Becoming a Photographer

Stark Mill

2008-05-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

I took a trip to New England recently and took a walk around all the old mill buildings. I love the color of the brick against the blue sky as well as the green tones in the statue.

Piranhas

2008-05-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

This was really the only picture of fish that came out good cause they were still in the tank. The newer version of the camera I have has an aquarium function, I wonder how well it works. I'd like to figure out the best way to get good quality pics at an aquarium, I don't get to go too often so I can't practice.

Georgia Aquarium

2008-04-21T07:19:00.000-07:00

I went to the Georgia Aquarium over the weekend, this is a must see!!! Definitely a reason to vacation in Atlanta! It's also across from the Coca-Cola plant. But the aquarium, is the worlds largest and also has the worlds largest shark, the whale shark. The size of the tanks here are mesmerizing, they keep them so clean as well. It was kind of hard taking pictures of some of the fish cause they move so fast and my camera isn't the most capable of those types of pictures.

Lucky Oliver Shuts Down

2008-04-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

The stock photography site, Lucky Oliver has shut down. I was just starting to get into selling my photographs on their site. They had such a great looking site, with great photography and a nice setup. It's too bad. You can read a letter from the owner on their site here.

St. Marks Lighthouse

2008-03-31T09:08:00.001-07:00

I went to visit St. Marks Lighthouse over the weekend. It was so beautiful there, lots of undisturbed nature! Saw a bunch of gators as well. I loved how the reflection looked in the water of the lighthouse.

Petting Zoo

2008-03-25T06:35:00.000-07:00

I took this picture at the Central Florida Zoo. I love natural light! I am definitely not an expert yet with lighting indoors. I like how the light made the color of the barn stand out.

DIY Macro Studio

2008-03-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

So I found this post on Strobist that gives you information on how to build your own macro studio. I found it very helpful because I had been getting into using the macro function on my camera, but it seemed like every time I would take a picture it would come out grainy...I didn't have the best lighting and I am just learning about it. So I followed the directions, I already had all the materials needed and I set up shop. Sure enough my pictures came out much better. But I don't have the greatest lights, I'll need to get some more if I want to take pictures when it's dark out. I was relying on the natural light. I'll post up some pictures of what my studio looks like and the pictures I took from it.

Old Pool

2008-03-15T11:46:00.001-07:00

This pool was around in the 1800's it was apparently one of the first and only pools in the area. You can tell by the decay of the columns that it's pretty old. I just loved how this pool looked it took me a while to get a good shot, I tried all different angles and I thought this was the best one. As I started wandering around the pool area there were little things I saw to take pictures of such as the sticks above this picture. I think taking shots of the little details sort of start to tell the story of the big picture, I like finding these things.

COLOURlovers

2008-03-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

Every so often I find that when I design something it's really hard to come up with a nice color scheme. I'm not all that great at picking colors myself, I tend to wonder sometimes if I am color blind. I just came across this site called COLOURlovers, where you can upload a photo from the internet and it'll create different color pallettes from your photo, you can pick and change the ones that look the best. This is a good way to see what the colors look like together. You can save your pallette on the site for other's to view and make comments. It's also good to look at other people's pallette's (OPP) for inspiration. Here is a color pallette I created from a picture I took at the Ringling Museum. It's a cool tool to get inspiration for designing and to also analyze your photographs and see all the different colors.

Reflection Pool

2008-01-22T11:35:00.001-08:00

This place was too beautiful, especially this area I wondered off in. I loved how the pool looked and this bench so I wanted to get them in the same shot in an interesting way. As I looked at the bench some more I noticed the intricate shapes and decided to use this to frame the picture.

Maclay Gardens

2008-01-14T12:01:00.001-08:00

Maclay Gardens is absolutely beautiful! I felt like I was in Alice in Wonderland wondering through the gardens. This courtyard area was a surprise and was really fun to photograph. There are different flowers that bloom throughout the year so I will be making a trip back to take more pictures sometime. Also, I think it would look really cool to take pictures there on a foggy day, it would add eeriness to them.

