Seaworld!!

Well, I'm back. After a couple of weeks off I've finally gotten back and have some new work to post. As the title says, this weeks post is on Seaworld, San Diego. This past week we took a trip out to California and one of the things that we did was to visit the park. I certainly had a blast and it was nice seeing the park since the last time was when I was a tiny little squirt.

This was my first attempt at photography in a zoo setting. Its tricky trying to make sure that things look natural, and in some cases (Shamu) you just have to accept that its all in a man made environment and just shoot what you can.

The sea lions were a riot to photograph. Of all the animals in the park, they definitely had the most personality. The best part was watching them go nuts when park visitors would feed them. Its a shame though that during the whole process I never got a shot of the birds attacking visitors for the fish meant for the sea lions. I chose to go for the black and white on these shots since the sea lions had very smooth features that when wet gave a great level of contrast to their features.

The hardest thing to photograph were all of the aquarium animals. I took tons of photos, but dealing with the glass distortion, glares, reflections, and the difficulty focusing left me with just a few good shots. Here is one shot that I was happy though of one of the many sharks.

Cactus Bloom and Idle Photo

Hey everyone. So I had quite a venture this past weekend. I made a trip down to Sierra Vista (way the heck out there) to observe the humming bird tagging along the San Pedro River. The trip had some hick-ups, Tucson road construction being one of the main culprits. Anyways, while on our trip, during lunch, I noticed a saguaro that was blooming. Now I've seen some here and there, but I never quite found the one I wanted to photograph. This guy was amazing though. The buds and flowers were arranged perfectly and I was even lucky enough to climb up on a rock to get a straight on shot rather than shoot looking up towards the cactus. Anywho, here is the shot that I got.

To keep this post from getting short and also that I am super excited about this photo, I've decided to start a little bit of what I will call "Idle Photo." Basically, I will always have photos that weren't posted as they might not quite fit the subject of the post, but are worthy of being posted. So after sitting idle, I will find ways to squeeze them into small posts or posts of their own. To start this off, there is no other photo than one of the first that I ever took. This photo was taken with my first camera (Canon Digital Rebel), literally a month after I got it. I was on a family vacation in Boston and while there we made a trip to Lexington. While there I took this photo which has hung out on my hard drive now for the last 5+ years. I brought it back to life this past week as I was looking for a colorful photo to fill an empty frame in my home. So without further ado....

Desert Botanical Gardens - Butterfly Pavilion

Hey there everyone. I should start off by saying that I'm real excited about this weeks post. This past weekend was my wife's and my anniversary. One of the things we did was to go to Phoenix's, Desert Botanical Gardens. While there we stopped by the butterfly pavilion and I went crazy with my camera. It was kinda nice to challenge myself by shooting the butterflies. Where the past several weeks I've felt that I've been doing a lot of flower photography with my macro lens, it was a nice change of pace to actually have to photograph something alive and moving.

It was a really crazy experience too. This was due to the fact that the number of photographers not only in the DBG, but specifically the butterfly pavilion was mind boggling. There were tripods, monopods, reflectors and everything else floating around. The funny thing is that where most were using telephoto lenses, I had my face in the bushes to make use of my macro lens. That's definitely the way to stand out from the crowd.

All in all it was a very exciting trip and I was extremely happy with the photos that I got.

Now I must throw out my teaser. While in Sedona for our anniversary, I came up with and partially started a new project. I'm excited to get working on it and see what I can do. For now you have to just wait and ponder. But I'm hoping to have enough soon so that I can give you a sample. It will most definitely be a long project, expect 1-2 years.

Gabe and Jessica Thiel Wedding

A couple months back, I had been asked to photograph a wedding for some family friends. I have to say, it was definitely a learning experience as it was my first wedding. It made it nice though knowing the bride (Jessica) and groom (Gabe). Wedding's are definitely fast paced and in a much different setting than I am used to. It was fun and I'm glad that I had the chance to do this job. I wanted to say thanks to both Jessica and Gabe for the opportunity. Here are a handful of photos from what I have.

Change of Pace

Hey everyone. I can guess you're probably wondering why I didn't post last weeks AZ Thursday and this weeks Studio Tuesday. Well, time gets crunched and I can't always do the things that I would like to do. So, to change the beat we're moving to around here, I've decided on a new posting scheme. Before you freak out, I am still going to be posting at least once a week. To allow this though, I have to pull back a bit and ensure that I have subject matter to photograph. What this means is a wider variety of photography that I will be posting. With that said, here we go.

I've been chomping at the bit to try and get some more photography of kids. Luckily my sister was in town this weekend and I was able to go over to see her and my nephew Carter. Needless to say, he has grown a ton since I last saw him. I was glad that I made the decision to bring my camera, though what kind of photographer would I be if I didn't do that? I didn't get tons of shooting in, but I was able to come up with this photo. I was really wanting to try my hand at using my new 50mm lens as it allows a really shallow depth of field. I am really happy with the results that I got from this shot. Shooting kids can be tough but I love the challenge and the pay off is rewarding.

Well, that will be all for today. Again, any ideas for some photos and I would be glad to try my hand at them. Until next time.

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.