The End of an Era

Well this is it. The end of my self-taught photo career. I am now fully enrolled and participating in a photography class at the University of Illinois (where I'm going for my Bacholer's in Mechanical Engineering). I made a hard decision and am selling (possibly to family) my Sony DSC-H5.

I badly desired the camera so I would be able to delve further into photography than simply pointing and shooting. It guided me through good times and bad times, it rarely left my side. Most of my friends now know, and probably have memorized it's exact size and shape. They certainly know the flash. It opened so many countless opportunities for me and got me my first published photos at the U of I iHotel. It changed my life and will always hold a place in my heart.

I am moving on to a Canon Rebel XSi. I should be happier I know but the camera is too expensive but without going into major details I am, by all means, forced to buy it. I know there's worse things in life than getting something better than what you wanted but there's unseen circumstances occurring.

So here's to you Sony DSC-H5 and all you've given me. I'm going to miss you dearly, with your sleek style, aggravating manual settings, and especially your glorious wide angle lens.

Wrap Your Wings Around Me

There is this little sculpture in my backyard that has always intrigued me and I planned to get some photos of it before it started falling apart but that failed. Anyways, here it is!

On another note, I turned in my Nikon FE for repairs and it should be given back to me at some point this week--- for 150 bucks!---so expect some film shots from me in the future (and plenty more once my photography class begins!).

Burned Down Every Bridge That I've Found

"...And I limit myself to a 6 gun quota"

So I've decided at the moment I'm just going to do what ever I can now. If I don't have time, I don't. If no one other than the smattering of you who constantly do, then so be it. Here I would like to take another opportunity to thank those of you who do. It does mean a lot, as I'm sure you know... but I feel the need to thank you so... just accept it ;).
Anyways, I may only post every few days for the next few weeks to come but once I am down at school I hope that that changes. In fact that's my goal. I have big plans for this blog (including starting a 365 with a newly purchased domain when I return from Europe next summer with a new dSLR camera).
So here's how I look at it: I'm going to keep posting. I hope people keep looking. And I'll consider this my introduction to the entire blogosphere.

In this process I'll be adjusting this site to meet the needs that I think are required to correctly portray my photos.

Cheers!

As The Feeling Fades Away

Sometimes, the feeling of being disillusioned by something comes to pass; usually in retrospect.

Anyways, I know it's been a while since I have posted. Honestly, since I have kept up with most of your blogs on a daily basis. Time is pretty tight with my hour commute each direction from work. Taking into account that I have a very small daily hit number, how I want to work out (consistently), have some sort of social life, and it ends up being pretty hard to keep up with everything. I have been trying to decide what to do about this and honestly, I cannot come up with much.

There's plenty of things I'd like to do to attract more people... making this all seem a bit more "worth it" since the original intent was to recieve feedback on my photos: these things include better photos, higher quality, better website---but those are all about a year away (maybe slightly less). So in the end I decided that maybe this won't be a daily thing (what I was striving for). Maybe, this won't attract a ton of people. But in the end I should probably just do this for me and hope for the best. To those of you who do come, and comment,

Summer Moon

I'll be out of town for a few days and it's been pretty busy so I haven't had the chance to do the auto-update. But I promise I'll have stuff for you come Sunday!

Anyways, this is why I love my camera. Super sweet photos of the moon!

Families: A Triptych Bokeh

I know on this photoblog, every once in a while details of my personal life come out but usually it's nothing that personal. And rarely, if ever, has it been negative. I don't really think this is the place for it and for the most part I don't think the majority of you really need to read or hear about depressing things considering everyone has their own stuff to deal with. Though with photography becoming the passion of mine that it is, something eventually was going to take form in it.

Thus this series of photos was taken. It was something I learned about on Flickr really. I have never attempted at doing a diptych or a triptych before. I also never had attempted a serious bokeh image before. But for some reason when I was sitting on the deck at my Aunt's it just clicked and I went for it. I love my family, I really do. There's just times when a certain male member of it makes life much harder than it ever should be for all of us a grand majority of the time. And I know there's others out there that have the same issue. The blurred effect really is more how I feel about these people at these times, but the overall image is bright: in the end everything's okay. I always have to look at it from several angles; none of which I understand slightly. But finally I just move on because there is nothing more I can do about it. That's really what these photos represent to me.

Anyways, I hope you like it. Or at least find it interesting enough to give some constructive criticism if you don't.

Self-Portrait Reflected in a Mustang

Another "Cool Cars Under The Stars" photo, except this time a bit newer. My favorite car is the Ford Mustang, especially pre-1973 and post-2005. This one's colors were fantastic as a deep black with red stripes. BIG fan. The sad and rather ironic thing is I have been less and less knowledgable of cars since engineering started getting tougher but it was the reason I went into it in the first place. C'est la vie, je pense. Anyways, I like this photo because it is pretty humorous to see myself in such a hunched position (I'm 6'4) and I am wearing my favorite hat from Scotland.

Alone

I needed a break from sorting through hundreds of wedding photos so I indulged myself in some more layering/texturing/exposuring blending techniques with this photo. It's a tree (obviously) on a lakefront near where I work. I got bored the other day and decided to pull over and take a few photos. There's no point in putting the exif data because it's all messed up because the image is blended and flattened, etc.

The original can be seen here: ORIGINAL.

Speaking of originals, I promised a few people the originals of a sunset HDR I took and I'll try and get those up tonight with an edit.

Cake Or Death

I'm not a huge cake fan really. In fact I typically avoid it at all costs because 9/10 times the frosting gives me a headache. However, this cake looks amazing. The title is really only half accurate, unless I decide to say I was being clever and referring to "Until death do you part" or however the wedding phrase goes... but I wasn't. I just think a certain British cross dressing comedian is hysterical.