Crops

2008-01-07T09:38:00.001-08:00

Sorry everyone, I've been MIA for a few months. I've been dealing with moving, but I am now finally settled. Hopefully I didn't loose any readers. This is a picture I took on a road trip to Georgia, I stopped at a farm stand for some boiled peanuts. I don't normally like boiled peanuts but they made them pretty good. The sky was a little overcast but I thought these rows of crops would make for a rather nice composition. I will be posting on her more often now, so keep looking back.

NH Capital

2007-11-27T19:45:00.000-08:00

NH capital building looking through birch trees.

I'm Selling a Sony Handycam DCR TRV950 on Ebay

2007-11-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

Anyone out there looking to buy a Sony Handycam DCR TRV950? I bought this 4 years ago thinking I'd use it but only did a few times to film my cat. This camera is still in great condition, check it out on ebay. I've moved onto still pictures.

New Portfolio Site

2007-10-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been mia for a few days, but I've been working on a new portfolio website to showcase my best photography and my print work. Please check it out here, I'm so proud I coded it all myself. Now hopefully I can get myself a job. Here is a screen shot of it.

Bird's Eye View

2007-10-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

I've submitted another picture to Jpg Magazine that could possibly be published in the next issue "Bird's Eye View" with the help of you guys! Click on the link below, you may have to sign up to vote, but it's worth it! There's a lot of great photography on this site. It's not all professional, which is what's so great about it. I took this picture on the top of the St. Augustine Lighthouse. You can see a shadow of the lighthouse in the center of the picture, which overlooks an inlet. There are some pretty cool ghost stories about this lighthouse that you can read here.

Old Fire House

2007-10-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

Supposedly this Fire Station is haunted. I think it looks pretty cool, with the old car out front it reminds me of Ghostbusters.

LuckyOliver

2007-10-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

I came across this micro stock photography site called LuckyOliver. I have been interested in selling my photography and have been running around my mind the idea of selling stock photography. I'm not too sure how successful you can be. It seems like you would have to submit hundreds of pictures and hope that people will buy them, because you get such a small profit. In this case you have to make $100 in order for them to mail you a check, it seems like a lot. I'm still weighing out the pros and cons. This site is worth checking out though, the design and layout is very nice and the photography is really good.

cre8Buzz

2007-10-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

So I joined this site called cre8Buzz about month ago, it's a community of talented people where you can let your creativity be seen and heard. It's great to get more exposure for you blog or any website you have. There are some really talented people on there right now. I've posted my photography and links to my sites and have noticed more traffic coming from there. In the photography community on cre8Buzz they started up a monthly photo assignment. A topic is chosen, you have a certain amount of time to post the photo and everyone makes comments on it. It's pretty fun, anyone who is creative and wants more exposure I would suggest checking it out.

Mask

2007-10-02T18:26:00.001-07:00

Baseball

2007-10-01T17:12:00.001-07:00

It rained today after I got home from work, around sunset the rain turned to a drizzle and there was the most beautiful color outside. So I went out and took a picture of this baseball that appeared in the yard a while ago. The color made for beautiful pictures, too bad it was still drizzling I would've scoped out the yard some more. I gotta take advantage of lighting like that, it's not too often that it happens. I didn't even do much to this picture in Photoshop other than adjusting levels slightly.

leaf

2007-09-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

This is such a huge leaf, you couldn't tell by the picture, I think the texture of it almost look like plastic. I brought this into Photoshop and did some adjustment layers on it to give it that look.

Typography

2007-09-27T18:56:00.001-07:00

I really like the art of typography, certain fonts and ornaments catch my eye. I'd like to take a series of photos all on typography.

Old Capital Building

2007-09-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Visited the capital of Florida this past weekend, for the first time. I always wondered why they chose that as the capital since it's not very central, but I guess at the time it was the closest city between St. Augustine and Pensacola. I really liked how the awnings looked so I wanted to emphasize that in this picture. The sun was just coming out from the clouds, looks like if I waited a little longer there would've been some defined shadows casting on the building from the awnings.

Garden

2007-09-21T16:35:00.001-07:00

Here's another shot of a statue at the Ringling Museum in the rose garden. I really liked the details in the hair and clothes from the back. Old statues have an eerie look to them, so I brought it into Photoshop and desaturated the picture a little.

