Just when folks started to think I had forgotten about my People in my Life project, I throw one in there! So, as the text under the photo says... this my buddy Rocky. Rocky came across one of my motocross action shots on flickr and wrote me saying he was interested in shooting some race shots in the future as well. I checked out his flickr stream and profile and could see he was also a serious photographer. So I wrote him back inviting him out on to the next race. He replied back a few days later and then joined my Denton Area Photographers Flickr group. It wasn't long before we were talking about techniques and our photography experiences and trading ideas. I even let him borrow one of my lenses for a big shoot he had lined up. I had only known him for a couple weeks, but I could tell he was a good guy and would take care of my equipment just as I would.
This past Wednesday has asked me what I had going on after work. Well I wasn't going to my usual soccer scrim because of my sore knee, so I told him I had no plans. He said he had nothing going on as well. That's when the idea to go on one of my photo drives came to mind. I normally go on them alone, getting lost on dirt back roads, walking through fields and stopping at ever run down building i can find. But hey why not take a buddy? So I asked him and he was all for it. I picked him up and we headed North out of Denton. It wasn't long before we found some interesting fields and later returned to an old abandoned farmstead I had found a few weeks back. I had forgotten how much fun it was to go shoot with someone else. As we roamed around the abandoned buildings, we exchanged shot ideas, setting information and shooting angles. This opened many new creative windows that I might have passed up before.
So while out on this recent photo drive it hit me that Rocky was worthy of my #8 Portrait. I snapped this one with my 10mm wide angle as he was shooting an old work shed. The device mounted on top of his Canon 1D MkIII is called a Pocket Wizard. Its used to trigger a remote flash, which he had setup inside the shed. As soon as I saw the shot i had taken, i knew that was the photo to use as his portrait.
Welcome to the project Rocky!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wedding Bells!
On the rare occasion I do take on a wedding photo shoot, I try to look for some type of creative scene or angle. Well this past Saturday evening I helped my sister shoot a wedding she had signed on for a few months back. It was my first time operating as the "2nd shooter" as its called. But I did enjoy it, as it let me roam around getting the other shots of interest while she worked on taking all the groups portraits. Which is actually the real meat of a wedding event.
The scene captured here was at the end of the night. All the guests lined the outside hallway leading to the parking lot, holding sparklers and the bride and groom ran through them together. I knew this would be a perfect opportunity for a wide angle shot. There was just so much going on in the scene i wanted to capture. The only problem would be I had pretty much one shot at this, no redo's!
I managed to get off 3 or 4 shots. Only 2 of which came out satisfactory for use. Not too bad. But this one was my favorite. So much happening in this one scene. I caught all the guests laughing and waving and cheering, the groom running out of the scene quickly and the boy and his father on the far right playing with their sparkler. To me, all things which make for an interesting shot of the night!
I think the bride and groom will be happy with the shots my sister Macey and I captured. Overall we got some really nice photo's of the evening and really captured their 'big day'.
The scene captured here was at the end of the night. All the guests lined the outside hallway leading to the parking lot, holding sparklers and the bride and groom ran through them together. I knew this would be a perfect opportunity for a wide angle shot. There was just so much going on in the scene i wanted to capture. The only problem would be I had pretty much one shot at this, no redo's!
I managed to get off 3 or 4 shots. Only 2 of which came out satisfactory for use. Not too bad. But this one was my favorite. So much happening in this one scene. I caught all the guests laughing and waving and cheering, the groom running out of the scene quickly and the boy and his father on the far right playing with their sparkler. To me, all things which make for an interesting shot of the night!
I think the bride and groom will be happy with the shots my sister Macey and I captured. Overall we got some really nice photo's of the evening and really captured their 'big day'.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Art Gallery Showing
For those that could not make it up to Oxide Gallery on April 7th for the shows opening, here's a little recap. In early January I took three of my framed pieces to an artist open call at the gallery. About a month later I was notified the judges enjoyed my work and wanted to include me in the March-April-May show. This was great news! Id never done anything like that, so it would be cool to be involved.
So, I attended the gallery show opening on March 7th, showing my 3 pieces along with about 25 other local artists. We had a big turn out and it was a blast. It was shortly after that, the owner of the gallery contacted me to say he had a new offer he wanted to know if i would be interested in. I called him back and we met at the gallery one evening to discuss what he wanted to tell me. He said there had been a lot of attention on my 3 pieces and he wanted to know if I would like to be the featured artist for the month of April. Wow.. thats was pretty cool. Then he told me I would need to have 20 to 25 pieces framed and printed. Ouch. That could get expensive! On the 3 I already had in the current show, I had spend between $140 to $170 getting framed and matted with really nice frames. Warren then gave me a crash course on framing on the cheap. And once i talked to the custom framers, I realized I was able to cut my framing costs literally in half (or more) by just going with a basic off white matte and brushed metal frame. And they still looked great. Granted, framing 20 pieces of various size still ended up costing a chunk of $dough$. But I saw this as an investment. What doesn't sell in this show can be used anywhere use in the future. And believe me, Im already brewing some future ideas. So, its considered "inventory" I guess.
Ok so April 7th rolls around and I was the "Featured Artist" of the evening. It was a really cool feeling. All the artists had name tags on so visitors could ask questions and hear from each artist personally about their work. This worked out well, as many people who were interested in my work were able to hear a bit about how I created what was hanging up in the show. Although I didn't want to give away too many secrets. haha This face to face PR must have helped. To the date of this posting I've sold 4 pieces from the show. Very exciting for me!
All of my work remains up for the full month of April. Then, a new featured artist will get the center display area for the May show. And my 3 pieces return to a place on the outside gallery walls. So the pictures in this post are for my memories of all my work hanging in the main show.
Be sure to check out www.oxidegallery.com to see info on their latest show, or to sign up for gallery updates.... or to be notified of the next Open Artist Call!
So, I attended the gallery show opening on March 7th, showing my 3 pieces along with about 25 other local artists. We had a big turn out and it was a blast. It was shortly after that, the owner of the gallery contacted me to say he had a new offer he wanted to know if i would be interested in. I called him back and we met at the gallery one evening to discuss what he wanted to tell me. He said there had been a lot of attention on my 3 pieces and he wanted to know if I would like to be the featured artist for the month of April. Wow.. thats was pretty cool. Then he told me I would need to have 20 to 25 pieces framed and printed. Ouch. That could get expensive! On the 3 I already had in the current show, I had spend between $140 to $170 getting framed and matted with really nice frames. Warren then gave me a crash course on framing on the cheap. And once i talked to the custom framers, I realized I was able to cut my framing costs literally in half (or more) by just going with a basic off white matte and brushed metal frame. And they still looked great. Granted, framing 20 pieces of various size still ended up costing a chunk of $dough$. But I saw this as an investment. What doesn't sell in this show can be used anywhere use in the future. And believe me, Im already brewing some future ideas. So, its considered "inventory" I guess.
Ok so April 7th rolls around and I was the "Featured Artist" of the evening. It was a really cool feeling. All the artists had name tags on so visitors could ask questions and hear from each artist personally about their work. This worked out well, as many people who were interested in my work were able to hear a bit about how I created what was hanging up in the show. Although I didn't want to give away too many secrets. haha This face to face PR must have helped. To the date of this posting I've sold 4 pieces from the show. Very exciting for me!
All of my work remains up for the full month of April. Then, a new featured artist will get the center display area for the May show. And my 3 pieces return to a place on the outside gallery walls. So the pictures in this post are for my memories of all my work hanging in the main show.
Be sure to check out www.oxidegallery.com to see info on their latest show, or to sign up for gallery updates.... or to be notified of the next Open Artist Call!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Shooting Babies
With my camera.... of course! haha So yeah I don't normally do a lot of baby photo shoots. But my sister called me up to tell me her good friend Kim from Michigan was in town and she had her baby along with her. So me, Macey (my sister), Steve (her husband), Kim (friend) and their two babies Isla and Ashley met up at a local blue bonnet field for some shots. Now, Ashley is Kim's baby and is 8 months old, while Macey's baby, Isla, is barely 2 months old. So I knew this could be a challenge.
We started out with Ashley. This photo is of her at the start of the shoot. We placed her in the flowers and everyone got behind me to call her name and get her attention. She was amused and gave us a little smile before going back to playing with the flowers. I thought, "wow, this is easy". Then it was little Isla's turn. Being so young, she can barely hold her own head up yet. So they had to help her. Plus she seemed a little scared to be away from mommy and daddy. So I had to shoot fast. I got some great pics of her too, but she started becoming irritable more quickly.
Overall the shoot was a success. Both mommies were very happy with the pics I gave them. And I felt like I got some good practice out of it. So it was fun. It also gave me the excuse to use my favorite lens, the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L, for the shoot. Holy moly I love this lens. Portraits, wildlife, sports.... it does it all. Any of you who are reading this and wondering if its worth the price...... YES.
We started out with Ashley. This photo is of her at the start of the shoot. We placed her in the flowers and everyone got behind me to call her name and get her attention. She was amused and gave us a little smile before going back to playing with the flowers. I thought, "wow, this is easy". Then it was little Isla's turn. Being so young, she can barely hold her own head up yet. So they had to help her. Plus she seemed a little scared to be away from mommy and daddy. So I had to shoot fast. I got some great pics of her too, but she started becoming irritable more quickly.
Overall the shoot was a success. Both mommies were very happy with the pics I gave them. And I felt like I got some good practice out of it. So it was fun. It also gave me the excuse to use my favorite lens, the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L, for the shoot. Holy moly I love this lens. Portraits, wildlife, sports.... it does it all. Any of you who are reading this and wondering if its worth the price...... YES.
Fire In The Sky
I walked out of work yesterday evening and thought our city was on fire! There was a haze of smoke in the skies and the smell of smoke. Yet I didn't hear any sirens. As I drove home, the smoke and smell was still there. It was odd because the fire seemed to be everywhere, but no where. What was going on??
Well I get home and turn on the news. Top story of the evening is large wildfires on the far west counties of Ft. Worth, burning out of control. This was a good 40 miles west of Denton. So the smoke must have been thick to darken the skies over here! It was even covering the skies down in Dallas. News choppers and weather cams were showing the darkened skies.
