It’s an awful waste to set up all my gear just for a few client photos. That’s my take, at least. I’ve been wanting to try out this shot for awhile and today was that day. I had a glass container, water, and luckily food coloring. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any blue coloring left. I used it all at my last place trying to make a fountain more, well, blue. True story. So, I only had red, yellow, and green to work with.

If you want to try this yourself, the key is to light the background, and not the glass container itself. I used white foam core about 8 inches behind the glass container, with a strobe pointing at the background, positioned under the raised platform where the glass container was. By lighting the background, the light will light up the food coloring from behind, essentially projecting the color to the camera.

Above is a composite of three different shots. I’ll be attempting this again when I’ve acquired some blue and whatever other colors I can find. Enjoy.

Cool weather, clouds in the sky… I can’t wait for Fall to come. This photo was shot on the Georgia Street bridge (the one you cross under on University Ave, going between Hillcrest and North Park).

I saw the harvest moon rising over North Park as I passed over the bridge yesterday. I didn’t have my camera with me, so I made a point to come back today. There weren’t any clouds yesterday, so the clouds today changed the mood of the photo.

If you’ve ever been on that bridge, you might have noticed there’s probably 10 power lines that cross over that area. As you can see, I took those suckers out. Thanks photoshop.

There’s one more version after the break. I couldn’t decide which one I liked better. Sorry if you’re looking at this on a small monitor.

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What did I expect? It’s labor day weekend. So, I weaved my way through the crowds to take a few late afternoon photos. First the gorillas, then the elephants, and finally a camel (I think) and koalas on the way out. I’d show you more elephant photos, but they were all eating and it was a little depressing.

More after the break. Enjoy.

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I’ve had three little plant kits on sitting on top of my fridge for months. I finally decided to put them together and make some plants. This one is grass, and the other two are sweet basil and a pine tree. (There wasn’t much of a selection when I bought them, ok?) Not sure what I’m going to do with the pine tree once it grows out of it’s little pot.

I recently picked up a slider to add to my video arsenal. If you’re not in the know, it’s essentially a track that you can slide your camera across to add a little motion to your shots. The video above would probably be a perfect example of what I’m talking about. It’s a few test shots from around my apartment.

I used the slider on a project recently and I’ll share the finished video once it’s done. Enjoy.

As I often do, I headed downtown today to grab a sandwich for lunch. After circling around a few times, I finally found a parking spot about a block and a half away. I made my way to the intersection and waited for the light to turn. As I’m waiting, I feel someone poke me in the back and I faintly hear “hey” over the bustle of people and traffic. Not knowing what to expect on a downtown street, I turn around only to find a small, old man with a cane.

“Can you help me cross the street?,” he says as he points to his roller suitcase. “Sure,” I say.

“Where are you from?”

The light turns green and he makes his way into the street. He navigates each step slowly, taking care to use his cane. I grab his suitcase, pulling it along behind me. By now, I’d be half way across the street, but this time I take it slowly too.

“Here, California.”

“New Jersey, 45 years,” he states.

“I’m hoping to move to the east coast this year.”

“No, don’t do it. Stay here,” he says, “Do you go to church?”

“I used to, but not so much any more.”

We make it to the other side of the street, the light still green. I park his suitcase next to him. “Thank you,” he says while he my shakes my hand.

“You’re welcome.”

And with that, I headed down the block to grab lunch. As I walked, I thought to myself, “45 years is a long time to live in one place.”