Attached and Detached

Posted by dkrashb on July 15, 2013

Theo looks like he's all set for a landing, but Dale is still in motion

Currently my favorite image–Theo never ceases to amaze me

I managed to get motivated to do a more intentional shoot Sunday. I have had a project in mind, but didn’t have the time or energy to pursue it. As fate would have it, a deadline appeared out of nowhere for what I had been intending to do.

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to make as much time as I needed and didn’t get exactly what I wanted.

Interesting cloud formations over Chattanooga

This is another one I still like–the clouds were just so cool.

I often wonder if any photographers ever says to themselves, “There is nothing that could be better about this image.” Does that happen?

I once read a quote: “It can be a trap of the photographer to think that his or her best pictures were the ones that were hardest to get” (Timothy Allen). There are times when there are so many obstacles to getting the shot I want that when I finally get something decent, I find myself pleased with it. Weeks later when the memory of how difficult the situation was has faded, if I happen across the same photo, I am only disappointed.

There’s just something so red-white-and-blue about this one. the blue is a little too blue, the bird could have used some fill flash, and the sign is cut off in an odd place, but I still like it.

I guess sentimentality has the same effect–the more emotionally attached you are to the event, the people, the day, or whatever might color your personal response to a photo, the less likely you are to perceive your photo as someone who wasn’t there would. Since sentimentality is what drives the bulk of the photos taken in this world, when a photographer manages to create art, those images really stand apart.

View of Downtown Chattanooga from Stringer's Ridge in the fall

As much as I wish this had been taken in the golden sunlight of dawn, I still enjoy the trees.

I don’t have art yet, but I have a few images I have gotten attached to. I like what’s in these images because there’s something about them that strikes me as a reminder that beautiful things happen in simple ways. They also remind me that I’ve learned to see these things, which is perhaps at start at the most important lesson in photography.

Every time I look at this photo, I think “wow” right before I start pointing out all its flaws. But no matter how many things I find wrong with it, I still think “wow” first.

That isn’t to say that there aren’t still many things I miss. I remember taking some corporate class once where they talked about how our brains automatically filter out what we aren’t interested in, causing us to completely miss information. When I took a motorcycle safety course, this phenomena was brought home to me when the instructor talked about how people don’t see motorcycles because they don’t expect to see them–in a large percentage of accidents where the motorcyclist reported having made eye contact with a driver right before the driver hit them, the driver reported having never seen the motorcyclist.

As unfair and biased as it is, I love this image more because it’s the moon than I would if it were the sun.

But the point is that photography is teaching my brain to filter less. As I walked home from an errand the other day, I couldn’t take my eyes off the sky. I was passed by cars, bicyclists, and other pedestrians that didn’t notice the sunset. I found myself wondering how many amazing sunsets I had failed to notice when the opportunity presented itself. I found myself grateful I’d taken up this journey–sometimes it frustrates me, but it has given me new ways to see. That’s a pretty big gift.

I can’t help myself. I love about every photo of Tisen, but his ears particularly make me smile in this one

Bad Habits

Posted by dkrashb on July 14, 2013

I don’t know why, but big puffy clouds make me happy

I expect to collapse into a deep sleep from which I cannot be awakened at any moment. Between long days for my day job and several personal projects, sleep seems to be the thing that’s not fitting into my schedule. Oh, and healthy meals. Oh, yeah, and working out. How long can a human survive on limited sleep, limited nutrition, and way too much time sitting?

More importantly, how do bad health habits affect photographic skills?

