Apparently...Things Aren't Always Black&White...

LOL Seriously. I decided to play...yes..PLAY...with my camera settings. Call me stupid...but before today, I didn't know my camera had Black & White, Sepia, Negative and some other odd looking settings...so I thought to myself...NEAT!!! PLAYTIME!!!

So..While we were working on the car (replacing the brake pads or whatever) I was taking pictures here and there in Black & White....Mostly of Tribute lol. 'We' is Ray and I. Ray is my mother's boyfriend/man-slave/thing.

Lol...Ray told me to disconnect something..I can't remember what it was, but I couldn't reach it..so I did what I normally do when my short ass can't reach something....I hopped up and balanced on my pelvis/hips/whatever and leaned over to reach it...totally freaking forgetting that the car was on a jack...Long story short...My forehead is gonna be bruised and my neck hurts a little. (I'm laughing really hard LOL)

Anyway...after that little adventure, I was excused from my duties as "assistant mechanic" and decided to wash up and come play with my new pictures.

I'm only going to share the one I like the most because the others are either totally freaky, or really yucky looking.

Now...I wasn't liking any of these much. I really didn't intend on sharing them....but I figure I might as well write this down and have it somewhere I will remember it.

I took this into photosp and toyed with the contrast and saturation and shadows and whatnot..and it looked okish like that....but flat and dull...So I added a warming filter and it looks ALOT better. Proud of myself for taking (in my opinion) a pretty decent black&white photo, I showed it to Jose.

He pointed out that one of the most important things to capture on a photo like this, is the subjects eyes (Assuming that the subject does indeed have eyes)...

Well, even though I was just playing around, I should have been paying attention. I was losing light and the sun was behind Tribute (and the trees) and I despise using my flash (I really do hate my flash)....So her eyes are just kinda "there". Not really noticible. Nothing really redeeming about this particular photo. BUT...I have learned from it...and that's what makes it worth posting :D

I guess this means more homework ...this time: Playing with Lighting. YAY!!

Thanks for Reading

Photo Murderer

Ok..once again I have failed to write...I apologized, but I must tell you that blogging is one of the last things on my list of things to do lately....

With my tooth being broken and being unable to eat or drink anything because of the pain, the slightest thing is enough to make me feel faint and dizzy. I gave up on the rum because it was only a temporary solution.

Yesterday...And I do feel bad for José and Herman...I was being taught how to use Adobe Photoshop CS4...

Bear in mind that I haven't really edited a picture before...And Neither one of them have CS4...

First..I couldn't find the program. Then I couldn't find my folder....It seriously took me almost a half an hour to find the folder with my photos in it....then I didn't know what to do...or how to get the picture into the program.

I was, and still am, anxious to learn how to use the program ...and I feel frustrated that I haven't figured it out yet. I was getting literally getting mad to the point of getting dizzy because I didn't understand how to do things. Despite Herman telling me to relax...I continued to fume...And then my nose started bleeding...

After gettng that taken care of...Back to learning the program...

We (me and José) are developing RAW files...so José had to show me how to "develop" the photos.

Let me shed some light on the situation.....José and I live in different countries, so he was teaching me how to do all this in messenger by sending screen shots back and forth...and patiently explaining things ....It was going well..and after an hour of "developing" the photo was playing (killing) with, then it was time to "open the Image". Sweet....

And then my computer shut down.

Yep...Just like that...Crashed...BOOM..dead.

I was so pissed off that it took all of the self control that I have in me to resist the urge to throw my computer.

I wanted to continue learning the program, but I after getting pissed, I started getting lightheaded and decided to call it quits.

So...Today is a new day...and...I can't really feel much pain in my tooth anymore...just throbbing...and I'm going to try and eat something...walk the dogs...and try this again....

WISH ME LUCK

Post Procesing..

Ok...To distract mysef from my dental pain (my tooth is still broken), I have decided to experiment with post processing.

In order to do that, I needed a photo editing program...so I downloaded a fee trial of Adobe Photoshop CS4. Holy Hell Hole....this program is hard to figure out. I have watched quite a few tutorials on Youtube, Downloaded some tutorials from DeviantArt, and am trying to apply some of the tip/techniques that I have picked up to my own photos. So far... epic failure... but as you have probably noticed, I am a "learn by doing" kind of person, so it probably won't be too long before I start picking up on it and getting the hang of things.

One part of photo editing that am extremely interested and very anxious to try is HDR. I think it looks more confusing than it actually is...

