Weekend Photos

I am back at work after four days off, which were full of spring things. It is supposed to be 70 degrees today and I am working a half day! Unfortunately, I am sick so my half day can't be spent doing things that are fun. It will be spend guzzling orange juice and trying not to be sick for the busy-ness of the next two weeks.

  On Saturday we collected sap out at the farm. I was thrilled (yes I used the word thrilled because I am a dork and get thrilled by this) to see that there were plants of some sort pushing through the ground.

On Sunday we put the canoe in the water for the first time this year. There was still some ice on the lake, but we broke through it with our paddles. By the end of the day, the little bay was clear.

The drive home from the cabin. The clouds are spring.

 

Monday about 2 gallons of syrup were cooked. I had to watch the fire for a few hours and got kind of bored. Once the sun went behind the house, the light got better though and there was something for me to take out my camera for.

I also got in the first mountain bike ride of the year. The weather was awesome, shorts and short sleeves and there was a nice warm breeze.  Unfortunately I don't have any photos from that because taking my camera along while I bike wouldn't bode well for the camera and lens. I did take my new Camelback and enjoyed my new grips, tires and seat. It was great to be outside.

Botanicals

My 85th photo out of 365. I may have missed some days in there...  We pulled out all the taps for sap yesterday. By the time we were done biking and made it to the farm, it had clouded up.

Friday Outtakes

I'm not gonna lie, this work week wasn't the most visually stimulating - hence all the spring photos. I am really glad it is Friday. Here are a couple photos from work that didn't run this week. They are from a disaster training event at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield.  It was fun to cover, and the highlight of the event was my first ride in an ambulance. Hopefully, I will never have to ride in one for real.

Medical personnel in the Saint Joseph's Hospital emergency room room work on "victim" Elijah Johnson, 5, of Wisconsin Rapids during disaster training.

Derek Pionke, a paramedic from Wisconsin Rapids, acts as a victim as Brian Barnes a paramedics with the Marshfield Fire and Rescue Department, calls in the "patient's" condition during the disaster drill at Saint Josephs's Hospital.

I wanted this to work ... but it just didn't. I liked how the kids were just at counter level and the way they were all standing in line with their legs crossed. But the colors and the fluorescent lights weren't doing it for for me. The actual photograph and what I wanted to see

This is what we ran in the paper. I don't miss eating school lunch, although I never did in elementary school except on waffle day. I was able to photograph some yellow though! I made it a point to find yellow after Monday's yellow mosaic when I realized that I don't  photograph yellow very often.

Have a great weekend!

More Spring Details

I might be obsessed with buds.

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? These didn't turn out the way I was thinking, but I like the colors because it reminds me of a blossoming cherry tree. Unfortunately I have to keep imagining blossoming cherry trees because they just aren't there yet.

Cattails

A branch. Normally boring to me, but I was looking around and had some time to kill ... and I liked the rays of the sun. I could pretend like the photo is more than a branch and that is is representative of spring and the sun is warming the branch to bud.... or something like that. But really, it is a branch and I like to photograph light flares with my wide-angle lens.

Green is a welcome color. I feel like people look at me weird when I kneel in the alley and take photos of (I think) tulips.

Holga Loaded with 35mm Film

So... yesterday I developed the 35mm film that was loaded in my Holga. I would have to say it was a fail, unfortunately. I think I didn't cover the back well enough, there was an obvious light leak in the middle of each photo. I can't quit after just one try, so I found some expired film that is only 24 exposures and will try it again with some cardboard or something to cover the back. Don't mind the dirt on the negatives, after I saw the leak, I figured it wasn't worth the time to clean them up.

Here are some results from the experiment

I like this as an image, but that red square is a problem. I'm also not sure about the colored film numbers, but I am not sure if there is a color film that doesn't have that.

This is one of the photos that actually almost worked. I think because it was taken in the car and the sun was directly in front of me. You can kind of see the square though where the center is blown out.

This is in Chicago after the race. I would like this too....

There wasn't even light behind me to come in through the square (which is the film-reader window), so maybe the problem will take more than cardboard to solve.

I used this video tutorial to figure out how to convert my Holga for 35mm film:

http://www.squarefrog.co.uk/holga-techniques-35mm.html

Spring Details

I had the chance to walk around yesterday and take photos while my car got fixed. Normally I drive around and look for photos, but it was nice out and I needed new tires, so it worked out. It is good to slow down and really notice things happening around me. I like how spring is so subtle, and the changes of light and nature aren't noticeable unless you really look for them.

Here are a few photos of spring details.

Buds on bushes

A branch in the evening light

Buds on trees!

The ice receding from a pond

A walking path in a park. I realize these are evergreens, so they don't really count for spring, but I took this photo because of the light green grass and the light on the tree trunks. It seems like a path through an enchanted forest .... something like that.

