Low key lighting

Recently I was asked to shoot some photos for a play at my school. The play is called Chicago, set in, well Chicago in the 1920's I love this time period because the fashion is so, extraordinary, from the suit coats to the laced leggings, it all so different from what we wear this day-in-age. The lights that I used were two continuous florescent lights with umbrellas, if I wanted less light on the face I would use the umbrellas if I wanted more "harsh" light on the face and more of a dark background I would not use the umbrella. I love shooting with this lighting, it make the models look beautiful and the it looks super cool. 

California

         Recently I took a trip to California, I always love going to California because the lighting sometimes can be so perfect, but also really crappy. The overcast in the morning make it perfect weather and lighting for portraits and every day photos. We went to the sequoia national park which contains the biggest volume tree in the world, these trees cant really be explained by photos so I'm not going to post the pictures I took (just go there yourself), but on the way back the landscapes were amazing, it kind of felt like I was in the shire actually... here are some of my favorites.

 This one was fun because I always like to do night and low light photos

FoCo

This weekend I went up to Fort Collins, for a siblings birthday, we went to a couple places that included a candy shop and a burger place. Of course I brought my camera... why wouldn't I? I didn't take very many shots but of the few I did some turned out the way I wanted them to, and some turned out in a completely different way that I didn't expect what-so-ever. Overall Fort Collins is a great town, full of lively college students and everyone in between, it will always be a place I will go back to again and again. 

The nature of sunlight

So I've been working a lot with sunlight over the past couple of weeks, and obviously you are thinking, well duh every photographer works with sunlight how else will they get light. Well there are multiple was the sun can produce different light, mainly with flares rays and the orange-y yellow hue you cant really get with speed-lights, strobes or LED's. There is a use for all of these kind of light, and I'm not saying that I like sunlight more or less I'm just merely saying that sunlight is a different kind of light to use in many ways, so that's what I've been doing these past couple of weeks.

Boulder Colorado - a different kind of city.

Boulder has always been a place I love to go back to, the people, the shops, the views, its all there. Everything has a meaning and everything has something to give. I like to get different angles of things, perspective is always super fun to mess around with. I like to get down low, or high up, just to see what the shot looks like. These are some photos that I have taken in boulder.

Seattle

During the summer I took a trip to Seattle, now although the trip wasn't mainly for photography, I still brought me gear in hopes of a day or two in the city with free reign of where I wanted to go or what I wanted to shoot. Lucky for me I did. I have already posted one of the photos from this trip(the homeless man carving a flute) and that was my favorite, but it wasn't the only photo that I liked from the trip, while we were doing that we went there for(running a very large race called the Ragnar) I had lots of free time to take photos of where we were, which was on the coast of he most beautiful place in the northern half of the continental US, and let me tell you... It was amazing. So here are some of the shots from the trip.

The Struggle

        Sometimes I find that the problem with photography is that the gear is super expensive, nicer lenses for the average amateur can go from 400$ to 1200$. there are used lenses that can get to about 200$ but sill when you don't have an income and you don't have an allowance (which most high school students shouldn't because parents should teach their kids to make their own money) you don't have the money to spend on camera gear, its just a fact. So you get the kit lens and you use it... but its not the best there is color fringing and its not super sharp, but when it comes to landscapes, you need a short focal length. Which is a bummer for me because I like to shoot landscapes. In the past i have used my 18-55mm kit lens which isn't the best but don't underestimate it, unless you are a professional photographer, you are not going to need a 1200$ lens. I know I would love to have one, but I don't need one. I sometimes even take 8 or so photos depending on how big I want the photo, with my 50mm and stitch it together with Photoshop. And most of the time it works. But I just use what I have and make it look pretty in Photoshop, its all about how you compose the photo, not the gear. 

(I also love to work with sun, especially when it gets to around dusk) 

(Clouds are also wonderful to work with)