Project 365 - Days 37-45
I really have to post more frequently on this blog. Project 365 is just a small part of my photography and I feel like I've got so much more to share with everyone. This is going to be a big update to Project 365 with a lot of pictures to catch up on, so I'm just going to get right to it.
[37/365] :: Happy Birthday Emilia. Everyone meet Emilia! (AKA: Auntie Mely, Auntie Sis, Mamma Mely, etc.) I came prepared knowing that I would be getting good lighting for my pictures during the birthday party today. I was intent on getting this portrait of Auntie Mely with the blurred out bokeh for the background. My Sigma 85/1.4 was the perfect lens for this shot, so I had it mounted to my 7D for the majority of the day. This was the first shot I took of her. I ended up with a lot of great shots that day, but I chose this image because it's the one I had planned to shoot before even clicking the shutter button on my camera.
[38/365] :: Kukui Nuts. In all honesty, this shot was forced. It was getting late in the evening and I had not had an opportunity to take any pictures. I was looking around the house for items to use and found the kakui nut and shell necklaces to use as my subjects for the picture. This was the first day in Project 365 where I had to really force myself to just take the picture. I think it ended up being a really sharp, clean image. The subjects don't exactly call out to the viewer, but that's ok. I can live with it.
[39/365] :: Pondering Escape. There is shopping area by where I live that has this awesome pond filled with fat koi fish and turtles. These guys look like they have it made and I'm not sure they'd ever want to escape this man made environment they all live in. I had to have some real patience when photographing these animals because they were constantly swimming around looking for food on the surface of the water. There was a lot of luck involved in snapping this image with only the turtle's head partially breaking through to the water's surface. Most of my other shots had the fish creating ripples in the water and blurring out anything below the surface. I was happy to get such a clear image and to capture the interaction between the pond's inhabitants.
[40/365] :: Light Vibrations. This was very much an experimental shot. I had no idea how it would turn out whe I was planning it. I was sitting in the passenger seat of our car. We were exiting the freeway and headed towards an off ramp. I set the shutter speed to 5 seconds and held the camera as steady as I could on the car's dashboard. This was the result of the vibrations from the car and the road. I was able to capture all the light trails from the cars, streetlights, and road reflectors surrounding the vehicle. I'm surprised that more than half the image turned out to be complete darkness. It must have been a very dark night to be driving around.
[41/365] :: The Jewel. This was my view in the morning from the parking lot near Scripps Pier in La Jolla. It's looking out towards La Jolla Shores in the foreground and La Jolla Cove in the distance. I was checking out the surf that morning to see if it was worth paddling out for a session in the water. That wave might look a little deceiving since there isn't anything around to compare it's size to. It was actually quite small out that morning and I decided not to get in the water. I took this quick picture instead and really like how it turned out. It would have taken me a very long time to clone out that strand of grass in the foreground, so I chose to just leave it since it doesn't really take away anything from the image. The light was hitting everything right in this photo and I really like the clarity I got from it. The skies are clean, the scenery is sharp, and the waves look fun. It's just a classic San Diego morning.
[42/365] :: Board Topper. Another year, another birthday. I was happy to celebrate it with a small group of family and friends. We had a really fun time just hanging out, having some drinks, and getting down with Dance Central on the Kinect. I was blown away when my cake was brought in and I was able to look over all the details. I got a kick out of a replica of my Firewire Surfboard on top of the cake. The shells look like the perfect sea shells we all used to search for on the beach when we were kids. The "sand" on the beach was actually brown sugar. Everything on the cake was edible. It also tasted really good! Seeing it again in pictures gets me motivated to go out and surf. I appreciated everything about it and was very thankful to share it with my family and friends that night.
[43/365] :: Dragon Parking. I drove the fam out to downtown for a meet up with some friends to check out the San Diego Padres Fan Fest. It was a beautiful day and we all decided to walk over and check out a Chinese festival happening just a few blocks away from the park. As we were walking around, I wanted to see if I could practice some shots on street photography. I kept an eye out for any interesting subjects to shoot. We came across this dragon parked on the sidewalk during the Chinese festival. I like the juxtaposition of the dragon and the "No Parking" street sign just behind it. Juxtaposition was one of the first things I read about when researching street photography and I was happy to find it in this shot. I ended up with some really good street photography shots that day, but I chose this image as proof of my learning and progression on the subject. I will have to start a photoset just for street photography so I can have a place to upload the other photos to.
[44/365] :: Top of the Hill. These kids are just too cool. They've become so easy for me to photograph because they've been conditioned to seeing my camera pointed at them whenever we're all together. HAHA! I think a lot of it also has to do with me being able to anticipate their next move so I can quickly get in place for the next shot. This quick 5 minute shoot started off with them staring through the windows of the playground playhouse. They realized that their faces weren't showing, so they made their way up above the windows and gave me the poses you see in this shot. It was almost effortless on my part as they did all the work for the shot. I just sat there and clicked the shutter.
[45/365] :: VDay Moon. We've been having some beautiful days in San Diego with some clear skies and warm weather. I've been seeing a lot of the moon during the day, usually on my drive home from work. Unfortunately, the sun will usually be setting before I can get my gear set up to get a day shot of the moon. Today was different since I was able to leave work an hour earlier. I had plenty of time to set up my 400L lens for this daytime moon shot. I found it to be a little harder shot to take during the day than it is at night. Nighttime moon shots are easy with their monochrome look. Daytime moon shots have subtle changes to the blue sky all over the image that sometimes makes the image look unnatural. I had to be careful to stealthly blend the whole sky together in post processing to make the image look clean and more natural. I think it worked out for this shot. The moon ended up being very sharp and well detailed. I'll have to try this again on a full moon in the daytime to get the whole image.
