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I'll be posting some random thoughts here about my photography: my travel plans, technical information behind some images, stories about how certain pictures were captured, etc. The timing of the postings will also be random as my priority is capturing new images rather than writing about existing ones. I hope you will feel free to comment on any of my postings and I appreciate you taking time to read my entries.
"He's Not One of Our's..."During my Texas trip, I visited the San Antonio Zoo. It was a pleasure shooting in the San Antonio Zoo because animals reside there that we don't have in our local zoo (the Brookfield Zoo outside of Chicago). These animals include the Emu and the Red-Flanked Duiker. Also, the cheetah exhibit is much more conducive to photography than the one in the Brookfield Zoo. There was also a duck at the San Antonio Zoo that I couldn't identify:
Click here to view nine other photographs from my visit to the San Antonio Zoo. And the Journey Continues...During my recent road trip to Texas, I added four more state capitols to my list! In addition to the Texas State Capitol in Austin, I visited the capitol buildings in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. This brings my total number of state capitols to 27. 27 down...23 to go!
Looking at the map, the quickest way for me to move the number up will be to take a trip the Northeast. And, the Southeast is going to require an extended visit. The next time I travel West I'll take I-70 and knock out those four remaining states. I'm not certain if I'll ever get to Hawaii and Alaska. It's a shame that I didn't start this project until after I spent some time in Juneau! Click here to view my State Capitol photographs. The most recent ones (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas) will be added over the next few weeks as they are processed. "Spiral Staircase" Wins Photo of the Day!This morning, my "Spiral Staircase" picture won Imaging Resource's "Photo of the Day".
This photograph was captured a couple of months ago Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art.
This marks the 14th time in the last 15 months that one of my photographs was recognized by Imaging Resource as its "Photo of the Day". Palm Trees in ChicagoOn a very cold Winter afternoon, it was nice to walk among the palm trees in the Palm House of the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. It was 10 degrees and windy outside, but a tropical paradise inside!
The Story of the StaircaseI enjoy taking photographs that include a vanishing point in the composition. In particular, I capture many pictures of staircases and corridors. One of my goals was to capture an image of one of the most famous staircases in Chicago--the Oriel Staircase inside the historic Rookery Building on LaSalle Street in Chicago. Capturing a photograph of this staircase presents some challenges. First, tripods are not allowed inside the building. So, the camera must be handheld in relatively low light conditions. I ended up using a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second with a relatively wide aperture of f/5.6 at ISO 3200. That isn't much light! Next, one is not permitted to leave the lobby area while visiting the building. Unfortunately, the staircase starts on the second floor and continues up to the eleventh story. You cannot see much of the staircase from the lobby--certainly not enough to bother taking a picture of it. The only way to gain access to the staircase--other than becoming an employee within the building--is to take part in one of the tours of the building. The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust provides tours at noon on weekdays. Tours are limited to 12 people. I registered for a Wednesday tour as the tour includes a stop in the Burnham Library on Wednesdays. During the tour, the guide spent about 5 minutes at the bottom of the staircase. While he was continuing with his presentation, I sat on the staircase and fired as many exposures as I could within that time. With the challenging exposure, I wanted to make sure that I came away with at least one sharp, properly exposed image! Fortunately, I was happy with one of photographs from that visit. Recently, the picture did quite well on the 500px website--making it to Page 2 with a ranking of #26 in the world. That's my highest ranked photo on that website since "Claws" reached #7.
My Annual Month of Kelby TrainingEach year, I dedicate time during a Winter month to study some of the many helpful photography training videos offered through Kelby Training. Over the past three Winters, I've completed an average of about 25 courses a year. In my opinion, the $25 fee for unlimited training for a month is an incredible value. During this past month I worked through the following on-line classes:
Most of these courses take about an hour to complete. I find it convenient to view the classes. Not only can I watch from the large monitor of my desktop computer, but Kelby Training offers an app through iTunes that makes it easy for me to view the classes on my iPad. Even though I took Ben Willmore's courses about Curves in Photoshop last year, I found it very beneficial to view the courses again. Having another year of Photoshop experience helped me better absorb the materials. Gaining a better understanding of how to apply Curves has greatly improved my photographs over the past few weeks. I feel tempted to go back and process many of my older images again! Dave Black's class about horse racing photography has motivated me to plan a trip to the Arlington Race Track this summer. Until now, I didn't realize that photography was permitted at the races. Kelby Training gives me an opportunity to practically look over the shoulder of the masters at work--all for just over $1 per class! Incredible Customer ServiceI've always enjoyed using camera bags made by Think Tank. The bags are smartly designed and hold a ton of equipment in a relatively small space. They are made to fit in the overhead compartment of an airplane. At this point, I own three of the Think Tank bags. Now, I like Think Tank's customer service as much as the bags! After years of use, the front buckle on my Think Thank Airport Acceleration bag cracked. This made it difficult to secure the hip belt of the backpack. I tend to carry a lot of weight in my bag, so the hip belt is critical to help take some of the load off my shoulders. It also keeps the bag closer to my bag so that it doesn't bounce around when I walk. I called Think Tank's customer service line in hopes of getting a replacement part in time for my January trip to Texas. That trip will include a lot of walking with the backpack. Think Tank assured me that they would be able to replace the part. To my surprise, they offered to replace the part free of charge. And, I received the part the very next business day. Now that's customer service!
