Week 2 - Teething puppy

Week 2! Weeeee!

I didn't have my camera out all week and I went through my phone...let's just say, I'm not ready to bring myself to post a picture of something I took in the grocery story to text to my wife to make sure I was buying the right canned good.

We got a new puppy. Ain't he cute? OK, silly question, he's a puppy that looks like a cotton ball, of course he's cute.

Shooting low and up at something that stands 7 inches tall is hard. So I shot a lot of frames just holding my camera and pointing it in the right direction. Thank goodness for auto focus. He didn't know what to think of the camera and the clicking and dad being all like "hold still, look at the camera, yadda, yadda, yadda".

I think he did just fine. Welcome to the family!

To see the rest of the photo from this years 52 week challenge, check out my Flickr set!

Week 1 - 'Tis the season of sparkles

Here we go again. I signed up again to be apart of the local 52 week challenge. I know, I know, I sucked at it the last time. My challenge this year, to just post something. I know the biggest thing that held me back was just letting go and posting something, even a failure, but post something.

For my first attempt I tried shooting a photo using only the power of the candle. While I was setting this up, the jar seemed kind lifeless with only the light of the two on the side, so behind the jar is a 3rd candle. I spent forever trying to get everything square and realized I have to go to work in the morning. Bah. This first week is a little short, it started yesterday.

Oh well. Enjoy.

Week 52 - Framed Capitol

Week 52 - Framed Capitol
Originally uploaded by OhCaptain1

Yep. I totally sucked at a 52 week challenge but I figured since I posted the first week, I should post the last. Not sure if I'm going to give myself a challenge in 2011 or not. We'll see. If I start anything, it would be this Sunday. Thursday are a tough day for a deadline.

I took this photo on Tuesday at the Minnesota Historical Museum. What a beautiful place. I was here a few years ago for a Rocky Mountain School of Photography weekend. This time, we were back with the kids. My wife really wanted to see the Chocolate Exhibit. It was fascinating.

Happy new year!

Week 33 - On Top of the World

A few weeks off. Summers been brutal around here. High's in the 90's and humidity that can melt paint. Everything feels wet.

Last weekend, I took some time away from home to spend with good friends and poker bloggers in downtown Minneapolis. I brought my camera with, cuz, well, that's what I do. We went to a Twins game and spent a great deal of time making sure we tried every beer available.

Not sure why, but this was favorite shot. Catching Drizz hamming it up with some of the guys lounging in the background, all of us, enjoying the rooftop. A wonderful summer night.

On top of the world

This is the first runner-up in the 52 week challenge. While contemplating the just how good Surly beer was, we played beanbag toss on the roof. I just love this view. Minneapolis is such a beautiful city.

Not sure how, but this and the photo of Drizz were both hand held at low light. Pretty sharp, I think I got lucky.

The hand light, the black roof, and the bright lights of the big city just make for an interesting view. A tripod and a trigger release might be handy. Anyone have a favorite compact travel tripod?








This last one I did with my bendy tripod. It's pretty little and it was hard to use on the roof. I really do need to get a trigger release. I try the timer approach but it takes forever to get shots set up. This is more of a close-up of the downtown. What a great view.

You can check out the rest of this set at my Flickr site. Night shots, day shots, but when ever it was, it really was a fun weekend. Enjoy what's left of summer!

Week 30 - Plummer House

I suck. I got these pictures already to go Thursday night and fell asleep getting this post up. Herein lies the rewrite of the ramblings of a sleeping man that were here before and just never quite got published. Pushing that button labeled "Publish Post" is incredibly difficult when you are snoring.

So, I missed a few weeks. It's been damn hot here and my camera has been neatly tucked away in my office. The camera on my phone has also been surprisingly quiet. Might have something to do with just being busy. Summer. Who knew.

This first picture was taken at the Plummer House here in Rochester Minnesota. I've shot here before. If you go through my archives, you should find quite a few. The Plummer House is now owned by the city and is open to anyone who wants to wonder around a shoot. Why even  the day these were taken, a girl was getting her senior pictures done.

I loved the lines in this hallway. I've tried shooting it before and just never really liked the results. A harsher midday sun seemed to give me a better shadows from the pillars. I squatted just a little as well trying to give just the right perspective. And don't...what do you think?

These next two were the runners up.
This second one, is just a fun shot of the other side of the hallway pictured above. The lighting here is strange and hard for me to balance. It's clear, bright summer's day, but there's also plenty of trees making shade.

These grounds are well kept. I think coming out here during the magic hours would make for some awesome colors.

We happened to venture here because my good friend Kat and her husband were visiting from Toronto. Rochester is a strange place. It's not a huge town and it's not particularly old, but it has some fun history to explore, with the Mayo Clinic being founded here and everything. Dr. Plummer built this magnificent place many years ago. He was one of the first doctors hired whose last name was not Mayo.

The last photo is of a tower on the grounds. It's attached above ground to the main house, and I'm not sure there's a tunnel to it, I suppose I could check into that. I've always kinda struggled shooting this up close. It's kinda big. I think this angle was kinda cool. You are somewhat controlled by the area around as to what you can do. There are several large trees near it and a rather steep drop off. Gravity can kill. Remember that.

