February 26, 2010
DigiPhotog Assignment: Food
The Assignment for Advanced Digital Photography this time around was to take pictures of food that would make the viewer taste just what it is that you like about it. Here's Hoping I do okay on grades. The picture of peas was not what I would like to have shown. I would prefer to have them be freshly picked and shelled peas out of my Grandpa Nielson's garden, but Grandpa and his garden are both gone. I miss them.
February 15, 2010
Romance
We had an assignment in Advanced Digital photography to do a concept shot for "Romance". That was the only direction we were given, but we were told that it would be a chance to develop our personal photography styles a bit more.
When I asked in a different lesson about what we shoot if we're not sure what our personal style is, the teacher said that I did very well shooting portraits n black backgrounds. I Guess the black background is my style for now, but I want to expand it, make it more than a background. For instance, I need to get better at controlling depth of field, colors, amount and direction of light, and getting clearer pictures in my mind of what I want to do before starting to shoot. I think this picture was good practice for all of those things. It's not exactly what I'd pictured, but I guess it will do.
I also thought about using this one on the left, but decided on the one where Erin and I are actually holding hands. I kind of like this one because it looks like either the moment before we hold hands or the moment we let go and there's more tension there. I also like the idea of the rings shining together and having the circle of light around them.
When I asked in a different lesson about what we shoot if we're not sure what our personal style is, the teacher said that I did very well shooting portraits n black backgrounds. I Guess the black background is my style for now, but I want to expand it, make it more than a background. For instance, I need to get better at controlling depth of field, colors, amount and direction of light, and getting clearer pictures in my mind of what I want to do before starting to shoot. I think this picture was good practice for all of those things. It's not exactly what I'd pictured, but I guess it will do.
I also thought about using this one on the left, but decided on the one where Erin and I are actually holding hands. I kind of like this one because it looks like either the moment before we hold hands or the moment we let go and there's more tension there. I also like the idea of the rings shining together and having the circle of light around them.
February 07, 2010
And baby makes six
Surprise! Erin is due to have our fourth child on October 6th. We told the grandparents tonight and had to tell our Employers right after we found out last weekend (with the baby due so close to the go-live date of our new software, my boss had to know as soon as we did.)
We're a little nervous about announcing it this early in the pregnancy, but both Erin and I have a hard time keeping exciting news to ourselves.
To tell her parents, we made Erin a shirt that Says "Mommy" on the chest and "Baby" on the tummy and waited to see if anyone noticed. We had been there two or more hours when I finally said "Grandma, what do you think of Erin's shirt?"
Erin's mom said "I hadn't noticed it."
I said "Maybe you better take a look."
She looked up, kind of smiled and said "Another one!?" :)
We told my parents creatively too. They have a wall in their bedroom with a 5x7 picture of each of the 26 grandkids. On the way to Erin's parents' house for dinner, we stopped by "just to say hi" and I snuck down the hall and put this on the wall in the correct spot:
We're a little nervous about announcing it this early in the pregnancy, but both Erin and I have a hard time keeping exciting news to ourselves.
To tell her parents, we made Erin a shirt that Says "Mommy" on the chest and "Baby" on the tummy and waited to see if anyone noticed. We had been there two or more hours when I finally said "Grandma, what do you think of Erin's shirt?"
Erin's mom said "I hadn't noticed it."
I said "Maybe you better take a look."
She looked up, kind of smiled and said "Another one!?" :)
We told my parents creatively too. They have a wall in their bedroom with a 5x7 picture of each of the 26 grandkids. On the way to Erin's parents' house for dinner, we stopped by "just to say hi" and I snuck down the hall and put this on the wall in the correct spot:
We still haven't heard from Grandma and Grandpa Nielson, so I assume they haven't seen it yet. Should be fun to get their call when they do.
