Loving the iPhone…thinking of selling the Canon and all those bulky lenses.

Writing a book has taken all my time away from photography. I found this image from a trip I took to Detroit in April. Taken with my P&S and post processed on my iPhone.

From a trip to Kuala Lumpur in 2005. I’m having fun moving my old CD photo files onto my new speedy hard drive.   And yes, I have the Nick Brandt book and am green with envy over his PS skills.  A purist, I am not.

A few more from the archive.

Trying out the new PC and digging through my archives for any keepers I may have missed. Nothing spectacular here other than it is my first post on LIF in about a year.

A simple plan
Breathe, stop.
Granddad did it
With a shotgun
So young
I never knew him
***
I wonder if he felt
As I do now
Am I beginning to know him
in a way I had never hoped?

Sorry to post something with no photo, but I need some help. I leave for Paris on Thursday for one week and it has me completely intimidated photographically. I have resolved to leave my travel lens (24-105 IS) at home and only take the primes. The travel lens rarely makes beautiful images when I use it. I will have with me the following:
20 f1.8
85 f1.2
200 f2.8
Considering taking the 50 1.4 and Lensbaby as well.

Anyway, I have no idea what I want to shoot. I haven’t even visualized one shot that I would like to get. I guess it is because I am tired of making the expected architecture and touristic vacation photos. I feel like I need a project, but cannot think of one. I worry that I will be just doing shallow DOF so much with these primes that it will become annoying. What the heck should I do? I don’t know. I thought I might try to create some good HDR scenes, but that is more of a side idea, not the main project. I need a project to get engaged. It helps me to see. I thought about just taking the 85mm lens and forcing myself to be creative, but then it seems like that would get old fast, all of the photos being at the same focal length. I thought about only shooting details – no larger scenes, but that seems like I would be missing a lot. I thought about forcing myself out during the “magic hour” in the morning and evening just to see what happens.

WHAT AM I GOOD AT? I know if any of you asked me this question about yourself, I could readily tell you. I also know that in some cases, you might be surprised at the answer. What a photographer is good at and what he/she likes to shoot are not necessarily the same thing. I think it is easier for others to see what a photographer’s strengths are than it is for the photographer to see them him/herself. So I guess I should go with my strength. I’m open to ideas of what that might be. I really don’t know.

Sorry for this neurotic post, but I couldn’t think of a better group to ask.

My best friend was found to have a malignant tumor last month.  This month we will begin a 4 week process of radiation therapy.  The “super-duper vet” that performs this miracle of medicine is two hours away by car.  Abby’s first visit was last Monday.  We documented the journey.

I have a site for personal snapshots over on smugmug.com.  They have a link there where I can edit my horrible little p&s photos for free.  The link is to a site called picnik.com.  They offer basic edits (exposure/contrast/color) and now some free Nik-style filters.   It actually has come a long way in the last six months.  Here are a couple of crappy shots from this weekend before and after.

A little HDR, a little lens blur, a little glamour glow…not a photograph.

Hate it to your hearts content.  I reinterpreted a couple of old images for my next class assignment.  The idea was to create a somewhat multidimensional (not realistic) look using B&W HDR processing.