Starving Artistry

Photo A Week

// December 22nd, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Photo

Just a quick little update. Here was my submission for the week’s theme of “lights.”

Snowpocalypse

// December 19th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Photo

Here are my pics from Friday and Saturday.

So I’m dogsitting a little miniature poodle for a couple of weeks. His name is Sunny. Luckily I got him right before it started snowing.

Here is a shot outside my front door around 9 PM. You can see it was just starting to snow, but it was already sticking.

Meanwhile, Gretch was chillin with the doggies on the couch. They were uncharacteristically calm in this pic.

This is a shot out my back door at around 1 AM.

So I decided to try to pose the doggies. Harry likes to sit and look outside the window when the door is open, so I figure he’d do it again. But the lighting was sooo tricky because it was so bright outside. So i brought out my light, but you can see the reflection in the glass. =( Also, the dogs didn’t want to stay still.

So Gretch got some bacon grease on her fingers and was able to get the dogs to stay and climb at the window.

I was not quite as successful.

I eventually got them to look out the window though. Darn that stupid reflection and my oversight!

And then Sunny left and Harry just was staring out the window like he normally does. No coaxing involved this time.

Of course Harry had to do his business eventually. I wish I had gotten pics of him jumping through the main part of our back yard because it went up to his neck. He understandably stuck to the edges where the snow wasn’t so deep.

Anyway, it’s 6:10 now and it’s still snowing strong! More pics tomorrow I’m sure, including my photo-a-week submission.

National Tree & Stuff

// December 18th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Photo

So Taylor and I took a trip out to the mall so I could snap some pics of the National Tree. Every pic took so long to set up, ’cause i had to use a tripod since it was so dark… out of the 30 – 40 shots I took, I only had maybe 4 or 5 useable ones. But, c’est l’avie.

So here’s the national tree. I kept the exposure high so that it seemed like it was glowing. Stupid me, I accidentally had the ISO set to 6400, so it’s kinda grainy, but you can’t tell on Flickr. One benefit of them resizing it I guess.

They had these little trains set up going around the tree, with little towns on 4 sides of it. This was one of them. Again, kept the exposure high so that the lights sparkle like that. Also gets some motion blur from the trains making it seem like they were whizzing by, whereas in fact they were veeeery slow.

Here’s another shot, same village but you get some of the national tree in it. I like the light trails from the trolley going around the track.

They had a place set up where you could meet Santa. He was on break. Taylor was sad. Sad, sad, sad. =(

So, later on that evening I went home and was wrapping presents. Rather, Taylor was wrapping my presents for me, while I was taking pictures of the inside of a Tiffanie’s lamp. Interesting perspective, fun colors I think.

Then it was time to take Taylor home, but not before stopping by a nearby neighborhood to take some last minute photos. Each one of these shots were at a 30 sec exposure, so Taylor got really bored…

I like this shot, but I wish i had the house on the left centered. I like how many stars came out.

Incidentally, if you zoom in, you can see the stars are actually a little blurry. Apparently 30 seconds is long enough to see the stars move due to the Earth’s rotation. That’s pretty crazy! I really want to set my camera up and do a time lapse some time. Next time you notice the sky clear at night, let me know! It sure as heck won’t be this weekend. Anywhere from 5 – 20 inches of snow. Crazy!

Photos Galore

// December 16th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Photo

So I’ve decided I really want a flash. Considering I got this camera for video stuff, I’ve actually been shooting a lot of photography, and the inflexible lighting situations are really just driving me insane. Anyway, here are some photos I’ve taken that I happen to like…

So a couple weeks back I did a family photo shoot for some Christmas pictures for a friend of mine. This is the youngest daughter, whom I happen to teach Piano, right before we started. I actually have my studio light on her, which is why I think the colors turned out so well. She’s sharp and in focus, and that makes me happy. =) Too bad the background is a little boring, but she looks good and that’s what matters.

So anyway, this past weekend Mo had a party to celebrate his 26th birthday (incidentally the same day as mine). I was excited to see his house, I had heard it was pretty big. That was definitely an understatement if anything. This is already a closer up shot than one of my others (check out my flickr page) but you can still tell it’s fancy schmancy.

So fast forward to this past Sunday, and we have the KTC Winter Concert which was held at a retirement home in Springfield. This first pic is one of my co-workers performing an impromptu duet. The lighting was weird in that place, with the big ol’ windows, and then recessed lighting using both incandescent and flourescent bulbs. So the pic has a yellowish glow to it, but I think it makes it seem appropriately warm compared to the stark wintery outside.

This is a little girl watching the performers from the stairs. I thought it was cute, although I wish I had captured where she was looking. I haven’t even edited this one, and it came out really well. I submitted this to our photo-a-week group.

And this is one of my guitar students. He claimed he wasn’t feeling well, but I think his expression is very appropriate to how most kids react when they have to perform. I maintain that it’s a very important part of learning an instrument though…

This week’s photo theme is “lights.” I want to get down to the mall to get some pics, but… I dunno if i’m gonna have time to…! We shall see…!

I’m Yours

// December 10th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized