Monochrome

Monochrome... the word itself sounds kind of boring, since it indicates a single color, one tone... But at times, I find that shooting in monochrome can actually be more interesting than using full color. Depending on the subject, monochrome (aka black and white) can be extremely dramatic. Textures are enhanced and contrast is much more pronounced. The absence of hue can relay a completely different feel in a photograph, too, making things seem slightly more eerie and surreal. I've been having fun this week around central Colorado, taking pics of cool rock formations as well as various buildings. The combination of strange topography and aging architecture make for some neat results. Enjoy!

Heat and Humidity

An ocean climate definitely provides a different set of challenges for a photographer than does a desert environment. The humidity is unbelievable - condensate forms on a lens at the drop of a hat! And the seawater-saturated air leaves a gritty film on everything - I am constantly wiping a fine layer of salt off my camera when it is out of its case! I'm certain the lifespan of my gear is declining as we speak. But what do you do? I'm for sure not leaving home without my favorite things (aka Pentax K20D and associated parts), because I can't fathom taking a vacation and not recording at least SOME of the events. Plus it can always be taken to a reputable camera shop for a deep cleaning and servicing once I get home, right?? So, while I'm on the road, I'll be thrashing around in the surf, hanging out on the beach, laying by the pool... with my camera in tow the entire time... putting that weather-resistant K20D bad-boy and the all-weather LowePro case to the test... And of course the results should all be worth the effort!! I think they are, anyhow... Cheers.

Designs in the Desert

I've spent the last couple of weeks in the Arizona desert, and I think I am so fascinated by the landscape because of how radically different it is from the area in which I live. The granite towers and saguaro cactii around Tucson are amazing, and the sunsets are unbelievably brilliant every single night! I've been having fun shooting in both color and black and white. We have been doing a bit of rock climbing as well, which has made for some neat photos. The only downside to the whole adventure is the heat! I'm a northerner through and through, and I am far from acclimatized to the warmth. Around the 5000 foot mark and higher on Mt Lemmon is bearable; below that, the temperatures approach and exceed 90F. However, if hot weather is my biggest problem... should I really be complaining?? I think not!

Cheers!

Time Flies...

Wow, I can't believe how the time goes by! It's been 15 days since my last post... that's embarassing! I have no good excuse... just the typical, lame one about being busy and pre-occupied with work, etc. Anyway. I'm here now. And I'm getting ready for a road trip! I'll be heading to the southern States - my time will primarily be spent in Arizona and Texas, rock climbing and kitesurfing. My hope is to return with some first-class photos of both activities, as well as desert landscapes and beachy sunset scenes. I guess we'll find out! All my camera gear plus my laptop are going with me... so there will be no reason why I can't keep this blog updated while I'm gone... and believe me, I'll do my darndest! Stay tuned! It could be alot of fun!
Cheers.

From a Different Perspective

I've been aware for quite some time, that I don't have 'traditional' taste when it comes to photography and art, etc. I tend to gravitate to stuff that is 'out there' a bit - abstract images, unusual angles, unique subject matter. Which probably seems a little weird, if you know me very well... since I have a normal boring job, I dress conservatively, my hair is a standard color, I have no body piercings (although I do have a couple of tattoos)...

Don't get me wrong, I think I've mentioned before that I fully appreciate perfectly composed landscapes, taken at the golden hour and all that. A brilliant blue sky and colorful wildflowers really wake up the senses, for sure. But recently I spent a fantastic day out in the backcountry, photographing an area and seeing it from a completely different perspective... You see, the blooming flowers had long since packed it in for the season, and the sky was nothing but a grey mass. In fact, it even flurried on and off for much of the day. Sounds unintriguing, I know... however, the flat-ish light on a palette of spruce and larch trees, with snow-dusted mountains in the background... I can't describe how amazing I thought it was! The scenery was nearly monochrome, with bursts of yellow and dark green, and of course the results don't have the makings of photos you'd see in a standard, come-visit-the-Rockies brochure. But it's totally what you'd see hanging on the walls in my gallery if I had one.

