Disability Sports Festival, CSUSB

In the spring of 2011, I began attending California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB).  I had a major and a minor which was studio art, concentration photography.  By the fall quarter of 2011, I had just a major – studio art, photography.  And I was in my first photography class at CSUSB.  It was documentary photography.  And like the first time I took a photography class (way back in Texas in 2009), I quickly learned how much I didn’t know all over again.  The disability sports festival is an annual event at CSUSB and it was our class’ first assignment.  I took hundreds of frames and the majority were done in the classic documentary style.  But these are among my favorites and they are far more artistic than documentary.  And it was the first time I was experimenting with “the movement blur” (or too slow of a shutter speed for what you’re trying to photograph) as a style.  Enjoy.

This shot is my favorite among the bunch.  It’s so crazily dramatic.

Presidio of San Diego

Hello folks.  It’s San Diego!  Well, it’s the old Presidio of San Diego, actually.  I stumbled on it kind of by accident when we had our last family reunion/vacation kind of thing the summer before last.  I just thought the place was cool looking so I did a few shots of it.  After seeing the place, I wanted to do a photo shoot (and did do a photo shoot) there with a model.  But these are just a few shots the first time I saw the place.  And I always do a little Photoshop: light levels, contrast, lens correction, watermark, etc.  Enjoy.

Joshua Tree and Sky

Hey, Happy New Year!!  So, when should we stop wishing people “Happy New Year”?  Never.  I read somewhere that you should start each day with expectation.  So, let’s wish everyone a happy new year all of the time.  My expectation is that I photograph wonderful things all of the time.  This is one.  I took this photograph of a Joshua tree way back on Sep 2011 not far from my kids’ bus stop.  You’d never know that I was in the middle of Victorville.  Well, if you live here you might.  Just the same – it’s cool, huh?

Huck Finn’s Jubilee Setup

We’re still bringing up the rear to get this photo blog current.  The sad thing is when its current I won’t have nearly as many post going in.  But that’s some time away and for now I have a year’s worth of photos to show you.  These photos were taken on June 15, 2011, at the setup for the 2011 Huck Finn’s Jubilee at Mojave Narrows Park here in Victorville.  The stage company belongs to one of my cousins and though he wasn’t on site (at another event) my brother and crew were there (along with another cousin who works for him too).  The company is ProfoundEntertainment – that’s a plug for my cousin.  Since they were in Victorville, they thought it was a good idea to call me over to record their activities.  And I did.  I did not attend the Jubilee though – I missed Roy Clark – because I had other plans but the link to it covers pretty much what goes on during the event.  I photographed this with my Canon Rebel XS, with the kit lens, and did my minor corrections with Photoshop.  Oh, on some I used the lens correction feature to eliminate the geometric distortion and the chromatic aberration.  How they do that stage and lights frame is pretty cool to watch too.  Have a look.

Flowers of My Uncle’s Yard

Nothing real Earth shattering here, just photos of flowers from my uncle’s yard in Fontana.  Back on March 10, 2011, we were still living there so the flowers were just right there waiting for me.  No real Photoshop work going on here besides the watermark either.  The photos are how I shot them.

Look at the white spider in the lower left hand corner ready to defend his petal to the bitter, bloody end.  That’s some Hooah stuff right there!

I shot this with my Canon Rebel XS.  I love shooting flowers.  It is just fun.

Symmetrical Coffee

While we were still living in Fontana at my aunt’s place, I had a reflective moment with my cup of coffee – and my Mr. Coffee drip coffee maker.

This cup belonged to my aunt but I claimed it while we lived there.  It was the right size.

Gallery print?  Probably not but what I love about the shot is the symmetry between the light and shadows.  It captures you in the moment; especially if you’re a coffee drinking.

These three photographs were taken with my Canon EOS Rebel XS using the kit lens, EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS.  I did not use a flash.

Artistic

According to dictionary.com, art is: The quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

Thus artistic would be conforming to the standards of art.  Well, dictionary.com said that too.  I took these two shots at my dad’s place back on January 9^th of last year.  I was trying to shoot an “artistic” type of still life.  Up to this point, I had some formal training under my belt (a few art classes including 2-D design, beginning photo, drawing) so I was photographing specifically to make an art photograph.  That’s something I normally don’t do.  I would try this again – a few times.  I don’t think shooting in this manner works that well for me but I had to try it.

You tell me.

Both of these photos were taken with my kit lens, EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, on my Canon EOS Rebel XS and I did not use a flash.

Chriskwanzakkah 2010, Part 1, The Party

Oh man, look at me – I missed a day.  Well, here was the next event I shot.  This was the annual Chriskwanzakkah party.  The event was held in December 2010 and it was an affair to be experienced.  Held I at Kevin Flint’s studio (yes the same Kevin from the Collaboration Project) at the Brewery Complex in LA, this was a holiday party like no other.  I will break this up into 6 parts so that it’s not overwhelming.  Looking at the photos and remembering the event makes it clear that the photos don’t do it justice.  You have to experience this thing.  But take a look anyway.

Yep, that’s a hot tub back there.

 Look at that boogie down.

9 photos – shot in program mode so the aperture, shutter speed and ISO set by the camera.  Night time shooting so I set my ISO at 1600 and I randomly used my Speedlite 430EX flash.  I shot this all with my kit lens, EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, on my Canon EOS Rebel XS.  Tomorrow I’ll show you the “Pretty Faces” of Chriskwanzakkah.

Sarita, Part 2

Here is part 2 of the Sarita shoot.  We moved from the warehouse to this empty field to shoot this segment.  I used the aperture-priority setting on the first shot set at F-4.  The ISO was 100 and the sharpness set to 2.  Again, I was shooting with my Speedlite 430EX external flash.

This shot was back on program mode with a plus 2 on the contrast.

This last shot was shot at F-5.6 with a shutter speed of 1/1250.  This is an awesome photograph.


6 photos all taken with my kit lens, EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, on my CanonEOS Rebel XS.  Part 2 of this post is complete.  Sarita has since moved to Atlanta.  She was great to work with.

Sarita, Part 1

Hello again.  Here is Sarita.  We did this shoot back on December 12, 2010.  I really like doing portraiture and Sarita is beautiful.  I did this shoot a little different because I adjusted contrast and sharpness.

I shot this group of 6 in program mode.  The shutter speed was 1/200 at F-14.  The ISO was 400 and I used my Speedlite 430EX external flash on every photograph.  I also use a preset so I could turn up the contrast by 2.  I really like this photo.

This photo was set up about the same way but rather than turning up the contrast, I turned up the sharpness by 3.  And I took this in black and white.

On this photo it’s pretty much the same set up as the previous photo.

There is no change here either.

We were doing the shoot at an unoccupied warehouse in Fontana.  The white walls made for a nice back drop.

Monochromatic again because I think it looks really classical.


6 photos all taken with my kit lens, EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, on my CanonEOS Rebel XS and part 1 of this post is in the record books.