This is my list of what I have observed in how my photography habits have changed:

I have less time to shoot. Therefore, I shoot what presents itself. Sometimes what presents itself isn’t all that interesting. I shoot it anyway because I don’t have time to go find something more interesting.
I have less imagination. There have been many times I have had a lot of fun shooting uninteresting subjects and made them more interesting by choosing to treat them differently. With a muddled mind full of unfinished to-do’s, I seem to be stuck in landscape mode. I guess when we are stressed, we tend to fall back to where we are most comfortable.
The same clouds as above as they begin to break up
I take fewer images. Instead of shooting every possible angle with different exposures and trying different focal lengths, etc, I take a couple of angels less than a half dozen times and call it done. This would be a good thing if it were because I was taking my time and carefully deciding what I wanted. But it’s more like I am not seeing all the possibilities and don’t have the energy to create a bunch of shots I have to go through later.
I minimize the time I spend on post-processing. If I have 3 similar images, I spend less than 2 minutes adjusting the first and then I stamp the same settings on the rest. Unless there is something really amiss, I call it done.
I don’t plan my shoots or my shots. When I am experiencing less stress, I think about images I’d like to get. I think about where I can go to get them. I think of techniques I’d like to improve and give myself assignments to work on them. Now, I am grabbing what I can get.
I don’t work on new skills. Normally, I find at least a couple of hours a week to read about something related to improving my photos or go to a workshop or watch one online. Those hours have been consumed. Perhaps this is why I am having a shortage of ideas?

Now that I have enumerated the ways in which I am neglecting my development (that would be funnier if I were a film photographer), the only question is whether it’s better to keep shooting or whether I’m just picking up bad photography habits in addition to bad life habits.

I cannot recall having ever seen a cloud quite like this one

Dogs and Fireworks

Posted by dkrashb on June 19, 2013

Dogs are frequently afraid of fireworks. I would venture to guys that dogs fall into two categories: Those who are completely oblivious and those who think the world is coming to an end. Tisen does not like fireworks. Nor does Twiggy, who is visiting with us again while her mom and dad are on vacation.

Tisen seems somewhat embarrassed about his fear of fireworks. Like he knows he’s supposed to be a big tough boy and not be afraid of loud noises. Instead of whining, howling, or barking, which would only draw attention to his cowardice, he hides. But if you happen to look in on him from time to time, you’ll discover he often has a puzzled look on his face like he can’t understand why his humans are not distraught by all the noise.

I think there is a simple explanation for this disparity in human and dog interpretation of loud noises. I think it’s hearing. While one might speculate that canines have less ability to understand the source of loud noises or to reason as to whether they are in potential danger or not, I really think it comes down to pain. The deep, reverberating booms and high pitched crackles sound so much louder to a dog than to a human, it seems quite possible they are in physical pain.

This being my theory, I was doubly surprised when I spent the entire length of the Riverbend fireworks out on the balcony of the common room (where dogs are not allowed) and Tisen remained parked by the front door waiting for my return instead of hiding under the sofa, desk, or Daddy. Twiggy cuddled with Daddy, leaving Tisen to fend for himself as the stalwart guard patiently awaiting the return of Mommy. I felt pretty guilty when I got home and found him still waiting for me.

I wonder if he is more afraid of losing Mommy than he is of fireworks? This also made me feel more guilty getting on a plane the following morning.

Tisen braving it out at the door

Rainbow Moments

Posted by dkrashb on June 10, 2013

Panoramic View of the North Shore and Water Front at 7:30ish

Timing is everything. I could come up with hundreds of stories of how timing made the difference between what was and what wasn’t. Of course, I suppose that is true for every moment in every day for everyone, so perhaps it’s not particularly remarkable.

But there are certain events that occur in a moment and then disappear–you either see them or you don’t–dependent on their timing and yours. Rainbows are a great example of transitory events that occur infrequently enough that most of us are still amazed whenever we happen to witness one.

On this particular day, at 7:30 PM, I had just gotten back from taking a break to walk Tisen. I’d decided to run down to a common room in our building with great views to try out the panoramic feature of my iPhone camera from the balcony.

My 24-70 mm lens just wasn’t wide enough at 8:30ish

I guess I was inspired by the sky while I was walking Tisen, but I don’t remember. The clouds were interesting enough to enhance the panoramic view, but it was too early for any interesting sunset color. So, around 7:30PM, I was out on the balcony taking the panoramic shot above.

