Israel Flores Photography

Blank

2012-01-17T19:21:00.000-08:00

No explanation for this photograph (on purpose). What do you get from it?

Inside the car (Yes this is HDR)

2011-12-30T16:57:00.000-08:00

Mexico City streets

2011-11-24T22:11:00.001-08:00

Little boy waiting (40 years later)

2011-11-24T22:01:00.000-08:00

Street Photography

2011-10-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

Tlatelolco - Three Cultures in one image.

2011-09-18T19:31:00.001-07:00

Tlatelolco in present time is an area that combines 3 cultures in one single section of Mexico city. In this image you can see in the foreground a Pre colombian Aztec site, a seventeen century church called Templo de Santiago, and a modern office complex of the foreign ministry.

The site is situated just north of the heart of the city. Unfortunately it is also the site of a student massacre tanking place October the 2nd 1968.

"Photojournalism" Sort of...

2011-05-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

Moments

2011-05-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

You ever get a little too caught up in technical details? Sometimes we all do. In those moments it helps to step back and visualize the whole concept. Maybe take a break. That tends to bring us back down to earth and realize that ultimately the settings in a camera often matter very little.

Take a look at the first image below. It was NOT taken by me, but by one of Fresno California's favorite "foodies" and all around interesting fella. James Collier who becomes our first ever guest via one of his images [original post].
Now this image caught my attention because of the caption that James posted with it initially. He pointed out that this technically bad photo ended up being the favorite of his recent trip. When I saw the photo I thought "this is a great shot!". Maybe he was right maybe not, but it really didn't matter. My eyes saw right through that and focused on the moment, and what a great moment it was. One single frame told me a story too hard to convey in a short paragraph. What was James referring to? Maybe it was the slight blur on grandmas face or the fact that the gentleman in the backs face is only partially visible. I really didn't ask. I can tell you that the slight motion blur in grandmas face only adds to the picture because I can almost see her moving. The gentleman standing... what a smile! If you wanted to only catch one single part of him it would be just that, and James did it.

So I'm shooting FUSE Fest a while back and I wander into the DJ venue. I showed up just in time to catch DJ Bradley start his set. This was my first time seeing him perform, so I did not know exactly what to expect. To my surprise he was very visually entertaining. Not in that "let me put a visual show" kinda way, but more like "I really enjoy doing this and I let it take me". The music was good and the crowd was interacting and absorbing. His moves were swift and calculated all while never loosing sight of the music. Vinyl records went back to cases while others took their place on the turntables. As all this goes on I'm walking around with my camera shooting images. I come back to Bradley and the show is in full force. I change a few camera settings and refocus on him. I snap a couple shots and look at my screen for quick review. The settings at this point were ok for still subjects, but under lower light conditions too slow for a moving subject. All this is going through my head in seconds as I see Bradley grab a record and start lifting it straight toward his face. It almost happened in slow motion. I saw him hold on to it with two hands and I knew a great moment was coming. I had no time to change more settings. I lifted my camera at the same time he did the record and I realized "he's going to kiss it!" There was only enough time to put the camera up to my eye and snap! I took two shots. The second was milliseconds late; the record was already coming down. The first however caught him right in the moment. Even before reviewing the image I knew there would be some blur because of the movement. I looked at it and realized I was right, but guess what I still liked it. It bothered me that I was unable to capture a technically perfect image, but somehow I was actually ok with it. The moment was everything. Nevertheless it became one the images Bradley picked for keeping a print of.

This brings me back to something I realized and told James after I saw his image "great moments = great images" perfect camera settings don't.

Now go capture great moments!

