Saturday Market / Occupy Eugene

Went down to the Saturday Market today, to do a bit of street photography, and came across the beginnings of an Occupy Everywhere style protest. A lot of cool people, with cool signs and a message. The Oregonian says there were about 2000 people in attendance, which is pretty big for a town this small. Got a few shots i liked, there were a ton of other photographers around, so I'm sure it's well documented. Good times.

Click here to see more.

camera projector background

I found this article the other day online about modifying an old film camera into being a type of flash-powered projector. A bit of work destroying an old camera I had laying around, and it was done. It's interesting, I got slightly different results..... that lighting pattern behind me there is the front lens of my flash, projected up on the wall. A fun project, and all it took was one destroyed camera.

Natural Light Nature

i've always found natural light nature shots to be kinda cliche and a bit boring.... i guess i just haven't found a way to put my stamp on it yet. i really just look at it as a way to try and make an image as interesting as possible, while limiting yourself to no lighting, and very few camera tricks or techniques. it's a bit of a technical challenge, but sometimes it all works together correctly, and you wind up with a great image or two.

click on if you want to see more....

Reprocessing old shots

i've been going back through old shots and reworking them w' new techniques and approaches. it's interesting to see how much a successful picture relies on the post processing and editing involved. mediocre shots can become interesting images when the processing supports the image, rather than detracting from it......

more after the jump.

 

Backyard Spiderweb

thinking about starting a "found architecture" project. looking for designed patterns whereever i can find them, and then photographing them. this one was in our backyard, i spritzed it with water to reveal the pattern a bit more, much to the chagrin of the architect..... but i like the effect.

yousuf karsh style

i've been studying the greats of photography, and worked my way up to yousuf karsh. he had an amazing style, especially for having been working back in the '40s and '50s.

doing a karsh style image is a pretty big technical challenge. there's a lot of lights in play, and a lot of minute adjustments needed to get just the right angle on everything. the specular reflections on the skin is especially important and difficult to achieve.

but all told it's a very rewarding style. this is only my first attempt, i plan to explore this approach much more thoroughly in the future, it seems to be very rich with possibilities.

Whiteaker Block Party Pictures

had a little bit too good of a time.

I went to the Whiteaker Block Party today, and got a few shots off before my camera battery ran out. For those of you not familiar with Eugene culture, the Whiteaker is the most Eugene of the neighborhoods, and they throw a free block party every year. Block off some streets, a bunch of bands and djs play, and everyone has a good time. Click through for more pictures.

got his eye on the door

Ninkasi's Food Cart Cook-off

I attended the 2nd annual Ninkasi Food Cart Cook-off last Sunday, and was there to witness Devour take the First Place Prize as voted for by the attendees. I got a lot of good crowd shots, and was able to document some of the more colorful individuals in attendance. Click through for more pictures.

Spencer's Butte, Eugene Oregon

just a quick handheld hdr shot. thought it came out kinda nice.

Bite of Eugene - Street Photography

dude loves apples.

Took my camera out yesterday to the "Bite of Eugene" festival extravaganza yesterday. I really just walked around and tried to take pictures of interesting looking people before the light faded and things got too dark to shoot well. Got a few good shots, click through to see 'em all.

Compositing Away

Starting to work on more concept based stuff, Trying to get to a point where doing a composite and edit is second nature like lighting and shooting has become. This is just a quick idea that a guy might try to fly without having the proper resources or know-how. Doesn't usually end well.

now that's a one light setup!

i went to a workshop last year put on by zack arias.... he's a big proponent of the "one light" aesthetic, where you keep your lighting setup very simple.... one light source, and that's it. while i respect that in a purist sense, i almost always want to set up a light for the subject, a light for the background, a rim light, an uplight...... the list goes on and on.

so for this post, i wanted to see how far i can get to that goal using only one light. i used dean collin's trick of using a translucent panel with a light behind it as my main, and then manipulating the raw light that goes past the panel to provide my rim and fill.

it doesn't take any longer to set up than setting up three or four lights would.... the sacrifice you make comes in the form of being able to easily adjust the ratios of the lights against each other.... if i wanted to make the background darker, say, or the uplight or rim light stronger, it would involve changing the relative distances to the lightsource, or putting up thicker material as a scrim, or moving farther away or closer to the background. it's not impossible, it just requires a lot more creativity in your approach.

i'd like to do a project where i recreate all my favorite lighting setups with only one light.... it would definitely be a challenge. i'd have to buy a lot more mirrors and reflectors and goboes.

-tim feb'11

chris, erika, and slayden

a couple of pictures i took last october, of chris erika and slayden. i was really happy with how they came out. they have one of the happiest babies (slayden) i've ever met. it was a fun shoot.

tones

i've been trying to preserve tonal range and qualities in my post processing work lately, and i feel like with these i'm getting closer to what i want to see. a lot of good tones and colors in the backgrounds, and some decent stuff in the foreground. i have no idea what that pink thing is. alien seed pod? weird cabbage? super mario brothers level boss? seriously. no idea.