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