These three are my favorites from this trip.
Friday, June 15, 2012
chicago by night
I love how darkness and light play in a mysterious way in Chicago's
nights. This city is modern yet full of old-school charm. I brought my
tripod with me on this trip and had a lot of fun with it.
These three are my favorites from this trip.
These three are my favorites from this trip.
forms and structures
This year my photography learning plan is ambitious: learn to create better B&W, learn to use tripod for night photography, and learn to use external Flash tastefully.
What I've done so far:
May not look like I've accomplished much, but my latest trip to Chicago did result in a few decent B&Ws and one of them was shot at night (Wrigley building). So I'll say that my learning plan is still on track?
What I've done so far:
- After purchasing a solid tripod and learning the settings of my camera timer, I've managed to start shooting more landscapes at night.
- For B&W, I've put more attention on how light/shadow and texture impacts the image, and have been looking at more B&W photography books to get inspirations and ideas.
- As for using external Flash, I bought myself a nice Nikon SB-700 speedlight as a birthday present, read a few blogs and watched a few youtube videos, but that's about it...
May not look like I've accomplished much, but my latest trip to Chicago did result in a few decent B&Ws and one of them was shot at night (Wrigley building). So I'll say that my learning plan is still on track?
solitude
It's been a while since I did my last post. Lots went on since then - taxes, traveling, family visiting etc. Happy to say that life has been good and I've been continue shooting!
Since my cherry blossom and neighborhood project, I did another assignment in March before finishing the photography class at AAC. I chose to use my flimsy little tripod and spent a few consecutive evenings outside of National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. What a beautifully designed building and I am amazed at how successful this exercise turned out to be. I've learned a lot and this has ignited my interest in both night photography and architecture photography.
While I was there, I thought of an interview on Michael Kenna's Hokkaido project. Of course I'm no where near his caliber but I realized at that moment how much I enjoy shooting things like this and similar to Michael, I can spend a long time, alone, framing the shots, trying different exposures, and experimenting different perspectives. Just being able to explore the serenity of a place with no distractions is already a wonderful experience on its own.
Since my cherry blossom and neighborhood project, I did another assignment in March before finishing the photography class at AAC. I chose to use my flimsy little tripod and spent a few consecutive evenings outside of National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. What a beautifully designed building and I am amazed at how successful this exercise turned out to be. I've learned a lot and this has ignited my interest in both night photography and architecture photography.
While I was there, I thought of an interview on Michael Kenna's Hokkaido project. Of course I'm no where near his caliber but I realized at that moment how much I enjoy shooting things like this and similar to Michael, I can spend a long time, alone, framing the shots, trying different exposures, and experimenting different perspectives. Just being able to explore the serenity of a place with no distractions is already a wonderful experience on its own.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
spring is here!
Last week's assignment was neighborhood/tree.
The class kind of knew that if the weather gets much warmer, cherry blossoms would start blooming and we would be able to take lots of wonderful photos. Luckily that's exactly what happened on St. Patrick's Day. The weather was wonderful - the sky was blue with beautiful clouds.
I love when the cherry blossoms first bloom in spring. You don't have any green leaves on the tree yet and the flowers are so fresh and clean, you just wish they could stay like that forever.
Amazingly, Cincinnati is full of cherry trees and you can see the blossoms everywhere you go. I feel so blessed to be able to experience this.
I took these shots with my 18-200mm lens with no tripod. I had to drop my arms and take a break every few shots to make sure that my arms are not too tired from holding the camera for too long. I could feel my arms shaking and I wasn't sure if that would cause motion blur when I zoom in so much with no tripod and everything was on autofocus. I wish I have a macro lens and a solid tripod for these shots because I am sure I can get more beautiful and abstract photos if I get much closer! Oh well, they will have to go on to my B&H's wish list...
The class kind of knew that if the weather gets much warmer, cherry blossoms would start blooming and we would be able to take lots of wonderful photos. Luckily that's exactly what happened on St. Patrick's Day. The weather was wonderful - the sky was blue with beautiful clouds.
I love when the cherry blossoms first bloom in spring. You don't have any green leaves on the tree yet and the flowers are so fresh and clean, you just wish they could stay like that forever.
Amazingly, Cincinnati is full of cherry trees and you can see the blossoms everywhere you go. I feel so blessed to be able to experience this.
I took these shots with my 18-200mm lens with no tripod. I had to drop my arms and take a break every few shots to make sure that my arms are not too tired from holding the camera for too long. I could feel my arms shaking and I wasn't sure if that would cause motion blur when I zoom in so much with no tripod and everything was on autofocus. I wish I have a macro lens and a solid tripod for these shots because I am sure I can get more beautiful and abstract photos if I get much closer! Oh well, they will have to go on to my B&H's wish list...
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
more on "a day in the life"
The more I work on this project, the more I appreciate the intricacy of B&W photos. I will present about 10 of these tomorrow in class and make sure I get lots of feedback from our instructor Lisa on how I can do this better!
Friday, February 24, 2012
a day in the life
Next week, I will be sharing "a day in life" photos with my AAC classmates. This is a pretty open-ended subject and it certainly allows us to present a series of cohesive photos with narratives.
I've determined to use this project to practice my B&Ws so I can get more feedback from my instructor Lisa. So here it is, a day in my life - just an ordinary day.
We're all inspired to be extraordinary. But sometimes, you wake up in the morning wishing you can just be ordinary. There are no expectations to accomplish anything, no anticipations to achieve anything, we can just live through the day as is.
This may sound uninspiring but really, being ordinary has its beauty. A day like this means you don't have unnecessary dramas and chaos. I think we all deserve to have a day like this every once in a while. This is certainly the cheapest form of therapy. After an ordinary day, we can have more energy to charge forth and face many unknowns in life.
I've determined to use this project to practice my B&Ws so I can get more feedback from my instructor Lisa. So here it is, a day in my life - just an ordinary day.
We're all inspired to be extraordinary. But sometimes, you wake up in the morning wishing you can just be ordinary. There are no expectations to accomplish anything, no anticipations to achieve anything, we can just live through the day as is.
This may sound uninspiring but really, being ordinary has its beauty. A day like this means you don't have unnecessary dramas and chaos. I think we all deserve to have a day like this every once in a while. This is certainly the cheapest form of therapy. After an ordinary day, we can have more energy to charge forth and face many unknowns in life.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
hands
We've just relocated to Cincinnati Ohio in the new year!
Moving away from New York City is a very sad thing. I felt really connected to the city. It really is a photographer's paradise with endless inspirations. Having said that, the move to Cincinnati is a great opportunity for me to shoot a very different environment. It definitely allows me to gain new perspectives.
After arriving here shortly, I eagerly registered for a photography project course at Art Academy of Cincinnati. Here is my first project - hands. Three very different approaches yet similar in some ways. I'm glad that I got creative with this. Hopefully I can continue to push the boundaries and test my capability.
Moving away from New York City is a very sad thing. I felt really connected to the city. It really is a photographer's paradise with endless inspirations. Having said that, the move to Cincinnati is a great opportunity for me to shoot a very different environment. It definitely allows me to gain new perspectives.
After arriving here shortly, I eagerly registered for a photography project course at Art Academy of Cincinnati. Here is my first project - hands. Three very different approaches yet similar in some ways. I'm glad that I got creative with this. Hopefully I can continue to push the boundaries and test my capability.
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