For anyone that has seen any amount of my work, you will notice that the majority are rather vibrant and full of color’s and contrast. Since that has become my status quo, I’ve been trying to make an effort to broaden my experience and do something different. With this comes more black and white. In so many ways, black and white can convey so much more meaning than anything with color. I feel like I’m channeling a little bit of Kirk Tuck with this portrait.
This is my daughter, who is 18 months old and normally does the exact opposite of what I tell her too when I have a camera in my hand. When I tell her to say ‘cheese’, she will, but only after she looks away from the camera. This was shot while I was chasing her around a playground area and she stopped to catch her breath. The wind was blowing and something just caught her eye. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I get lucky with shots like this.
Of course, no foray into new photography techniques can be complete without a cat picture. Oh yeah, for the gearheads, these were shot with a Panasonic G3. Picture up top was with the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 and the cat was with the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7.
This picture is the answer to why I tend to carry a camera most places. My family was just visiting some extended family when Brooke decided that it was time to go outside and play in the backyard. Out go the grandparents following to watch over and play with her. Standing idly by on the side, I waited to get something like this. I love her expression and the spontaneity of the moment. I don’t know about other real photographers, but I could not have posed this given the entire night. In reality, the moment lasted about 2 seconds, which I took a burst of 3 frames and found 1 that became this. I’m quite pleased.
Another month has flown by so yet another may start. With everything going on, photography has taken a backseat somewhat and has been limited too family shooting. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it does limit this blog a bit.
One of the great benefits of the nicer weather though is constantly being outside and following my daughter around. If she’s awake and it’s not raining, she generally wants to be exploring the town, running around the park or just watching other people. She is branching out more and trying new things, like the ‘big’ slide at the park by herself and trying to climb up the fake rock wall. It’s just awesome to be in the moment.
While I was on my lunch break, I had to walk down to a local store and pick up a few things, so naturally, a camera came with me. I was a bit limited on time and even more limited on inspiration. I do like this one shot though.
Yesterday was the first time in a good while that I broke out the light-stands, umbrella’s and backdrops to do some portraits. Since the Nikon gear is all sold, I was relying on only my micro 4/3 gear. Without going into an overwhelming amount of detail, I’ll just say that I’m very happy with the results. The compact camera system did not disappoint in the slightest. I got the shots I wanted with no fuss from the gear. The Olympus 45mm f/1.8 is simply superb for this type of shoot. It is quickly becoming my new favorite lens.
Once some inside shots were done, we moved outside since it a nice overcast day. This was shot with a single flash (camera left) with a small softbox on it.
Today I went off and rode the bike trail from Connellsville to Ohiopyle and back. Total mileage was 35. The weather was beautiful and temperature perfect. Unfortunately, I couldn’t focus on photography too much and didn’t really get anything worth saving. I have a few shots I like, but just enough for me not to delete them. Here is one of the only ones I thought might be worth showing.