A Snapshot A Day

2007-09-19T17:31:00.001-07:00

So I started my sister blog, A Snapshot A Day, two months ago and I wanted to give it a go for a little while before I mentioned it on here. My goal for this new blog is just another step in my venture of becoming a photographer. I plan on posting and new picture or at least taking a new picture a day to polish my skills. So far I think it has helped. There's been a few days where I have been MIA and didn't get to post a picture, I gotta get better at that, maybe learn how to make a new post from my phone. But, all in all I've been very good at taking pictures everyday. Please take a look at my new blog if you haven't already.

Mansion Statues

2007-09-19T17:24:00.001-07:00

The Ringling Museum was just a photographers playground! These statues were on the side of the mansion towards the back. I had been taking pictures of just the white statue and thought they were a little boring. I came across this statue in the foreground and decided to try and get both statues in the shot. After uploading this image on my computer and taking a look it almost looks like the white statue is scolding the darker one in the foreground, thought it made for an interesting composition.

Rose Garden

2007-09-18T16:40:00.001-07:00

These roses came from the garden at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. I like taking pictures of imperfect flowers because it just shows that nature isn't perfect just like humans. The wilting rose on the top gives off a sense of drama.

Inside the Ringling Mansion

2007-09-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

Inside the mansion you couldn't take photographs with a flash. Usually when I take indoor photographs if there is enough lighting I don't use the flash, so it was ok. A lot of my pictures came out blurry though, I was trying to move fast so I wouldn't be in the way.

Last blogger to tag me: Ronald Soo’s blog spot

Back of Mansion

2007-09-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

This place was so beautiful. There was so much to take in, so many pictures to take it was hard to decide what pictures to take. I was just taking as much as I could and coming up with compositions as I walked along. The mansion was so massive that trying to take a picture of it in one shot from the back was impossible. At the time I wasn't even thinking about taking a panoramic stitch.

Statue of David

2007-09-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

So I guess this Statue of Davis is a cast of the real one. The statue is pretty massive especially the hands! In the second picture of the art museum courtyard you can see the shadow of the statue in the grass. I like taking pictures like this, one of the subject and one of the shadow.

Ringling Museum

2007-09-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

So I went to the Ringling Museum over the weekend and took tons of photos. This is one of my favorites. I was snapping pictures of this cool looking gate and last minute I noticed this awesome shadow the gate was casting on the ground, so I moved around where I could see it the best and this shot came out.

Lake Winnipesaukee

2007-09-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

This is one of the tallest pictures I've taken. When I took the picture I was too close to the house to get from the canon to the top of the flag all in one shot. I took two shots not really thinking at the time that I could stitch them together. I realized this after I uploaded the pictures onto my computer. I took it into Photoshop placed the two pictures together, did levels to get the color to match on both and had to clone stamp out a rope that was blowing in the wind and didn't line up in both pictures. I'd like to do one of those panographies mentioned on Photojojo, where you take tons of pictures of the subject and later stitch all the photos together.

Psycho

2007-09-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

I always need to have my camera handy with this cat. I finally found the best spot to take a picture of him without so much moving around, the tub, he loves to lay down in there. This is his version of the Psycho shower scene. Well, I learned that putting the camera on the continuous shot mode and the pet setting, I'll come out with a few decent shots. That's when you can get those candid yawning shots.

All Star

2007-09-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Another shoe shot! One of my favorite pairs of shoes, they can definitely tell a story. I had many pairs of these shoes growing up. The shot was slightly grainy when I took it, since the shoe was a little grungy I decided to give it more of a grainy look.

aviator

2007-09-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

I've been on a glasses photo shoot kick lately. I guess you could say this is another one of my themes.

Spectacle

2007-09-08T19:03:00.001-07:00

Just an artsy photoshoot.

Uno

2007-09-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

My favorite card game of all time! I decided to come up with some themes to take pictures of, I figure it will give me more motivation to take pictures. So far two themes I have are games and candy. I'll be posting more pictures on here from some of these themes.

My Shadow

2007-09-05T17:40:00.001-07:00

With this picture I tried being a little artistic, including my shadow while taking the picture. I think sometimes with the right composition this can work pretty well.

