Southern Composition

My boss is going to be out most of this week so I am browsing the net for fun photo projects I want to try-(when I actually have time to dedicate to something other than work)...

Family Tree's
      I have never really been interested in any family tree/history type stuff- until I moved away from home & that info and the memories are not so readily available. I would love to have something around my house reminding my everyday of my loved ones & the great times we've had, & pictures are just too boring & plain jane for me!!

Date/Time:
Subject(s): Christmas tree, decorations, logo's
Notes:

Finally some Christmas lights!! The Carson house has been haunting my photographic dreams ever since they put the lights up on it. Problem is, the only free time I have had to shoot it has been while it was raining and my camera is not exactly waterproof...  Well, the rain finally cleared up a few nights ago (at least for the night) and I saw the lights on my way home over the Samoa bridge & jumped at the opportunity.

I have been reading up on HDR and looking at examples online for quite some time & thought that the Carson Mansion would provide the perfect subject for an HDR photo, especially with the Christmas lights all strung up. So I grabbed my tripod out of the car, and my cross-screen filter (makes lights have four points) just for fun, and set up everything from 2-3 different locations in front of the house and to the side of it. I used my Exposure bracketing feature on the camera taking three pictures each time I pressed the shutter button (the first at my set exposure, the second a stop below, and the third a stop above) and planned to combine them later in Photoshop using the automate HDR feature. Below are each of the three images before editing:

The more I shoot RAW images the more I love them. That's all for today!

No really, RAW images are the creme brulee of images... Our last few days in GA we went over to a friends house to hang out and the guys ended up re-hashing old times with some flaming irish car bombs. Of course, I was enlisted to photograph this glorious event, all the while thinking "I'm not so sure this is a good idea..."

The kitchen was the only place irish car bombs could be had without catching the carpet on fire or burning his gorgeous hardwood floors. Problem with that was that the kitchen was really dark- on top of that once I did a few test shots (with the camera- not the car bombs!!) I realized that if I wanted to catch the fire coming off the glasses I would need to make the kitchen even darker. Was I worried? HELLS NO!! Why- because I was shooting RAW!!! I just set my shutter speed around 1/60 which made it low enough to just barely make out what would be in the image and set my camera for continuous shutter release.

Of course, the images were too dark to see much of anything in:

Thanksgiving brings back memories of tables and counter-tops crammed with every food imaginable. I remember how hectic thanksgiving always was trying to make it to everyone's dinners/lunches, which between my dad & step-mom's family, grandma's family, grandpa's family, step-dad's family, and boyfriends family left me pooped everytime. So this year since we were in town for the big headache and belly-ache inducing day we decided to gather everyone together at one house for one dinner. Sounds crazy right? Well, we survived, scratch that- we rocked that thanksgiving.

With all the people around and the different families my goal for the day was to get group shot to give to each of the families, as well as a few random candid shots. Last year I spent quite a bit of time shooting the food so I wanted to focus on the people this year, since I only get to see them once a year!

I shot everything in RAW instead of JPG (now that I have photoshop & camera raw I will never go back to jpg's!!) and then did some short (ie- 5-10 min per picture) editing in camera raw then photoshop to finish them up with the border.

After thanksgiving we went skeet shooting- my first time- where I shot a shotgun- also my first time- AND I actually hit a few skeets! By a few I mean like three out of at least 20-30, but that seems okay for a first-timer. It was really cold and windy out so I didn't take too many pics (expensive camera + freezing fingers + muddy hills & lakes= IMPENDING DOOM) but I tried to focus on getting images where the shooter and the skeet were both in the frame, and hoped I could get a few shots of the skeet being hit and breaking. I didn't have much faith in the later as I left my polarizing filter at the house and the reflection off the lake was killer.

Georgia on my mind.... 

"Croquet, Anyone" by Atlanta History Center http://www.flickr.com/photos/atlantahistorycenter/4721084238/

"Midtown From Piedmont Park" by Adam Preble http://www.flickr.com/photos/preble/59079707/

"Hotlanta" by James Duckworth -- taken on the Jackson St. Bridge http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124573@N00/2092105665/

Maybe this is just because I'm a chick but has anyone else noticed that the camera/laptop bags out there don't leave alot to the imagination... Mostly all are black, backpack or sling, and everyone screams "STEAL ME OFF THIS ITTY BITTY GALS ARM- WHAT'S SHE GONNA DO ABOUT IT"

After searching online I got an idea (I didn't say it was original) & decided to make my own. Sort of.

I found a large purse at Kohls with dividers inside that felt durable and tough- the one I chose also happened to already have a laptop sleeve which made my project even easier. I even had durable upholstery fabric in the house leftover from my re-upholstering project a while back. So all I needed was some foam to pad and protect my gear and stitch witch to make assembly easier.

