Eye Hole

Our good friends Sam, Lindsey, and Misha came over to watch the gold medal hockey game. Even though he was born Russian, the two-year old in Misha won out and he was more interested in a story from Lori. It was cute. He and Hannah sat on Lori's lap and made her read this book several times. I liked the shot through the eye hole of the book.
Shot with the default camera, tweaked in PicSayPro, then finished in Vignette.

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Art Play

I was looking around for something interesting to photograph today and saw the scribbles made by Hannah on a silver white-board. I think she has some real talent. Anybody want to buy some brilliant toddler art?

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An Uplifting Day

This morning I spent a few hours volunteering at the Bishops Storehouse. I mostly kept the refrigerator stocked and took pictures. Apparently it wasn't a really busy day so things were pretty laid back.  It always feels good to serve and I come away with an appreciation for my own situation. It was a good day.

Springy

I love sun and sky and warm. Well, two out of three today.
Shot in Vignette.

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Too Much Hockey?

I've spent basically the last 48 hours watching hockey. I lived in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for two years then was the olympic team representative for the Slovak hockey team in 2002 here in SLC. I LOVE olympic hockey (albeit a little less this year on the smaller NHL-sized ice.) I'm even posting this photo during the period break of Czech Republic vs. Finland.
Perhaps it's too much?
Nah.

I took the self portrait and cooled it down then merged two photos in PicSayPro.
Now back to hockey! Go Czechs! Go Slovaks!

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The Ducks Are Back

It was cute. I walked into the bathroom this morning to take a shower to find the baby duck perched on the mommy's head ready to watch. Hannah loves these two ducks and we find them all over the house.

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Best. Game Ever.

This is an actual game-worn helmet from the 2009 Sugar Bowl Champion Utah Utes. As a lifelong Utes fan and U of U alumnus I had to get one when I had the chance. (I actually have two and would be willing to part with one if you're interested) It's fun because it still has all the stickers and insignias from the season and the game and ties me to that phenomenal upset. (We totally got screwed with the National Championship.)
I played around with angles and color and especially specular highlights as I took probably 10 different shots. This was my favorite.

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Classic

Remember when phones were the size of your head...and didn't play Bejewelled...and were plugged into the wall?
Good times.

Shot with the built-in camera and retouched with Vignette for Android.

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Don't Like the Weather in Utah? Wait 5 Minutes.

Three photos today because I simply can't tell the whole story in one.
Lori and I drove to Manti today for a wedding. I was taking photos but Lori wasn't doing flowers so she basically had the day off. We left Hannah with Grandma over night (We have GOT to do that more often.) So photo #1 is the drive out there. It was awful. Extremely slippery--we saw at least 10 cars that had slid off the road.
We had planned on being 45 minutes early but got to Manti (about 2 hours from Salt Lake City) just in time for the wedding.
After the wedding, we shot all the family photos as the weather decided what it wanted to be.

It decided to be beautiful. So most of the bride and groom formals were shot with gorgeous blue sky.

Then, as quickly has it had come, it all went south for the drive home.

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Soon-to-be Burger

Wow. Inn-n-Out Burger. Lots of people working but still long lines. It's a lot of hubbub over soggy fries. But wow, the white balance on their lights is awesome!

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Signs, signs, everywhere a sign...

Now you know exactly how to act at the pond near my house.
Shot with the standard camera then retouched with PicSay Pro.

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Why The Long Face?

Today I had a great time. I probably took 75 pictures. There were at least 20 that I would love to post but this is the shot that made the cut. I played around with this horse for about 20 minutes. He didn't really want his photo taken and would turn away every time I pointed the phone his way. I finally was able to take this formal portrait. ;)
I have to plug Vignette yet again. The developer seems to update this app almost every day. It constantly gets better and better. I'm now to the point that I want a full-scale camera that shoots with the same effects. I'm just having so much fun!

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Gripping

Not much to say, really. We were at Costco and I thought the tire treads looked cool.
Shot with Vignette.