Buds again

And more buds!

The photos with a shallow depth of field I photographed with my Canon 28-70mm lens at f2.8. This lens also shoots macro, which is what most of these photos are. Macro drops the backgrounds, since my lens only opens up to f2.8.

I also blogged about spring for work!

Yellow

This weekend I went to Chicago to run the Shamrock Shuffle. While there, I also had a chance to visit the Chicago Art Institute. I try to get there every time I am in Chicago. This time there was an exhibit of William Eggleston - a photographer that I have always liked. His use of obvious and subtle color is amazing. The colors are so pure and vibrant, and the use is always exactly.... just so. I can't image any other color, usage, or placement of color in the photos. Here is the Eggleston Trust website: /http://www.egglestontrust.com/.

I think I would like to incorporate more yellow into my photographs. Yellow is a happy color and I should have more yellow in my life.

Yellow mosaic of photos from my flickr site

1. Sunflowers, 2. Lemon, 3. Flowers, 4. Bumble Bee, 5. Guthrie Theater, 6. Morning, 7. Daisy, 8. Night Flight, 9. Wildflowers

Friday Photos

Yay, it's Friday! I am heading to Chicago this weekend equipped with my holga modified for 35mm film, ready to experiment. Hopefully there will be some wandering time and nice light. Here are a few photos from the week.

I'm done frog sitting.... sad.

A couple outtakes from the work week

 A farmer giving a tour of his farm for a work assignment about .... farm tours. There is never much light in the barn but in this barn the ceiling had an opening in the top to let in a shaft of light. It was hard to work around the bright light and the dark shadows. I liked this photo because of the shadow on the bottom, you can still see that he is talking to people, despite all of them being in the dark.

Photo for the opening of UWSP baseball season. They didn't run this in the paper, the ran a straight-on shot, which was pretty boring and standard. I am usually nervous to shoot baseball practice because I can't see balls coming when I am looking through the camera with my 70-200. I shot with a wide-angle lens behind the net so I could jump out of the way real fast. Not really, I just get bored shooting sports with long lenses.

I found a neat blog today Female Photographers of Etsy. There are a lot of great photos, inspiration, ideas and links to other women photographer's photo blogs and websites.

A Holga View of March

I got another roll of Holga prints back yesterday, which so far has been the highlight of my week.  I experimented a bit on the roll with multiple exposures to get a panorama effect, or so I thought. They didn't really work out and the results were boring to me. I did get a few photos I liked though.

A double exposure of ice fishing at sunset. I think this was also on the bulb setting, hence the motion blur.

Dan collecting sap at the farm. The woods after the snow melts are lovely and quiet and you can see shapes that greenery usually covers. I liked the light that day, it was the first day of daylight savings and the shadows were getting longer and the light more golden. I like that it is light longer, but it makes it hard to finish work when the sun is streaming in the windows.

An elm tree on the farm. It is/was growing out of a rock. I had never seen a tree that I knew to be an elm until last week, I thought they were all dead.

Since I don't have anymore 120mm film or the budget to buy it right now, I am going to try to experiment with 35mm film in my Holga.  I tried a long time ago and nothing turned out, so hopefully the results will be better this time!

I found a neat Holga website: Holga Inspire. There are portfolios from professional photographers that use a Holga. Click the inspire tab and check out Rebecca Tolk's photos. Those are my favorite, they are really beautiful and colorful.

Clouds

I found a really neat website the other day while browsing of the web for photo inspiration, which I do pretty frequently. It is called the Cloud 365 Project (http://www.clouds365.com). The project is by multimedia artist Kelly DeLay and he describes it as his commitment to be creative every day, by shooting videos or images of clouds every day for a year. There is also a interactive aspect that you can add your own cloud photos too, http://www.clouds365.com/community/.

On the artist's about me section, I found this quote:

"Clouds 365 is not intended to be separate from my everyday life. I want this practice of observation to be tied into the fabric of my life—the habit of looking up and noticing the patterns and beauty of the clouds that envelop us every single day."

This idea and practice is really important for me as a photographer. I used to carry around my camera in college nearly everyday, but since I started a career in photography, I moved away from that. I considered carrying a camera around for personal photos too much like work. This took a lot of the fun and spontaneity out photography for me, since the only photos I were taking were photos someone else told me to take.

After I realized that I am lucky enough to have a job doing something I love and care about, I realized that I wanted photos to be part of my life, not just my job. Because of this, I started taking photos of life outside of my "job" with my digital and holga cameras. It makes it fun for me again and is a different creative outlet. This January I also started a 365 project on flickr. I always wanted to start one, but never had enough motivation, so I joined the group Shutter Sisters 365 and try to add a photo everyday. I have only missed a couple days (yay for having a goal!) and have started carrying my camera everywhere I go. I find myself looking beyond what I normally would take photos of to find a photo for the day.

