Tunnel (33 of 52)

Hello My Friends,

I have gotten a little behind on my photo taking for the 52 pic club.  Its been a busy couple of months, but I am not complaining, life is good.  I hope to play catch-up in the next few weeks. 

My wife and I went to a concert recently and I captured this one.  (The Red Hot Chili Peppers for those who are interested.)  I was playing with long exposure.  I just simply rotated the camera as I took the photo.

I call this one "Tunnel".

AP

 





Red Hot Chili Peppers

Where's the Parvins (32 of 52)

Hi all,

The wife and I took the kids to LEGO Fest this past weekend.  It was quite impressive.  Tons of people, lots of neat stuff.  We had a blast. 

Here is one from that adventure.  I call it " Where's the Parvins"

And yes that is a sea of LEGO bricks on the floor.

AP

Texas Strong (31 of 50)

Hello My Friends,
 
At the Institute of Texan Cultures museum in San Antonio, Tx there is a huge neon Texas Flag inside.  I always wanted to take a Silhouette photo there with my girls.  Well I had my opportunity this past Friday. 

This feature is located in the main hall, so it's difficult to get a clean shot without someone walking in frame.  I think I took about a dozen photos and only got 2 that I didn't have an extra body, foot, head, etc in it.

f/6.3 1/60sec ISO 400. 

The framing on this shot was challenging.  I was trying to maintain a standard frame ratio and keep the flag still looking like a flag, as well as, keeping the girls silhouette still looking natural and not cut off.   

I call this one "Texas Strong"

AP

Harpers Ferry (30 of 52)

Hello My Friends,

This past week I had an opportunity to visit Harpers Ferry in West Virginia.  Talk about a town full of history.  I didn't have much time, only spent about 45mins looking around.  It's a very neat place, I will definetly try to go again. 

The town itself was pretty busy with tourists (including myself). 
By shear luck, the street was empty during this shoot. 
AP

Femme (29 of 52)

Hello My Friends,

I came across an article the other day, about how Pablo Picasso experimented with light as a painting media.  It inspired me to have some fun.

Here is my tribute to Picasso; and my version of "Femme", one of my favorite paintings by him. 
In his light painting works, you could always see him in the background. 

Also, attached is an image of the original for reference.   

I had a blast with this one

AP

Lily (28 of 52)

Hello my friends,

The family and I went to Lost Pines Hyatt Resort last week for a mini-vacation.  We had a blast.  There was a water pond outside the room and my little ones wanted to look for fairies there.  Here is one that I took that morning.  I call it  "Lily". 

AP

English Blossom (27 of 52)

Hello my friends,

I was organizing the garage the other day and when putting up my Allen keys I came up with this idea.  I call this one "English Blossom".

AP

My Sunshines (26 of 52)

Hello All,

Here is one I capture during a mini-vacation we took recently to Spring, Texas. I used the rules of thirds to set the composition. I also adjusted the photo's saturation to make the kiddos pop out more.
I call it " My Sunshines"

AP

My All Stars (25 of 52)

Hello All,

All I have to say is that I am very blessed, I am not perfect by any means, but I try to thank God and live a good life eveyday. I call this one "My All Stars" 

AP

To Be Young (24 of 52)

I took my girls to the park the other day to feed the ducks.  We were having some fun and I was able to captured this one.  The background is somewhat boring , but I love my girls faces.  If I would of thought about it some, I would of position myself to capture a better background.  All in all, I am just glad I captured this moment. 
  
I call this one "To Be Young".  When jumping can be so much fun. 

AP    

Tic-Tac-Oh (23 of 52)

Hello All,

So much for a nature shot this week.  I had this one in my idea notebook for sometime.  I call it "Tic-Tac-Oh".  This shot was actually more difficult than I expected.  Its amazing how reflective skin can be.  It's a little risque, but in my opinion done very tastefully.  Come-on Calvin Klein buy the rights...lol

AP

Signed In Blood (22 of 52)

Hello My Friends,

I hope you all like this weeks photo.  I call this one "Signed In Blood".  I hope to get out and about next week for some nature shots, but we will see. 


ISO 100
F22
30sec

Project time: 45min (25min learning to use the calligraphy pen.)  

AP

Growing Creativity (21 of 52)

Hello my friends,

Sometime back I got into a discussion with some of my co-workers about creativity, the discussion was whether someone could be trained to be creative or is it just a natural gift.