I probably tried 2 or three other designs including a cardboard box i was going to pad with foam but this one worked this best!

I had a hard time finding foam I was happy with- so much of it is low density foam... So I used the next best thing- craft foam (that stuff is super dense). I layered 3 pieces on top of one another, taped them together with gorilla tape, and slid them into my stitch witched pocket of fabric.

Then I folded it all in half and began sewing the ends and compartments together for my lenses and camera.

In the end I realized that the insert sort of looks like a shootsac, is nice and flexible, and is super padded. I am thinking about adding a top to this piece but that would make retrieval a bit harder.

It fit perfectly inside my purse (b/c I measured it like 10 times), is easily removable to any other bag I want, and I now have a bitchin, unique, totally me camera & laptop bag!!

**Sorry about the pic quality- these were taken with my cell phone**

We did it again & it was bigger & better than ever! Arts Arcata @ the DTA store that is...

First off, let me say that I was nervous for probably two days before the event. By the time everything got started I was so jacked up on adrenaline and serotonin from my anxious-ness that I was a hot mess all night!

We started the night off with DJ Psy-Fi (Miles) doin some dub step with Ethan scratching on the tables in the breaks, followed by a live & awesome performance from Never Die (Kyser-J & HiWay). Going on simultaneously was the Live Art Duel between Shiek and Wong- the theme the second time round seemed to be DTA/cartoons. We had a great turnout- even had ppl gathering outside on the sidewalk b/c we didn't have any room inside- and even sold quite a bit.

Of course, I am the 'official' picture taker for the store so I have been working on product placement in alot of my event pictures. Mostly just staying conscious of the items in the frame and background and trying to get a different perspective that might highlight the store, brand, or what have you. I think I'm getting good!

Location: DTA store (1063 H St. Arcata, CA)
Date/Time: Friday, 9/10/10 from 6-9pm
Subject(s): art, people, crowd, music act, product placement
Notes: post processed in Iphoto

The past week in Eureka has been gorgeous! We got a short taste of some summer heat and sun for a few lovely days but now the fog is rolling back in & with a thickness! Of course, this gorgeous weather has had me out and about with my camera on the ready almost every day. In the interest of time (because there is not even close to enough hours in the day anymore) I am combining all my Eureka images from the past week into one blog post with subtitles. Hope you enjoy!!

ST. BERNARD CHURCH'S FLOWER GARDEN
All controversy aside (the priest is being investigated for molestation), the St. Bernard's church has a beautiful (yet small) flower garden around the backside of the building (7th & I). This is such a tiny garden that I normally walk right past it in search of bigger and better gardens but that day I looked over from across the st. and saw so many colors I had to take a peek....
I noticed as I was going back through alot of these images that I am 100% guilty of leaving the camera on auto the whole time...  I was in a hurry b/c I had to get back to work, but NO EXCUSES- I need to stop doing the whole auto thing...

Location: Sequoia Park Zoo (3414 W St. Eureka, CA)
Date/Time: Sunday 9/5/10 at 11am
Subject(s): Animals, exhibits
Notes: polarizing filter used on all images, post processed in picasa
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SEQUOIA PARK FLOWER GARDEN
I have been wanting to visit the small flower garden next to the zoo ever since I first drove by it. Combine that with the fact that I keep seeing awesome images from the garden on flickr from a guy named D. Swensen- he must live nearby & go early b/c he always has gorgeous dew shots and posts a new image almost daily. I finally got my man to take the pooch over to the garden and stand around bored while I take pictures (he's not really the flower garden type!)...

Since the store has been open we keep hearing about this place behind Bayshore Mall called (dum dum dum) "THE DEVILS PLAYGROUND". Apparently this is where quite a few things happen:

1) where alot of the houseless people have set up their own group 'house'
2) where the good graf artists in this county put up their handiwork
3) where alot of the houseless people dump any and all trash (mattresses, food, needles, you name it, Devils Playground has it!)

So we HAD to go check it out. I couldn't believe that someplace like this was right down the street from me- I could walk there if I wanted to! Packed up the dog and the camera and less than 5 min later we are driving around the parking lot behind the mall looking for a trail.... POOF there it was!  A little hobo trail through the bushes to some forbidden location.... We walked through some bushes and trees and came out to quite a view:

It was lots of fun to explore this new place & I will definetly be going back for some RS/DTA photo shoot when we get some girls stuff in... Of course, with a man, a dog, a 4Runner, and some mace! =)



Location: Eureka, CA - behind bayshore mall
Date/Time: 8/15/10 @ 11am
Subject(s): urban decay, architecture, graffiti, trash
Notes: most of the images were taken with my polarizing filter on the lens as it was early morning and pretty bright out.