One month into the 365 project - It's been a great experience so far engaging with my photos daily and sharing them with all of you. To mark this month anniversary, I thought I would share the very first image that started the HDR Collage project. This picture here was a happy accident. It started out as an HDR project of the old truck outside of Sunny's Bar in Red Hook. When I accidentally chose the wrong files for the software, I got this collage. I was at first disappointed at my mistake, but couldn't bring myself to delete this. I was captured by it. What is more, I re-did the project and switched some parameters and came out with a completely different collage. With this, the HDR Collage project was born. Roughly about 12 images now, the collection grows each and every year in both number and sophistication. For anyone interested, I can relay more details directly. Happy Tuesday everyone!
The Enthusiastically Amateurish Photographer
The 365 - 8/21/17 - Day 29
Happy Monday everyone - The highlight of my day today was definitely the eclipse, and it seemed like that was the case for quite a few of us. Many friends and colleagues made trips for totality. Alas, I was not one of those and so I joined a viewing party at my apartment building's roof and truly the view could not have been better. Well above the treeline, we had unobstructed views for when the clouds parted. I didn't have quite the gear I needed for this shot today, and instead relied on a backup camera (in case the worst happened) and the darkest ND filter I had. You can see in this shot here, that the eclipse is actually reflected from the filter back onto the lens. This is that second sun you can see just askew of the main one. Since I couldn't solve it, I owned it. I tried to develop a more abstract view of what I was seeing. The post here today is one of the more straightforward ones, but I plan on continuing to work on some of the other more creative images. Enjoy guys -
Houston, Texas - Eclipse
The 365- 8/20/17 - Day 28
I hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday night, and if you are like me you are preparing diligently for the upcoming week. Like most of adult world, I'll be back in work full-time now. I am both excited and anxious as I gear up for the next 9 months. This post tonight is all about the upcoming change. Summer is over and the fall is kicking in here. Just like these mountain sunflowers, it is time to shed the summer colors and focus on the new upcoming season. Oh - and I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy the eclipse tomorrow. - Best
Rimrock Trail, South Dakota - Winter is Coming
The 365 - 8/19/17 - Day 27
In what for many might be the last weekend before schools start back up, I thought it would be cheeky to post one more photo here from the beach. This shot was taken for a photography class a year or two back. I was trying to really play up color as a the subject here (the red, the yellow, and the blues). For those that know me, my color blindness issues do make this kind of photo a very scary one for me (another reason my work tends to head in the B&W direction). My instructor gave me some great feedback on this one, which in hindsight I do agree with (crop was too tight), and I do think I could have worked a few more angles here to find even something better. However, I look back at this image quite a bit (hence the post) and remind myself that I can look for subjects that challenge me (color in particular) and I can be successful with them. I suppose there is a life lesson there - Enjoy your Saturday!
Galveston, Texas - On Duty
The 365 - 8/18/17 - Day 26
Happy Weekend everyone! I thought I would bring the blog posts back to Houston tonight. I was downtown a few months ago for the Art Car Parade and we managed to find an amazing spot to watch the cars roll by. While there I was able to grab this perspective shot. Looking at the back of the camera, I was really not amazed by the color shot I was seeing, but I knew in my mind's eye that this B&W would showcase the texture of the building as it reached toward the clouds. This was a great example of something that I saw in color, but knew I would love in black and white. Enjoy the weekend everyone!
Houston, Texas - Reaching the Clouds