Day 19, Family Portrait

Day 19, Family Portrait, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

What a chaotic night! If you saw my post a few days back on my brother, Andrew, you had the chance to read that I bought a studio light set up and a backdrop. I seem to always aim much higher then I should. For my first song on the guitar, I wanted Clapton or Stevie Ray Vaughn. Talk about over my head. Clapton has these monster mutant long fingers, and I still haven't got one song down on what are now a collection of 3 guitars. They look great hung on my wall in my office. I have since backed it down a little and I am working on Johnny Cash stuff now.

For my first studio type portrait, I tried to shoot 23 people (half of them are kids) with a brand new set up and next to no time to work out the bugs. Did I say half of them were kids? So I made some big errors and I am not happy with the portraits. I am working out some fixes with photoshop, but just the same, it was as big a let down as not being able to pick up a guitar and drop Claptonesque riffs.

While I had everything set up, I ran each family through and shot some other pics for fun. I like how these came out. For next time, I will move the subjects forward a little and put up a backdrop light or hair light. I will make sure the backdrop is ironed. That was really an easy fix in iPhoto. Just a little of the retouch tool. I will hook up my camera to a laptop and then I will catch lighting problems in the first few shots. I will.... well the list is kinda long. But the individual family groups were not bad. Here is the "funny" shot that I have done some of the editing on. (the backdrop was about 2 feet to small on the sides and about 5 feet too small in the front - a lot of photoshop to fill in and make look natural)

Here below are the shots of my parents, my brothers and their wives and children and my sister and her husband and children. Clicking on any of them will take you to my Flickr photostream and you can see them in larger formats there.
I just can't wait to try again.

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture:	f/5.6
Focal Length:	28 mm
ISO Speed:	100
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 18, Head Stones, Riverside National Cemetery

Day 18, Head Stones, Riverside National Cemetary, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

A little more from the time I spent at the Riverside National Cemetery.

The Web Site from the VA says this, "Riverside National Cemetery is the third-largest cemetery managed by the National Cemetery Administration, and since 2000 has been the most active in the system based on the number of interments. It was established in 1976 through the transfer of 740 acres from March Air Force Base, which during World War II was called the U.S. Army's Camp William G. Haan. The cemetery was dedicated and opened for burials Nov. 11, 1978. An additional 181 acres was transferred by the Air Force in 2003.

Riverside National cemetery is home of the Medal of Honor Memorial and one of four sites recognized as a National Medal of Honor Memorial Site. The Medal of Honor Memorial, whose walls feature the names of all medal recipients, is located at the third traffic circle in the cemetery. It was dedicated in 1999.

The Fallen Soldier/Veterans' Memorial, erected in 2000, is dedicated to all service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. The dramatic bronze structure topped by a lifeless soldier is located near the lake at the entrance to the cemetery.

A carillon was donated by the American Veterans (AMVETS) in 2000.

The Prisoner of War/Missing in Action National Memorial was designated as a national memorial by the U.S. Congress in 2004 through Public Law 108-454. The memorial was dedicated on September 16, 2005. Vietnam veteran Lewis Lee Millett, Jr., sculpted the bronze statue which depicts an American serviceman on his knees with hands bound by his captors. The statue is surrounded by black marble pillars that evoke imprisonment."

Also, notable people buried here include, 

Colonel Aaron Bank, U.S. Army. Founder of the Army’s elite Green Berets. During World War II Bank was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services within the Army’s Special Operations branch. After the war he stayed with the Army, and convinced them to create a permanent Special Forces unit. In 2002, President George W. Bush bestowed Bank with a commendation for creating the techniques used to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. He died in 2004 at the age of 101. Section 17 Site 421.

John D. McKeel, Jr., Staff Sgt., U.S. Marine Corps. One of the 52 Americans held hostage by Iran from 1979 to 1981. Shot to death while trying to help a woman who was being robbed. Section 43 Site 1528.