Later that evening I went out in the backyard to play with Zita. I looked up at the setting sun and couldn't believe the view I had. I ran back in, grabbed my camera and ran back outside. I started snapping away as the sun seemed to set rapidly. I finally got a shot that accurately looked like what I was seeing. Which is this one. This seemed to be where the sun was passing low through the thickest part of the smoke and ash to the west. The skies lit up a bright orange. You could look directly at the sun without any discomfort. (Still not a good idea im sure) But, it was pretty cool. Later that evening while I was still outside, I noticed small bits falling from the sky. When i looked closer and caught one... it was ash! Blowing East, miles from the fires.
Very interesting evening.
Well I get home and turn on the news. Top story of the evening is large wildfires on the far west counties of Ft. Worth, burning out of control. This was a good 40 miles west of Denton. So the smoke must have been thick to darken the skies over here! It was even covering the skies down in Dallas. News choppers and weather cams were showing the darkened skies.
Later that evening I went out in the backyard to play with Zita. I looked up at the setting sun and couldn't believe the view I had. I ran back in, grabbed my camera and ran back outside. I started snapping away as the sun seemed to set rapidly. I finally got a shot that accurately looked like what I was seeing. Which is this one. This seemed to be where the sun was passing low through the thickest part of the smoke and ash to the west. The skies lit up a bright orange. You could look directly at the sun without any discomfort. (Still not a good idea im sure) But, it was pretty cool. Later that evening while I was still outside, I noticed small bits falling from the sky. When i looked closer and caught one... it was ash! Blowing East, miles from the fires.
Very interesting evening.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Nobody Home
And there probably hasn't been anyone home for a good 40+ years! Last night I headed out about 6pm on one of my evening photo-drives as I like to call them. I basically pack up my photo gear, pick a rural area i want to wander around in... and drive. I take highways, then hop off on to side roads, then turn off on to gravel roads. I basically try to get lost. Its usually when im lost that I find interesting places, such as this old farmstead. I plan on going back to this location. There were 3 buildings, including this one, still standing. Id like to examine it a bit close to see if i can tell what time period its from. Inside the house, there's not much left. Walls are gone, no trace of anything which looked like it was a house. Totally gutted. Only the worn down, weathered wooden exterior remained. Perfect for photography!
So a bit about this shot. This is an HDR image. It worked perfectly for this scene. Using multiple exposures really brought out the detail and texture of the wood and the bits of red, green and blue in the image. You can even make out detail inside the entrance on the left of the image. I took 3 exposures at -2, 0, +2 while I was on-site. Once I got home and had imported them into Lightroom 2, I took the -2 and +2 exposures and created 2 more shots each direction. Giving me -4 and +4 exposures to work with. I then exported all 5 TIFF files into Photomatix and worked on it from there. After that, I moved over to Photoshop CS3 and did some sharpening work. I was happy with this final image. Has a nice feel to it and looks very close to how it did as i stood there on that warm spring evening. I look forward to what shots I'll get there when i return.
For now, I will keep its location secret. Later I may geo-tag it for others to find. hehe
So a bit about this shot. This is an HDR image. It worked perfectly for this scene. Using multiple exposures really brought out the detail and texture of the wood and the bits of red, green and blue in the image. You can even make out detail inside the entrance on the left of the image. I took 3 exposures at -2, 0, +2 while I was on-site. Once I got home and had imported them into Lightroom 2, I took the -2 and +2 exposures and created 2 more shots each direction. Giving me -4 and +4 exposures to work with. I then exported all 5 TIFF files into Photomatix and worked on it from there. After that, I moved over to Photoshop CS3 and did some sharpening work. I was happy with this final image. Has a nice feel to it and looks very close to how it did as i stood there on that warm spring evening. I look forward to what shots I'll get there when i return.
For now, I will keep its location secret. Later I may geo-tag it for others to find. hehe
Thursday, April 02, 2009
April Gallery Night
Mark your calenders! Tuesday, April 7th from 6pm to 8pm is my big show at Oxide Gallery in Denton. In March's show I had only 3 pieces on display. But this show will have about 24 photo's on display. Its been a lot of hard work getting everything printed and framed on time. So I'm very excited to see it all up and hanging. Last months show opening had a great turn out. There were probably 75+ people. I expect just as many, if not more this time. I really enjoy these gallery nights because its so cool to see other artists work as well. It really shows how much local artistic talent is in the area. Besides photography, there are paintings, ceramic sculptures, jewelry and metal sculptures. All the artists present will be wearing name tags so the visitors can ask questions and make comments. And of course the food from Carino's is great. Its not the full sit down meal you'd normally get in the restaurant. But its some of the best snacks and finger foods you could get and apparently my friends thought the wine was pretty good too. Ha! Ok, so I hope to see everyone down there. Be sure to come up and say hi. I will most likely be the only Thorpe in the building. Easy to find. :-D
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Finally
So yeah I finally got around to building myself a real photographers website. For quite some time I had just used a quick page I created from scratch. I'll admit, it looked like something a 12 year old put together. It was bad. For the past almost year, Id used Smugmug to sell prints and display my work. But I never really utilized its customization ability which comes with the Pro account I had. Well I finally rolled up my sleeves, dug into their forums and help topics and made enough sense of CSS code and html to put together a good starting point of a website. Turns out Smugmug allows Pro account holders to change just about everything on their web space, totally removing the normal Smugmug look. Which is great. They also have really good support and helpful people in their forums. For example, i was stumped as to why some text wasn't formatting as I wanted it to. I posted the problem in their forums and someone replied with what was wrong with my code, within 15 minutes! Very cool. So now I've got to get my galleries populated, all prices standardized and begin making full use of its ability. Im just relieved its finally put together. And surprised at myself for figuring it all out!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Flickr Photo Meet Up and Walk
This past Saturday, the Denton Area Photoraphy group from Flickr met up on the Denton square for a meet-up and shoot. We had 5 from the group show up on the cool, over cast day. Not too bad. Once everyone met and chatted it up, we started walking the back streets and alley's of downtown Denton. It was a lot of fun just shooting whatever caught our eye and talking about photography. It's really cool to put a face to the people you talk to and comment on the pics of online. Of all the photos I took, this shot of the motorcyle is the one I'm most happy with. It was parked near a parking garage and I knew a low view of it with the wide angle lens would give it a memorable look. A little post processing magic and I was all smiles. We plan to have another meet up hopefully soon as the weather warms. We just need a better location to go to this time. Its time to start scouting!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Street Shooting
I went back through the archives of a Dallas street shoot I did a few weeks back and came across this shot. It was actually one of about 8 shots snapped at this scene. My friend Michael and I had just walked by the nightclub Plush and I wanted to get a shot which really showed the feel and vibe of the night. There were a lot of people outside in line to get into this trendy club. But I didn't want a bunch of people starring at me as I took the picture. So we kept walking by the club. About 30 feet past the door we stopped to survey the scene. We noticed a young woman dressed for clubbing and walking quickly our direction to get in line. I knew this might make a good shot. I quickly set my camera ISO to a higher setting, set it to all its focal points and to multi shot mode. As she walked by I held the camera at my waist and pressed the shutter, firing off about 8 shots. When I returned home and looked through the shots, I really wasn't happy with any of them. They were all rejected for other shots of the night.
Well a couple weeks went by and I went back to this shot. It was slightly blurry because of the movement while trying to shoot it, but I still wanted to use it... somehow. I liked the feel of it. Then an idea hit me. What a perfect chance to add a little radial/zoom blur in Photoshop! I placed the focal point on the nightclubs sign, which luckily was fairly sharp to start with. I then set the zoom level to 12%, giving the view the slight feeling of movement. And then converted it to B&W using a Lightroom 2 preset called PH Perfect B&W, which is one of my favorites because of the tones it uses. All said and done, I was really happy with the result and I was able to salvage a good shot I had previously dumped.
Well a couple weeks went by and I went back to this shot. It was slightly blurry because of the movement while trying to shoot it, but I still wanted to use it... somehow. I liked the feel of it. Then an idea hit me. What a perfect chance to add a little radial/zoom blur in Photoshop! I placed the focal point on the nightclubs sign, which luckily was fairly sharp to start with. I then set the zoom level to 12%, giving the view the slight feeling of movement. And then converted it to B&W using a Lightroom 2 preset called PH Perfect B&W, which is one of my favorites because of the tones it uses. All said and done, I was really happy with the result and I was able to salvage a good shot I had previously dumped.
Dinner, Wine and Thorpeland!
I recently found myself fortunate enough to have some of my work placed in a local consignment art gallery. After attending an artist Open-Call, three of my pieces were selected (along with about 25 other artists) to be put on display and sale for a 3 month span. But I was then approached by the gallery owner to be the featured artist for this dinner event held at the local Carinos Italian restaurant! This was a big surprise to me. Now, the only catch was I needed to come up with more prints to fill the walls of the room the dinner will be held in. So as you can imagine, this week has been spent in Photoshop, uploading and ordering prints... frantically. The above picture is the flier that went out. I will have 21 pieces on display and sale for the evening. If you live in the Denton Texas area and think you might want to come out to this event, feel free to contact the restaurant to RSVP! Guests will be treated to food not available on Carinos' normal menu and variety of wines. And of course an introduction to the artist/photographer of the evening. ME! :-D
If you cannot make this event but would still like to have a look at the gallery, be sure to check out Oxide Gallery in Denton. Its located on south bound Carrol and Hickory and there's currently a lot of good stuff on display by many talented artists!
If you cannot make this event but would still like to have a look at the gallery, be sure to check out Oxide Gallery in Denton. Its located on south bound Carrol and Hickory and there's currently a lot of good stuff on display by many talented artists!
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Its Time
Walked out in the backyard this past warm Friday afternoon to see my tree's with little buds on the branches. This is great news as its proof spring is finally here. I am so sick of grey skies, cold weather (even by Texas standards) and bare branches. Im ready for spring and even more ready for summer and long days. Which by the way, don't forget.... "Spring Forward" at 2am this Sunday morning (March 8th). We gain an hour of daylight back!! Sweet! Nothing is more depressing to me than coming out of work at 5pm to a sun that's setting on the horizon. So... here's a quick shot welcoming the return of Spring and warm Texas weather. Bring it on!
Monday, March 02, 2009
Man on the Street
This particular man on the street was my accomplice for the evening, Michael. We were walking around downtown Dallas looking for more things to shoot when we stopped at this light waiting to cross. I still had the 10mm wide angle on and knew this perspective would make an interesting shot. I toyed with this shot giving it various white balance settings and hue's. But in the end true Black & White just looked great. It gave it that real street feeling in a photo I love. I put no description on the bottom of this photo in the Flickr post. I felt the mystery of, "who is this man standing on an empty city street?" worked well to increase the interest of the shot.
