Getting Seasonal :)

Now that it's officially fall, I have just been going crazy for all things seasonal... i.e. pumpkins and gourds, hot apple cider, walking outside and checking out the changing leaves, hayrides, bonfires... the list goes on. So last week I went on an excursion with some friends. You might call it a quest for something Autumn-related. Of course I was also using the day as an opportunity to find letters for the alphabet project and shots for the digital media music poster. To the chagrin of my buddies, the weather was damp and drizzly all day. However, seeing as my lyrics for the music poster are "My tears like silent raindrops fell, and echoed in the wells of silence," I'd say that I was pretty stoked about getting to shoot out in the rain. Most of my shots were not taken while it was pouring, but rather just before/after the rain fell so that I got the raindrops on different objects. I kinda wish I had brought a plastic bag to cover my camera so I could've taken it out in the rain more. Plus we took a canoe out on this lake and that would have made for some cool shots. Ah, well. But anyway, we ended up going to the "Blackbird Creek Fall Festival," which is where the shots above came from. The festival was in the middle of nowhere and not many people showed up, but that's kinda what I liked about it. Overall I just tried experimenting with DOF and finding striking color contrasts. Seems like red, green, and brown were the colors of the day. I also liked trying to get shots that contrasted smooth and rough textures. Let me know what ya think! :)

Digital/Analog Project

Here's the final outcome of my digital/analog project. I was inspired by this time of year, with the transition between fresh, green summer leaves and dead, gnarly ones. I drew a parallel between the veins in human hands and those of the leaves, and related it to aging in our own species. I'm still not exactly sure what my message is; perhaps it's not a particular statement, but more of a question. Maybe it's supposed to provoke thought in regards to how we view aging, and how we percieve those who are less or more advanced in this process? Or maybe I'm overanalyzing this...

Anyway, there are lots and lots of layers in this image. I used the burn and dodge tools, the clone stamp, and the brush tool, amongst other things. I applied a gradient to the background and a Gausian blur (if that's how it's spelled...). The background is a layer of bark, followed by some of my wild flower photos and a photo of this green and white paisley tile I found on a tabletop covered in a mosaic. I also drew pictures of branches and scanned them in, some of which I moved while they were being scanned to get a "warped" effect. I also drew different hands of different ages and genders and mixed them into the background at different opacity levels. The hands are overlayed with leaves, and then I added a little bark texture with the clone stamp. I emphasized wrinkles and shadows using the brush tool and the burn tool.

I know I'm forgetting some aspects of the creative process and I didn't list the steps in order, but hopefully you get a feel for the craziness that went into this collage! I'm not sure how I feel about the final product... it didn't turn out as I had planned exactly, but then again I can't say I had a completely clear-cut plan from the getgo. I think I'm happy with it overall, but there are definitely aspects that could use tweaking. I'd like to reduce the darkness of the shadow below the young hand on top. I might also make the young hand more vibrantly green so that it looked even more fresh and new (I had some difficulty with these things when I tried to fix them before).

Any feedback is welcome! :D

the Blackbird trio

Here's a link to my band's facebook page... We haven't yet gotten time to create a real webpage and unfortunately the guys haven't put up any of our demo tracks yet...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/the-Blackbird-trio/11358425621?ref=ts

Black & White

In this shot I was just experimenting with Depth of Field. It's simple, but I like the perspective.








I was also experimenting with Depth of Field for this shot, except this time I did it with text rather than sheet music.







This is a pair of earrings that I put against white textured fabric. I like that you can see the individual threads. I also like the contrast between the harder/rougher metal texture against the soft fabric.

Various shots, recent and old...

Here are some photos that were on my computer that range from a couple years old to recently captured. They don't have similar subjects and aren't part of a particular photo shoot or series, but I think they show what sorts of subjects I like to shoot/have been comfortable shooting.

This was taken last summer. I was on a nature walk and just liked the simplicity of the white and green colors of the plants in this marsh. I also like the curving lines of the plant, and the blurred background achieved with low depth of field.
















On the boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ, this shot was taken without any knowlege of ISO or DOF settings, which goes to show that even naive/ignorant photographers can get lucky! But on a serious note, I chose to put up this shot because to me, maybe because it's at night and the colors aren't too saturated, the photo seems to convey a mood other than the typically happy, childish one that we associate with kiddie rides. To me it almost looks like the ride is spinning out of control and perhaps the kids are screaming to get off rather than giggling with glee... (wow, that sounds kinda creepy... haha)


A bloom from one of the trees outside Morris Library. I'd like to saturate this one more, perhaps. I guess I put it up on my blog because I'm a sucker for nature shots and I liked the close-up view because it reminded me of a Georgia O'Keefe painting (Although I'm not at all comparing her amazing work to this silly photo...)






This is kind of a fun shot of the foam on top of a beer (No, I did not drink it after I took it's picture, haha). The ISO was only 100 because I had the beer positioned in front of a window on a very bright day. I wish I had shot this in RAW so I could zoom in even more on the bubbles without them getting "pixely".






Every summer I go balloon chasing with my family. I can't call it 'summer' unless I've gotten to chase hot air balloons. The whole family piles into the car after the balloons go up from the launching site, and then we drive around and see how many we can watch landing. My goal is always to see what kind of shots I can get from underneath the balloon, especially when they give it gas and the flames ignite. This might not be my best shot, but I like the colors, and that was a pretty good flame they got there. The simplicity of the shot and the vibrant colors just say "summer" to me.



I'm a huge "Weird NJ" fan. I have both volumes of the books and I collect the magazines. I love exploring weird sites in my home state, ranging from the half-abandoned/half-populated Greystone Mental Institution, to the remains of Asbury Park, to Hot Dog Johnny's in Buttzville.... the list could go on forever. The shot here is from a place known as "Luna Parc" in Sussex County. I have probably a thousand pictures from this place. It's a few acres of land owned by a man who is a self-declared "mad-cap artist" who has covered his house and property in bizarre sculpture, asymmetrical/angular architecture, bright colors, glass globes, creepy figurines, amongst other things. He only opens his house to the public one weekend a year, during which he sells his jewelry. This was one of the lamps in his house. I like how you can see the light showing through the metalwork. I also like the fairly low depth of field. It was pretty dark in his house since it was a rainy day and he lives in the woods in a home without too much lighting, so the ISO had to be fairly high.


I took this photo specifically for a project I was doing this summer where I'd take verses or chapters from the Bible and then take photos that represented the imagery in the verses and then put them together. I really got a lot out of looking so closely at the verses and associating them with real objects and images in my life. I like the strictly gold color scheme of this one, and the elegant swirly scroll patterns in the necklace and echoed in the fabric behind it.




This was also taken for one of my Bible verse albums. It's one of the first night shots I've ever taken. When I look at it, even if it's not the best quality because of the high ISO and slow shutter speed used to compensate for the darkness, I can't help but be in awe of God's incredible creation.















Last year my friends from back home came to visit me. They love pool so they wanted to go to the Henzone to play. I had never actually been there till my friends came, so I never knew what cool lighting they had hidden down there! I took this shot in black and white and color, and I like them for different reasons. I tend to be drawn to this one more than the black and white though, because it seems to add a lot to the shot. I like the perspective being right on the table. I also like how the people are in focus while the moving pool balls are blurred. And it's kind of cool how you can't see my friend's eyes clearly as he's playing; it makes him look more serious and the mood more mysterious.


This is an ornament on a Christmas tree that belonged to some family friends. I like that the background is so saturated with light that it appears only as soft pastel colors. I think this works with the subject matter- an angel.













The last photo was lighter on my computer screen before, so now it looks too dark. But I liked the shot because I was so blessed to be able to catch the ladybug before it flew away. I like how it's poised on the white flowers and how the background is blurred. Later I'll try to put up a version that isn't so dark...












I chose to put this photo up not because it's that great of a shot, but because it holds great memories of sailing at Spruce Run with my dad. It's one thing I look forward to every summer. Our little Sunfish is straight from the '70s (Can you tell by the colors?) but it's still a fast little thing. I wish I had been farther away when I shot this so I could get the whole sail in the picture. I like the angle of the boat's sail though, and the fact that the boat itself isn't centered. I'd like to put this in photoshop and make the lighting create a greater sense that this was taken in the late afternoon.

Trumpet Photos

Since my previous trumpet photo doesn't seem to be showing up anymore, I've decided to post a few more pictures of my trumpets! I took these over a year ago, so of course I see things that I would have done differently...

Back when I took this, I didn't know what depth of feild was. But somehow I still managed to get the first valve in focus while the others progressively get more blurry. I love getting that effect, and I think black and white works better than color for this shot.

Again, I like how the depth of feild in this shot is extremely shallow. Most of the body of the trumpet is composed of blurry little shimmering circles of light (I believe these are referred to as 'circles of confusion'...?).

I'm just attracted to the simplicity of this one. Most of the time my trumpet looks shiny and new, but the lighting here reveals all the scratches from its use over the years. I think this gives the trumpet character, rather than it being some generic, pristine new horn. I feel as though this trumpet looks like it could be found in the hands of an old jazz musician in a club.

My favorite part of this shot is the lighting shining through the valves and lead pipe. I also like the composition of the intersecting and overlapping tubing.

I didn't set out to make the metal appear this way, but I like how sleek and glossy it looks. If I get the chance, I'd love to go into Photoshop with this shot and add more shadow in the corners.