Mac woes, Google+, and a *New* crop

I've become very fond of Mac computers having owned at least some variation since 2005 when I purchased an iMac G5 (which I still have and use occasionally and it runs great).  Maybe I've been fortunate, but I've had very little trouble with any of the Apple products I've owned - and I/we are pretty Mac centric around here.  Yet, all good things must come to an end as my wife's Macbook appears to be having major hard disk drive issues.  So, I sit drafting this post waiting to see if my emergency HDD recovery is successful.  Luckily, I'm pretty handy with other operating systems, too, because I'm having to use an Ubuntu Live CD on the Macbook to access the failing drive and transfer as much data as possible to an external HDD.  Yes, Linux is quite fantastic!  Hopefully, I can recover the more important things my wife had saved but it's turning out to be a painfully slllllooooooow process.

To make better use of my time waiting I figured I'd get caught up with my photography 'circle' on Google+.  Now, if you're not familiar with Google+ then you really should be because it's turned out to be a refreshing take on social networking.  It definitely isn't as cluttered with useless BS as other social networks (although I'm sure that may change with growing popularity) and it's quickly become one of my biggest resources for photography information and learning.  How so?  Well, I'm constantly scouring the web for photo information and other photographers because, in my opinion, there's no better way to learn photography than to seek out and study other photographers.  I have a "Photography" bookmark folder in my web browser that houses the websites of other photographers, photography blogs, etc.  I typically check those sources regularly for new information.  Now, several of the photographers that I "follow" are using Google+ and I simply have added them to my Photography circle to immediately gain quick access to their posts in my news stream.  However, the best part are the discussions that spring up on these posts by other people following the same photographer as well as the photographer them self.  Nowhere else have I ever been able to read a post by someone like Moose Peterson, Thom Hogan, Steve Huff, or Chase Jarvis, comment on that post with a question or simple response , and then have the photographer comment back.  It's truly fantastic and I'm amazed that a simple social network can be a powerful learning tool.

On that note, I read a post by Scott Kelby that referenced a cropping technique that he often uses called "Cinematic Crop."  It piqued my interest so I ended up browsing to his website and found his original post with more in-depth info on this cropping technique.  After reading, I was eager to try it out on some of my photos, so I opened up Aperture on my Mac and starting browsing for the perfect candidate(s).  After a very long search I ended up finding three photos that worked well.  The first photo is very recent and one that I liked, but seemed to be missing *something* that I couldn't quite put my finger on.  After playing with it a bit more and applying the crop I ended up with something I really like.  The other two photos are from our visit to Maui, Hawaii back in 2008.  Enjoy!

An Evening Walk with Ainslee

The other night, I hadn't been home from work very long before my wife took our two oldest kids and headed to the grocery store leaving me and our youngest daughter, Ainslee, home to entertain each other.  It was a gorgeous evening and I felt it needed to be enjoyed, so I grabbed Ainslee and my camera and headed out for a quick walk to the creek.

I hadn't really planned on taking many pictures primarily because Ainslee can be a handful, literally.  She's at an age where she rarely likes to be put down, instead choosing to be carried by whoever will give in to her whimpering.  She can be quite dramatic and eventually you just have to give in.  It's nothing new, as both of my other children went through the same phase.  You'd think Jodi and I would have gorilla arms by now!  So, I figured we'd simply stroll along as I pointed out the horses, birds, bugs, and anything else she might find interesting (which is a lot at her age!).

To my surprise, Ainslee actually didn't want to be carried as we started out.  Instead, she began pointing things out to me, starting with our chickens...and their poop.  Yes, she's suddenly fascinated with chicken poop.  Anyway, we carried on and I was able to snap a picture here and there as Ainslee's curiosity took us across the yard, past the horse barn, and then toward the creek.  It was extremely entertaining watching her eyes bounce from one thing to the next.  At one point I stopped to take a picture of a small flower amid the grass.  I squatted very low to the ground and Ainslee came over and squatted next to me with a puzzled look on her face as if wanting to say, "you're really taking a picture of that?"  It was pretty cute and she must've known something because, in the end, I didn't really care for that photo.  Anyway, a few minutes later she decided that she'd done enough walking and wanted me to carry her, so I obliged.