After shooting several panoramics and deciding I liked the one above, I returned to my office and went back to work. About an hour later I got a text from my husband telling me to get down to the exact same spot I had been shooting from an hour earlier because there was a huge double rainbow.

Knowing rainbows cannot be counted on to hang out waiting for me to get my equipment together, I grabbed what I thought was my tripod bag, my DSLR with a 24-70mm lens on it. and my iPhone (of course) and left for the common room so quickly, I was half way down the hall before I realized I was barefoot. Not having time to return for shoes, I kept going.

I manage to capture the rainbows with the panoramic feature on the iPhone, but the 2nd rainbow is faint

I got to the clubroom, and immediately realized the bag I’d grabbed was not my tripod bag. Rather, it was a bag of lighting stands. For those of you who are not into photography, lighting stands are not at all helpful when what you need is a tripod–at least not if you need it quickly. Perhaps with enough time and ingenuity, a lighting stand could be rigged into a temporary tripod. But a rainbow is not the time to try this.

So, handholding my DSLR, I took a few shots of the huge double-rainbow visible end-to-end in the sky and realized my second problem–24mm wasn’t wide enough. I couldn’t fit the double rainbow into the frame.

While I got out my iPhone and started taking more panoramics, my husband kindly ran back to our place to grab my tripod and 16-35mm lens for me. He returned in record time. By the time I switched my lens, there was only one strip of rainbow still visible. Maybe next time.

At 16mm, I might have gotten both rainbows, but it’s hard to say for sure

Asking Why

Posted by dkrashb on March 21, 2013

Sometimes all that’s required for adventure is to look up

Tonight, I sit at the computer feeling a bit lost for a topic. It’s 9:37PM. The clock is counting down to bedtime while I flounder. I have no new photos to share. I find myself wondering what compels me to write 500 words every night and take and process enough photos each week to accompany those words.

My topic tonight has revealed itself to me: why do I blog?

Creating adventure out of cardboard and gravity

This is a question I have been asked by more than one person. Some of my closest relatives have wondered what the appeal is. It’s a question I ask myself from time to time. The original intent was to use the blog as a way to keep family and friends up-to-date on our new adventures as we moved away from the place I’d spent the vast majority of my life and into parts unknown.

But then, several things happened. First, I made the decision to post every day. My main goal was to develop a habit of writing. After all, to be a writer, there’s only one thing you have to do: write.

Hiking where there are great views is always a satisfying adventure

But, let’s face it, not too many of us have exciting things to write about every day. For the first six months we were in Chattanooga, we were treating our stay here like we were on a vacation every weekend–seeing and doing whatever there was to see and do within a couple hours drive. That gave me material to string out throughout the week.

Next, my husband started a business in Chattanooga. Not just a business, but a business requiring lots of heavy equipment that occupies a good-sized workshop. Not exactly mobile.

This guy is always on an adventure–but it’s always the same one

It’s funny how the knowledge that we had years to get to see the area vs months changed the weekend vacation attitude to one of “we’re at home.” Suddenly, it’s not the top priority to go hike a new trail every weekend or hang glide off a mountain or learn to kayak in white water. Now, we are accumulating the “some day” list of things we want to see and do similar to what we had before we moved here.

The idea of having an adventure to write about every day has gone out the window, yet the habit of writing seems to have stuck.

Taken a year ago, I realize how even spring is an adventure–no blooms on this hillside yet this year

In parallel to these changes to our life plan, I got more and more excited about practicing photography. I spent increasingly more time learning about the technical aspects of photography and more and more time shooting. Having a “deadline” and a place to publish those photos helps me prioritize my time so that I make time to practice.

I feel more accountable somehow because I have a small, much appreciated, group of followers who click the “like” button. This accountability helps me make time to do something I enjoy. It seems counter-intuitive, but it works for me.

