Day 120 CUTE!

CUTE!

I will title this appropriately once I figure out what species this is. I was walking briskly back to the car after my hike to Moro doom in Sequoia National Park when I see movement off to the sid and stop to photograph this cute little critter that sat posing for quite some time. It was very shadowy and I was very appreciative of my new cameras ability to make good quality photos at high ISOs, equivalent to film speed. After a few minutes, or seconds its hard to tell when I am in the moment it skittered off into the woods. It was a great finish to my hike and I am very please with the sharpness with which I photographed it.

Day 119 Fog Rolling In

Fog Rolling In

I enjoyed some nice photographic opportunities as a bunch of clouds moved through the mountains. They added nice drama and texture to my photos. I decided I liked this one best because of the dreary cold mood it implied. It is cold and snowy, many many feet of snow, up at this altitude and the glum mood fit well. I also liked how there was this one tree standing out of the fog and then behind it the hills are half concealed by gray.

Day 118 Sequoia Deer

Sequoia Deer

Being on a photography trip I have been making many more photographs then I generally would other-whys. That has ment many more pictures to chose between when looking for my photo of the day. After much deliberation I chose this photo because I like wildlife photos. I also like how only the area right where the deer is is in focus and the rest of the field is blurred out. There is very much a sense of place and the deer also posed nicely.

Day 117 Snowy Pine Cone

Snowy Pine Cone

I have really enjoyed seeing all the different pine cones in the park. Some are what I expect a pine cone to look like but others are MASIVE. This was one of the more normal pine cones but I liked how it was sitting in the snow. I have really grown to love my tripod without which I would not have been able to get the nice crisp shot that I did, and in low light to boot.

Day 116 Grand Canyon Deer

Grand Canyon Deer

I got some very wonderful photos of the grand canyon and of the elk but non of them could quite match this photo. I love the ears and the whole expression of the face. I doubt that the deer was actually intending it but it's just comical to me. I was a little abashed, and why I didn't like the elk photos, by the very harsh light but I managed to balance the tone enough.

Day 115 Endless Desert

Endless Desert

I made a wrong turn so am now taking the southern rout to California. It has taken me through some very vast almost endless country. One section, not the one shown here, was miles and miles of open ranch land  There were herds of cows dispersed around but no fences other then the one around the one road through it. There were even bridges over the road not for other roads or trains but for cows. But this vast desert, shown above, is like many we drove through for miles and miles and miles. I liked the colors of this photo and how the road and tower snaking away small and alone in the distance enhanced the feeling of vastness and open emptiness.

Day 114 Portrait, Jenny

Portrait, Jenny

Today I started my photography trip. However I couldn't leave till I had tied up some loose ends. I woke up early and made some senior portraits of Jenny. She is very photogenic and I got many I like but I like this one best because the light turned out nice and she has a relaxed expresion and posture.

Day 113 Returning

Returning

Today many of Scattergood Friends School's spring trips are getting back. I am enjoying life being a little more relaxed with senior week over but now have packing for my photography trip keeping me busy. I liked the colors in this photo and the shin of the glossy car. I also like the sense of movement from the way the car is framed.

Day 112 Bored or Tired?

Bored or Tired?

I just got my new camera today. My wide angle lens broke about a week ago and that caused a mad rush to figure out what to do since I am leaving on a month long photography trip in two days. I had been wanting to upgrade from my Sony A100 to a Nikon camera for awhile and now was the time since I would ether invest in a new lens for my old camera or invest more but in a new camera that will last me awhile. I ended up getting a Nikon D90, I would have liked the D7000 but it is really expensive and I could get the D90 used, and an 18-200mm Nikkor lens. I spent all day reading the really long manual and playing around with its settings. I feel that I now have gotten accustomed to the main settings but have not explored to detailed customization available. I also managed to make some nice shots while playing this one being my favorite. I like how she is leaning so it looks like she is resting on the edge of the image and the diagonal of her arm leading to her face which is where the real story of the exhaustion from a long senior week is shown. It is hard to tell though if its exhaustion, bordom or a combination of the two.

Day 111 Sleepy Smile

Sleepy Smile

I was trying to find new photos in the boys dorm and finally found one. I like the pleasant smile and the relaxed atmosphere of the head resting on a hand.

Day 110 Bowling Ball

Bowling Ball

Today we all went out on a surprise bowling night. I was very annoyed about my wide angle lens being broken but did still manage to make some neat pictures. I liked trying to get good angles of the ball coming out of the shoot and us grabbing it. I liked this one best out of those attempts.

Day 109 Painting

Painting

Our main project for senior week was to totally makeover the student lounge. We painted everything including a mural by Ki-Yea. I like this photo mostly for its journalistic qualities, telling the story of senior week.

Day 108 Really Tired

Really Tired

Senior week is really tiring. Going through the photos I made this week many of them were of us sleeping, being tired, or zoning out. Part of that is because I was alway too busy with other things to make pictures when we were busy working. I like this photo because it seems tranquil and I like sleeping.

Day 107 Tired

Tired

We just finished our first full day of work on senior week and we are all already tired. We couldn't just end the day though because there was still fun to be had. We watched a movie and zombied out. I like this photo because it really shows Rachel's exhaustion, especially in her eyes. I also like the way her hair looks.

Day 106 Coming Storm

Coming Storm

Just as a week of outdoor trips and work a bunch of storms moved in. I liked how the willow, which is a very photogenic tree, and the dark evergreens contrasted with the beautiful sky. This was one of those times that I would have done an HDR image if I had had a tripod. I trying to replicate that effect with photoshop and I like it but it could be better.

