Thursday, August 30, 2007

A heavenly body bleeds......

More accurately it was a lunar eclipse, as the moon travels into the shadow of the earth it is cut off from the suns light. Upon the earth what was bathed in the cool blue glow of moonlight soon turns black. One doesn't realize just how much light the moon gives off when it is full until that light is cut off and where you could once see your shadow it was now gone. The eclipse was AMAZING!! Its kind of eerie seeing it turn into this dark reddish color. I did go out to shoot but will admit that i was at a loss as to what to do, never having photographed an eclipse before i was running pretty low on ideas. Your typical shot is of course the moon against a dark sky....BORING!!! Besides shooting a shot like that, there really wasn't much else to do, so i decided to use the image blending feature in my camera and blended multiple exposures in the camera.I only did 2 shots that i "liked" and even those I'm not all that excited about there just isn't that much around here to use as a good foreground. So we settled for this bridge that we found in Del Mar. Thanks to my buddy Mike Baca for coming with me to keep me company until the wee hours of the night, keep an eye for his stuff to see if he posts any of his pictures. Also check out my buddy Blaine's blog, he got some sweet stuff up in Oregon. Overall got boring shots but i had a great time and learned something new and that's all that matters. Enjoy!!!

1st up the boring shot:



Blended image 1. Did a 4 minute exposure on the bridge and took my strobe to pop some light onto the bridge. I did about 20 pops on the strobe which had an orange gel on it to warm up the light. Next i shot the moon using a 300mm lens (thats why it looks so huge) and blended the images in the camera.



same image of the bridge but shot the moon with a 80-200mm lens so i could control how big the moon looked in the final image.



Last shot of the night, no moon but still fun. Forgot the clamp i use to mount the flash thats whay you can see it in the coner there.....oh well live and learn.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Its official....i hate sand!!!

At least California sand, it looks incredibly dirty, its this super fine grain that stick to my body and makes me itchy. It gets EVERYWHERE!!!! Not like Hawaii sand where the grains are big feels good on your feet and falls off when you get dry...mmmmmmm. Ok to the point, did a senior portrait today at the beach (hence why i hate sand, i was in it today) for my friend Rachel Morquecho. Rachel and i go waaaaaaaaaaaay back to the days when i was still working at North Coast Church. It was way fun, im glad that i was there shooting pictures of her cus its the only thing that made being in that sand tolerable. It was fun chillin today Rachel good to see you and catch up a little bit. Hope you like your photos.




Monday, August 27, 2007

Another event checked off the list.....

I have always been a fan of classical music, when i was a kid its all i would listen to. So for a very long time it has been one of my dreams to watch a symphony. Saturday night i got to finally experience it and it was incredible!!!! Jen works for an accounting firm in San Diego and one of their clients is the San Diego Symphony. I wont go into details as to how we got the tickets but yes we got them and i am so glad that we did. It was incredible, i have always imagined what it would be like to listen to a symphony live.....but nothing really prepares you for it. The amazing skill of the players and the incredible power that is carried by every note, word cannot explain. All i could do is close my eyes and take it all in, the concert was held outdoors in the courtyard area of the Salk Institute who is also a client of Moss Adams. This place is way cool, it was built back in the 60's as the perfect place for scientist to do research and continues to this day to be a model for other labs. They do all sorts of research there but their big focus is cancer research, the building just looks cool and all of the design revolves around low maintenance and bringing natural light into all of the buildings. They gave us a little tour but i sure cant remember all that was said, ill post some links as soon as i have time. For now heres some photos......i will also post more as i get some time. Enjoy.




Very Excite!!!!!!

