Today I am officially starting my photography project to try to expand my shooting experience and build my portfolio. Every picture will come with documentation of shutter speed, ISO, aperature, type of lens, and any flash or supplemental light settings. The pictures also will remain unedited by any popular digital editing programs such as Photoshop (except the HDR photos). In my humble opinion, there is a difference between photographer and a graphic designer/Photoshop cowboy. Anyone can learn Photoshop, but it requires a true dedication and skill to take great photographs. It is my aim to keep all of my photos honest and stay true to the integrity of the picture. Listed below are the categories and target quantities. Hopefully I’ll have this wrapped up by Spring and will add pictures as I manage to get them finished.
10 HDR (high dynamic range) pictures
10 landscape pictures
10 portraits
10 sports/action pictures
10 black and white pictures
10 architectural pictures
5 product pictures
5 candid pictures
10 creative pictures (only using camera and exposure settings)
ps: if anyone wants to volunteer for some portrait photography please let me know…
I finally was able to save enough money to buy some more camera equipment on my long, expensive camera wish list. New to the arsenal is a Canon 50mm 1.4/f lens and a Canon 580EX Speedlite flash. The 50mm lens is going to be my prime lens and, due to it’s aperture range, allow me more flexibility in low-light situations, high-speed situations, and provide nice bokeh for centering compositional items, especially useful in portraits. The flash was an addition that was long overdue. As a photographer, light is essential and the built-in flash on the Canon 30D was not able to provide the flexibility I needed. It generally threw way too much light on the subject resulting in a harsh, whitewashed exposure that drained all of the color from the shot and created unacceptable shadowing. The Speedlite flash is an amazing peice of equipment and exactly what I was looking for. Along with a mind-boggling myriad of settings and features, it can adjust the power of the flash as well as fire in burst shots to match high speed shooting. I definitely have some experimenting and testing to do before I’ll feel I have a strong grasp of these new items (not like I’m complaining).
This weekend I built a sister bank ramp that was identical to my other one for something new to skate. After getting bounced off the ground a few times I was able to land a decent bank-to-bank gap that covered around 6 feet or so. Then was able to clear the length of the funbox straight up which is 6 feet long. Hopefully, I’ll be able to clear a car in the upcoming months. My challenge: find someone who will let me use their car and not wreck on it.
I just returned from my annual visit back East to visit family and friends, and once again, I had a great time seeing everyone and traveling around. Highlights of the trip include a long motorcycle ride through the countryside with my Dad, brother, and some other friends (in which I got to ride my brother’s Harley Springer 1200 for the first time), seeing my little niece Amelia and all of her cute antics, the Pennsylvania Farm Show, skating a vert ramp with some old buddies at their warehouse, taking a trip to FDR skatepark in Philly, seeing the DC monuments and memorials, the Spy Museum, the Holocaust Museum, the Natural History Museum, seeing the Hope Diamond, and taking my Mom to the movies. Of course, the best part of the whole trip was getting a chance to spend time with my family and friends and once again reaffirm just how lucky I am to have such great people in my life.