i made the decision to focus more on my photography. in a sense, i’m going back to basics, i signed up for the new york institute of photography course, and i’m also going back through the strobists lighting 102 series.

the first assignment in the lighting 102 series deals with the position (angle) of light, and how light coming from different angles reveals the subject. you can see the shots on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kettlepot/sets/72157603996062227/.
i popped by target after work today and picked up my subject; a $0.97 hot wheels car. my gear consisted of the camera, flash, macro rings, and a table top tripod, all packed in my fancy laptop + camera bag that i take on my trips now. my studio? the marriott courtyard in new jersey. i decided to make the most of this trip to keep my momentum going, or at least my intention of having momentum.

the execution was pretty straight forward. i put the car on the upside down plastic tray that was in the room. there were two tables in the room, and their heights allowed me to put the tray on two cups on one table and have the camera on the tripod on the other table. i wound up having to hand-hold the flash, and of course the batteries for my remote died so i used the timer to allow myself to get in place with the flash prior to the capture. i took the first shot with with the flash above the car, and set the camera for 320/f10. the aperture gave me enough of the car in focus to suite my needs. so, the first shot was above the car. the next shot was of the car just off center front of the car (right next to the camera). then i went around the car in 45 degree increments.

it was interesting to look at the pictures. i had an idea of what would happen with the flash in the different places. i had a few drawing classes that talked about shadows and how light hits objects. but during those classes, it wasn’t much more than “if the light is on the left and the object is in the center, the shadow should fall to the right”. that part of it held true in this exercise, as well. but the interesting part to me was more about what the light did to the subject, not the shadows. in hindsight, the results i see make sense… when the flash was at the 45 front left angle to the car, light hit more of the surface of the angled car…the geometry works.

hopefully this is a good start to appreciating more of what light can do for me and my subjects.

i have a thing for Stranger in a Strange Land. i’ve probably read it 10 times. it’s not the book i’ve read the most, but it’s up there. i thought it was time for a change, so i picked up Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited by aldous huxley.

i was supposed to read excerpts of this in my philosophy class when i was 18, and i vaguely remember skimming over pieces of it and never really giving it much attention. the book was an assignment, a chore, and not something that i would have even fathomed to give a chance. i don’t know why i haven’t picked it up again until now, but i’m glad i did.

the basic plot of this book is similar to stranger in a strange land. a person is brought from a different place into a very different world from where they came. there are people around them that are different from the rest of the world and, in one form of fashion, they are bound to the outsider. things change. the book ends.

if i simply read the book, i don’t think i would have appreciated it as much if i hadn’t read the preface. there was a lot of huxley in this book, and without knowing at least a brief history of him, i don’t think the full message would have been conveyed.  the society in his book was a deliberate reaction to what was going on around him, and the environment around him lead directly to his predictions of what the future world would be like. what’s really creepy is that the book was written in 1932. think of all the things that hadn’t happened yet.

what’s really creepy about it, though, is how much of what he described in his utopian society came to be true. he got to see some of it, for better or for worse, before he died. he talked about much of it in brave new world revisited, which to me was more fascinating than the book itself. granted, huxley based some of his future society based on what things were starting to happen in science, education, and general society around him. but to the extent that so much of it happened in such a short amount of time is mind blowing. equally fascinating was huxley’s relationship with george orwell, which huxley talks about, as does the writer of the preface.

a lot of generalities, i know. i don’t want to give too much of it away in the hopes that someone will stumble upon this post one day and be curious enough to read the book. i would definitely get the version that has the revisited piece. read the preface to get a little history about huxley, read the book, then read revisited. the collection will make for an good read and a very thought provoking journey with a very interesting guy and mind.

be sure to read the file names of the images he’s showing.