Lone Shell

2007-09-05T17:35:00.001-07:00

I love everything about this photo except that the shell isn't sharp enough. I used the macro function on my camera, but at the beach it's hard to see in the view finder. Sometimes it's like shooting blind. I should get something to put over my view finder for some shade next time I'm at the beach.

Dunes

2007-09-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

I went to the beach this nice long three day weekend. It was so incredibly hot, it was kinda miserable. I took as many pictures as I could before my feet started burning up from the sand. I noticed that it's very hard taking pictures on the beach because everything looks so dark in your viewfinder, and sometimes the pictures come out with a shade of blue. This is something I'll have to keep practicing.

Cargo Pants

2007-08-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

I took this picture of cargo pants with the macro function on my Canon SD600 digital camera. With a SLR camera the detail could be much more defined but I am pretty pleased with the function on a point and shoot camera. It almost looks like it's corduroy but they are khaki.

Boston Beer Works

2007-08-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

I loved how this sign looked. I brought the picture into photoshop desaturated the color slightly I wanted the blue light to pop.

Gummy Worms

2007-08-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

I used to like gummy worms...I haven't had these in a long time, I was all excited to eat them but they just didn't taste like they used to. So I decided to do a candy photo shoot in my kitchen on the nice white counter with really bright overhead track lighting. I brought this into photoshop ran levels and changed the blending modes to make it not look so bright.

Red Balloon

2007-08-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

It was my boyfriend's birthday this past weekend. I decided to do a photo shoot with the balloons I gave him. I placed this balloon on a black chair and had some track lighting on it, in photoshop I ran levels and messed with the blending layers a little bit to give it a faded look.

Jpg Mag

2007-08-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

Here is another picture I submitted to Jpg Magazine for one of the upcoming themes, Tools of the Trade. Please click on the image below and vote for this picture to be published in the next issue of Jpg Magazine!

Downtown

2007-08-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

Out A Window

2007-08-22T17:15:00.001-07:00

Tools of the Trade

2007-08-21T18:26:00.001-07:00

So one of the new themes for JPG magazine to be voted on is called Tools of the Trade. Nearly every profession has a tool, the thing that helps get the job done. The tool I took a picture of is my mouse and the trade is graphic designer.

These Shoes Were Made For Walking

2007-08-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

So I did a photo shoot of my shoes. When I took drawing classes one of the first assignments was to make a drawing of your shoes, I decided to do the same with a camera. If shoes could talk they would plenty of stories of where they have been.

Flowers

2007-08-19T09:39:00.001-07:00

Florida signs

2007-08-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

Some cheesy touristy signs at a gas station in Florida. There really was a 13' gator in the gas station but it wasn't live. There were hundreds of baby gator souvenirs for sale, which was kinda sad and cruel.

redbubble

2007-08-15T18:23:00.001-07:00

This is one of the many photos of mine you can find and purchase on redbubble.com. I thought I'd give this site a shot, I've never sold any of my pictures before. It's a pretty cool site, a community like flickr except you can purchase the work. I wonder how many none artists there are that visit the page to purchase art. Well, I'll find out, it was free to join so I have nothing to loose. Let me know if you have suggestions on which pictures I should add to redbubble that I've posted here on my blog.

Park

2007-08-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

This is another shot of a park in Boston, between Fenway and the MFA. This picture was originally taken in color. Since it was a cloudy day I decided to make it black and white.

Last blogger to tag me: *my sweet escape*

Lake Massabesic

2007-08-13T16:02:00.001-07:00

Vote Now!

2007-08-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

I finally submitted a photo to JPG Magazine. Please click on the link below and vote for me! I would love to get a photo published. I discovered JPG Mag a few months ago, you submit one photo to a theme, they choose three themes to be in an issue members get to vote on which photo represents the theme most. It's a pretty cool site, with a community kind of like flickr. This is just one more step into becoming a photographer. This gives me inspiration to go out and practice more. The theme for this issue is Passport. I chose this picture of Lake Champlain, because it is one of my boyfriend's favorites out of the recent pictures I took of New England. Since New England is that special place I can't stop talking about I had to find a picture of it.

