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I took this shot on Father’s Day on the San Clemente Pier. I don’t know this people or why they were so happy. It could have just been they’re in love, or did he get a special gift? Maybe he found out that he was going to be a dad? Whatever it was, I couldn’t resist taking a photo.

Continue reading »]]> Day 2, May 24 – Texture

“Texture refers to the surface quality or “feel” of an object – smooth, rough, soft, etc. Textures may be actual … or implied …” (COMPOSITION & the ELEMENTS of VISUAL DESIGN)

This was quite a bit easier than day 1. To show texture you can get up close an personal with your subject. When I went out, I didn’t know what I was going to shoot. But I happened across this rock that has a variety of different textures with the moss (?) growing on it.

Continue reading »]]> Over at the DSL Reports (DSLR) Digital Imaging forum we started a 30 day group project this week on the Elements of Design. I decided I wanted to also blog about my experiences taking the photos so I’ll do that here.

Day 1, May 23 – Line

“A line represents a “path” between two points. A line can be straight, curved, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or zigzag. Lines imply motion and suggest direction or orientation.” (COMPOSITION & the ELEMENTS of VISUAL DESIGN)

This was harder than it sounds. Working on a university campus, there are lines all over the place – buildings, trees, parking lot markers, etc. – but I wanted to have something more than a photo of a couple lines. I needed more of a subject than that. It was also midday (lunch time) when I went out, so there were people everywhere.

I ended up settling (I know I shouldn’t do that) for the photo above because I found a spot that was strangely completely devoid of humans. Although in retrospect, It may have been better to have had someone in the foreground or at the top of the trail. As it is, there’s still not much of a subject in this photo. The path way nicely leads the eye through the scene, but to what? The trees are all pointing to the sky, that you can’t really see.

A different perspective on this same scene may have come out better. If I had been at the top of the path shooting down, then end of the path (where I’m standing) opens up into the park. I might need to reshoot this one.

(FYI: I actually took this photo on Tuesday because I wasn’t able to get out on Monday.)

Continue reading »]]> Alright… I didn’t get a chance to make a post yesterday like I promised. However, I did take photos over the weekend (days 3-5). I’m not sure about yesterday (6), though.  Today(7) was a busy day and although I managed to get out off the office at lunch, I didn’t take any photos.  I haven’t downloaded anything from the weekend yet, but I have some good shots from 30,000 feet to share.  I’ll try to do a big post tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

Continue reading »]]> I’ve managed to stick with the project for more than one day!  I spent a bit less time out there today and shot less, but I uploaded more to flickr.  I think that’s good.  Although overall, I’m not as excited about what I shot today vs yesterday.  I felt rushed.

I did run into a couple other guys out taking photos in the park, both of whom I know.  However, I did not know that either were into photography! Like me, they’re using photography as an excuse to get away from the desk at lunch.  We talked for a bit, but since I was on my way back in, we didn’t shoot together.  Maybe next time.

Ok, so this is a photo blog,  (or phlog, but I’ve had a couple people say that phlog sounds funny)  so where are the photos? Here’s what I think my favorite of the day is.

I believe the structure in the middle is some sort of skylight for the restaurant/food court below. In Bio Sci area of UCI, close to Aldrich Park.

This was horribly underexposed.  I’m not sure what happened.  I had been chimping most of the shots before, and they were ok. Oh well, PS was able to fix it.

There might not be a new post or uploads tomorrow (or through the weekend) since I’ll be travelling.  I will be shooting still and have a post on Monday for sure.

See the rest of today’s photos.

See all of the Project September photos.

Thanks for reading!

Continue reading »]]> Had a good day 1 of the project.  I took about 30 shots, and have 9 that I uploaded to flickr.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

The Infinity Fountain near Physical Sciences at UC Irvine.

I’ve wanted to take this shot for a while now.  I didn’t get the angle I wanted because there were people sitting in that area, but I’m still happy with this.  ISO 100, F22, 1/6th, handheld.  Yes, handheld at 1/6th.  Thanks for IS!  I want to revisit this during the morning or evening when the sun isn’t as harsh.  Or maybe at night since I believe the fountain has lights.  I also need to get a ND filter so I can open up the aperture.

One more after the jump…

View of Engineering Tower through shattered glass in the Engineering Hall stairwell at UC Irvine.

I went to the top of the Engineering Hall glass enclosed stairwell thinking I could get some interesting shots looking down, or out.  Turns out it’s not so good for that, but I did get this.  One of the panes of glass was shattered, but still in place.  Must be safety glass.  Anyway, I saw this view and thought it looked neat.  ISO 400, F8, 1/500.

You can check out the rest of today’s shot’s here.

All all of the shots from Project September here.

Continue reading »]]> I made a resolution a few days ago. I resolved that I would not be spending my lunch hour indoors anymore. I will take my camera and go outside. I will take (hopefully) interesting photos around the beautiful UC Irvine campus. My goal is at least one per day for the month of september. Therefore, I have named this Project September.