Episode 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXeZ0s8DXZ0&feature=related

You Suck At Photoshop

Episode 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_X5uR7VC4M

Episode 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWn0lxRNqos&feature=related

Plenty of more on YouTube.

so, i think i made a decision which, for those of you that know me, is so unlike me.

i woke up this morning severely early due to being sick. instead of trying to go back to bed (i couldn’t, even if i wanted to), i pondered. well, i surfed, really. i got an e-mail from one of my best friends about the latest picture i put up on kettlepot. it was really the first picture i’ve put up in awhile, and she said some nice things about it. i also talked to one of my photographer friends this week about my lack of motivation, direction, and all that. she made a good comment that i think, in some regards, applies directly to me. i feel like a lot of my good shots are luck instead of technique or skill. the old saying “i’d rather be lucky than good” does have its merits. sometimes a great shot is about luck; being in the right place at the right time, or timing something that you capture a shot that’s 1 in a million.

i’ve read my share of books, and blogs, and articles. i’ve talked to other photographers, and experimented. but i think what i need are some actual classes. i’ve been looking at some online classes, mostly because of the travel i’ve been doing and my life schedule. i don’t want to have another excuse to not take a class, i guess. my camera is with me at all times, even when i go out east, so i think an online class offers the best opportunity to continue with the photography in spite of life opportunities. my plan has always been that if i take this class, which covers a wide variety of topics and photography types, that i would then (hopefully) pick an area to focus on and take appropriate local courses here to advance my skill. sounds like a solid plan.

the other thing i’ve been struggling with is upgrading my camera, but the one i want, the Nikon D300, is $1,800. my saving grace has been that amazon didn’t have it in stock, which changed today. they do.

the perfect storm? extra money came in this month.

so, here i sit, way too early in the morning. i’ve been saving up for the course, the camera, and a new guitar. i’m trying to rationalize everything in my head, weigh the pros and cons. it’s enough to make my already churning stomach spin out of control. and then i rationalized it.

i think the course should come first. my camera is a decent, solid camera that is fine for what i am doing (or not doing, as the case may be). i can’t really justify spending the money on a new camera when i don’t really use the current one. really, the only push for me to do it would be because the new camera would do way better in lower light situations, which happens to be where i’ve been shooting mostly lately, and that’s the shows for kerri’s school. but the shots i’m taking are fine. i have two fast, low light lenses i can use. and, realistically, if i bought that camera and only used it to take pictures of the shows, i’d be disappointed in myself.

next will come a new guitar, i believe. we’ve been working on note reading and more classical guitar work, so i think it makes sense to get a reasonable classical guitar to help me work towards that. i guess as the things i work on get more complicated, having the classical guitar will make it easier.

the extra funds this month will then help pay for some of the wedding bills that we’re piling up, which will definitely help me sleep better. then, maybe sometime in the spring or summer, i can look at upgrading the camera. by then, i should be deep into the course work (if not done, assuming i get highly motivated) and have a higher technique to luck ratio.

it seems all logical written out. not bad for some early morning decisions.

i hate being sick.

i don’t get sick very often, and when i do i think my body does a pretty good job fighting it off. but it still sucks. the timing of this illness couldn’t have been worse, either. my guys from out east are in for a visit, so my plans for a team dinner and a vendor dinner were foiled. luckily, those events still went off, but i wasn’t there.  i did manage to go to work and get the stuff done that i needed to (and hopefully minimizing the potential for spreading my bug, although i read somewhere that i was probably contagious before i showed  any symptoms…still, it’s the thought that counts). i probably stayed too long today, but i think it was for a good cause.

i’m actually sitting on the couch right now, trying to do too many things, so i figured i would do none of them and write for a bit. and watch hockey. so far the lightning haven’t blown it like they usually do, and the vancouver game just started so they haven’t had an opportunity to lose yet. oh, speaking of hockey, i checked out my old teams website tonight. it looks great (except the old, freaky picture of me)! i miss playing and am trying to figure out if i want to fit it back in my life next season, although that’s unlikely with the wedding. and the 1,000 other things i want to do. still, if i can work the schedule, i think i’d like to.