This particular man on the street was my accomplice for the evening, Michael. We were walking around downtown Dallas looking for more things to shoot when we stopped at this light waiting to cross. I still had the 10mm wide angle on and knew this perspective would make an interesting shot. I toyed with this shot giving it various white balance settings and hue's. But in the end true Black & White just looked great. It gave it that real street feeling in a photo I love. I put no description on the bottom of this photo in the Flickr post. I felt the mystery of, "who is this man standing on an empty city street?" worked well to increase the interest of the shot.
Headed to Dallas
This past Saturday was Emily's Bday, so we arranged an evening out with a group of our good friends. We all met up for dinner down at the Village Burger Bar for a great meal. But after that all the girls had plans to go to a dance club. This left myself and Michael with about 3 hours to kill. I already had my camera gear, so we dropped them off at the club and headed out around Dallas to do some shooting. As soon as I told Michael I wanted a cityscape shot of downtown and would like to get a long exposure shot of traffic, he knew exactly where to go. He took me to this small overpass on the West side of Dallas, crossing I-30. It was freezing that night with temps hovering in the low 30's and with the wind gusting. So we worked quick to setup the tripod and camera and start shooting. After about eight shots I got this one and was pretty happy with it. I believe the golden settings were f14, 15sec at 70mm. This was just the first of a few good shots that night as we drove around town. We repeated the same routine of jumping out of the car, freezing while shooting then jumping back in to warm up, all night. But I was having a blast. Big thanks to Michael for knowing some great locations.
This past Saturday was Emily's Bday, so we arranged an evening out with a group of our good friends. We all met up for dinner down at the Village Burger Bar for a great meal. But after that all the girls had plans to go to a dance club. This left myself and Michael with about 3 hours to kill. I already had my camera gear, so we dropped them off at the club and headed out around Dallas to do some shooting. As soon as I told Michael I wanted a cityscape shot of downtown and would like to get a long exposure shot of traffic, he knew exactly where to go. He took me to this small overpass on the West side of Dallas, crossing I-30. It was freezing that night with temps hovering in the low 30's and with the wind gusting. So we worked quick to setup the tripod and camera and start shooting. After about eight shots I got this one and was pretty happy with it. I believe the golden settings were f14, 15sec at 70mm. This was just the first of a few good shots that night as we drove around town. We repeated the same routine of jumping out of the car, freezing while shooting then jumping back in to warm up, all night. But I was having a blast. Big thanks to Michael for knowing some great locations.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
The Artist At Work
Saturday night I accompanied my wife Emily to a local tattoo parlor. She'd been wanting to get a tattoo, her 3rd, before her 30th Bday. Of course I thought there might be some interesting photo's to be had. So, camera in hand we got her appointment made and returned later that evening so she could get "inked". As the tattoo artist worked on her with his tattoo gun, i started looking around the room. In the area next to the one we were in, another tattoo artist began working on the design for someone else's tattoo. It just looked like a shot too good to pass up as I peered over his shoulder. Shortly after this, they finished up working on Emily's tattoo and we headed out. Overall it was a very interesting evening. Since I don't hang out in tattoo shops often, I found it interesting an full of potential shots. If I just had more time and more reason to be there longer. The people coming in the door alone would provide a 1000 interesting portraits. Ive tucked that idea away for another potential project. Hhhmmmm...
Learning to Skateboard
Woke up early and headed out to the Denton Skate Park this past Saturday morning for an actual paid photography gig. I had a lot of fun watching this small group of 4 to 7 year olds learn how to skate board. Most were more interested in running up and down the ramps on foot, or sitting on their boards and riding them like karts. But a few showed they truly enjoyed skate boarding and were interested in learning. It was a COLD morning. The temps weren't actually that low. But there was a steady 35mph wind blowing what cold there was, right through any layers we had on. The kids seemed un-phased. Quivering lips, snot running down their noses.... didn't matter. They wanted to keep playing and skating. Overall I took around 400 pictures. This one was one of my favorites. The instructor stopped to get a drink of water and the kids were all playing on this ramp. I quickly asked them to line up and show off their boards. I had the 10mm lens on and sat down low to get an interesting perspective on the little ones. I was really happy with how it came out. Especially how one has his helmet slipping over his eyes. Classic kid stuff! I was surprised at how well they responded to my instruction. They went from total chaos to lined up and smiling in a matter of seconds. No fear of the camera. I wish adults were as brave.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sushi and Dan
Saturday night I got a chance to expand my "People in my life" portrait series when my old friend and former college roommate, Dan, dropped in town for the weekend. Dan and I go waaaaaay back to our freshman year in college. While sitting in my freshman algebra class, confused, I noticed the guy next to me looking just as lost. Our conversation started up and I learned he lived on the same floor as me in the dorms. We were pretty much buddies ever since then. We played on the same soccer teams, joined the same fraternity and have kept in touch pretty much daily since leaving college in the late 90's. Dan now lives in the Los Angeles area as a project manager for a (somewhat) major car company. haha He's a good buddy, like a brother and im happy to make him a part of this project. Thanks for posing for the shot Sparky!
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Battle in the Sand
Sunday was a day I'd been looking forward to for a couple weeks now. My friend Kyle and I were headed about 1hr Northwest to a remote town called Bulcher for the TORRO off road race series. Our friend from work, JB, was racing in it and we wanted to come out and get some action shots of the event.
Things didn't go as planned though. We arrived at the race track at 10am to find neither of our mobile phones had even the slightest hint of a signal. And we had not yet established contact with our friend JB. So we stood atop a hill overlooking about 200+ dirt bike riders and hundreds of vehicles and bike trailers. We never found our friend the entire day! But that didn't stop us from making the most of it as photographers. We loaded up our camera gear and began walking the track to find the action. We found the popular spectating area at a river crossing. This gave us plenty of action shots. Getting back into the trails of the race event proved too difficult. Too far to walk, too thick of woods and too many hills to make it worth trekking. After a quick trip back to the car for drinks and snacks... we headed down to another water crossing. This proved to be a real goldmine for shots. With the bikes coming straight at the camera, I got some nice keepers. And later had the surprise of finding out one of the riders I snapped was our friend JB! Bonus!
Over all a fun day out with friends and camera. Can't complain.
Things didn't go as planned though. We arrived at the race track at 10am to find neither of our mobile phones had even the slightest hint of a signal. And we had not yet established contact with our friend JB. So we stood atop a hill overlooking about 200+ dirt bike riders and hundreds of vehicles and bike trailers. We never found our friend the entire day! But that didn't stop us from making the most of it as photographers. We loaded up our camera gear and began walking the track to find the action. We found the popular spectating area at a river crossing. This gave us plenty of action shots. Getting back into the trails of the race event proved too difficult. Too far to walk, too thick of woods and too many hills to make it worth trekking. After a quick trip back to the car for drinks and snacks... we headed down to another water crossing. This proved to be a real goldmine for shots. With the bikes coming straight at the camera, I got some nice keepers. And later had the surprise of finding out one of the riders I snapped was our friend JB! Bonus!
Over all a fun day out with friends and camera. Can't complain.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
One year to the week I have completed my 52 Week Self Portrait Project! This shot was my final pic of this final week. For those wanting to tell me its too dangerous to get this close to a train just for a picture, you can relax. The magic of photoshop assured that train was no where near me while i was balancing on those rails. ;-) Looking back over this past year of self portrait photo's, I can see I really evolved and learned as a photographer, massively improved my post shoot editing skills and not to mention got over my fear of being in front of the camera. I used to HATE IT. Now, I can tolerate it. Big thanks to all those who stopped by each week on Flickr to comment about my shot of the week. Those are the kind of things that kept me going and kept me trying to be creative. Some have said I should attempt a 365 Day Self Portrait project. To that, I have to say, No. I just could not produce creative, well done self portraits each day to add to my photo stream. And since I try to keep the photo's on my flickr page to a certain quality level, it would annoy me to know i had just uploaded a snapshot of my face to "count" for that days photo. So, Im not sure yet if I'll attempt another 52 week project, or try something totally new. Either way, im taking a break from selfie's for a bit. But I'll still upload to flickr in the mean time. Stay tuned, im sure I'll announce something as the days go by. In the mean time, i'll stll be updating my blog with the latest events and photo's.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
This was the first shot I ever posted on Flickr. I had been shooting for a while, but didn't really think much about posting them online. So i uploaded it back in 2006, but didn't post it to any groups or even name it. Not till a flickr friend (Greasy_Peach) saw it and liked it, that I thought maybe its a decent shot after all. Lately its been getting more traffic and now that I look back I really did catch a cool moment while in Puerta Vallarta Mexico that evening.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Judgement Day
So, about 3 weeks ago I took a few pieces of my framed work to an artists Open Call at a local consignment gallery. I'd never done anything like this and thought it would be a good experience to get some feed back, see how I compare to other "real" artists and in the process maybe get my work displayed somewhere... besides Flickr. :-)
I took 3 pieces into the Open Call and the gallery owners looked at each and took pictures to take to actual judges. They then told everyone who attended we would receive word on who was chosen in about a weeks time. Well, almost 3 weeks passed and no word. By this time I had just figured I wasn't one of the artists chosen and began preparing which pieces I would show at the next Open Call. But I thought I would send the gallery an email just asking if it was ok to use any of my original pieces in the next Open Call as well. The reply I got back was very unexpected.
From the email reply:
"Thorpe,
I didn't want to say anything last night until I was able this morning to confirm the jury's decision in regards to your artwork. Congratulations!! The jury loved your work and they have recommended we invite you to show in our gallery. "
Well this just blew me away! The photo attached to this post is one I brought to the Open Call. Its one of my favorites and will be in the show. My work will be on display in the gallery with all the other artists March 1st through May 31st. I'll post more details later as I learn more. But getting this news made my day. Its a first for me!
I took 3 pieces into the Open Call and the gallery owners looked at each and took pictures to take to actual judges. They then told everyone who attended we would receive word on who was chosen in about a weeks time. Well, almost 3 weeks passed and no word. By this time I had just figured I wasn't one of the artists chosen and began preparing which pieces I would show at the next Open Call. But I thought I would send the gallery an email just asking if it was ok to use any of my original pieces in the next Open Call as well. The reply I got back was very unexpected.