In Flight

2007-08-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

I love how the sky looks way up there. I'm glad I got these seats to I could take a picture of the wing. I wanted to try to take some of the ground but by the time you are allowed to use electronic devices we were up too high. I love traveling.

MBTA

2007-08-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

Of course a trip to Boston isn't complete without riding the T! I took pictures of T stops outside and underground.

Boston

2007-08-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

It was such a cloudy day in Boston the day I visited. I gave this picture a little bit of a sepia tone so the sky wouldn't look so washed out. I'm pleased with how the trees lined up and the shadows beneath them.

Stitch Assist Panoramic

2007-08-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

My camera has a stitch assist function for taking panoramic pictures, which is awesome! I just put this image together in Photoshop, it's not the perfect panoramic ever. Not all of the pictures lined up perfectly, and the lighting in the clouds was off slightly. I came across some good tips for taking panoramic shots.

One of the most important steps you can take is to make sure that you have turn off your auto white balance on your camera. This will ensure each image in the series has the same colour tone.
One of those cheap 'pocket' tripods can make a huge difference.

Best Place on Earth

2007-08-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

Fenway Park, of course! I was so happy to get a chance to tour Fenway while on vacation. It was so cool to see the park all empty, kinda eerie though. I love how these old seats look, they aren't all that comfy though, but worth it to see the Red Sox play. I decided to turn around while everyone was listening to the tour guide and take a snapshot from behind. These seats are a part of history.

Recent tagger:
Thoughts To Blogs

shadows

2007-08-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

I decided to go artsy with this photo. When my parents, boyfriend and I were looking over the pier I noticed our shadows on the ground and took a picture. It almost looks like the picture was pieced together. My parents dog is also in this shot, I'm not too sure where he is though.

Queen Anne

2007-08-03T18:16:00.000-07:00

Shots like this make me wish I had an SLR camera with a better macro lens.

Sunset

2007-08-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

Ah....It was so beautiful there. This is my second photo shoot during sunset. I love these colors, my favorite time of day to take pictures.

Right Before Sunset

2007-08-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

These shots were taken in Burlington, VT at Lake Champlain right before sunset.

another miniature

2007-07-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

This is my second attempt at faking a tilt-shift miniature. This is looking down from the top of the St. Augustine lighthouse. This technique only works on certain types of pictures, I think my first attempt worked a little better.

Last few people to tag me...
1. The Life of a School Bus Driver
2. the diary of the Pink & Brown Wedding

Burlington buildings

2007-07-30T16:50:00.001-07:00

The last one is my first attempt at faking a tilt-shift miniature. One of these days I would love to own an SLR camera with a tilt-shift lens.

Burlington

2007-07-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

I love how marquee's look, I always need to snap a picture when I see one.

More Lake Champlain

2007-07-28T20:03:00.001-07:00

Vermont

2007-07-28T19:40:00.001-07:00

A view of Lake Champlain through the trees. I tried taking this shot so you see the silhouettes in the foreground and the color of the grass, water and mountains in the background.

ray's

2007-07-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

rocks

2007-07-27T16:37:00.001-07:00

Trip

2007-07-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

I was away on vacation for a week taking tons of pictures up north. I will be posting them within the next few days. My first stop on my vacation was Hampton Beach. I love the rocky coastline. I made this picture black and white because the sky was washed out in the picture.

candy apples

2007-07-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

shadow

2007-07-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

This is the view from the top of the St. Augustine lighthouse. I noticed the shadow of the lighthouse on the trees and thought it would be a different shot to get. I tried focusing on the shadow as much as I could to make it a focal point of the picture.