Tonight I will go down to Mud Bay and shoot the sunset. I will bear in mind the kind of images I will need for the HDR process and hopefully will come back with something useful.

This weekend I will also be going back out to the canal to re-shoot the HamaHama in different locations. I will be experimenting with my settings, trying to achieve what I call "the soft water effect". I don't know what it's actually called...maybe I should look that up....

I will also be going to the Deschutes River to try my hand at some real waterfalls...

I am not sure what sparked my sudden interest in waterscapes, but it should be fun to play with :D

Thanks for reading :D

I hope to have some great pictures to show for tonight!

And Black Cats are Supposed to be Bad Luck....

Mmkay, earlier I mentioned my canine companions, but I forgot to mention my more independent, camera shy, perpetually shedding, two year old feline.

Tucker is a rescue cat. He was taken off of the Skokomish Indian Reservation after his owner had been arrested and charged with animal cruelty. Tucker was the only kitten in his litter that survived...Just to warn you, this will be a little graphic.

The person that had Tucker, also had 26 other cats a few litters of kittens. They were always breeding, always fighting, and always getting sick. He never took the cats to the vet because he believes in survival of the fittest, so alot of the cats removed off of his property tested positive for FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus) and FeLV (feline leukemia virus) and had to be put down. The remainder of the cats had been tortured, some to the point of death. Tucker was out of a litter of 5 week old kittens that had been found in a fishtank, still smokey from having meth blown in from a tube. Some of the kittens had their hair burned off, some had been found skinned alive, and some were found with limbs missing. The kittens were very sick from the meth, from infection, and from parasites living on their bodies. Some of the cats had fly larvae (maggots) living on/in their skin from flies invading the infections. Of the 26 cats and countless kittens removed off the premesis, Tucker and 5 others were the only ones that survived.

The reason I brought this up is that I wanted to share my photo of the day. You can't really appreciate the picture unless you've known that this cat was once an emaciated kitten on his deathbed.


Tucker is now a 13 pound, healthy, frisky, and congenial cat. He is so damn hard to photograph because he either runs away as soon as he sees the camera, or he gets right up on top of me and begs for attention xD

Naturally, Tucker hangs out with the dogs and can be found napping with Monty or Tribute. He is definitely a character...the only cat that has taken, and PASSED, the AKC regulated Canine Good Citizen test. He sits, stays, walks on a leash, and lays on command, better than Hero does xD.

Don't let Tucker's expressions fool you. He always has either a fierce or sorrowful look on his face, but once you say his name or snap your fingers at him, he's right in your face rubbing up against you, demanding your attention.

Anyway...Thanks for Reading :D

Who Needs Teeth Anyways?...

Sorry for not writing yesterday..things have been just a little less than chaotic here.

I got home yesterday...oooh man it felt good to take a shower after being in the woods for 3 days LOL. I have all of the dogs back now...you don't know how bad I missed my weenies.

For those of you that don't know, I have 3 Dachshunds (Angel, Hero, and Monty) and a Bull Terrier (Tribute).

Angel is a therapy dog... we used to frequent a local convalescent home and spend time with the residents. She is such a sweet little girl and I have yet to meet a person that didn't fall immediately for her loving personality.

Monty is my clown. As much as he helps me, he also makes me laugh. He is very perceptive to people's moods and loves to cuddle. Monty especially loves children. Everytime I take him into a store, he always finds at least one toddler to sit at their feet and beg for attention from.

Hero is my fierce boy. He definitely has a presence that demands to be recognized and acknowledged. I believe his presence is what makes him a great show dog. He competes in AKC conformation shows and is and IABCA International Champion.

Tribute is new to our family. She came to us from Bianca and Ash of Nocturnal Bull Terriers in New Brunswick, Canada. She is definitely a swet and goofy girl. She loves to play with the Weenies as I call my dachshunds) and loves to go outside. She is the one that will be accompaning me on most of my hikes. She is also a show dog, and will resume her showing career in a few months.

As I was saying, I am relieved to have my dogs back from the boarder (They were boarded while I was gone). They have been very excited to be back home and pretty much made a huge mess that I now have to clean. Knocked over end table....

I also have like 50 messages to answer on my voicemail....way too many e-mails to respond to...and yeah.

So I was walking up the stairs and fell forward. I hit my chin on on of the steps and in the process of doing so, bit down on my tongue ring and broke a tooth. I'm in a considerable amount of pain considering that even breathing in through my mouth is enough to make me cry...and I have a really high pain tolerance. I can't get in to the dentist until next week, even on emergency status.

