Photos and the Reasons Why

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Taken on September 7, 2008
Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/14
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 400

This is a quite old photo which I still think of as one of my favorites. I took it at some random beach on the Oregon Coast one day while driving around. I thought the ball in the basket would look great as super saturated yellow amongst desaturated blues. It rare that a photo looks the same from in my head, to shooting, to post processing. Usually the final product and what I was originally planning on getting are quite different.

Usually you have to approach each stage as “ok, I have these tools, what can I make from this?” Sometimes “what can I make from this” is always the same.

It’s always a nice surprise when you’re able to achieve a close representation of your original goals. Perhaps that’s why I like this photo more than it’s fair share’s worth. I find that the emotion presented by the ball, neglected in the basket, the muted tones, and the two guys sitting on the beach is a nice, flat, attractive melancholy.

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September 5, 2007
Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Location and musings:
This photo is very representative of the road trip, a least in my mind. This was taken in Illinois on my way to Chicago. I found myself getting drowsy about an hour before sunset, so I pulled over to the side of the road and took a nap while I waited for the sky to begin it’s nightly light show. It was a gorgeous evening and was plenty warm enough to roll down the windows and enjoy the air as I listened to the corn rustling in the breeze.

Every time I think about the time I spent doing that, I feel a great calmness. Of course, then I remember the fears and worries I had back then and I’m glad I’ve got a new set now.

Technical thoughts:
This was definitely early on in my study of photography, I have next to no lighting control. My only flash is the on camera flash, so there ends up being far too much debris being lit to have the photo be particularly interesting. I probably should have taken the photo over closer to the corn stalks to be more midwesty.

Still, that is one gorgeous sunset.

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Taken on September 3, 2007
Camera: Apple iPhone
Aperture: f/2.8

I took this photo on the very first day of my Road Trip, as I was driving out of Yosemite. It ended up being a perfect iPhone desktop screen, one I kept for quite some time.

I’ve always like the incongruity between the size of the stone in the foreground when compared to one of the world’s most famous domes, in the background. The line which leads directly from the foreground rock to Half Dome is also fun.

Yosemite is one of the most beautiful places in the world and I desperately hope to spend some significant time there in the future, especially now that photography has become a serious hobby of mine. Yosemite is so incredibly beautiful that the pictures that come out of it continue to be mind boggling, even after seeing hundreds or thousands of them. Each crag or nook or cranny or waterfall at sunrise is on it’s own a beautiful place, yet the valley in central California is one of them.

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Photo Taken October 29, 2007
Camera: iPhone

The Grand Hotel in southern Alabama has a mint julep on the menu.
I have a particular way that I like a mint julep to be made. I’m fairly certain that, much like the old fashioned, it must be made at home to have it made right.
That said, atmosphere is important. A nice warm October evening in the south, the back yard of a 200 year old hotel, it seems like some pretty nice atmosphere.
The sunset was remarkable. I had brought my nice camera, but I left it in the car. This was taken with my phone. I do rather like the shot.
I ordered julep, this time with a little more sugar. The bartender was a very upright fellow wearing a tux.
“Yes, sir, right away, sir.” He spoke with a heavy german accent.
This one was better. I continued exploring the grounds, stopping briefly to remark on the wonderful weather and remarkable sunset with a nice old lady.

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Taken on October 29, 2007 at 12.18pm
Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 200

This remains one of my favorite photos. It is at first difficult to discern what the subject is, which is part of the reason for the explicit title. Mud is drying under the hot texas sun in such a way that it cracks and curls up like tree bark.

I took the photo in the middle of the “Grand Canyon of Texas,” also known as Palo Duro canyon. That trip remains one of my most successful days of photography. The landscape is stark and beautiful with an abundance of interesting rock formations and interestingly shaped woodlands. I’m sure several future Road Trip Friday photos will be from Palo Duro.

I like this photo because it maintains it’s orange-red earthy pallet throughout while still having shadow and definition. The out of focus background, or bokeh, fills the top third of the screen with regular curving lines of similarly colored weeds. The weeds and the mud effectively echo one another, though the weeds are more chaotic.

There is a bit of a circle formed by all of the mud with the four centermost pieces lying inside that circle. The circle is broken enough to not appear unnatural, but is solid enough to keep your eyes in the photo. Finally each of the pieces curves differently and its simply strange to look at all the different pieces and see how something as simple as drying mud can make these shapes.

Every Sunday I go into my archives and choose a photo to represent the end of this week.

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Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 200

The two letters covered by leaves in this photo are “SF” indicating the photo was shot in San Francisco. This sign is posted in a park very near to the northernmost tip on San Francisco. Pretty much the only things north of this sign include the park immediately beyond the sign and the Fort Point area underneath the Golden Gate, you know, where Madeleine attempts to jump to her death in Vertigo?

I chose this photo for today because, until recently, it was one of my most viewed photos. As of this writing, it has 87 views on Flickr, no comments, and no favorites. I never quite figured out why it was getting hits. The photo itself is flat and uninteresting. While the concept of the photo is absurd, it isn’t that humorous. It does represent my continuing frustration in figuring out what makes a good photo and what people are looking for.