X100T
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt
It's been a while.
Tending to my website, telling visual stories, finding time and the ambition to get it all up and moving again hasn't been easy.
But with a New Year comes new goals, new routines, and most of all a renewed sense of purpose. As the days get longer, and the sun continues it's ascension towards summer a new light emerges--both literally and metaphorically--and sometimes we make our way back to where it all began, to our old haunts.
With winter depression taking its toll it was time for new sleep patterns, new exercise routines, new eating habits. The walk, as boring and mundane as it always seemed to me, brought me back from the brink, and with my camera in hand I've slowly made my way back to normalcy.
All images taken with the Fujifilm X100T
I was reading today, on one of my Facebook group posts, how excited everyone was to possibly attend another lighting workshop by Brett Howard. It got me recollecting the experience for a bit, and then I remembered I took some behind-the-scenes photos from the experience.
Brett understands just about everything there is to know from a technical perspective, but he outlines it clearly and concisely. What you're left with is a full primer on the fundamentals of not only lighting, but your camera as well, and access to professional quality equipment with professional models/actresses. It was an awesome experience.
Brett Howard is going to conduct another Shoot For Wind lighting workshop on July 11th, 2015. I hope to see you there.
Below are the BTS frames, as well as some of the better frames from that session.
Sometimes you have to start them young.
Sometimes you have to be social for your child even though you're an introvert.
Sometimes it's time to take your ten month old to the library for story time.
And so we did.
It turns out the Newberg Library has some history haunting the halls, walls, and architecture. Personally I was surprised as I expected our little, small town library to be pretty minimal-- but alas it has character.
Regardless, every Tuesday they put on a thirty to forty five minute story/activity time for babies under a year old, and it's really quite brilliant.
They never know when they'll get the call. The call to put themselves in harms way, to protect the citizens of the community.
Our local fire department is no different of course, but on this occasion they were tasked with burning a four plex, a house, and a garage, on the same block for the purpose of learning. They call it 'Burn to Learn', which is what this series of photographs chronicles, but make no mistake without careful attention to detail things could of gotten out of hand.
To the Newberg Fire Department I say thank you.
We are fortunate enough to live in a beautiful part of the country, the Northwest, and with it comes the wildlife, the trees, the hills, the water, and yes the rain– lots of it.
But there are days when the rain takes a break, the jet stream decides to keep the arctic cold at bay, and what we are left with is a stunning display of color– the greens from the foliage are vivid, the skies are deep blue, and the sunsets cast the colors that only winter sun can conjure.
My wife decided to tempt me with a photography opportunity, whilst also giving her an excuse to get the family out of the house, and get a little exercise.
We proceeded to take off down the road to Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, and we indeed had a break in the weather, my wife had the day off, and our daughter was finally back to full strength after another bout with a cold a few weeks earlier. Quite a bit of the refuge is roped off until the beginning of May (presumably the water needs to recede before it is deemed safe), but there was plenty to shoot, especially as the sun started making its final decent for the evening.
It’s grey. It’s depressing, which is not good medicine for motivation. I’m stuck inside again, and I’m not going to shoot today. The rain returns.
I hate Northwest winters.
But there was a break in the clouds, and so I got my camera, jumped out the front door, and started looking for interesting light. The truth is the break lasted all but three minutes, yet sometimes you just have to suck it up, look for something interesting, and live with the flat, gray blah that nature hands you.
