Saturday Morning Shooting

It has been forever since I went out JUST to take pictures. I left the house at 6:15 this morning with my gear bag and found out a few things:

1. 28 degrees Fahrenheit might be warmer than most Saturdays have been recently but it's still damn cold.
2. My shooting is way out of practice
3. I really need to practice shooting with my zoom lenses again.
4. In general, I really have to watch my shutter speed and focal length and use my tripod more. Using the 50mm at home under lights has gotten me too confident in handheld shots when I got back outside using a zoom lens.
   
5. I still love photography and need to get back to it outside of the kitchen.

Water Hazard
Yellow golf ball frozen in the shore of Lake Loudon. I like the shot but should have used the 50mm/1.8f lens.

Martian Landscape
Actually is the exposed and frozen clay shoreline.

I loved the color in this shot, the sun was just peaking over my shoulder. I HATE the focus. I had been shooting manual focus before this shot and wonder if I thought I had switched back to auto. I don't know but this could have been a great shot.


High and Dry
I like the stratified layers of color in this shot, but it's a bit washed out in the lightest layer.



Lost Summer

This stump of a post embedded in concrete caught my eye because of how the water erosion has etched the natural rings of the wood out. I should have used the tripod more to get cleaner shots.

Dang, I have long legs at 7 in the morning!

The ONLY shot I took all morning that I really liked. At least it's the only one that didn't make me think I should have done something differently.
As disappointed as I was in the pictures, I feel like I learned a lot, or more to the point, "re-learned" a great deal.

A Journey Of A Different Sort

My brother gave me a years worth of memories as a Christmas present, a set of journals, one for each month of 2010.


It's very motivational. This set of empty memories to be filled has spurred me to live a bit more, notice the little things, and write it down.

Fun With Tequila

I should just drink the stuff but where would be the fun in that?

I was getting ready to make a tequila marinade for steaks when the light of the late afternoon sun caught my eye and I had to play around a bit. There were no special effects or lighting. Just the tequila, a window, and the sun.

Shadow Shot Sunday (Saturday in North America)

Flash flood warnings abound so the only shadows to be had are inside. I played with my homemade light box today.

I learned some subtlety with shadows today. Instead of the shadow being the subject of the picture, here I used shadow to compliment the subject.

I have seen several do your own light boxes but not one like mine. Others are cheaper but I like mine. I used 4 2' x 2' pieces of light diffusers like your standard fluorescent lights in an office. You can buy them at Lowes Home Improvement store (called Metalux troffer replacement lens). I drilled 1/8" holes in them as follows.

Then I just used zip ties to loosely connect them together at the red holes. I can fold it up flat into one 2' x 2' piece for storage. When I'm ready to use it, I just zip tie the yellow holes and it holds a cube shape.

Throw in a few pieces of colored poster board and a daylight CFL lamp or two and you're in business.

Trevor the Kid

Man, I really have to get back to playing around with studio lighting and portraiture.

"Cherry"

Photos of my neighbor's '32 Ford.

Leftovers

Some left overs from last Sunday's drive.

Railroad Depot

Part of our Sunday morning drive took us through the sprawling metropolis of Greenback, TN (pop. 954) where I took this shot of what looked like an old railroad depot.
No color has been added to this at all. I just used selective color by putting a color copy of the picture over a black and white copy. Then I erased the color around the building for the monochrome effect, except on the building.

Anyway, a quick Google check confirmed that indeed this was formerly a railroad depot opened by L & N in 1914. This little town was not much more than a crossroads, I'm drawn to places like this for some reason. And buildings or structures like this fascinate me, because they were obviously once something very special to someone.

Bridge Out Ahead

Here's a shot from our photo safari on Sunday. This is off of a section of Hwy 129, called The Dragon, which is one of the world's most famous motorcycle ride routes thanks to it's 318 twisting, curving, and banking turns in 11 miles through the Smoky Mountain foothills.

This shot just shows the set up of the old bridge pilings, just to show how beautiful the area is.
But this is the shot I loved because of the composition. I tried it in black and white but you lost a lot that way.

Sunday Morning Drive

We were childless this morning so Alexis and I left the house at 7am to go on a photo safari. We ended up driving 100+ miles to the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Unfortunately, the 1,000 percent humidity was oppressive and the ozone impenetrable, so mountain shots were out due to the haze. Even with UV or polarizing filters, it is still to hazy to get a clean shot.
But I didn't let the weather conditions ruin my photo safari. I took just over 100 shots of other things as we meandered through country back roads (right at a photo per mile). I got some real "keepers" today and I'll post some of them over the next few days.

Here's one taken at one of the first stops we made. Alexis noticed this old softball sitting at the base of a lake side tree. To me, this instantly began the storytelling in my head.
I couldn't help but notice the ANCIENT pop top tab (what are those, 30 years old now?) next to it, so I thought this would look great as a black and white.
Which version do you prefer?

Update: Alexis read this post and pointed out that she liked THIS one better. Only a slightly different take, but still, which one do you like better, color or b&w?

Shadow Shot Sunday

I haven't taken a lot of shots this week but I quickly snapped this shadow shot while running out the back door as I was cooking on the deck. Hop over to Hey Harriet's to see better examples of shadow shots.


I caught a lecture by retired botanist and award winning photographer, Dr. Alan Heilman, today at the Blooms Day festival at the University of Tennessee Gardens. There is a repeat of it Sunday at 4pm. If you are local, I highly recommend it. It's only $6 to get into the festival and parking is free.

Late Afternoon eukenaisa...echonesia...screw it, late afternoon flower.

Friday Night Shoot Out!

It's the weekly Friday Night Shoot out over at Chef E's TMI blog. The theme this week is "metal". Check out her blog to participate and/or see the other entries.

Hot lead or cold steel? A working replica of an 1851 Colt Navy Revolver.Metal teeth! Front crankset of my road bike.Enter the dragon! The chains from one set of my nunchaku.Swirly. The handle to the ash tool for a Big Green Egg.Did you see what I saw?Happy Friday!

Rainbows

Ok, I retract my comment about rainbows last week;)If you look real close at this picture, there's a second rainbow above the main one. It's very faint.

Written by Paul Williams and used by Kermit the Frog, of The Muppets, Jim Henson Productions

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that
and someone believed it,
and look what it's done so far.
What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing?
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.

All of us under its spell,
we know that it's probably magic....

Have you been half asleep
and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.
I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
It's something that I'm supposed to be.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.
La, la la, La, la la la, La Laa, la la, La, La la laaaaaaa