Shoot (through) clichés

2011-04-22T18:56:00.001-07:00

I am the first to admit that when it comes to anything artistic the first thing that comes to mind is "how can I be different?" As I tried here. Today I will persuade you to do the exact opposite. That doesn't mean you will stop there though. Here is the deal. You don't want to have an image that looks exactly like what hundreds or thousands of tourist and amateur photographers have right? Well why not? I'm going to ask you to do just that. Reason: because you never know what could happen after you leave. If you are shooting a city scape and god forbid an earthquake hits the day after. Guess what? You could have some of the last images of that particular place as it was. Lets say you are shooting a landscape. Things erode over time and often fall apart. Its part of nature. Something drastic changes there and bam! You have another important image. Ok so you got that done. Now I'm going to ask you to shoot past that. To shoot through clichés. So you showed up to Yosemite and shot the typical Tunnel view. One of the most photographed places on earth. Now you got your bases covered and you can switch your mindset to other images. Maybe a close up or a less typical angle on one of the waterfalls etc. It gives you that sense of "I got some good images already I can move on".
Rembember, don't be affraid to shoot a "cliché" image. Shoot it, make it great, and move on.

Fire and Negative Space

2011-02-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

I'll start with the details of this photo. ISO 400, 27mm focal length, aperture at f7.1, and a 1.3 second exposure on a tripod, no flash.
The camera settings sound very weird right? I'd say yes they do.
I had less than 10 minutes to set up and shoot a series of impromptu images. I ran for my camera and decided that spending the extra couple of minutes to grab and set up my tripod will make a difference.
I was trying to get good exposure with out the preparation time that is sometimes needed for less conventional shoots like this one. The LCD screen preview saved me on this one. I shot a couple aperture priority images and got a generic idea of exposure. I quickly switched to Manual mode and dialed what I thought was something close to a correct exposre for what I wanted to achieve. A relatively long exposure was key to grab the trails of the fire. I tweaked a few more times as I kept shooting images and quickly looking at my LCD. I shot a few more and the mini show was done! I was comfortable enough with the exposure that I was also able to put some thought in to composition. I love negative space, so I used it. Also I tried hard not to show in the image that this was done in a back yard.

Long exposure + negative space + the a sense of anonymity from not showing his eyes makes this picture for me. What does it do for you? Good or bad.

Grandpa Project

2010-12-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

My grandpa Victor liked to sit in the same chair outside the house. I made it a project to shoot images of him there whenever I could. In each shot always the cane, the pocket protector, the chair, the watch and yes even the water hose. This shots are all from different days, some even months apart. Sadly he no longer sits in that chair. For the last couple of weeks he has been tied down (not literally) to a hospital bed. I hope this image comes back to passing cars and neighbors in real life again.

You may think "these are not the best technical taken pictures I've seen" and you're probably right. In this case other factors matter more to me.

Perspective

2010-12-01T22:40:00.001-08:00

Sometime just changing the prespective of an image changes everything. Change the point of view when you shoot your photos. Don't just put the camera up to your eye and shoot. Get down, go high and yes even get under your subject. It won't hurt to try. It might just be a little uncomfortable.

Dia de los muertos (Day of the death)

2010-11-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

An installation put on at the front of the Coyoacan church. The artist is representing "lost souls searching for their final destiny" with manikin-like figures made out of strands of cloth. They have no faces, but they post a very strong presence. They all lean forward a little giving a feeling of direction and movement. I didn't count, but there was definitely more than 50.

The Chapel

2010-10-24T21:59:00.000-07:00

Chapel with in "La Cienegilla" hacienda. The hacienda belongs to a private family. Some of the land gets used for farming, some of the actual buildings as well. Most of it however is very much intact. Daniel (a son of the owner) was gracious enough to meet us there and give us a private tour. Among the number of visuals and eerie stories was the chapel. It is no longer used, but it keeps all its relics, benches etc.

Golondrinas: A melody of swallows

2010-10-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

The state is Jalisco, the town, Lagos de Moreno. Thousands of Swallows [Golondrinas as the locals call them] migrate and settle there for a few months. Right around sunset they all settle downtown using the electricity wires as a resting/mingling spot. Among may shots and visuals they can provide. The resemblance to sheet music was the most interesting. Not only do they sing, but literally create a visual of music.

