Daily Plog

February 26, 2010

A Friendly Sunset

This photo was taken when my friend Steve (www.srmartinez.net) and I went out for some photography, yes, we went to quarry park again, it seems every time I visit there, I am greeted by some new perspective or view on something. Next time, I think I will use the rule of thirds a bit more prominently, and I will make sure I am closer, as I was not accounting for the effect of the wide angle lens I was using.

This one was taken while we were both still relatively warm. Steve had forgotten his gloves, so later on I let him use one of mine, so we shared gloves… Yes, sharing gloves with another man is a sacred thing, so Steve and I are pretty much blood brothers now.

Back to the photo, I really like this one, however, I used my (cheapo) wide angle lens, and sadly I discovered a severe flaw in the unit. I will give extra awesome brownie points to the first person that is able to identify the problem in the photo, and the distortion which caused it. I will give you a hint, My D90 has a setting that (either on or off) attempts to reduce this effect.

So, for everyone reading, do not buy cheap equipment with an expensive camera, it will only leave you sad, and wondering why your expensive camera is taking terrible photos, until you see the edge-bending effect of your wide angle lens and realize what the problem was, or maybe that’s just me…

I also think it is probably prudent to adjust the photo size I am posting, as much as I love the large size photos, it seems to give a feel closer to being there, since your eyes kind of scan around, much like they do naturally. It seems that many people are running lower resolution monitors, so, if you are unable to see the full image in the window without scrolling (Please make sure your browser is set to full screen view), please just leave me a note here, so I can do things to make it a better viewing experience for everyone…

Thanks!


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October 6, 2009

The perplexity herein…

Filed under: HDR, Houses, Minnesota, Outdooors, Rebel XT/350D — Tags: , , , , , , , — Jacob Crosby @ 5:33 am

So, in recent months it seems I have been relegated to my bed. I have come to find that I have an extreme level of anti-socialism, as though that is some form of government… Anyhow. There are, it seems, several reasons for the recent lack of enthusiasm for much of anything. One, being the severe pain I feel when doing any form of physical movement, including carrying my camera bag any distance farther than out the door and to my Jeep. Two, a severe bout with depression has struck me, and I simply lack the motivation to do nearly anything. Three, I have no money, no job and I feel very much alone.

Having said that, there is still a positive spin on things, somewhere, I hope… I just have yet to find out what that is. I do have some paperwork to fill out, in an effort to get some form of assistance from the government due to my current medical condition, which is clearly a positive point on the chart.

On to the photos… It seems today is a bit of a “twofer”, in that I lack the ability to make a decision as to whether I would like to focus on the positive or negative side of things. The two photos that follow were taken within the same 24 hour period. The self-portrait was taken first, late at night, I was unable to sleep. I had been crying… No, sobbing quite excessively due to a recent “loss”. I ended up staying up for roughly 32 hours, I accomplished very little at first, finding no reason to do anything of significance. Somewhere around the 5:00am mark I decided that I wanted to feel good again, so I made the decision that at sunrise I would force myself to climb on the roof and take photos of said sunrise, a goal in which I had neglected for a little over three months at that point. After having a battle with myself over motivation, I walked to the window screen and promptly removed it from the window frame (Which, in fact, was not very prompt at all since the screen was rather tightly affixed to the window frame, and I lack the ability to exert any significant amount of force without pain).

I waited the next 50 minutes, thinking about what lay in store on the roof, during a wet morning, for a young man, in no physical condition to be climbing about on a roof, with a tripod, expensive camera, tennis shoes, and a severe fear of heights. No matter! I was on my way and there was no stopping me now. I made the trek onto the roof, only to find there was no way to the other side of the house, other than to scale the garage, and make a three foot jump across a gap between the garage and the other side of the house, camera and tripod in tow. Needless to say, I made sure I took my time and captured a significant number of photos from different positions prior to an escape back to the comfort of my room. I am quite fond of both photos here, as they represent the relative low and high in the course of a 24 hour period, one in which I do not believe the high point or low point have subsequently been achieved.