On top of that, I have to help my mother, who doesn't care whether or not my head is about so split in half because of the pain from my tooth. She is disabled and can not do very much on her own. I have to help her with almost everything...from standing up to putting her shoes on her feet...to cooking and cleaning because she can't do it herself. My mother is a touchy subject and will probably not be brought up again....but really...no loss there.

I made a slide show and posted it on Youtube. It contains photos that I've taken over the last 5 months, but most of them coing from this weekend.

I've noticed that just by following a few tips from Jose, more of my shots are coming out the way I want them to, and more of my photos are "usable". Thank you so much Jose :)

I have the opprotunity to have some of my photos on a local news show. I'm excited about my photos being seen locally, as very few people have actually seen them. Funny, isn't it? I post my pictures all over the internet..and no one close to me has seen them unless I've shown them in person. It's weird...I want people to see my pictures, but I don't like going out of my way to try and make them seen. The Youtube Slide Show is probably the most "public" thing I have done. I'm not going to lie, the idea of being recognized for doing something I love sounds quite appealing.

I have a support system of friends and "fans" that I am very appreciative of. Some of them have been there and believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself. Just when I think I might as well give up, someone says or does something that makes me smile and feel ridiculous for even being down-hearted.

LOL. I had so smile when I dedicated two of my photos to two little girls (ages 3 and 7). They are the daughters of a friend and one of them was pretty sick...In an effort to do something nice and raise her spirits, I dedicated a picture to her. I wasn't expecting her to be as excited as she was. I also wasn't expecting her sister to ask "where's my picture?"

It was touching. To have even little children like my photos makes me even more determined to become better and work harder to reach my goal of being a professional nature photographer.

Here is the Video:

Well...I am off for now. Thanks for reading :D

Open mouth, Insert foot

Ooookay. This is going to be a blog where my current mindset really comes out.

Today, the Eco-Freaks (my new nickname for them) decided to just hang out and take it easy. Cool. I thought that this meant that I was free to wander the woods, going wherever my little heart pleased. Nuh-uh. I was wrong.

They sat around the camp on folding chairs and I sat cross-legged on a stump a few yards away, toying with my camera. I overheard them asking eachother questions like "Why did you choose ecology?" and "what made you come on this trip?" and so on. I got up from the stump to go grab a bottle of water when the oldest girl in the group called my name and said "Hey, I've got a question for you." I shrugged my shoulders and said, "ok," assuming that I would get the same general "Why did you choose..." question.

She sort of half glared at me and smirked a little when she asked me: "At what point can you consider yourself a photographer?"

At first I was confused so I asked her what she meant.

She rolled her eyes and said, "Well at some point you must have considered yourself as a photogapher." Her tone was that of an accusation. It stung.

I didn't know how to answer that, so I just shrugged and asked her "At what point did you consider yourself an Ecologist?" Wrong response. She pointed to a stack of notebooks and got in my face and said, "When it became my job title." I'm not really sure "said" is the correct word for the way she said that...it was more of a hiss.

I walked away after that. I didn't know how to respond. I still don't know how to respond. My whole day has been thrown off because I was so distracted by her question.

At what point can I consider myself to be a photographer?

The answer is: There is no right or wrong answer because the question can go in any direction.

I came to this conclusion after asking some of my friends the same question. "When can one consider themselves to be a photographer?"

I got different answers from everyone.

Two people said, "When a photo is published in a recognized magazine."

Another person said, "Don't worry about 'when you can be considered a photographer'...she said anyone that takes a picture is a photographer as soon as they snap the photo....but there are just some that are really good at it."

Someone else said, "My answer would be...that I will always consider myself as photography student because I hope I learn something everytime... I would know that I'm a skilled student when people ask me to print my work."

I began to really think about it because it's a grey area. I am a pretty black and white person...either something IS or ISN'T. I don't deal with grey areas well. This question has bothered me to the point where I haven't felt like taking any pictures....where I haven't even wanted to touch my camera all day. And I haven't. I once again began to doubt my ability of being able to take good pictures. I was expressing this to my boyfriend, and, in doing so, I think I ended up pissing him off..or hurting his feelings. Then I realized something...

By doubting myself, I am doubting all of the people who like my photos. By doubting myself, I am pretty much insulting the people who believe in me and have confidence in my abilities. Who am I to question other peoples' tastes and preferences. I should be greatful to have people taking the time to actually look at what I have done. I should be even more greatful that people like my photos.