From the email reply:
"Thorpe,
I didn't want to say anything last night until I was able this morning to confirm the jury's decision in regards to your artwork. Congratulations!! The jury loved your work and they have recommended we invite you to show in our gallery. "
Well this just blew me away! The photo attached to this post is one I brought to the Open Call. Its one of my favorites and will be in the show. My work will be on display in the gallery with all the other artists March 1st through May 31st. I'll post more details later as I learn more. But getting this news made my day. Its a first for me!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Winding Down
This is my Week 51 shot of the 52 Week Self Portrait project. Its hard to believe I have just one shot left before Im done. Hard to believe a year has already passed. I looked back over the collection of self portrait shots ive created this past year and feel overall happy with my work. I joined this project because I normally HATE being in front of the camera. I always felt im not a very photogenic person. So I thought forcing myself in front of the camera would not only help me get over that, but also improve my creative thought process for portrait shooting. I do believe it has succeeded on both fronts. And ive learned quite a bit about various photographic techniques along the way. Not to mention, made some good photography friends and contacts. So.... one week left. I have a plan for this final upcoming shot. I hope I can make it happen. Its going to take some planning and a little luck. But if I can pull it off, it will be a great way to end my 52 Week project. Stay tuned.....
The Hydrant
This past Saturday night I was bored around the house, so despite the cold weather I grabbed my camera bag and headed out into the downtown area of Denton. I found myself at the Hydrant coffee house. I walked in and ordered a medium coffee. It was then that I heard music coming from upstairs. So up I went. There was a band warming up to play, so I grabbed a seat at the back and got settled. As they started to play I thought it might make for a few good shots. So i pulled the camera out of my bag, attached the 10mm wide angle lens and took a few pictures as they played. A couple times the guys in the band (I can't remember the bands name off hand) looked over at me to see what I was up to. But never said anything. I finished my coffee and packed up and began walking the night again. Once I got home and unloaded the shots into Lightroom, it became clear these would look best in black & white. You can see these and more shots over at www.flickr.com/thorpeland
Friday, January 23, 2009
People in My Life Project Keeps Rollin...
Im stll shooting photo's for my "People in My Life" project. This past week I got to shoot some quick portraits of my good friends Michael and his wife Cheryl. I took both their portraits outside a Texas Roadhouse steak house, in the parking lot. I shot them with a 50mm prime lens at f2.0, ISO800. Since I shoot in RAW format I was able to adjust the white balance nicely and boost the saturation and shadows a bit in Lightroom 2, to put some nice well balanced lighting on their faces for the shot. The 50mm lens also gave me some nice background blur (Bokeh), to help them stand out in the shot.
NTPC at the MPAC
I recently joined the North Texas Photography Club. Great group and a knowledgeable teacher. They hold meetups once a month covering a wide range of photography topics. I look forward to going to many of these and hopefully learning a lot. This photo was from my first meeting with them. We covered off-camera lighting and indoor architecture shots. Great learning experience!
Getting Close
Can't believe its already week 50 of my 52 Week Self Portrait project! I want these last 2 weeks to be good shots. Pressure is on. I never thought id actually make it through this thing, getting my picture in every single week. I turned to various events around me for motivation on each weeks shots. Had to get creative. But ive managed this far. Finish strong, I must! This shot was taken just messing around and with some creative post processing, i decided to go with it. Came out alright me finks. :)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
A New Challenge!
Week 49
Packed up the camera gear and headed out Sunday afternoon looking for a good place to shoot my Week 49 photo for the 52 Week Challenge. But I didn't want this weeks to just be another click and shoot. It had to be a bit more interesting. After driving around most of Denton county for about 40 minutes, I found myself back in the old town square area. i stopped by Jupiter house for a tasty beverage and sat out side pondering what I could do for the shot I needed. I thought about the equipment i brought along with me. I was sick of driving so I began to look at what was right in front of me. The Courthouse! Now, the Old Denton Courthouse has shown up in pictures a 1,000 times. Ive even used it in what seems like a dozen of my own. So I had to give it a new spin. As I stood on the large steps going up the West side i looked at the large arches and the big pillars and remembered I had brought my 10mm wide angle. I had an idea! Got the tripod setup in a minute and fired off a few shots. When i saw this one, I knew I had gotten one worth keeping. I packed up and headed home.
Once I got the RAW file imported into Lightroom 2 I began toying with various presets and colors. Then I remembered I had been wanting to attempt that "Dave Hill" look in one of my shots. So after desaturating the colors and exposure a bit , I exported to Photoshop CS3 where I have the LucisArt 3 plugin. After a few minutes of playing with the sliders, I knew i was onto something. This was the final product, I was happy with it. I think its quite the eye catching shot and a pretty cool effect.
Packed up the camera gear and headed out Sunday afternoon looking for a good place to shoot my Week 49 photo for the 52 Week Challenge. But I didn't want this weeks to just be another click and shoot. It had to be a bit more interesting. After driving around most of Denton county for about 40 minutes, I found myself back in the old town square area. i stopped by Jupiter house for a tasty beverage and sat out side pondering what I could do for the shot I needed. I thought about the equipment i brought along with me. I was sick of driving so I began to look at what was right in front of me. The Courthouse! Now, the Old Denton Courthouse has shown up in pictures a 1,000 times. Ive even used it in what seems like a dozen of my own. So I had to give it a new spin. As I stood on the large steps going up the West side i looked at the large arches and the big pillars and remembered I had brought my 10mm wide angle. I had an idea! Got the tripod setup in a minute and fired off a few shots. When i saw this one, I knew I had gotten one worth keeping. I packed up and headed home.
Once I got the RAW file imported into Lightroom 2 I began toying with various presets and colors. Then I remembered I had been wanting to attempt that "Dave Hill" look in one of my shots. So after desaturating the colors and exposure a bit , I exported to Photoshop CS3 where I have the LucisArt 3 plugin. After a few minutes of playing with the sliders, I knew i was onto something. This was the final product, I was happy with it. I think its quite the eye catching shot and a pretty cool effect.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
People in My Life
My Latest Project
This is portrait #1 of the "People In My Life" project I've recently started. My goal is to improve my portrait shooting, creativity and editing. While at the same time, involve the people around me in my daily life with my passion for photography. I have no idea how many people my lens will capture for this project. But I plan on carrying it through most of 2009. Should be interesting for me, as to how creative I can get with my shots and how I'll be able to see myself improve. And it will also be interesting for those who follow my photo's on flickr, as they get to read fun facts about those around me. Stay tuned, many more folks to come!
This is portrait #1 of the "People In My Life" project I've recently started. My goal is to improve my portrait shooting, creativity and editing. While at the same time, involve the people around me in my daily life with my passion for photography. I have no idea how many people my lens will capture for this project. But I plan on carrying it through most of 2009. Should be interesting for me, as to how creative I can get with my shots and how I'll be able to see myself improve. And it will also be interesting for those who follow my photo's on flickr, as they get to read fun facts about those around me. Stay tuned, many more folks to come!
Victory Park, Dallas Texas
Finally!
After wanting to get down to Victory Park at the American Airlines Center for about the past 2 years, I finally had my chance this past Saturday night. We headed down to Craig and Bex for dinner. After words we decided to go downtown so I could get some shots. I was wise enough to plan ahead and bring my tripod and gear. As soon as we walked into Victory Park, I knew this was the shot I wanted! I setup my tripod and camera and began firing off dozens of auto-bracketed shots. I had already planned on making an HDR shot out of this. Because of the bright giant LCD TV's and the dark sky and other areas, HDR is the best way to show this place off. I was also thankful for spring like warm weather here in early January... and that the security walking around didn't seem to mind me setting up my tripod. As soon as i came home I wanted to get to my editing. I merged the shots, tonemapped them with Photomatix Pro, then exported the shot to Photoshop CS3. I then used one of the original exposures to mask out area's that were too bright and used an original lighter shot to mask out the areas too dark. Also to get rid of any ISO/HDR noise in the image. Finally some light un-sharpen mask and a once over with LucisArt 3 and... done! I think it came out pretty good.
After wanting to get down to Victory Park at the American Airlines Center for about the past 2 years, I finally had my chance this past Saturday night. We headed down to Craig and Bex for dinner. After words we decided to go downtown so I could get some shots. I was wise enough to plan ahead and bring my tripod and gear. As soon as we walked into Victory Park, I knew this was the shot I wanted! I setup my tripod and camera and began firing off dozens of auto-bracketed shots. I had already planned on making an HDR shot out of this. Because of the bright giant LCD TV's and the dark sky and other areas, HDR is the best way to show this place off. I was also thankful for spring like warm weather here in early January... and that the security walking around didn't seem to mind me setting up my tripod. As soon as i came home I wanted to get to my editing. I merged the shots, tonemapped them with Photomatix Pro, then exported the shot to Photoshop CS3. I then used one of the original exposures to mask out area's that were too bright and used an original lighter shot to mask out the areas too dark. Also to get rid of any ISO/HDR noise in the image. Finally some light un-sharpen mask and a once over with LucisArt 3 and... done! I think it came out pretty good.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
47\52: Some Things Are Worth the Wait
Mouth Watering Goodness!
I took this picture last week for my week 47 shot in my 52 Week self portrait project. Emily was still visiting her parents for Christmas holiday, so I was home alone. She's not a fan of sushi... at all... so this was my opportunity to treat myself! I headed down to the local sushi shop called The Avocado and ordered one of my favorite rolls called the Hawaiian Roll. It has salmon and yellowtail on each roll and is soooooooo good! I brought it home and it took every ounce of my will power to resist eating it while I setup my camera and tripod. But after this shot was taken.... nom, nom, nom, nom... gone. Good stuff! Coincidentally Im about to head out for lunch today to meet my long time friend Sylvia for a sushi lunch. Yessss!
I took this picture last week for my week 47 shot in my 52 Week self portrait project. Emily was still visiting her parents for Christmas holiday, so I was home alone. She's not a fan of sushi... at all... so this was my opportunity to treat myself! I headed down to the local sushi shop called The Avocado and ordered one of my favorite rolls called the Hawaiian Roll. It has salmon and yellowtail on each roll and is soooooooo good! I brought it home and it took every ounce of my will power to resist eating it while I setup my camera and tripod. But after this shot was taken.... nom, nom, nom, nom... gone. Good stuff! Coincidentally Im about to head out for lunch today to meet my long time friend Sylvia for a sushi lunch. Yessss!
The World is Our Toy
I Can Tilt... AND Shift!
