In through the Out Arch

It is finally the weekend, and I have just finished all of my classes for the semester. However, final exams are still lurking around the corner. In honor of said finals, and my beloved campus, I have decided to reveal one of my favorite pieces.

Ladies and Gentleman, I present you THE ARCH....

ARCH you glad I took this picture?

Like I have stated before, I have a thing for symmetry.

I took this picture about a year ago in the spring while waiting for Girlfriend to get ready. I used a new type of photography called HDR photography. HDR combines the extremes of both under and over-exposed photos, with the properly exposed photo. So in layman's terms, I combined 3 pictures (one over developed, one under developed, and one normally developed) to create this picture. Other than that, no editing was done.

This picture only captures a fraction of the beauty that makes up my campus. The only thing that could make it better would be a plethora of snow... But maybe that is just my preference.

I love my campus.

Say Cheese.


ps fun fact, my parents were married in the above arch....... weird!

Fool in the Rain

Weather and photography do not always mix. Especially when the weather consists of raging winds and rain. But,  being pressed for time I HAD to see this field that Girlfriend has told me so much about. I just had to see the essence of what an England field was.

In the midst of the pouring rain, I decided to expose my camera to the elements of that rainy day. Being nervous about possibly ruining my camera, I managed to hastily take at least one decent picture.

I owe an apology to Girlfriend for dragging her out in the pouring rain. I hope this picture suffices as an apology.

 
Say Cheese.

Irish I brought my tripod

I recently found myself in Dublin, Ireland with Girlfriend. Being a photographer I naturally brought my camera. However, since it was planed to be a backpacking adventure, I decided to leave my tripod behind. Being an avid night photographer, this decision of mine proved to be rather foolish.
3 AM in Ireland... Where would you find yourself???
A night photographers answer... Out in the city being awesome.
Please bare with some of the pictures you are about to see. I remind you that I did not have a tripod, therefore I had to stand almost perfectly still for seconds on end for most of these. I have pretty steady hands don't I?

                                        Heineken in Dublin? Yeah, That's what I was thinking...

Don't worry, Girlfriend and I were on our way back from the Guinness Brewery.

A little preface to the last picture would be this, A beautiful view from the Guinness Gravity Bar.

A lovely night for a Guinness

This is one of my favorites, I love messing around with focus points.  This is actually taken several hours after the Brewery visit. Why wouldn't we go out and explore Dublin at 3 AM?

Focus got the best of me that night... I was trying to focus on Girlfriend. Still looks pretty cool.

Lesson learned: Never leave home without some sort of tripod. What can I say, I am still learning how to be a photographer.

Say Cheese.


PS I had jet lag to blame for the 3 AM picture adventure. However, I can not speak for Girlfriend.... She was probably just humoring me.

Night Light

As I have previously mentioned, I am a huge fan of night photography. To be more specific I am a huge fan of night photography in the dead of winter.

 

Say Cheese.

 

Look Ma! No hands!

One wonderful evening I went for a bike ride with Girlfriend. On said bike ride I was naturally messing around with my camera, as I do often. Being a big fan of motion photography I decided to try not the most smart thing to do with an expensive camera while riding a bike. I thought a picture of the handle bars would look really cool while in motion. Granted I was not really used to this bike, I leaned back and snapped a picture just as I began to lose balance.

The product of my dare devil stunt turned out to be pretty cool.

Dear Flobots... So can I. Sincerely, Shark Potato

I can't help but think how much better this picture would look if I had a wide angle lens. I think I decided on which lens will be my next purchase.

Say Cheese.

I've got the whole World in my hands...

I have to admit... I took this picture with one of my older point and shoots. Since I can not afford a macro lens at the moment, it will have to do. I guess it still gets the job done!

A newt in the hand is worth two in the bush?

However, I have not decided whether to buy a macro lens or a wide-angle lens next. Both are currently way out of my price range.

Say Cheese.

Stairway to Heaven

One morning, in a spur of the moment kind of attitude, I decided to travel to a nearby larger city. I had no intentions to really do anything and only had my camera with me. But once I arrived at aforementioned city, I noticed how beautiful the skyline was, especially since the day was a little on the foggy side. I thought to myself most photographers would try and capture the skyline, and capture the buildings disappearing into the heavens... But not me, I am different.

I guess I'm a sucker for symmetry. 

Perspective can really change how a photo looks. I really enjoy playing around with it as much as possible. I'm not the best at it, this is just one of my better examples.


Say Cheese.

A moment of Motion

One of the most exciting things that I have learned through trial and error on my SLR is playing with motion. Photography not only fascinated me by being able to capture a single moment in time, but also with the ability to capture several consecutive moments in time to give motion to a photograph. I am not exactly in an area that provides me with ample opportunities to experiment with such photography, but I do my best.

