Finally Another Pic

I have been dragging my feet lately about posting new pics. I call it "mic check". I will post more about it later.

Oak Glen

I went to Oak Glen today. It was cold and clear and stunningly beautiful, as usual. I will edit this blog later with details and links. I am posting one pick today, thought it was interesting. I am sick of everyone and there mom being a photographer. Makes me want to quit.

Salvation Mountain

Yesterday my brother and I drove out to Salvation Mountain in Niland. My brother does a lot of video production and needed to go out to Salvation Mountain and catch some shots for a video montage. So as I am always looking for new places to shoot, I thought it would be fun to tag along. When my brother first told me where we were going, I thought it was a real mountain. I was incorrect in my assumption. As my brother put it we were heading to a big pile of trash that some guy had put cement and paint all over. That's what we thought. Salvation Mountain is actually one giant piece of art. If you want the full story follow the link above. So we shot for about an hour there and then made the 140 mile trip back home (I'll let you try and figure out where I live). So here are a select few shots of the more than three hundred I took.

Rae lakes Loop

Well here is my first edited photo from my recent backpacking trip. I finally figured out how to edit my photos in Photoshop. I had to download Adobes DNG converter. This allows me to take RAW files taken with my Canon XSi, and then edit them in Photoshop CS2.

Scott Montgomery

The past couple of backpacking trips my uncles friend Scott Montgomery has come along. Scott is a professional photographer and an all around good guy. I was really excited to have him along so that he could teach me to use my new camera and give me some shooting tips. I realize now that I know nothing. Shooting with Scott was like me trying to play horse with a pro basketball player. No matter what you do, he is always going to do something better. It was a very humbling, yet rewarding experience for me. I found myself intimidated at times and other times wondering what happened to my artistic eye. But overall I learned a lot, thanks Scott. I took one photo of Scott that I thought was good and he agreed. So here it is.

Hiking and Photography

Ever year I go on a backpacking trip with some family and friends. This year we did the Rae Lakes Loop in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. I was really excited to go this year because of my new camera. I have always taken my camera and taken photos for the group. So with a new camera in hand and 50 miles a head of me I was ready to go. Two things I didn't think of, One being my new camera is a lot larger than a standard PAS (point and shoot) and two, where the heck am I actually going to put this things while I am hiking. When I started out I had the camera around my neck, but after three or four miles of hiking, I realized it was not going to work. The camera kept bouncing around and I felt like I was carrying a grind stone around my neck. I put the camera in the top of my pack, hoping this would allow for easy access. It didn't. I don't know if many of you backpack, but for those of you who do, you know it is no easy task to take your pack on and off, especially if you are doing so just to take a quick pic. So needless to say I did not take as many photos as I would have liked. Of the photos I did take I have not found many that I like. Over the next few days I will go through and try and find some to edit and post.

Sunset

So a friend told me that if I don't blog often people will lose interest. I guess I will try and put up a new picture at least once a week, possibly twice. I took this photo outside of my apartment a few weeks ago. I processed it with Canons Digital Photo Professional as I have not purchased a new version of Photoshop or Aperture. I particularly enjoy shooting nature. I love to look at the beauty that God has created and then try to capture it.

I really Do hate blogs

I have been Anti-Blog for the entire blog generation, until today. I realize it is a necessary evil if you want to have a career in photography. My wife blogs like it is going out of style and so do most of her friends. I am going to try and keep this blog purely business. My goal with this blog is to figure out my creative style. I have been told by others that I have a decent eye, but that it needs to be refined. SO here it is, my journey to find my artistic style. Feel free to leave me comments telling me I suck, if you enjoy it or if you have some tips for me. My first photo that I am going to put up is one of my Dad, whom I love dearly. I shot it in RAW and edited it with cheap software that Canon gives you (I have photoshop CS2 but that is another blog).