A reminder that this week’s theme for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is LOW PERSPECTIVE:
A LOW PERSPECTIVE image is an image where the point of view is lower than normal. Get down on the ground and look up. Get down on the ground and look straight ahead. Both work.
Happy photo harvesting!
I don’t know that I did much that was particularly interesting in November, but I do feel like I did get some interesting photos, even though it doesn’t feel like I did that much in November.
Here are my favorites from THE SELFIE PROJECT from the month of November:
November 4
November 5
November 6
November 7
November 9
November 10
November 11
November 12
November 13
November 15
November 16
November 19
November 20
November 22
November 23
November 24
November 25
November 26
November 28
November 30
There is 1 month and one day left in THE SELFIE PROJECT. I’m sure that my Instagram followers look forward to its conclusion. I don’t know if I will substitute with a different daily project or if I will just take some time to sit under my own vine and fig tree.
If you do want to keep up with THE SELFIE PROJECT on a daily basis and see what other things I Insta, you can follow me under the following handle
You can also see all of THE SELFIE PROJECT images by clicking on the link below:
I’ll try to finish up the last 30 or so THE SELFIE PROJECT images strong! But we’ll see.
I have a considerable backlog of images that I need to edit. Part of the problem is that I edit photos in 2 separate distinct locations and it is often difficult for me to figure out what I have edited in one location, but not the other. I have begun the process of mirroring these images in both locations so that I can actually make real head way on my back log. Plus, it should free up some valuable hard drive real estate in both locations.
Not to bore you with too many details, but the first step in this process involves tons or robocopy scripts AND an external hard drive.
And with that, here are some backlog images of Naima from February.
In addition to trying to get a better organizational grasp on my images that are physically in my possession, I’m also trying to get a better organization to my images that are in the SmugMug Gallery.
While it doesn’t help that effort, it is part of a slight re-design of the website. If you’ve been on the website lately you may have noticed some slight changes.
*The base color remains purple. It will always be purple. However, I got rid of some gold and green accent colors and replaced those with a silver and a light blue.
*I completely replaced the old headers with new headers.
*On the homepage, gone is the slide show of recent pictures added to the SmugMug Gallery. It has been replaced with a slide show of images submitted for The Weekly Photo Challenge.
There are some more changes coming, eventually. I’m looking to re-design every page from the About page to the Products page. I might even add a services page where I quote my prices. Like $75,000 to do a wedding on a Saturday that is an Iowa State home game. I hope you don’t think that prices me out of the market.
Here are a look at the current rotating headers on the website:
In the end, I hope to add about 15 more rotating headers to the slight website redesign.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
Rather than my standard picture of an inflatable turkey, thought (with apologies to Lecrae, I’d give thanks for some of the many blessings in my life.
Count it up, count it up, count it up.
Line ’em up, line ’em up, line ’em up.
Blessed to be a part of Olivia’s family. Blessed to learn a new definition of the word “family” from Shorty and Doris.
Blessed to be a part of an incredible church family. From Youth Group to Methodist Men to the people I see in the pews on Sundays.
Blessed to have a job and double blessed to have a great work family. 7 AM comes pretty early, but so many of the people I work with make the struggle worth the effort.
Blessed to share a life with this band of brothers. Not one of us has any fashion sense, but I’d still take a bullet for any of them.
Blessed to fit in with this band of sisters as well.
Blessed to be able to share my love of weird cinema with like minded individuals once a month.
Blessed to be a Cyclone and double blessed to have somebody to share so many trips to Jack Trice (a spiritual place for me) with.
Blessed to have a roof over my head that belongs to me. Blessed that I can extend that roof over friends and family when their life needs it. Blessed that when I say, “Want to help paint by house?” 20+ people show up.
Blessed that friends from past jobs are still important pillars of my current life.
Blessed that people that aren’t related to me consider me an uncle to them.
Blessed to have a car that I can drive out of town and not worry about the tire falling off.
Blessed to have so many people in my life that when I say, “I’m coming to your city”, they say, “You’re staying with us right?”
Blessed to have so many people in my life that fill gaps.
Blessed that even though I’m aged, I still healthy enough to still ball. Although pretty poorly these days.
Blessed that even though I’m aged, I still have people in my life that keep me young.
Blessed to have people in my life that want to change the world for the better, when I get cynical.
Blessed to have art in my life.
Blessed to have a beautiful beard. Even if the old guys at my church hate it.
