Today I decided to walk around the neighborhood across the street in search of more fun flowers. I didn't find many that weren't in people's yard, but I did find this cute little playground with a wall covered in these flowering vines.
The entrance to the
neighborhood across the street has some nice, colorful flowers, so headed over there today for some fun photos. This was pretty challenging because the lighting wasn't the best, and it was windy, so I didn't spend much time. Though most of the photos didn't turn out, I'm pretty happy with this one.
I noticed this scorpion encased in orange plastic as a souvenir at a friend's house, so I decided to take a close-up photo of it. I like that it's cool and creepy at the same time.
Nell and I went climbing here in Santa Barbara with some friends. I was off of my game in both climbing and photography. Not only were most of my photos out of focus, but I took them all on the wrong setting. Luckily Nell rocks, so I got a great photo of her climbing this tricky 5.10.
Today I went wondering around the garden area, (you're gonna see a lot of photos from the garden area from here on out, so get used to it), to find something to photograph. I picked a bad time for flower photos though because it was the middle of the day and sunny. Luckily I found these cool yellow flowers in the shade. Yay for me.
Another day where I almost forgot to take my photo. Luckily I noticed a funny lamp at my friend's house and proceeded to try to photograph it. Not an easy task. This was my best shot.
While at a party today, I noticed a tiny, tiny slug on Maxine's leg. She was, of course, not happy, but I was excited for something fun to photograph. This turned out to be extremely challenging since I did not have a tripod. Of the 20 or 30 photos that I took of this slug, only one was in focus. Oh well. Oh, my friends Carey and Jeff also entertained us with the best airplane ride ever. I think Nell and I are gonna have to practice this.
Maxine and I got together today for some photography and tried to repeat the trick we used with the kiwi, but this time on an orange. The result wasn't as fantastic, but it was still fun.
It rained a bit today, so I thought I'd take advantage of the after-rain-lighting. I was drawn to the moisture drops on plants and flowers, but it was windy, which made close-up photography extremely challenging. I had to settle for this one shot, because every other photo came out blurry. I held this flower still with one hand, and took the shot with the other. Not one of my best, but it was a challenge.
Today I went on a bike ride with Maxine and Paul to visit the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate to take some photos. Lots and lots of photos. The place is basically a maze of greenhouses full of orchids of all kinds. It was pretty awesome. Orchids are beautiful in and of themselves, so coming up with great photos was easy. That's why the photo above is my favorite, because I think it doesn't just rely on the beauty of the flower alone. Sorta. Anyway, enjoy.
Today we went to a birthday party for Simon. He is a very active and energetic little boy, so he's hard to photograph. Luckily daddy Noah knows how to handle him.
Tonight was a small get together at a friend's house. Before the party started though, I took some time to snap some shots of their cute little dog Joey. The lighting wasn't the best, and Joey isn't the kind of dog who likes his photo taken, but I like this one.
I took a stroll through the garden today and found a nice stare shaped succulent.
Yes, another flower. But it's awesome. Today I was walking around the apartment complex looking for photo opportunities and I noticed a lone California Poppy. I had to take several shots to get the detail in the center of the flower. I love how the color is so vibrant it's almost florescent.
Today I tried to take some fun photos of Maxine playing with her kitties, but the cats refused to cooperate. So instead, I sneakily held the camera at floor level and snapped a few quick photos of Maxine. I got really lucky that one came out. I love the look on her face and the composition. So cute.
My friend Jeff makes guitars. He was nice enough to let me take some photos of one of his guitars before applying finish, and photos of him applying finish.
This is my friend Paul leading a climb at New Jack City. I took a lot of photos today, but most of them didn't turn out well. Either the lighting was bad, ropes were in the way, or people wore rock colored clothing, but mainly I just failed. I like this photo though because it shows the scale of the climbs, and I like how Paul is the most colorful thing in the photo.
This weekend we drove to a climbing destination called New Jack City, outside of Barstow, California. Apparently I was so excited to be climbing at a new place that I forgot to get my camera out until it was dark. In desperation I decided to take photos of the campfire. This was pretty tough, but lots of fun. I really like this photo and how there's disconnected parts of the flame. It's a bit out of focus, but it's really hard to focus the camera on a flame.
More time in the garden area. I've noticed these flowers before, and I came up with the idea above for a photograph. As you can see from the photo below, they are very interesting flowers, but I was drawn to the curvy shape of each flower, so I just wanted to isolate that. Then I simply rotated the picture for a different affect.
Today I went wandering around the garden area looking for photos. I have been wanting to take a super close-up photo of a back lit palm leaf, but the lighting is never right. Well, today it was. I took several shots, and I had to play around with the aperture to get everything in focus. Oh, and this was one of Nell's ideas. She rocks.
This is my good friend Nicole. She's so happy because today we received a shipment of cheese curds from Wisconsin. So we got a bunch of our friends together and had a little cheese curd party. As you can see, everyone loved them. (Well, most everyone.) As you can also see, I still need to work on my candid shots in low light. I do like the photo though, Nicole has such a fun smile.
After looking at yesterday's photo, and some from last week, I decided to try something different. I wanted to show a close up of the flower, but still show some details of the scenic background. Kind of like, "I'm a pretty flower and this is where I live." I used one of my new close-up filters that I got for Christmas to accomplish this. It sorta worked, but I think there is too much detail in the background so the flower isn't really isolated enough. Next time I need to use a more open aperture.
Instead of taking my usual flower shot, I decided to go for a colorful scenery shot. These yellow flowers are all over the place. Just to the right of this photo is the parking lot at work. In the background is Romero Canyon, one of my favorite trails to ride.
Today my friend Maxine and I went out to the Goleta Slough to try out our new polarized filters. There weren't many birds in the slough, except for these ducks all lined up on a log. Oh, and we couldn't really tell a difference with the filters, but maybe we were using them wrong.
I've posted back lit shots of these flowers before, but I just can't resist taking more photos of them. Each time though, I do try to take better shots. Above is a nice close up, and the one below shows how the sun highlighted the edges of the flower stem. I took several shots trying to get everything in focus and at the right exposure. I like how they came out.
During a get together at a friend's house I decided to work on my candid portraits. As you can see, I need to work on this even more. The lighting was pretty bad, but I should have played with the settings on my camera a bit more to tweak things. Besides the fuzzyness, I do like this photo. I think it captures Carey and Jeff's playfulness quite well.
First day back at work. Uhg. While the sun was low, in the late afternoon, I went out for a short break and took some photos. This is a flower from a succulent plant. The sun was lighting it nicely from behind so I took several shots. I really like how the background is so bright but doesn't take away from the flower. I typically go for darker backgrounds for flowers, but this one is nice.
My mom suggested several times while we were home that I take a photo of the trees that were lit up for Christmas just up the road. So naturally, I waited until the last minute. I woke up early before our flight out and walked up the hill and snapped a few shots. I like how the lights make the rest of the tree light up like a ghostly shadow.
This is my cat Buffy sleeping in her favorite place to sleep, my lap. She sleeps there until she is ready to move, and if I want to move before she is ready, she very angrily lets me know that she is not ready. I took about 18 shots, aiming blindly, and I'm happy that I got one that I like.
This is Cujo, my mom and step-dad's dog. I took a lot of shots trying to catch a him with his ears up. Every time he looked at the camera his ears dropped and he had a sad look on his face. This is the happiest shot I came up with.
This is my cat Buffy, she doesn't like the new year thus far, it's too bright. She spent a lot of the time while I was there sleeping on our bed, and when we turned the light on, she would sometimes cover her eyes. She's pretty cute. This isn't a great photo, but I was pretty busy spending time with family.
