Friday, January 29, 2010

Tonight... From the Back Porch

There are two specific pictures I wanted to post today that are on my home computer - ergo, I'm going to edit this post tonight when I get home.

Todays theme is "From the back porch" and includes only pictures shot from around my parents/grandparents/great grandparents hay farm. This is the same back porch that my wonderful wife and I were wed on nearly 3 years ago now (man the time goes by fast). I will talk more about the pictures when I get home tonight to post them.

My most sincere condolences to the friends and family of Donna "Grams" Crittenden. Not that it's epic by any means, but today's post will be dedicated in her memory.


Friday, January 22, 2010

Sunsets

Hey everyone!
Thanks for leaving such great comments so far. I really appreciate it! As promised, here are a few of my favorite sunsets and sunrises. I tried to show the best variety I could between shots to give a fresh look when these are all put together. All of these are completely untouched, or touched up very little. After all, when it comes to photographing God's handy work, the only flaws are in the camera itself! If you feel so inclined, please feel free to use these or any of my other postings as computer screen backgrounds. It's really only commercial use that I'm apposed to since I have this little fantasy of some of these actually being sold at some point.

I'm letting ya'll pick next weeks theme: People and kids (not my strong suit, but I try), Some of my best Photoshoped random works (some are pretty crazy), or Landscapes of Oregon and Washington (including building landscapes and a lightning strike).

Enjoy!




Friday, January 15, 2010

Perspective


In photography, perspective is everything - and the angle we hold the camera is only the beginning. Recognizing this fact, I thought I would take a step back and give some perspective about the person behind the lens. Who knows, maybe even those of you who know me well will learn something new.

Next month on the ninth I will have been married three years! This comes as a surprise to some because we were married after knowing each other for eight months, dating for five or six of them. When I see what I want I tend to not wait around to be sure. Side note - we didn't even kiss till that day on my dads back porch - witnessed by 10 of our closest family.

I'm going on four years now as a structural engineer. This is my career and I try and not make it my life. Life is for living, work is for paying for it. With that said, engineering has given me a perspective on life I never would have known without it. Growing up I was sure I was going to be a gold metal swimmer. That transformed into an artist, which got me into drafting at Chemeketa Community College, which lead to a B.S. degree from OSU in Civil Engineering.

I love photography for many reasons - some of them not so pure. I love the angles and the adventure of taking a shot from some unique spot that no one has though of before. I also love it because even an elaborate set up of a camera only takes minutes at most to take a shot - where as my old mediums in artistry took weeks or months to complete (resulting in most pieces never getting finished). Also, who doesn't appreciate every time they get out of the house and into the fresh air? Most of my pictures come from long long walks around the city with no particular destination in mind. I let the stop lights at the cross walk tell me right or left. Or when I'm out in the woods, its typically the path less traveled (which has gotten me in more trouble sometimes than you could imagine - but if the worst happens, at least my camera will speak on my behalf - jk).

So without prolonging any further, my theme this week is a sample of my long walks. AND - I decided that next week I'm posting some of my sunrises and sunsets - so I'm gonna leave you a preview of that. I'm doing this for feedback, so as this progresses please feel free to leave a critical comment no matter what the length. Thanks and enjoy.







Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Beginning, and a close up look at Flowers

So I've decided to have a photography blog for 2 reasons: this will serve as encouragement to get out and take more photos, and I'm genuinely curious if there is an interest for my style and perspective. I want to canvas more of my work, but if its crap I'd rather swallow hard now and try my hand at something else before I lose any more of my hair. I will try and post once a week on Fridays, but this is a trial run.

Please Comment. Thats why I'm doing this and feel free to say exactly what you think as I have a pretty thick skin. However - don't bother checking my spelling cause we would be here all night.


With out further ado - Here are a few photos I took while Dayna was recouping from her surgery. Bonus points if you can identify the type of flowers.

PLEASE ASK FOR PERMISSION BEFORE USING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
(or whatever I'm suppose to say these days)






Till next Friday!

-Bobjamin