Christopher's PhotoBlog

Spiders

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

I found a plethora of spiders last night. These shots aren't the clearest as I was forced to hold the camera in odd positions to get the shots. However, I think you will enjoy them. That is... if you like spiders:

If this one had been a bit sharper, it would have been a prize picture:

I liked the following because of the location of the web and the fact that this spider is fat from being in such a good location to catch prey - right below a light where the bugs fly at night!

Cheers!

Christopher

Rainy Day Photos

2012-01-25T12:27:00.000-08:00

An overcast shot of the U.S. Flag followed by two pictures of raindrops on windows:

Cheers!

Christopher

Downtown Opelika

2012-01-24T12:27:00.000-08:00

This set of shots come from downtown Opelika, with the exception of this first one, which was taken from my office window:

These next two shots are of the courthouse. I think these turned out particularly well:

This next shot was an interesting shot of vines growing up the side of an old building. The colors of the bricks, the winter-time lack of foliage on the vines, and the old feel to it makes it an interesting shot:

And last, but not least, is what is almost my favorite shot of the day besides a slight flaw as the sun refracts off of the quartzite in the rock. The 'rock on sidewalk' shot:

Have a great day!

Christopher

Outside!

2012-01-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

My day job has me indoors from dawn til dusk these days. Here are a few shots outside recently on some time off. This first one is from the banister in front of my house. I like the shadow off of the nail head and the ridges in the wood that this angle really brings out:

This next shot of a dandelion makes it obvious that sometimes even weeds can be beautiful:

Lastly, I like the way the sun illuminates this cobweb. Notice the insect wing caught in it:

Have a great day!

Christopher

Cup and Leather Belt

2012-01-22T13:32:00.000-08:00

Continuing on with the light-tent effect stills, here is an elegant shot of a simple coffee mug:

Here are two of a leather belt. I'm still working on toning down the shadows with this technique, however, I actually liked the shadows in these next two shots. In one the belt is cut off to the left - a big no-no unless you are doing this intentionally - which I wasn't. However, I still like them. I'm also noticing that my reflection and that of my camera appears in a number of these shots. Details, details....

I really like the texture of both the belt and the shadows that this next photo brings out:

Have a great day!

Christopher.

Glasses

2012-01-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

I've recently been reading the book Low Cost High Impact Photography by Steve Johnson on my kindle. For all of you new photographers out there, it is a steal at 99 cents. One of the techniques I'm learning from the book is how to take quality still shots with a light-tent effect (without the light tent cost). Here are a few shots of some glass cups that I took using this setup. I'll also include some shots of my water bottle as well:

I added some blue tint to this shot, which was a nice touch:

Here are the shots of the water bottle. I like several things about this first one. The off-center, off-balance feel it gives, the shadow is nice, and the angle of the shot making it appear that it is smaller at the bottom than it actually is:

This one is straight-on:

Dawn at 60 MPH

2012-01-20T13:17:00.000-08:00

These two photos were taken at sunrise while on my way to work, thus the out-of-focus landscape. I still think they came out nice though, especially since I was driving when I took them!

Plants and Asphalt

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

The following series of pictures documents some of the plants that are growing in the cracks in my driveway. It's amazing the beauty in some of these shots that were taken using a macro setting on my Kodak M577:

I really like the overlapping tendrils of the leaves in this next shot. Also, look at the rocks! Who would think to look this closely at asphalt and find something beautiful!

Notice the plant on the left. It is the same plant as is featured in the photo above:

Notice the small hairs on the leaves and the way the light plays off the leaves:

This one is my favorite. The detail on the pine needles, the rock in the middle contrasting the shot are great. I also like the detail of the leaf edges on this plant. Yes, this plant was growing out of a crack in the asphalt.

Next Pic:

Cheers!

Christopher.

Auburn University at Night

2012-01-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

These two photos were taken on the Auburn University campus. I'm still learning my way around with my new camera. I cleaned up these a bit using Picasa - which I am also very new at using. This first one is of the famous Samford Hall:

The one below is another building on campus, but I'm not certain the name of it. I like the haunted-house style illumination. Not the best shot in the world, but I like it:

Cheers!

Christopher

The Ubiquitous Mouse

2012-01-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

In this series of photographs I've captured some shots of the ubiquitous mouse - not the furry kind, the computer kind. Years ago I stopped using the push-around variety of mouse as my primary mouse because of CTS symptoms. I switched to the roller-ball mouse and virtually eliminated the CTS symptoms. At any rate, here are some hopefully interesting images of ...the mouse (or parts of it any way) :

In this first one, I inverted the colors for an interesting result:

Here's the pre-inverted picture:

Now for some interesting shots of the mouse ball itself:

An inverted picture of the same:

And finally, a black and white perspective:

Have a great day!

Christopher.

Pine Cones and Giraffes

2012-01-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

I love nature. Nature photography has long been one of my undeclared hobbies. One of my only regrets about switching from the real Christmas trees to the artificial ones is that I no longer get to smell the pine tree scent in the house. One of the many things about the real trees I don't miss is all of the pine sap on the Christmas presents - ugh! I remember one year the sap got all over the presents and hundreds of baby spiders infesting the tree got stuck in the sap. Of course you can buy the pine scent in a can these days...but there's nothing like the real thing. Once again in this picture - more black and white. I think it brings out the texture in a unique way.

