Two again!

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Two years old: what a wonderful age.

So many smiles, such fun!  I was lucky enough to have my camera and a Canon flash (580EX) with me to capture Ella’s 2-year old party.  Kids are so expressive – especially in medium-sized groups.  I noticed kids who alone were camera shy, warming up in the larger group.  This teaches me that taking kids to a playground for a photo session may be the best way to get them to act naturally and warm up to the camera.

Here are a few shots from the party.  Click on any image to enlarge.  Thanks for letting me be two again!

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The world of amazing wedding photographers

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Brett and Ali enjoying a quiet moment

Brett and Ali enjoying a quiet moment

I’m not necessarily a contest hound, but boy do I love seeing what other people are doing.  Especially if it’s good.

Well, this isn’t just good.  It’s amazing.  Here are some really fantastic sites of 20 incredible photographers who were selected as the “Top 20 overall winners from the ISPWP Fall 2010 Wedding Photography Contest“.

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Transit and Trails Adventure through the East Bay – size does matter

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Sensor photo by Andrew Magill

Gear Talk

Sensor size does matter.

This is probably the most important but least uttered pair of words for the average camera consumer.  The devil’s in the details right.  Yes, and by the way, those details don’t get any better if you’re collecting light (a photographic image) at 10.1 MP or 14.1 MP or 39.1 MP on a 7.6 X 5.7 mm sensor typical of most compact cameras.  Yup, that Nikon Coolpix 8000X you just paid double for (because it now has 14.2 MP) is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.  Get this – the sensor is only about 5 x 3.5 millimeters. Yup, that’s the size of  pluto on a clear night.  Tiny.

Do yourself a big favor, if you’re interested in a new camera, then read this. Read it again in case you skipped it.  [Yes, that was the same link twice, but I was always taught to ask twice.]

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Transit and Trails Hike: SF Civic Center to Muir Beach and back

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Many folks hiking the new Diaz Ridge Fire Trail

So there’s this really cool trend that my car-o-phobic friends have started.  Well, they’re not completely anti-car, actually they just believe in using the car ALOT less than the average American does.  Let’s call this movement Transit and Trails.  The basic idea is that the public transit system (especially in the Bay Area) can connect the average weekend warrior with quite a few really cool spots.  For instance, you can go to the TnT site and find a trailhead, or a featured hike, and then it will help determine how to use public transit to be car-free for the journey.

We’ve ridden the three highest peaks in the Bay Area (Ham, Tam and Diablo – The Triple Threat) in one day using the transit system.  It’s great for one-way bike rides – say Tracy to San Jose.  It’s also nice for getting to nearly any East Bay Regional Park.  It’s great for one-way hikes like the trip we just completed from the Marin Headlands to Muir Beach and ending in Muir Woods.

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Istanbul AND Constantinople: merging images

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I’ve been enthralled by the act (and art) of merging images.  There’s just so much you can do with this process, both artistically and message-wise.  I think this technique has become so much more accessible with digital cameras. Like a whole lot.

Just think, about 10 years ago, the only way to get this image was to take a picture, (not forward the film), snap another, (still don’t advance film), and finally a third photo – with probably some travel in between photo locations. (Then you hope and pray the photo turns out!)

Saturday Morning with Wendy Tokuda

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Wendy Tokuda is a real star.  Besides being an anchorwoman and reporter at KPIX (CBS) in the Bay Area, she’s a real advocate for the environment.  But Wendy isn’t one of those “this is what should be done types”, but rather she’s a real go-getter.  For her insatiable energy and religious devotion to the environment, she’s being written up in a Bay Area magazine.

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Catching Energy of Place

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So I went over to SF to walk around the park during the first game of the World Series.  It was such an amazing scene there, alive with life and personality. Residents of SF really seem to love their city.  I mean love it! Given the rates for room and board here, I guess you’d better like what you’re getting into, because it’s cheaper to live almost anywhere else in California… or the world for that matter!

This said, it was great to be around the energy of the place.  I tried to catch some of the excitement in the next few shots.  Go Giants!

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DIY projects just rock

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I am excited to see the work DIY (http://www.diyphotography.net/) is doing on beauty dishes.  I think that photographers are inherently do-it-yourself types, so I really enjoy the inspiration from this site in particular.

Notably, getting great light from a single strobe is HUGE.  I mean really big. No one wants a photo shoot to require so much gear that a sherpa is needed. So the dish works wonderfully for environmental portraits, indoor portraits and even an occasional product shot.  I highly recommend the terra cotta version which runs about $17 to make.  Really, the key parts of this set up actually run under $10 if you can borrow some paint from Grandpas garage.

DIY did this great side-by-side comparison of two different builds. Here’s a link to the 2 beauty dishes:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/isayx3/2812691251/

I thought the results were pretty clear cut.  The right photo is livelier, brighter and carries more detail.  So I wrote about it.  Well, the folks at DIY humored me and here are my 15 minutes of fame!

Funny 🙂

Redesigned Website is a Comin'

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So I’ve been busy not posting since I’m redesigning my photography website. I want my site to be set up with room to grow.  I wanted a “smart phone”, not just a phone booth of a site.  Here are my thoughts on the topic.

If you view any of the better business sites out there they have the following features in common:

1. fast upload to viewers computer – don’t forget the 14.4kb set-ups out there!

2. clean, simple design with a reasonable number of places to click – little distractions are another possibility that someone will loose their interest in your site.  keep the audience firmly planted at your site.

3. easy access to the most used pages right from the start – for example, its easy to get to the portfolio or blog with only one click from the homepage

4. easy to update with new material – not only on the blog, but also on the actual website so you can circulate out photos that don’t meet your standards/taste as you change and improve as a professional

5. content is king – your photos should be prominent and display your skill, style and dedication to the art and business

These 5 guiding principles are the cornerstone for my design.  I’ll let you decide how it turned out for yourself when I publish the site!

Here are a couple of sites I visit regularly:

See local Oakland photography Maurice Ramirez’s site.  He’s got a slick eye and presents as well as anyone.

I really like the Strobist blog for current posts, but man, does that mother get busied with information and too many distraction.  This was something I was hoping to not duplicate (other than the amazing technical information).  I know this is a “blog” and not a portfolio – but I think the key principles should apply – e.g. how long will it take you to find David’s contact?  More than 2-3 clicks and you might get distracted!

Dan Winters – simple, amazing, awesome. Um, perfect… (can you tell I’m a fan)

I decided to set up my site with Wix.com, which had some nice templates and lots of room to grow.  I must admit that the online interface is decent at best, very buggy often.  I’m still working out some of those issues and hoping to finalize the site soon.

Oh yeah, I also did a little logo for the business – It was fun!