Living the Simple Life

I never quite realized how I much I was missing out with my family before this last weekend. I had the opportunity to get down to Eureka, California where a lot of my mother’s side of the family resides. It has been over 12 years since I have visited family down there.

They were all so thrilled to see me!

My mother is from a very old fashioned LDS family. Two of her 3 living brothers (2 have passed away from accidents) live practically together after my grandmother and aunt (oldest uncle’s wife) passed away. Their low social security income is of no bothersome to them. It is so strange to me seeing them live in such poverty, and me walking around with all my expensive camera equipment. It is quite humbling.

Technology is a huge deal in my life. I live, breath, and basically bleed technology. Every aspect of my life includes technology in someway or another. When friends come over, we play video games, cook with my George Forman grill, watch movies, do photography, drive around in the Volvo, and more! I couldn’t sit still if I was limited to just a newspaper or radio for an entire day, let along a lifetime!

The only technology that my uncles have acquired over the years is a DVD player given to them from my mother. And a small 13” (or so) television, they live their lives from a radio and newspaper, and watch old-fashioned movies. I never really considered myself as someone who is materialistic, but spending a day or two with people so simplistic, was definitely a humbling experience. I will repeat many times, I was very humbled.

Recently I have been working on simplifying my life. Getting rid of the things in my life that have become a distraction from my goals. It has become more and more difficult. Since these distractions usually are what keeping me entertained. What do I need in my life, and what can I get rid of? What can be my radio? What can be my newspaper? My necessities. Of course, I don’t mean I am going to go all low-tech on everything. I am talking about how I need to make my photography my focus, my passion, and continue to grow as a photographer, instead of let these distractions keep me away from keeping my camera in hand.

My question to you: What have you done to help yourself focus on your goals? Where have you struggled? What type of suggestions do you have for the next poor bloke working to become more successful?

Photo Shoot: Visiting Family

I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot with my family I recently visited last weekend, and it was fun to be able to show them the technology of my camera, and equipment. I setup my flashes with my PocketWizards and was ready to go. Everyone, including my Mom was bedazzled by my wireless technology. It had become natural to me. I captured both my uncles indoors sitting in some old rustic desk chairs transformed into living room furniture. I recently found a new love for bounced flash on my umbrellas. I had always used my white umbrellas to shoot through, but recently I needed to try something new. I was bothered by how much wasted light occurred when using my light through the umbrella. Also, with the size of the room, which was very small and a little more than six feet tall, shoot through umbrellas would have wasted too much space and bounced too much light back into my lens.

The most interesting part about the whole photo shoot was showing them the photos even just a few hours after I had taken them on my laptop computer in my hotel room in full color. They were so confused, technology to them is a mystery. It doesn't make sense.

I am probably going to have to mess with most of the photos after looking at them on my desktop monitor. Then again, my desktop monitor is nearing its retirement and replacement. For some odd reason, the colors on my laptop are way more vivid and saturated than majority of screens and especially prints. I should really invest in a monitor calibrator thingy as well as a new monitor. I should try to get both my screens as accurate as possible! Any suggestions on brands?

It's A Wonderful World

Louie Armstrong sang it best, this world we live in, may occasionally be riddled with what the world has become, but if you look through the cracks. The beauty behind the scenes is still out there. I have never been much for nature photography, or just taking photos out and about, but lately, I have been uploading a few photos that are just that to my "The Great Outdoors" Flickr Set.

I have discovered that with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, I can make a seemingly boring photo of nature, pop, and come alive! I haven't taken many outdoor photos in the last year, but I am going to start to try to snap a few during some of my outdoor photo shoots. It is very refreshing to have just a photo of nature to edit, instead of focusing on making someones skin look good. It is less challenging, and I've learned that a sky doesn't always have to turn out blue, unlike skin, which is recommended to stay the natural color of the person. I haven't been able to get away with editing my models with green or purple skin! Maybe next week?

So, I urge you, as a photographer, to not focus on just what you want, but attempt to take something that you know someone else would like, and capture it, and make it your own. You'll be surprised how much you can enjoy something, that you normally avoid. I personally do not go out just to take photos of nature, but I feel it is something that I must do as a photographer, and I never know when i could use one of these nature photos for a replacement background for a portrait shot. But maybe one of these days, I will just shoot for the environment, instead of a model's portfolio.

Photoshop is an amazing tool, and nature is a wonderful subject! Be sure to stop by and take a look at my Flickr Photo Stream, to catch a glimpse at my latest photo uploads!

Finished Album Covers

So, finished yesterday my second music album design of the year. I finished earlier the design for Brent Cole and his album "Good Love." I finished yesterday, the album design for Caleb Paul and his album "Learning to Fall" album. I am very excited for both of these albums. Considering I haven't listened to either of them mastered, they both sound great! Above I have both the album covers available to share with you, but i won't release the rest of the design in the same format. When i get the original copies, I will share with you photographs of the finished design! Enjoy the album covers, click on each one and it will take you to a larger version!

Who would have known that graphic design would take up so much of my time? Oh well, I am enjoying every moment of it! Getting a copy of the finished project is worth the time and labor put into it.

Enjoy!

Photo Shoot: Alex Scott

View all photos in this set here!

My first male model shoot. I think I did okay. I should have studied how to pose a male a bit more before jumping into this one. Although, the shoot turned out some great photos and will hopefully help Alex out with his portfolio! I am looking forward to doing more male model photo shoots. Enjoy!

Old Photos, Revisited

View All Images from this Set

A lot has changed in my skill set and processes since I started doing photography. I dipped back into some of my old photos last night looking for a specific photo, and ended up re-editing some photos, with a very interesting new flavor. I wasn't going for "beautiful" with these edits, but more of a grungy look to these old photos, I have came a long way since I captured these images, but they are my past, where i've been, and I wanted to share some of them, which never made it to the Internet, to you! I hope you enjoy these, there shouldn't be anything fantastic, just sit back and enjoy! I may be adding more to this set later this weekend.