American Love

Last winter, a few friends and I discovered midnight photography. The hit and miss (mostly miss) photography at night using extremely long shutter speeds, and a lot of patience! We would setup our cameras on our tripods and wait for a result. For some reason, we have never done this during the summer, when the temperature would be more comfortable. Oh well, running around being completely cold is fun too!

Now, I call this form of photography Midnight Photography just because I felt that it needed some type of lingo to discuss the pictures between my friends. Night Time Photography just wasn’t quite as catchy to me, as Midnight Photography! I don’t know, you can be the judge on that one!

So, the other day, a post I read on Strobist about continuous lighting revolutionized my process on midnight photography, and gave me a real “duh” idea. Bring a really high-powered flashlight to add some light to the picture! Wow, why didn’t I think of that? I could even use it to shine light on what ever I am trying to focus the picture onto, and improve focus quality. Wow, I suddenly feel innovative through other people’s ideas.

So, later in the evening after getting some things done, my friend Scott and I went out on a quest to find the right equipment for the shoot. We first visited Home Depot, but to no luck, we ended up in a half hour conversation with one of the employees. I had explained to her that I never shop at Home Depot for building houses, but really only for my photography. She was so confused, and didn’t really know what to think about this. After much looking around, I found nothing useful, but the employee kept trying to get me to order a flashlight boasting 18 million power flashlight (no mention of candlelight or anything, 18 power of what? That was ridiculous!) from their web site. I agreed, but only if they could get it shipped to me in 15 minutes. Of course, they couldn’t, so I went to Wal-Mart, and bought a Black & Decker 2 million-candlelight flashlight for somewhere around $30. Which was perfect, I couldn’t imagine what I would do with 9 times the power! Well, then again, I am sure I could come up with something!

So after messing around with the flashlight, shining it on our bodies and in our eyes for a few minutes and getting some food in our systems we were eventually ready. Now, I don’t recommend shining something so bright into your eyes, we were just wondering because it was so incredibly bright that it would be interesting to see what it would feel like.

So we eventually got everything together and went out in search for the perfect location for the nights shoot. We eventually came up with the idea of an abandoned gas station in west Eugene. We arrived after 15-20 minutes of driving, and we were completely satisfied, we hung out for a while and took some fun pictures. But it wasn’t until I remembered that I had a smaller crank-rechargeable flashlight in my glove compartment in my car when I decided to start drawing words in front of a huge painted American flag mural.

This is when I came up with the idea of writing LOVE in front of the flag, something I have been feeling like our country has been missing out on. LOVE. I am always out to make pictures that mean something to people. And I feel this picture hit the spot. It may not be amazing, or breath taking, but at least I feel accomplished!

So behind the scenes on the picture, just a little background on how it was shot, and what process I went through to take it. It was actually a rather simple picture. I first shined the bright light onto the wall and focused the camera, and set all of the settings. I had it set to 30-second exposure, and at 100 ISO, and around f/4. I had Scott push the shutter button, and as soon as it opened, he swooshed the bright light across the flag. I quickly there after jumped into the frame and drew with the flashlight facing directly toward the camera the word LOVE. I felt really girly writing this, because you have to move your body in such weird ways to get such large, and cursive letters. But overall, since you can’t see me being girly in the picture, I think it worked out!

Light my World

I have been on a temporary slump with photography since I when whale watching a few weeks ago. I haven't really taken the time to really take pictures, and explore photography. Something about that trip, and how unsuccessful i was at getting a descent picture just really got to me. Looking back at it, I honestly wasn't really setup for success. The weather was not the greatest, the whales were always really far away, I was using a crappy lens, and it was just unfortunate that I could not get a good shot! And for some reason, I took it personally.

Yesterday, was something different!

I had been talking with a local group called "A Family for Every Child" and "Lane County Heart Gallery," and yesterday I finally got together with then and got to see first hand what they are going for. It is simply amazing. They find homes for children with out permanent homes. These children are without permanent homes, and are living with foster families around town and document the kids lives enough to provide pictures and video of the kids being them selves, and what they enjoy doing.

This experience has put a whole new light into my world, and I hope I can keep it up. I suggest you find something that makes your day light up, and fire up your passions.

My boss today brought me into his office for a talk, I was terrified at first, since this was a very unexpected and urgent meeting with him. I didn't know what to expect. Not everything he said was something to worry about, besides someone complaining that I don't work hard enough (which is bogus), he had something very comforting and uplifting to say about my photography! He realizes that this work place isn't a passion of mine, and that photography is, and that he recommended that I keep my head up, and continue to seek my passion in photography. He then went on to compliment me on some of my photography.

So, don't let yourself fall into a photographic slump. Even after bad shoots, stand up tall, and don't wait for your next opportunity to bring that passion back!

Broken Laptop Screen

Sorry I haven’t updated lately. I have recently encountered a problem with my laptop. I have to send it in to get it repaired. They explained that it would take 7-9 days until I get it back. Wow, what a bummer! Luckily, my screen wasn't cracked, it just randomly went to a white screen after i gave my sister a tour of my duplex with my laptop.

So while it is being sent in, I am going to buy some parts for a desktop computer. I already have a screen, mouse, and keyboard. It should come out to be somewhere between $600 and $700 for a pretty decent computer! Before I decided to get a decent desktop, I was looking at laptops and for a similar model with similar specs would have cost at least $3000.

I have some future purchases coming up in the next few months, such as a Nikon D300 ($1800), and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Productivity ($1600). I don’t think a $3000 purchase would be very “smart” right now. Although, once I get a Nikon D300, I would be selling my Nikon D200 for around $1300 with a battery grip, and extra battery. I could also sell my laptop and get a smaller more portable replacement laptop such as maybe a 15” but I think I might stick around with a 17” laptop just because it has a little more beef! But, if I can find a decent 15” laptop with similar specs to my 17” laptop, it doesn’t seem like a terrible idea.

Anyway, sorry about my little computer rant, I guess basically what I meant to say is that it is always good to have a good backup desktop computer, just in case the laptop needs to get sent in for repairs!

So, what I have done for you, is create two simple wish lists through Newegg.com if you are interested in buying computer parts to build a good desktop computer for around $700. I created two wish lists, one with the monitor, keyboard, and mouse (which is a little more expensive), and another with just the desktop computer. (Both of these computers have a total of $70 worth of mail-in rebates! Also priced after shipping!)

Desktop with recommended LCD screen, keyboard, and mouse ($1098 with Vista Home Premium)

Desktop only ($864 with Vista Home Premium)

You may add, and remove from these wish lists as you please! Let me know how you set up your computer, it would cool to hear!

UPDATED: Don't forget to purchase an operating system, since this is a 64bit processor, I chose Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM. If you would rather go "old school" you can also purchase Windows XP 64bit OEM. OEM is just barebone, no fancy graphics. Just a disc and a key-code, which is all you need! It is also cheaper than retail!