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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November 30, 2009

Rose…

Filed under: Arizona, Nature, Outdooors, People, Phoenix, Rebel XT/350D, Sedona, Travel — Tags: , — Jacob Crosby @ 12:32 pm

Don’t disturb the beast, the temperamental goat, the snail,
While he’s feeding on the rose,
Stay frozen compromise,
What I will, I am…

Bend around the wind,
Silently blown about again,
I’m treading so soft and lightly,
Compromising my will, I am…

I am, I will, so no longer
Will I lay down, play dead,
Play your doe,
In the headlights,
Locked down and terrified,
Your deer in the headlights,
Shot down and horrified,

When push comes to pull,
Comes to shove,
Comes to step around,
This self-destructive dance,
That never would’ve mattered,
Until I rose, I roared aloud here,
I will, I am…

I am,
I will,
So no longer,
Will I,
Lay down,
Play dead,
Play this,
Knee down,
Gunshy,
Martyr,
Pitiful,
I rose,
I roared,
I will,
I am….

Within the words above I find a certain level of comfort. It seems that in this song the notion that we are able to endure precludes itself. I found that my level of endurance, tolerance, and patience, with regards to the lies, untruths, and injustices of another is finite and is not everlasting as I previously thought it was. It seems that, just as in the words above, there came a point in which “Compromising my will” was just no longer possible and as such, “I rose, I roared aloud here!… So no longer, will I lay down, play dead, play this.” I did whatever I deemed necessary to stop the “Self-destructive dance” that was indeed occurring. I was not able to focus on anything short of what the end outcome would be. My approach wrong, perhaps… Is the outcome what was most necessary, yes, without doubt, and in the same, there is an amount of remorse that penetrates me. Though not enough to cause regret, just enough to, on occasion, cause my spine to tingle, my heart to race, my thought process reduced to what might have been. Though after the abundance of effort and time on my part put forth, it seems that, inherently, people are incapable of change.

We are all faced with challenges, some as simple as getting out of bed, some unimaginable. In the end, we make our decisions based on the rules we have set for our lives, the guidelines to which we tailor our existence. Sometimes, our emotions interfere with a logic that is evident and ultimately undeniable. Perhaps if we could take the emotional variable out of the equation, the decisions we must make would be a great deal easier, but nobody ever said the easy choice was always the right choice, and as I have found, it rarely is.

I have made my bed, and I am fully prepared to sleep in it, and a certain level of confidence burns through me, that I will rest well, and may you also, with all of your regrets and remorse for what you have done to those around you, and what you will continue to do. Only you know the extent to which your behaviors reach, and the irreparable damage you have caused. May you sleep well indeed Chandra.

Since this post was built around a “quote” in the song above, there will be no quote today.

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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 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 31, 2009

Upper Falls Alcove

This area was a bit of a pain to get to, it required climbing down a 20ft. nearly vertical wall with camera, tripod, and remote shutter release in tow. I cannot say it was the easiest photo to shoot, but I will say that the green in the foliage in the foreground was some of the most brightly green colored shrubbery I have ever seen, even this HDR shot does not do it justice.

While I was busy shooting from down below, a friend was up top chatting with another guy that drove from Chaska, MN up to this area for the same purpose, which is quite a bit farther than we drove. I was surprised because he was using a Canon S5 IS, with the CHDK software shooting in RAW and told me he was having some good luck with HDR.

This was one of my first shots of the day, and likely will turn out as one of the best once I get the fine tuning done, but for now, here is the lackluster product straight from the software.

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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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