This next photo is a black and white of a wooden giraffe statuette that I have on my desk. I have received more positive comments about this item than anything else in my office:

Plant on pedestal and problems by-passing the Kodak easyshare software

2012-01-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

I like this black and white photo I took last night. I was bored sitting around in the apartment and started looking around for something to photograph. Several things I like about this photograph is the way the black and white aspect highlights the shadows as well as the light. The elegant and simple column progressing to the complex light and shadow combinations of the potted plant make it interesting from this perspective. The white background and dark molding at the bottom accentuate this aspect of the photograph. Another perspective is below:

This one I like because you can actually see the design on the vase and a little bit more of the detail at the top of the column.

I'm still getting to know my camera. The more I play around with it the more impressed I am with the quality of this inexpensive camera. It was a real bear to bypass the Kodak Easyshare software and load the pictures directly to my hard drive from the camera. For those of you with one of the point-and-shoot Koday Easyshare cameras, here are two methods of doing this on Windows XP:

1) From the camera touchscreen, select the settings icon.
2) Scroll down 'computer connection' and select 'other application'
3) Connect the camera to the computer.
4) The connect camera wizard starts and enables you to select where to save your photos.

The second method:

1) From the camera touchscreen, select the settings icon.
2) Scroll down 'computer connection' and select 'other application'
3) Connect the camera to the computer.
4) Open the Device Manager of the computer.
a. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties.
b. Click the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
5) Click the plus (+) in front of Imaging Devices or Universal Serial Bus Controllers.
6) Check if the camera name or model number is listed. If listed, double-click on it and then click the Driver tab and then Update Driver.
7) Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced), and click Next.
8) Select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install, and click Next.
9) Select Digital Still Camera, and click on Next.
10) Click on Finish.
11) Double-click on My Computer.
12) Open the drive letter the pertains to the camera.
13) Open the DCIM folder.
14) Copy the picture files to another location of your choice.

Rust

2012-01-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

Rust. It's what happens when something metal begins to decay. I'm no expert on rust, but taking this picture reminded me of the fact that people rust too. I'm not talking about getting older and the aging process. Maybe we aren't as tolerant of others as we used to be. Maybe we never WERE tolerant and/or kind to others. Maybe we don't give 100% on the job anymore like we used to. Maybe we're just tired of the same-ole same-ole. Whether we degrade over time or our faults have simply become more pronounced over our lifetimes, we all have the rusty places, imperfections that others experience and see sometimes all too clearly.

We all have faults - rust if you will. Maybe my rust is different than yours, but its still rust. My point I would like to make today is that just because we as humans have faults and aren't perfect, doesn't mean we don't have good points too. Sometimes all we can see are our faults, our mistakes, the things we have done to screw up. Sometimes we forget that just like this rusty screw that is still doing its job, that we are still useful, we are fulfilling or can fulfill our purpose - even though we may be rusty and no-longer bright and shiny.

You see, this rusted piece of metal in the pictures above is actually a hinge that is helping to hold up a door. Without this rusted piece of metal and another hinge just like it, this door would fall down. It's the door to a bathroom - a very useful place to have a door. Sometimes, like in the first picture, all someone else sees as they focus on one small area of our lives is a rusted piece of metal that they think is useless. They forget to look at the big picture and therefore don't come to an accurate conclusion about who we are and how valuable we are as a whole person - even though we have a few rusty spots.

As you go about your life today, remember that whatever faults you may have, you are still a valuable human being with a purpose and with positive potential. Don't let your mistakes - your rust - define you. Rise above the rust and do what you can to help others. After all, you don't see this hinge complaining about it's rust do you? It simply continues to hang in there. You hang in there too and so will I.

A fellow rusty hinge,

Christopher

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Inaugural post

2012-01-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

Hello. This is the inaugural post on my new photoblog. This is me above in my office standing by one of my favorite paintings.

I'm experimenting with the black and white settings on my new camera and thought this was an interesting shot of a lamp with a fruit design on it. I'm using a Kodak Easyshare M577 - a great little camera for under $100.

It was soooo cold this morning! However, it did give me an opportunity to take a few shots of the ice crystals that formed on my car:

Here's the view from my office window. I particularly like the extended exposure affect of the tail-lights on the cars in this photo:

I experimented with the panoramic feature on my new camera and came out with the following picture of the same scene. It's goofy, but cool at the same time:

I intended for this first post to be a bit more introspective than it has been. One thing I am discovering about photography is that it helps me slow down and actually observe things that I normally take for granted, like the lock on my filing cabinet for instance. I've never really paid much attention to it, but now I've taken a few minutes just to think about it and photograph it. Taking time to actually enjoy what was formerly just a piece of office furniture...there's something to this photography thing.

Here's looking forward to a great year of posting my photos on this blog.

Enjoy!

Christopher.