Bicentennial at the Cathedral

2010-09-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

The movement of the Mexican independence was initiated officialy and prematurely from a church 200 years ago. The Metropolitan Cathedral lays at the heart of Mexico city. An area most commonly known as "El Zocalo". It has been the a mayor central point of Mexico for hundreds of years. Large pyramid ruins lay next to and under the cathedral. This time a year most of the buildings were adorned with the proud flag as the bicentennial of the movement of independence is celebrated.

"El Muro"

2010-08-31T10:30:00.000-07:00

Each one of the crosses represents a specific immigrant who died or was killed on the journey. There is a much bigger and newer wall behind this one. Even sadder when some of the bodies go unidentified "No Identificado" and the families never find out the fate of their love one.

On a boat, from Chapala Lake

2010-06-16T17:59:00.001-07:00

Took a ride on a fishermen's boat. The plan was to shoot images of the town of La Palma from the lake. The town borders the huge Chapala Lake and goes imediately uphill. The church beeing the towns mayor landmark borders the edge of the lake. Whenever the boat pointed away from the town I got a serene feeling and the view was great. All fishermen were done for the day at least this part of the lake evoked a resting tought. Somehow I feel like leaving tiny bits of a particular color emphasizes that.

Inner Basilica (D.F)

2010-05-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

The Basilica De Guadalupe; a catholic sanctuary that holds the original image of La Virgen De Guadalupe. The site is visited by millions that make the pilgrimage each year. The Basilica may look empty in this image, but it is not. Most of the center piece you see emtpy was actually blocked off temporarily. There is plenty of people on the right,left and even behind the altar.

Morelos

2010-05-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

At the Ex Hacienda de Temixco in Morelos Mx. The hacienda has 22 pools, but what drew my attention was some of the older parts of it that retain its charm. This truck and the location took me back in time. I love the concept of timeless photos not to mention that I really dug the original license plate on the truck.

Teotihuacan (from pyramid of the sun)

2010-04-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

This image does not show the pyramid of the sun. It was taken from it though. I was about half of the way up the pyramid when the sun started manifesting in a very interesting way. Teotihuacan was beleived by the Aztecs to be the center of the universe. The feeling was... interesting to say the least. and the place is much bigger than I anticipated. Go visit it!

Pie de la Cuesta

2010-03-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

Beach near Acapulco Mx. Less know, but has generally better sunsets and of course the horses.
This two images were taken on different days.

Horses from Pie De La Cuesta near acapulco. More to come.

Composite

2010-03-12T13:58:00.000-08:00

I rarely make composite images (that is more of Jon Ayala's realm), but there was one photo that I recently took in La Palma Mx that keep looking at me. I just finished it. I don't have a name, I need a name so please provide suggestions. Sometimes we feel like something harsh and ugly is on the other side, but we never really know.

Basilica Kid

2010-02-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

I visited "La Villa" Where the virgin Mary is located and where she first appeared. The less conventional church in the back is the latest and biggest (though is not that new). They have built many over the years. You can see one of the previous ones on the right. That particular one is actually sinking in to the ground. While I was setting up my camera; a kid came up very interested in what I was doing. After a few seconds I asked if he wanted to be in the photo. He immediately said yes and we shot this pic. He was gone soon after that. I didn't even get his name. We'll just call him "Basilica Kid"

But but... nothing!

2010-01-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

Orosi California has little to no praise as far visual interest goes. People complain, some can't wait to get out of there. The town has been s-l-o-w-l-y working on upgrading its visual appeal by adding a mural here and there. Most of the locals however don't pay much attention to the views that the town has had since before they were even around. It could be that they are jaded or submerge in the irony that you have to travel to see something breath-taking. The town does not have a rd called "Mt. View" for nothing. For those of you who have never been, here is a sample. And for those of you who have, take time to look pass your nose once in a while.

Semi-Menacing please!