So I decided to give a try at a popular new photography editing technique going around these days. Its called Tilt-Shift and its designed to take a photo and render its subjects into an almost toy like appearance. It works best with a shot taken from high above, where the subjects are already fairly small. I went through my archived images and came across this shot I took back in 2007 while in Venice at the Piazza San Marco square. I followed some easy instructions, then did some tweaking of my own in Photoshop and came up with this result. I think it came out pretty good actually. Im adding this to my creative vault of use on other shots which I may find not very exciting in their current "as is" state. If you're interested in giving this technique a try, follow the link below and see what you can do. Its really pretty easy and a lot of fun to "toy" with. haha The key is picking the right shot to use it on.
http://recedinghairline.co.uk/tutorials/fakemodel/
So I decided to give a try at a popular new photography editing technique going around these days. Its called Tilt-Shift and its designed to take a photo and render its subjects into an almost toy like appearance. It works best with a shot taken from high above, where the subjects are already fairly small. I went through my archived images and came across this shot I took back in 2007 while in Venice at the Piazza San Marco square. I followed some easy instructions, then did some tweaking of my own in Photoshop and came up with this result. I think it came out pretty good actually. Im adding this to my creative vault of use on other shots which I may find not very exciting in their current "as is" state. If you're interested in giving this technique a try, follow the link below and see what you can do. Its really pretty easy and a lot of fun to "toy" with. haha The key is picking the right shot to use it on.
http://recedinghairline.co.uk/tutorials/fakemodel/
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Well its been a bit over a month since my last blog post. The weather outside is now cold, cloudy... blah. The lack of daylight is really putting a cramp on my photography. During the summer I enjoy getting out and shooting in the evening sun. But now, i get out of work at 5pm and its already almost dark! Im still chugging away on my 52 Week Project. This shot is my self portrait from week 46. We're just 5 days from Christmas now. Can't believe how fast the year has gone. Doesn't even really feel like it. This year Emily and I are heading out to her parents house in Odessa Texas for the big day. Should be fun since she has a large family and they'll all be there. I'll try to get more pics posted here on the blog and some more interesting, up to date information. Just not a lot going on right now.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Dun Got Hitched!
Well for those that didn't know, I got married on Oct.25th to my long time girlfriend Emily. The very next day we headed off to Miami to hop on a Carnival Cruise ship headed to the Carribean. We made stops at The Grand Turks, Dominican Republic, the British Virgin Isles, St. Maarten, St. Kitts and Puerto Rico. We were definitley ready to come home. So now were back and I'm slowly but surely getting our pictures up. I'll be sure to post a full link when they're up.
Well for those that didn't know, I got married on Oct.25th to my long time girlfriend Emily. The very next day we headed off to Miami to hop on a Carnival Cruise ship headed to the Carribean. We made stops at The Grand Turks, Dominican Republic, the British Virgin Isles, St. Maarten, St. Kitts and Puerto Rico. We were definitley ready to come home. So now were back and I'm slowly but surely getting our pictures up. I'll be sure to post a full link when they're up.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Under Pressure
So there I am. Driving down country roads, not sure what I'm looking for. Eyes scanning every driveway, cow pasture and dirt road. It was Saturday night and time to get my weekly self portrait done. I knew Sunday would be too busy to get out and take a good one. Besides, this particular Saturday evening the lighting was perfect. A setting sun and clear blue sky was creating that "magic hour" photographers love. As I head farther from home, looking to come across something I had not seen before, my light and my hopes were fading. Suddenly, to my right, I see a wide open freshly cut hay field. This field wasn't empty before and wasn't very accessible. But it was now. I drive past it and quickly turn into the next road. I whip my car around and head back to the tractor trail leading to the field. I get parked, take out all my camera gear and get things setup. I fired off about 10 to 15 shots of what I wanted to use for this weeks self portrait. But the sun was now low on the horizon and this was such a great spot. I wanted to get a little more out of it. So I took my camera off its mini-tripod, put on my aviator shades and began holding the my 30D with 10mm wide angle out at arms reach and snapping away.
Later that night at home while editing, I came across this pic. It reflected the horizon and setting sun perfectly from my sun glasses. It looked ok in color. But then I thought, how would this look if i converted it to B&W and did some cross processing on it? Did some tweaking in Lightroom 2, then imported it into CS3 where I ran it through a film simulator called Exposure 2. This adds the true contrast (darks and lights) and grain of the film brand you select. I tried a few choices and settled on one. I think it was Kodak T-Max P3200. I liked the deep blacks and semi-rough grain. While I did not use this as my selfie of the week, i was really happy with how it came out.
See more of my shots over at www.flickr.com/thorpeland
So there I am. Driving down country roads, not sure what I'm looking for. Eyes scanning every driveway, cow pasture and dirt road. It was Saturday night and time to get my weekly self portrait done. I knew Sunday would be too busy to get out and take a good one. Besides, this particular Saturday evening the lighting was perfect. A setting sun and clear blue sky was creating that "magic hour" photographers love. As I head farther from home, looking to come across something I had not seen before, my light and my hopes were fading. Suddenly, to my right, I see a wide open freshly cut hay field. This field wasn't empty before and wasn't very accessible. But it was now. I drive past it and quickly turn into the next road. I whip my car around and head back to the tractor trail leading to the field. I get parked, take out all my camera gear and get things setup. I fired off about 10 to 15 shots of what I wanted to use for this weeks self portrait. But the sun was now low on the horizon and this was such a great spot. I wanted to get a little more out of it. So I took my camera off its mini-tripod, put on my aviator shades and began holding the my 30D with 10mm wide angle out at arms reach and snapping away.
Later that night at home while editing, I came across this pic. It reflected the horizon and setting sun perfectly from my sun glasses. It looked ok in color. But then I thought, how would this look if i converted it to B&W and did some cross processing on it? Did some tweaking in Lightroom 2, then imported it into CS3 where I ran it through a film simulator called Exposure 2. This adds the true contrast (darks and lights) and grain of the film brand you select. I tried a few choices and settled on one. I think it was Kodak T-Max P3200. I liked the deep blacks and semi-rough grain. While I did not use this as my selfie of the week, i was really happy with how it came out.
See more of my shots over at www.flickr.com/thorpeland
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Looking Ahead
Well its October now and less than one month till the big day, October 25th! Which for those that do not know, is mine and Emily's wedding day! Its fast approaching and we're finalizing all the details. I never knew there would be this much to do for this event. Mainly its been Emily, working every night and weekend to make sure its all perfect. She's very organized. I offer to help but there's not a lot I can do. I feel like Im just along for the ride! haha So, I'll sit here on the shore of the lake, and just look ahead at whats to come. For our honeymoon, we're going on a very nice cruise. Im really looking forward to it and it should be a blast. I am amazed I was able to talk Emily into going on a cruise. hehe She gets easily sea sick, so this could go well or not so well. But at least she's willing to try! What a little trooper!
Well its October now and less than one month till the big day, October 25th! Which for those that do not know, is mine and Emily's wedding day! Its fast approaching and we're finalizing all the details. I never knew there would be this much to do for this event. Mainly its been Emily, working every night and weekend to make sure its all perfect. She's very organized. I offer to help but there's not a lot I can do. I feel like Im just along for the ride! haha So, I'll sit here on the shore of the lake, and just look ahead at whats to come. For our honeymoon, we're going on a very nice cruise. Im really looking forward to it and it should be a blast. I am amazed I was able to talk Emily into going on a cruise. hehe She gets easily sea sick, so this could go well or not so well. But at least she's willing to try! What a little trooper!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Java and a Camera
With time running out for my week 31 self portrait shot, i stopped... frustrated, at a local Star Bucks. I never leave my camera bag in my car so I threw it on my shoulder and walked in. I figured I could have a drink and quietly think about where a good location for a shot would be. I walked up to the counter and ordered a Chi Tea. Not my normal drink, but at the time it sounded better than coffee. I took a seat at a 2 chair table in the back, put my Lowepro 200 camera bag on the table and began pondering. There were a 3 guys at the table next to me, college students holding a study session. One of them asked me where I got my bag. I told him and soon learned he was into photography also. Cool stuff. I always enjoy meeting other lens-heads. I began to chat with the guys and gave one of them my card. They checked out my shots and we talked about camera gear. It was at that time i figured this was as good a time as any to take out the camera and get a selfie for the week. So this stop gave me my pic of the week and a new photography buddy/contact. A win-win.
With time running out for my week 31 self portrait shot, i stopped... frustrated, at a local Star Bucks. I never leave my camera bag in my car so I threw it on my shoulder and walked in. I figured I could have a drink and quietly think about where a good location for a shot would be. I walked up to the counter and ordered a Chi Tea. Not my normal drink, but at the time it sounded better than coffee. I took a seat at a 2 chair table in the back, put my Lowepro 200 camera bag on the table and began pondering. There were a 3 guys at the table next to me, college students holding a study session. One of them asked me where I got my bag. I told him and soon learned he was into photography also. Cool stuff. I always enjoy meeting other lens-heads. I began to chat with the guys and gave one of them my card. They checked out my shots and we talked about camera gear. It was at that time i figured this was as good a time as any to take out the camera and get a selfie for the week. So this stop gave me my pic of the week and a new photography buddy/contact. A win-win.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
30 Weeks and Rolling
Just 2 hours before my "deadline" for getting my weekly self portrait posted, I got it done. This was actually a picture I took Saturday evening but didn't do anything with it until Sunday passed. Just in case I was able to take a better one. Ever do that? Anyhow, not much in the way of creativity for this week in the actual shot. I was able to take a pretty straight forward, looking at the camera SP and turn it into something half interesting I believe.
I think I like the intensity of this shot and the clear focus I was able to accidentally get right on my eye. While shooting at f1.8 the depth of field is so short that if I missed my eye with the focus point, the picture would be useless to me. My face also looks rougher than it actually is. Geeze, its getting worse the more I look at this pic. Oh well.
This is actually the third self portrait taken in this chair, which is my computer desk chair. Hence the lighting to my right is from my computer monitors. I thought it put out a nice glow for a self portrait. I have a decently creative idea for my Week 31 shot, next week. I just hope everything works out and I can get what Im looking for. Man, I can't believe Im on week 30 already. These weeks are just rolling by!
Just 2 hours before my "deadline" for getting my weekly self portrait posted, I got it done. This was actually a picture I took Saturday evening but didn't do anything with it until Sunday passed. Just in case I was able to take a better one. Ever do that? Anyhow, not much in the way of creativity for this week in the actual shot. I was able to take a pretty straight forward, looking at the camera SP and turn it into something half interesting I believe.