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After the Rain

Lori made chicken tikka masala for some dinner guests tonight so my job was to pick up the cilantro. I performed my duties well and the food was awesome! I love the supermarket near our house because they play thunder sounds before the automatic sprinklers wet down the veggies. I just get a kick out of it. This image was directly after the faux rain storm.

This photo actually demonstrates a very useful camera tip. All cameras have a minimal focus distance and they simply can't focus closer than this distance. (Do you have a computer full of fuzzy, washed out faces? You're probably shooting inside this range.) It's determined by many factors but unless the manufacturer builds in a macro option, that distance is typically about 16 inches.  So how do you shoot things that are nearer to the camera than this? Zoom. The minimal distance is usually constant with a lens so you can zoom in and make it feel closer but still be able to focus sharply. The other advantage of zooming when using a flash is that the flash will meter better with a little distance to work with so you'll get better exposures and fewer of those washed-out faces.
With an optical zoom you won't see any degradation of the image. With a digital zoom, such as that found on my camera phone (the lens doesn't physically move) the "zoom" happens when the camera simply crops out the center of the image so it looks closer. This yields a smaller final image so you need to be okay with fewer pixels. In this case, even though the camera in the Cliq is 5 mp, this image is zoomed 4 times so the final image is only 640x480--or about 1/3 of a megapixel. It's basically the exact same thing as shooting it at full size and cropping out the center on your computer. I wouldn't ever use a digital zoom in a situation where I had a choice but with the nature of this project it was the perfect way to get a macro-type image.

The image name is an hommage to Nelson, the short-lived music phenomenon from the early 90's. Man, I loved that song.

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Happy Valentines Day!

The back of my Snoopy Valentines tie.

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V Day

We had a great day! First was the 100th birthday party for my grandma. Good clean fun.
Then we had good Indian food with good company at the Himalayan. (Good Tikka Masala but average Lamb Saag.)
After that a some waltzing and swinging with a dash of cha-cha at the Murray Art Center. I love that place. I've been going there to dance for 15 years and Lori and I had our wedding dinner there as well...you'd be surprised, I'm actually quite lithe for a chubby fellow. The image here is of Maddy and Courtney Parsons. They're some of our fun friends who went dancing as well. We had a great time and man, can that Courtney gyrate!
All in all a very nice day.

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Worn-Out Welcome

This old building in Tooele was dug out of the ground with a rounded roof and old faded and chipping paint. A driveway went down from the street and ended at a dilapidated garage door. I could have photographed there for hours. The image above is the frame I've chosen but there are a dozen others that easily could have been the final choice. I think I'll head back out there with the big guns some time.
Technically, Vignette did a good job with the effect but over-sharpened things by a lot. This image looks great very small but not too great even pixel-for-pixel.

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The Standoff

A picture really IS worth a thousand words. Every parent knows this moment. It's the moment when your child is being punished and out comes that tongue...mocking your authority.
(I married the coolest woman ever. She handled it like a pro.)

Photographically, it demonstrates the idea that if you capture a good moment, the quality of the photo takes a back seat to the story that is being told.

You Spin Me Right 'Round, Baby

Today's shot is from when Hannah was spinning on my office chair. I made just one image then she stopped and wouldn't do it again. I wish I'd have shot it in color because the blur would have stood out more but sometimes in photography you only get one chance.
It was shot with Vignette on the Ilford setting.

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L'ubim T'a

I found it! I've been looking for a long time for my Lomo 166 that I bought in Slovakia. I loved it even then but honestly had no idea how to use it. I shot one roll of film.
I moved a few years ago and hadn't seen it since. I found it today!
(In true photographer fashion, I took a few celebratory images.)
Only two more lost cameras left to find. (Yeah, I know, I'm dumber than I look.)
I also have to admit that L'ubim T'a is Slovak, not Russian. I only speak enough Russian to get into trouble.

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Holed On

I have a large, rectangular softbox sitting on the table. When I walked in I seemed to be looking right down the barrel as the glass door on the other side lit up the mounting hole. I actually shot it rectangular at first going for the symmetry of the frame and the softbox but I didn't like it so I cropped it square.
I like that the velcro fastener on the bottom-left has come apart and you can see just enough light through it to throw off the symmetry of the square frame and round hole just enough to be interesting. It makes you want to know what the heck this thing is...exactly the point of an abstract in my mind.