2010-01-16T16:53:00.000-08:00

Frankie is a good friend and fellow music producer/engineer. He owns his own studio and keeps pretty busy with it now a days. He called me up wanting a new portrait. A semi-menacing look with out being too over the top. I saw a sample of the general idea and we were off. I often take an assistant to a photo-shoot and this case was no exemption. Instead of just a helper I was lucky enough to have the company of a good friend and photographer Jerry Gomez. I knew that in order to achieve the larger than live semi-menacing look, I had to use a wide angle lens and shoot from a low vantage point. That is exactly what we did. We found a few spots with in walking distance from Frankie's recording studio. I avoided the typical railroad track photo, but was not against using parts of the actual train that sat behind the studio. We also used two small metal pillars from what looked to be the remains of a building. The sky was overcast, which helped us in avoiding harsh sun shadows. We filled in with a hand held flash (sb800) thru a diffuser and violå! Jerry and I took a few turns shooting some images and we were happy with the results. I think we were able to not only capture what Frankie wanted, but go beyond that and make it better by adding our own twist.

Mood + The Blue Hour

2009-11-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

There is not much intended in this picture, but mood. Shot with almost no light left. Long exposure on a tripod f11. You can see the effects of the long exposure on the water closest to the the lens (the misty/flow effect), but not so much on the one further down. Click on the image to view in more detail.

Extra tip: Talking about late long exposures. Aside from what many photographers call "the golden hour" for taking photos. There is a lesser explored "hour" referred often as "The Blue Hour". This happens some time between the golden hour and total darkness. It usually renders very deep blue skies, but it could sometimes be hard to see (very obviously anyway). Cameras can sometimes catch light that our eyes have trouble adjusting too. Mostly due to the ability to have longer exposures. A city scape is a good example of where a blue hour photo will be well suited. You get the lights from the buildings and a rich deep blue sky. Does not hurt to try. And if you are wondering how do I know when the blue hour is? (which is not a whole hour by the way, more like 15-20 minutes). You can go to a very handy website www.bluhour.com that tells you exactly when it starts and ends depending on your location. The website also offers samples.

One last shot

2009-11-14T10:37:00.000-08:00

This is at the end of what I called a "mini-corporate" session. This shot was not in the plans, we just did it at the very end of the shoot. The sky was a bit cloudy and it happen to be right before sunset. We had great natural light for like 15 minutes. This was a moment of we have great light lets shoot. It was all very quick, but I opted for the magazine cologne add type of look. Think of an Italian business man. Hence the car and the Italian writing of the restaurant in the back-ground. We took this one shot and ended the photo-shoot. My favorite part..... the shoes. Handheld 1/25th @ f2

Extracting JPEGs from RAW files

2009-11-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

(click to enlarge)

Here is an easy way to get JPEGs out of your RAW files. I know most DSLR cameras give you the option to shoot both RAW and JPEGs at the same time. Good idea, but it takes more space on your memory card. One of the more interesting options for me was some of these higher up DSLR cameras with two card-slots that let you write RAW files on one and JPEGs on the other.

The people at www.rawworkflow.com have come up with a very good alternative.

See camera manufacturers have a JPEG image embedded to all the RAW images you shoot. That's what you see on you LCD screen on the back of your camera. Not the RAW image. That is also why sometimes your images look a little different from your LCD screen to the actual raw image on your computer monitor (see image above). JPEG images have in-camera processing, to make them look more "finished". It is typical for a out-of-camera JPEG image to have some color enhancement, added contrast and sharpening among other things.

The folks at raw workflow created a tool to extract this file.

They call it IJFR (Instant JPEG From RAW) and it is a free utility. It extracts the already embedded JPEG file from your RAW images. The best part is that it does it quick. It is not even a program you have to run. It is more of a simple action your computer can do. All you have to do is a quick download it and set up and your good to go. You can do one file or a whole folder. You also have a size option, which lets you decide how small you want the files to be (this is great for quick e-mail sizes).

The image above shows you the visual difference between a RAW file and the embedded JPEG (notice I said "visual" difference). It is an untouched (other than beeing sized) image split in half. One side is the RAW file the other is the JPEG extracted by IJFR. You can see the effect some of the in-camera-processing has on the JPEG image. Feel free to click on the image to a full size to see an easier comparison.

