New Camera in an Old Place

While the rest of New Orleans was partying it up for Mardi Gras, I was on the other side of the Mississippi working on my photography. For this shoot I was in downtown Gretna, Louisiana; close to the Mississippi River. Most of my shots were taken either on the levee, the old railroad, or the town square. With it being Sunday, and with Mardi Gras going on, the place was completely empty. Aside from a few old couples enjoying the sunset, I was completely alone out there. 

For most of this shoot I felt a little rushed, with it being late in the afternoon and all. It was sort of like a challenge. With the sun setting I only had a little bit of time to shoot. You get better pictures at sunset but at the same time you only have a small window to get those great shots. It's like sacrificing beauty for time. That make sense?

 

Anyway for these blog posts I wanted to start focusing on the things I learned during these shooting projects. That way rookies like me can learn from my experiences and hopefully share things with me. 

I think I learned three things from this trip:

1.) You get good shots at either sunrise or sunset. So learn to wake up early, and watch how late it's getting.
2.) Don't be afraid to shoot in front of people. Most likely they don't even care.
3.) Take your time and wait for the shot. (I found that most of the shots I planned and waited for came out better as opposed to the ones I just snapped away at.)


Oh and make due with what you have. You don't have to have the most expensive camera or gear to take good shots. Just go out with what you got and start learning. Sure having new stuff is nice, but I think you'll become better if you can push what you have to its limits.

  I feel that the picture on the left is one of the best shots I have ever taken. This little dock area was gated off and I was in an area of the ferry terminal that was somewhat restricted. I got this shot by sticking my lens through a chain link gate.








This is one of the couples I was talking about earlier. They just seemed to be enjoying the sunset together. I thought about asking them if I could take a picture but then I thought "hey they're in public, it's ok"
So I took a few when they weren't looking.

These three came out a lot better than expected. I found a little mini levee in the first one which I thought was pretty cool. I was tempted to walk across but I didn't want to risk it. The second one is pretty plain. A family flying their kites nearby made me think of love, so that's what I ended up writing. It was either that or "I farted". Yeah the one I chose came out better.
And the last one, well what can I say. Oh yeah I can say AMERICA F**K YEAH!!!  *:world police song in background:* 

                                         (>'.')>
                                         Look at that!

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I would have liked to have gone to Mardi Gras with my camera but I'm not quite comfortable taking my camera into such large crowds just yet. It was weird knowing that just on the other side of that river; people were experiencing the most wonderful and unique part of New Orleans. And there were women flashing their boobies. lol "HEY! THERE'LL BE NONE OF THAT HERE!" ....................boobies lol    ;)

Chicks Dig Giant Robots

So I was laying down the other day thinking of things I could shoot around my house when suddenly it hit me; there was a box of old toys just laying there in my garage! I woke up early the next morning grabbed that box and headed outside.

Have you ever watched that anime show Gundam Wing? Well yeah I used to be crazy about that show. I used to have a collection of Gundam action figures that apparently I never got rid of. Unfortunately each one of those little toys came with about 30 pieces each. It took me an hour just to dig through the box of arms and legs to find each individual piece missing. In the end I came up with these four bad-ass robots, and a few other surprises that I thought came out quite funny.


I was kinda disappointment because I had such cool Gundams yet I could only find half of their body's. There was one battle-scarred Gundam I had that I was really looking forward to shooting, but I only found his head, one of his arms......... and his left foot. 
 But on the bright side I did find Batman and Robin, and at the very bottom of the pile was Clark Kent himself. They turned out to be the highlight of this shoot!


 Ch-Check em out:


Haha, this one gets to me. If only I would've added captions ==========>


 




 I also found a few micro machines and planes and whatnot. With this shoot I really tried to use some of the built-in effects that comes with the T3i. In these (and with most of the pic's of Gundams) I used the macro effect. I was hoping that I could make something really small seem kinda big. But I think they came out good anyway.

 


 
















 This one's pretty funny too. 
"Skateboarding Batman"
Hey who knows maybe Batman does like to skateboard when he's not punching the crap out of badguys and doing crazy Batman stuff.