I hope that you are all pleased with these photos, as they are the first actual motivation I have had in some time. Please, please make comments, critique, shout, yell, gripe, or do whatever it is that you feel the need to do. I am at a point in my life in which I need to feel like something I do matters. Though it is something as simple as a personal photo blog, it really is one of the few things I have left. So please, take a few moments, click on the shiny little stars to give a vote, jot down a few lines about how I do not hang out with you enough, whatever it is you deem necessary. Something to keep me motivated to do this is really what I need, and it is just a start.

I would like to thank someone, a family member of a dear friend of mine. I recently received an email detailing my skill with my photography and my ability to articulate what it is that I am feeling and going through. There was what appeared to be a deep rooted concern for my well being, and a level of reassurance that I am very unfamiliar with. Those of you that know me, know that my upbringing was one of much neglect and discouragement. So to hear such positive words coming from a person most would consider a relative stranger, was endlessly surprising and a wonderful few sentences to read.

On to the Photos!

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July 24, 2009

Dreamy Summer Sunset

Filed under: HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Outdooors, Rebel XT/350D — Tags: , , , , , , , — Jacob Crosby @ 2:42 am

A photo taken whilst driving down the road. I learned from a person I would consider a friend, that should you see something you think is picture worthy, it is most likely best to stop and take the photo.

I nearly missed this one as I thought, "I should stop and get a photo." Yet kept driving, I did this for about a half a mile, which seemed like next to eternity, since the voice of Trey Ratcliff was in the back of my mind repeating, "Stop and get the photo, it will be worth it." In some sort of Steven King of nightmarish chant… Sorry Trey, but that is really what happened. Needless to say, I took the advice and avoided the slippery slope that might have been a missed photo.

Now, having said that, this is a bit of an abnormal photo for me, as I do not use Photoshop unless someone specifically requests that I add/remove something. Yet for this photo, I opted to use PS, since again, there was a nagging voice claiming that will a little love this could be a great photo. I am very pleased and will likely add it to my top 5 photos ever captured and processed.

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July 2, 2009

A Good Friend

Filed under: HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Outdooors, People, Rebel XT/350D — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Jacob Crosby @ 9:30 pm

This is a photo taken when my friend Andrew and I went to William O’brien State Park. I kind of wandered a little closer to the river and a small ledge of rocks and looked up and found that this was a fitting pose for Andrew. I did very much like the angle, with the tree and the roots in the foreground I think the photo turned out very well. Andrew is clearly far more photogenic than I am, no matter, this is my photography site, not “My Photograph” site.

And please, let’s keep the ratings based on photographic quality and not something like “Hot or Not”…

Thanks! :)

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“The Artist”

“The Artist”, as titled by my friend that both took and processed the photo, Steve (http://www.srmartinez.net).

Steve and I were able to spend a little while together at Quarry Park in St. Cloud, MN and I feel that we both took some great photos that day, some of which I have already posted. This particular photo is a very rare photo I would say, though I may love taking photographs, I am not exactly fond of having my photo taken, so typically they end up being candid shots, as this one shows.

I will state that, in my defense, I do usually notice the faint clicking sound of the mechanics of the typical SLR firing away, and order the photo of me to be deleted, however, for some reason or another, Steve’s Nikon SLR and lens are the quietest combo I have ever heard, or not. Not sure if it is just a fluke that his is so quiet, as I have used them in stores, and a friend (Andrew) also has a Nikon and I have not heard one so magnificently silent as the one Steve owns. Regardless, I am confident that the next SLR I purchase will be the Nikon D90, as it has every feature I could dream of, and still uses a relatively small form factor, so when I have a spare $1,200 to spend on a camera, and a fairly good reason to do so, oh yes, it will be mine….

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June 28, 2009

The Mighty River Erosion

Filed under: HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Outdooors, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , — Jacob Crosby @ 8:03 pm

I was lucky enough to spend some time with a good friend of mine Andrew. We went on a quick meander down to the William O’Brien State Park and grab a few photos. Unfortunately there was not much of significance with regards to photography, I have only about three photos of note from the day, but I was very struck by this one.