I think I like the intensity of this shot and the clear focus I was able to accidentally get right on my eye. While shooting at f1.8 the depth of field is so short that if I missed my eye with the focus point, the picture would be useless to me. My face also looks rougher than it actually is. Geeze, its getting worse the more I look at this pic. Oh well.
This is actually the third self portrait taken in this chair, which is my computer desk chair. Hence the lighting to my right is from my computer monitors. I thought it put out a nice glow for a self portrait. I have a decently creative idea for my Week 31 shot, next week. I just hope everything works out and I can get what Im looking for. Man, I can't believe Im on week 30 already. These weeks are just rolling by!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Week 29
Well this is my Week 29 shot of my 52 Week self portrait project. I'll have to admit this turned out to be one of my top shots so far. Also it was up there creativity-wise. This photo is actually a single exposure. I took it by setting my camera on the tripod and on manual at f5.6 with a 6 second exposure, ISO 200. I then stood in 3 places holding my Canon 580EX II flash and manually firing it each time I moved to a different spot. It took me about 4 tries to get the look in each flash that I wanted. But when i saw this one I knew I had my shot of the week.
Well this is my Week 29 shot of my 52 Week self portrait project. I'll have to admit this turned out to be one of my top shots so far. Also it was up there creativity-wise. This photo is actually a single exposure. I took it by setting my camera on the tripod and on manual at f5.6 with a 6 second exposure, ISO 200. I then stood in 3 places holding my Canon 580EX II flash and manually firing it each time I moved to a different spot. It took me about 4 tries to get the look in each flash that I wanted. But when i saw this one I knew I had my shot of the week.
A Day at the Races
This past Saturday turned out to be a busy one! I packed up my photo gear, met up with my buddy Beau and headed down to watch our friend JB's kid (Hunter) race in a dirt bike cross country event. He was racing in the 65cc class, which I believe still lists him as a "Pee Wee" class rider. But they were still pretty fast. Hunters friend and fellow racer ended up taking 1st place, while Hunter managed to get into 4th place at the finish. Earning him a trophy for the ride home! Right before Hunters race was the really little guys, the 50cc class. These kids were so small, their helmets made them look like bubble heads. I shot many pictures at both races. Each race being 10 laps and lasting about 25 minutes, came home with somewhere around 600 pictures to go through! I started editing them and had most up before bedtime. You can find a few on my flickr gallery at www.flickr.com/thorpeland .
I was supposed to go shoot a womens roller derby match later that night. But after being in the sun all day I was exhausted. I showed, ate dinner and just wanted to lay around and watch TV. Drained. There's another roller derby match in a few weeks which I hope to go to as I think it would make for some great action shots.
This past Saturday turned out to be a busy one! I packed up my photo gear, met up with my buddy Beau and headed down to watch our friend JB's kid (Hunter) race in a dirt bike cross country event. He was racing in the 65cc class, which I believe still lists him as a "Pee Wee" class rider. But they were still pretty fast. Hunters friend and fellow racer ended up taking 1st place, while Hunter managed to get into 4th place at the finish. Earning him a trophy for the ride home! Right before Hunters race was the really little guys, the 50cc class. These kids were so small, their helmets made them look like bubble heads. I shot many pictures at both races. Each race being 10 laps and lasting about 25 minutes, came home with somewhere around 600 pictures to go through! I started editing them and had most up before bedtime. You can find a few on my flickr gallery at www.flickr.com/thorpeland .
I was supposed to go shoot a womens roller derby match later that night. But after being in the sun all day I was exhausted. I showed, ate dinner and just wanted to lay around and watch TV. Drained. There's another roller derby match in a few weeks which I hope to go to as I think it would make for some great action shots.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
North Texas State Fair
So with the NTSF starting last night, I was excited to give my new f2.8 lens a real test. A fair/rodeo is traditionally a very tough event to photograph because of the poor lighting and fast action. I got to the rodeo grounds just after it started and found a seat as close as I could to the arena. I mounted my 200mm lens, set the aperture to f2.8 and started out with ISO1600 in hopes of keeping grain to a minimum. After the first few shots it was clear to me I would need ISO3200 to get a decently bright exposure. Thank goodness the Canon 30D has decent low grain performance at high ISO. I can also fix it up in Photoshop during post processing with grain removal.
Now for those who know me, I am about as far from 'country western' as you can get. Sitting in the stands I felt like a round peg trying to get into a square hole. I was wearing cargo shorts, t-shirt and running shoes and I was surrounded by cowboy hats with cow manure covered cowboy boots. Oh well, I was out for some good action shots. Although I was reminded of where I was when the lady one row in front of me turned around to towards her cowboy friend and screamed, "gimme the Copenhagen!". Im sorry, I am just not used to seeing women as for/use chewing tobacco. Just odd. Anyhow the event was up and running and I started snapping away. I managed to get a few keepers, but it was a 15 to 1 bad/good ratio. Because of the low lighting my average shutter speed was around 1/60 to 1/80 of a sec. Which caused some unwanted motion blur. Overall a good evening for some unusual action shots.
So with the NTSF starting last night, I was excited to give my new f2.8 lens a real test. A fair/rodeo is traditionally a very tough event to photograph because of the poor lighting and fast action. I got to the rodeo grounds just after it started and found a seat as close as I could to the arena. I mounted my 200mm lens, set the aperture to f2.8 and started out with ISO1600 in hopes of keeping grain to a minimum. After the first few shots it was clear to me I would need ISO3200 to get a decently bright exposure. Thank goodness the Canon 30D has decent low grain performance at high ISO. I can also fix it up in Photoshop during post processing with grain removal.
Now for those who know me, I am about as far from 'country western' as you can get. Sitting in the stands I felt like a round peg trying to get into a square hole. I was wearing cargo shorts, t-shirt and running shoes and I was surrounded by cowboy hats with cow manure covered cowboy boots. Oh well, I was out for some good action shots. Although I was reminded of where I was when the lady one row in front of me turned around to towards her cowboy friend and screamed, "gimme the Copenhagen!". Im sorry, I am just not used to seeing women as for/use chewing tobacco. Just odd. Anyhow the event was up and running and I started snapping away. I managed to get a few keepers, but it was a 15 to 1 bad/good ratio. Because of the low lighting my average shutter speed was around 1/60 to 1/80 of a sec. Which caused some unwanted motion blur. Overall a good evening for some unusual action shots.
Monday, August 11, 2008
When Big Plans Fall Through
Week 27 of my 52 week project shot was really kind of anti-climactic for me. I had all these ideas to do for this weeks shot, but they all fell through. So there I sit, almost out of time for getting my shot posted for the week. I turned on all the lights in the kitchen, set the camera on the tripod and just looked at the 50mm and fired a few shots. I got this one which i see as a good SP of my strange looking face. haha I guess I'll have to save my "cool ideas" for next week. But I am proud of myself for not missing any weeks yet. Ive come close, posting some weeks shots in the last hours of Sunday night. I consider a self portrait week to be Monday morning through Sunday at midnight. Well now at Week 27 I am over half way through my 52 week project. What I thought would be very tough and frustrating has been fairly easy and pretty fun. Before this project started, I HATED being in front of the camera and was content being the unseen photographer. Now, ehh.... I don't mind it as much. Taking a self portrait gives me the control to always get a shot I like. Preventing me from looking like a total dork. Well... for the most part. Anyhow, 27 weeks down, 25 weeks to go. They are really flying by now!
Week 27 of my 52 week project shot was really kind of anti-climactic for me. I had all these ideas to do for this weeks shot, but they all fell through. So there I sit, almost out of time for getting my shot posted for the week. I turned on all the lights in the kitchen, set the camera on the tripod and just looked at the 50mm and fired a few shots. I got this one which i see as a good SP of my strange looking face. haha I guess I'll have to save my "cool ideas" for next week. But I am proud of myself for not missing any weeks yet. Ive come close, posting some weeks shots in the last hours of Sunday night. I consider a self portrait week to be Monday morning through Sunday at midnight. Well now at Week 27 I am over half way through my 52 week project. What I thought would be very tough and frustrating has been fairly easy and pretty fun. Before this project started, I HATED being in front of the camera and was content being the unseen photographer. Now, ehh.... I don't mind it as much. Taking a self portrait gives me the control to always get a shot I like. Preventing me from looking like a total dork. Well... for the most part. Anyhow, 27 weeks down, 25 weeks to go. They are really flying by now!
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Getting Explored!
I just checked Flickr Scout and found I now have 9 images which have made their Explore ranking at some point! Most are in the mid 100's to 400's but still. For those that do not know, Flickr has some secret formula for selecting what they consider the best 500 images each day out of the thousands and thousands uploaded. I used to think it was solely based on how many view the picture got and how many people "faved" the picture. But then one of my pics made Explore that had zero faves (people who saved it as a favorite) and very few views. So it kind of blew that theory out of the water. Either way im happy to see a few get in there. Its some type of photography goal to work towards and seeing a few get in there tells me im taking better pictures as time progresses. I suppose its a bit of a yard stick to judge how I've improved. I know I've gotten more creative with my shots, developed a better eye for composing a picture and massively increased my photoshop skills over what they were this time last year. I credit a lot of this to the 52 Week Project I started a few weeks back. Its really been a big help in getting me out with my camera, taking pics and trying new things. So, im up to 9 Explored images at this point. Hopefully more to come!
I just checked Flickr Scout and found I now have 9 images which have made their Explore ranking at some point! Most are in the mid 100's to 400's but still. For those that do not know, Flickr has some secret formula for selecting what they consider the best 500 images each day out of the thousands and thousands uploaded. I used to think it was solely based on how many view the picture got and how many people "faved" the picture. But then one of my pics made Explore that had zero faves (people who saved it as a favorite) and very few views. So it kind of blew that theory out of the water. Either way im happy to see a few get in there. Its some type of photography goal to work towards and seeing a few get in there tells me im taking better pictures as time progresses. I suppose its a bit of a yard stick to judge how I've improved. I know I've gotten more creative with my shots, developed a better eye for composing a picture and massively increased my photoshop skills over what they were this time last year. I credit a lot of this to the 52 Week Project I started a few weeks back. Its really been a big help in getting me out with my camera, taking pics and trying new things. So, im up to 9 Explored images at this point. Hopefully more to come!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sun Block
With my Tuesday night soccer season over for a few weeks, I took the evening to drive around some local back roads. I had success finding an interesting location for my last 52 Week shot, so I thought why not grab the camera and take advantage of the setting sun.
