Studio Tuesday - "The Kitchen Sink"

Our parent's always told us not to play with our food. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to do just that today. The idea for this weeks theme actually came from a magazine. This months Practical Photography ( http://www.photoanswers.co.uk/ ) had a "Kitchen Cupboard Challenge." So I figured why not take a stab at it and see what I can do. The basic challenge is to photograph anything that you have in your kitchen using daylight as your lighting.

My set-up was basic, I had a white plastic or bamboo cutting board for the background and positioned myself near to our biggest window. Arizona is great for indoor daylight photography as its always sunny, so there is always enough light pouring into the room. Anywho, I set my camera up on my tripod and angled it so that I was looking down on my subjects, only the shot of the peppers was taken from a side on view.

All in all, this was a really fun shoot, especially when I got to eat all of the food that I photographed after the shooting. I hope you all enjoy this weeks selection. Until next time.

Studio Tuesday - Self Portrait (Delayed)

Phew. First, I just wanted to say a grand hello to all. I apologize for the delay getting this post up. As you can see, my theme this week was self portraiture and it proved to be a tough one. I ended up setting up 3 separate shoots for myself, all of a very different nature. One reason for this was a mixture of ideas/concepts for the theme. On the one hand I was wanting to focus more on just taking good photographs, while on the other, I was wanting to capture a little bit of my personality.

For the first set, I was focused on a more serious tone. Beyond that focus, there wasn't much of a general idea that I had running through my head as to provide direction. This, I learned, was mistake number one. It was also the mistake that led to the other two shoots. I was pleased with some of the shots and as for the others, I have to say, I was quite confused as to what I was thinking, but here is the final product.

The second shoot was more of a "me" shoot. I was aiming to get a little of my silly side, and what better way than good old dodgeball. This shoot resulted in some good photos, but what we have here is what I think is a great depiction of me.

The third and final shoot had probably the most conceptual focus of the lot. I was aiming to get a more high contrast shot, thus the white background and me sporting the shades. The crop was also a forethought, as I was definitely leaning towards a very artsy look to this photo.

All in all, I feel that this week's theme was a success, albeit a very drawn out one a that. I hope everyone enjoys this past weeks selection. Please feel free to provide some feedback or any ideas for future themes. I will be posting again on Tuesday, so I hope you guys are hungry for some more.

Arizona Thursday - Tonto Natural Bridge

Hello once again everyone. First off, I wanted to apologize for not posting this past Tuesday. I am still working on my studio work for the post however, so I will still be posting sometime this week.

Tonto Falls from top

With that said, we find ourselves at the weekly Arizona posting. I decided today to reach back into my archive of photos for some shots that I took while at Tonto Natural Bridge over a year ago. The reasoning for this post is the looming deadline of state park closures. If you are not already aware, due to shifts in funds and otherwise lack of funding, the state legislature has decided to close many state parks, one of which is Tonto Natural Bridge. Fortunately, the deadline for Tonto was pushed from June 3rd to September 27th, as the town of Payson has agreed to assist financially. Hopefully more can be done for our state park system and a solution can be found to avoid these closures. For news, updates, status of state parks, and ways we can help, swing by www.azstateparks.com and www.arizonastateparksfoundation.org

Tonto Natural Bridge

Tonto Falls from bottom

Hopefully we can keep our parks open and maintained.

Arizona Thursday - Spring Wildflowers

Spring has arrived and our famous wildflowers are finally here. After a winter of heavy rains, we are looking at one of the better spring flowerings in Arizona. To kick it all off this week, I've got some shots that I took just this morning at White Tank Mountain Park. The park is absolutely beautiful right now. I would recommend to everyone to take the trip out there as the mountains and surrounding hills are blanketed in flowers.

To start us off, I've got this shot of a Mexican gold poppy. These guys weren't quite in full bloom yet, but this one was getting ready to burst open. I loved the spiral of the pedals so I decided to go for a top down view. I took several shots at different apertures and I decided the depth of field worked best in this particular photo.

Our second photo for the day is of a cluster of golden brittlebushes. The back drop of the morning sky fit perfectly with their bright yellow color. This shot did require a flash in order to light the flowers as I exposed for the sky.

Next up, is a shot of blue lupines and a Mexican gold poppy. I was drawn to the closeness of the flowers as up to this point, most flowers were segregated by their type. However, here, the lupines enveloped the lone gold poppy.

Finally is a shot of blue lupines that I took due to the lighting. The sun was hitting them at just the right angle (a little back and side lighting). I cropped the photo on this grouping to draw the attention better and prevent any distractions from the plethora of bushes, rocks and other wildflowers. Always keep an eye out for things that draw attention from your subject.