Day 105 Zombie Land

Zombie Land

I really liked Sophia's outfit for her presentation on what it is like writing a senior paper. I also enjoyed using effects that I have often looked at and been like "what would I use that for?" I wanted to enhance her atire and outfit so I added grain and tried to make the lighting harsh and dismal.

Day 104 Typing

Typing

I like trying to capture angles of mundane things that make them look new and interesting. I think I achieved that in this photo. I like how it only shows the hands typing and leaves a lot of room for the viewer to fillin the story around what els is happening, what is being typed, who is it?

Day 103 Prairie Fire

Prairie Fire

I love fire and also love making photographs of it. Today we were doing some prairie burning to show the difference of areas that have been burned and have not over many years. It was very fun, hot, beautiful. I got hundreds of pictures and it was hard to chose which one but I liked the contrast of the black and white burnt grass with the bright orange, reds, and yellows of the fire consuming onward.

Day 102 Out of the Tree

Out of the Tree

My frisbee got stuck way up in this tree. As usual people threw stuff at it to try and get it down. I wasn't there when it happened but supposedly they were doing this and Leaf's shoe got stuck. They also got a soccer ball stuck in a different spot. My frisbee got free which was great. The real fun was only beginning. They got out ladders and ropes and more soccer balls and tried to get Leaf's shoe out of the tree. And low and behold the other soccer ball got stuck right next to the shoe. I had my camera out making pictures of the people climbing in the tree to try and shake the branch, a really big branch, and I just had to make some pictures of all the stuff in the tree. I liked this photo because it is artistic but also tells a great story. I like the tangled mass of branches telling of the confusion and the deep blue sky contrasts nicely with the orange parts fo the ball. And the shoe, well that is just funny.

Day 101 Portrait, Ki-Yea

Portrait, Ki-Yea

Like I have said before I have been doing a lot of portraits recently. I have actually found that I rather like it. I liked how well I captured her taking her hat off in this image. For me this picture makes me think of cowboys and the motion of taking the hat off adds to that feeling. I also like how crisp and clear this photo is.

Day 100 Dark Spring

Dark Spring

Spring is in full motion and I keep seing things I want to photograph but rarely make the time to go do it. This was one of those times I made the effort and I really liked the final result. This one tree always gets all these amazing flowers early in the spring and they all fall off really quickly. I was able to get it right before it had fully bloomed. The wind was really strong which made it very difficult to get a clear image but I think this one turned out okay although I could have increased the depth of field more. I really liked how the background was all really dark, it makes it not distracting and adds the feeling of power to the flower.

Day 99 Pet Chicken

Pet Chicken

For Laura's birthday Sophia gave her a chicken. Laura really likes the chicken and has enjoyed how tame and friendly it is. The chicken seems content to be fed extra food and held extra. I like the interaction between Laura and the Chicken, which is still unnamed. The way they are looking at each-other is neat.

Day 98 Portrait in the Trees

Portrait in the Trees

I have been working on many portraits recently. Today I was actually working on the senior graduation invitation photo. But on the side I made some portraits of other people that were on my list. I really like this one. They both have very natural expressions and I like how the tree frames them and gives a nice background. I don't like how much of Jenny's neck is covered by the one tree but I still like the photo.

Day 97 What the Hell, It's Raining

What the Hell, It's Raining

I actually didn't make this photo, Laura made it while I was playing Ultimate Frisbee. I convinced Laura to make some pictures of Ultimate but then forgot to make any of my own. I like this picture because of the animation in Howard's expresion.

Day 96 Trash Day

Trash Day

Today my government class took a field trip to the local dump. It was very informative and really helped encourage me to think a little more carefully whenever I put something in the trash. I got some nice pictures if you can call pictures of garbage nice. This was my favorite because I like the composition of the bulldozer climbing over the trash.

Day 95 Roasting Staff

Roasting Staff

Today was staff appreciation. We roasted them having great laughs all around and marshmallows to chew on. It was a great blast and I loved getting pictures of all the laughs and smiles. I ended up deciding on this photo because the other one I wanted was to dark. I do really love this shot because it shows off Irving's fun goodnatured self loving the event.

Day 94 Cleaning Up

Cleaning Up

Today in drama class we worked on cleaning up the prop/costume room. It was a mess but we still managed to have fun. I made pictures of all the stuff as we inventoried it and also got some other more journalistic and artistic shots. I liked this one because of the great smile.

Day 93 Lightning

Lightning

I had a lot of fun making photos of the recent lightning storm. I have not done this type of photography before and really enjoyed the new challenge. I really missed my tripod and regretted forgetting it at home greatly. I managed acceptably using other objects to stabilize my camera. I photographed constantly for over an hour and put together a short video which is on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgMlc-zHhnc. I also got some really nice ones and it ended up being between this one and a similar one that went into the ground. I chose this one because It shows the lightning better with more "fingers."

Day 92 Shane

Shane

I could think of no better title for this than Shane because this pose just says who he is. I love the animation in his face and how his arms frame the right top corner. It is also nice that the background is dark and thereby not distracting.

Day 91 Majesty

Majesty

This picture is not actually mine, it was made by my girlfriend Laura. I was looking through the pictures that were made with my camera today and I saw this one and knew that it was the photo of the day even though I remembered that Laura had been the one using the camera at this time. I showed it to her and she was happy to have it be the photo of the day. I really really love this photo. I love the dramatic sky with nice blues and large puffy clouds. I also like how the pole makes a nice edge on the right keeping your eyes in the frame. Then there is Aaron in this very majestic pose like he just finished climbing a mountain. He has one knee up and is leaning forward but is looking far over his shoulder. All of those elements and more are what make this an amazing photograph in my eyes.