

Images viewed: Should have read this before the shoot Weekly Photography Tips

D-323 What's your comfort zone?

The daily challenge: My image is just blah -
The Daily Shoot
#ds370 Tungsten light can often create a warming effect, depending on your white balance. Use tungsten light in a photo today.

Today I didn't have to many willing models. So I took a picture of a store window. I felt like I was peeking into someones home - lol



back to Mexico,
Going into this trip I had made up my mind that I wanted to take wide angle shots because I wanted to capture the feel of Puerto Vallarta and the feel of the towns we visited.
You see I'm comfortable taking close up images like these:

This bird was so graceful. We stalked him for awhile, then he got comfortable with us.





so taking images like these was out of my comfort zone.

That is where we stayed

and although I know the main subject is small, I wanted a dramatic look. The sky, the sand and even the tilt.

We have to keep pushing our creative comfort levels until we've exhausted what we can learn in that area. My friend Alexis suggested I go back to taking pictures of buildings - well one of the reasons I stopped was because I didn't know enough about how to photograph that subject correctly and I was very unhappy with my last attempts. I guess that means I need to look into that again, but for now maybe wide angles.



Images viewed: http://blog.yasserlens.com/

D-307 Letting go of perfectionism

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing. ~Harriet Braiker

Nikhil suggested I read Cheryl Jacob Nicolai's blog, and although the readers of this blog are probably tired of me mentioning Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai, she has brought a breathe of fresh air into my creative photographic life. If my sole purpose was to read her blog and get it out of the way and look at her pictures I could have had that done in 2 days. I have taken the activity of reading her blog like an assignment. I want to read and reread them until I not only understand them in my head but also with my heart.

The messages are not earth shattering or "breaking the atom" in photographic terms. The messages are good old fashioned, down to earth basics, we, as creatives tend to forget about while learning all the technical stuff and the rules of photography. I mean messages like "In your quest to create the best images you can, don't forget that sometimes it's the snapshots that mean the most" and one of my favorites "Don't worry that you aren't creative enough. Express yourself deeply and allow your work to be what it is."

There are so many many more . . .

She made me step back and consider why I started this photographic journey. Remember why you started?
I started because I wanted to take better pictures of my family and for my family - better pictures for my scrapbooks. That's all I wanted. I wanted to capture my family, interacting, loving, playing and living our not so perfect life.

So, what happens now? I take pictures of my family and if they are not "technically correct" I discard them. I dare not share them with anyone.

Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai made me remember a photo shoot I did of my oldest daughter with her daughter Isabella in September 9, 2010. After the photo shoot I picked my 4 favorite images and I was done with the rest of the images. I was actually disappointed that Isabella was not cooperating with us and I decided not to edit these images. Last night I wanted to revisit that set of images and behold - the magic of what is the relationship that my daughter has with her child. (for those of you who do not know, my daughter is in the army and was activated several states away - these visits are precious). I stayed up until 3 AM playing with these pictures and time just stood still.

The ones that almost got away - I am absolutely in love with these pictures now
I converted to black and white and added some noise to a few of them.

These almost got deleted







You can visit my Flickr account for the whole set

So no new pictures taken today just edited today.
Thank you all for visiting and commenting on my blog, I look forward to your comments, suggestions and friendship.

D-285 A day with Miss Isabella

and off of work!
The weekend went by so fast and I was glad to have today off too.
What a beautiful fall day - unseasonably warm.




The smirks from her are because she put a spell on me and turned me into a frog. Rebbit, rebbit.


Then she turned me into a princess. Hopefully she'll leave me as that.


there's a few more on my flickr page.

I've fallen behind on my reading but since I'm almost all caught up on editing I should be able to get back to reading.



Images viewed: Alexsandras Babicius

D-264

Articles Read:Ronan Palliser's Photoblog
Also looked at but have not read all: 100 Helpful Photography Tutorials
Inspiration: Jinky Art Blog

D-233 Family

Today we had our first "family Picnic"
Davids nephew put it together and we all had a great time.
This is Adam and his lovely wife Laura

David and his mom
My MIL (mother in law) She's a great person.

and David and his daughter Alexandria


I took a lot of candids but then the sun started setting and I wanted to do something with that amazing light.

Read in Nikon d-700 manual pages 131-150
Images viewed: Various flicker

D-225 The great outdoors

Yes I've been so lucky to have great customers the past few weeks. I have been busy in the photography business and it feels great.

We did a couple of outdoor shots before the mosquito's chased us inside then we finished the session off in the studio.



Tasra Mar's Theme Thursday is Blue
I think this qualifies.

Read Nikon D-700 Users Manual 94-114
Viewed images on google

Another Amazing Session D-223

I've been busy with sessions the last two weeks and I am loving every single minute of it! This is what I want to do all the time.
Last week I took Kristen (Senior Class of 2011) out to the park but we ran out of day light. So I offered her a mini session and today was it. The mini session consisted of a "trash the dress" session. If you are interested in learning more about TTS look here
If you are interested in a TTD session drop me a line.
see more of this session click on an image and it will take you to my flicker account.
Nikon D-700, 70-200mm, off camera flash.




and funny when I looked up we had about 10-12 spectators and they were even taking pictures of us on their cell phones. Once I pointed the camera at them, they scattered. LOL

Tasra Mar's Twitter Tuesday

Viewed images by Kevin Jairaj
Read: Nikon D-700 Users Manual pages 92-94
Reading: VisionMongers

D-221 How do you discover your style?

Had another great session today. This time it was sisters, 9 year old and 2 year old. I've forgotten how much and how fast a 2 year old runs. LOL
We had fun. It was really hot and really sunny but we made due.

I introduce to you Miss T and Miss J




In trying to find my way, what my passion is, I seem to be leaning towards portrait photography. Although I enjoy photographing anything I enjoy people the most. The eye contact, the emotion. I really enjoy the connection with people, sharing stories and having "bonding" moments that are usually the result of taking pictures of their children or of themselves. Hopefully someday I will develop my style. Until then I will continue shooting everything and anything I can.


Viewed the blog of Busath Photography.
Pages read in Nikon D-700 Users Manual 90-91