Canna Lily

I was taking a walk during sunset the other day and noticed these giant flowers kind of looming over the sidewalk. Didn’t really like the rest of the setting, so I cropped in and focused tightly on the flower. To my surprise and delight, the rest of the image was filled with more bokeh than I was expecting.

It was kind of awkward trying to shoot this because it was in the windowsill of a restaurant. (On the outside, of course) I was huddled up in the window for a couple of minutes getting the shot and had a lot of passers-by giving me a perplexed look. I almost had somebody from the restaurant come scold me, but I left first. Not that I was doing something I shouldn’t have – I had just got my shot already.

I feel it is important to be intimate enough with your skill and your camera to know when you got “the shot”. I can usually tell and I typically won’t shoot past that point. Whenever I do, I typically hesitate and then later discover that none of them were quite what I was looking for. Isn’t that the way it works? If you have confidence in your skill and put the effort in, usually it works out.

You can click the image to view it larger, and see more detail.

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Playing with my new light technique again.. it’s going to take a while before I truly get sick of it I think.

Today was really long… I had to do a LOT of running around and I’m still a little under the weather.. as was the weather. (I don’t really like driving in the rain – who does?)

I hear it’s going to be a COOL weekend.. look forward to it! Bring it on, autumn!

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Paramount Ranch

While we were having fun over at Phootcamp, a couple of us decided to go on a small adventure. We stumbled across the Paramount Ranch – how awesome! The place was purchased in the 1920s by Paramount and used for a great number of the old westerns. The blank backdrop has apparently been used in dozens of movies for lots of different settings, too.. most recently it was the set for “Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman” and “Charlie’s Angels”.. it’s a lot smaller than it was back in “the day”, but it’s still pretty big.. and they still use it from time to time. The rest of the days, though, it is a park open to the public.

I’m no stranger to sets.. but I am a stranger to outdoor sets! It was pretty amazing that it stays clear enough there to use it as a regular set.

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Grand River Reflections

The last of my long exposure over the river series. I like this one because of how much light is reflected in the water – it is acting as a giant mirror.

No chance of it looking like this tonight though.. we’re under some heavy storms!

Morning

I woke up in Michigan this morning to soft, rolling thunderstorms. They’re something you just don’t get anywhere except the midwest. It reminded me of this photo I took over at Phootcamp.. it was quite spectacular in the early hours of sunrise. Eventually, it all burned off and the horizon became harsh again.

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for all that I do… I can never truly stray away from taking photos on the floor. I think that’s a habit that has been permanently engrained. Which is fine.

This was actually a test shot. But I decided I liked it so much, I didn’t take any more. Sometimes, one shot is really all it takes.

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Played around with my studio equipment today. This was fun– I was actually in a very well-lit room against a bright white wall. I just did a little white balancing in post. The deep, black background was a byproduct of light manipulation and knowing how to use my camera. Pushing it under a stop and placing it really, really close to the light source (as well as placing myself really, really close to both). Optical science is fascinating.

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One Hour

Took a walk the other day and stumbled across this. I was originally taking photos of the car wash behind it, but decided that ultimately this is far more interesting.