Here are a couple of my 365 photos that have to do with clouds, since that seems to be the theme of the day.

 March 16, 2010

Driving back from Stevens Point near Milladore, I stopped on a gravel road to take pictures

March 3, 2010

After work, the clouds reminded me of spring

January 12, 2010

Outside my work parking lot, I liked how the light matched the clouds

Spring Transitions

After a week of perpetually cloudy and foggy weather, that looked like this:

Wildwood Park, Marshfield

Yesterday spring may have sprung. But I won't hold my breath, even though ticks were found. It is Wisconsin, which pretty much guarantees that there will be one last cold week.

Green grass in the woods

A stream flush with snowmelt

I didn't use an underwater casing for this, although I would love, love, love one. But since I don't have that kind of money, I just make do. For this shot, making do means dipping my 14mm wide wide angle lens very, very, carefully into the stream.I just dip the bottom lip of the lens, not getting the water on anything electronic.  I am shooting it on my Canon 40D, and with the 1.6 crop, it doesn't make the angle as wide. I find the 14mm on my 40D to be a pretty nice combination for the way I normally shoot, which is wide.

WNPA POY Contest

The WNPA (Wisconsin News Photographer Association) held its annual POY contest judging today at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It was fun to watch the judging (online) and see what judges are looking for and what fellow photographers around the state are doing. There were some really great photos and also some great inspiration that I can take to my work as a photojournalist.

I am not sure if the winner's galleries are posted yet, but the list of winners is online. 

Here is the WNPA website:http://www.wnpaonline.com/

I place second in the Portrait/Personality category with this photo.

Marshall Maro, 86, talks about what his housing options are while sitting outside his camper parked at the Marshfield Fairgrounds Park. Marshall, who lives out of his camper, was forced to move to a different campground before the start of the Central Wisconsin State Fair at the fairgrounds.

Flickr Friday

There was another great Flickr Friday selection at www.holgablog.com. The theme for the week of March 3 – March 10, 2010 was Play. 

My photo was featured as part of the selection. It is a Holga shot from ice fishing a few weeks ago.


To see the rest of the photos, check out the Holga Blog. Here is the link!

Seeing Red

Again it is gray in Central Wisconsin. I like the fog - to a point. Maybe tomorrow I will post some foggy photos, but for today I needed a bit more color. I'm thinking red today.

Another mosaic of photos from my Flickr site made by Mosaic Maker. Hopefully the sun will come out again soon!

1. Leaves, 2. Amaryllis, 3. color wash, 4. Chuch service, 5. Apple, 6. leaves, 7. 02, 8. Cheery Cherry 2, 9. Sunset in the beach grass, 10. Premium, 11. Scrabble, 12. Apple3, 13. Raspberries, 14. Night Flight, 15. Berry, 16. Plane

Greening Up My Day!

It is really gray in Central Wisconsin today. Grayer than yesterday, as well as colder, wetter, and damper. It is one of those days where one should stay in bed napping or watch movies and drink hot chai tea. Since I can't be in those cuddly situations, I made a mosaic of greens to look at today to get me through the day. Soon the grass will be green again...

You can make your own mosaic at  bighugelabs.com/mosaic.php. You can either use photos from your desktop, facebook or flickr sites. I used photos from my flickr.com site.

Long Weekends

Once every month I have a four-day weekend, which I love. Except that going back to work is hard, especially because I have to work ten days in a row. Such are the trade-offs.

Saturday we went to Coon Fork Lake and went ice fishing. I actually caught three fish, which is the most fish I have ever caught in Wisconsin. It's a pretty big deal, I was thinking I was jinxed. While not fishing I took some photos. I have been trying to photograph pine trees all winter and the way the light filters through them all shiney. I feel like the light was finally at the right angle to get a photo that I actually wanted.

Went for a flight on Monday.... the clouds were pretty

 

 

 I used a long shutter speed and a really high aperture, f22.

 I really need to clean my sensor, there are spots all over the photo.

 

 We're tapping maple trees again this year. It must be spring! I think we placed about 15 taps. By "we" I mean Dan, while I took pictures and held things.

 

 There wasn't much color in the woods, it was foggy/cloudy and most everything was soggy colored to match the weather.  I think this is a maple tree....

 

I'm Thinking Spring!

 

 

 I took these photos awhile ago to make some cards for my Etsy.com site. I set the flowers up in my "studio" at home to control the light. My studio actually consists of a piece of paper taped to a big piece of cardboard propped up between a table and a chair so that the paper drapes onto the table. It works though! I use off-camera flashes for the light source.

The results:

 Etsy Card: Bloom 

Etsy Card: Hello

Etsy Card: Blossoms

This is also a cool link on Magnum in Motion. The first photo also reminds me of spring.
The Shipping Forecast : Magnum in Motion