Roofing the Church

My church has needed a new roof for quite a while now. We're a small church so the budget is tight but we were able to get materials donated to us. God's awesome like that. So, these pictures were somewhat of a challenge because I don't really like heights and I was working.

We had all sorts of people helping out, college students and professors,

the youth pastor,

And people who actually knew what they were doing. :)

And to the technical point of this post. In my opinion a camera is not to be kept in a box to be brought out on special occations where it is babied and treated like a delicate piece of glass. To get the great shots you have to be willing to get out there, climb on something, get dirty and don't worry if it's raining a bit. Here's a few freebies to illustrate my point.

This is what you see as you crest the top of the mountain on Splash Mountain in Disneyland.

This is what you see when Splash Mountain brakes down and you get evacuated.

Hurray for merry-go-rounds!

Ireland is rain. Period. Look at the ground in these. They weren't just cleaned. It was, or had recently been, raining.

Greenacres

These are a couple of shots I took out in Greenacres. I was working more with depth of field. This was more or less an extension of last weeks experiments.

I also played around with this one a bit. I had fun. Yay me!

Technical Work

These are pictures of Sunrise Elementary. I went to school here from 3rd to 6th grade. It's a short walk away from my house and I knew the area so I used it for the practical application of my study of wide-angle, standard and telephoto lens and their effects. Basically, the different lens change the perspective of size and/or distance of the objects in the scene.

In the following shots the slide is about the size but the background has changed, getting closer with each shot. This was caused by using a telephoto lens in the first shot, a standard lens in the second and a wide angle lens in the third, and moving closer between each shot so the slide would stay the same size.

The following three shots show what the wide angle shot, standard shot and telephoto shot do if you stay in the same spot. The wide angle lens shows you more of the scene and everything seems farther away. The standard lens shows you what the scene looks like without much distortion. If you had been standing in that spot on that day the second picture is quite close to what you would have seen. The telephoto lens allows you get up close and personal from a distance away. It also squishes the distance between objects.

Riverfront Park

I went back to Riverfront Park on a Tuesday in the middle of the day so as to avoid the crowds. It being the middle of July there were of course kids and people on vacation and such but they were few. I started off at the public fountain. The first thing I noticed was the lack of gates. Apparently they only put those up on major holidays, probably to keep people from riding their bikes and skateboards and such through and hitting all the kids. The lack of gates really opened the scene up. I don't really know if I broke the rule of thirds. True the fountain is in the center of the shot, but the ground, fountain and sky cut the shot in thirds and make the shot interesting. I suppose I somehow broke the rule and yet followed the logic behind the rule.

I found the ducks and geese next. I love taking pictures of animals. They live in their own little world and I never have to listen to how they're going to break my camera because they're ugly or a critique of every little flaw that we all have but they somehow think is worse on them or anything like that. They just do what they do and know that's enough. So, following are some geese who are geese and are just fine with that.

And of course the cute little family feeding the ducks and geese.

I left the park after a while and wondered around downtown taking some architectural shots. I'm not too impressed with downtown Spokane. It's in an awkward 'too small to have impressive skyscrapers and to big to be a cute town' sort of place. However Spokane does try and here are some of the shots I took to prove it.

Boo Radley's: Quirky and eclectic, a must for a big city.

Cohesion

Visual interest. Both big cities and cute towns have some sort of visual interest to them.

And there you have it.
:)

BBQ

I'm still working on my documentary photography skills. I'm too shy about taking pictures of people in a casual setting, but I am getting better about it.

Some people make it easier to take pictures then others.

Ahh, teenagers, too cool for their own good. :)

The 4th of July

Mark and I didn't do anything special for the 4th. We went to Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane to enjoy the crowds. Unfortunately I got something in my contact and had a difficult time taking pictures after that.

This fountain is a beautiful piece of public art. There are all sorts of water patterns and the kids just love it. The artist found a wonderful blend of public use and visual interest.


Vendors in the trees

The Spokane river is just below those people eating. Quite relaxing, I would imagine. With this shot I was attempting to balance the lighting levels between the shadows and the light. The subject was in shadows so I knew I needed to make them visible but at the same time I didn't want to completely loose the background. I think I found a pleasing balance.

Back to the Future

With this post I am finished publishing my June 08 to June 09 Picture a Day for a Year project. I've learned a lot! I know more about composition and lighting. My knowledge of equipment has grown and I know what I want to do for the next year.
For the next year I'm changing things up a bit. Starting in the first week of July I began a new project. Each week I will be taking a photo excursion of some sort. Weither it be going down town or over to Idaho or maybe (God willing) into another country. Who knows! You will! Because each week I will be posting select images from said excursions. My goal this year is to be more meditative and purposeful with my photography. We'll see where that takes me!

My Birthday

The weather on my birthday was wonderful! I can't believe I'm already 25!

Kabab

BBQ @ Bob and Alisa's

Although it was rainy at the BBQ it was still beautiful!

We had games

And friends

And wierdos

It was fun!

Buckers

Pink!

Pretty Smell

Easy Subject

Roses for my Anniversary

Thor

Drops of water

New growth

Wisked away

It's not an orange

My little dare devil

New paint on the old paint

Grand...

Oil

New Curtains

Mellow Yellow!

All my feet

The first tomato!

See Through

From the front yard I give you...

Year One!!

Wow! I can't believe it's been a year already! I have learned so much about photography. This exercise has been the best thing for my photography since the first time I picked up a camera. I have honed my skills at producing a great image strait out of the camera, slim-lined my post processing and discovered new skills. I'm eager to begin another year!
I will be posting the rest of year one soon. I got farther behind then I realized after I moved into the house. Opps. :)

Self

I tried making this portrait black and white and it looked really, super creepy.

Memorial Day

Playing games at my in-laws.

The Mail Box

I thought the mail box needed to be freshened up a bit.

So Mark painted it pink for me!

Peter

He looks like he's going to grow up to be quite a charmer. :)

Lucy

I got a job taking pictures of pre-schoolers a couple of weeks ago. It was a blast! The kids were great, I made a fair bit and I got my name out there some more. This little girl was actually the little sister of one of the pre-schoolers but her mom wanted a shot of her too. I love how she's looking to the side.

Tamales

Mark and I made tamales for the first time! We made turkey tamales (pictured here) and hot tamales. Yummy!

Cat + Duck = Cute

Lilac Parade 2009

Glass Refraction

Thor

Yay!

I have a walk-in closet!!

Bits of my childhood

The Buckyman

Mothers Day and the Wii

We had a blast playing the Wii!

The Garden Begins

Going to Town on the Scratching Post

Spring in the Northwest

I had an epiphany. It occurred to me that the things and places that are so familiar to me aren't familiar to everyone else! And I finally saw my surroundings in a new light. It was very liberating, artistically.

The Watcher

Mothers Day Gifts

My mom loves pandas and my mother-in-law loves bunnies so I made them slippers for Mothers Day.