Something else that I'm not a big fan of are weddings... and I'm especially no fan of the stuffy, formal pictures that usually go along with them. So earlier in the fall, when I received an invite to a backyard ceremony for two friends, I took along a bunch of camera gear and decided to try to take as many un-stuffy, informal pictures as I could, both of them and of their guests. They ended up having someone else in attendance who seemed to be in charge of taking wedding photos... so I lurked around as stealthily as possible, staying out of the professional's way. I actually had alot of fun! I took a ton of pics that I thought were glorious - candid and unassuming - and my gift to the couple was an album I made, filled with my recordings of their day.

Again however, photography is seriously subjective... and sometimes I mistakenly assume that just because I think something's cool, everybody will think it's cool. Oh well. Overall, I try to be open-minded, and I always love to see other people's photos, I love to hear what makes their photography special to them. Now you know a little bit of what makes mine special to me!

Point... and shoot...

Sounds easy, right? Just like the descripter says: aim that little guy at your subject, push the button, and let it do the magic! Yes, that seems infinitely easier than changing lenses, manually zooming and focussing, setting up apertures and shutter speeds... not to mention hauling around a MASS of a camera that fits in nothing smaller than a case the size of my head...!!

So in light of all the point'n'shoot hype, I bought myself one. A sleek little Panasonic DMC-LX2. This 10MP beauty shoots in RAW as well as jpeg, and an especially neat feature is it's 16:9 format capability. That means landscape photos are vast, almost panoramic! I took it out yesterday on a major hiking/climbing excursion, where the weight of a person's backpack is a huge consideration. And, when it comes to items other than necessities, the rule between my partners and I is 'if you really want to bring it, you have to carry it'... I was able to shave off almost 4lbs by carrying along the LX2 as opposed to my Pentax, and the convenience of snapping a photo one-handed was appreciated. The ease of use of this camera is attractive, and the photo quality is what I would deem exceptional for a camera with such a small sensor, too.

I have to say however, I still enjoy the results I get with my D-SLR. Perhaps it's just that I have become so used to it? Oh, there definitely will be times and places for the little guy (like events where they claim 'No Cameras Allowed!' - because it fits nicely inside a jacket pocket), but I'm thinking I'll learn to suck it up and slog the extra weight around with me...

I get around...?

Ha ha ha! Bet that post title made you look?! Recently, a friend made mention that judging by some of my photos, it seems that I "get around" (by transit of course! was his disclaimer...) Not only did that statement make me laugh out loud, it made me reminisce about some of my travels and evoked a serious yearning to go on another trip. I've been fortunate enough so far to see small portions of South and Central America, Mexico and the Bahamas, and I've been to many beautiful places in the U.S. and of course Canada. But the world is so huge... and in the big scheme of things, I really haven't been around at all!! The pyramids in Egypt... an African Safari... a trek through the Himalaya... a REAL Tazmanian Devil... Stonehenge... penguins in the Antarctic... the Galapagos Islands... my wish-list of things to do and see and photograph goes on and on and on!! It would be a dream come true if I could quit my job, sell everything (except my camera), and just GO! Can you imagine a better way to educate ones self and enjoy life? I can't. Right now however, I'm just not that brave - but I'm working on it!! In the meantime, I have a decent work schedule which allows a fair amount of time for travelling... and until the day comes that I'm ready to book my plane ticket with no fixed return date... I'm not going to complain - I'll just plan small trips and keep dreaming of the big one!!

Cheers.

Cruel and unusual...

