My photographic abilities have been surpassed...

... by a 3 year old. This weekend, my family went up to the cabin for a weekend of unplugging and having some fun. We got there after dark on Friday night. Not having any TV, cell phone service, or radio always takes a little getting used to, so Maddy was getting pretty stir crazy almost immediately. I was doing my usual thing of taking a lot of pictures when....

[MADDY] What are you doing Daddy?
[DADDY] Taking pictures..
[MADDY] Can I take a picture?
[DADDY] Sure, what do you want to take a picture of? (scared of letting his 5d and brand new Canon 1.4 into the hands of a 3 year old)
[MADDY] Woofie (scurries to get her favorite stuffed animal and sets him up on the floor)

Now, she had a bit of help with the settings (SS - 1/80, f/1.4, ISO 1600), but she pointed and she pressed the button, so this is her photo. She nailed the focus and even used the rule of 3rd's! Without further ado, I give you Woofie..


After this, we continued by taking pictures of the couch, sink, chair, carpet and other random things, but this one I thought was blog post worthy and frame worthy (for her room).

The Stranger I-IV

In order to try and get more comfortable in front of a camera, I have decided to challenge myself to take at least 12 self portraits within the next year. This series was taken on a recent vacation to Ouray, Colorado. I was getting a little stir crazy one night so I decided to take my camera out on the town. I found this really awesome stairwell that had really creepy fluorescent overhead lighting right off of the main drag. I set up shop and started shooting (while getting some really interesting looks from people).

Settings:

• Aperture - f/7.1
• Shutter - 13 sec.
• ISO 200
• Camera - Canon 20d
  
• Lens - Canon 50mm f/1.8 II
  

Setup:
I originally set this shot up using a single flash to the lower left of the frame. After playing with this setup for quite a while, I was not satisfied with the output, so I switched to using only the available light. I manually focused to a spot on the stairs that would have the same focal plane as my head and then used a wireless trigger for the shutter. I was not concerned with movement as I felt that would only add character to the photo (see other shots from this session by clicking on the picture above or clicking here).

Processing:

• I used a high pass filter to bring out the texture of the stairs.
• Heavy Vignette
• 50% de-saturation
  

August POTM

'Old Timer' has been pretty popular around the interwebs, so I decided to make it the August photo of the month. Here's the deal. You get 'Old Timer' in a 8x12, shipped to your door, for $25! CONTACT ME to let me know you are interested (you know you are). It doesn't get much easier than that.