Back to Basics

The best thing about digital cameras and the computer technology that goes along with them, is that you can cram hundreds maybe even thousands of images on a single media card. A wise man once told me of digital photography "Electrons are free man, shoot it till ya get it."

It's true...you can shoot and fill your card full of 300 images and hopefully capture 10 good ones in what I call the modified Rambo "shoot'em till ya hit 'em" sort of routine. The other option, you can slow down a bit in your shooting and get more good photos than bad. Really think about what you are shooting and make it count. Even though you have 4 gigs of memory to play with, maybe in any given day you only shoot 30 shots, but since you slowed down a bit and really looked at what you were shooting, 25 of your 30 came out well! It's a good thing!

A great way to practice this new outlook on photography is to bust out the old 35mm film camera and run some film through it. When you only have 36 frames to work with, you will tend to slow it down a bit and use them much more wisely. Plus if you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know I'm a big fan of film.

 

So get out and shoot, take your time, and make 'em count. I would love to see what you all come up with so feel free to drop me a link in the comment section of any of the posts on the blog.

Photo-Go-Round: My Choice

Today I present to you the final installment of my first series from the Photo-Go-Round assignment my roomate/friend/designer extraordinaire presented me with last year in her inspiration book. This final panorama is from sort of a rural setting near Helvetia, Oregon. Just off of the Sunset Highway (major Oregon throughfare between Portland and the Coast) there is a little tavern/cafe that is perported to have the best burgers in the metro area. No small feat I assure you...it's a big area.

I think my favorite thing in this photo, as with my urban location panorama, is how funny moving things can be in this sort of media. You'll notice a random floating golf cart in the center of the photo. It's actually being carried on a trailer behind a pickup truck. I was very curious what it would look like if I just caught random bits of the hauler as it passed by...now I know! I love it.

Even though this is the final installment of my first series, I will be persuing another series of Panos in the near future...very interesting things happen when you let photos collide. :)

So, without further ado...Photo-Go-Round installment three...my choice!

Photo-Go-Round: Rural

Hello All!

I promised a continuation of the Photo-Go-Round project from my little book of tricks. So now I give you...the Rural set.

Rural Panorama

Final installment of the first group (The "My Choice") location to come next week.

Till then, have a great week!

Photo-Go-Round: Urban

Last year I found myself in a photographic slump. I wasn't sure what to shoot, was uninspired, and just wandered around aimlessly with my camera hanging around my neck (or even worse, still sitting in the bag in the trunk of my car) and just needed help.

My buddy the Graphic Designer came to my rescue and created a handbook of concepts and ideas. Now, I'm primarily a technical photographer, I like to find things that present a challenge in that regard. This book helped me use my tech. know how and parlay it into some conceptual works.

A new series of blog entries simply tagged "Book Project" will show some of the assignments and what I was able to come up with.

For my first installment, I present "Photo-Go-Round".

"Pick 3 locations, one rural, one urban, one your choice. Stand in a central location, start in one spot and shoot frames all the way around. Make sure there is some overlap from frame to frame. Shoot one version with a tripod, one handheld and all horizontals, and one version hand held using horizontals, verticals and variable zooming."

Click to view the panorama.

Now, it has to be said that in full resolution...the final print would be 8" tall and just under 11 FEET wide. Awesome! Two fun things to notice - The magically disappearing Tri-Met Bus, and my friend Matty's confused face as I panned all the way around.

Coming Soon: Rural and My Own Choice of Subjects. Stay Tuned!