Day 192, Chicago Benefit Concert for Cystic Fibrosis

Day 192, Chicago Benefit Concert for Cystic Fibrosis, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

This is the only shot that I think came out at all. We attended with our good friends a charity dinner and concert with Chicago. It was really a lot of fun. I think that the fun was not anticipated. Chicago was not ever one of my favorite groups. But these guys worked hard to put on a good show and it came through. It was really good.

It was also interesting to try to shoot with the little Olympus that we carry around for snaps. It is great since it is both water and drop resistant. It fits nicely in a pocket and can be brought along for this kind of thing. It is not my Canon DSLR, but it fit and they were anti pics. All in all, a fun night, but I wish I could have brought my big camera...

The guy who played the trombone (I know really rude, he is not 'the guy' and he has a name, but I told you I was not a big Chicago guy) was really fun to watch.  He looked like my good friends dad, and then he kept throwing in these pelvic thrusts and all I could see was her dad.  It was really hard to watch with that image of her dad.

Thanks for looking.

EXIF Data,

Camera:	Olympus u720SW,S720SW
Exposure:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture:	f/3.5
Focal Length:	6.7 mm
ISO Speed:	64
Exposure Bias:	-3/10 EV

Day 181, World War II Memorial

Day 181, World War II Memorial, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

When I finished at the Washington Monument, I wanted to try to get a shot that I liked from the World War II Memorial. Last time I was here, I got one shot that I liked, but it was really just an afterthought that the WWII Monument was there.  Really only the top of the fountain even comes into play in the shot.  The shot is really about the Capitol looking past the Washington Monument.  It really didn't do any justice the scale and beauty of the WWII monument.  Here it is.

So this time I wanted to go for something that had people interacting with the monument.  I wanted to show the scale by showing people.  I really like how these came out.  One of my favorite shots ever seems to get its strength with that element.  It was a shot in the Lincoln Memorial and I went for that people element to show this monument.  Here is that older shot that I took in the Lincoln Memorial.  I loved how that one came out.  

I wanted to try to recreate that on this trip in the better resolution of my current camera, but I ran out of time and had to go.  

I am pleased with how these came out.  For some reason, I seem to end up in Black and White with the monuments.  It seems to bring the image together in a more seamless manner.  Color sometimes is too distracting.  I just want to show the whole, the play of the light off the rest. Color seems to make you notice it more then effect of the light on the place.  That was problematic in this shot since the water is lit up and the color element seems to make it the only element in the image.  So, Black and White it is.

Here are the other shots that I took here.  

Thanks for looking.
EXIF Data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture:	f/2.8
Focal Length:	26 mm
ISO Speed:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 173, Atlanta at Night

Day 173, Atlanta at Night, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

I got into Atlanta for the company meetings for my division. When the meetings and dinner were open, I got out on my Dahon fold up bike. Atlanta has always struck me as an odd place. It is beautiful, it is clean, it is quiet, it is boring. During the evening, I am all alone as I ride around and look for some places to take some pictures, Except if I get near an underpass or buy some large overhang in a park, then there are a lot of homeless that have congregated. But I am the only one out and about. It is quiet, really it is too quiet. That is what makes downtown so different, no one is here but the folks in the hotels, and the homeless. It seems that everyone else lives somewhere else.

The meetings are promising to be long, so I hope that I will get out tomorrow night as well. I wanted to try to shoot some at the old cemetery, but it was closed from the hurricanes. Tomorrow I will try MLK national historic site. I have shot there before, but the Ebenezer Baptist Church was closed, it was overcast and it was really windy last time. Hopefully it will stay such nice weather.

Thanks for looking.
EXIF Data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	8 sec (8)
Aperture:	f/22
Focal Length:	50 mm
ISO Speed:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 133, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Terrace Patio, Night Time

Day 133, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Terrace Patio, Night Time, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

More from the Mission Inn. This terrace is on the second floor and over looks the courtyard that you come into as you come out of the main entrance. There is a little dinning court to look over. On this floor from here there are some meeting rooms and then you are just below the clock. The church is up a level and two to the top floor. It is probably one of the more peaceful of many peaceful places in the Inn. Especially at night.  This church is where a few of my friends have been married.  There is a flyers wall dedicated to the flyers from and who flew out in the IE.  The courtyard is so serene, a little to lit, but serene.  Maybe one day I will get in again and have the chance to shoot inside.

