Saturday, July 4, 2009
Fourth of July Over Santa Barbara

We usually try to avoid the crowds when there is some sort of celebration in town. (The exception being the Solstice Parade.) This year however, I was looking for a nice Independence Day Photograph for a project I'm working on. The thing is I would not really have been interested in the normal looking-up-from-the-crowd shot anyway. So earlier in the day we spent some time scoping out a nice angle that would include the Wharf and a more interesting Santa Barbara view and this is the result. It always helps to scout your locations ahead of time.

You can click on the main image for a larger view.

Happy Independence Day!! And thank you to all the brave people in uniform who make this day possible.

Friday, December 15, 2006
Ignition

Today I needed some steam for an image in an ad that was due at 5pm. Fortunately, I remembered my match lighting experiments. A little adjustment in Photoshop and this shot made some great steam.

This brings up an interesting point though. One of the most important things you realize quickly when working as a photographer is the need for organization. If you can't find the image you know you have somewhere you can't sell it very easily. I figure I have taken 10,000 photos in the last year. 8,700 of them on my new digital camera. Other than that I have enough slides to fill up quite a few file boxes and drawers. The ones I have scanned take up 110 DVDs. I do OK in the digital world with my strange little organizational systems, but it's time for some better tools.

Personally, I am still looking for the right software to do the job. I've tried a couple demos that were not inspiring enough to make me part with my money. Perhaps a new Mac with Apple's interesting tools would do the trick! I wonder if Santa is feeling particularly generous this year? :-D

Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Match Smoke

Had to put the new camera through it's paces. I started trying to get the match lighting, but the best part of this turned out to be the swirling smoke. Which in itself was a challenge. The best shots were backlit from the right side shooting against a dark corner of the room.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Flaming Petals

My best friend loves to paint watercolors. She started learning about watercolors with the desire to paint a bird of paradise and she has made several beautiful images. Now she has been eying Dahlias. She has been looking for a good model to inspire her so I have been grabbing shots of them whenever I see them. I can't wait to see the masterpiece she creates!

Apparently these are the National Flower of Mexico. The mountains of Guatemala and Mexico are their ancestral home. Must be a beautiful place!!

There are quite a few different kinds, this seems to be some sort of "Cactus Dahlia"

• American Dahlia Society
  Dahlia Basics
• Cal's Dahlia Page
  Lots of Dahlia Pictures and classifications