February 04, 2010
Because Mom asked me about it
Another DigiPhotog assignment, and another blog entry about it. :)
Last saturday I spent taking all kinds of portraits of the family - here is one of the two best shots. Thanks to Emma, Leah, Ben, Ian, and Isaac for being willing to pose. Thanks also to Tay and Becca who posed for an "Environmental portrait" that I haven't posted here but got to include on my assignment.
Last saturday I spent taking all kinds of portraits of the family - here is one of the two best shots. Thanks to Emma, Leah, Ben, Ian, and Isaac for being willing to pose. Thanks also to Tay and Becca who posed for an "Environmental portrait" that I haven't posted here but got to include on my assignment.
January 23, 2010
Levi
Snapped this one of Levi tonight. I'm pretty proud of how it turned out considering it was just a short "Hey Levi, Turn around and look at me for a sec" shot. Not posed or anything, just bounced the flash off a nearby wall and snapped it. I had to do some photoshop work blacking out the background, but the lighting on Levi is just great.
January 16, 2010
Grandpa Wrinkles tells a story
This is wrinkles and he is about 24 years old, probably the oldest toy we have in the house. I think i got him when I was 7 and his clothes were still in style. Josh loves to run up and hug him. It's so cute.
Wrinkles is also my second experience in off camera lighting. I think in this case I bounced it off the ceiling a bit to wrinkles's left.
Wrinkles is also my second experience in off camera lighting. I think in this case I bounced it off the ceiling a bit to wrinkles's left.
My Twin
My first experience with off-camera lighting. It was bounced off a wall to the right. Unfortunately, I played with the settings so much that i don't know what the power was - sorry!
This superhero is made from that dense foam rubber stuff they make stress balls out of. A coworker gave him to me because she said he looked like me. I guess the hair style is similar.
This superhero is made from that dense foam rubber stuff they make stress balls out of. A coworker gave him to me because she said he looked like me. I guess the hair style is similar.
January 15, 2010
January 10, 2010
Rub a Dub Dub, Five kids in a kennel.
We visited Grandma and Grandpa Nielson today and Stacie, Isaac, and Scott were there with their dogs today. Boy was the dog kennel fun!
Grandma said to either eat in the cage or on the hard floor. Dad laughed, but The cookie was yummy and the cage was fun, so I stayed in there.
January 07, 2010
Is the world out to get me, or is it just me?
have you ever had one of those days where you're not sure if the world's out to get you or if the sum total of all of your troubles is just because you've made one mistake after another?
January 04, 2010
When you get the choice to sit it out or dance...DANCE!
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance.
-I hope you dance, Lee Ann Womack
You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance.
-I hope you dance, Lee Ann Womack
In my daughter's Eyes.
In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
I am strong and wise and I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me
I see who I wanna be
In my daughter's eyes
In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal.
Darkness turns to light and the
world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me gives me
strength when I am weak
I find reason to believe
In my daughter's eyes
-Martina McBride
I am strong and wise and I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me
I see who I wanna be
In my daughter's eyes
In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal.
Darkness turns to light and the
world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me gives me
strength when I am weak
I find reason to believe
In my daughter's eyes
-Martina McBride
January 01, 2010
nothing I do
I feel like I need to explain the caption a bit. When I posted this to www.flickr.com, I posted it with the description "To some people it's a religion. To others, It's an excuse. To me, it's a frustration."
The religion comment refers to the philosophy that I see in a lot of religions that says "as long as you X (usually 'proclaim Christ as your savior' or 'Do penance afterward'), you can do whatever you want and you're saved." The Excuse Comment refers to people that have simply given up on whatever it is that was important enough to them that they even tried in the first place. I refuse to give up, but the occasional intense feeling of futility really gets me down sometimes, as I'm sure it does to us all.
The feeling comes and goes. It's a familiar feeling for most parents. We can say "Be nice." "Cleanup when you're done." "Wipe your nose." "Please Stop" and a dozen other things until we're blue in the face but they never seem to sink in.
The futility seems rampant in other parts of life as well (permanent weight loss, for example). Sometimes you can deal with the feeling and it doesn't seem so bad. Other times, it's almost overwhelming.