So I apologize. I am sorry if I have offended anyone by being so negative.

And I have an answer to that question.

"When can one consider themselves to be a photographer?"

The truth is....I have always considered myself a photographer. The moment I picked up my camera and decided I wanted to take pictures, I labeled myself as a "Novice Photographer" and by doing that, have considered myself to be a photographer in the very sense of the word. I take pictures...is that not what a photographer does?


I AM a photographer...and I bear that title with pride.

Wash Out

Heh...Hello Again :D

I have received quite a few of my photos back from the project leader. This makes me verrrry happy :D

I forgot to mention that yesterday, we had to put off the rest of the trip because the path we were following had been washed out by a flooded river. I had gotten ahead of the crew and nearly fell off the ledge lol. The gap in the road was about 100 feet wide and about 50 feet deep and the water was still raging. There was no slope to walk down, it was a straight drop, giving us no way to cross...and the only way to get around it was a 5 mile hike through rather rough terrain....no one wanted to continue xD

This morning was a total bust. I got up at before dawn so I could photograph the sunrise over the valley, but it was grey and overcast and the visibility was poor. The marine layer has burned off now, though, and of course it's bright and sunny and warm. -sigh-

Anyway, here are some of the photos that were returned to me...the photos being used:

Thanks for looking :)

The Beginning of the "Majestic Beasts"

Before I begin this blog, I need to thank Herman and José for helping me with naming my blog and choosing my domain name. LOL I would probably still be thinking about it if they hadn't helped me xD


Now...BLOG!!

Today I finally got out to the canal with my nerds :D

Things were great :D I got up in time or the sunrise (and I remembered to set my camera for NEF files) and got some great sunrise shots of Mt. Rainier at the bay, Some shots over the Skokomish Valley...Some photos off of the steel bridge..waterfalls...Some really neat shots.

Spending all morning going snap happy with my camera -pets it- taking pictures of pretty much everything. Then I was to upload the images, right. Yeah...SUPPOSED TO...However the computer that we were using decided to not recognize NEF (raw) files. For THREE HOURS...we tried updating the software, installing programs..ANYTHING to allow the images to be viewed. Not one thing worked...

So despite my freak out and insisting on using Raw,I was instructed to use jpeg format. bleh.

After sitting there staring at the computer, slightly depressed about having to use the icky jpeg format...I started walking around and, once again, began taking pictures. I waded out into the river a bit and was taking some photos of the plant life and (LOL) some mating insects. I began to get bored and sloshed around in the water a bit (waist high...with my camera) and let my head fall back and soak up some of the sun's warmth and something catches my eye...

I kept thinking "No Way" as I quietly and careful moved toward the object of my interest. I shielded my eyes from the sun to make sure I wasn't mistaking some object for what I thought I was seeing...Then he moved his head. I almost squealed with excitement as I fumbled around with my camera to adjust my settings (I don't even remember what I set them to,but I adjusted aperture and shutter speed I think..I had just gone from takin pictures of shaded plants to...[i don't want to spoil the surprise].. usually I write things down...but I was in the water and was sloshing around..so ..I left it on the bank...). Now..I don't have a telephoto lens. The lens I am currently using is an AF-S Nikkor 55-200mm...a pretty basic lens that comes with the camera...so I had to creep as close as I could without frightening my subject. He noticed my presence and ruffled up, so I quickly raised my camera and snapped the photo...and just like that, he was gone.

So what was it that caught my attention? What was it that made me practically drown myself in order to get the shot? Let me show you :D

(make it bigger...the small version looks funny)

Yup...that handsome devil right there. I'm not sure what else to write right now....so..I will let you gaze at his amazing awesomeness while I go find something to eat..

THANKS FOR READING

Ok :D First "real" blog.

Pretty much..yesterday was one of those days were, if something could go wrong, it did.

I picked up my camera and was excited about the trip that I have been so dying to attend. For those of you that don't know, don't recall, or weren't really listening when I told you, We (myself and a group of anonymous individuals) were going on a weekend "camp out". During this camp out, studies of the riparian habitats of some streams and rivers on our route needed to be conducted (yeh..I hang out with ecology nerds <3)

So Saturday comes along, and I'm waiting...and waiting...and waiting...when my ride decides to bail on me...lovely.

