Life Imitates Art

I'm a fan of (most) Modern Art. Every now and then I'll find a scene that calls to mind the work of an artist I admire. Sometimes it's a very obvious connection, other times it's more of a concept that's triggered by the scene. Usually I do some Photoshop work on the image to mimic the artist's style.  Ed Ruscha is an artist who's work I enjoy. On a recent California visit I found this scene that reminded me of his work.

 The original Ruscha image can be seen here:
http://www.edruscha.com/site/workView.cfm?pk=28

Shootin' in the Rain

Rain can make for some very nice photos. Slow your shutter speed down to 1/250 to let the rain streak a bit. The first two images at 1/250, the third at 1/800. Notice the difference in how the rain shows up in the image.

Training Camp is Back!

Always a good time for making fun photos. The same things happen over and over (and over and over) again, so there are lots of opportunities to find good shots.

A Palindrome at Practice

Training Camp is long and often routine. Looking for fun photos helps keep me sharp.

You can run but.....

A little fun with a slow shutterspeed and fast runners!

Phun with Photoshop

A recent trip to Columbus for an assignment added some images to my "adjust later in Photoshop filters" file. I particularly liked the one's of the statehouse reflections.

7-UP

The Browns recently hosted an event, both at the Berea facility and then at the stadium. Twenty four teams of high school students from around the country competed in a 7 on 7 tournament. Each team represented the NFL team from their area. The Dolphins beat the Falcons for the championship at Cleveland Browns Stadium. As part of the event I did a photo of the largest group I had ever done, over 400!

It was fun, as the teams threw on every play. Made for some nice photos.

Finally, the captains meet for the coin toss for the championship game.

Nikon on a stick

I have a monopod that I use with a small ball head and a Nikon D3000 with a fisheye lens. Sometimes with a Canon 5D and a 17-40 f/4 0r a fisheye. This gives me the ability to shoot from above while standing on the ground. It's obviously hit and miss as to framing, but you can get pretty good at it after a while. Keeping the horizon straight can be tricky, so I custom rotate in Photoshop, which loses a bit of the image. First image is with the Canon at 17mm, no rotation needed. Second is with the Nikon and fisheye. This was a 4 degree rotation to get the horizon level.

Dad mode

Recently I attended the National History Day event in College Park, MD with my wife and daughter. My daughter and two class-mates were participating in the Group Performance, Junior Division. I took a few photos, and noticed when I got home I wasn't concentrating like when I work, so I saw lots of ways the pictures could have been better. One thing that can often make the photos look better as a whole is a collage, so that's what I did.

Little Italy Arts Walk

A little fun in the sun.

Nothing Beats a Day at the Ballpark!

What a difference a few pitches makes. First David Ortiz raises his hands in disgust for swinging at a bad pitch...

Then he raises his hands in thanks after launching a shot deep into the right field stands.

Finally one Mike Cameron misplayed into a ground rule double.

Football!

The Browns hosted a flag football tournament yesterday. It was fun and different.

Keep Your Eye OFF the Ball

When shooting sports it's easy to forget that many photo opportunities occur off the playing field.

Snow job

No, there wasn't a freak snowstorm in May, just a little fun with a P&S Nikon I had converted to infra-red a few years ago.

Organic materials show up white in infra-red, leading to the "snow" effect.