What you see....

2009-11-01T20:49:00.000-08:00

What do you see here? (50mm f2.0)

For frustrated artist

2009-10-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

This is more of a piece rather than just a photo. It is my interpretation on the inevitable frustration that all artist go thru. Art is a cycle, it will never cease. (Those are not my hands, but the real hands of a canvas artist)

Delylah comes from a law enforcement family

2009-10-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

This is baby Delylah at only a few weeks old. The original shoot was for some Fall baby family postcards which we did shoot. BUT being in a law enforcement house I didn't pass on the opportunity to use some of the the attire as props (I should also mentioned that the deputy used to be my roommate while we both went to school in AZ, so I felt pretty conformable trying out any new ideas) . The hat is from the "Class A" outfit which is typically used for special occasions. Think of it as the nicer suit or tuxedo equivalent.

As far as the photo goes. It was shot at F1.8 to get an incrementing dreamy soft blur effect on everything but Delylah's face. That is also why the badge is out of focus. I did that on purpose. I realized I liked the badge were it was, but its golden color and its shimmer could be distracting and robing Delylah some attention.

Behind the lens. (A quick how to recipe)

2009-09-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

(click to enlarge)

Here is the set up for the picture above (for the one above the camera one). The basic concept is to get as close to the ground as you can. I simply let my camera rest on the rocks and used some of them to straighten out the frame. Use a wide lens or open your zoom to its widest. Mine was at 18mm set to f22 . I don't normally use "live view" (where you can see the picture composition on the LCD screen), but I used it here for a better visual explanation. I almost always put my eye right to up to the view finder, even if it means laying on my stomach. Beeing at f22 you would figure that most of the photo from foreground to background should be in focus. The difference here is that I am so close to the ground that the lens can't focus at such close distance (we are talking inches). You can see the lens staring to focus at less than one ft away from the camera and on. A wireless release was use to avoid any camera shake. Last, but still important was a circular polarizer filter that help give depth to the clouds and the mountains.

Try this, on the street or on short grass, you'll be amazed at the different perspective you get from this angle.

Artist Sergio Huerta

2009-09-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

Compelling visual artist and good friend of mine Sergio Huerta asked me to do some photos of him, for a recent new project. The basic concept was a portrait, but knowing me and him I knew it wasn't gonna just be a plain portrait. We set out with a few basic ideas and a couple of original paintings of his. After a bit of brainstorming and a few tests, we opted to use a piece called "State of Emergency". The canvas size and the ratio of the painting seem to be the perfect size. I asked him to get behind the canvas and align his head with the top of the painting. The idea worked! Now to take it a step further. Simple! Add a basic plain but interesting background to use for "negative space". The human eye tends to gravitate towards the top left corner of just about any flat surface that resembles a book or a piece of paper. So the concept here is to drag the viewers eye across the image through a texture filled brick wall and ultimately ending and resting visually on the subject.

Live- Last show ever at Milano.

2009-09-01T23:34:00.000-07:00

TJ From the Dirty Sanchez. No Flash 50mm at 1.8

Tokyo Death March. No Flash open to 18mm.

Thunder Mountain.

2009-08-10T21:41:00.001-07:00

Built over the years by a Creek indian. He said that an old medicine woman told him, "In the final days, there shall rise up a place called Thunder Mountain." She also said that those who live in there would survive the apocalypse. He spent years building it.

A very interesting place to say the least. It is now alone and inhabited. There is access in to this radical place, but the door at the fence reads "Enter at your own risk". No-one there to guard it or much less. Creepy, but that sign made me want to go in even more.

Dark, Cold, Hard

2009-08-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

More people jump off from this bridge than any other in the world. Only one has survived.

