The Break

Today was my Dia Del Diablo at school; I began classes at 8:00 a.m. and finished at 7:30 without any breaks. After I was finished with classes, I was walking back to my dorm, I had not taken any pictures so far, and that was when I heard the music. Not too far from where I was walking, I found some guys break dancing outside of the library and I had to get shots. After the shooting the guys were really excited that I got some shots of them and really wanted me to come again. I decided to go again, especially because there was bad lighting today (or lack thereof) and I want to get some really good shots. Also, now I am determined to try and get sponsored again, now I have built up a better portfolio and have improved my writing skills.
-Simply Complicated

The Workers

We have construction going on at the school (still), which is alright, but now there is something construction related going on above my ceiling at my dorm and bothers the crap out of me. The  trick with industrial settings is that you need everything sharp, crisp and in focus, also it helps if it is really contrasted.
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The Pizza

After I went biking, a bunch of friends and I went to go get pizza. I really enjoyed hanging out with friends and getting free food, but I did have fun taking long exposure shots. It was really hard picking my favorite, but when you can only use one shot, you have to pick the best one.
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The Cloud

On my way to FHE there was an eerie environment around me: the clouds were very flowing and started to get me in the mood for October. The one thing that does make a sky photo work are the clouds. Clouds make the sky artistic, if you want to make things interesting you could take classes to predict the type of cloud formation in the sky, but I think that is is just much easier to keep your camera on-hand.
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The Blackout

This "morning" my dorm had a blackout. There was a huge commotion all over the dorms, but I did get to really test out my flash on my camera, too bad it was the built in flash.
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The Running

I've been running all over this town. I did a race in the morning and in the afternoon, I did another run. Most of the photos of the races did not turn out well, but I got one or two good ones.
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The Pasta

The pasta dinner my cross country team put on was delicious. On the way back from dinner, I was walking down an alleyway with one of the girls from the party. The girl got ahead of me and then I saw the image for today. The issue you will notice, is the subject is out of focus, and the reason is that the ISO was set too low and the faster shutter speed left no room for a narrower aperture. So I have learned it is sometime better to get the focused image rather than the finer image.

-Simply Complicated

The Silhouette

I was watching a movie at my common room with girls and roommates and so on. This was the best spot for a silhouette shot, and I got it. These images need to be very sharp, contrasty, and B&W to be optimal. There are others that can have color, but it does distract from the focal point.
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The Crane

I noticed this crane on my way back from running. The best thing about this is that it is semi-spontaneous but is also well lit from the sunset. A photographer needs to be fully aware of their surroundings, and it would hurt to always have their camera at all times.
-Simply Complicated

The Walk

One of my teachers gave us a homework assignment that literally was a walk in the park. The point of the assingment waqs to go around wherever and simply take everything in. Little did he know that I tend to do that sort of thing a lot. However, I did go somewhere different and I did get the shots I wanted. I got some shots of children playing and I got a small family and got some shots of a father and his kids. One thing to keep in mind: do not let people know you are taking shots of them, because they act weird or different and it is best to get people in their natural state.

-Simply Complicated

The "Family"

Today I met my ward family for family home evening. Who ever the "parents" are, they got really busy! Anyway everyone really seemed to get along and the pictures show it too. Whenever shooting people together, it generally good to get them in a natural state, a happy state (if that is what you are wanting). Just getting the emotions is vital to any photographer.
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The Rusty Metal

I really enjoy shooting industrial-type buildings and structures; they make the best black and white pictures! One thing also to keep in mind when shooting these is that you can never go wrong with more contrast and over-sharpening. If you were to use the same settings on a color photograph, the results won't be pretty (normally), but you can get away with a lot more in black and white photography and your images get an old rustic look that is really cool.
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The Race

The gun went off at 8:10 a.m. as the first member of my team sprang into action. It was a rocky start, but we seemed to manage. As the race went on, we passed by some runners and some passed us. The final race results are unknown, however, it was great to run with an amazing group of people who simply do have a passion for running. Here are the members of our tie-die team: Happy Feet:

-Simply Complicated

The Coming

I have a race coming up tomorrow and am sure to get tons of photos. In the meantime, I have been really wanting to make this subject a photo of the day and I was really itching to do extreme editing. So without further adieu, the Taylor Building.
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The Construction

On campus, there is some major construction going on outside my dorm and it can drive me crazy! Today, I had some time to kill and I saw the construction in a different light. It really began to fascinate me as well and I eventually shot a lot of photos. Taking many photos never hurts, you never will know what images will turn out awesome.
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The Store

I went shopping for some groceries today and had a lot of fun. Carrying it back to my dorm: not so much, but overall I had a blast. On the way back I saw this small restaurant and found it interesting, plus there is a person hidden in the picture. Can you find her? Ready ... GO!
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The Bug

As I walked around campus today, I came across the school gardens. The gardens look fantastic and there is so much there. I came across this small "waterfall" that had those bugs that can stand on the water and they are pretty neat! When shooting a subject with water, make sure that you get the water's reflection when your subject is above the water. Also in this situation, try to get as much color as you possibly can because the more color, the more appealing to the eye it can be.
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The Gathering

I went to family home evening at school today... I wouldn't really consider it a real FHE, but that's just my opinion. I realized that I have not done any moving photos recently and they are some of my favorite. One thine about moving photos is that a few things need to be stationary in the shot: the furniture, and even one or two people. Once you have that composed well, your shot can be golden (or in this case black and white).
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The Horse