and, speaking of wedding. i still haven’t made an appointment with a photographer, although it’s a work in progress. i did check out a few more websites tonight, and have a few more lined up to look at tonight. i need to focus my priorities and stop making excuses for not making the appointment. tomorrow.

i need to update the website, too.

ok, enough about all the things i need to do. it would become the never-ending post.

it’s going to be a busy few days. i got a violation letter from the HOA because i haven’t taken the christmas lights down yet. between travel and all that, it was a low priority, but i’ll take care of it saturday. i think it’s supposed to be nice out. we have an engagement party on sunday, and i think some folks from work will come up, so that makes me very happy (unless, of course, they get sick between now and then, and then i can only blame myself. and them, for getting sick).  then on monday, i’m flying east for the week. it will likely be my last trip for a few weeks. kerri and i are going to florida in march, just in time (hopefully) to see my friend’s new baby, or to see her right before she has it, or to be there when she has it so we can babysit their precious daughter. we’ll see a hockey game with mom, and spend some (noisy) QT with the new puppies. We’ll probably head to Orlando for a bit, too. I think I’ve earned a free night at a hotel with my Marriott points, so there is something to be said for the travel.

a light night of writing, i guess. no deep thoughts, no keen observations. it was an eventful day, but one that i’m trying to process, i guess. it was also work related, and i don’t / won’t post about that stuff. it is what it is.

oh, speaking of. i know a few folks that hate that saying. but there was a brief segment on npr talking about the saying. i looked for a link but didn’t find one, but it was a light story talking about the phrase, where it might have come from, and how it’s used.

and on that note, it’s back to photographer websites. vancouver scored and my insides are churning in celebration. stupid being sick. boo. still…

it is what it is

as always, i’ve been meaning to write for awhile. i’ve had all these (good) ideas that i’ve been wanting to write about but didn’t take notes and now, after a very long day, my head can’t recall what it once thought was the most important thing in the world.  i’ll work backward and see how far i get…

today we took the ski train up to winter park for some mountain fun. it was actually planned for my birthday, and it was a great present. the ski train itself is worth it, but being up there with kerri and two of my best friends makes it even better. it was a good day, though. it was a cold and we were reminded we need to upgrade kerri’s gear, but we made the most of it. my legs felt good, and my friends, who hadn’t been up there in over a year, did great. i brought the camera but didn’t use it; too cold, too overcast, but more on that later.  this paragraph already had a few things that sparked my failing memory.

my birthday. the big 3-4. i guess i’m destined to prefix all my birthdays from now on “the big”. i still don’t do birthdays, but k had the house decorated when i got home from work, which was awesome. we drank some wine, had dinner, and watched hockey. what more could i ask for? she got me a midi controller keyboard, which was way to expensive but that was very in line with what we’ve been doing musically lately. what a weird thing to say…”what we’ve been doing musically”. a couple of guitar lessons and all of a sudden i’m a musician.

speaking of music… the guitar lessons are going very well. we’re switching back to more classical work so i can focus on my note reading. i’m also continuing to read my music theory book, so things are starting to (somewhat) make sense.  a few weeks ago, kerri and i were playing with a keyboard and she was teaching me a few things, then we went for a few nights with me working on my songs (i have 3 “covers” that i play and (try to) sing) and her playing keyboard accompaniment.  music will always fascinate me, i think. it’s such a combination of so many things…theory, math, formulas, patterns, creativity, passion, soul, everything. i’m not nearly as advanced as i need to be to do the things i want to do, but i have some cool tools (including my birthday present) with which to experiment.

i actually took a few pictures yesterday, too. as i said, i took the camera with us on the train today, which was big for me. i didn’t use it, but it was there. yesterday we went with some friends to an acquaintance’s photography show, and it inspired me a bit. we got to talk to the photographer, and i actually sounded like i knew what i was talking about, which made me feel pretty good. i put two new pictures on kettlepot, which are the first new pictures i think i put up since i redid the website.

a new family guy is on tonight, so i’m totally distracted.

finito!