Picture of the Week 7-30-2009
July 29, 2009
I chose this week’s picture from our archives but I chose to run it through Photomatix. This shot is one of my favorite photos that Bryan took when we visited Burnet, Texas in 2007. The shot was already very colorful but I thought if I made it an HDR photo I could make it pop even more. This is a single shot so in order to make it HDR I merged the original correctly exposed RAW file with RAW files of the same image where I overexposed and underexposed by 1 F stop. I know it sounds confusing but it’s actually very easy and look at the result. In order to grasp how awesome HDR is I put the before and after photos. Enjoy!
After
Before
Photo Info: Taken with the Canon Rebel XT at ISO 100 at F5.6 at 1/320 of a second.
Cal Poly Pomona: 5 Years Later
July 19, 2009
I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 2004. The year after I still frequented the campus since Jamie was still going there. Since she transferred I have only been back on campus a hand full of times. Today Jamie and I spent some time photographing there and chronicling the changes and the foundations. Jamie started by photographing the Arabian Horses. This is one thing which is both always changing but yet always a constant. The Arabian Horses have to be kept on campus you see as part of the deal Kellogg made to allow the ranch to become a university campus. Jamie photographed some of the newest additions to the campus; the young foals. Then we photographed the horses which sit in the triangle plot of pasture near the 10 freeway exit.
Next Jamie drove to the top of the new parking structure. I guess it’s been in use for a while but it is new to us. The structure is massive and probably is only dwarfed by the structure at Disney Land, California. From the top I photographed many buildings old and new. The familiar CLA building with the triangle shaped point sits near the library which recently got a face lift. The library is now a juxtaposition of old and new all in one. The original building remains intact with a new fascia on one half, a new entrance, and more room.
Most memorable of all are the Dorms where I spent many many nights with friends since gone off to lead separate lives but not forgotten. The buildings look exactly as they did the day I moved in during the Fall of 1999. I remember making the walk many times between Montecito where I lived and Cedritos where most of my friends were. I remember the long nights not studying but instead just hanging out or playing Counter Strike. Oh, those were the days. I also remember LosOlivos . A place called “the olives” can’t serve good food and it didn’t. I even worked there for a while. At least you could get a bowl of cereal and know it would be a constant. All Kellogg’s brands too… I wonder why?
After driving around the entire campus, Jamie and I crossed Temple Ave. and visited the Farm Store. There we bought some Faygo soda at one of the few locations where it is sold. I also picked up an awesome shirt which says “There are two Cal Polys: Pomona and the other one”.
I actually like what they’ve done with the place. A lot has changed in five years but even more has stayed the same. I’ve got to say I like the parking structure. Parking was always a nightmare on campus (and I lived there and had a separate lot). I can’t help but wonder what the next five years will bring. I hope it’s more of the same; improving the campus while paying homage to it’s history.
Kellogg Arabian
New foal at Kellogg Ranch
New foal at Kellogg Ranch
Kellogg horses
Kellogg filly
Jamie and filly
Jamie and Arabian horse
Cal Poly
Kellogg Ranch view from the parking structure
New Library
New parking structure
Jamie on the roof of the parking structure
CLA building
Cedritos
Clouds over Cal Poly
Farm Store
Farm Store Truck
Farm Store
Farm Store
Faygo
There are two Cal Polys: Pomona and the other one
Picture of the Week 7-14-2009
July 14, 2009
I’ve been really busy the past few weeks with moving so I haven’t been able to go out and photograph as much as I would like. So for this week’s photo I had to go back in the archives. This photo was taken way back in February 2006 when we used to live in Pomona. We used to live on the third floor with a balcony that overlooked Holt Blvd. Even back then I seemed to have a fascination with shooting sunsets. I’m sure it’s not good for me to be shooting directly into the sun but how else would I have gotten this shot? I believe at the time this sunset was made even more spectacular by the fact that a fire was producing a huge smoke cloud. Photography Hint: Sunsets are made better by smoke from wildfires. Anyway, enjoy this weeks photo and hopefully next week I’ll have something brand new.
Photo Info: Shot with the Canon Rebel XT at ISO 400, F16 and 1/500 of a second.
Picture of the Week 7-1-2009
July 1, 2009
Picture of the Week 6-25-2009
June 25, 2009
This week’s photo subject is the Mandalay Bay hotel. I shot this last weekend after our trip to the Shark Reef Aquarium. As we walked down the hallway we stopped to look at the impressive water park style pool and luckily I looked up and saw this shot. The clouds were perfect and the reflections just made it all the more spectacular. Can you tell I shot this through a window?
