Merry Christmas everyone!

It's hard to believe that it has been so long since my last post! I'm a slacker, really I've been so tired and exhausted this last year with house hunting and with Sari being pregnant my kids demand so much more of my attention. Well fortunately for me I have a few days off, actually two weeks, and already I feel fairly well rested. So monday night I had a thought as I watched the train going round and round and the Photo is that result. I tried to get the lights on the tree but the power outlet was so old that if I bumped it just wrong that the power cord for the train would fall out. I plan on a re-do soon as in christmas eve with all the presents in place and maybe one more that I've been thinking of. I like this kind of photography, lately its been called light painting, I've known it as time lapse photography. We've seen examples of it in some certain cell phone companies ad campaigns where they create multiple images using glow sticks or some other source of light. This was my simple idea of the moment, I hope to improve upon it soon and will post it here. Till next time!

As promised I re-did the original idea and discovered a few things along the way; such as the more lights you add the harder it is to add in a still at the end. The train is very ghostly or ephemeral, almost non-exsistant. A stronger flash at the end might have made the train stand out more, maybe even letting it sit for a few more seconds would have helped. Over all I think it looks very good considering the actual amount of time spent on it. So again Merry Christmas everyone, be happy, be safe and enjoy every last second of it!

During my stay in Greece I tried to take as many photos as was permissible. With my time consumed by work and not feeling too much in the mood to shoot, I was amazed that I did get one photo that was more than a mere tourist type photo. I was shooting everything at the Acropolis, nothing was sacred. I was also shooting in jpeg which I hate doing only because jpeg is a horrible format for working with a photo (the photo degrades a bit after being saved so many times). What caught my eye here were all the lines and the near symmetry. I shot this area several times looking for the right angle and a minimum of people, although there is a person in this one somehow she doesn't detract from it but adds a little more interest. She is facing the camera and coming toward the camera and her face is out of focus, thus remaining anonymous. The lines lead the eye to the middle of the photo and the light has a great effect, it cuts across near the middle diagonally neatly seperating the two sides, that and the light is slanted toward the viewer. Things I don't like: That I didn't have a tripod or time to really set up the shot and take it in raw.

Frost

A few years ago, when the Saunder's place was just getting an addition on top I went the wrong way. Out of habit I turned onto Lowell-River road to Everett right out of Snohomish. Well I guess that I was meant to go this way cause these are a couple of pictures I got. The first was sent to King 5 and was selected for the best weather pic of the day. Truth be told the photo does not really do justice to that morning, the whole way down on that road was like that.

Of course I had to get a close up of what was on the trees, little white spikes all up and down the branches. This picture also shows a very short depth of field, notice only some of the branches are actually in sharp focus. I didn't like it at first because of the depth of field but Sari said that it made the branches kind of poke out at you, I have to agree.

The obvious reason for posting these two is that it is winter and cold outside, at least in the mornings. I hope to shoot a few pictures of Greece while I'm there and if any turn out real good I'll post them here.

It's definately been a while since I've posted anything on this blog. Life has been very busy and chaotic. Not to mention I haven't really gotten out to shoot photos. However there are a couple that are worth while sharing.

This one was from the very first group of pictures taken on my then new camera. Instant gratification and feedback. no more spending money on pictures that just didn't come out quite the way imagined. For this time of year I thought it appropriate now that all the leaves are on the ground. One thing I learned sometime ago from somewhere was to frame the subjects so that not one was fully in the frame leaving it partially out or covered.

For this one t.v. is the inspiration. Several times now while watching a show there was a noticeable use of light, it may have been studio light but it may have been sun light during sunset time. Either way the effect is the same. The strong and warm side light comes in from just perpendicular to just shy of directly looking into the light what ever is comfortable for the subject. The effect is that the eye is lit up and seems to glow. It is a subtle and stunning effect. First time I saw it was on CSI: NY (yeah I know, cheezy) but the young cop with the blue eyes was in the scene and the side light effect was used on his eyes. Said effect made his eyes appear cold and shine with a predatory gleam. Then I started to notice it in other shows just not so apparent. Duplicating the effect in a still photo wasn't hard just the timing and the convincing of a little man to cooperate. Overall the lighting may have been too bright because it created a shadow across half his face, not to mention the glass door's frame created a small problem. When doing photos with a 2yr old one must take what opportunities present themselves. Hope you all like it!

Seattle

One of the places I've been trying to photograph is Seattle. I've been meaning to go over to Alkai beach for ever. It has been especially difficult since moving to Oregon, cause everytime we come up we are rather busy or the weather is crappy. So I set up a day in advance after Alta Lake with Maria and Sari to go to Alkai beach. Still we almost didn't go because Maria was driving the youth of her ward to the temple that night and the weather the day before was nasty. I was determined to go, as long as the weather was good. Even so Sari and I left late and ended up being in a hurry all the way there. I still got a lot of great shots, but I learned that a good steady tripod is essential. For the reason of a cheap wobbly tripod my photos did not turn out as sharp as I would have liked. A nice image stabilizing lens would have been great too. The pictures did turn out great for what I had. The colors are good too. These are the best of the bunch.

I like how the changing light changes the mood.

Then the lights pop out.

A book I read a while ago said to find something to put in the foreground that leads out to the distances. I think that a pier would have been a bit better but those are extremely busy, on second thought that would be kind of neat, hhmmm... I've got a new idea!I'd like to get different views of seattle and closer
This was when I first set up and Sari was taking in the view, it was a "must take it now or lose the opportunity" candid shot.
The most annoying thing though is I had just recently cleaned both lenses and I still ended up with lint on them. It's a curse I tell you! Thank goodness for photoshop.

Alta Lake

I was actually able to get for a couple of hours during vacation to get some scenic shots. I was trying out the time of day mostly. Appearantly most photographers shoot early in the morning before sunrise or late in the evening just after sunset. My first post was a morning shot obviously, but I was way too tired to do that at Alta Lake. So one evening after the kids were down and asleep (a miricle) I went to the lake to do my thing. Well to my disappointment there were people still there. About four or five kids were playing in the area of my shot and were not going to leave any time soon. Oddly enough the photo came out all right, maybe even better because of the human element. Blurred images of kids playing in the water late in the evening, kind of like ghosts.
This was an earlier shot, attempting to avoid people in the photo. At one point some guy walked in front while I was taking a picture, not this photo of course. Since it was a long exposure all that was visible was a leg walking across the sand and that only a faint image.
I also tried to get a moon rise, one problem. The moon was a speck, so tiny that I didn't like the results so I went for the glow over the hill that I had captured earlier.

Little Feet

My sister sent me an e-mail today with her hand holding her son's foot. Very well done! It gave me the idea to get a photo of little girl's feet while she was sleeping. One problem, I was rocking her and she was asleep, and we don't dare disturb her. Sari to the rescue, she handed me the camera and I set it up for the shot and let her take the picture. I think it worked out beautifully, Thank You Love!

I like this photo but I want to work on it at different angles and in different light.

This is the photo Laurie sent, I love the effect of the strong side light and the sepia tone.