 

  

And of course the motorcycle. I like this one a lot because at first glance you can't really tell it's a toy motorcycle. Sure it's a little banged up but I love it. And that's mostly because I have an extreme love for motorcycles.

 Here's the rest of the goods: 
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/76283707@N05/sets/72157629325360775/


                                                                                                                      

 

Batman Says Bye!

Back Woods Canal Trip

Hello again. Just posting some more shots that I took last week. I've realized lately that every time I take my camera out I learn something new. Like every day with it is a new experience; just trying to capture life's beauty. 

With this shoot I learned that even though things may appear messy and dirty, there's still a chance to be creative with what you have. 


There's a canal by my house that leads straight back into the surrounding woods. I've seen people riding bikes and four-wheelers there countless times. So I decided to take my camera and check it out for myself. I hopped on my bike and followed the canal about a half mile into the woods; photographing at every little opportunity.

I must admit I was a little scared to go back there at first. Living so close to the swamps of Louisiana I felt a little uneasy peddling my bike along the canal. I was cautious when trekking the woods as I had a fear of being attacked by an alligator.....or a deer......or a possum.....or a rabid raccoon or something. lol

 

All joking aside it was fun, I loved the sense of adventure and exploration, and I felt like I got some really unique shots. Being alone out there you get a quietness that you don't usually hear living so close to a city. It was really quite peaceful.



Here are a few shots I took: 
 

These two are perhaps my favorite of the bunch. With the first one that tree really stood out in the woods. I love the colors of that one. The red and blue really mix well. 

And the second one was of the canal itself. I tried to bring out the beauty in such a filly scene. Tilting the camera really gave it a somewhat abstract look. It was probably my favorite of this shoot.

I found it kind of sad that I was almost a mile into the woods and I still found loads of litter and trash people had dumped.

 I thought this motor made for an interesting shot. I don't know how it got into the trees like it did but it kinda looked like an owl. So that's what I'll call this one. 
"The Steel Owl".

And perhaps the most unique shot I took that day was this beach ball in the middle of nowhere. When I first passed it I didn't think much of it. It was on my way back that I noticed this little guy sleeping on the ball. I really thought he was dead at first. I got as close as possible for the shot and took about 10 pictures before he got up and bolted to the grass. 

Anyway that's it for this post. Try giving me some feedback if you like what I'm doing.

And like last time here's the link to the rest of the  shots I took:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76283707@N05/sets/72157629311899955/ 
 

First week of photos

Ok so you know how when you first start doing something you're usually really bad at it? Well here's my first batch of awful. Lol just kidding. Here's my photos from the first week of owning my camera. These are just some shots I took before going to work one day. I tried to focus on getting a feel for the camera. All the buttons and features can be quite intimidating at first. No sweat though right? :)

 All these shots were taken in my backyard around 10ish that morning. It's funny holding the camera really; when I'm shooting it feels like I'm holding something sacred. As if dropping it would end my life on the spot. I kinda liked it.

Right off the bat, the first thing I noticed about the T3i is the flexible LCD screen. I found myself getting at the craziest angles available. But of course you don't get that intimate feeling you get from looking through the viewfinder. These are my favorite photos I took that day. Overall I wish I had more time for this little project. 




You can see the full gallery here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76283707@N05/sets/72157629251785853/ 


 

This is my story....

Welcome! Thanks for stopping by! Over the past two summers I've experienced so many amazing things that has changed the way I look at life. I've faced the rapids of the smokey mountains, zip-lined through dense trees of Tennessee forests, and kayaked through the rivers of the Missouri wilderness. Just last summer I visited our nations capital and what I saw there inspired me to capture it all.
At the Museum of Natural History there's an exhibit on National Geographic's best photographers contest. The images I saw there were absolutely stunning and ever since then I have been inspired to capture those amazing images myself. It's been six months since then and I've finally had enough to purchase my camera. And that's where the adventure really begins.
Here I plan to share my experiences with my camera and help others with what I learn. I'm hoping that this camera helps take me to where I want to go. Over the next couple of months I hope to meet new people and go places I've never been before. And hopefully, I'll be able to share it all with you. So stay tuned!