Into the dark

I always find that the kitchen is an interesting place to take photos, often because of the lighting conditions. For example, I noticed these really dark shadows when I reached in for a fork today. Now I've talked a lot about light in my previous posts, but not so much about darkness.

You know, one of my greatest fears in life is losing my vision. But then when you lose your vision, apparently all you see is black. Like, no light, just black. It's just a really scary concept, especially when my future will most likely depend a lot on my eyes. Just try to imagine waking up every morning and it stays pitch black out all day long. I suppose one would eventually adjust, but the initial trauma would be incredible. I just don't know what I would do.

Froggie

Funny story, I was about to start on today's blog post, when I get called over by my neighbour that there's a frog outside my house. So I grabbed my camera and went outside quickly to get a photo of this tiny little frog. Now I've heard this frog outside for the past few weeks, and now I finally got a chance to see it in the flesh. Pretty sweet eh?

Lay Out!

*THIS POST IS FOR SATURDAY MAY 29 2010*

So I was at the Ultimate for Windsor's Gold Ultimate team as the team photographer, and I got some amazing shots while I was there. The only problem was that it was raining the entire time, so I had my camera wrapped up in a waterproof case. It made shooting a little more difficult than usual, but the results were very much worthwhile. I mean, you can clearly see the rain in a lot of the photos, and I think it just adds a great sense of atmosphere.

Light glasses

So today I thought I might try to draw some household items with light. And you know, it's not easy. Just to get this one photo took a good 30 minutes or so. I'm just hoping that I'll be able to do better in the future

Nite Owl

So the weather has been less than ideal for the past few days. And you know I've been feeling a little down about my photography, so I thoguht I might try something new. I have a strict policy of not using my built-in flash, but I made an exception today. See, the only way to acheive this kind of lighting is to direct a stong light in a perfectly dark room. Anyways, I had to do quite a bit of editing afterwards on this photo, but I'm quite pleased with how it came out. I guess the next step would be to try this on a human, not a little action figure :P

Speed painting

So I thought I might try out a new technique of light painting. Before I would always use flashlights to paint someone standing perfectly still, but now I've found a better method. See, my original idea for using flashlight to paint people was only came about because I didn't have an external flash. But then I realized, I had an external flash all along: a digital camera! So I had a friend point a regular little digital camera at me and take a photo with flash. That way, my entire body was exposed in an instant. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner!

Beginning of the end

Don't worry, I'm going to be talking about the end of the world or anything.I just thought I would talk about tonight's concert. It was the annual year end concert at Centennial Theatre, and this marks my fifth time performing at that concert. You know, this concert has always meant a lot to me. It just always seems to signify the end of a school year. Sure, classes are still on until June 11th, but as far as I'm concerned, school is coming to an end.

But yeah, this concert is also the last one I'll ever perform in. I'll most likely come back to watch next year's concert, but still it's not quite the same. It's just really strange to think that I won't even be at Windsor next year. Ugh, so much to think about and consider for next year!

More gear

So as you can see from this image here, I got a brand new HD video camera today. I haven't had too much time to play around with it yet, but so far it's been simply great. Now I didn't just go out and buy this for my own fun. This was actually suggested by a friend when he said that the Ultimate provincials should be filmed in better quality than last time. And I must say, I'm quite excited to see this thing in action this weekend. I'm also going to have to figure out a good way to share my video content too. Maybe I'll start up a Vimeo account or something...?

Soil

So I was out helping my mother move some dirt today. See, we had this giant garden for the whole neighbourhood last year, but it was turned into a playground this year. So pretty much there was a lot of soil that would've gone to waste. Now that's where the shovel comes in. All that soil was just left for people to take an use for their own gardens and stuff. It's this kinda thing that makes me feel really happy on the inside. Just that feeling of know that something has a second chance to be useful in this world, you know?

Now this concept contradicts with a lot of mainstream media these days (see, I told ya I had some interesting stuff to talk about). Anyways, I was at a friend's family party last night, and it was just a lot of fun. I spoke with people, played with little kids, ate food, etc. Now at a certain point, a few of us gathered around a computer to watch a youtube video of Miley Cyrus's new video, Can't Be Tamed. If you've seen that video, wouldn't you agree that it's a tad bizarre? Like, more so than usual? Perhaps not.

Personally, I'm not into pop music these days. I just don't find pleasure in listening to an auto-tuned voice overtop of a computer generated beat. But the music itself is only part of the "problem." The other part would be how it's used. Music often defines a generation. For example, Superstore plays music over its speakers that cater to the likes of the highest demographic: parents. I'm pretty sure I've heard the song "Kiss From A Rose" about 20 times this year. It's an older song, but it's what the shoppers (presumably) like.

