Friday, March 28, 2008

New Article: Behind the Scenes #1

Here's a new article that takes a detailed look at the behind the scenes events from one of my best and favorite photographs. This kicks off a new series of articles that will follow the same format for different photos of mine.






This article is intended to provide interesting infomation about the creation of the photograph. But it's mainly intended to capture some lessons learned from the experience and to help me remember the experience. Hopefully it will help others too.


www.texbrick.com/photo/notes/photo_story_01.pdf


BTW, I've added a new section of notes and articles on photograph on my website. There are currently three, and I plan on writing many more this year. Stay tuned!


www.texbrick.com/photo/notes

New Article: Photo Mindset (Getting Your Head in the Game)

I've published a new photography article about having a mindset conducive to good photography while out in the field. This is a non-technical piece that describes things you can do, based on my experience, to get your mind going in the right direction and get the creative juices flowing. Ever heard the expression having your head in the game?

For me personally, my photographic efforts have suffered from stress, anxiety, and different distractions while out shooting in the field. Over the years, I've come to realize a few things, and I've developed some techniques that help to get my head in the game. What I'm essentially getting at are methods that calm my mind down and really develop and focus my creative energy on photographing the environment around me.

Hope this helps you too! Check it out: www.texbrick.com/photo/notes/photo_mindset.pdf

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Weeks 11 & 12

Miles Walked:
- these weeks = 41.6
- since Jan. 1, 2008 = 193
- since Nov. 26, 2007 = 293

 I'm still behind my target (average 20 miles per week), but I'm still keeping my goal (walk 1000 miles in one year). I'll get there :-)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Henrys' New Camera

We bought Henry a camera for his 3rd birthday last month. It's a little kiddie digital camera made by Fisher-Price, and it's designed to be a bare-bones, shock proof, point-n-shoot camera that a kid can operate. Even though he's only 3, Henry seemed to take to it like a natural.



He even chimps his shots! :-)



And best of all, he has fun doing it.



So what was he shooting? Daddy, of course.


Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Henry Gets a Bath

I've been messing around with long-ish exposures and also black-n-white for portrait and candid shots. In fact, I've been shooting JPG with the image processing set for black-n-white output with a simulated red filter. This produces milky white skin. Blemishes and wrinkles hardly show up, and with a little over exposure, people look almost like they're glowing.

This look is probably an acquired taste, but for the moment, I like it :-)



click for larger pic

Week 10

Miles Walked:
- this week = 24.1
- since Jan. 1, 2008 = 151
- since Nov. 26, 2007 = 251

Okay, here's a real weight report: 242 lb. with my waist being 43 inches (measured at the point of largest girth, not my pants size). On January 1 of this year, my weight/waist was 252lb/44", so I've lost 10 pounds and one inch off my waist!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

My Death Valley Gallery is Online

My gallery of photos from my recent attendance in a Radiant Vista Workshop in Death Valley is online:
www.texbrick.com/photo/dv08




It was a lot of work going through all those photos and getting them processed and edited, but I had fun with it. Picking through them and editing them for web viewing certainly helped me relive the wonderful experiences I had during the workshop.

Now, I have a mountain of images to go through from our stop in Zion, 3 days in Bryce Canyon, and my son's birthday party :-)

Thursday, March 6, 2008

One from Death Valley

It's been two weeks since the end of my photo workshop in Death Valley. I'm struggling to get my images processed and edited, but it's a long, slow process. I won't necessarily have tons of photos to showcase, perhaps 30 or so. I'm just taking my time with them and trying to do a quality job on the editing.


I know a lot of you are eager to see what I experienced in my photography workshop. So, I'll leave you with this for now:






This is me holding up my camera on the end of my tripod and shooting back towards some of the workshop participants and instructors. It appears we've gotten off track and derailed into total sillyness, and that's exactly right. But I'd also like to point out that the mood of the group during the entire workshop was happy. We all had a fun time. It was a wonderful experience filled with learning, quality shooting time, companionship, good conversations, connection/communion with nature, and loads of fun.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Weeks 6-9, ‘08

Summary of Miles Walked:
- These 4 Weeks: 44.9
- Since Jan. 1, 2008: 127 (target = 180 miles)
- Since Nov. 26, 2007: 227

I'm way behind now. I'll have to walk an average of 20.3 miles per week for the rest of the year to make 1,000 miles for the whole year.

I knew this would happen, but it's not too bad. I can catch up. With my recent trip (Death Valley & Bryce) and all that's been going on lately, I just haven't had the opportunity to go out and walk. Life is getting back to normal now, and I'm feeling nearly normal since my surgery. I have lost some weight! :-) Numbers to follow later...