Photo Info: Taken with the 5D Mark II at ISO 200, F8 at 1/500 of a second.
Shark Reef Aquarium
June 23, 2009
This past weekend we drove out to Las Vegas. Since we got there late on Friday night and left on Sunday morning we really only got a full day to do stuff. We gambled, we ate, we watched a movie, we ate, we hit up the jacuzzi and we ate some more but one of the highlights of the trip was the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. We took our friends Claudia and Jimmy along with us which was cool because they had never been to that aquarium before. This aquarium is smaller than some of the aquariums we’ve been to in California but don’t be fooled by it’s size because it’s main attraction, the shark exhibit, is a 1.3 million gallon tank and the whole place has over 2,000 animals inside. Even though our trip to Vegas was short we all had fun walking through the aquarium and taking our awesome group photo (see below). Of course no trip to Vegas would be complete without a visit to Dunkin’ Donuts, Bryan ended up buying a great souvenir T-shirt.
Unfortunately that Great White is not real.
Who has two thumbs and likes Dunkin Donuts? This guy does!
Picture of the Week 5-28-2009
May 28, 2009
For this week’s photo I decided to go back in time, way back to July of 2004. Bryan and I, along with his brother and cousin went on a mission trip to London, England for a whole week. At the time Bryan and I only had point and shoot film cameras so we decided to buy our first digital camera for the trip. We chose a 3 megapixel Vivitar that cost us about $100. At the time we weren’t thinking about being serious photographers plus that was all we could really afford. The pictures that we brought home weren’t great but they were decent. The picture below is one of my favorite photos I took on the trip. It shows the London Eye and the River Thames with nice white puffy clouds in the sky. I hope one day to go back to London with our Mark II and take this shot again.
Photo Info: Taken with a Vivitar DC3320, ISO 100, F43.5 at 1/197 of a second.
Picture of the Week 5-20-2009
May 20, 2009
Last Saturday we went on a field trip with our Photographics class to Crystal Cove. We got there early, around 8:30 am. As per usual the sky along the coast was overcast. Even though it’s nice to have “open shade” type lighting for outdoor photos the gray clouds made many of our images look dull. Despite this I loved photographing at the beach, the rock formations make for great shots. We also climbed between a few of these rocks and took a few photos of some tide pool creatures including a baby seal. The photo from this week was shot by Bryan and it shows the beautiful rock formations that make this particular beach so photogenic.
For more photos from our field trip check out our GALLERY.
Photo Info: Taken with the Rebel XTi at ISO 100, F4 at 1/160 of a second.
Black Star Canyon
May 17, 2009
Lately I have been searching for fun things to photograph. I’ve been wanting to go to new places that we have never photographed and that most importantly were cheap or free. I generally search the OC Register’s events page to find outdoor activities which led me to the Irvine Ranch Wildlands website. If you recall we also found our kayak tour through this website. It’s a really fantastic place to find outdoor activities in the Orange County area. I ended up finding a photo hike in Black Star Canyon which we went on this Sunday. The tour was led by Andre Torng who is a volunteer for Irvine Ranch Wildlands and photographer. Our group consisted of about eight people who were mostly amateur photographers and hobbyists. We started out at the Black Star Staging Area at about 8:30 in the morning and headed down the trail toward the canyon. As we walked Andre gave us tips and pointers about composition and helped us choose camera settings. The main feature of the canyon are the huge red rocks, these rocks aren’t as glorious as the one’s we visited at Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas but they are nevertheless a beautiful landmark. We hiked for about two hours on a very easy trail but it soon got hot and we headed back. It was a lot of fun to get outdoors and photograph some great scenery with other photographers and I think we got some great shots. If you are interested in a photo hike or just some fun outdoor activities check out Irvine Ranch Wildlands. Their activities do fill up quickly so make sure you get your spot.
Photo by Bryan
Photo by Bryan
Photo by Jamie
Photo by Jamie
Picture of the Week 5-13-2009
May 13, 2009
Here is yet another photo from my new favorite place the Laguna Seca Recreation Area in Monterey. Look at that tree! I can’t get over how beautiful that tree is. After looking at this image I realize that it kind of looks like I used a polarizing filter, I assure you I was not. In fact this is a straight out of the camera image, no adjustments whatsoever to the color or exposure. I used the 24-105 F4L kit lens that came with the Mark II, this is quickly becoming my favorite lens. It takes the most beautiful shots. That lens is definitely worth it’s cost.
Photo Info: Shot with the Canon Rebel XTi at ISO 100, F8 at 1/400 of a second.