Revisiting ImagesOver the past few years, I've processed thousands of images. In many ways, I think that learning how to edit images is more challenging than learning how to capture photographs with the camera! For the first few years, I used Nikon's Capture NX for the bulk of my post processing. Subsequently, I transitioned to using Adobe's Lightroom and Photoshop. Although I've dedicated a significant amount of time to learning the processing programs, it seems like one could spend a lifetime and still not master all of the capabilities of a program like Photoshop. Fortunately, I kept the original raw file for every photograph that I have. So, I can go back to images that I captured five or six years ago and process them again from scratch--without losing any image quality. This allows me to process images again with more current and powerful software. Also, I can apply additional years of editing experience to images captured years ago. Yesterday, I took a look at an image that I captured in Newfoundland in 2010. Here is the original image straight out of the camera:
I like the image, but find it to be lacking in contrast (rather dull). I'm not fond of all the power lines in the woods in the background either. With a little processing, I ended up with this image which I then posted on my website:
Yesterday, I revisited this image. I pulled up the original raw file and processed the image from scratch. I wanted to:
Granted, I might have gone a little overboard with some of these recent edits. But, here's the latest version:
After a few days (when I'm not so close to this photo), I will revisit the most recent version to determine if my edits went too far or not. My initial impression is that it is an improvement--particularly in the sky and shoreline. And, the buildings are now red. But, I might have to bring the saturation down in the buildings. However, I can't make that determination now--that will need to wait a few more days! My Favorites From 2013For the past six years, I've created a photography book which displays a collection of my favorite photographs of the year. These books are another way to share images. And, the challenge of filling a 160 page book with images is just another thing that motivates me to keep shooting. It's also a challenge to accumulate pictures for the various chapters of the book: Landscapes, Architecture, Plants, People, etc. This year, I added a State Capitols chapter. This year's book is now available for viewing. You may flip through the pages of the entire book if you wish. Be sure to click the preview to full screen before viewing. Click here to see all six annual books. I've already started creating photographs for next year's edition! $1 DiscountDuring my last big photography trip, I spent a day in Salem, Oregon. Since leaving home, I had already put 5,000 miles on my Prius, so it was time to get an oil change. A quick search on my iPhone located a Jiffy Lube within just a couple of miles. On my way to the Jiffy Lube, I couldn't help but notice an impressive looking hospital just north of the road. I planned to return after the oil change and lunch at Chipotle. I was pleasantly surprised by my experience at Jiffy Lube. Since the trip involved Prius camping, my car was packed with valuables that I needed throughout the trip--including all of my camera gear and other electronics. I wasn't looking forward to turning my car over to someone and having it out of my sight. The oil change at this Jiffy Lube was so fast and convenient that it was easier than stopping for gas! I never had to get out of my car. Within ten minutes, the oil was changed and I was on my way--all for $19.95. That's about half the price of my typical oil change back at home. After the oil change, I drove back to the hospital. The hospital was the Oregon State Hospital with the Museum of Mental Health housed in the front section of the historic building.
I entered the building about twenty minutes before it was scheduled to close. During the twenty minutes, I had an interesting conversation with two of the museum employees. They shared some of the history of the mental hospital. They talked about how the building was the site of the filming of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and how Nurse Ratched had recently visited the museum. One of the employees showed me a photography book that he found interesting. I was amazed at the quality of the photographs contained in the book and plan to order the book in the near future. The book is called "Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals" by Christopher Payne. I enjoy taking similar images at the Manteno State Mental Hospital, but have a long way to go before reaching the fine art quality of Payne's photographs. Since the museum was closing, I was told that it didn't make sense to pay the admission fee. But, I was encouraged to take a quick look around. I spotted an old organ in the corner of one of the rooms and asked for permission to photograph it.
Given how accommodating the employees were, I offered to pay the admission fee as I was leaving. The woman at the desk asked me if I was over 50 years old. When I told her that I was over 50, she gave me the good news that I had saved a dollar on the fee for reaching that milestone. I told her that I would rather pay the extra dollar if that meant I could be younger than 50! |
