The Dog Days are Over

Donovan is slowing down. He used to drag me on runs, lead me on my mountain bike, and chase deer through the woods with reckless abandon. Sometimes he'd even chase down bicyclists or little children, but that's kind of irrelevant. The point is, Donovan is getting old. Places that were once raven black are now stark white (see above). For the past fews days I've been taking Donnie on a 2.5 mile run, and he just can't make it. He pulls me for about a mile, and then he trails behind the rest of the way, to the point where I'm practically dragging him by the leash. And I don't run fast. I feel bad for the old guy, probably wondering why he can longer do the things he once accomplished so easily. Maybe he's just out of shape from a long winter, or maybe his best days are simply behind him.

House Plants

I'm no master gardener, but I've had decent luck keeping our few house plants alive over the past couple months (well, I did kill the first basil plant by keeping it on the balcony overnight in the dead of winter, but we'll let that one slide). The growth adds a little bit of green to the otherwise dreary 1-bedroom apartment in the heart of the Montgomery County suburbs. Where am I going with this? Well, yesterday I borrowed my friend James Masciuch's Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 lens. I've missed having a fast lens as my 50mm f/1.8 and 60mm f/2.8 were both stolen over the summer. My Canon 15-85mm f/3.5 is great, but the f/2.8 gives me slightly more versatility in low-light, indoor situations.

I woke up this morning and before taking Donovan for a walk I wanted to try out James' lens. I went straight over to the plants, getting ample sunlight (or should I say "overcast light") through the windows. I'd forgotten how great the depth of field can be when you're shooting with a fast lens, how much more depth (creative word choice, I know) it gives a simple photo.

I think I may do a series of house plant shots to frame and hang in the near future because I know it's much easier to keep photos of house plants alive than it is to keep the actual plants thriving.

Fat Tuesday

We're celebrating Fat Tuesday with a King Cake over here at Photos That Give.

The cake-eater to stumble upon this little guy will have good luck for the entire year!

I'm not sure if he's trying to run away or if he's just asking for a good spanking!

Naughty baby ;)

a dog, a barn and a moment of inspiration

(Gin the German Shepherd, protecting her barn full of horses).

I've been in a sort of hibernation mode as far as shooting goes, spending more time studying than picture-taking, hoping to enhance my technical skills and increase my odds of a great capture.

I haven't gotten any better during my time off, but I have discovered this: If I'm not inspired, it ain't happening - I'm not going to be able to take a good picture. I shoot best looking through a lens of inspiration. And today, I found myself inspired - nearly tripping over flakes of hay in search of my camera, hoping that Gin would maintain her "pose" long enough for me to take her picture.

To me, a good picture captures the essence of our subject. The mood of our subject. I wanted to articulate Gin's undeniable prowess and dominance, but also her lovable curiosity. Although she refused to allow me, the new girl on the farm, to pet her, she followed me around with a stick in her mouth, hoping that I'd succumb to game of tug-of-war.

I'm looking forward to the other inspiring photographic opportunities my time on the farm will surely bring. To all of my fellow photographers seeking inspiration: I propose getting in your car and driving to a farm. There's so much going on there - so much life in its animals, landscapes and structures. Just a thought ;)

Earth Divas Shoot

I sat here for about 10 minutes (exaggeration) trying to come up with a witty title for this post relating to fashion - but considering I know nothing about fashion, it was a futile effort. Lauren always says I've created my own fashion style - something like lumberjack-ragamuffin-hippie. I think it works...but my t-shirt and jeans collection is far from the purpose of this post.

A couple months ago Photos That Give was contacted by Ed Edmundson of Earth Divas, a fair trade accessories company (think hats, bags, etc) that returns 100% of the profits to artisans overseas. Ed, the founder, owner, and brains behind the operation, does not get paid a salary or stipend - as he told me, he's lucky enough to have a corporate-world wife that brings home the bacon, which allows him to run this fantastic outfit without retribution.

Anyway, Ed dug our style and mission and asked how we could work together - specifically, he needed some "model shots" of his new line of hand bags for use on his website and in wholesale catalogs which he uses at trade shows across the country. Having exactly ZERO product/commercial/model photography experience, I of course agreed to the opportunity.

A couple weeks later I met Ed in Georgetown to pick up 2 large boxes of hand bags constructed from all different sorts of natural/recycled materials - billboards, potato chip bags, hemp, silk, etc. He shared with me his "vision" for the shoot - make the hand bags the star - not the models. While Ed has used professionals in the past, I suggested letting me choose the models since he wanted a natural look, and the pros tend to overdo it and try to be the focus of the shoot (you can't blame them, they are models).

I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of friends with good lookin' gal friends - so I enlisted Christina, wife of my good friend Will, and Cynthia, girlfriend of my old buddy Brian. We set out on a cold, Sunday morning around 9am to the Rockville Civic Center - snow still covering the ground, our breathe appearing with each word we spoke. As we had to make this look like a Spring scene, the girls couldn't be bundled up in scarves, gloves, and thick winter coats. They wore thin layers, shivering between each shot. We all had the same goal - get this thing over with as quickly as possible.

Brian was a big help - assisting the models as they scrambled to change outfits, swap bags, and stay warm with the temperature lingering around freezing. We were too cold to spend much time lining up each shot perfectly. It was more like - "turn this way, no that way, okay good, the lighting is decent, look over there, and shoot" - and then move on to the next bag.

For a bunch of amateurs, everyone was extremely pleased with the results. The models had fun checking out their photos and sharing them with friends and family, and I was happy to add a couple of the best shots to my portfolio. I'm looking forward to working with Earth Divas again the next time they get in a new shipment of bags. Please check out their website - the items are super affordable, hand made, and you know where the profits are going - straight to the artisans or reinvested back into the company. We like that kind of business model over here.

Babies!

I'm at that age in which everyone around me is seemingly popping out babies. For me this is an opportunity to delve into a new genre of photography while offering (hopefully) my friends some quality shots of their newborns, free of charge.

In truth, this is easy work. The kids are cute and I just have to make sure the lighting is right and press the shutter release. This has also given me an opportunity to utilize some basic editing techniques to make the photos more unique - vignetting, black & white, sepia, aged, etc. It's amazing how a small change in colors can drastically alter the feel of a shot.

A special thanks to Luke & Eliza for being absolutely adorable.

Get those fingers out of your mouth!

Selective Colorization

You've probably seen photos in which one color is kept (yellow for instance) while the remainder of the photo is turned to grayscale or Black & White. This editing technique has always intrigued me, and in truth, baffled me, until I recently learned how to do it myself in Lightroom (and realized it's relatively simple). By definition, selective colorization is "a post-processing technique where most parts of a photo are converted to black and white while some parts are left in color." The technique is utilized to draw he viewer's eyes to a particular part of a photograph; to make it "pop." I've found that this technique has brought new life and focus to some of my otherwise "busy" photos.

But then, does this go against my basic post-processing mantra - less is more? What really gets to me about post-processing is when the photographer tries to trick the viewer - when we have to ask ourselves, "Was this edited, or not?" Through selective colorization, I'm not trying to fool the viewer into thinking I took a better photograph than I really did. The photos are clearly edited. No one (at least, no one I know) sees the world in black and white with a splash of color here and there.

Maybe I'm just altering my theory in order to allow for my new favorite editing technique :)

I'd love to hear your thoughts.