Maybe the answer is as simple as I like it.

The moon always makes me feel adventurous

iPhone Couch Potato

Posted by dkrashb on February 26, 2013

Close-up of dinner, which happened to be in my lap

In a moment of desperation, after realizing I had no photos for this post and it was already after 9PM, and, more importantly, I had already crashed on the sofa and Tisen had burrowed in next to me, I decided it was a good time to experiment with my iPhone.

Recently, my bestie suggested writing a “how-to” on taking better photos with a smart phone for people like her.

I like the idea of teaching photography, although I’m not a pro and I have much to learn. The thought of teaching photography in simple non-technical terms for people who don’t want to be pros relieves some of the pressure.

The problem is, I rarely use my iPhone for photos. And when I do, my photos usually suck. So, I figured I could use a few lessons myself.

The problem with shooting blind is not knowing what ended up in the frame until after the shot has been taken

I did some googling on taking better photos with an iPhone over the weekend. I didn’t find much that was particularly helpful. Most the articles I found either provided tips that apply to any photography or mentioned changing settings I couldn’t figure out how to change. I tried searching for camera apps to see what I was missing. I did find an interesting app that provides some control of the exposure and has a setting that turns the LED on so you can see what’s in your frame before you shoot in the dark. I couldn’t however, find the advertised pre-sets for different types of subjects.

It’s funny how I used to figure out how to do really confusing and technical things and now I suddenly can’t figure out how to work iPhone apps. Am I getting old?

Tilt and yaw created a bad angle, although you can at least see that Tisen has his nose covered

In any case, I attempted to do some couch potato shooting. I was parked laptop in lap and dog at my side–it’s hard to get motivated to get up sometimes.

I think I figured out why I usually end up hating my iPhone shots:

I frequently use the iPhone to take shots I would never attempt with my DSLR. For example, holding my iPhone out at arm’s length and trying to get a portrait of Tisen while shooting in a dark room (which means I have to have the screen facing away from me for the “flash” to work and I am shooting completely blind).
I have a very difficult time holding the iPhone straight in all 3 directions (or even 1 direction) because I have to hold it away from me to view the screen since there is no viewfinder. I frequently try many times to get the angle I want and still don’t quite get it.
I haven’t found anything that let’s me control depth of field. I really miss controlling depth of field.

Top down view of Tisen cuddling against my leg, showing off his spotted head

That said, the photographer’s adage is “the best camera is the one you have with you” and there is a lot to be said for smart phone cameras when it comes to having them with you–even when you’re just laying around on the sofa.

Taken with the app I just downloaded, with the LED on, I’m able to get better exposure

Rebel without a Cause

Posted by dkrashb on December 14, 2012

This little guy led the high school band like he was ready to graduate.

Since the Starlight parade was held after dark, I was hesitant to take my old 40D as my second camera. The 40D doesn’t do well at higher ISO settings. Fortunately, my husband was willing to share his new Rebel T4i, which has better ISO performance and higher resolution than my out-dated 40D.

I don’t think anything could distract this cheerleader.

I had to think long and hard as to whether I wanted to put my wide angle lens on my 5D Mark III or on the Rebel. The last parade I shot, I put my wide angle on my 5D and my telephoto on my 40D. This seemed logical since the 5D is full frame and the 40D is a cropped sensor. If you want to go wide, go wide. If you want to go tight, go tight, right?

This little girl watched intently throughout the parade.

But, when I was shooting the parade, I found my 24-70mm lens on my 5D was often too wide and my 70-200mm lens on my 40D was too tight. Plus, when I shot the subject loosely so I could crop to the framing I wanted, I was cropping a lower-resolution image from the 40D. As a result, I concluded I should have reversed the use of the cameras so that I would have had the higher resolution for the photos I was doing the most cropping on and a wider field of view on both.

This young woman gave quite a show twirling her baton and tossing it well into the dark.

