Essay #76: New Start to Start

Happy New Year!

"Blank page, clean slate, new beginning, paths to create.

Let's get a move on, we've got a new start to start." 

                          -Hark the Herons 

A new year. A fresh start. Time for resolutions, goals, evaluations. Perfect for an introspective overthinker like me.  2010 was a year I wouldn't care to repeat, but I'm glad I lived it.

I'm not much for resolutions - they're usually broken nearly before they're made - but I am a goal setter. My goals for 2011 are pretty simple: Take more photos, get in shape, actually use my vacation time and not feel guilty about it, travel just because I can.

What kinds of thoughts does the new year inspire in you?

Essay #75: So this is Christmas

"Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth, pace, goodwill to men on whom his favor rests."

Peace and goodwill? Have those angels ever tried to find a parking spot at the mall in December?

But as I sit here surrounded by family, snow falling outside, Christmas brunch in the oven, all of the stress and craziness leading up to this point are overshadowed by the simple truth of the angels' statement. Peace on Earth. Emmanuel, God is with us. Arise, shine for your light has come!


1/125 f/5.6, flash bounced of walls behind the camera

Essay #74: Christmas concert

I haven't updated this blog in a while. Sorry about that. I promise I'll have a holiday-themed post or two, but for now, I'll give you this merry little photo from the downhere Christmas tour.

Essay #73: Concert drama

I think that one of the reasons I love concert photos is that they're so dramatic. With all the lights and fog and showmanship, there are easy ways to add drama to the shot.

If the lights are bright, lens flare can be nearly inescapable, so you might as well work with it

The extremes of light and shadow can be a bane for metering, but high contrast makes for high drama

And then there's my personal favorite: the camera tilt.

The third photo is downhere (yes, again); the rest are of the band Rush of Fools. Taken at a concert last weekend.

Essay #72: Fall colors

The trees here haven't changed much yet, but we've no shortage of fall colors!

Essay #71: Spice of Life

 

Peppers were ubiquitous at the farmer's market this week. All shapes, colors, and degrees of heat. 

There was a very interesting article in the New York Times this week about hot peppers and why people love to consume these barely edible little bundles of fire. Pleasure in pain seems kind of masochistic to me. I've never understood the appeal of food that makes you cry, but I've never ventured much beyond medium salsa. What I found interesting about the article was the science of how a vegetable can mimic the sensation of setting one's tongue ablaze. Capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers "hot," triggers the heat receptors in the mouth, making the brain think you're chewing glowing coals regardless of the actual temperature of the food. Here's another fact that a spice-wimp like me learned early on: Reach for milk, not water. Water won't dissolve capsaicin or lessen the burn (although the ice may feel good while it's in your mouth), but milk proteins will tame the flame.  

I haven't done this in a while, but here's the specs: 1/60 f/4.4 28mm ISO200

Essay #70: How much is too much?

One thing I'd forgotten about Photoshop is how easily time is frittered away tweaking tiny details that only I will probably ever notice. Yet I'm never entirely satisfied.

For example, I spent about an hour piecing together this photo from three different frames:

And I could have spent more by pulling the obscured bridesmaid from another shot. But at some point you just have to say enough is enough.

This is my love/hate relationship with Photoshop. I like playing with some of the special effects, and I like that I can make adjustments when the original shot wasn't as optimal as I'd like. But it's easy to get sucked into trying to make every shot "better" when my year-long hiatus from software showed me that I was more satisfied with the end product when shooting without the safety net of post-processing. When does it cross the line from optimization to obsession? Ten minutes? An hour? When does it turn from tool to crutch? When I'm too lazy to take a picture right the first time - or worse, forget how?

Oh, Photoshop. Blessing and bane wrapped up in a slick Adobe package.