Seven Tuskegee Airmen are buried at Riverside National Cemetery: 1) Dr. Hackley E. Woodford, M.D., a Tuskegee Airmen flight surgeon who served during World War II, is buried at Section 49A Site 1149. 2) Pilot Perry Willis Lindsey, who served during World War II and the Korean War, is buried at Section 63A Site 768. 3) John Allen Pulliams Jr., served during World War II and went on to serve 30 years in the U.S. Air Force. He retired as a Chief Warrant Officer and is buried at Section 47 Site 1603. 4) Pilot Charles F. Jamerson is buried at Section 56A Site 668. Major Jamerson retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1977 after more than 32 years of service. 5) Pilot Kenneth R. Hawkins is buried in Section 57A Site 2204. 6) Pilot John L. Hamilton is buried in Section 6 Site 270.  7) Charles W. Ledbetter, who served during World II and Korea, retiring after 30 years as an Air Forces Master Sergeant, is buried at Section 26 Site 1426.

Woodrow "Woody" Strode, Section 46, Grave 283. Woody Strode starred as 1st Sergeant Braxton Rutledge, a Buffalo soldier, in the 1960 John Ford movie "Sergeant Rutledge.” He starred in over 80 domestic and foreign films in a career that spanned nearly 55 years. Strode was also one of the first four blacks to integrate Major League football in 1946 when he played for the Cleveland Rams.

Melissa Rose Barnes, Yeoman First Class (YN1), U.S. Navy. Killed during the terrorist attack on the Pentagon, Sept. 11, 2001. Section 56B Site 123.

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture:	f/11
Focal Length:	55 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 17, Bench, Riverside National Cemetery

IMG_5483.JPG, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

As I was heading to Corona to go to dinner with some clients, I was coming from Palm Desert and instead of using the 60 to the 91, I avoided all of the traffic by coming down Van Buren.  I noticed the Riverside National Cemetery.  I have passed here my whole life, but have not ever set foot in the grounds.  The sun was just setting and the light was soft, so I decided today was the day that I would visit this place.  It was so peaceful and quiet.  There were all of these beautiful benches and places to sit and contemplate.  

National Cemeteries and Memorials are to remind us what has been done for us.  We will all one day die, we must come to grip with that sometime.   Here, as in any other cemetery, we can understand what it means to come to an understanding of our mortality.  This is a place to remember those who worked and died for our freedoms, but it also becomes a place to imagine our own impact on the world.  I have never been a soldier.  I have never fought in a war.  These tasks have not been set before me.  But I like to think that if they were, I could accomplish them as so many have done.  Mine has been instead a task to live a peaceful and productive life.  I have struggled to find happiness as have so many before me.  I can do that thanks to the sacrifices of so many.  Churchill once said, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."  

I have always been impressed by the defining characteristics of the military life.  You are forced to face the worst, and it seems that many come to the conclusion that the worst is not death, it is the life that you lived or the life that leave for others.  There seems to be the ability to grasp a bigger picture that can only come when you accept your mortality.  I find myself grateful to those who now face these challenges and to those who have faced them.  

Other Pics, I really struggled with which one to post, I love the tree, but I love the second one down as well.  the lighting seemed to be just right.  It seems to glow to me a little better then the rest.  I wish that I could have done better with the first one down, I think that the flare from the setting sun was just to strong.

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture:	f/11
Focal Length:	34 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 16, My Brother

IMG_5084.JPG, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

This is my youngest brother Drew. He is a junior at BYU and majoring in International Business. I took this pic as a test shot for my first ever portrait shoot with the full shebang. I bought some lights from a really nice guy on Craigslist, and a backdrop from Ritz . I shot this with two lights with umbrellas and one soft box.

The problem is that I really had to work to clean this up. I had to retouch the creases in the the backdrop. And then some minor crops. This is a test shot and not what I was shooting. I was going to make the best portrait ever for my family. Let's just say that it did not go as planned. First off, having not shot too much with lights, I made some real rookie mistakes. I have a list a mile long for the next time we are together. But after some preliminary fixes the funny shot will be included with the portrait post in few days.

Also, another of Drew, who is available ladies if you are interested, as well as a candid of Drew and my daughter.  I will post the other portraits in a few days when I have time to edit them.

Did I mention that Drew is available?  He even speaks Tagalo and Cebuano!  

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture:	f/5.6
Focal Length:	55 mm
ISO Speed:	100
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 15, Tree and Rocks, Lower Narrows in Zion's National Park

Tree and Rocks, Lower Narrows in Zion's National Park, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

OK, I did not shoot this today, or even yesterday. But I did shoot this during this month. I decided that I wanted to do a blog like this when I was at Zion National Park. I hiked the lower narrows and found this one little tree, all by itself on the narrows floor, with a black stone cliff that rose about 250 feet strait up in the air. I shot this in color and then converted to Black and White. The leaves were perfect for the switch since they were yellow and would make a stark contrast with the stone.