A nearby waterfall the Girlfriend and I stumbled upon.

Nature things like this are the reason that every photographer should always carry their camera in case one comes across such geological beauty.

As you will come to know in some of my future posts, long exposure (particularly night photography) is among my personal favorites. One would be surprised how much light exists in the darkness of the night.

Say Cheese.

Rust Bucket

One day, while driving down a country road, barely big enough to accommodate two passing cars, Girlfriend spotted an old car on the edge of a field. I knew it would make for a great picture, but I repressed it and kept driving. Meanwhile, Girlfriend continued to demand that I turn around and capture the rustic beauty of the car. It took about a half mile for her to finally convince me. The sky clashed perfectly against the heavily rusted car, and I was just going crazy with my camera.

After very little editing I finally produced this:

Why wouldn't you name it Rust Bucket?

This car was by far one of my favorite land subjects. One can only think what this car was doing in such a random location. But at least I found it and captured its beauty.

Say Cheese.

Sharks In A Sink

As you may know from my bio, I am a scuba diver with an interest in sharks. On a recent scuba trip I had the pleasure to swim with some sharks. They were very curious as to what I was doing in their territory. Despite the fact that they were of equal or greater size, and have a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, I have never felt more comfortable while scuba diving.

Looking up from 25 metes at such a beautiful creature.

Most people would think it to be suicidal to swim with such creatures. But that is because they base their opinions of sharks off of:

Needless to say this movie never frightened me.

... and that is one of the greatest reasons they call me Shark Potato.

Say Cheese.

Gotta Start Somewhere...

So, it all started with an e-mail. Girlfriend (an avid blogger) suggested me to post some of my photography work. As Girlfriend might know, I am one of my biggest critics when it comes to analyzing my photography. So you can imagine I was a little hesitant at first, but once I started setting up this blog, I kind of got a little excited. I am really looking forward to hearing what other people think of my work. Please keep in mind, I am no expert. I just do photography for fun.

Here is a picture I took recently:

Lake Erie

This is all i have time for now. More to come later. Enjoy!


Say Cheese.

A camera always wanted

Ever since I can remember, I was fascinated with photos (this is easily mistaken for being in photos). I always liked the idea of capturing one specific moment in time an being able to keep it and cherish it forever. This later played a large role in my future activities. I remember my first camera, it was a cheap Belle & Howell point and shoot camera with a set f-stop of about 3.5. Needless to say, I was happy that Christmas day. My parents would load me up with ISO 200 film with 24 exposures, and away I was. With my exposures limited to 24, I would only take pictures of things that I absolutely had to. Sometimes it would take me over a month to go through one roll of film. I would then proudly visit the developing station at the local store and submit my photos for development. That was the only way I could see how my photos turned out. That is, until the digital age hit.

Once the digital age swept through the world, I was truly amazed. I could not believe that a picture could be taken, and viewed and stored on a computer, all in a short amount of time. It actually took me a while to enter the digital age, as prices were against me throughout the first years of this technology. My first digital camera was, yet again a point and shoot camera, this time, however, I was drawn in to the world of Nikon, it was a starter digital camera that helped me start to understand the rule of thirds more. Despite being in a new era of technology, I still limited my pictures as if I still had a film camera. A few years passed and I made a move to a Canon point and shoot. I then inherited my first SLR camera. It was just a simple Canon EOS digital Elph, but it meant the world to me. To this day, I use it for all of my underwater photography. But I still held the original preference of owning a Nikon. About half a year after Nikon launched their D5000, I was searching high and low for the best deal and just had to have it. It was a slight step up from my Canon and the fact that it was a Nikon were my two biggest purchasing factors.

Unfortunately Mr. D5000 only lasted me a year before the lens went kaputt. Luckily I had purchased the three year warranty. Bestbuy teased me for two weeks, saying that my camera was going to be shipped off back to Nikon and repaired. Needless to say, two weeks without a camera was unbearable! Every time I turned around, a picture perfect moment was there before me. Two weeks finally crept by and I marched into Bestbuy and demanded answers to the whereabouts of my camera. Turns out Bestbuy forgot to inform me that fixing my camera was useless, and that I was able to choose a camera of equal or lesser value as a replacement. Bestbuy in my town does not have the pick of the litter when it comes to cameras. They had no camera of equal value. So I was left with the choice of a slightly lesser model, or a upgrade. Uh DUH? What do you think I did? I had to upgrade, no self respecting photographer would downgrade. Plus I was kind of at war with Girlfriend's dad in a battle of who has a better camera, and after his purchase of the D5100 I had to make my move.
Let me introduce to you the newest addition to my camera family:

Oh Hey! I'm the D90!

In the end, I am really glad that Bestbuy finally came to terms and let me upgrade (for a small fee). But I have reason to believe that it was well worth it.
Many Pictures to come...

Say Cheese.