MMMMMMMMMM yes.........so the other day Nikon announced 2 new cameras. The Nikon D3 and the D300, the D3 is their new top of the line model and is also 5 grand......just a wee bit out of my price range. The D300 on the other hand is nto out of my price range, this new camera replaces and does a mjor upgrade to the current D200 of which i am a very proud owner. I wont get into specifics about the new cameras but will say that they do look amazing and am eager to see how they perform, the 2 new models wont come out until November of this year but Lord willing i will be in line waiting to get my eager little hands on the D300. Canon has also rolled out some really amazing new gear which im sure all of you Canon shooters are eager to buy. Now, with all of this new gear coming out, the never ending debate between what camera brand is better rages on. I have been debating wether or not to do a post dedicated to this "issue" for sometime now, i will not bore you with a huge essay as to what i think about the whole thing but will say this. The debate for me is a pointless one always has been and always will be, i became a photographer because i wanted and continue to want to make great images. I was inspired by amazing images that photographers like John Shaw, Joe Mcnally, Dave Black, Vincent Laforet or John Huba have shot and continue to admire their work. Some are Nikon shooters others are Canon shooter, but they point is that for me what inspired me is the image not the gear. Now the question arises "are there davantages to one or the other" oh yeah!! I think Canon has very BIG advantages over Nikon, image quality and low light performance at High ISO's Canon has it hands down. Nikon i feel has amazing quality when it comes to their images the camera feels great in your hand and is tough as nails, they just keep on shooting no matter what you throw at the thing. Do i drool over some of the gear that Canon puts out? You better believe it! I dont know of any photographer out there that wouldnt love to shoot with an 80mm 1.2 lens the thing is amazing. So if Canon has all these advantages why stick with Nikon? I come back to what i had said before, i want to make great images not get into a debate about what gear is better. When i bought my 1st Nikon i looked at the 2 brands Canon and Nikon, anything in my price range that Canon had felt like a toy and didnt sit right in my hand. I pick up the Nikon and can tell you that i knew right away that it was the camera that i wanted, since then i have invested thousand of dollars into the Nikon system and so it doesnt make sense for me to switch. The money factor is a huge one but i can also tell you that i shot with a 20d for over a month and could not get used to the thing, for me My Nikon gear solves problems it doesnt create them. Im sure i will continue to hear how Nikon absolutely sucks compared to Canon and that is perfectly fine, there are still may pros out there shooting Nikons....and even if they switch over i will continue to admire their work as i always have. Besides i look on the web and find people shooting great photos and at times when i lok up the data to see what it was shot with..........Pentax. So i ended up writing an essay, sorry, but ive put in my 2 cents.......or 1.25 if you will and that all that you hear about it from me. I continue to view the world through one eye and continually find that what i see is amazing i strive to capture it in such a state in order to cuase awe and in so doing inspire a new generation.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

I love finding old shots.....

So i was "digging" through my hard drives and found some shots that i had taken a couple months back with my buddy Mike Baca. He wanted to do some portrait stuff, but we were missing a crucial element........someone to stand in front of the camera. I wasnt about to do it so Mike called up his buddy Russ and well the rest was as they say history. I did some experimenting when we shot those pictures, mostly on strobe placement and what not, but after shooting i never realy did anything with the images. Well i just came across the photos and decided to play around a little and try some photoshop fun, i have been trying to push my limits with my photos. Not just in the shooting stage but also in the post production stage as well since they really do go hand in hand. I only worked on 3 images but hope you like them. Enjoy!!!



Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Vroom Vroom....

Sunday before last Vista had the annual Rod Run, i love old cars so this event is always fun for me. I didnt realize that it ended at 4 so by the time that i got there at 2:30pm a lot of the cars were gone. There were still some sweet ones left though so it was lot of fun to shoot some of the cars. Now just so you know, my shooting style can be somewhat frustrating to people especially wen it comes to vehicles. Many absolutely hate my car shots ( i have been told this ) because i rarely show the entire car. I dont know why but im more of a details shooter than anything else, i love to get up close and shoot that way. I dont know why that is but its not going to change anytime soon. For now heres just a couple of shots for you.......hope you enjoy them snd if you dont well then thats ok too.





Monday, August 13, 2007

Congrats to Mark & Jessica.....

Ive fallen behind again, ive been real busy lately so ill make this one short. Last Saturday we shot a wedding in Carlsbad, the wedding was indoors which was a challenge since it was so dark, but after the ceremony we were able to go down to the beach and do some shooting there. Man that was A LOT of fun, i decided to experiment a little more than i usually do and used my strobes in their wireless mode while underexposing the background making for some very dramatic shots. Ive been really excited about these shots since they are a big leap forward from what i usually do and a new technique to explore and master. Anywho heres a couple of shots, ill post more when i get some time. Enjoy!!





Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Congrats to Larissa & Ben.....

Had the pleasure of shooting Larissa and Bens wedding last Saturday. They had the ceremony at Leo Carillo Ranch in Carlsbad. The location was really cool!!! There were a bunch of old looking buildings and stables and made for a really sweet place to shoot. The wedding was small but a lot of fun and a little more intimate than most. Ben was awesome and a real good sport when we were taking pictures plus hes from Ireland or Scotland......sorry Ben im terrible at remembering those things. Anywho he has a sweet accent so i had fun listening to him and his family talk. The day was gorgeous and jen and I had a lot of fun shooting. Oh and did i mention that the ranch has a TON of Peacocks? Well it does and all day long all you hear aa AA aa AA ( thats my written peacock impersonation). Thanks guys for letting us shoot your special day, you were so great to be around. Heres some pics.