Yesterday, pretty much the same story...I'm not going to get into specifics about that because, really, all kinds of weirdos lurk on the internet, and there are some things you guys just don't need to know (sheesh....weirdos...). This time, there was a verbal altercation that resulted in one absolutely livid Brittany. I paced up and down the side of my house trying to cool off from the argument, but I just kept getting more angry. I am not a violent person by any means, but for some reason I stopped in my tracks, turned, and punched the side of my house as hard as I could. Needless to say, my left hand has been throbbing all night (I actually think I may have broken a knuckle or something).

Now, I've been doing pretty good at getting pictures on a daily basis...not all of them "good", but hey...practice is practice.

After being rather irritated about missing yet another day of Absolutely GORGEOUS weather (clear skies, 70-75°F or 21-23°C, light breeze....perfect...) for the trip and after feeling foolish about punching the house....I decided to go get some sunset pictures. This is where things get fun xD

Please let me take the oppotunity to shed some light on something.

I am hypoglycemic. This means that my body does not maintain its blood sugar the way normal people do because my pancreas is an idiot and doesn't create the insulin that is needed to do so. Cool, right? Well...Here's something even cooler: If I don't eat, my blood sugar has this awesome little habit of plummeting faster than a fat kid rolling down a hill.

Taking that into consideration, here is more info that you need to know:

I woke up at 4 am. I waited and waited for my ride, fearing that if I went to make breakfast, she would start playing on the computer and change her mind about taking me. I tried waking her almost every 20 minutes for nearly 8 hours before she finally got out of bed. At about 2pm, I ask her if she has any intention on taking me to meet up with my group as she had promised they day before. This sparks the argument, which lead to me puching the house, which lead to me spending 4 hours sulking and moping about the house, whining to Herman and José (you will probably hear alot about them in future blogs, so get used to seeng their names) about how lame it was that I was missing my trip, which ultimately lead to me deciding to go out and take sunset shots. Do you see what I didn't do?

Yep. Me too...only I didn't realize it until I was jogging through the woods with my camera bag slung over my shoulder and started getting light headed. Me, being the genius that I am, decided that I HAAAAD to get some pictures, continued on my merry way to the beach. By the time I reached my destinaton, I was so dizzy that I couldn't hold my camera steady enough to get any decent shots. After taking about 50 photos...I sat down to rest a few minutes before meandering my way through the woods on my way back home.

Upon returning home, I announce my arrival to Herman and José and proceed to upload the images onto the computer. I send one of the images to José and, to my dismay, he informs me that the image is -sobs- in jpeg form. In my eagerness to get out and take pictures, I had forgotten that my camera (the replacement, not my original camera...I broke that one...) still had manufacturer settings and had not changed it to Raw format (for info on that, here is a nifty link: http://digital-photography-school.com/raw-vs-jpeg). This, of course, gets my emotions all worked up because it seemed everything was failure after failure. I'm not sure what exactly happened after this...because, if you hadn't noticed what I have still neglected to do at this point, I passed out. Yup..I was out like a light....

About 40 minutes later, I wake up slumped over my chair and all of my limbs feel like my bones had been replaced with lead and an unbelievable wave of nausea had made itself more than present. I was confused at first, but after looking at the timestamps on the conversations with both Herman and José, it was pretty easy to figure out what happened. I took my blood sugar reading...67...Sixty freaking Seven. This was AFTER my body had time to work on "straightening itself out"....I don't want to think about what it was before...

Obviously I am fine now...xD

Lessons Learned:

-Gradient Filter for Sunset shots

-ISO does not need to be set at 1600 for sunsets

-Always check the settings before shooting

-Remember to keep an energy bar in my camera bag....

THANKS FOR READING

Blank Ramblings

YAY! My first Blog :D

Ok, so this is yet another thing I am new to....Blogging...And I shall start off by telling you what exactly is going to be discussed here.

Quite literally, I picked up a camera a few months ago and decided I wanted to take pictures. Not those poser pictures with a point and shoot style camera, but the kind that you need an eye for....the kind that takes an ordinary, everyday objects and makes them unusually captivating and pleasing to the eye. Here in lies the problem with that: How does someone with minimal experience and knowledge of cameras and photography become "good" at taking pictures of this nature?

I haven't yet figured this out, so up until recently, I have been playing with my camera settings and consulting the manual for suggestions. While I have managed to take a few good pictures now and then, I have failed to retain the knowledge of which setting is good for which type of picture and certain tricks to obtain different affects.

While I was asked to start a blog by a few people, my main reason for agreeing to write is purely for my own benefit. I hope that by writing my experiences, I will not only retain this knowledge better, but have notes to refer back to in the future.

Saying this....My first Real blog will be coming soon.