The longer exposure makes the waves of water coming in an out look more like a ghostly mist. I set out to capture just that, and to my surprise it worked. I like the city of San Francisco, but the Golden Gate gets photographed so much that I wanted to provide a less traveled perspective. I chose a perfect day for this look. The city and the bridge were covered by a fog/mist that hovered right over the bridge. I made sure to use a "cool" white balance for the extra "cold feel".

The Fire Pretzel in Nevada

2009-07-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

This from a recent trip to the state of Nevada. Stayed with some friends. Near midnight they realize I had a camera with me. One tells the other "you should do your fire spinning for them". I was like "fire what?", but I was in the room grabbing my camera before they could fully answer. Thanks to Christian for putting on a private fire show even-though he had to get up to get to work at 4 am.

Vehicles painted by Smufs. (from photowalk)

2009-07-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

(click to enlarge, I made this one Bigger!)

This was taken during the World Wide Photowalk Fresno edition (today). This year it included 30,000 photographers in hundreds of cities around the world. Fresno's was scheduled to start at the Zoo, which I have a love hate relationship with. The basic concept was to start at the Zoo and end at a local photo gallery (Spectrum Gallery). I device my plan to not spend all my time (2hrs) at the zoo and actually get out and find some street shots.

Minutes before the 2 hrs were done I found this blue motorcycle less than a block from the gallery. Plenty of bikes around town usually, but the paint in this one had a satin texture, which looked very soft. Possibly could make for a good picture. I figured it could almost produce the feel of fancy lighting equipment, making it a good candidate for a photo. I did take some animal pictures, including 4 legged ones, but this time we are sticking to the 2 wheeled one.

What is Art? Cell phone Art?

2009-07-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

What is Art? I'll never have an answer. Not needed, because its relative. About the photo(s) This is a compilation of CellPhone photographs. Inspired by commercial photographer Chase Jarvis. He believes there is at least 10 good possible photographs around you at any given time. And that the best camera is the one you have with you. True? Well, lets find out. All this photos were taken with in 1 hr time frame with a my cell phone camera. This time we have a bit of an mini-architectural-abstract feel. Plus I compiled it in a art installation form (does that make it more artsy? No you say! Ok).

I want your brief (long is ok too) interpretation/explanation of this "piece". Tell me what you feel when you see it for the first time. Very quickly analyze how you felt the first 5 seconds after you first saw it. Does it make you vomit or take more cell phone photos? Does it automatically bore you or do you find yourself staring at it for a while? etc etc... you get the point.

Also if you have cool cellphone photos please post the photo or a link. I'd be interested in seeing them.

Where is this? (the lion tamer edition)

2009-06-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

(click photo to enlarge)

I was almost done here when I heard a group of dogs. I thought they must be near by. Wrong! they were coming around the shack straight toward me. I pulled my camera off the tripod just in time to use the as a defense mechanism. Legs fully wide and extended I kept it between me and the pretty mean looking canines. Think of a lion tamer with a chair and a whip. The tripod made a good substitute for chair, but the camera did not make for a good whip. Ohh, and I have to remember to bring more appropriate shoes next time.

Either way I think I might use this place in the future to take some dramatic portraits. Where is this at?

Yosemite Falls

2009-06-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

There is definitely more to see than mirror lake in Yosemite. Here is my view of Yosemite falls in HDR. Yosemite was at its peak waterfall season. That means more water on the falls for possibly better photos. In many instances it also meant there was plenty of water dispersing and splashing at a wide radius. To take this photo I had to get close enough to get my self and the camera somewhat wet, but I had to get that red log on the frame. So.... there you go.

Free photography lessons

2009-06-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

Do you own or want to buy one of those new Digital SLR (single lens reflex) cameras, but don't know much on how to use it? Sure you can set it to everything automatic and get a picture out of it, but a point and shoot camera can do that too. There is much more to a DSLR than that. If you are confused about aperture, shutter speed, white balance, the histogram, color space, file format etc etc etc.... Then I can help clarify some of that. If you want to know about technique or how to get a certain type of shot? then I can help too.