As I stared at this lonely tree, I thought, "I might be the only one that will ever take this picture. This could be my unique and different shot in a very well photographed place." Everyone photographs the big well known stone faces, but this little tree may not even be here next year if the rains leave enough water for it to wash away.

Then I thought, "I can not wait to put this on Flickr." But, it did not become the great shot that I thought that it was. When I posted it to some groups, there was a few nice comments, but it did not sweep the site and become the number one viewed picture. But I am quite pleased with it. I don't think that this picture has been done before. It is possible that there are some similar ideas, but this was mine alone.

This picture of this little tree alone against a big cliff started me to thinking how many more pictures could I take if I tried to shoot every day. And from that flowed a few ideas about what I would like to shoot. Doors, Trees, Benches, Cars, and eventually, portraits. I am not very good at portraits, but I will work on them. I always wanted to shoot some pics of the 3 guitars that I have. I have been seeing a lot of pictures that I want to take of Riverside, it really is a great place to live. My kids are really cute, and I meet some great people for my job. I would like to photograph them. So I started a blog. I am curious to see where this goes.

I have posted the tree in color as well.

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture:	f/4
Focal Length:	18 mm
ISO Speed:	800
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 14, Dinosaur, Cabazon

Day 14, Dinosaur, Cabazon, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

The fires in Southern California last month were all the news. They were so destructive and caused so much harm. They also made for some wild sunsets. I drive from Riverside out to the Palm Springs area every other week for my job. Near Cabazon and the new casino, there are these old relics of the car based travel of Southern California. There are two dinosaures that are there to get you to pull off and buy food. They are open for a tour if you want. As I was driving home, the smoke from the fires was showing that this would be different sunset. It looked as if a volcano or something had gone off. So this seemed the perfect time to stop and shoot this. Below is a normal version and I think you will enjoy my friends shot he took at night.

TREX_IN_CABAZON, originally uploaded by EL_Scouter.

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture:	f/11
Focal Length:	54 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 13, Duck

Day 13, Duck, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

This duck was not happy with me. He was asleep on the edge of the spill over between the two lake at Dos Lagos. As I was there to shoot the benches that I posted yesterday, I notice this guy asleep with his head tucked into his wing. He did not make for a great shot, so I started talking to him. He turned around and looked at me then he quacked back. (See Below) So then I tossed a pebble that was by my feet into the water close to him. He thought it was food and got all excited as he moved over to investigate. When he did not find something to eat I thought he was goint to fly away. I was hoping that he would fly away so that I could get that as a shot. But he streached out (this picture), tucked his head back into his wing and went back to sleep. I tossed another pebble and another, but he was done and would not budge. Amazing, even the animals around us are a little jaded.

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Camera:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:
1/4000 sec
Aperture:
f/5
Focal Length:
210 mm
ISO Speed:
800
Exposure Bias:
0/3 EV

Day 12, Benches at Dos Lagos

Day 12, Benches at Dos Lagos, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

I wanted to shoot these cool benches for some time now, but I just finally got around to hitting them. Isn't it amazing that you just can not seem to get to what is close to you, but when you are in New York, you can shoot 2 gigs.

I love the curves and lines that combine with the bamboo backdrop by the lake to make a serene place. The sense of quiet seclusion is only enabled by the fact that the walkway that crosses the spillover between the lakes is lower then the shopping and because of the curve of the path, completely sheilded. The place of a bench, when done well, should invite you to sit and stay. Many times, I see benches that are no good for anything more then tying a shoe. They are in the middle of the bustle and flow of a mall or on a street that is as inviting to sit and pass a few moments as a root canal.

I love to find a place to hide every now and then. As a sales rep, I am on the go all of the time. Some days, when I don't have a business lunch, my favorite thing to do is to go hide for a little bit and think about the world in a bigger way. I have had some of my best ideas for both work and life just learning to let my mind wonder in a place that isn't dominated by messages that overwhelm. I turn off the radio, the phone, get away from the internet and people as much as possible. Then it just happens.

