This is very good advice, very good

Great advice from Eric Kim:
1. Never stop taking photos.
2. Photos make great presents.
3. Never hoard your photographic insight- share it with the world.
4. Travel and photography are the perfect pair.
5. The more gear you carry around with you the less you will enjoy photography.
6. Make photos, not excuses.
7. Photography isn’t a hobby- it’s a lifestyle.
8. You can’t “photoshop” bad images into good ones.
9. Carry your camera with you everywhere. Everywhere.
10. Only show your best photos.
11. Spend less time looking at other people’s work and more time shooting your own.
12. Capture the beauty in the mundane and you have a winning photograph.
13. Go outside and shoot photos rather than spending hours a day on photography forums.
14. Always shoot in RAW. Always.
15. Just because someone has an expensive camera doesn’t mean that they’re a good photographer.


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Photography inspiration

This is a webinar hosted by Photoshelter.com with Tim Mantoani.
It's inspirational.

"A camera is like a guitar. It's just a box with a hole in it. Until it is placed in the hands of a true artist it will not make music, only noise. What do you want your music to sound like?"

Focus On Your Passion: Finding Yourself in Your Photography from PhotoShelter.com on Vimeo.

Thank you PetaPixel

Aerial over Coney Island

This was a very short kite session. I was hoping to get more of the carnival at Coney Island but I only had time to put it up in the air once. But the wind was perfect!

The boardwalk is an interesting place, to say the least. Carnivals attract an odd people. If you want to go people watching this may be the best place in the world for it. But just remember, once you see things, you cannot un-see them.


Of all the beaches I've been to I really liked this beach. The sand was nice and it wasn't crowded yet, even this late in the day.



Out of the 30 or so photos, these were the best. I would have liked to set a better angle for the camera before I sent it up. Ah, whatever. It was just nice to get a kite up and take some photos. It's been way too long. I have another kite session to show, when I get around to posting it.

The epitome of point and shoot

I haven't blogged for many months but I was inspired today.

Check this out. I haven't lusted over a camera for quite a long time. I love the features this doesn't have. There is no viewfinder and no display. Just like old times!

A Holga camera is a sort of toy camera that shoots 120 film, but the camera is manufactured so cheaply that each one will have "flaws" that give the photos a certain artistic quality that people love. A digital version of this is so cool.

I'm going to try to post more soon. I have some fun stuff.

Found here.

Taking bad pictures

"It's important to take bad pictures. It's the bad ones that have to do with what you've never done before. They can make you recognize something you hadn't seen in a way that will make you recognize it when you see it again."
--Diane Arbus

-->SPD

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Seattle

Seattle has it's own magic for the holidays.

The real key to a shot like this is holding the camera still. Yes, that's pretty much the key to 99% of point and shoot photography.

Merry Christmas

I'm with family in Lake Stevens, WA.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!



This may look inviting but temperature was in the 30s (F)

I should have done this

Sorry I can't find where I found it, but check out Andrew McDonald's take on how to recover a lost camera.

My camera is gone

I could title this I lost my camera or My camera was stolen but that doesn't explain it fully.

We went into the city via the Long Island Railroad. The girls and I found a seat with a window and waited out the 15 minute ride. I put the camera on the seat. As we pulled into Penn Station we got up and lined up at the door. Just as the doors opened I realized I didn't have my camera. I pushed my way through the people trying to get out and my previous seat was empty, no camera. I checked all over the place, and in all the seats nearby. I lost it, but nobody voiced concern or called out for the owner. It was just an opportunist theft in my opinion. I was too slow and someone else was too quiet.

There weren't any valuable photos on the camera, so the loss was really monetary. And it just makes me mad that someone grabbed it and didn't say anything. I even checked the lost and found.

So now I'm on the hunt for a new camera. I'm interested in doing an ebay purchase of a used camera. To replace my camera new is much more expensive than the $125 I got it for brand new. Ebay looks to run $25-200, for used or new. I'll be looking.

UPDATE: I got a replacement! I'm super happy about it. I got the very same camera I lost for $60 on craigslist. So excellent.

My photos of running water

These photos were all up one of the Cottonwood Canyons in SLC, in the late afternoon (after 5pm). This made the light really nice and soft. I used shutter priority, and set the shutter at 1/5. Slight enhancement in Lightroom.

Try photographing running water. Just slow your shutter down, and make sure your camera is on a something that won't move. You need the crisp focus of something not moving (like rocks) so the blurred water looks like you made the photo that way on purpose, rather than just blurry photos. I know, I definitely got some of those too.





Not bad for a point-and-shoot photographer hopping around the rocks in dress shoes.

My drive up the canyon

I had a wonderful drive up a canyon from Salt Lake City this week.

Brooklyn Bridge

Something to aspire to with aerial photography

Please look at this aerial photography. By hand. From a balloon. Above Everest. Now this is some aerial photography that I aspire to.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201090/Everest-revealed-British-balloonists-breathtaking-panoramic-shot-worlds-highest-peaks.html#ixzz0LvSga7WN

He took this picture using a hand-held 35mm camera with a wide-angle lens while standing in the balloon's wicker cabin.

Mr Dickinson, of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, said: 'This photograph is one of the finest I've taken, and I'm immensely proud of it.

'It took several minutes to set up - I was in the stratosphere and carrying bulky breathing apparatus - and I wasn't sure it would even come out.

'So when it was developed, and it came out like this, you can imagine my delight. It's a scene that I'll remember for the rest of my life.'

(via @jimmacmillan)

Kite eating tree

Its started out harmless. I just wanted an aerial photo of the lighthouse. I mean, how many aerial photos are there of light houses, especially this one.



But my disregard for the trees was my downfall.



And resulted in a climb, a struggle, snipping strings.


And finally I stuffed the kite in my hooddie for safe keeping and scored victory over the tree.

Photography is easy, and hard

From Paul Graham:

It's simply a way of recording what you see -- point the camera at it, and press a button. How hard is that? And what's more, in this digital age, its free -- doesn't even cost you the price of film. It's so simple and basic, it's ridiculous.

And...

It's so difficult because it's everywhere, every place, all the time, even right now. It's the view of this pen in my hand as I write this, it's an image of your hands holding this book, Drift your consciousness up and out of this text and see: it's right there, across the room -- there... and there. Then it's gone. You didn't photograph it, because you didn't think it was worth it. And now it's too late, that moment has evaporated.

via kottke.org

Oregon Coast

Some photos of our trip to the Oregon Coast. I was so busy playing, that I only have these few favorites.


This is the view from Cape Meares. Cape Meares has a lighthouse but I didn't take any photos of it. That's because I was busy with other embarrassing endeavors, that I'll get to in another post.


Haystack Rock is the "anchor" of Cannon Beach Oregon. This is the view from where we stayed.

Both of these photos are pretty much straight from the camera with a little cropping.

The lesson I'm taking with me from this trip is: Take more photos (see point #3). I don't know if I was just being lazy (lame), or was waiting for the right moment (lame), or just having too much fun (excellent!). Oh, and I took a few photos with my wife's DSLR, (traitor to the blog!) I may show them later, because they turned out pretty good.

Crazy month

June has been pretty crazy. I haven't posted in a while but I will... We're off to Canon Beach, Oregon next week.

Reflections on taking your time

Take your time.

We went to Washington DC last weekend. On Saturday we walked around the Washington Mall and visited some of the museums. What a great place to learn. We had such a good time just visiting the highlights and not rushing to see it all. We would return soon so there we'd get what we missed later.

At the end of the day I had a chance to visit the Lincoln Memorial on my own. It was packed with people so it was hard to get a simple shot of the monument. But I didn't realize that it over looks the reflection pool and the Washington Monument. I snapped a photo of the Washington Monument as I started up the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial. I was there for Lincoln.


These were nothing special. They really are just snapshots. They aren't amazing by any means.

Then I snapped some quick photos of Lincoln. I was kind of in a rush to get back to my family so they were quick shots. But I kept taking more photos, really trying to get something different. This ended up being my favorite.


Everyone takes photos of Lincoln from the front. I was shooting for something different. He gets his photo taken hundreds of times a day. But it wasn't until I settled into taking my time for the photos that I started getting more creative and got a shot I really liked.

But then once I was in my "photo mode" I went back out and tried the Washington Monument again.

Just by taking a few extra moments I was able to get the shot of Lincoln that I was really happy with and this shot which was my favorite of the day. All it took was an extra minute or two. Sometimes that's all it takes just a little time.

I snapped these two photos again, and I liked them a little better. Then I walked down closer to the reflection pool.


I took this first shot, that I really liked. Then after taking a few more moments I reframed the shot which turned (below) out to be my favorite.



So take some time to get your shot. It'll be worth it.

More thoughts on buying a camera

New "Camera"! , originally uploaded by Shermeee.

One of my coworkers, Rosanna is buying a new camera. Her current camera is many years old and the battery won't last more than a few photos. So she has been shopping around and we've talked about different cameras she could want.

I want to talk about buying a camera... again.

After talking with Rosanna, she started her buying decision based on budget. Most people do. She is buying the camera for a trip to Italy and wants something that is easy to travel with. More specifically she wants a lot of zoom.

She's been going through lots of different cameras trying to decide on the best one. She has some pretty general wants, nothing really specific like time lapse, just a better zoom.

After talking more with her today I realized what she really wants in her camera purchase. She could be happy with any one of 100 cameras. What she really wants is to feel confident that she got the right one. So here is my buying advice for Rosanna:

1. Make a list of things you trust about your future camera. This means pick a brand you know you'll be happy with. List some features that you really like and used from your old camera. I'm going to guess that most people like me use probably five to ten features about 99 percent of the time they shoot and use the other hundred features available on the camera one percent of the time. For me It would be: Canon, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, P Mode, Macro, Timer, Video, maybe zoom, it also need to have a time lapse feature or at least have a firmware mod to add it for kite photography, or maybe flash, I try to avoid using the flash. Those features make up 99 percent of my shooting. If I bought a camera that was missing one of those features, I'd be quite unhappy with that camera.

This will be the "meat" of your camera finding. Once you got your list made, and your budget set then...

2. You should be able to narrow down your list to just a few cameras. Use this fantastic tool to find all the cameras with your features. I love this tool on DPreview.com. Then you can pick based look and feel etc.

3. Pick one you like best.

4. Find the best deal on that camera. Stop second guessing, stop looking at the green grass on the other side of the fence. If you really went through your list from #1 you will be very happy with the camera you get.

Sunset over NYC

Take straight from the camera this evening. The buildings in the distance are in Manhattan. This is looking from the east.