I think that people tend to miss the significance of erosion on the earth, especially in and near river areas. It would be nice to have seen what this area may have looked like hundreds of years ago, and perhaps, due to modern technologies, hundreds of years from now they can look at all of our documentation with photographs and things of the like and see just what the landscape was like in our time.

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June 9, 2009

Mid-Fire Barn

Filed under: Barn, Fire, HDR, Minnesota, Outdooors — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — Jacob Crosby @ 10:13 am

This photo was taken after trudging through a heavily charred marsh. My shoes were soaked, and black, along with the pants I was wearing. I ended up only being covered in char up to my knees, which easily could have been worse. See, the things I go through for a photo. The char in question was caused by the crazed firefighter from a previous post.

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June 2, 2009

The Actions of Stupid People, and Firefighters at Work

Filed under: Fire, HDR, Minnesota, Nature Preserve — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Jacob Crosby @ 7:25 pm

Well, where to begin… This is a photo taken from the roof of the house I was living in. I have made a previous post regarding the situation of the dozens of firefighters in this photo, but to reiterate:

A crazy volunteer firefighter that owned a local Ford dealership decided that not only was it a good idea to run up a $4 million dollar debt with a credit card company for the purchase of automobiles that went to a gambling habit, it was also a good idea to take his daughter out in the car (That had his volunteer firefighter plates on it) and light some fireworks while driving down the road. Fortunately someone that witnessed the event turned around and followed him, clearly seeing the plate. Anyhow, the result was him getting arrested while, YES, he was helping to put out the fire that he had caused!

My front yard was laden with firefighters, members of The Salvation Army, along with Police and EMT’s. At many points in time it was literally impossible for us to leave, as well as the fact that our restroom was used in an excessive abundance.

After having found that the porch was just not high enough to capture all the firefighters, I mounted the roof, tripod and camera in hand, and quite literally as soon as I took a photo, their little powow ended and they rapidly dispersed. Fortunately, I was able to capture this one quick shot before they were entirely gone. This photo is my most popular photo as of yet, and was printed on the front page of the local paper, and has been entered to be printed on the cover of a firefighters magazine. Though it is not my favorite, somehow everyone likes it…

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May 18, 2009

A Fire in the Night

Filed under: Cars, Fire, HDR, Minnesota, Travel — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Jacob Crosby @ 2:00 am

This photo is related to, quite literally, a fire in the night. Apparently a crazy firefighter thought it might be a good idea to drive down the highway with his daughter lighting fireworks from the cab of his car, subsequently starting a fire in the Carlos Avery Wildlife Preserve. On the bright side of the whole thing, nobody was injured and no homes were lost in the fire.

I was also given the unique opportunity to host many of the Fire Departments that were helping with the effort in my front yard. I captured this photo at one of the rare moments when there were not 30 firefighters hovering around the truck, in my yard or trying to raid the Salvation Army truck of it’s precious booty (water, Gatorade, snacks, etc.) It is a fair amount darker than my typical photos, but given the setting and the viewers ability to see the smoke and a little bit of the glow of the fires, I think it is appropriate.

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May 16, 2009

The Path Through the Ominous Forest

Filed under: HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Travel — Tags: , , , , , , — Jacob Crosby @ 9:20 pm

Some photos are easily taken, some inspired by a scenic view, some, some are simply a fleeting moment in space and time. We are given our photo opportunities at varying moments in our lives, we may have wonderful memories, or a terrible tragedy may have befallen us.

For me, this photo will fall under the latter category. I was whisked away by a family that missed me in St. Cloud, MN upon the news that some medical issues were recurring and my health was diminishing. Regardless, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend an afternoon with a dear friend of mine, Steve. We decided we would go to the St. Cloud Quarry Nature Park to take some photos. Upon walking the first 30 feet in I knew that this was an area I had to shoot on the way out. Considering the current condition of my health and the idea of the roads we follow and the paths they may or may not lead us down, it was of a particular significance to me. All the philosophical goodness aside, here is the photo in all it’s splendor.

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