So here is my homage to this topic.  I call it "Growing Creativity".

AP

Bring a Towel (20 of 52)

Hello my friends,

Well my wife volunteered us to fill 200 water balloons for my youngest's k3 class, they are having water day this week. Conveniently, she was not present to help in this effort, but there is no "I" in team, only a "m" and an 'e".  Just kidding baby... love you.  That last sentence was for the wife, so don't you all get to excited.   

About 1.5hrs later I ended up with a bin full of water-balloons.  I immediately pulled out the camera and took a few shots.  I call it "Bring a Towel"

AP

 

Pick Me (19 of 52)

Hello my friends,

I had the opportunity to take the wife out for drinks the other day; grandma and grandpa were watching the kiddos (thanks mom and dad).  I shot this one while ordering drinks with my Canon S100.  (ISO 1600, f2.0, 1/13sec in RAW mode.)  I call it "Pick Me" 

AP

 

Perigee Moon Over SATown (18 of 52)

It was a Perigee (Super) moon today, this only only occurs once a year and will be at its furthest point in November (Apogee Moon).  Good friends of ours lent us there telescope with a Nikon camera adapter.  There is some atmosphereic effect around the edges, but I could not be more happy with my 1st attempt.  Thanks Mike and Audrey for supporting my habit. 

I call this one "Perigee Moon Over SATown"

A.Parvin

First Communion (17 of 52)

Hello my friends,

Here is one, of my oldest, the day of her First Communion.  She was so excited and nervous.  There were lots of people everywhere that day, so it was difficult to get a clean background in any of the photos I took that day.  Although this background is pretty plain, I was happy to capture my daughters excitement. 

AP

A Sip (16 of 52)

Hello all,

Hope everyone is doing good.  I caught this one after my wife took a sip of coffee.  I call it "A Sip".  :)

Take care, AP

An Apple A Day! (15 of 52)

Hello all,

I created this one with a little light painting and some use of Lightroom.  I was at the grocery store the other day and while walking through the produce section I saw a sign above the apples that said "Organic".  This photo idea popped in my head wondering what the other apples are created from.  I call this "An Apple A Day!". 

AP

Bugging Out (14 of 52)

Hello all,

Its time for me to get caught back up.  For this week I have to invoke rule #2 and drawing from the past month or so.  I call this one "Bugging Out".  I took this while visiting the San Diego Museum of Art.  I almost missed this one, this awesome VW Bug was located in a corridor going to the restroom.  I took this photo without a flash for it was not allowed. 

AP

You Dropped One (13 of 52)

Hello All,

When my family and I were at my companies children Easter festival this past weekend, my wife and I sat down to watch the kids play.  My youngest picked up a leaf and started walking the parking stops block like a gymnist.  This was the result of just being in the right place at the right time. 

I call it " You Dropped One" 

AP

River Salute (12 of 52)

Hello my friends,

Last weekend the wife and I had a chance to drive around the Texas hill country.  We came across this river while driving to Sisterdale, Tx.  I believe it is part of the Guadalupe river.  I had to pull over and take this photo.  I call it "River Salute" because the trees look like they are saluting the river as it goes by. 

AP

Extra Dry (11 of 15)

Hello Everyone,

This week I want to try photographing some smoke again. I really like the fluidic natural imagery a little smoke can create. I call this one "Extra Dry".


If anyone is interested in the setup I will post it as a follow-up.

AP

Flower Girls (10 of 52)

Hello my friends,

This weeks photo is of my girls.  This past weekend we went to the San Antonio, Japanese Tea Garden early in the morning.  They did some exploring, and when I wasn't looking, gathered all the fallen flowers and piled them on there legs. 
I added a little split toning and some noise to give the photo a vintage feel.

AP   

Mala Mujer (9 of 52)

Hello my friends.  This past month I had an opportunity to tour the Museum of Photography in San Diego, it was very inspirational.  With that in mind, this week I wanted to push my creative side, luckily I found a willing and trusting model to help me out.  I decided I wanted to do a general opposite theme.  What's more opposite than soft skin to cold sharp steel. 

I call this photograph "Mala Mujer". 

General settings: ISO 100, 1/60 sec and f/2.8 (to keep the image soft.)  I decided to go b&w and color accent the lips to bring out the contrast against the cold gray steel.   

