Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Jessica

Book Worm
Shutter Speed:  10/10 sec.
White Balance Setting:  Incandescent
F Stop:  f/3.5
ISO:  64


Everyone has their own addiction.  Some crave the nightly program on tv.  Some need that morning cigarette.  But for those like Jessica, some require an escape within the world of text.  I, myself, love the worlds a book can transport you to.  I love the way a comic, or novel, or compilation of illustration has the ability to broaden your mind and expand your thinking.  But my love for books is merely a fascination in comparison to Jessica's desire for books.  Jessica works full time as a photo tech and cashier at CVS pharmacy.  She has an enormous heart for her family, her fiance, and her love for books.  Sweetness and kind truly undermind her nature, but dedication truly describes her love for her one true hobby, reading.  She is an extreme fan of the Twilight series, has read The Chronicles of Narnia series hundreds of time, and harbors a love for the comic adventures of X-Men, especially for the characters Gambit and Rogue/Phoenix.  At any point in the little down time she has during the day or night, you can find Jessica nose deep in a book, escaping reality to replace emotion, space, and time with that of text.  Being one that spends almost his entire time available with Jessica, I can safely say that I know how her mind works.  I know that when she isn't reading, she's making lists of the next book coming out soon, re-reading previous series, and rarely playing video games to escape her day to day turmoil of work for CVS.  As with addictions, everyone has a hobby.  I play video games, hunt, fish, and read comics.  I, like many others, have more than one hobby.  But Jessica continues to stick out fromt he pack.  Her one true hobby and love is reading.  She has her own particular pallets for particular types of books, but in general, her love for adventure through text carries her to all different venues of reading.  I was able to capture this image by catcthing Jessica in her own domain.  She can often be found sitting in her library, re-reading and scanning a multitude of books just for sheer curiosity.  This picture was taken with a tripod with a lowered ISO rating to gain that ominous feeling given off by the towering books and bookshelves.  This gave a feel of an old library, visited only by one person.  I'm jealous of Jessica's dedication to her books.  It is one that is rarely seen in anyone towards any hobby.  She's a living example that reading still continues to open doors to someone's true fascination.
Photo taken with a Nikon Coolpix S550 with a tripod.

Night

The Great Wall of CVS
Shutter Speed:  10/273 sec.
White Balance Setting:  Incandescent
F Stop:  f/3.5
ISO:  800

Back Streets of Gotham
Shutter Speed:  10/10 sec.
White Balance Setting:  Incandescent
F Stop:  f/3.5
ISO:  64


A multitude of wonderful things can occur at night.  Things that can arouse senses such as fear, happiness, and pride.  Along with an array of feelings can follow a sense of adventure.  Being surrounded by the dark allows one to open up and bring out their true intentions.  When in regards to photography, this opens up the possibilities to capture this sense of adventure, and witness people in their true domain.  We can see the light of people's intentions, especially those in commercial business, by the lights illuminating the way.  These lights line streets, glow from neon signs, and illuminate walkways to dreary homes still inviting visitors.  A good example I found in producing such lights came from the CVS pharmacy located at 24th and Grand.  It's neon signs form a beacon for those travelling the city at night, inviting those in search of beer, wine, toiletries, and photo printing to be done.  These lights intrigued me as I walked the snow packed streets on a cold November night.  They reminded me that all one needs to do is look to the distance to find what they need, shining by a neon glow.  By its glowing red signs and illuminated wall, I knew I had to increase my ISO rating to allow for increased clarity.  This increased my shutter speed to allow for mor incoming light.  The second example found in my passage through the night was that of the illuminated parking lot of a dreary apartment complex.  With my camera's incandescent setting, the blue parking lot light appeared green, mixing with the old orange glow from other lamps surrounding the lot.  The cold atmosphere mixed with the gloom arising from the green light reminded me of Gotham city and Batman.  This image was captured by dropping the ISO rating down to 64 and using a mailbox to steady the camera.  This allowed for a slow shutter speed, but increased clarity due to steadiness.  The night, especially mixed with the cold, opens a portal to new exploration.  Despite fear, one should experience it to its full potential.
Both pictures were taken with a Nikon Coolpix S550 without a tripod.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Mysterical