We eventually made it to the creek and wondered around for quite a while before heading back to the house.  A lovely walk with my lovely daughter!

A Change in the Weather

The last few weeks have seen the temperatures drop considerably here in NE Kansas.  It's been fantastic having all the windows in the house open throughout the day (and night!) and I'm looking forward to having a very welcome drop in our electricity bill.  But, the change in weather seems to have occurred much earlier than I'm used to since moving here.  If you ask anyone that's lived here long, August is typically the most miserable month with extreme heat amplified by high humidity.  This year, I think August missed the memo and July recieved it instead.  July was horribly hot and dry, yet August was quite pleasant and September has seemed much cooler than years past.  Yes, Autumn is quickly approaching (officially, 1 more week) and I'm loving it.

Autumn has a way of triggering my memories more than any other season.  I'm not completely certain why that is, but I think some of it is because Autumn seems to bring about the year's highest amount of activity.  There just always seems to be more going on this time of year - school, harvesting, sports, hunting, holidays approaching.  We grow up learning that Summer = Vacation and it's no different now, even for those of us who no longer get those 3 Summer months off.  Working during the Summer often has a more relaxed feel to it because it's easy to get fixated on actually taking time off from work.  Haven't we all heard the line, "I'm already in 'vacation' mode," from someone days before their actual vacation begins?  But, once the Dog Days of Summer have come and gone, it's time to hunker down, tighten up the belts, ramp up the activity, and begin the push to get things completed by the end of the year and prepare for Winter.

The action doesn't stop with us as nature also takes a cue from the changing weather - ducks and geese are beginning to move, deer are hitting the rut, turkeys are gathering in large rafters, leaves are beginning to turn, wild sunflowers are popping up everywhere!  It's these events that get me excited as a photographer and make me anxious to get out in the field.  Unfortunately, I haven't spent much time photographing the Fall season the last couple years.  Maybe it has something to do with grad school, children, and a full-time job?  But, although I know this season is gearing up to be a hectic one, I'm going to take every possible chance to get out and enjoy the outdoors with my camera.  With that in mind, I sat last night and found these photos from the past couple of years that fit my mood.

Enjoy!

15 seconds

My last 3 weeks have been absolutely insane.  So insane that I now know what it's like to completely lose touch with almost every aspect of my life except work.  If someone were to ask me about notable news headlines since August 8th, I might know of 1 or 2.  Worst of all is the time spent away from my wife and kids as I labored to finish the first phase of a very big project at work.  I think I went 3-4 days without seeing my youngest daughter because I was gone before she woke up and came home long after she was in bed.  But, I managed to complete this first phase and am finally decompressing.

Yellow, Blue, and White

Obviously, I had very little time to think about photography, although I do believe it's continuously shuffling in and out of my subconscious even during my busiest moments.  So, during one of my many long, long days, I was rushing from one area of the plant to another and a quick glance to the sky stopped me in my tracks.  For the next 15 seconds I managed to think about nothing else except that one moment.  The sky was amazing and if there were some way I could've taken a picture of the entire expanse of its beauty, I would have.  I didn't have my trusty Nikon, but I did have the next best thing, my iPhone.  I snapped a picture and back to work I went.  Yep, 15 seconds.

1,000 Blog Views

Earlier today I happened to notice that my blog had surpassed 1,000 total pageviews, which is a cool milestone.  Somehow I've managed to hoodwink enough people into thinking I really have something important to say.  :)

In all honesty, I really appreciate anyone that visits this site and takes some time viewing my photography.  I remember writing my first couple posts thinking, "Nobody is ever going to read this stuff," mainly because I wasn't sure what I wanted to say.  Those first posts took quite some time to complete and post because I kept starting over from scratch.  In the end I had to remind myself on the reason I wanted to write a blog and why I got passionate about photography in the first place - it's my creative outlet to please myself.