Okay... maybe not so much cruel... but definitely unusual! I must say, my favorite photos are of the random type - taken from odd angles, of not-so-ordinary subjects, maybe using a fun lens such as a fisheye or Lensbaby (http://lensbaby.com/). I enjoy pretty much anything that makes me think "Hey, is that ever different." Of course I understand there are technical aspects to the really great photographs in this world... but sometimes, in my opinion anyway, originality and creativity override things such as the rule of thirds, perfect exposure or tack-sharp focus. That being said, I have taken my share of 'standard' pictures for sure... but I prefer being abstract and recording things from a different point of view. I guess that's why I'd rather photograph objects or animals as opposed to formally photographing people... I've yet to have a bunch of flowers complain that I cut off their heads or underexposed them!!

Cheers!

It's all about the case...

For the most part, I make a concerted effort to look after my belongings. I personally don't find myself to be super uptight about it - I mean it's just STUFF, right? It can be replaced. But I still like to do the best I can to prolong the life of my favorite things. Including of course, my cameras. Which is why I highly recommend hiring either Pelican or Lowepro to protect the goods, depending on the environment.

I can speak firsthand about the virtues of both these types of cases, because right from the get-go, I've hauled my camera with me in temps ranging from -25C to +40C, in a variety conditions from snow to sand to wind to water. I take my gear out climbing with me, I take it skiing, I take it to the beach, I take it to parties. It's kind of like a child to me... and I have to dress it up differently depending on the situation.

I have a Lowepro waist harness bag and a couple of Lowepro individual camera bags, which work well for skiing and hiking. A small camera bag can be tucked into a backpack if necessary, which is how my camera travelled to Bolivia. It really only has room for a body and one lens however, but on a vacation that is not photography specific, it is perfect. My Pelican case came with me to Costa Rica. It's a 1520 and at the time held everything except a tripod. I found this to be a particularly good choice of container, because when it is closed properly, it is watertight and it FLOATS... what a beautiful thing... since I inadvertently got caught out on a large sandbar that I had walked out to at low tide, but had to swim back from at high tide. D'OH! And most recently, I bought a Lowepro backpack, the CompuTrekker AW model. This thing is the bomb, I'm telling you! Yes, the Pelican keeps out dust and water and is mostly indestructible... but carrying it is cumbersome. The CompuTrekker fits all the gear I own right now, PLUS it has a built in rain cover (hence 'AW' - all weather), PLUS my laptop fits nicely in it, PLUS it can be carried on my back! So far, for travelling, I like it the best. I realize I'll have to be careful about how deep I wade when I'm wearing it... but all around, it is the most versatile case I own.

Oh, I'll still use the others... the Pelican serves its purpose in harsh conditions when I don't have too far to go from the car, and the smaller Lowepro bags are great for taking to events, social gatherings, etc. For now I think I'm stocked for cases, but I'll be sure to let you know if I try something new. Cheers.

Night Lights

Well, I went from ignoring my camera for weeks, to spending three full hours last night trying to photograph one of the most amazing spectacles of Mother Nature I've ever seen. An unbelievably intense thunderstorm lolly-gagged its way over the city in which I live, giving me ample opportunity to test out most of my camera's manual functions. I must have taken two hundred pictures! Of course I ended up keeping only about ten of them... The unfortunate part was that it rained and hailed so hard that I could not be outside; I had to do the best I could through a window. However, it was still a great learning experience.

I shot with a K20D, in JPEG format, which is unusual for me. I always shoot in RAW, but, I figured I was experimenting all around with shutter speeds, apertures, ISO's and focus, and I just didn't feel in the mood for alot of post-processing. I was disappointed with some of the results, as I noticed a couple of 'hot pixels' on a few of the photos. This apparently is a known problem with the K20D when using the 2-second timer. A recent firmware upgrade offered by Pentax was supposed to correct the problem, and obviously it was not successful.

At any rate, it was good to snap the shutter again! I'll be starting a set of two weeks off of work tomorrow night, and I look forward to spending as much of the time I can taking pictures. Did I mention in a previous post that we're heading to Nitinat Lake, BC, for their Windfest 2008? Check out my travel blog (http://www.kidinacandyshop.blogspot.com/) for more information and to read about the trip.

