Tag Archives: photography

To Revisit a Picture

I posted this very recently, but I would like to talk about this image, which in my mind is the best image of me that has ever been taken:

What you see here is me with almost ten years less and certainly several pounds less. For that alone, I could love this picture.

But there’s so much more to this.

The small human you see on my shoulder is our first child. You can see the sleep deprivation on my face and the joy that lies behind my eyes. I see strength in myself as a new father and someone ready for the next great adventure, but also the frailty of that “OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL DO WE THINK WE’RE DOING” just beneath the surface.

There are things about it that aren’t ideal; my lip is a mess from my anxiety, the exhaustion is clear on my face, and the light is harsh. But I love the subtle set of my jaw and the feeling of my being on guard for this little person.

So many things have changed since this was taken. Joshua is an older brother to three siblings and one yet to come. I have been through no less than three career sharp turns, with what was once a situation of despondence and worry turning into the greatest opportunity of my life to help change the world. There have been immeasurable joys and unimaginable sorrows.

I have learned that life is an amazing adventure and I do not know where it will take me even still.

What would I say to the man in this picture? I’m not sure I even know. But I know that he couldn’t have imagined the wild ride that was in front of him.

The 2011 “Where’d You Sit” Map

I haven’t done this before, but in the interest of marking where I was sitting when I took pictures at baseball games, I present you the map of seating locations where I currently have been or have purchased tickets in the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals season (will be updated as the summer goes on):

You can click the map to see a larger version.

Kids’ Opening Weekend – Section 368, Row 6, Seats 8–13
Kids’ Second Game – Section 453, Row 1
Date with My Wife – Commissioner’s Box, Row C, Seats 1–2
Game with Dad – Section 344

Welcome NASA to the Commons

NASA joins the Commons on Flickr today with three iconic sets spanning the US space agency’s 50+ year history. Their Commons account will feature photos from across the agency’s many locations and centers, chronicling the history of space and lunar missions, and the people and places of the organization.

Gaze upon what used to be at the forefront of American ingenuity and industriousness.

(via Flickr Blog.)

Photographers Rights Gray Card Set

This white balance card set allows you to wear your photography rights around your neck while you’re out shooting, and can be easily shown to anyone who challenges your legal right to photograph.

I wasn’t aware of how far-ranging the rights of photographers are. I am happy I read this and think this is a neat-o product idea.

(via PetaPixel Store.)

Camera Strap Recommendations

I’m not liking the strap that came with my Rebel T2i, so I’m looking for an aftermarket solution. (It’s a little itchy and not really long enough.) Does anyone have any suggestions? I would prefer something that goes over neck and shoulder, and that allows me to quickdraw for pictures.

Comments go!

iPhone Camera Favorites

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My iPhone is a relative newcomer to my stable of gadgets, and I’ve taken the opportunity to use it to capture a lot of photos basically whenever I can. It’s certainly an interesting feeling having a camera of decent quality with me at all times, and it gives me a measure of spontaneity in capturing some of the moments of my life.

The gallery I’ve embedded after the cut is a small collection of my favorites so far into my mobile life. I hope some of them are appreciated.

If you haven’t cleared the photos off your iPhone in a while, take a moment to do so and leave a link in the comments. I’d be happy to see what others have been capturing as well.

Continue reading →

iPhone Photo Tinkering

I’d heard of The Best Camera for a while now, but it wasn’t until I read this article from Phil Coffman (hat tip to Gruber) that I decided to start playing around with my iPhone camera and see what I could do with it. It’s very rare that I have a full-size camera around with me, but the iPhone is in my pocket all day long.

The tools I used to create the images in these sets were TiltShift Generator, Mill Colour, and The Best Camera. I’m sure there are more out there that could prove to be useful, but I went with recommendations from someone who has been playing with the available apps for a while and was a little surprised at what could be accomplished with such simple utilities and effects.

After playing with it for a couple of days, I’m convinced that you could do quite well and create some great shots taking pictures with the iPhone camera and processing them well—and it also strikes me how much the iPhone really is a tiny little computer in your pocket.

A quick preview:

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Continue reading →

Let's Play Musical Themes

Tonight’s been a game of flipping from one theme to another for me. I have been using Carrington for a while here, but I grew bored with the base look of the thing and wanted something a little more unique.

I worked with one for a while—even edited some old posts in order to fit the theme—but discovered a few problems in the admin side of the theme and unfortunately had to abandon it.

What I landed on is something that interests me greatly. It’s originally designed for a photoblog. The big thing you will notice is that it doesn’t have a traditional front page like most blogs do; it instead has a series of images. Each post on the blog will now have an image uploaded that works with the theme of the post. I’m going to use a combination of images from my own photography (something I intend to continue working on) and Creative Commons-licensed works from flickr like the one that accompanies this post.

I will of course give credit where credit is due for any and all CC-licensed images.

In addition, I’ve taken some steps to simplify here. You’ll notice that the new theme doesn’t support a standard sidebar. I’m OK with this, as I normally find that sidebars tend to get overly cluttered and stick out like sore thumbs. The main page wouldn’t work with them anyway, and if you’re interested in my Delicious links or in my Twitter posts, I’m sure you’ll just find your way over to those services anyway.

I’m also taking a large chunk of posts beyond a certain date, permanently archiving them, and removing them from the site. The past is great, and I will always have a record of those posts and stories, but right now I want to focus more on the present and on what I have going on. Everyone’s entitled to a reset once in a while.

(Photo credit: “Musical Chairs” by flickr user David Maddison.)

I've Made My Peace with St. Louis Baseball

You know, except for the 2006 World Series, when I was pretty sure I was going to explode from conflicting loyalties, I’ve pretty much settled with the fact that I’m now a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. My two oldest children wear Cards hats. I have a stuffed Fredbird. It’s happened, and I have to deal with it.

I can reconcile this because my Detroit Tigers are in the opposite league.

Because of this fandom, which has grown from the fact that I’m raising my children in this fine metropolitan area, I have to say that I’m pretty excited with how the beginning of the baseball season is progressing. There is—of course—still room for the Cards to disappoint, but they’re looking good.

It is also the reason that this picture is one of my favorite baseball photos of all time:

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It literally never gets old. I thought of it completely spontaneously yesterday and felt I just had to share it with you all.