After I got a delicious meal with an old bishop my parents had, I rode my bike in the general direction of my dorm. On my way, I had been chased by five different dogs! I had to kick a dog in the face to get it to stop chasing me! Later I came upon a beautiful looking field with horses and the moon rising in the back, I couldn't resist. When shooting in low light, it is best to have a nice camera, one that when the ISO is high, the image does not turn out grainy. I don't have a camera like that, so instead I had to wait for my subjects to be still and then use software to bring the grain down. The reason I say that is because you want a narrower aperture to keep everything in focus, but you also want a fast enough shutter speed to keep the subjects from being blurry. If you can get that, then the product will be phenomenal, as long as your subject and composition is good as well.
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The Slightly Better

I feel a lot better than yesterday, but signs show that I am getting the common cold. I did a lot of recreational stuff today, plus I found my way into a protest... that was for...whatever you wanted it to be. About a couple miles into it, the entire group of 100+ got pulled over by the po-po! We had to disperse, but I felt that I should have received a trophy. At around sunset, I went walking in the park to clear my head. In the park, I found my trophy! Well, it was actually some kid's forgotten trophy, so I made my "trophy" today's picture to forever let everyone know of my prize. However, I did not take it because whomever the trophy really belongs to deserves their prize, and I am a believer in Karma.
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The Sore

I'm starting to get sick! Since I have mild symptoms, I have been sleeping and drinking as many fluids as I possibly can. After taking a long nap, I woke up in time for a great sunset that was pretty clear considering these past few days have been cloudy, rainy, and gloomy so it was really  exciting for me. I like shooting sunsets every now and then, but only if there is a main subject in the shot because a sunset is really more of a background thing unless it is really spectacular on it's own. Still, even with a spectacular sunset, there should still be some sort of subject.
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The Rain Storm

As today's storm system moved in, I jumped to the scene camera in one hand and umbrella in the other. What I did not know and what I had learned  had yet to come. Using macro in cloudy/lower light conditions can be tricky. Some things one needs to find key in this situation is flash. A flash can light up your subject, but it can also change your subject's color and that is when it may be useful to use black and white. In black and white, any color gone wrong or any unwanted color goes away and leaves the cold-hard subject. In this case, I used it as a last resort, but in most cases, I use it to express more emotion and feeling. However, it really all depends on what you want your subject to be, and that is all that really matters.

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The I-Night

As freshman at college we are split into multiple groups to allow us to get to know each other. So, I have been spending my time with these great people playing games, hanging out, and having tons of fun. One thing we did was we went bowling. I did not take many photos  because I wanted to more hang with the group, but I did however manage to take pictures. Today's photo involved probably the most type of editing I will ever do to a photo: focus on one subject through saturation and fading the rest of the shot. This shot was completely and utterly by accident, the foucused subject was supposed to be the person and not the bowling ball, however the product speaks for itself. So as a tip: do not rid of photos you did not like how it turned out immediately, you never know if that shot could be of something of even greater value later.
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The Games

It was the beginning of freshman orientation today; we did not do much, but what we did do was play some games for all the other freshman to get to know each other. As an excuse to avoid looking extremely foolish, I took pictures instead. In these situations, your angle is key. The angle used here is the same as when shooting small children: a low angle that gives your product the feel of being in the action and a fast shutter speed to lessen the blur of movement.
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The Rafting & The Move

The Rafting (5 September, 2010):
Today I did not go rafting with the group today. Instead, I took photographs. All of the rafters were really excited that I was taking pictures and how I was in more spots than expected. One thing that I failed to do in these shots was to being focused due to me using a completely manual lens. This problem I do not think photographers have an issue with as much, however it is important to have your subject in focus. Otherwise, your product does not look so good.
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The Move (6 September, 2010):
I am officially out of the house for a few months, but now I other things to worry about... Today, I needed to wait in a line that was so extremely disorganized I took some shots of it. When I got the result, I felt it would be best as a black and white with a black vignette to give the product more emotion. The thing with editing I like best is to not change the picture too much, otherwise it just becomes unappealing and it shows that a photographer does not have a real eye for the subject and heavily relies on editing, which I disapprove of.
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The Children

I was white water rafting with some relatives today and I had a blast! Before we left, I was taking some shots of a baby in our group, Jude (no, he did not go on the river, that is irresponsible).Taking shots of infants can be extremely difficult; they need to be happy,playing, laughing or smiling, basically anything to give the product character, but you still need excellent composition. You will need a lens with a a semi-wide angle that can go anywhere from 18mm-55mm due to a constantly moving subject, also a lens with a wide aperture for faster shutter speed and a blurred background. Generally speaking a stock lens that usually comes with most dslr cameras can do the trick, but you main priority is your angle. Angles can make or break a photo, and in this sense,that angle is at eye-level. How I see it, everything works out well if you just work you creative side.
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The Color & The Hole

My aplologies to my readers/viewers out there, I could not update the site due to lack of internet, let alone any sign of signal. So today I will post both posts.

The Color (2 September, 2010):
On my travels today, I experienced many colors and have seen the light spectrum on many levels. My favorite being today's shot which just so happened to be a sunset at Yellowstone Lake. The best thing any photographer can do at sunset is work with the clouds. Clouds can transform any skyline into a work of art, and I think the results can show that.
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The Hole (3 September, 2010):
My journey came to the small town of Jackson Hole today. All of us explored the town, did some shopping, and shot some photos. I have learned on this journey that a photographer needs to be an individual when shooting. Even though I have been traveling in Yellowstone, most of the attractions have already been taken, and for that reason, I have not posted those images. Instead, my photos have been ones I do not think anyone else has captured (or at least not in awhile).  So my readers: be individuals!
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The Park

Today, I went with my family to Yellowstone National Park. We explored most of the park, not all (yet), and I got a lot of pictures of landscapes and some animals shots, but the animal shot turned up blurry. It was raining on and off for most of the time there, so I got creative with a plastic bag and covered my camera while still being able to  take pictures effectively. So, in photography, one needs to be creative in two ways: with your images and how you capture them.
-Simply Complicated