I have a plan to provide free information in a very laid back format. Simple non-classroom like. More like just a chat or conversation, but with all the information to help you get better photos. Meeting at a different public places with one or two people at a time. All you need is a small note pad and maybe your camera, but it is not necessary (even the notepad is optional, like I said laid back learning environment). We can also talk photoshop, camera raw and HDR images. Interested in knowing about how they retouch (over-retouch) those magazine cover portraits. We can talk about that too.

The lessons will have to stay local with in the central valley. Mostly between Visalia and Fresno. Where to meet: coffee or tea houses, small restaurants. Anything that gives us a relaxed place to seat and maybe something to drink. Lastly the lessons are FREE. Free is always better so take advantage of it. (of course you can always buy me a tea or a coffe, but that is not necessary ).

If you or someone you know is interested, contact me via email or just comment on this post

floresisra@yahoo.com

Lombard St San Francisco

2009-06-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

San Francisco happens to be one of my favorite cities. I set out to shoot one of the many lesser known attractions (compared to the Golden Gate for example) Lombard St. Known as the crookedest road in the world. This one block section of the street contains 8 sharp turns. This road gets photographed everyday, so I wanted to approach the shoot differently. I intended to capture the scene from a unique perspective. Taking the typical shot will just yield "blah" results.

I decided to approach it at night and from the top (instead of the more common bottom). The top view had a couple advantages and one huge disadvantage. The shot was planned to be a long exposure. Long enough to capture the rear lights of cars driving down it, making them just streaks of light. This was an only possible from the top, since it is a one way street. The top view also gave me a lesser explored perspective. On the other hand most of the visual interest of the street gets lost because of the angle of view. How to approach that?

My only option was to gain height. I started by climbing on a 4ft tall cement post at the very top. Indeed it was better, but not good enough (not nearly good enough). First reaction was to look for something higher. I quickly found that there really wasn't much. Except for the actual houses. I found a small garden outside a window on a second floor. I climbed up to it and set my camera. This was probably consider trespassing since I was on the actual property (don't try this at home kids, or don't get caught). The view was much better. I took some shots, but wasn't completely satisfied. After some more looking around a better location was found, but guess what? In order to gain height I would have to clim again. This time it was a thick wall right next to another window. This one was even closer to me. The blinds were closed so I took a chance. I couldn't miss the shot. I convinced my self to climb it and hope that no-one opened the blinds or the window. I climbed up and set up my tripod on a 12 inch section of the wall (many times much narrower that the optimal space for my tripod, but it would have to do). I was standing inches from the window. I don't even want to know what the owner would of done if they opened it and saw me there. Never the less, I proceeded. I managed to balance my self and the camera with out falling on to the cement or dropping the camera. Finally I could have my shot.

Each exposure took 30 seconds. After what it seem like an eternity, I was happy with outcome.

If you have any comments, please leave below.

Yosemite's Mirror Lake

2009-05-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

(click to enlarge)

First trip to Yosemite. I looked at all my options and settled for focusing on Mirror Lake. That meant having to end up there at sunset for good light. Thunder storms came and went, clouds covered the sky, then the sun would shine etc etc... Mild rain came back during the trail to the lake. Knowing that it could get dramatically worse in a matter of minutes, I came up with a plan to stake out possible shelters along the way. Sure enough half ways to the lake the rain came in harder. Following the plan we retreated back to a small utility wooden cabin, with an even smaller porch like cover. The rain came harder and harder and so did the thunder. We waited for almost 20 mins. The rain slowed down and we decided to continue. Meanwhile we are still looking out for more potential shelters just incase the harder rain returned. The shelter look out included anything from under a large rock to just the side of the mountain. The rain slowly diminished as we got to our destination. Flat ugly white clouds cover the sky and large droplets of rain water from the trees hit the lake surface making it not so mirror-y. The sun was relatively high still so I decided to wait. I waited and waited. The clouds started clearing out and the sun came down as the day went on. Finally like magic, the clouds mostly cleared and the lake surface was calm. By then the sun was low enough and an unexpected mist was rising behind the trees. At last I could shot some images.