Here is a pic that I wish I took.

Curves, originally uploaded by Durian Surprise.

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture:	f/32
Focal Length:	75 mm
ISO Speed:	800
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 11, Amphitheater Backdrop at Dos Lagos

Day 11, Amphitheater Backdrop at Dos Lagos, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

In direct opposition to my post yesterday, this is not old, unless you think a year is old. For Thanksgiving, I thought that I would post some pics that I have been thinking about taking for a year. Last year we were home for thanksgiving with all of my familiy visiting and staying at our house. I come from a family of six kids, so start adding in all our children and it is starting to get big. So I went for a morning ride with one of my best friends (see Day X) and we went on a route that we have never done.

Cajalco is a small, windy, two lane road and we are afraid of due to the traffic. So here we are barreling down the the 800 foot drop in less then 3 miles on Thanksgiving day with the road all to ourselves and we come to the new development, Dos Lagos. It is a retail center with a man made lake. The lake is on two levels with a little 10 foot waterfall right beside a cool walkway that bisects the two little lakes. The developer built a little ampitheater. There is nothing particularly speacial about it, it is an outdoor space with a modernistic backdrop. As I was walking around the new development, The ampitheater is out of place with this backdrop since the shopping complex is built in the "established" or "Main Street" style. The shops and area are built to look like like it has been around for awhile even though it is new.

This is the hard part of living on the West Coast, there is no sense of History. We build developments to look old, when they are new. There are not Civil or Revolutionary war era memorials or buildings. The cities don't have the sense of place that comes from history. This particular development was Orange Groves 5 years ago. Now it one of the places that we spend a lot of our entertainment time. In fact, another development out here that we love to go to is Vicotoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga. It has the feel of up scale main street from 50 years ago. Of course it isn't 50 years old, it was a vinyard until they bulldozed it under 3 years ago.

LA is a great big freeway and each city is distinguished by how many off ramps they have. As Southern California has grown, all that has happened is that the gaps in the freeway have come closer together to make the spawl even bigger. Don't get me wrong, I love it out here. I love the weather and the people are great. Life seems to run at a different pace. But it is hard to see the orange groves that I have grown up around disappearing.

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Camera:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:
1/4000 sec
Aperture:
f/5.6
Focal Length:
51 mm
ISO Speed:
800
Exposure Bias:
0/3 EV

Day 10, Door, Wood Streets, Riverside

Day 10, Door, Wood Streets, Riverside, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to” John Ed Pearce.

“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” Maya Angelou

“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.” Charles Dickens

The front door to a home is the threshold to your sense of place. It should be a somewhere that you feel a sense of center. Doors have always been so inviting to me. I have always wanted to look inside so many of these homes. I have always been so curious to see if the inside matched the outside. Taking pictures of these openings to another world gives a quiet pleasure when they seem to hint at a world that is the center of someone's world.

I have always loved the Wood Streets near the Downtown area of Riverside. There are some beautiful little houses here. When I was 18, I dated a girl who lived out here. I can't remember her name, Teresa? I do remember how great I thought that her house was. It was a great craftsman style home with a huge front porch. For my job now, I drive through the area about every other week. All around RCC there are a lot of these houses in various stages of repair. More of them are updated or in good repair then not. Some are absolute showcases. There are great neighborhoods all through there, Mnt Rubidoux, Fairmont Park and then there is Victoria Ave as well. There are some great places all through Riverside. I plan to find and shoot the entry ways to these other worlds, in all their different styles.

The hard part today was getting the shots. I was driving through with the windows down and my camera ready. My 18mm - 55mm was not enough, but the 75mm - 300mm was almost too much. I think that I would like to swap out my two lenses for a wider angle EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM and a EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM. I also did not want to upset anyone with the act of taking a picture of their home. I think that I will have to also look into some sort of a window mount and hood or tripod for the car. I have included a few of the other doors that I shot today as well below.