Whew. Week 30. In the bag. Time to see if I'll get anything shot before Thursday this week. You never know. Check back and if you want to see the rest of my public stuff and more from the 52 Week Challenge, Go check out my Flickr site.

Week 27

Week 27
Originally uploaded by OhCaptain1

Not much to say about this shot. I shot it with my iPhone 4. I really like the camera on here. It's still challenge me to learn how to get the most out of it. I don't think I got this exposure right, the sky seems so washed out, but I think I would have lost the tree had it not been. Thus could be the nature of a camera the size of my pupil.

Click through the picture and explore my flickr site. It's easy for me to upload from my phone, so hopefully more shots will be appearing there on a regular basis.

Week 25 - Barn Bluff

Week 25 - Barn Bluff
Originally uploaded by OhCaptain1

I missed a few weeks. It happens.

This past Fathers Day, I talked the family into joining me on a hike of Barn Bluff in Red Wing, MN. I hadn't done this hike since high school. The single best view of the Red Wing river valley there is.

If you click through to Flickr, you'll see the most of the series. This was my favorite. I'm still going through all the shots. I took close to 300 in 2 hours. Many of the are family shots.

Enjoy!

Week 21 - Illusion

Week 21, 4 weeks in a row! W00T! W00T! You've probably seen something like this before. I know I have, but part of doing something like this challenge is just posting what you have. I took about 400 pictures in the last week. Some at a wedding reception, some more at the Science Museum of Minnesota and even more at my nieces birthday party. Most of the involve people that I really should ask permission before posting their picture on the Internet. Sigh.

I don't need permission to post this one. This was taken at the Perception presentation at the Minnesota Science Museum. It's the classic, do you see a face or a vase demonstration. I was pretty excited it turned out as well as it did. The lighting in that room is changing constantly and I had never seen it before to know how the timing went.

If I get permission from my sister-in-law, I'd like to post some pictures of my niece eating her birthday cake from 2nd birthday party...so incredibly cute and a bit funny. As of right now, she's not called me back. Bummer.

So, do you see a face or a vase?

UPDATE:

Just got permission to post my second favorite picture of the week! This little lady was working pretty hard on the birthday cake and ice cream. I just love her expression!

Week 20 - Bloom and Balloons

Been a pretty busy week again, last weekend, we had a garage sale. I'm so glad those only happen bi-annually.

Here was my choice for my picture of the week for the 52 week challenge. Not one of my favorite pics but I like the composition and the depth of field. It's really got me thinking about getting a better macro lens. I've really been craving better glass lately. Must be the midlife crisis.

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Runner up is this guy. It's a shot of a balloon landing behind the houses across the street. Neat trick if you can pull it off. The did, thankfully. We've had tons of near misses lately with the balloons. Our neighborhood is often in their flight path but lately, their landings have been pretty much in the subdivision. Well done boys :)

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This next one is of a similar shrub/bush/flowering thing from our front yard. This one is a lot more filled out in the bloom category. I just couldn't find a composition I liked. Again, this had me longing for different glass. Excuses, I know.

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And finally, a shrub. Keeping with the attempts at macro and not really finding what I was looking for. At least, it was green :-/

Week 19 - Target Field Panorama

Here it is, week 19. Sorry I missed last week. I had a pretty good feeling nothing was gonna happen last week. My wife was at a conference in San Antonio, Texas, so I played the part of a single father of two daughters for 5 of the 7 days in the week. I had the camera out for some family fun but by Thursday, I was wiped.

This weekend, on Mother's Day, my wife really wanted to go see the Minnesota Twins play at Target Field for the first time. I gotta tell ya, this park is amazing! For my picture of the week, you should also notice that I'm venturing out of the "as shot" mode and into something different. This is actual a panorama I created in Photoshop Elements out of 8 separate stills. I'd never really done this before so I'm pretty sure there is room for improvement.

Target field proved to be really challenging to shoot during a day game. I should have figured this since midday sun suck big time. I really can't wait to shoot this field closer to evening and even at night. During the day, the colors just seemed so muted from the blasting of the midday sun.

If you click the top picture, it should take you to the Flickr set from the day. If not, try this link. If you don't see much, that means I need to let you in. There are pictures of my wife and kids. My oldest is getting touchy about me posting pictures all over the Internet of her. She going to be in middle school in the fall. Girls...

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This is my runner up for the week. I'm not sure this small size is really showing much of why I like this photo. If you click it, hopefully you can see what I like. The little boy is clearly enjoying the game standing on mom's lap. It's great to see the Twins fans starting this young.

It's the mood and the story I like so much. I think I got that.

We had a blast at the game. I took a ton of reference shots and plan on taking notes to the game with me the next time I go. I'm pretty sure that shooting later in the afternoon, evening and at night will produce more shots I just love. Even though it was in the 50's for temps, midday sun is just a tough thing to shoot. If you have any ideas for me, let me know. In most of these shots I was shooting with a circular polarizer. Although, to this day, I have no idea how to get anything more out of a circular polarizer I can't get out of a standard polarizer. Another one of life's mysteries.