And... the formatting's being weird for me to place my exif data on. I'll update at home and hopefully the archive as well!

Shoes and Pedals

Camera: Sony DSC-H5

Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)

Aperture: f/5

Focal Length: 6 mm

ISO Speed: 125

I just got back from the Hindu/Christian Wedding in Tennessee and all I can say is wow. It was like living in a movie. I had no idea the extent of how extravagent it was going to be. Everything from the catering, the people, the set ups, and the ceremonies was amazing. I got some decent shots (though out of respect never used the flash which made it difficult at times) but I hope to post a few here and there for you all to look at.

Anyways, this first photo is of rose pedals on the ground by Elena's feet. It looked like such a cool angle that you could not pass it up. A real goal of mine is to be a wedding photographer at least on the side of an everyday job. There are just so many opportunities to get fantastic shots of everything from scenary, to florals, to people. This year for my graduation I will finally be getting the dSLR that I have been yearning for. Whether it ends up being the Sony Alpha (newcomer to this race) or the Canon Rebel or one of the 253,200,234,234,249,546,345 Nikons out there, by that point I'll know and be thrilled.

Sunset 2.0

A second photo of the Arch outside of the iHotel where my photos are being published. I have quite a few of these and love them!

See you guys Monday! I'll continue to post via the scheduled posting tool.

Happy 4th!

I'm not always the most patriotic person around. And I certainly don't approve of the current presidency, but there's a certain happiness in being proud of where you came from and making it yours. I'm from Chicago, I'm from Illinois. I go to uni here, I got to travel abroad here; and despite what I consider money issues, life's pretty damn good and that's what matters.

Again, I'm still outa town so comments, archives, and the like will continue on Monday! I'll continue to post via the scheduled posting tool.

Torn

I LOVE Urban Decay. It's always interesting and raw. Anyways, I added a texture of my own making with some vignetting around the corners. Some dodging and burning occurred in the center.

Again, still out of town, still can't comment, still can't do the archive! See you guys Monday. I'll continue to post via the scheduled posting tool.

Caffeinerd

A photo of my girlfriend at The Bread Company in Champaign. The scene just seemed to set itself up perfectly. It's not heavily put through photoshop though I did tweak some elements (there were two cars I didn't care for in the background).

On another note, I'm leaving tonight for Tennessee to go to her cousin's wedding so I will be out of town from Wednesday through Sunday. This unfortunately means most likely no commenting, and once again the lack of a current archive. I promise I'll update it sooner this time ;)

I'll continue to post via the scheduled posting tool. And keep commenting though! I love to hear feedback (who doesn't!?).

Reflections in a Dirty Mirror

Camera: Sony DSC-H5
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 6 mm
ISO Speed: 80

Today was a hard choice, I have two photos I want to post but I'll post the other tomorrow. I took this because on flickr it seems everyone and their mothers' has a reflected picture of themselves in a mirror. I made the texture myself and the vignette around the image. Other than that the photo itself is straight out of the camera. I swear I'm going to take "happy" or at least normal self-portraits. It's all to do with lighting, I promise.

Sunset Arch

Camera: Sony DSC-H5

Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)

Aperture: f/5.6

Focal Length: 24.8 mm

ISO Speed: 100

This is another shot from Research Park, though more recent. I took it this weekend when I was down at U of I. It's actually across the street from the hotel (iHotel) in which my published photos will be displayed! Hopefully after I'm done with these I'll have a little mini-series of Research Park photos you can visit.

Cool Cars Under The Stars

It's another two-fer cause I'll be gone this weekend as well. Every Wednesday night in my town they have this thing called Cool Cars Under The Stars in which they basically have as the title says: cool cars at night. My cousin owns a 1963 Ford Falcon Futura convertible which is pretty awesome. Well, he cranked up the 60's rock and drove with me and his girlfriend up to the show and we all hung out while I took some pictures.

Other news: the hotel that wanted one of my photos is now taking two more! Boooyah!

Rolls 'N Johnnie

Camera: Sony DSC-H5 Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500) Aperture: f/7.1 Focal Length: 6 mm ISO Speed: 80 Exposure Bias: -1 EV

"You can take the Rolls if you like, just make sure to bring it back with a full tank."

If you know what movie that line is from you're awesome.

Another picture from the Scottish Festival (British Car section). I can't help but think that there's something missing/awry with this photo. If you can help me out I'd be extremely thankful.


ADDED BONUS:

Because y'all were just so kind to wait for an archive and didn't get a two-fer on Friday here's another:



Johnnie Gold, Red, Black, Green, and of course: Blue.

AND I'M PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE: my archive is up :). So if you missed one of my past glorious photos, now you can go and see exactly which it was. Just click here or on "Past Photos" on the left.

Tartanic

Camera: Sony DSC-H5
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 72 mm
ISO Speed: 200

This weekend I was able to attend the Highland Games Scottish Festival near my hometown in Illinois. It was awesome. I love being of Scottish heritage and to have a place and time where everyone was in kilts, where the glorious sounds of bagpipes range, and there was so much plaid I thought I had a filters on over my eyes. There was music, athletics, haggis, meat pies, and of course: Scotch. I got to "try" (ended up at least having around 1-2 full glasses of it by the end) Johnnie Walker Blue Label (retail price of at least $160). It was amazing. And we saw some great Scottish music including a band named Tartanic. They were a lot of fun and got really into it.

I miss Scotland.

Moon Shot

I love pictures of the moon. It's as simple as that. This Wednesday was supposed to have the largest moon (because of the solstice coming up). It didn't. Actually it was disappointing but here's a shot from it anyways. It may not be my coolest/best moon shot but I've been going through HDR to try and see what it's limits are.