Bonus: The trail had only a few people on it to begin with. We stayed late for the picture, so people that were there had left already. We walked the trail back to the road in mid light. We get to the end to wait for the bus/shuttle. There we find this one lady that was at the lake earlier. She was alone and with a frightened/exited look on her face she speaks in her european accent. "I just saw a bear!". No one else there but us, a lonely road and the darkness of the day falling. She goes on to explain on how she saw a black bear just off the trail. Braving her fear she reached for her camera, but the bear approached. The black bear walked on to the trail and stood just 8 ft away according to her. She stood motionless and in a few seconds the bear headed back. A large size animal according to her calculations. She raised her hand well above her head and said "this big".

Feel free to leave comments below.

A challenge for you! (solved, congrats to James C)

2009-05-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

Now that we are in the no photoshop/no computerized image topic (look below at "Gilroy near phantom curve" post). I decided to post a challenge. This picture you see here is also a 35mm black and white photograph. It was taken with a 1970s Cannon AE1 SLR camera. It is one single shot, and there is no darkroom trickery. The challenge; is to figure out how is it that the wine is almost jumping out of the bottle and landing right in to one of the the glasses (look at the angles). I'll give you a few tips: the bottle is a regular bottle (meaning it's not rigged with some contraption), the shot was taken as the wine was actually pouring and all the elements you see were present when the shot was taken. Remember no photoshop or any other computer program was used to crate the effect. Please comment with your ingenious theories.

In fact, if someone gets it compltley right, I will give you a price. A free print of any of the already posted images.

Disclaimer ( you do not qualify, if I've already told you how it was done).

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Gilroy, near phantom curve

2009-05-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

If I remember correctly, I was on my way to a Deftones show in Northern California. Driving on a favorite route of mine (152 pacheco pass- usually boring for most people). Near Gilroy I caught a glimpse of some flower plantations on the side of the hill. I stop to see If I could frame a good picture. I was armed with a 35mm film camera and a few rolls of black and white film. I tried finding a safe place to pull over, but it took almost 1/2 a mile. I pulled in to a small dirt driveway that lead to nowhere and looked back to find this scene.

At the time I had access to a dark room. I ended up adding the clouds from a different picture I had shot on higway 63 near Visalia (if you look close you can see some graininess on the clouds). It took a few tries to get the two exposures right and I also managed not to have any visible overlapping. The technique is basic, but you don't know the results until you run the light sensitive paper trough the developing process. So there you have it, two pictures in one with out computers or photoshop.

Back from Moonhill

2009-05-16T02:48:00.000-07:00

So I set out to go shoot some landscapes. I headed towards Moonhill right before sunset. I found a spot near Vispilio (that is a whole different conversation, I will explain later) I have visited times before. I shot for close to one hour and once the sun was only visible by it's reflection on the clouds, I decided to pack up and head back home. As I drive away I noticed the blue tint of the clouds was changing by the minute. I realize that in only a few moments the lighting on the sky could be great for a photograph, but how to shoot it? I left the small bridge coming up as my only opportunity. Now this ain't no fancy bridge, but a mere cross-over for a current of water used mostly for irrigation. I get there in less than 10 minutes after leaving the hill. The sky was even richer in color than I expected. The water was calm and the reflection of the clouds was almost that of a mirror. I stopped, did a few test shots added a subject (Crystal, who earlier entertained herself by doing dance routines on the road while I shot) then took the last shot for the day. That ended up being The shot to keep. It is not uncommon for photographers to end up in situations like this. Sometimes nature decides what you are going to shoot.

Brianna on mothers day

2009-05-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

Brianna from Mammoth Lakes outside a casino. Don't worry she wasn't gambling.

If you ask your self "why is there only 2 post and one picture posted?" Well that is because I have only started and the rest will come soon.

If you are on twitter, you can find me here

Photos coming soon

2009-05-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

I know this is mostly a photography page. The photos will be coming very soon