But introducing the Rebel T4i into the mix was a new problem. It’s lighter to hand hold than the 5D, but not well balanced with the 70-200mm lens, which out-weighs the Rebel by 2 pounds. This makes holding it somewhat precarious. However, by holding it by the foot on the lens, I felt a little more confident I wasn’t going to drop it.

This was the youngest twirler performing big tricks–I guess that’s how she got the sash.

In the end, I decided to go with the same plan as for the previous parade: cropped sensor with telephoto and full frame with the wide angle. The decision was made easier when I realized I didn’t have a bracket for the T4i to attach it to my tripod.

It does look really stupid to walk around with a T4i with a 70-200mm lens on it. I instinctively held my hand over the T4i when I spotted another photography coming my direction.

Grainy close up of some of the girls on the tiny tots twirlers float I mentioned yesterday.

That said, other than the flip out touch screen on the T4i, which I found annoying, and the imbalance with the lens, I really liked the tiny Rebel. The shutter was quiet and handled rapid fire shots faster than the 5D (probably because of the slightly lower resolution).

The flip out touchscreen will be handy for shooting video and does make viewing images in bright light easier. I just don’t like to put the camera up to my face with the flip screen open and then get annoyed when I have to open it again immediately following a shot to check an image. In the end, I was pleased with the images, although they were a bit noisier than I was expecting.

This little guy was very energetic throughout the parade.

You Get What You Pay For

Posted by dkrashb on November 3, 2012

Remember what it was like to be really scared? Scared when you knew there was nothing to be afraid of, but you were scared anyway? What is it that’s fun about that? Yet we seek it out from the time we’re little.

Like hide-and-seek. We know the people are out there, but when we find them, we’re often startled or even terrified when at last we stumble across those we seek.

Going to a Halloween haunt is a return to our childhood roots. We know we are safe. We know no one is going to hurt us. Yet we go to be scared. There’s an underlying hysteria to the whole process of gearing up for a haunt.

It starts with the gathering of the group. And the group psychology is important to the whole experience. There’s an optimal group size. If the group is too big, there’s too much safety in numbers. You can hide in the middle of the bunch. If the group is too small, the contagious nature of fear is lost. I think 4-6 people with a couple of total scaredy-cats is perfect.

It’s small enough that the fear of 2 can spread to the rest of the group vs. the swagger of several buoying up the rest of the group’s courage.

And, let’s be honest, as much as I hate to admit it, there’s a gender difference. We women haven’t spent our live pretending to be brave. We’ve been taught to be afraid for our safety in so many subtle ways; we’re more likely to be startled, frightened, and even terrified than our male counterparts.

We’re also more likely to fully enjoy the experience of a haunt. This is also true of children–the younger, the more disbelief is suspended.

I ponder the attraction of being scared. It’s a reminder of our vulnerability, a feeling of helplessness. Why do we enjoy this feeling of not knowing what’s going to jump out at us? Is it the rush of having experienced terror and having survived? Is it significantly different from the rush of thrill seekers who sky dive, climb Mt. Everest, or go cave diving?

These images were taken on the haunted trail at the Acres of Darkness event. I was hidden in the shadows, waiting for the moment when the victims were suddenly startled by the various actors on the trail. While I can’t claim there great images in terms of lighting, framing, or composition, they captured a moment of true fear for at least some of the guests.

I laugh when I look at their faces. I laugh because of the complete abandon of their expressions. Is it macabre of me to enjoy having captured fear? In my own defense, if they would have been in real danger, it wouldn’t be funny to me. But these are “we got you!” moments. They came to be scared and they were.

It’s photographic evidence that the haunt achieved what the audience paid for.

Haunted

Posted by dkrashb on November 2, 2012

What would a haunt be without some haunting? This was another idea I had while shooting the Acres of Darkness event. I know I’m not going to have people begging to buy prints, but the entertainment value of creating “ghosts” in images is priceless.