Blessed to have people who will help with projects like this, no questions asked.
Blessed to share a life and a domicile with this crazy beast. Teaches me about selfless love every single day.
Blessed to have a chance to spread my blessings to others, sometimes, with some of my favorite people.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of my blessings. But I don’t want it to start to sound like I’m bragging.
The world wasn’t ready for these alternate FRAMED images for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE yesterday. Hopefully by laying down some groundwork yesterday the world will be able to handle them. I have my doubts…
That is Willy’s eye behind the brick. The tunnel is located on the most beautiful campus in the world, Iowa State’s.
You’re welcome world!
The world wasn’t ready for these MACRO pictures for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE on Monday. I’m not sure that the world is ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:
The grand majority of these pictures were taken in my back yard. The first seven were taken at Herman Park. The closed eye is Kim Barker. It was taken behind the building at the Day Job.
Page 119 in THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT probably isn’t one that would appeal to most people. Some people might even call it a hipster page.
Some of you might be asking, “What is a pinhole camera?”
A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture, a pinhole – effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side.
Turning a DSLR into a pinhole camera is done by drilling a small hole into a camera cover. The idea of a pinhole camera is that everything is supposed to be in focus sorta, but it is blurred often because of the long exposure settings.
I didn’t do the best job with making my pinhole camera. My first hole was too big, so I had to make it smaller with electrical tape. I probably should have just bought one.
Here are some of my other pinhole attempts:
I’m not sure what page is next up for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.
One of the benefits of THE SELFIE PROJECT is that I can look back at a month and feel less worthless. Hey, I actually did go out and do stuff and see people in month X. I’m a winner!
Speaking of winners, these are the photos I consider winners from the month of August:
August 5, 2017
August 6, 2017
August 7, 2017
August 10, 2017
August 11, 2017
August 12, 2017
August 13, 2017
August 15, 2017
August 16, 2017
August 19, 2017
August 20, 2017
August 21, 2017
August 22, 2017
August 24, 2017
August 26, 2017
August 27, 2017
August 29, 2017
August 30, 2017
August 31, 2017
Remember that THE SELFIE PROJECT photos are posted on Instagram on the daily. If you don’t know, Instagram is that little sliver of social media that doesn’t suck… much. There are a few lazy slackjaws out there that post memes, but other than that, it is just pictures. Any way you can follow me at the account below:
Now I need to make sure that my September is almost as great as my August!
Once a year at my church we have Critter Sunday. On Critter Sunday people bring in their pets to get blessed. I took some photos and then after Naima got blessed Jaxon Schoff took over and finished up the event. Here are some photos from the event:
Special thanks to Summer for volunteering for Naima wrangling duties and to Jaxon for being the backup Naima wrangler and taking over the photos while Naima was being blessed and after.
You might have recognized MacKenzie from the church’s youth group with her dog in the collection. I’m sure you definitely noticed Teresa and her dog in the collection.
There are more pictures from Critter Sunday for you to peruse located at the link below:
If your church isn’t blessing pets, they aren’t doing it right!
One of the many benefits of having Johnathan living with me is that I have a photo assistant hanging around the house that is more useful than Naima.
So thanks to him for helping out by taking a couple of these pictures and posing for the other two.
I’m actually writing this blog to talk about a new toy I recently picked up. I bought a Sigma 120-400mm lens.
I’m pretty pleased with this purchase so far. Hopefully she will earn her keep.
Truth is that this lens wasn’t much “longer” than my current “longest” lens, but it is buy far the highest quality telephoto I’ve ever owned. At least if weight is sign of quality, it is the best.
To show its reach I’m going to show you two pictures that will actually exaggerate its length.
For the purposes of this example, we will pretend that there isn’t a magnification factor on lens created by cameras with APS-C sensors. In that honor, a true example of showing the “length” of this lens would be to compare it to a 50mm lens. A 50mm lens has the same “length” as the human eye.
Instead, I’m going to show a comparison with one of (but not THE) widest (shortest) lenses I own. A Sigma 10-20mm lens set at 10mm.
Johnathan at 400mm
I guess I should point out I technically have a “longer” lens than this, but it is a mirror 500mm lens. It really is nothing to write home about.
I’ll finally add that I should wish my sister Teresa a “happy birthday”, but then I’d have to wish all my subscribers a “happy birthday” and that just isn’t going to happen.
