September 1st - Back in school. Due to work and school I am unable to shoot until after September 20th. It's driving me nuts. After that though I will have Thursday evenings to Monday mornings open giving a sizable amount of time to do photography. I have intentions on the Wheeler Geological site, but it sounds like a difficult hike if you do not have a high clearance vehicle to get you further in. More photos soon to come from some past trips.
July 25th - Camera has been back for close to two weeks now. Went over to Indian Peaks and took some very successful shots of Blue Lake.
June 25th - I went down to the Great Sand Dunes a few days ago and my 30D died, so no new photos for a bit. I might shoot some MF and 35mm fim while I'm waiting for it to be fixed (assuming it doesn't cost too much).
June 6th - Playing with different editing styles on old photos, probably going to have to redo them again when school starts and I can get on a properly calibrated monitor, my laptop tends to produce images darker and slightly bluer on either people screens. On the left is the old edit and on the right is the new one using that selective tone thing.
As I continue to play with photography I wonder if I can make a living out of it whether doing art photography or service photography. At times I regret not taking the path of science, particularly zoology or physics. I suppose worse comes to worst I can try do photography for the military either under them or as civilian working for them. I feel trapped and stalled in both progressing as a photographer and finding ways to get known. The people I know who have the key do not seem want to give it up in regards to getting known. It is rather frustrating.
June 5th - Golden Gate Canyon again avails me, barely anyone there and still it is simply gorgeous. That said I do still have trouble producing images there. It was the first park in the Rocky Mountains I ever visited and even with how many times I have been there it seems to be mostly unphotogenic for some reason or another. There are an abundance of aspen in the park so fall is its best time and the time which I have unfortunately least visited which may be the greatest part of the problem I am having there.
More images added.
I am a big proponent of appropriate use of flash in a natural setting a fill or focus light. Using a flash you can set the focus of an image or you can place the sun within the image without creating a silhouette effect. You can also lighten shadowed areas and at time prevent yourself from having to do multiple exposures for a HDR or for masking content in. All of the following images are examples of using flash in natural setting:
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It is important that when using a flash in natural setting to not upset animals. Flashing animals has always bothered me. Also important to keep in mind is that often you are not alone the park. Don't disrupt other people's enjoyment of a park. Wait for them to clear the area or don't use a flash.
I use a 430ex. I find at times I could use a more powerful flash, but not often.
June 2nd - Rain rain go away.
June 1st - Finally acquired a CPL for my 10-22. Picked up a hoya one for it. It has always bothered me some that 77mm filter sized ultrawide is only a f3.5-4.5. I hope I never acquire an 82mm filter sized lens, these things are stupid spendy for a sheet of glass. Then again you can always be silly and drop $300+ for a leica filter.
May 29th – Well it has been about a month since I finally got out of the dorms into my own place. Between that act and working I have not had too much time to pursue photography. A most frustrating thing keeps occurring. The most beautiful clouds always seem to appear on the days that am working upon, but what you can do. While the Front Range parks that I have been to are most beautiful right now their proximity to Denver and particularly Boulder hurts the enjoyment that can be gained from it. I do not exactly know what it is about Boulder that causes this, but the people from there in the parks are particularly grating. I am more than happy to share the parks, that is what they are for, but these people for whatever reason come with an air of superiority and accordingly. That and bicyclists are intolerable and everywhere in the Front Range parks.
I also went to Indian Peaks a few days ago and was astounded to find that park is absolutely covered in snow, and not only that, but it was snowing at the time. The depth of snow, the lack of freshness in the trail, and the new falling snow deterred me from taking a proper hike with what I was wearing, but the place is simply gorgeous. I suspect that even after it manages to warm up there, it will remain a relatively low traffic park. It is not particularly quick to get to from any major city and there are many other parks that are considerably easier and faster to get to nearby (ie. Rocky Mountain National Park) so hopefully it will remain relatively clear of people during the summer.
For the past two or so months I have been playing with luminosity masking which is truly the greatest thing for a nature photographer in terms of post processing. Vincent from a certain photo forum pointed it out to me.
Site wise it looks great in firefox, but rather like garbage in internet explorer. Working Adobe Dream Weaver almost makes me miss the days of hand coded htlm.
I will be slipping in new shots as I take them.
April 29th - I am aware of the image issue in the animal gallery and I am attempting to fix it with some difficulty.
April 27th - Gutted my gallery pages to make them better organized and more focused. More pages will be finished soon. Print services still up in the air.
November 9th – Both my 30D and 10-22 are on route to Canon for repair; hopefully it won’t be too much. Meanwhile I’ve still been shooting, using a friend’s Rebel Xt. Rather hard to get used to after using my 30D for so long, but it has worked out well. Two weekends of shooting have been added from Rocky Mountain National Park. If you look at them over at the latest editions page, you can see where I start to understand how to better take kind of photos I want to make. Also I saw my first herd of bighorn sheep, rather under whelming I have to say.
October 24th - Been quiet lately. I damaged my camera and I am hesitant to take it outdoors as is. I'll be getting it ready for a trip in a week or two though. I have also borrowed some lighting equipment from my uncle, so expect some Widow shots sans the terrible on-camera flash. In regards to this site, I have reordered a lot of the galleries to make them flow better.
September 7th - Just put up a few shots from a short stay at Rocky Mountain National Park. The elk started calling and forming harems and the aspen leaves are ready to turn. Hopefully I can get some nice Fall shots this coming weekend. I'm not too happy with this set of shots, but it is good to be in and out of the park again in such a short set of time. I definitely need to get into better shape so I can get deeper in to the park. As always you can view the newest shots over at the Newest Additions page.
September 1st - First batch of photos from a quick trip to RMNP with my father are up. You can view them over at the newly implemented Newest Additions page or as a complete set with the rest of my shots of the park over the Rocky Mountain National Park page. I have some panorama shots left to process that I am going to do on school equipment and some medium format darkroom work ahead of me as well. Expect more shots!
As for the trip itself, it was nearly perfect. I didn't get the clouds I wanted the first day out, but after that the sky decided to agree with me. I do need to get into better physical shape if I am going to be able to hike in that park all day as I want to. I also saw my first black bear first day out on the Fern Lake trail. We spotted each other as he was not more than 20 feet off the trail eating choke cherries. While I did pop a few shots off, a group of men came walking up talking loudly, and continued to do so even after I pointed out the bear and my desire to photograph him. Their loud voices and vehement pointing shortly scared him off. Here's one of the shots of the bear, not really any good but there he is none the less.
August 25th - Currently working on a mouse-over description for each thumbnail in the web site to provide some basic information on the image. The print section will remain under construction until I've fleshed out how I want to sell my photographs. I'm also waiting on the portfolio page until after the fall rut in Rocky Mountain National Park. While some of the images I've created at zoos are excellent, they're really more of a practice to refine my skills for the field and do not belong in a portfolio. I'll be unavailable starting the 28th while out at RMN Park for a quick end of the summer camping trip with my father. Looking forward to getting that film medium format camera out in the wild again.
Also if any visitors are interested, I've been looking for another photography oriented hiking partner. Email me at bibliophile.of.old@gmail.com if interested.
August 22nd - Everything should be up and running now. Report broken images or links.