St. Augustine Light 2

2007-07-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

St. Augustine Light

2007-07-16T16:32:00.000-07:00

I finally got away this weekend and went to St. Augustine, the oldest city in the US. I have a big fascination with lighthouses so of course I had to hit up the light house there. It is such a beautiful lighthouse. It was a little scary climbing those stairs though. I took this picture from the bottom looking up the stairwell. The weather outside was partly cloudy and it was near sunset so there wasn't too much light coming in. I only took a picture of the spiral staircase at this one angle, next time I should take note and shoot it at different angles.

grapes still life

2007-07-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

vanishing point

2007-07-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

My Dinner

2007-07-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

I took a picture of my dinner tonight, yuck can't believe I eat this stuff. I used the macro setting on my camera for this shot, it came out a little grainy. I need to figure out how to get it to not be so grainy. I really need to get out and take some more pictures. I've been finding things around the house to take pictures of in the meantime.

crayons

2007-07-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

I took this picture yesterday around sunset. I place the box of crayons near an open window to get the natural light. I think it came out a little too dark to see the real colors of the crayons. The sharpness could be a little better as well. I need to retake this shoot with better lighting and try to focus a little better. Overall I am pleased with the composition.

Practice

2007-07-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

So I haven't really gone outside anywhere lately, due to working so much and being tired when I'm not. So I've been practicing with objects around the house, mainly my cat. I took this picture inside where there was barely any light. I used my flash and put a white hand towel over the flash to diffuse it a little. I was pretty pleased with the results of the lighting, it made it so my subject wasn't washed out completely.

Fishing Off the Pier B&W

2007-07-08T12:32:00.001-07:00

I took some advice and made this picture b&w. I'm very pleased with the results. I never really know when a picture would look best in b&w. I should practice more with this color.

Blog Directory

Oleander

2007-07-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

I love taking photographs of nature, I learn new things. I had never seen or heard of these caterpillars before, I did a little research and was able to find the name of this species. I found this one and maybe a few weeks later there were tons of them, they crawled up under the roof around the doorway and formed this black sticky cocoon and died.

Black and White Oz

2007-07-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

In honor of the 4th

2007-07-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

Took this picture today, thought it would be appropriate to have the American flag as the background. I made that painting 5yrs ago, I'm not very political, politics make me mad that's why I made the painting.

NH Photo Contest

2007-06-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

I heard about this New Hampshire photography contest where you submit a picture of your favorite summer activity and you win a getaway for 4 anywhere in NH. Since I don't have any recent summer activity photos from NH I'll be taking some when I go to visit. New Hampshire is my favorite place to visit and is where I grew up. I try to make sure every year I visit the White Mountains. This contest will give me more inspiration to get out and take pictures. Hopefully I win!

Passion Flower

2007-06-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

So, I finally figured out the name of this flower, it is called the Passion Flower or Passiflora. I came across it looking through flickr and there is actually a group for these flowers. I'd say that these are my favorite flowers and I'd love to take more pictures of different kinds. Maybe I'll grow some in my yard. In this shot I was going for a detailed macro shot, unfortunately I only have a compact digital camera. I should bring along a tripod when taking macro shots like these so it will steady the camera and take a more crisp shot.

Bar picture part 2

2007-06-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

So I went back to the place where I took the picture of the bar. This time I took the same type of picture with a cigarette added to the ashtray. I think now it's easier to tell what that is in the foreground, and I think it makes it more interesting. I also added a different lightning effect. I need to start becoming aware of my surroundings when I take pictures. This weekend I didn't really do anything outdoors so I didn't take many pictures. It was an unproductive weekend.

The Missing Piece

2007-06-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

I went for a walk in the neighborhood the other day and came across puzzle pieces scattered all over the brick road. I thought it looked interesting and I have a fascination with puzzles, so I had to stop and take a picture. It had to be somewhat quick because it was in front of someone's driveway and they were just pulling in. I wish the puzzle piece came out a little sharper.

Fake Photography Contest

2007-06-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

So I just read this post on photoethnography.com after blogging about entering into Photography contests. I would probably be one of those amateur suckers that would enter into one of these contests and get scammed. I definitely would watch out for this though and always read the fine print! I did notice though as one blogger mentions in the comments about this post that there are Google ads for Photography contests in the blog, are they legit?

Leaves

2007-06-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

I took this picture at a park in Cocoa Beach a few years ago, I forget the name of it. It was a boardwalk through a nature preserve. I'm pretty pleased with how this picture came out, one of my first close up shots with my old Kodak digital camera.