Cheers.

Withdrawal...

I'm definitely not getting out with my camera nearly as much as I need to. I can feel it. I'm anxious. I want there to be some sort of event I can attend - a kid's birthday, a baseball game, anything... I've been working fairly steady for the past two weeks, so all I've really been able to do is come home every day and have a quick glance at my gear, have a bite to eat, get ready for bed - and then remind myself that I'm not taking enough pictures! D'OH!

I went to a few fantastic workshops last summer, hosted at the Banff Centre for Conferences (the schedule can be found on this website: http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainculture/). At one in particular, the instructor made a comment that a person should take at least two dozen photos EVERY DAY. They don't necessarily have to be amazing content. The important part is to stay in touch with your camera - and I've been neglecting mine, big time. Sorry buddy!

However, next week I'm heading to Vancouver Island for Windfest 2008, at Nitinat Lake. I'm looking forward to 6 days of kitesurfing and (more importantly!) photographing other participants. My K20D likely won't be out of my hands for more than a few hours at a time; I can hardly wait!

On that note, I do have a bit of the afternoon left before I have to leave for work. So I think I'll go re-aquaint myself with my camera gear!

Cheers.

Lights... camera... (blurred) action!!??

The light was perfect - that late afternoon, low-in-the-sky sun... my camera was more than I could ever hope for - a Pentax K20D... and the action was great - an energetic, young, sponsored kitesurfer who was more than willing to throw trick after trick for a photographer. So what the heck was going on?? About 90% of the pics I snapped were somewhat blurred, no matter how careful I was with the focal point. I farted around with the aperture and shutter speed - at one point I was at f/3.5 and 1/1000, which absolutely should have frozen the unhooked backloops this kid was landing. I also switched back and forth from AF-S to AF-C, because the subject was moving, not stationary. I even tried manually focussing, but that went bad quickly - visualize me, standing in the Columbia River in thigh-deep water on an unstable sandy bottom, trying to simultaneously zoom the lens, pan the camera, and focus on this mass of kiteboard and body careening towards me... you should have seen the amazing blurs I captured after ducking out of the way at the last second! Not to mention nearly dunking the camera!

Anyhow, I must say I was becoming frustrated. I was so disappointed when I had to delete many well-composed shots because they were not in focus. Maybe I bought a dud of a K20D? Sometimes there are lemons from the factory, right? I think I even muttered to my boyfriend that I should convert to Nikon or something... ***GASP*** Yes, I really said that out loud! But on the other hand, I had taken way too many crisp, in-focus pics for the camera or lens to be at fault. Then some words of wisdom popped into my head, something I heard or read (I don't remember exactly where this came from): It' s not the equipment, but what you learn to DO with the equipment... a good photographer can take a great picture with even the crappiest of cameras.

Alright then, certainly it has to be a problem with how I'm using the camera in this particular situation. So off to the internet I went, to surf through my favorite forums in search of people who may be having the same trouble.

I couldn't believe my luck, when within 15 minutes I came across this post:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=28665188

This fellow's first point made the light bulb come on for me immediately: I don't think I've ever turned the image stabilization OFF...!! Could that be my problem? Makes sense, because when the IS is turned on, the magnets on the sensor are always trying to compensate for movement. When the subject is moving, and the camera is moving, well that compounds the problem. Jeesh!! Why didn't I think of that?! Perhaps if I had read through my users manual I would have come across that piece of advice? Anyhow, this fellow attached some pics he took of a surfing event in Italy, and every photo was spectacular. Definitely my poor results had to be operator error.

After reading that suggestion and seeing that fellow's perfect photos, my faith is renewed - I've switched the camera image stabilization OFF, and I took the filter off my lens (see the previous post). Hopefully this combination will produce more satisfactory results? I can't wait to find out!

Cheers.