Thanks for looking.
EXIF data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	1 sec (1)
Aperture:	f/3.5
Focal Length:	24 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 132, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Rotunda Stairway, Night Time

Day 132, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Rotunda Stairway, Night Time, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

This is an image that I have wanted to take for a while. After dinner at Marios with some of my clients, I walked through the Mission Inn and had a chance to just walk through with little to no people around. The last few times that I have been by with time to walk for a little bit, there have been a lot of people around. This time I was mostly on my own. The only thing that has ever been said to me about photography there was no tripods. This is then all handheld. I did lean against posts, walls and whatever to steady the long exposure time. This rotunda is really cool, but it does not seem that I have enough wide angle to get all that I want of it. I will try again some time, with a tripod and see if I can't get wider then the 18 mm that I have now.

Did I mention that I am really digging Aperture 2.0?  These shots are a great example of why.  The controls are great.  Since different types of artificial light have different color casts to them, it can be hard to get the shot that you want at night.  Our eye does not always note the difference.  But florescent is a little green and incandescent can be very yellow.  These were very yellow and I could reduce the saturation of the yellow and green (some bulbs have been changed to the compact florescent and so there is a mix) and increase the reds and magentas to get a more true to my eye pic.  In iPhoto all I can do is increase or decrease the saturation.  I also have control over the white balance and can move the black point to save blown highlights and rescue shadow.  

Hope you can live through a few days of Mission Inn posts.

Thanks for looking.
EXIF Data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture:	f/3.5
Focal Length:	18 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 124, Rocket Ride

Rocket Ride, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

This in fact was a pivotal picture for me. I can not begin to tell you how much I love this shot. I had just bought my first Digital SLR, the Canon Digital Rebel. 6.3 Megapixels and I loved that camera. My Brother Drew has it now. I had really begun to get into this photography thing and was starting to experiment with the camera. This was a short time exposure on the Rocket Ride in Disneyland. There are a few more versions below. This came out so well as far as color and pop that I have been hooked ever since. It went from getting good pics of our kids to a full blown hobby.

I came accross this as I was searching the archives for a picture to put in as a background for the header. I came accross some others that I love as well. So this weekend I will make some posts of my favorite pics from the past.

As for cameras, I am now shooting on a Canon XTi and am looking to move to at least the 40D. I hope to start shooting stock photography, and the minimum standard there is the Canon 40D. Now the hard part, convincing my wife that I need to buy another more expensive camera, That will be fun.

Thanks for looking.
EXIF Data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Exposure:	1.6 sec (8/5)
Aperture:	f/3.5
Focal Length:	18 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 123, Boy at Night - New Blog Title Backdrop

Boy at Night, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

This is me cheating a little. I have been so busy at work that I have not taken a new photo that I am ready to post yet. However, I will take a little creative license and drop a post about the pic that I am using as a background for the header. This is a pic that we took out in the desert this last year. The boy is my best friends son. This is a 30 second exposure with glow sticks and a spot light with a red lens filter on it. It was about midnight and the desert was really dark.

This is a little bit like the title, So Lost And Found. I know that for some the title does not make sense, but it is tough to pick a name that is not already taken. I did not want one of the nonsensical names like woot or google. But I also wanted to have something that conveyed a little bit about the blog and me. It seems that every time I figure something out, it only continues to define what I do not know. For every solution to a problem, I find another few problems. Art is also like this, it seems especially photography, is always built in contrasts. So, maybe this will give a little explanation. Perhaps I could start a name the blog contest?

Here are a few others to go along with this one from the same night.

Thanks for looking.

EXIF Data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	30 sec (30)
Aperture:	f/4
Focal Length:	25 mm
ISO Speed:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 60, Line at Disneyland Ticket Booth

Day 61, Line at Disneyland Ticket Booth, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

We went to Disneyland tonight to see some of our friends that were visiting So Cal.  I of course cannot find my pass.  That cost me $20.  They give one freebee, but only one per year, and I could not find it last time we went.  So Sophie and I waited in the line to get a replacement pass.  I wanted to shoot a lot here, but that didn't happen, we were busy catching up.  But I did get a few good images.  Watch the next few days for postings.

Thanks for looking,

EXIF Data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture:	f/4.5
Focal Length:	18 mm
ISO Speed:	200
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV