The Calm Before the Storm

Once again I hoped to get outside after work to take some landscape shots before the rain rolled in but my timing was off. I did however make it home as the sun was setting and captured some great pictures right outside our house. The sky was a gorgeous shade of pinkish-orange and the trees were silhouetted perfectly. On top of that there was a rainbow! A full rainbow stretching across the sky. I ran inside to get my camera and had about 5 minutes to snap away before, once again, the showers started. If I had more time I would have used my tripod- the pictures aren't entirely crisp given the low light.

Photos on a Rainy Day

I was hoping to get outside to take some landscape shots this evening but the rain came sooner than expected. The sky was a dingy grey and the trees were dull. Nevertheless, I tried to make the most of the shoot and drove around the country roads near my house looking for interesting trees and perspectives. Unfortunately the rain won out and I had to head home. I got a few interesting shots and used the contrast filters in Photoshop to make the photos more dramatic and play up the dreariness.

Food Photography Part 2

I created some nice shots during my first still life project using fruit and decided to attempt a few more similar shots for this project. Using Sandy Skoglund's work as inspiration I began thinking of ways I could use food to create an interesting still life. Sandy is known for her fantasy installations like "Radioactive Cats"

but she also staged interesting still life images using food as in, " Thirty Burgers with Mustard," "Cookies on a Plate," and "Luncheon Meat on a Counter."

Skoglund's work focused on reality vs. fantasy and she allowed the viewer to interpret the work and derive meaning himself. In addition she played with pattern and texture. With this in mind I took the following shots. Settings switched between Aperture priority and Manual, natural and artificial lighting.

 While the lighting was still good I setup a few more food shots using store-bought items with interesting textures. With the jelly donut I tried to setup a shot that looked soft but slightly dramatic to illustrate the anticipation of eating something we know isn't good for us.

Next, I peeled the outer layers of an onion to create contrast between a crinkled peel and soft glow of the overall image. I also desaturated the colors to soften the image and draw more attention to the texture.

Puerto Rico

I had the pleasure of leaving the cold, snowy Rochester weather behind for a week long trip to Puerto Rico. My family and I stayed an hour west of San Juan in Hatillo, the quiet countryside of Puerto Rico.

One of the best parts of the visit was, of course, the beach, but I also took time to venture out and explore other parts of the country. Southwest of Hatillo lies the Camuy Caves, 268 acres of subterranean caves carved out by the Camuy River over one million years ago! I brought my camera, looking forward to the challenge of photographing the beautiful cave system. The lighting underground was low which made this shoot extremely difficult. Not to mention, I was in a tour group of 30 people and had to keep up the pace with the guide or risk being left behind in a dark cave...with bats...!

I did my best to adjust the white balance settings, ISO, and exposure, taking photos, reviewing, and adjusting over and over. Without a tripod I had to improvise using the hand-rail and large boulders along the path to steady the camera. I took over 100 photos, many of which were blurry, but a few seemed to capture the mysterious beauty of the Camuy Caves.

After emerging from the dark, cool caves I was ready for a visit to the beach. Because we stayed away from San Juan, the tourist hot-spot, the beach we visited seemed like our own private paradise. We met a few locals but for the most part the beach was our own, quiet retreat for the week. I didn't have a lot of trouble shooting here because the lighting was great. However, I did notice as I was uploading the photos that my lens was dirty. I'm not sure if little bits of sand or maybe even water affected the lens but I had to look very closely at the photos and clean them up in Photoshop. 

Because the beach was so beautiful I didn't want to edit the photos too much. I did increase the 

vibrance on a few of the shots though and also applied a "diffuse glow" to a few of the stormier shots to soften the look of the sky.

I also took a trip to Old San Juan while we were in Puerto Rico. Old San Juan is over 465 years old and 

was originally built as military fortress. The cobblestone streets still remain and the influence of Spain can still be seen in most of the architecture. More tourists visit Old San Juan than any other city in the Carribbean each year. 

Portraits

I had the privilege of photographing the RIT/NTID Dance Company performance over the weekend. The show, Danser et Voler, was directed and choreographed by Thomas Warfield, my former RIT dance instructor. When I was thinking about who would be a good "model" to photograph Thomas was one of the first people I thought of. He is the kindest, most creative, joyful person I've ever met. He is a beautiful dancer and choreographer and is always smiling.

I arrived at Panara Theatre at 6pm before the company started rehearsing. I wanted to get a few shots of the company warming up and also work on my camera settings. The company was on stage and the lighting was fairly dark. This was a difficult shoot for me. I had to figure out the right camera settings quickly which didn't go as well as I thought. I set the ISO to about 800 and also played around with different aperature speeds. It is not easy photographing moving subjects. Just when I would catch someone or something worth photographing he or she would move or change positions...grr! The ISO was set to 800 which seemed about right, but after opening the RAW images I think it was set too high. Many of the photos came out very grainy.

After rehearsal I followed the girls into the dressing room so I could get some portraits of them putting on their makeup. These photos came out much better because the room was so bright. I wanted to capture the essence of being a performer. All the preparation and warming up and getting into character...the crew who helps make sure the show goes off without a hitch...and I wanted to capture Thomas in a way that best represented who he is - a warm, eccentric, creative soul....and with his purple hair and bright, white smile, that wasn't difficult to do!