I drove down a country road for a couple miles and a gravel road to the right caught my eye. It was too late to make the turn so I kept going for a bit till I could turn around. I came back to the road and it was another gravel drive leading up to a natural gas pump station. There's a lot of those in this area of North Texas. But instead of the area being surrounded by crops, it was surrounded by a huge sunflower field. I immediately knew I had a nice find and needed to start snapping as the sun was dropping fast. I began walking through the sunflower field shooting randomly. It was as I turned around to work my way back out that I noticed this flower blocking the sun from my eyes. I snapped the shot and thought, "this one might be a keeper"! Just then i noticed almost every other flower around me was occupied by a large furry yellow jacket. Suddenly I felt panic flow through me. I ran from the field, jumped in my car, rolled up the windows and turn the air conditioning on (hey its like 100F here!). Bee's/Wasp/Hornets are one of my biggest fears. My cryptonite.
Hhmm... perhaps a future self portrait idea could be opening its doors here.
With my Tuesday night soccer season over for a few weeks, I took the evening to drive around some local back roads. I had success finding an interesting location for my last 52 Week shot, so I thought why not grab the camera and take advantage of the setting sun.
I drove down a country road for a couple miles and a gravel road to the right caught my eye. It was too late to make the turn so I kept going for a bit till I could turn around. I came back to the road and it was another gravel drive leading up to a natural gas pump station. There's a lot of those in this area of North Texas. But instead of the area being surrounded by crops, it was surrounded by a huge sunflower field. I immediately knew I had a nice find and needed to start snapping as the sun was dropping fast. I began walking through the sunflower field shooting randomly. It was as I turned around to work my way back out that I noticed this flower blocking the sun from my eyes. I snapped the shot and thought, "this one might be a keeper"! Just then i noticed almost every other flower around me was occupied by a large furry yellow jacket. Suddenly I felt panic flow through me. I ran from the field, jumped in my car, rolled up the windows and turn the air conditioning on (hey its like 100F here!). Bee's/Wasp/Hornets are one of my biggest fears. My cryptonite.
Hhmm... perhaps a future self portrait idea could be opening its doors here.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Solitude
This past Wednesday I set out to get off the main roads and find solitude. More specifically, find a remote...wide open location to get rural shots for my stock photography work.
I called up my friend Beau who lived in the area and headed out with my gear. It was about 7pm and we were about to hit that "magic hour" for some great agriculture type shots. Beau guided me down some back roads thinking a field like this would be what I wanted. As soon as i saw it, I said "perfect!". We pulled off the road, setup the tripod and camera. But as soon as I got setup, large clouds rolled in and totally blocked out the sun. Things became very gray and muted. That golden sunset lighting I wanted, was gone. Bummer. So rather than try to submit them to the stock agency, I toyed with them in Lightroom and Photoshop to give me at least some creative shots to post on my Flickr page.
This past Wednesday I set out to get off the main roads and find solitude. More specifically, find a remote...wide open location to get rural shots for my stock photography work.
I called up my friend Beau who lived in the area and headed out with my gear. It was about 7pm and we were about to hit that "magic hour" for some great agriculture type shots. Beau guided me down some back roads thinking a field like this would be what I wanted. As soon as i saw it, I said "perfect!". We pulled off the road, setup the tripod and camera. But as soon as I got setup, large clouds rolled in and totally blocked out the sun. Things became very gray and muted. That golden sunset lighting I wanted, was gone. Bummer. So rather than try to submit them to the stock agency, I toyed with them in Lightroom and Photoshop to give me at least some creative shots to post on my Flickr page.
Friday, July 25, 2008
I can't believe im almost to the half way point of my 52 Week Project already! Seems like just last week I was sitting in my backyard trying to figure out a self portrait that didn't make me look stupid for my first shot of the project. Well, im 25 pictures into it. I have some good, some bad and a few stand-outs. This weeks I feel is one of those stand outs. Which is funny because when I took this, I didn't really even consider it a usable, quality shot. It was one of the final snaps I took before the light got too dark and I had to pack it in. Im looking to my left, off camera at traffic on the nearby road to see who was slowing down to have a look at me. Although this place was pretty tucked away and hidden from the main road. They would have had to go very slow to see me down this little gravel road leading to a natural gas well in the middle of a Milo field.
A bit of info on the processing. In Lightroom, I cropped it into a bit of a movie-wide screen look. It just seemed right, given my expression and the location. I then gave it a slight vignetting to darken the outside, putting the focus on the subject.... me. After that I applied a Lomo filter preset. Which gave it that green-ish hue. I saved as a full sized TIFF file and exported it over to CS3. From there I gave it a light Smart Sharpen and then applied a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. I picked a light orange-ish brown color, which created that fire in the sky look behind me. As soon as I saw the result, I said... thats its, im done! Flatten layers, resize, save-as, shoot to Flickr.
A bit of info on the processing. In Lightroom, I cropped it into a bit of a movie-wide screen look. It just seemed right, given my expression and the location. I then gave it a slight vignetting to darken the outside, putting the focus on the subject.... me. After that I applied a Lomo filter preset. Which gave it that green-ish hue. I saved as a full sized TIFF file and exported it over to CS3. From there I gave it a light Smart Sharpen and then applied a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. I picked a light orange-ish brown color, which created that fire in the sky look behind me. As soon as I saw the result, I said... thats its, im done! Flatten layers, resize, save-as, shoot to Flickr.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Alive
For those who occasionally check back here, I am alive. Ive neglected my blog for quite sometime now. It's just that I've been so busy over at Flickr.com/thorpeland. I have gotten much more into photography the past year or so and Flickr is a much better tool for daily posting with photo's. Although I do plan to integrate this blog, my Flickr page and the original thorpeland.com in the coming months. I will be rebuilding my portal!!
Friday, November 09, 2007
Focus on Photography
For several years now I've considered photography a mild hobby. I took photography back in college, I enjoyed it, but I found developing film too time consuming and tedious. But I came away from that semester with some nice portfolio shots. After college I bought a Sony Cybershot DCS-50 and toted it everywhere I went. That little 2.1mp camera probably took somewhere around 15,000 pictures over the time I used it. I took it on vacations, took it to work, took it to hang out with friends. I was often called a "tourist" by my buddies because I snapped so many pictures. Digital camera's made photography fun again. I could immediately see the result and could easily share them online. This of course led to the creation of Thorpeland.com, my homepage. It was here I would post hundreds of photo's of my friends, family, hobbies and travel. Still, photography wasn't really an "art" to me. It was more a way of documenting my life and those in it. Which I supposed in a way is a form of art. Anyhow, after a few years of that I decided it was time to get a little more serious about my photo's. I wanted to learn about using a camera again and get caught up on the progress digital photography had made on true SLR camera's. I did my research and in 2004 purchased the Canon Digital Rebel (300D). This was a great into Digital SLR and fairly advanced for what it offered at the time. I quickly discovered how far digital photography had come. Techniques learned long ago in my college photo course began to come back to me as I learned how to make use of the camera's settings and abilities. A new door had been opened once again and this time I had a true "tool" to make use of.
I began to take ton's of photo's and create galleries online. The next year I entered a series of my work into a local photography contest and won 2nd place. This was encouraging and further deepened my photography interest. Then, in 2006, I hit a motivational wall. Just nothing in the part of the world I lived in motivated me in any way to take pictures. I put the camera down. I probably only took a few dozen pictures during the span of six months. Nothing felt worthy of taking pictures of or being creative over. I was just.... blah.
It wasn't until I went with Emily to her family reunion that I made myself take my Canon Rebel along and snap a few pics. I got a few good shots during that trip and began to feel the creative photo bug again. Except this time it was stronger! I re-visited my old Flickr account and started uploading. I purchased the no-upload-limit pro version and started building a sort of portfolio. Flickr is a great tool for photographers! You can view and study others work and is great for stirring creativity.
This sudden re-resurgence of interest in photography convinced me it was time to update my almost 4 year old Canon Rebel. I did my research again and this time settled on the Canon 30D. The 30D is pretty much Canon's entry camera into their professional line. It has most the technical features of the full professional cameras, only lacking the true full 35mm image sensor. Which was good enough for me right now. This camera retails for around $1100 but I was able to find a better deal and made the purchase! I also picked up a Canon 50mm f1.8 prime lens. After getting used to this new camera and lens and seeing it's potential, I wasted no time in booking a couple photo shoots. A couple posts on craigslist and I had shoots booked for that coming weekend! The first for a couple celebrating their 8th wedding anniversary and the second, that night, for a movie screening party in Dallas. Both shoots taught me something, I need better glass. So, back to the research lab.
I knew that Canon's best pro lenses are referred to as "L" lenses. The L standing for Luxury. And with luxury, comes the price. But, if I wanted to take my photography to the next level and possibly begin to pick up some side work I needed to consider an L lens. I finally settled on the Canon 24-105mm f4L lens. At around $1000, this is considered by many as a great 'walk around' lens that can also take very nice portraits or landscape shots. The best value for my money. A quick check of my financial resources and I made the purchase. This lens will really get a good workout this weekend as there are some events I'll be taking it to. Which leads this story up to where it's at now. Im now enjoying photography more than ever and I have the tools to really start to do something. If you'd like to visit my Collections, CLICK HERE to have a look!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The Amazing Z!
If I hadn't posted a picture already, this is Zita... our puppy. She's a one and a half year old heeler mix and is a very good puppy. She loves to play, run, bark, get a good petting and play tug of war. We take her to the local dog park often and on frequent walks in the neighborhood. Here, she sits with one of her favorite backyard toys... her broom head. Odd, yes. Zita, or "Z" as we often call her has also been nicknamed "Dogdini", an off-shoot of the great escape artist Houdini. Every time she finds a way to get out, we block it and she starts working on another method. I keep expecting to find a tunnel that goes under the house and comes out in the street. Or, a catapult built from her toys in the backyard. She's a smart one! But she's a great dog to have around!Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Wasp Lady
I witnessed the oddest thing last Monday. After work I drove up to my parents to help them with some stuff around the house. I get there and my dad says he would like me to use the weed wacker and edge around his barn. No problem, I think. So I get the weed eater out of my car and hike back to the barn. As soon as I start dealing out death to the weeds, I am faced with my arch enemy. My nemesis! My kryptonite! The dreaded North American Wasp! These territorial, aggressive little critters seem to know how much I fear them. Dozens of them are pouring in and out of the door to the barn! Flying in two's and three's, it was like the freakin Death Star! Little tie-fighters cruising in and out of their base station. Well my mom comes out there to keep me company and feed and water her horse. She walks right through the "river" of airborne wasp! She sees my distress and says, "You want me to just close the door?". Sure!, I say. So she closes the door and that's when things got bad. It was then I realized just how many wasp were depending on that door being open to get into the "base station". Suddenly I'm surrounded by literally hundreds of wasp!! They're swarming the doorway looking for a way to get in. My heart pounded, I began sweating profusely and started backing far from the barn. I'd never seen so many wasp in one place! That's when my mom opens the door back up and says something TO THE WASP, I will never forget. She walks right through the airborne horde saying, "Its ok, come on in... come on in.. I know its your evening and your bedtime.. its ok.. its your schedule.. you just ignore him... " WHAT??!! They're wasp!! And they've somehow become her pets and she thinks she "understands" them. I think my next trip out there will be to close that barn door, get the animals out and use a pesticide bomb to kill everyone of those winged spawns of Satan! I shall have my vengeance... oh yes I shall.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Beckham, Blogging and Viva Las Vegas!