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Sunday Afternoon With the Ducks

It was finally sunny today! We were excited about that so Hannah and I took a walk to go to the local pond to see the ducks. Mommy was asleep so Hannah insisted on wearing her hat. She was so cute she even gave her mommy a run for her money.
Shot in the Instant (Polaroid) mode with Vignette.
I've also discovered PixelPipe, a little app that allows me to upload to facebook, Picasa, and my blog all at once. TOTALLY worth the $.99!

Filling Big Shoes

From the Pulitzer-Prize-winning photojournalist to the soccer mom with a point-and-shoot, the purpose of taking ANY picture is to preserve a moment to remember later.
While Lori and I were planning a large photo shoot with Betsy of Modest Couture by Elizabeth, Hannah was tromping around the kitchen in a large pair of pink pumps. It was so cute and I was able to capture that moment because I had a camera with me in my phone.
What cool times we live in!
Captured (quickly) with the standard Cliq camera and then run through Vignette with traditional framing on the London setting.

Verticals

We have vertical blinds and an Ikea couch in our living room. Here, they collide in a angular explosion of black and white geometry...and the one-a-day photo for today.

Remains of the Day (and the Pizza)

I think the name pretty much speaks for itself. I liked the way the crust lined up with the last pepperoni and stray sausage. Kind of fun.
Vignette square format with the tilt-shift lens.

Flemish Landscape

I think the title needs some explanation.
One of my favorite movies ever is Mystery Science Theater 3000, the theatrical release. It's the one where they mock the film "This Island Earth". Hilarious. There's a line where the film shows a scene and the character says "Look, they flew into a Flemish painting!". It's not one of the more humorous lines and frankly, I'm not sure what a Flemish painting really looks like. I'm sure there's some style or feature that defines it--I just don't know what it is. When I processed this image in PicSayPro and applied a slight cross-process, that line came into my head.

Photographically I basically broke the rule of thirds into little tiny shattered pieces but I don't care. I like it this way.

Nice Rack

I really couldn't help it. I saw this spice rack and was inspired. I guess inspiration can come from anywhere. In the end, the only one who really has to think you're funny (or talented, or nice, or whatever) is yourself...and your wife, because she promised before you got married to think you are funny.

The treatment on this photo (Shot with Vignette) is called Ilford. It's a standard black and white conversion but always looks awesome. It's nice and sharp and changes the normal muddy contrast of camera phones to a beautiful monochrome. I was also able to find an aspect ratio that fit the shape of the rack.

Florilista

My wife, Lori, is an AWESOME florist. She put this bouquet together for the show on Saturday and it's one of my favorites ever. She brilliantly mixed textures for a look that is both modern and classic.
The bouquet still looks great so I made it today's photo.

Lori's floral site is here.
I'm loving the tilt-shift lens option on Vignette. This is the Tilt-Shift Portrait option with a traditional crop.

State of the Project Address

I hope you're all enjoying the project as much as I am. From your comments, personally, on facebook and the blog, I'm hearing so many wonderful things! I love hearing that people wait with baited breath (where did THAT phrase come from?) what I come up with every day.

I've been surprised by a couple of things...

First, I am surprised at how much I'm enjoying this whole thing! Granted, there have been plenty of nights where I've jumped out of bed at 11:30 and wandered my house looking for something to shoot but most of the time I'm so excited by the world around me I have something I love before lunch.
Secondly, As I'm sure you've noticed, I'm surprised by how much I have liked shooting in a square format. I started shooting everything with the standard camera then editing. After a couple of weeks I found myself shooting most often in a square right in Vignette. I suspect it's because I shoot everything professionally in the standard 2:3 DSLR standard so the square lets me see things differently...or it's because I'm a square.

I thought I'd celebrate the first month of The Project by showing you some of my favorite images that for one reason or another weren't a photo of the day. I feel like many of them are better than some of the images that made it but it's all about the day. If I make 5 great shots one day and 1 the next, that's how the cookie crumbles...mmmm...cookies...