Red Goblin
Shutter Speed:  10/10 sec.
White Balance Setting:  Fluorescent
F Stop:  f/3.5
ISO:  64

Photography has been known throughout time to show more than one subject, theme, or meaning.  In each and every photo, one can take inspiration in several different formats.  A photo can influence one's mind to think of peace while others think of war.  Some photos can inspire happiness while others inspire tradgedy.  No matter the influence one gets from a photo, the idea of variation stays the same.  When the imagination flourishes, we can begin to use photography to show our inner thoughts and remnants of our dreams.  We can work to show our true selves through our photography, but thanks to photoshop, we can begin to show our true thoughts.  An example of this can come from showing a photo that we can take of one subject.  This subject can then be distorted and changed, altered with color, and even surrounded by other images.  This new revolution in technology allows us to change what we want, not matter what we are trying to portray through our photography.  This photo is one that I took of my Christmas tree while altering the ISO and shutter speed of my camera.  It originally looked a blur of color and motion, a feeling I was trying to express when it comes to the meaning of Christmas.  When I began to alter it with photoshop tools, I began to see a hidden smile within the Christmas tree itself.  From the smile, to the menacing eye, up to the red forehead and ears; we are able to see this little red goblin hiding away.  For me, I found this photo amusing and a little important by showing that Christmas will always have those little mistakes waiting for us to find them.  Christmas is a time of spirituality, family, and giving.  But we must all be prepared for those little red goblins waiting for us to find them.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

No Smoking

Empty Gamble
Shutter Speed:  10/10 sec.
White Balance Setting:  Flourescent
F Stop:  f/3.5
ISO:  400

Drink Alone
Shutter Speed:  10/53 sec.
White Balance Setting:  Flourescent
F Stop:  f/3.5
ISO:  400


Robin is a waitress/bartender at the Gold Dust Casino and Bar.  Working five days a week full time, she, in my opinion is one of the hardest working women I know.  She knows just about every customer that walks through the doors.  She knows how to make just about every drink you could want.  She knows how to talk to people.  When the smoking ban was passed in Billings, different reactions were broadcast from casino to bar throughout the city.  Some saw it as a refreshing change to improve the health of those sitting in the chairs and barstools of these establishments.  Others, including myself, saw the ban as an intrusion on a person's right to smoke in a smoking establishment.  After speaking with Robin, I learned that she shared my view on the ban.  Before the ban, patrons of bars and most casinos could smoke within these establishments.  There were also several casinos within Billings that were designated non-smoking before the ban.  Robin expressed that her job has a steady wage, but the act of recieving tips is a keystone in any waitress/bartender position.  These tips depend on actually having customers within these establishments, and the smoking ban itself threatened the prospect of maintaining a steady customer base.  With the smoking ban, many expected the influx of customers to casinos, not particularly bars, would crumble.  This held true in the first few months of the ban, mainly before many of the bars and casinos of Billings connected "smoke shacks" to their establishments.  But in evaluation now, customer bases for bars and casinos have again, flourished.  But when asking Robin, and other waitresses and bartenders, the atmosphere once experienced before the ban can never be seen or felt again.  Through my perspective, there were non-smoking casinos and bars already established in the city of Billings before the smoking ban.  People had the right to buy cigarettes, so why did they lost their right to smoke them in designated smoking places such as most bars and casinos?  It is unfair to bars, casinos, and Robin to expect them to just take the hit by banning something that everyone already had the choice to avoid.  Smoking is known to cause harm to your health, but nobody forced anybody to gamble or drink in a smoking establishment without other options.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Party Party

Game On
Shutter Speed:  10/10 sec.
White Balance Setting: Daylight
F Stop:  f/3.5
ISO:  800

Conspiring
Shutter Speed:  10/27 sec.
White Balance Setting:  Daylight
F Stop:  f/3.5
ISO:  400

Sweet Nothings
Shutter Speed:  10/600 sec.
White Balance Setting:  Incandescent
F Stop:  f/3.5
ISO:  400

All photos taken with a Nikon Coolpix S550 without a tripod.