Florida State Parks Photo Contest

2007-06-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

I was searching for the Blue Springs State Park, because I hear they have manatees and came across this photography contest. I've been trying to keep my eyes open for photography contests, I think it would be a great thing to look forward to. It'll give me more reason to get out and improve on my photography skills and just get out in general. As well as great exposure if my photo gets picked. This contest is monthly and yearly, the yearly contest prize is for a 2 night stay at a park cabin of your choice through Reserve America. Pretty cool! I love the outdoors. I better get going and take some pictures at a park in FL. I'll post them here for you to see when I take them.

JPG Mag

2007-06-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

There is this site called jpgmag.com, it's kind of like a community like flickr where you can upload your photos. Only you can't make comments. JPG Magazine picks three themes per issue, you can upload one photo per theme and members can vote if the photo should be published. Like they say on their site it's for people who love imagemaking without attitude. You don't have to be a professional photographer, nor do you have to get all technical with your descriptions. It's perfect for photographers like me! They also don't want photos that have been overly modified in Photoshop. I've uploaded a few pictures so far, none of them are up for voting yet. But check them out, join up add me as a favorite.

Bar

2007-06-18T16:53:00.001-07:00

This was taken when I went out with some friends. A few weeks ago I wanted to take a picture of the bottles behind the bar, but there were too many people at the bar to get just the bottles. This time I had enough space to get them. I set my camera on the bar right in front of an ashtray. I wanted the ashtray to be out of focus and the bottles in focus. I like how the picture came out except I don't think everyone can tell that in the foreground is an ashtray. Maybe if there was a cigarette in there you'd be able to tell. Next time!

Jetty

2007-06-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

I took this picture at Sebastian Inlet. There was a person standing to the left, I didn't really want them in the picture so I cropped them out with Photoshop, but you can still see their shadow. I guess I could've used the clone stamp tool, but I'd rather look at my mistakes and next time try to wait until the person is out of the way to take the picture.

Technorati Profile

Red Flower

2007-06-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what type of flower this is. It was in my neighbors yard, I guess I could just ask but I never see them. I wanted to take a picture of this at a different angle and it came out like this. I didn't know the ant was on there until I uploaded the picture to my computer. I wish I had known it was there, otherwise I would've made it more prominent. Taking photographs in the nature I need to be more aware of these things. Next time. Again I wish I had the option to add a macro lens to my camera.

Fishing Off the Pier

2007-06-12T18:08:00.001-07:00

There were tons of people fishing off this pier. I was walking by this fishing pole and quickly snapped a picture before the owner came back. I tried lining up the shot and making an interesting composition as fast as I could.

Hermit Crab

2007-06-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hermit crab at Sebastian Inlet, FL. I took this picture using the macro function on my camera. I love this function, I really like taking close up pictures. I long to get a digital SLR camera with a nicer macro lens. I always try to bring along my camera wherever I go, I try to make plans to go to a park or be outside over the weekend, the only time I really get to take pictures. This past weekend I was unprepared. I didn't charge the camera battery and was only able to take a few pictures before it died. I need to figure out if there is anyway to view how much battery life is left on my camera.

My Process of Becoming a Great Photographer

2007-06-11T18:38:00.001-07:00

I wanted to start this blog to show my process and progress of becoming a great photographer and possibly professional. This venture all started when my boyfriend got me a brand new Canon PowerShot SD600 for Christmas this past year and when I discovered flickr. I always liked to take pictures with disposable cameras and my very first Kodak digital camera I got 5 years ago. I probably joined flickr the beginning of this year, to post pictures of the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Manchester, NH. I did a search on flickr for this house and couldn't find much, so I thought I'd share mine. Then I found the groups on flickr and realized there was a whole community of people sharing photos and making comments. So then I added more pictures, made comments and received comments. This just made me want to learn more.

Well, my interest in photography actually started way before this past Christmas. I've always been interested in art. I have loved drawing and painting ever since I was little and could do those things. Throughout High School and College I focused on fine art and graphic design. I remember the first time I sparked an interest in photography, at my High School they had a dark room but only kids who already knew how to work the dark room could use it. I thought it would be interesting to learn, but put it past me and focused on painting. I also thought that photography seemed a lot easier than hand drawing your subject and that painters were much superior. Was I wrong!

So now here I am with a compact digital camera wanting to learn how to become a great photographer.