But with my generation, music is a lot different. To start with, it's extremely assessable. I know I've taken things for granted, only to realize their significance afterwards. But it just makes me really sad to know that it's happening with music now. For example, you don't have to listen to pop music to know that something like "Party In The USA" was really huge a little while back, but now it's considered old. And what happens with old pop music? It just gets discarded, doesn't it? Sure, there might be a remix or two, but in the end it'll still die away. The one thing that stays a little longer than pop songs is the style of the music, which actually brings me back to the original point about Miley's new video.

I said that it was a little bizarre and strange, but that's a common occurrence in today's music videos. Granted, music videos have never made any sense, even back 30-40 years ago, but still that was just weird. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that music today doesn't have much to it, and doesn't stay for long. And speaking of long, this post is getting far too long. I still have more to talk talk aboutm but that'll be in another post.

Good to go

So this CD here contains the audio portion of one of my scholarship applications. I still have yet to compile five of my "best" photos, so I'll have to get that done this weekend too. I'm a little bit nervous about this, but there's nothing I can do except hope for the best. Anyways, I have to get up early tomorrow for work, so I'm gunna stop here. But there are a few things I'd like to talk about, so stay tuned for those posts soon.

Testing one two

Alrighty, so I got a brand new Macbook Pro today, and I'm quite excited about using it. As a matter of fact, I did this entire post on this Macbook. As a photographer, I'm thrilled about the built in SD card reader, I mean, it just makes everything sooo much easier lol. I still have a lot fo work to do in terms of settings and software, but I'm looking forward to the whole process. The most fun I've had so far in the past hour was connecting the laptop to the HDTV in the living room and watching some HD youtube videos :P

Continuation

Great scott, the time machine worked! I'm back in 1955!

Lol, I kid of course. But seriously, I thought this was a really interesting photo. Windsor had its carnival today, and there was a whole heck of a lot of things to do. And I admit, there were a lot of cool booths set up in the gym. There was a station with Rock Band hooked up to TVs and speakers, a jell-o eating contest, darts, etc. Everyone was just having a lot of fun, and it was awesome. And then I started thinking, and one of the things that caught my attention was that some things just never change. Now I've seen those 1950's carnivals in movies and pictures, but I've never experienced one for myself.

Or have I? The fundamental principals remain unchanging. People come, people spend money, people get food and prives, people have a good time, people leave. The experience as a whole is one in the same. So by that rationale, I suppose I have experienced one. I suppose the fact that some booths are identical helps out too, like this popcorn machine. I imagine there are probably more technically advanced and efficient ways of producing popcorn, but this still remains because it has that great, canival-like feel to it.

Then again, I just love retro stuff, so my opinions are quite biased lol

Speedy

So today I tried experimenting with two kinds of lighting. I guess it could have gone a little better, but it's a start. You know that scene in Back to the Future, where the delorean travels through time and you see those streaks of fire behind it? Yeah, not so easy to do with household items lol. But anyways, I found that the most difficult part was creating streaks of fire without exposing the wax part of the candle. Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure out soemthing eventually

Band

I went to a fantastic band concert tonight, the North Shore Concert Band. It was the best concert band performance I've seen in a long time. My father had asked me to bring my camera to take some photos, and I think they turned out quite well. I'm still going through and editing them at the moment, but they're looking pretty good so far. It's just kinda neat to be on the other side of the stage taking photos instead of performing.

At the end

I came downstairs this evening, and found these on the living room table. For those wondering, it's just flavoured rice formed into shapes. Anyways, I just thought the lighting was kinda neat, so I went back to get my camera. Now as you can see from the image, the right side of the photo is quite rark. I was also experimenting with how to read histograms, so I figured it would be easier to start with something quite dramatic

Trails

I guess I better explain this image here. What I did was I put my camera on the ground, with the lens facing the celing fan. I then attached a flashlight to the fan with a piece of string. I turned on the fan for a second, and let it spin until it slowed down by itself. So in doing so, you can see where the light has been. Kinda cool, right? I got the idea from seeing some similar photos online. Anyways, it's getting late, and I don't like being more tired than I need to be on Mondays lol

Done!

So I finally finished editing together the video from all the ultimate footage. Overall, it was a fun experience. Very different, but still fun. I really have to be thankful for all those hours of watching youtube videos for helping me get through the editing process. I mean, I just made a sports montage in imovie, while these pro youtubers are doing crazy stuff left, right and centre. Really gotta appreciate their efforts

Mine!

Oh man, today was crazy, what with all the Ultimate going on. For the first time this year, I got a tanned (possiblly burned), since I was out in the sun for 9 hours lol. And you know, it was really a lot of fun. I had my camera with me, and came home with 767 photos. Of course I won't be using all of them, so I have quite a bit of organizing to do this weekend. But one thing I did notice was that the whole time I was there, not once did I get tired of shooting the games. I remember from last year, I was getting sick of shooting by the last few games. I'm glad to know that I have one less limitation when taking photos :P

I gots da power

So I went out and did some more light painting tonight, and got some pretty nice shots. As I do more of these types of photos, I'm finding it easier to do more creative stuff in total darkness. This photo, for example, was taken by a small park near my neighbourhood. I'm sure I could probably come up with something else to shoot their in the daytime, but that'll be another day. For now, I just wanna get some rest, since I'l be playing ultimate all day tomorrow for the North Shore tournament

Don't you agree?