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture:	f/8
Focal Length:	80 mm
ISO Speed:	800
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 9, St George Temple at Sunrise

St George Temple at Sunrise, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

Here we have a picture of the St George Utah LDS temple at sunrise. Recently I went on a trip to Zion National Park and we stayed in the condo of some good friends in St George. I have started to research places that I go on Flickr and the internet for picture ideas and got this one from this picture.  I wish that I would have paid more attention to the idea picture as he used forground to hide the trees and shadow, where I had to use the creative crop.  I also skewed and transformed the image in photoshop elements to overcome the lack of a tilt and skew lens.  I don't often notice this correction being done.  In fact I usually see the narrowing toward the top of most buildings as people have come to expect it.   I think that I like that view when I shoot a really tall building from close by and am looking up at it as an artistic idea, but when I am shooting from a distance, I like to correct for the curve of the lens and angle of the shot.

 

Dawn Breaks over the St. George Temple, originally uploaded by Todd Keith.

The original by Todd Keith was taken in August and I was shooting in October The sun seems to have come from a little different vantage point for me. I decided to blog the shot from the rear since there is a great big shadow that comes up with the sun from the Visitors Center and the Tree just in front of it at this time of year. There were in this shot plenty of shadows and trees in the way, so I went with this cropping. I shot this from the front as well and it did not come out to well because of the shadow. I also shot this before sunrise and that came out nicely as well.   I posted that below.  I would like to return and reshoot it in the dark from a few different angles and vantage points. I also went up to the airport and tried to shoot the illuminated Temple from up there, unfortunately, I did not have my long lens with me and I did not get the shot that I could see in my head.  Maybe next time.  I will be driving through and back on a trip to Salt Lake City this coming April.  

See more great LDS temple shots on Flickr from Todd Keith.  He has done some great stuff.
http://flickr.com/photos/toddkeith/sets/72157601489805533/

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture:	f/6.3
Focal Length:	21 mm
ISO Speed:	200
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 8. Porsche Race Car at LA Auto Show 2007

Porsche Race Car at LA Auto Show 2007, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

There is a lot to see at the Auto Show. When we went, I only wanted to go for a few hours. That quickly became 4 and then the traffic coming home was bad. On a Saturday afternoon we were in traffic that looked like a Tuesday afternoon. There is just no way to get through the Auto Show in an hour or two. We didn't even make it to the aftermarket part.

As I was going through the pics, I thought that I would do another posting of pics from the auto show. As I worked through the images, I liked the wheel pics and think that they came out pretty well. Along with another that I liked from the Astin Martin display and another shot of the Porsche.

Here are a few of the wheel shots from Jacob

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Porsche Race Car 1

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.067 sec (1/15)
Aperture:	f/5
Focal Length:	41 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Astin Martin Display

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture:	f/5
Focal Length:	18 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Porsche Race Car 2

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture:	f/5.6
Focal Length:	55 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 7, Austin Martin at LA Auto Show

Astin Martin at LA Auto Show, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

It is that time of year again, the LA Auto Show. I have loved to go here for years. When I first started playing with digital SLR cameras I started to learn what I was doing. I got a couple of my favorite shots of all time at the LA Auto Show. I got it because Porsche had set up a classic spider in a dim lit display. It was off the main grouping of cars that were blazing with spot lights. I went black and white and then played with the contrast to make it darker so the glare would go down.  As I look back at it now, I wish I had retouched the glare spots.  Well, I can still do that.

So a show like this is really hard to use for great shots. The lighting is so harsh and the glare off of these highly polished cars makes it tough to get what you think you can. That makes it essential to change things up. Point of view becomes a highly important part of setting up the shot. The lights are all overhead, making the glare tough from a normal standing position. I have found that if you will get low, you can get some fantastic shots. The next obstacle is all of the people. Getting low can help here too since you can use the car to block them out. Other tricks to shooting shows? Macro shots, detail shots and careful use of aperture.  Here are some other shots from the shot this year.  Things to look for can include, models (not too many this year), signs, emblems, wheels, and engine details.  Others like to find the top 10 whatever, concept, whacky, orange, powerful, convertible, ...  

This year I went with some good friends and it was his son's first time out with the guys.  He and I shot all of these images together as I was his merit badge counselor.  The credit for the Bentley Wheel and the Shelby Decal is for him, Jacob Meza, he did a good job and payed attention to figure out a good shot.

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Austin Martin

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture:	f/5
Focal Length:	18 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Porsche Spyder 1

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Exposure:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture:	f/5
Focal Length:	39 mm
ISO Speed:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Porsche Spyder 2

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Exposure:	0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture:	f/4.5
Focal Length:	28 mm
ISO Speed:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV