Portfoliage

I sold the d200 and got a d700. Check out my experimentation blog page here.

I am back from class.  The class I went was part of the American Photo Magazine Mentor series.   In this class you get a professional mentor as part of the class and the mentor works with you to understand composition and how to see better photos.  Less than two hours spent working out the ins and outs of your camera unless you do it 1 on 1 with the mentor (which the mentor is willing to do if he understands your camera type.

I learned three major areas

1.  Using Fill Flash Creatively – basically I learned to work the flash is such a way to ‘fill in’ the subject without overexposing the subject

2.  I spent some time working in manual mode at the recommendation of the mentor.  I now am shooting almost 100% manual mode.  This allows for more creative options how I want the picture to turn out rather than letting the camera set some of the options.

3.  We had a session on marketing your work.  The mentor gave out tips and the process that she used to perform a career change into photography.

All in all it was a good experience and it was worth the money to attend.  My workshop was 899$ for three days of learning.  In comparison, I’m going to SANS Security training in a few weeks and that is 2800$ for 4 days.

You can check out pictures from the mentor series below.

I thought I’d put up some of my flower isolations. Most of these are made with a 105mm VR Nikon Micro (Macro) lens. I also use the SB-R200’s on a D200 to take these shots.  One was not.

Can you guess which one was taken with a 28-70 and not the macro lens?  How about which one was shot with the macro lens but not the R200’s?

I took none of them with a tripod.  All were handheld.  I like to get all my lenses nowdays with the VR or IS.  Carrying around a tripod stinks when your photography taking time consists of where you can haul the kids around to.  Tripod + Cameras + Kids = Hard to make images.  I got to move fast to keep up with the kids.  I’m thinking about getting a monopod though.

Given that I’m not a botanist I don’t really know what each one of these flower is. If you know, please post the name as I’m trying to figure them out.  I put in what I think they are in the description.  I’m sure about the Gerber Daisy, but the rest I’m up in the air with.  If you know the scientific name that would be even better.  Any suggestions on how to determine the type flower based on a website would be good too.  I’ve tried a couple of online web sites but it really has not allowed me to figure out which flower was which.

I’m heading off to Madison for a photography class with a couple of industry recognized experts.  Before I signed up I made sure it was a photography class, not a photoshop or digital workflow class.  One of the things which I’ve discovered about photography classes lately is that they spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out the ’sexy’ part of photography and not a whole lot of time working on taking creative images.

What do I mean by ’sexy’?  I digital wow factor.  Cards, techno-gizmo’s, computers…etc…Photoshop and electronic gadgets are interesting (after all, that’s where I spend 8-10 hours a day working), but I don’t need another photoshop tip and how to clean dust off my sensor or ‘wow, this remote control is really cool’….I need to know how to make and see simple, but creative images.

Hopefully I’ll have some good ones to share when I get back.

More St. Joseph Pictures

These are takes on Silver Beach which has had a rival in recent years. When I was a kid, Silver Beach was just a memory after it was destroyed by riots and teenager intimidation in the early 70’s. The piers and lighthouses were there, but there were no lifeguards, parking lots, or public facilities.

Now the beach is groomed every morning by prisoners in the orange jumpsuits before it opens. Weekends have lifeguards and radio stations. Sand Volleyball courts abound. Schu’s (see below) has a restaurant on the beach.

The town itself is pretty quaint and peaceful.

If you visit, plan for a weekend when something is planned. The St. Joseph City Homepage has a calender of events. I tend to go during ‘chalk the block’ because that is when the water is very warm for swimming. If you like boats, the Venetian Festival is up your alley. The Festival is many, many boats going down the river and it moves all over the calendar from year to year. Lastly, be sure to hit a farmer’s market. I spent about a 1/2 hour talking to the guy below regarding my dad’s tree tapping hobby which this guy turned into a small business.

Vacationing in St. Joseph, MI.

We spend about every other year in St. Joseph, MI.  In the early 1900’s the area by this lighthouse was known as the place where the ‘SandRabbit’s’ live because only the poor wanted to live next to Lake Michigan.  Now, the houses in that same area and from the same time period go for $700,000 even without facing the lake.

Later in the 1940-1960’s Silverbeach became a popular tourist spot.  Ferry’s came carrying inner city Chicagoians to the fresh lakeshore and to the Silverbeach amusement park.  The park featured a full sized rollercoaster, bumper cars, and a carousal (not to mention swimming on a pure white sand beach).  In the late 60’s Benton Harbor was a hotbed of political protest.

In the 70’s-2000’s it is a popular tourist site — with the occasional political protest.

The lighthouse is actually a chain of two lighthouses on piers that go out from the St. Joseph river.  This lighthouse is the one farthest out into Lake Michigan. The original lighthouse — built in 1832 — was rebuilt in 1907 when the pier city officials decided to extend the pier 1000 feet. This is the lighthouse pictured below.

Notice that I could have chosen to either have a horizontal horizon or a vertical lighthouse? I decided on the vertical lighthouse and the lake appears to empty off the site of the page. I have been vacationing in St. Joseph since I was a little kid and I’m now in my mid-30’s and never noticed the lean before. The lean is caused by 100 years of Lake Michigan weather pounding at the steel lighthouse.