For the second time in one night, photography served not as an art form but as a game. I’m beginning to think I’ve found my niche–I may not be an artist, but I’m pretty entertaining. 😀

I managed to recruit the subjects to play “ghost.” This required no acting. It simply required standing still and moving on command. By having the subject pause periodically and then move a few steps slowly and then pause again, we created a see-through ring of a ghost image of the subject.

People are amazed by this effect. In fact, I am amazed by this effect. No matter how many times I do this, I am still amused.

I learned a few things from this little experiment (OK, so maybe this should be obvious):

People wearing light colors show up a lot better in a really dark image than people wearing dark colors.
This effect only works well if there is enough ambient light to create a clear outline of the subject.
To create a single image of a ghost-person, have them stand still in the frame for about 1/3 of the total shutter time and then walk out of the frame really fast.
To create a trail of ghost images, they need to take two steps forward slowly, pause for about a 3-count (with a 30-second shutter speed), and repeat until the shutter closes.

The last image was an accident. But, it seemed fitting with the theme, so I kept it. It might just be a technique I want to try again someday. 🙂 I took a shot of the 3 kids using my flash, but I’d forgotten to change the settings on my camera from when I was shooting the previous images with a 30 second shutter speed.

So, my flash went off, creating a solid and clear image of the kids, but then my shutter was still open and I was waving my camera all over the place while I was talking to the kids, explaining that I needed to retake the shot but I had to wait for 30 seconds (this seems to be a difficult concept). While I was waving my camera around, it picked up on the different things I pointed it at just enough to create the “fog” over the image. I am not sure what the bright light at the top is, quite honestly. Might not be able to recreate that part. The next time I want to add fog to a scene, I might just give this a try!

Today’s life lesson from photography: sometimes doing something just for the fun of doing it is more satisfying than worrying about the end results.

Show Me Terror

Posted by dkrashb on November 1, 2012

While shooting the Acres of Darkness haunt, I wanted to get shots of people while they were waiting in line. This was truly shooting in the dark because I literally could not see them in the view finder at all. Unfortunately, I had a single flash unit attached to my camera and was trying to light groups of people, so it was a bit tricky. The lighting is, well, shall we say “not dramatic”? But, the assignment for this series of shots was fun and the participants nearly made up for the bad lighting.

The assignment I came up with for the attendees was to show me their most scared face. I asked each group waiting in line to show me absolute terror. I got some mixed results, but overall, I was impressed with much of the acting!

Some people were immediately into it. Like the ladies in the 3rd shot. They really got a kick out of how scared they could look. We actually did 3 shots because they were having so much fun.

The larger groups were fun because they would have some people who were really into it and others who really just wanted me to go away. Like the family in the 8th image–the teenage girl in the background looking utterly bored spoke volumes about adolescence.

But even some of the pairs were a 50/50 mix on willingness to act. One of my personal favorites is the 6th shot where the guy is totally acting scared and the girl is looking like she’s not really sure she wants to be seen in public with this guy. Made me wonder how long they’d been a couple and how much longer it would last. 🙂

Then, there’s the image immediately after that one with the three guys. The one on the far left said he imagined he was writing an alimony check to inspire his expression. I thought he looked more like he’d had an accident in the restroom, but I appreciated his effort.

The two young girls in the 11th image cracked me up. The one on the left gave a pretty realistic scared look. The one on the right, who appeared to be the younger of the two when seen in person, seemed to think throwing up her hands was all it took to look scared. Maybe she has yet to experience real fear?

This assignment, by the way, only worked well because I could show the subjects their picture immediately on the LCD of my camera. They looked at the result and immediately wanted to try again to make it even better. They all laughed and made fun of each other’s faces in the shots. Who knew photography could be so entertaining for the subjects?

Afterwards, I had several people approach me and ask if there was somewhere to view the photos so they could decide if they wanted to buy them. Maybe next year.

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Combining living on the road with a mainstream lifestyle

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