A few years ago I realized that life continues to hand you more responsibilities in the form of marriage, children, work, mortgage and a hundred other things.  While all those things can be tremendously rewarding, I found that I wasn't a very creative person anymore and it bothered me.  I struggled with trying to figure out why I didn't really enjoy drawing, or painting, or making music like I used to when I was younger.  But, along came photography and I suddenly found my creativity again.  Most importantly, I didn't feel like I needed to please anyone with my photographs except me.  Why was this important?  Well, we all know how much time we spend in our daily lives trying to please other people and sometimes it gets overwhelming.

Bottom line is this:  I love taking pictures.  It's one of maybe 3-4 activities that I've found where I completely lose all sense of time - I'm simply off in my own little world.  The idea that other people (you!) might actually enjoy my photography and my thoughts is an added bonus of which I'm deeply grateful!

So, if you're not feeling creative go pick up a pencil or a paintbrush or, better yet, a camera and get busy creating something.  You never know what you might discover.

Feeling a bit Black and White

I love color photography and it's hard not to.  We're surrounded by color and we're used to associating specific colors with different emotions.  In fact, take any art class and I guarantee you'll receive an art instructor sermon at some point that discusses several color-to-emotion relationships.  But, a lot of the emotion that certain colors evoke just seem to come naturally, as if our brains are wired that way.  That's why color photography can be so powerful.

An Adventure Awaits

So, one would think that if all colors, except black and white, are removed from a photograph that we would end up having an emotionless photo, right?  Well, it depends.  Some of the time, that color-less photo IS going have no emotion and look like nothing more than a gray slab.  But, other times the transition to black and white arouses emotions just as powerful as those brought on with colors.  How can this be?

For me, black and white photography is about simplicity.  You take away all the distractions and get right down to the raw data - the nitty-gritty.  If that raw data is captured effectively, then the final output can be pure bliss.  But, instead of colors, black and white photos must rely more heavily on compositional factors - shapes, leading lines, framing, balance - and the use of lighting, contrast, and textures to awaken our emotions.  And, although there is no color, I'm fascinated how the many shades of gray can affect me as if the colors were there.

Bighorn Sheep on the Lookout

With that in mind, I've been in a *mostly* black and white mood when working with several new photos that I captured on our recent vacation to visit some of my family.  We traveled back to my hometown (Green River, Wyoming) and continued to Grand Junction, Colorado and enjoyed every minute of it.  Compared to past vacations, I really didn't take that many photographs.  But, I'm quite happy with those I did capture.  New photos can be found in both the "Nature and Wildlife" and "Landscapes and Scenics" galleries.  However, I've also created a "Black & White" gallery as a quick-click way to showcase my color-less creations.

To wrap things up, there is one more new gallery titled, "iPhone," which, as you may have guessed, features photos captured and edited on my favorite mobile gadget.

Enjoy!

Reorganize

Spent a great amount of time tonight completing some housekeeping on my main photography website.  I never really liked the way I organized my photos to begin with, so I renamed a few galleries, moved pictures here and there, and added a new gallery.  I probably should've spent more time on this task from the start, but I was in a hurry to get enough photos on the site to make it meaningful.  Not sure if I'll end up keeping things exactly as they are now, but I'm happier with what I changed.

I still had some photos from my pre-vacation 50mm outage that I wanted to post, so those are now in my new gallery, "Things," which can be found here.  They didn't really fit in any of my other galleries, so I simply created a new one.  As a preview, here are a couple of my favorites:

I already mentioned that I recently returned from vacation.  Although I didn't take nothing close to the amount of photos that I normally would have, I did get some that I'm very happy with.  Hopefully, I'll get those posted sometime this week.

Enjoy!