Inspiration Mondays! – Darker places…

  Sometimes inspiration comes from different places…  Darker places…  Thinking back to what may have creeped you out as a child…  That dark corner of the basement, that room in the house that always made you feel uneasy.  That street that you walked home on with that one block that got your blood pumping…

  I saw this scene during assignment at Hollins University in the middle of fun filled Alumni weekend!

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  The mood all around was fun and refreshing as a summer storm blew through, but this empty corridor beckoned to me…  What does it say to you?

A Dogs Life – Saturday Blog Posts…

A dog’s life…  It’d be pretty cool right?  This weekly feature on the blog will follow our two goldendoodles adventures in my photography.  Occasionally these will be phone images, occasionally DSLR images, maybe film…  The medium doesn’t matter, in this case it’s all about the subjects…

For those who haven’t met them meet Freyja and Luna!

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  Freyja is a year and eight months here and is the lighter colored doodle in the back.  Luna is one year old this week!  They are sisters from different litters with the same poodle Dad and different golden retriever Moms. (In Japanese they say “go-ruden do-doru”)

  Luna tried to steal the show with this thoughtful pose and insightful eyes here…

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   Freyja seemed a little aggravated with her sister’s attitude here…

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  Those eyes just kinda melt your heart don’t they?

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  Finally I got them to focus for this one…

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  Then I switched it up for one here…

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  Freyja must have told her little sister Luna a joke right before this one…

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  …and it must have been pretty funny!!  Compose yourself there little Go-ruden do-doru!!

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  Well they were both a little tickled after that so we had some fun with the firehose toy!

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  Is it just me or does Freyja have “CRAZY EYES”?!?

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  Doing her best Michael Jordan dunk face (example here)

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As always comments are appreciated!  I’m sure the girls would love to hear from you!

Technology Tuesday – Robots are coming!

  Welcome to an all new weekly blog post Tech Tuesdays!   Here we’ll be discussing tech in all forms!  It’ll probably be photography but you never know!

  This week we’re talking about the future…

Remember Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons?  Well, she’s here!  Well, not exactly, this one does the work (at least vacuuming) without the attitude that Rosie came with!

I know, I know, it looks like a Super Nintendo on steroids right?!?  Well, it is way cooler than that!  It runs Linux, uses a “LASER” (say that in Dr. Evil’s voice), maps out the room and methodically vacuums the space you let it out in, returning to base to charge when needed and picking up where it left off!  Can you throw away your old vac?  Well, probably not, it doesn’t do stairs, or under the couch cushions, you may have to get in the nooks and crannies that it won’t fit from time to time, but that’s okay.  With two dogs roaming the studio there is a bit of hair occasionally, I can schedule it to run when we’re not around, or push a button and have it run whenever I want.  It’s like science fiction!  I know iRobot has had their Roomba around for a while now but that thing is like a drunk turtle compared to the virgo-like thoroughness of Neato’s machines.  Take a look at this comparison video…

  It’s pretty cool that the majority of vacuuming is taken care of, just an occasional deep clean from time to time!

  Find them here for more info!  http://www.neatorobotics.com/

  As always comments are welcomed!

Inspiration Mondays

  I’m starting a new type of blog post so keep an eye out each week for inspiration Mondays!
  Every Monday I’ll detail something or someone that inspires me in some way, sometimes the post will be all about the artist or individual, sometimes you’ll see examples of how it affects my work etc.  This week it’s a big one, Ansel Adams!!  Now, I will be the first to tell you that I am NOT a landscape photographer, if I can’t “talk to my subject, or them “talk” to me I’m in trouble.  I’ve worked with people with disabilities  that have prevented the physical talk from happening but we worked it out and it was AMAZING.  Landscapes and I don’t speak the same language though…
   I’m trying to learn, but a new language is daunting!  So I have always marveled at the way Ansel (yes, we are on a first name basis!) was able to take you to these locations and give you such a sense of being there even though his most famous images are in black and white.  His images of Yosemite and Yellowstone have entranced me since my youth.
  Enjoy this gem! the Tetons of Yellowstone
  Not only was his composition and sense of timing perfect, but he developed the zone system (along with Fred Archer) for exposing images correctly, and printing.  Don’t get me wrong I don’t refer to the zone system during the hectic wedding day, but it is always there to guide me to what to look for in an exposure and processing for the final prints.  This latest maternity image of Katya in her last weeks of pregnancy was converted to black and white with special attention to the 11 zones the masters above worked out years ago…
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Feel free to share your thoughts regarding the image or the inspiration in the comments below.  Thank you all…