Ok, it's mid summer and Ive been one lazy blogger. I know, I said I'd get better. Well I didn't. Now that doesn't mean I'm done with my blog. Far from it! I just need to start remembering to blog about stuff that happens.
So the latest buzz in the soccer world is all about David Beckham coming to play in the MLS. He recently had to sit out of the game here in Dallas because of his ankle. This event truly exposed all the bandwagon fans. The game was a sell out event. But when it was announced he wouldn't be playing because of the injury, only about 75% turned up in the stands. Some fans were even holding up Anti-Beckham signs! Clearly these are people who have never played soccer, or sports for that matter. They have no clue of the pain that comes with playing at a high level while injured. They have no clue that playing on such an ankle injury will only make healing up slower and could possibly make the injury much worse! They'd rather see Becks limp around the Frisco field in pain, waving to the crowd than see him in full form in a month, scoring goals ith his well known free kicks. Well the only thing I can say is, "go home trendy north dallas wanna-be soccer fans. You aren't needed here. You don't even know what to cheer for." Ok, on with the show.
Soon I'll be on a plane headed back to the desert. Las Vegas Nevada! Im going there with a few guys for my friend Gregg's bachelor party. It really should be a fun time. I like to play a little blackjack, play the slot machines, catch a show and walk around the Vegas strip. Im only there or a couple days and that's really enough. But it will be a nice change of scenery. Im really looking forward to it, although I will miss Emily and Zita while im gone. I'll call home to check in. I wonder if a dog can and will talk on the phone?
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Getting Back to Business
Since my knee injury scare around Christmas, I've been taking it easy and not playing much soccer. My "comeback" started 4 games ago. My first steps back onto the pitch were with my men's Tuesday night team. I knew I had to build some confidence back again in my knee and build my strength back in my lungs and legs. Being off from soccer for almost 4 months had turned me soft. I needed the time to heal up, but I could not keep in match condition.
I took the field that Tuesday night and played very cautious. Passed most the time, played more defense rather than striker. I don't think I even took one shot on goal. Which was fine with me. I just needed to get out there and see how things felt. And things were pretty good after that first game back. Very small amount of soreness the next morning. But I knew I was getting back from an injury. I was happy with my performance and to top it off, my team won that night.
The second test for my knee was the following Tuesday with my mens team again. This time I played with more confidence and played more aggressive. Still no goals this game, but I did get a few shots on goal which only by luck they did not go in for a score. I did discover though, my fakes, speed and first move on defenders was a step slower. I would perform a fake like I normally would and the defender would already be in the spot I was headed for to take away the ball. I could tell I wasn't quite ready to be a scorer again. Just a supporting roll. Which I was fine with that. My lungs felt stronger and my overall physical condition felt better. I knew my shot and moves would come back... in time. Although I played decent, we lost that one to a better team. But it was close.
It was time for a new and third test for comeback. My Friday night "A" division coed teams game. I played with more confidence and the knee felt the best yet to date. But I just couldn't find the back of the net. Lots of missed shots, I was always an inch or two off target. Frustrating! It didn't matter, we won BIG. I mean like 13-6. Which isn't abnormal for that team. We're very good. In the final 30 seconds of the match I did manage to put in a one-touch right foot shot from about 6 feet in front of the net, past a diving keeper. Nothing to celebrate over. I was just glad I didn't miss again. But, it was my first score since coming back. It was a start.
Tonights game was the fourth test so far. Men's league game against a Mexican team. I looked at their schedule and saw they had no wins yet this season. I don't put much into that. These teams usually play very well. They pass quickly and really work the ball around fast. They are also normally very aggressive on defense and can frustrate strikers by double and triple teaming players. From the start of the game though, I could tell we were the better team. We passed the ball very nicely, setting up combinations and many scoring chances. Finally one of our guys scored making it 1-0. They began attacking with more players now, desperate for a goal. Then, a few minutes later our same guys scores again! Two-zero! My knee so far was feeling great and I had created several scoring chance for my team and almost scored myself, once. The other team finally scored a goal making it 2-1 and they smelled a comeback. They were fired up and really attacking. I came onto the field and our midfielder played a high, long ball over my head to the end wall. I raced pass the defender and beat the on rushing goalie to it. I took a quick right footed shot from almost no angle and scored! It was a great feeling to score a meaningful goal, under pressure against a decent team. I was feeling fired up now and wanted to stay on the field a bit more. Five minutes later, I was glad I did. I had the ball at my feet with one defender in front of me. I did a quick left footed drag the ball inside and flick it to the outside and then a quick left foot low, hard shot and the ball beat the keeper on the near post for a very nice goal! This was a goal I'd be proud of even before my knee injury. I then subbed out and only got one more shift in before then end of the game. I took it easy and worked on some conditioning by running hard. We won the game 4-2 and I'm ready for Friday's coed game! I'm finally getting back to business!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Playing With HDR Photography
There's a fairly new technique emerging in the world of digital photography. Its known as HDR Photography. This stands for High Dynamic Range. Put simply HDR photography is a method of taking a series of shots, each at a different aperture setting, covering a large range of lighting values. Then, using special HDR software to combine the 3 to 8 shots of the scene to create a single photo which would be impossible for a digital camera to take in a single snap. It leaves you with a picture with no under exposed areas, no over exposed areas... perfect sharpness and lighting balance and a color depth rivaling the best single-photo shot's made.
Now that I've basically explained what HDR is, I did a basic demonstration using a software package called Photomatix. This is software specially designed to create HDR photo's. What you will find on the link below is a series of photo's. The first six small ones are each shot taken at aperture settings starting at -2 all the way up to +2. This creates extreme shadows to extreme brights. Then the final (7th) large image is the final HDR product. You'll see there is perfect lighting balance through the entire photo. Not something I could have done even if I spent time setting up a single shot to be perfectly lighted. The final photo has the software's watermark on it because it's still in trial mode. I have not yet purchased it. But so far I'm very impressed!
The HDR Frog Project Photo's
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Greatest. Game. Ever.
That game would be one known as Armed Assault. This first person shooter type game simulates being a soldier on a huge battlefield. You have the choice of many different types of aircraft and vehicles to explore and fight in. Half the fun of this game (sim) would be it's editor mode. This mode allows you to create any scenario you can imagine or come up with. I used the editor and some video capture software to create the video below. The game is already out in most of the world and is released in the U.S. on May 1st. Enjoy the sights and sounds of Armed Assault. A.K.A. - ArmA!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
A Quick Update
Ok, im in one of those lazy stages with my website and blog. Not that there is nothing happening in my life. There is. Just taking the time to sit down and write about it is the tough part. A quick run down of events since like ....... oh December.
Late December, early January:
My dad went in for a check up and they found a number of clogged up arteries and some problems with his heart. So he had to have triple heart bi-pass surgery then a couple smaller ones in the weeks after. He's still recovering, but getting stronger each week and getting his weight back. So that's good. Today, March 17th, is his Birthday. The whopping 72! That sounds old even to me! haha But he's in good spirits and just trying to get better and back on his feet full time.
Earlier this month my friends Roger and his sister Melisa came back from their contracting job in Kabul Afganistan. It was great to see them and hear all their stories. They are doing technical work over there, putting their lives in the States on hold to travel abroad and makes some serious money. Of course there are risks. Melisa tells me the building she lives in does not have a bathroom in it. So if they leave it to go to the restroom at night, they are not allowed to carry a flashlight. It attracts the attention of snipers in the surrounding hills. Oh how nice. Emily and I met up with Roger, Melisa and the rest of their family and friends over in Plano for a nice dinner. It was good times and I look forward to seeing them again.
Looking forward, I'm pretty excited. Emily and I booked and bought our next vacation. In November we're headed off to Italy! We'll spend a week traveling Rome, Venice, Pompeii, and Florence before returning home. Should be an awesome time and I'll return with a ton of great pictures.
More news on the family front. My sister Macey and her boyfriend Steve are getting married this summer. I believe its in June. I suppose it's in my best interest to find out.. eh?
On the home front, spring is quickly approaching so I've been busy getting the lawn back in shape. Exciting yes, I know. lol But hey, I dont want to be the only person on my street with a crappy lawn. We've also planted a new tree. He's in the backyard and taking to his new home nicely. Emily has named him after some spice, which I can't remember at the moment. lol
In the Thorpe World of Tech, the latest craze is a game called Armed Assault. This game is flat out the coolest military simulation I've ever played. The games world is massive and the graphics are great. Its good fun. Also, I picked up one of those new'ish Logitech G15 keyboards. Mainly targeted at gamers, this keyboard has lit-up key's, programmable macro keys, a flip up LCD screen that provides information about the current game and your system and has media control buttons built onto the face. So far, I love it.
My main website, www.thorpeland.com was down for a while because my stupid registrar screwed up. It took me about 8 emails and 2 phone calls to straighten out. But I think everything is back on track. If you ever visit my main site and it does not come up, don't worry it still there, just down temporarily.
On the sports front, I've been having to take time off of playing soccer. Which is killing me! Back in December, I turned to chase a guy during a game and I felt a wierd "click" feeling in my right knee. I did't think anything of it and kept playing. I played several more games before one night it was really feeling sore and the next morning very stiff. I decided to see a specialist. They did some test's and the doc said I might have a partial tear to my ACL. Not good! So he wanted to get an MRI done to be sure. I got that done and the results came back negative, no damage to the ACL. So he said to just take time off from soccer and don't rush back too quickly. So that's what I'm doing. I've been out for almost 2 months now since the injury. Im hoping to get back to playing in about another 3 weeks. I don't want it to re injure
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)