I hope you have enjoyed this set of photos. My wife and I are planning a trip to Picacho Peak and Tucson this weekend for more wild flower adventures. Until next time.

Studio Tuesday - Minerals

Ever since last week, I knew the subject for this weeks studio shoot. We've had a box of stones, rocks, and other minerals hanging around the house that I've always wanted to photograph. With this weeks blog rolling in my excitement grew to finally try my hand at photographing some of the minerals.

The set up was simple. I used a black backdrop along with a black surface on which to stage each mineral. For lighting I used a small, semi hand held light which also happens to be white balanced. I stuck with my 100mm macro lens to get in close for all the details. I was very pleased with my results.

This first shot was fairly straightforward. I really was going for a good black and white and these stones jumped out at me immediately. The smooth quality, shape, and color stood out and I knew right away that I wanted to get them stacked.

This shot was the second that I took. I wish I could remember the name of the mineral, however, its been a long time since I purchased it (long as in I purchased it in elementary school). I was really captivated by the glacier quality it had when viewed through the lens. So I opted to shoot from a lower angle to give it the affect of size. I placed the light closer to the mineral to accentuate its transparent quality.

The final rock that I photographed reminded me of the asteroids that we all remember from Star Wars. I couldn't resist leaving enough of the background in the shot to give it a feeling of being in space. I knew that this was going to be a side lit shot so as to bring out more of the textural features.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks focus. If you have any suggestions or ideas for future subject matter, please feel free to request one.

Arizona Thursday

As promised, today is the first post of Arizona Thursday. Let me start off by explaining the reasoning behind this regular posting.

When I first moved to Arizona back in 2003, my idea of the state was pretty much of a bleak landscape dotted here and there with cactus. However, over seven years I've had my eyes opened to the myriad of environments that make up the state. I've truly enjoyed photographing the scenery and wildlife located in Arizona. With that said, I figured, "Why not post photos of this wonderful state?" Thus was born, Arizona Thursdays.

To start us off, I planned to post on our most obscure weather over these past couple of months. Granted we get rain every once in a while during the winters, but I felt as if I was back in South Carolina with the rain we've had since January. After one night of rain, Samantha and I made a journey out to the white tanks to photograph Waterfall Trail. It was obvious quickly upon arrival that we were in for a treat. Unfortunately the news of this was bad news for someone else. Before our arrival, a man had slipped on rocks flooded by the water and dislocated his knee. After waiting for the rescue crew to bring him down from the falls, we were able to proceed. Here is a shot that I got of the waterfall that was flowing much more that usual do to the above average rainfall.

It was worth the trip. I was able to move out into the pool at the bottom of the falls to get this shot. Definitely worth some wet shoes and socks.

Elsewhere on the trail, we came across some bushes, cactus, and flowers with rain water still clinging to them. I took the opportunity to make use of my very underused macro lens. The results follow here.

Later that same day, I was returning home from a grocery run, only to be baffled by the uncanny storm clouds moving in for another pass at the valley. With the sun setting, the lighting was absolutely stunning. I grabbed my equipment and literally ran down the street to the golf course and shot away until the the sun went down. I was amazed at the cloud formations and array of colors in them. Arizona has, by far, some of the best storm clouds I've seen.

With the rain past us, its now time to look forward to Arizona's Spring flowers. Until next time.

First Studio Tuesday!!

Phew! Ok, so it's been way to long since I last posted. I'm still trying to get in a routine with work and photography. It's been a busy past couple of months. I photographed a wedding a month ago and have been working hard to get the photos edited. I have been busy on the side which means that there are plenty of photos to post. In all of my workings, I have come upon the idea for a weekly post on studio photography, of sorts. My aim here is to keep a stream of photography to you the viewers that is based more on staged images: portraits, still life, and anything else that is in a controlled environment. With that said, we find ourselves here at the first posting of said "Studio Tuesdays."

This is my lovely wife Samantha. After a night out, I thought, "Hey, we're dressed up. Let's get some portraits done." Moments later with camera in hand and backdrop in place, I was shooting away. The set up for this shot was pretty basic (my "studio" tends to be that way). I used a black blanket as the backdrop, thumb tacks work great for this. As for lighting, I used my 430Ex flash with diffuser and bounced the flash off the wall to my left (her right) to diffuse the light even more. All in all, I was pleased the most with this shot. When it came time for editing, the black and white portion of my brain which doesn't see much daylight was just screaming to get out. Thus we find ourselves with the final photo you see before you.

I hope you enjoyed this. My plan in the future is to provide more in the way of set ups for each shoot. Please feel free to comment or suggest anything from subject ideas to more tips, etc.

And...
Check back here later this week for the kick off of the weekly Thursday post and a special movie review.