Couldn't help myself

Yesterday I went back to the same park where I took the Jacaranda picture. The overcast light was perfect for taking some flower shots. It was a great way to start my day.

Fix-It Friday

I'm jumpin' back on the Fix It Friday bandwagon again this week. Below is the original image. If you want to see and read about what I did to spice it up, head over to I Heart Faces. If you like what you see, come on back on show me some comment love.

That time of year

It's that time of year again when the streets around L.A. are lined with the purple blooms of the Jacaranda tree. I took this image this morning in a park near my work.

Black and White beach

Here's the last of my images from a wonderful evening by the Santa Monica Pier.

I hope you've enjoyed this little series of images by the sea. I gained such inspiration being by the ocean and trying to capture it's power and beauty. I hope these images can inspire some of you to go out and try new things and push yourself creatively.

A different approach

One of the things I really wanted to experiment with when I went down to the beach was long exposures. In my mind, moving water and long exposures were made to go together. There are certainly times when long shutter speeds are necessary to get enough light for proper exposure (indoors with no flash, after dark, etc.), but I wanted to also try some even when the light was still strong. To do this, you have to have something that darkens the scene enough to allow for these longer shutter speeds without overexposing. Don't worry, I'm not about to get all crazy technical. I just needed to put something dark in front of the lens, and in this case I used a Neutral Density filter. Basically a dark piece of plastic that brings the light down by a certain amount.

Alright, technicalities out of the way, let's talk about the images. Man, I haven't written this much in months! The first two include a boat in which two men were practicing landing on the beach and rowing back out. It was a dynamic scene with the waves tossing them around and the oars flying. I wanted to make the scene a bit more impressionistic, so I put the filter on and tried some shots panning the camera back and forth while the shutter was open. These two were my favorites.

These next two were taken just after the sun had gone behind the mountains, but that wonderful warm glow was still lingering. A "normal" exposure would show these waves as powerful and crashing, but these longer exposures give them a graceful, more painterly feel.




In the last two I wanted to have something in the image that was solid and unmoving next to the silky water.




Tune in tomorrow for my third and final installment; Black and White!

Santa Monica Beach

The other day I was feeling like a needed some photographic inspiration. I started thinking about the time I went down to the Santa Monica Pier to catch the sunset and photograph the ferris wheel. There was something very inspiring about being next to all that energy from the waves and the beautiful light that you can only get by the ocean.

After working on these images I decided to spread them out over three separate posts. There are distinct looks that I was going for, and I don't want to mix them all into the same post. Today's images are more "as I saw them" type images. Let me know what you think.

For my wife

I went down to the beach by the Santa Monica Pier yesterday for a little photo outing. While I was waiting for the sun to go down I thought I'd make a message for my wife.

I always find it very inspiring to take my camera down to the beach. I had a fantastic time. More pictures to come on Monday when I've had time to work on them.

A first

I've never posted an image from my iPhone, but I liked this one so much that I thought why not. I guess for me I had to get over the notion that the iPhone was somehow not a legitimate image capture device. I've found that working within the limitations of the built in camera is actually quite fun and can be very rewarding. I think I'll be posting images from my iPhone from time to time, in part to show that it's not megapixels or manual settings that make a compelling image. Use the tools that are available to you and push yourself to make something great!

I Heart Faces - Laughter

Here's my submission for the I Heart Faces weekly contest.



As a Fix It Friday contributor I'm not eligible to win, but I wanted to throw this one in for the fun of it.

Mother's day inspiration

I started out taking some pics of my wife's mother's day roses, but quickly turned my attention to the vase they were in.

Sassy girl + beautiful dress = awesome

Never know where you'll find the sky

Fix-It Friday

Head over to I Heart Faces to check out the fixin' fun this week.