The Texan (8 of 52)

Hello my friends,
Last week I had the opportunity to attend a technical conference in San Diego with my wife.  The kids stayed with there Ma, aka Grandma... thanks mom.. your the best. While there, we had the opportunity to visit Balboa Park and the Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum.  So needless to say there were plenty of opportunities to photograph.  One of the conference events was a private tour/event of the USS Midway afterhours... I was in heaven.  Here is one of my favorite photographs captured there...The Texan. 

This beautiful aircraft (SNJ Texan) was flown in WWII and thereafter was used as an advanced pilot trainer.  Beside the beauty of this aircraft, the awesome yellow color immediately attracted me to it.  It was located in the main hanger deck.  The lighting  in the hanger was not the best, so I had to crank the ISO up in order to still use a decent aperture (f/8).  I am happy with the results.  Tell next time...AP

Windows to the Soul (7 of 52)

While attending a wedding in the Texas hill country last Saturday I took these of my beautiful wife's eyes.  For those of you who have tried to capture good photos of eyes before, you know that it is easier said than done.  The lighting has to be just right, you have to use a high shutter speed, and you have to watch out for reflections.  From experience I have learned not to fight reflections (this can be futile), but use them to your advantage.  They say the eyes are windows to ones soul, and I love looking into my wife's eyes all the time... (I hope she reads this, so I can get credit for it...lol  Love You Baby!)

AP

Rare (6 or 52)

Happy Friday Everyone!

This weeks photo is of one of my favorite models, my grandma.  She hates being photographed, so when she wasn't looking I captured this one.  This was an indoor gym shot, so the ISO was high and the aperture was wide open.  I wish I would of got more of her eyes, but I am just glad I has able take.  AP

Shadow of a Man (5 of 52)

Hello my friends,

Here is one for this week. I call it A Shadow Of A Man.  I have been wanting to try this one for some time.  I am not completely satisfied with the background or angle, but a rare opportunity presented itself one evening so I grabbed it.  I will definitely try this one again.

AP
  

A Flower To Brighten Your Day (4 of 52)

Hello My Friends,

This week I decided to play some with light painting.  My goal was to light paint a flower in a pot.  Let me tell you, this was easier said than done.  I can create complex machinery all day long in CAD, but ask me to free hand a flower and you would just pat me on my head and say nice try. 

Needless to say, that didn't stop me.  After multiple attemps this was my best flower, so don't laugh too hard.  I do have to say, I had fun with this mini project.  Its actually pretty hard to draw in free air with no feedback to your eyes. 

The setup was pretty basic.  A black sheet (for the background), a pot, a flash light with a push button switch, camera (Nikon D3100 w/ Sigma lens), and tripod. 

I set the camera to ISO 100,  F-stop to 11 (high f-stop number to reduce extra light getting into the frame), and 15 sec exposure. 

Next time I will try to use some color lights, instead of just white. 

Tell next time,
AP

I

Cool Cat (3 of 52)

Hi Everyone,

I was in the backyard watching the kids play and our cat Lucy strolled up next to me.  I had my camera on hand so I snapped a few photos of her and I really like this one.  I was trying to capture her wild eyes.  You would think that a lap cat would set still, but everytime I try to get a face on look from her, she would turn away.  It was almost like she was camera shy. 

Iso 400, 1/100sec, f/7.1

Bright Idea (2 or 52)

Over this past weekend, I was replacing a burnt-out bulb and got this bright idea.  A light bulb literally went off above my head.  I really had fun with this one. 

As you know the new CFL bulbs are taking over, ganging up on the soon to be phased-out incandescent bulbs.  Thus the inspiration of this photo project.

Here's to you Thomas Edison, refiner of the modern-day light bulb. 

AP

Time Flies (1 of 52)

Hello all,

This is my 1st submission for the 52 pic-up project.  (1photo a week for a year)
Time Flies, yes it does.  2011 has come and gone.  This weeks photo was inspired by how time flies. 
My subject was my 1st fathers day gift from my wife, a watch.  That was over 7 years ago, were did the time go.  It sure goes fast when you are enjoying life!

This photo project was my effort to capture time, literally..ha ha. 
Low ISO, high f-stop, and slow shutter speed.

Time Flies