This past month flew by and I realized that this is the first chance I had to really sit down and blog. I started the month teaching for the fast track photography program at SAIT. I was doing my basic lighting class and my wedding photography class and had 19 enthusiastic students. It was a great time and I am know looking forward to teaching again in a few weeks in the night classes.
I also took a job in retail sales with Saneal Cameras in Market Mall. I had been thinking of something to fill my day's as Cool and Luke have become more independent and Cool is now able to watch his brother. I had been thinking about this for a while as teaching in the evening is great but I only have a few mornings where I was teaching at the senior centres. When I saw that Saneal was looking it seemed like a good fit as it is close to my home and they are willing to work with my teaching and shooting schedules. It is also nice as now I am able to have access to all the different cameras and lenses, thus learning about them which helps me when I am talking to students about gear. So far it has been enjoyable and they have been great to work for.
One of the challenges though has been able to not fall of with my photo a day challenge. With some of my day's being very full I have come close, but I am happy to say I have been able to stay with it. Now I will play catch up, once again, with photo's from the last month.
July 28. Working the extension tube to get this macro shot of an ant on the flower.
July 29. An iPhone capture of one of the guitars at Music Makers while I waited for Cool at his music lesson.
July 30. Two photo's I did during my class with the Fast Track photography students.
July 31. Two more from the second shooting day with my students.
August 1. This red pepper caught my eye as it ripened in our front window.
August 2. I wanted to try my extension tubes on my 70-200mm lens today. The first shot I have added the extension tube giving the equivalent of 640 mm (with the crop factor of the 7D) to the lens and the 20mm tube. It was hard to hand hold and of course the ant was moving so it was even more of a challenge. I was able to catch it as it stood against the leaf of the sunflower, silhouetted against the white garage door behind. I did do some post processing using snapseed to finish the photo.
For this close up I used the 20mm extension tube with the 70-200 at 200mm.
While I was walking home I saw some Blue Jays around a feeder in a neighbours yard. This time I used 2x extension tube on the 70-200 to get these nice results.
August 3. Sunday self-portrait series No. 31. Playing with the GoPro wearing my old SAIT Trojan basketball warm up jersey.
August 4. Using the iPhone I caught these Orchids
Later I photographed a rainbow that appeared that evening.
August 5. A macro shot of some Raspberries in our front yard.
In the evening I saw this wonderful play of light and shadow from the setting sun through the kitchen window and a glass of water. I tried a couple of different angles.
August 6. Out for my evening walk I caught the following images. The first shows the sunbeams as it broke through the clouds close to sunset.
A couple of nice flowers gracing the paths of Dalhousie.
August 7. Back lit peas during a sun shower.
August 8. During a thunderstorm we noticed this woodpecker taking refuge on one of our pine trees. I took the 7D with the 2x convertor on the 70-200 and quietly moved with in 20m to take shots as it moved around the tree.
August 9. Laying on my couch I noticed how the sun was casting shadows on our collection of rosaries. I placed a piece of black plexi-glass behind them to eliminate a busy back ground. I shot with the 7D and the 24-70 then post processed with OnOne software to give the final look.
August 10. Some high, whispy clouds caught my attention.
Sunday self-portrait series No. 32 Body parts, the palm of my hand.
August 11. Cool waiting for summer computer camp to begin.
The front wheel of a parked motorcycle, iPhone capture.
August 12. Our resident rabbit. He has become some accustomed to us that I was able to get real close to him. 70-200 with the 2x convertor..
I have never seen this behaviour but caught him as he was cleaning his paw.
August 13. An interesting cloud pattern in the evening sky. I adjusted my white balance to 7000K to get the colour I wanted.
August 14. Macro shot using the 20 mm extension tube on the 24-70 of a Gladiolus bloom after the sprinklers finished their job.
August 15. A quick visit to the Brentwood Community garden. iPhone photo's
August 16. Drumstick on a mirror lit by the modeling light on my strobe through a small softbox.
August 17. A couple of self-portraits. Playing with the GoPro again.
Sunday self-portrait No. 33. My old Crowngraphic camera.
August 18. An explosion of orange, Gladiolus bloom with the sun coming from behind.
August 19. Sunflower blooms at dusk. I added the pop-up flash on the 7D and balanced the background till I achieved the look I wanted.
August 20. Playing with bubbles. I set up two softboxes and added gels to each (green on one and orange on the other). I set the camera on a tripod, set the frame rate to 7fps, measured and set the focus at 3 ft. I then waved the bubble wand a few times in between the strobes and fired a burst with each pass. The first has been rotated as I felt it made for a more interesting image with the way the bubbles were stretched.
Three bubbles that were close together.
August 21. Wooden flower and shadow. I used a flash light to cast the shadow on the wall behind and used the Hipstamatic app and the tintype filter.
August 22. The shadows of the curtain rings and how they interacted caught my attention. Shot with the 7D and then processed using the OnOne software.
August 23. Using a tripod I did a slow shutter speed as the light changed colours on the crystal of Jesus.
August 24. Sunday self-portrait No. 34. Photographing birds. This was shot with the GoPro on a monopod placed in the river and controlled by the iPhone.
Two of the photo's I took with my 7D and 70-200 at this location.
A couple of industrial type photo's I took as I walked back to the car.
Leaves in front of one of the buildings. I knew I would do a conversion to Black and White when I pushed the shutter.
August 25. Walking through Safeway I was surprised to see the Halloween candy out two months early.
As I returned to my car I saw this great reflection on the pavement from a hubcap of a parked vehicle.
August 26. Walking with Luke at Crowfoot crossing I saw this wonderful view of our shadows on the wall. Following are two more scenes from our walk, all taken with the iPhone and processed with snapseed.
August 27. Silver car grill.
Light and reflection.
August 28. A couple photo's from our cucumber patch in the front yard.
Red sunflower after the rain.
August 29. As I was leaving Saneal I noticed the white water pipes and fire control above my car. A quick iPhone capture and processed with snapseed.
August 30. I filled the kitchen sink with water, set the 7D on a tripod, shutter speed of 1/250 sec at f11 and used my 580 flash off camera with an orange gel to freeze the droplets.
August 31. Sunday self-portrait series No. 35. We had an old mirror that had been weathered in the backyard and had the backing all cracked. I brought it inside to the studio and set my 7D on a tripod and picked an angle where I had the most texture. I used one of my Alien Bees with a small softbox on the ground as my light source. The biggest challenge was to first figure out the focus by taking shoots on manual focus and then nudge it until it was sharp. Then it was to figure out my position to fit with in the frame. It took a couple more try's but I got what I wanted. I then used the OnOne software to add an alternative process Calotype look.