So I came home today and had a bit of free time on my hands, so I decided to make a clone of myself and have a conversation with him. Or should it be with me? I dunno lol. Anyways, it was quite a lot of fun, we talked about various subjects ranging from cameras to school to life. It was just a really nice way to unwind after that planning presentation, which went quite well btw :P

Presentation time

You know that presentation I was talking about recently? Well, tomorrow's the big day. I got all my things ready, so I'm just headin off to bed to be well rested. I really hope this goes well :D

also, the photos from the last light painting sesion can be found here.

Up

I looked up in my room today and took notice to these lights. Well, there's only one displayed in this picture, but there are three in total. Anywho, I just thought they looked kinda cool lol. I mean, just the way the picture looks. See, humans have incredible eyes. We can see things in a way machines can only dream of. We see both dark and light parts in equal portions, whereas the camera has to underexpose the room to see the ight and vice versa.

Don't move

I don't have school tomorrow, so I thought tonight be be a good night to go out for some light painting. I'll put up a link to the photos in my next post. Anyways, it was quite a lot of fun. I called up a few friends, and time just flew as we tried this and that. To make everything better, the weather was nice and it wasn't ridiculously cold out either. I'm hoping to have more light painting sessions this summer too :D

New life

You know, you always hear or read about how life on this planet works. But to actually see it in action is something totally different. For the past little while, this little plant has been trying its hardest to grow larger. The thing is, it started out as a discarded seed from a fruit (maybe an apricot?). But I unno, I just find this so damn fascinating. I can't even imagine how I'll feel when I see human life come about for the first time.

Roles

There was a fantastic ultimate game today. It was just so intense and fun. And of course I had my camera with me, so I got some photos. So now I've got all these photos that I'm still sorting through/editing before uploading. And you know, as I was looking through these photos, I realized that I've got a lot of photos of sports. Like, a lot. And then I got these other photos from shooting events of all different types. I've also got photos of friends too. And finally, I've got my own photos that I've taken just for the sake of taking photos. I guess what I'm getting at is that I've gone through a lot of different types of photography, and now it's time to really start organizing all of these thousands of photos, seeing as I have a few presentations come up soon haha

Just fly

After shooting the dandelions yesterday, I wanted to do more with them so I went out and found a large field with plenty of these magnificent plants. One thing I found out was that focusing on these little things is impossible. I actually had to mount the camera on a tripod, and manually set the focus in hopes that some of them would be in focus when the self timer went off. It took a while, but I think it was well worth it. Patience is most certainly a virtue.

Sun

Oh man, the weather today was amazing! Well, not so much in the morning, but by mid afternoon, it was beautiful. I came home from my ultimate game, and went out for a walk with my dear camera. You know, maybe it's time I gave my camera a name lol. But anyways, I found these dandelions as I was walking about. I tried experimenting with a lighting technique I accidentally discovered a few months ago when I was doing a photoshoot for a friend. I'm quite pleased with the result, as it almost looks like the photo was taken on old school film

Encounters

So I was going out for a walk with my camera today, and I found myself up at the cemetery. It was really nice up there, all cool and quiet. Then in the distance I see this furry object moving around (I didn't have my glasses with me). So I took out my camera and quickly got the zoom lens out too. Turns out it was a coyote. Yeah....like, not some person's dog, it was w ild coyote. Not trying to overeact here, but it was kinda freaky, yet exciting at the same time. Anyways, just thought I'd share that story. Also, sorry for the poor picture quality, it was dark out, and I also had to do a bit of digital cropping afterwards. You can click the image to enlarge it and zoom in to get a better look.

Social

I'm not a man who follows hockey incredibly in deapth, but I do enjoy watching a game with some friends. Today the Canucks played the Chicago Blakhawks, and I must say, it was a an intense game. While I can't name off every player on either team, I still had a great time. I can't help but feel like going out to watch a honkey game at a friend's house is just something that needs to be done in a young adult's life haha

Take a seat

As I was packing up my things at the end of the night, I saw the dining room table, and noticed this epic lighting. So as always, I went and grabbed by camera to take a photo. You know, that table's been there for as long as I can remember, and yet I never noticed the beauty of it until it was under the right lighting conditions. I'm just happy that I even noticed it at all lol

Japadog!

Alrighty, so I finally got around to trying a Japadog for the first time lol. It was actually pretty good, but I'm noure if I'd go back for another one anytime soon. But ya, I just saw it when I was walking around downtown today before going to the Pat Metheny concert! YEEEAAAAAHHHHH lol but seriously, it was a fantastic concert. You know, I havn't been to many concerts in my life, but I think I'll start going to more (assuming I have enough money haha)