The Slump

2012 has been a year of huge changes for me: I got married and I moved from Oakland to Sunnyvale. I grew a year older and hopefully a little bit wiser. Sadly however, my photography stagnated. I found myself going through the motions and no longer trying to innovate or improve. What happened?

It would be great if I could say "life happened", but that would be disingenuous. Life is about making choices, about priorities, and this year I did not make photography a priority. For me, the recipe for innovating and improving is to stay engaged: read what other people are doing, experiment, and reflect. This year, I rarely checked in on Strobist and my other favorite photography sites. This year, I did not make a single post to this blog (except this one) nor call up my buddy Brian and do a crazy late night shoot. Consequently, this year, I did not have much to reflect on.

I want 2013 to be different. I must make reading my favorite photography websites an everyday ritual. I must take more photos, be it on my phone, my DSLR, or anything with a lens. I must re-engage with my photography buddies, only good things happen when I collaborate with them.

One year from now, I will see how much my photography has changed, but I already see one thing I can improve: fixing all the broken Flickr images on this blog! More on that later.

I hope 2012 was a great year for you and 2013 will be even better!

Just A Bench

I love riding trains and subways. There are always neat shapes all around the stations. I took this picture at a BART station in Oakland over the weekend. The diagonal "bar" is actually the forward edge of a well-worn wooden bench. The top left corner is the ground. It's fun to experiment with composition, because with a simple camera phone there aren't many parameters to play with.

Customized Stamps, Part 2

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was turning my nephew into stamps with the help of photo.stamps.com. A week or so later, I got them and I think they turned out great! I gave them to my sister for her birthday and she turned to me and asked in a serious tone, "Do I have to use them?" I think she likes the gift! Awesome.

Another Fun Random Shot

I snapped this pic with my phone while walking to the train station. I'm really digging the Retro Camera app for my Android phone!

Droid X Camera Not So Bad?

Last Saturday I complained about the camera on my Droid X phone. But maybe it's not the camera itself, but the standard Droid X camera app that is the reason behind my crappy photos. (I tend to blame myself before my gear, but in the Droid X's case, I think it deserves more of the blame).

While waiting for the train in Santa Clara yesterday, I was bored, so I perused my forgotten list of Android apps and "rediscovered" Retro Camera. I chose the Polaroid camera setting and shot the underpass adjacent to the station. I was surprised at the high quality of the image and loved the added effects! Stay tuned for more Retro shots from my phone!

Sendy+Bryan's Engagement: Guitar Light Stand?

As the sun started to fall in Half Moon Bay during Sendy and Bryan's engagement session, Brian and I busted out the flash + monopod. By closing down the aperture, I could capture the beautiful sky and ocean without blowing out the photo. But if I did that, then their faces would go dark, so to compensate, Brian pointed the flash at them. He attached the flash to the monopod, because it allowed him to easily light from above or below without needing to use a ladder or grow longer arms! I used a remote system to tell the flash to fire whenever I snapped a picture.

As we walked down to the beach, I mainly kept my eyes on the rocks, so that I could find sure footing. For an instant I glanced up and saw Brian holding the flash + monopod and Bryan's guitar and in that moment, I thought that he had attached the flash to the guitar directly! It looked like a guitar light stand! The notion cracked me up, so I had to snap a picture of it!

Sendy+Bryan's Engagement: Behind The Scenes - Reflector

What's a simple way to throw a little extra ambient light on your subjects? Use a big reflector! That's my buddy and fellow photographer Brian fighting the wind and casting some lovely golden light on Sendy and Bryan's faces.

The concept might be simple, but it can be deceptively difficult to pull off. First off, we were in Half Moon Bay where the wind is world famous! Brian's a strong guy, but even he had to struggle to keep the reflector from flying loose.

Then there's the challenge of reflecting enough light to illuminate their faces without blinding them.

Because Brian did a great job, I didn't have to set up my off-camera flashes (which would have blown down) which simplified things greatly for me. Thanks Brian!

For more photos from the shoot, check out my other blog!