The religion comment refers to the philosophy that I see in a lot of religions that says "as long as you X (usually 'proclaim Christ as your savior' or 'Do penance afterward'), you can do whatever you want and you're saved." The Excuse Comment refers to people that have simply given up on whatever it is that was important enough to them that they even tried in the first place. I refuse to give up, but the occasional intense feeling of futility really gets me down sometimes, as I'm sure it does to us all.
The feeling comes and goes. It's a familiar feeling for most parents. We can say "Be nice." "Cleanup when you're done." "Wipe your nose." "Please Stop" and a dozen other things until we're blue in the face but they never seem to sink in.
The futility seems rampant in other parts of life as well (permanent weight loss, for example). Sometimes you can deal with the feeling and it doesn't seem so bad. Other times, it's almost overwhelming.
December 26, 2009
psychedelic
I Really like the sunflower look here. This is the iris and pupil of Erin's eye, super-saturated and put on a contrast cloud background.
December 12, 2009
BaldwinAuldLangSyne
created with the help of my wife and mom. The couple pictured are my Great Grandparents, the Jackmans. The Cemetary is the Fort Douglas Cemetery at the University of Utah.
December 06, 2009
Portfolio
Another assignment for the DigiPhotog class is what he calls baselines - we take several categories of pictures (indoor and outdoor portraits, an action shot, and a landscape) at the beginning of the semester and then take more of the same styles (but not necessarily the same subject) at the end of the semester. Here's what I've got so far, with the beginning of the semester on top and the end of the semester on bottom:
Action Shots:
Indoor Portraits:
Landscapes:
Outdoor Portrait: With this one, the top two were from the beginning of the semester. The rest were taken today and I'm having a hard time deciding which to use. Opinions?
Action Shots:
Indoor Portraits:
Landscapes:
Outdoor Portrait: With this one, the top two were from the beginning of the semester. The rest were taken today and I'm having a hard time deciding which to use. Opinions?
The 5-Panel Story
My Digital Photography teacher gave us the assignment to creat a 3-to-5 panel photo story. IT was to include some sort of text as well. Ideas evaded me for avery long time and Finally I came up with the idea of the christmas light story below.
The story's all in the pictures with the history-oriented text there to meet the text requirement. I got a 17 out of 20 on the assignment. He liked the idea generally but said panels 2 and 3 duplicated each other and panel 5 didn't "fit" the story and didn't carry the idea of the frustration with the lights that the other panels had. I like the resolution, personally. The idea of simplifying and leaving the commercialism of Christmas behind is appealing to me.
The story's all in the pictures with the history-oriented text there to meet the text requirement. I got a 17 out of 20 on the assignment. He liked the idea generally but said panels 2 and 3 duplicated each other and panel 5 didn't "fit" the story and didn't carry the idea of the frustration with the lights that the other panels had. I like the resolution, personally. The idea of simplifying and leaving the commercialism of Christmas behind is appealing to me.
November 25, 2009
landscape shoot
I went up to Wasatch Blvd tonight to do some shooting for my portfolio for my DigiPhotog class project. I took twenty-something pictures and came up with...nothing worth posting. But after some digital cleanup (YAY for photoshop!), these two came out pretty well:
November 07, 2009
Levi-ism from this morning
Emma and I were talking about how the broom we have is too big for her to use and I suggested we ask for one for Christmas. Levi came in from the other room and said "We can ask Santa for one and he will say mum ummm ummum mum-um inda back, so he means 'They're in the sleigh in the back.'"
Levi' sure funny this year. He has definite ideas about Santa's organization and job. He's also just positive that Santa's going to bring him a talking Thomas the Tank Engine. I'm not sure Santa knows how to make or find one of those, so we can only hope he comes through somehow.
Levi' sure funny this year. He has definite ideas about Santa's organization and job. He's also just positive that Santa's going to bring him a talking Thomas the Tank Engine. I'm not sure Santa knows how to make or find one of those, so we can only hope he comes through somehow.
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