Can't Shoot Them All

The location I chose this weekend ended up not yielding any sort of result that I was satisfied with.  It was a dull cloudless sky with a lot of haze that made landscape shots a bit hard to do.  But it happens.  Can't control the weather.  So what did I do?  Take pictures of Rain of course.

This was taken last week.  I originally did not want to post this, but I just really loved those clouds.  And I had nothing else to post this weekend.  This was a two shot panorama.

Provo Bay

After 3 straight weekends of visiting Provo Bay, I finally got a shot that I feel satisfied with.  This location has definitely become a favorite spot to visit and shoot.  

Rain and I played fetch with the frisbee on the frozen waters of the bay in between shots.

Times like these remind me that life is beautiful.

This was a 7 shot pano.  The shadows made by the reeds caught my eye and I wanted to try and capture that atmosphere.  I had to work quickly since the light changes so much during a short amount of time during sunset.  The settings I used were f/8 and 1/125th seconds.  ISO was set to 100 as usual.

And The Winners Are...

Thank you to everyone that entered and everyone that continues to support my photography.

So without further ado, here are the two winners for the prints (the audio is a bit hard to hear because it's late at night and I wanted to be as quiet as possible).

Congrats to the two winners!  Be sure to email me at adogandacamera@gmail.com with the print that you want and also the address to send it to.  It'll be a few weeks till the prints arrive.

2013 New Year's Resolutions

To help further my photography, I've compiled a list of goals I hope to accomplish before the year is over:

• Capture a lightning storm
• Shoot a proper star trail shot
• Make it up to the Salt Falts for a sunrise or sunset
• Get one good landscape shot on film
• Take a picture in another state besides Utah and Hawaii 
• Enter 1 photo competition
• Sell my first print
• Have one print on display in a gallery or some other public area

I think it looks like a pretty good list.

This is an older shot, but one of my favorites of Rain.  It just kind of happened.  We were hiking up the hillside to see if we could capture the sunset, when Rain spotted this deer and both froze for less than half a minute.  Just enough time for me to set my bag down, get out my camera, and get a couple of shots.

2012...I Hate to Say Goodbye

 I started the last day of 2012 never intending to write down any sort of end-of-year reflection.  However, as 2013 inched closer, I felt more inclined to at least document a little something.

This past year I have had ample time to reflect on the position I am in.  Financially, I'm in a place that scares me a little, but it has been slowly improving as of late.  Emotionally I feel that I've grown stronger and more resilient.  My outlook on life has been brighter.  I like to think that I smile a little more, dream a little bigger, laugh a little louder.  I believe that Rain and photography had a large part to do with that.

To be honest, I am not entirely sure if it is the actual act of photography that I am so enamored with.  I suppose it is a combination of several things, the smallest of which may actually be photography itself.

I absolutely enjoy taking shots of things I find beautiful.  Most of the time they are sunsets and mountains and clouds.  Occasionally they will be emotions.  Rain has been my subject countless times as well.

Seeing those moments captured by what seems to be my vision, my eye, creates a feeling of satisfaction that is quite addictive.  But that really isn't all there is.

No, photography has become more than trying to capture a beautiful image for me.  It has become an outlet and an inlet.  An outlet to forget the day to day mundaneness and lose myself in the small and large overlooked wonders of the world around me.  An inlet to discover and rely on the child inside me and foster the creativity that I believe I once had.

It's taken me 28 years to learn how to trust in that child.  Actually I take that back.  28 years to START learning how to trust in that child.

Photography has also become a much valued time that I spend with Rain.  She irritates me sometimes.  Wandering off to find some deer poop to munch on.  Crying when I tie her up so that she doesn't wander off to find some deer poop to munch on.  Rushing off whenever other people or dogs come close.  Half the time is spent taking pictures, the other half is making sure Rain isn't off doing something mischievous.

But I think she enjoys coming along.  She makes it so much more fun.  She's funny too.  Munching on deer poop.  Lol.  And when I catch her, she's like a deer in headlights.  Could I get better shots if she weren't there?  Probably.  But it's hard to say that I would be out there if she weren't.  I like to think that my photography has been improving because of her, not despite her.

I just read over what I wrote, and I guess I didn't really document much of anything.  Just rambled on a little about how I felt about my dog and taking pictures.  But that really was my 2012.

Rain.  Photography.  And how they have changed my life.

It was a good year.

See you in 2013.

Snow Days

Four day weekends are the best.  We went up on a hike we go on pretty often, but never when there has been this much snow.

 

The lighting wasn't stellar so I went with a shot that seemed to match the fog and dull, gray light.  A solitary tree.

A Short Vid of Rain

The pictures I post of Rain usually show her sitting calmly contemplating dog life.  Here is a short vid I took today when we went out to shoot that shows how she is 90% of the time.

She is still quite the puppy.

So far 12 people have entered the drawing for the two free prints.  I'm hoping to get at least 20 before the deadline so if you haven't commented here, and would like to be entered please do so by January 10th.

And here is a 4 shot pano of Utah Lake taken two weeks ago.  I just got around to putting it together and then I decided to split it into a triptych.