Week 7 - Family

Week 7 - Didn't want to miss another week. I realize this one is a bit more, abstract(?), simple(?). It's something.

9 PM on Sunday night. The day before Valentine's Day. We spent this day as a family. It's the day of love, and we love nothing more then our family.

We got this little decoration for my wife on Mother's Day, last year I think. The kids picked it out. It shows two parents loving their kids. Sounded quite familiar. This hangs in our kitchen and reminds us every time we leave that we are not alone.

If you've been her before, you know how much I love lines. Ah, lines. Lines make some cool and interesting composition if you ask me...which you didn't, but I'm telling you anyways. This is my blog so you are gonna like it.


Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Share it with the people you love!

Be sure to check out the Flickr collection from this challenge I have going. Take a look around. I'd love to hear what you think!

Week 6 - Hot and cold

I took a photo last week, exhaustion lead to snoring, snoring lead to REM stage, one thing led to another and presto magico! 1 week has passed.

I don't think this will hit anyone's list for the most important, best or truly great photos of all time. Probably doesn't even crack my top 10 pictures I've ever taken. It does, however, constitute week 6 in my 52 week challenge.

This photo was taken for my 7 year old's science fair project. We were demonstrating that microwave ovens don't heat food by heating the air like conventional ovens do. You can clearly see that the water is 100 ° while the temperature inside the microwave is 72 °.

Gentlemen. Don't forget. Next Monday is Valentine's Day. And what ever you do...don't let me forget either!

Week 4 - Cold and dark

The thermometer on my computer says is 7°F outside. I don't know why but it seemed much colder then that. I'm gonna post every week, even if it kills me and I need to do it posthumously, it seems. Again, I find myself staring at the clock with nothing for my deadline. Not sure why, other then all of my other last minute shots have been inside, where it's a comfortable 68°F and I have yet to acquire frostbite living up to this challenge.

My shot for the week, while I don't think I'm really all that fond of it, is a long, very cold 13 second shot off my deck in the backyard. I was really hoping to capture the icy playground equipment but this wasn't long enough to get it, plus the light on that house was really starting to drowned out everything. This was the last of about 10 frames I snapped. Getting it focused was pretty hard. I think I'll return to this idea when the moon comes back out and shines with a little more light. The ambient city light was all I had and it just didn't seem like enough. Could have been my numb fingers and ears too, but who knows.

Stay warm!

Week 3 - An experiment with a mirror

It's after 10 PM on Sunday night. I'm looking at the clock, wondering how it is I find myself on week 3 of the 2011 52 week challenge and still, I have yet to shoot anything. Like the first two weeks were better, but don't I learn?

The thought had entered my mind to just let it slip. This year we had agreed to a softer, gentler deadline. I could just shoot something tomorrow. Right? Procrastination.

But I reminded myself of an incredible speech I heard from a famous photographer. He had set out on a quest, to take one and only one photograph every day for 90 days. For most of us, that would be nothing, grab your phone, point and click once a day. Easy peasy. But Jim is no regular photographer, no sir. He was one of the few staff photographers for National Geographic. This guy was already a legend.

This is a story, as I remember hearing it, that he told at a speech he gave in the Twin Cities. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak, take it. He was outstanding and very inspiring. This story was from his adventure making the outstanding collection known as "Chased By The Light: A 90-Day Journey"
.

As the story goes, he spent the 90 days at his home near the Boundary Waters of far northern Minnesota. This is some of the most beautiful land you will ever see, but what he found was, some days, you just don't feel it or your busy with life's other challenges, like being married and needing to fix a sink. And after a long time of looking at what is usually described as God's Country, you just don't see anything that catches your eye. And remember, he's only taking a single shot. One click.

One night, it was getting very close to midnight. Scary close. He hadn't taken his shot all day. Since it was already dark, light was scarce. He got an idea, he would make a shot by enlisting his wife to hold a flashlight behind a waterfall. He had never said that none of these pictures would be staged, right? He took the shot and was able to continue on his quest, never missing a day and only taking one shot.

Well, if Jim Brandenburg can make it just one more day, damn, I can do it too!

I recently discovered a guy doing neat things with every day objects, his name is Terry Border. Check out his blog at http://bentobjects.blogspot.com/. Neat stuff.

I needed a shot, to get me through just one more week. Below is the shot I took tonight. I think the term shot has many meanings on this blog. Most of the time, I just mean photograph. Tonight, I think I mean, I took a chance.

My wife does a fantastic job of decorating our home. She finds the coolest things. Since Christmas is over and Martin Luther King Jr. day doesn't really bring about a great deal of home decorating, she goes with theme of snowmen. It's Minnesota and we do what we can. On the mirror in our entryway, she likes to put little nick knacky things. Bringing the two inspirations together, the first being, I just need to shoot SOMETHING and loving the little bent things, I turned the sign of the melting snow man towards a mirror and shot it's reflection. I suspect I could have just taken the picture without bouncing the sign off the mirror, but what fun is there in that? Besides, I may need it next week.

I took a shot.

As always, be sure to check out Flickr set I've started to collect this years challenge. And feel free to look around while you are there.

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.