The Greenville Zoo!!!

The family and I went to the Greenville Zoo today. Not a bad place at all. Awesome variety of animals and cages close enough for you to actually get a really good look. I wish there was a way around the bars in some of the photos. Short of talking with the owners and getting inside I think we're stuck with 'em.  

They had a petting zoo area. My six month old, Eli, loved it. He was all smiles and laughter. This shot was pretty straight forward. After dialing in the exposure (frickin sun was all over the place, shadows and whatnot) I set the lens to 28mm and held the camera down in front of the pig as it walked toward me. 

They had a nice aviary (walk-in bird cage). Still, the best part was how close it is.

Eli and wife. Even if you headed to a place you don't think you'll get any good photos from, bring the camera anyway and shoot everything. Practice makes perfect. I had a great opportunity to practice exposure settings in harsh sunlight one second and shadows the next.  

 Again, wish those cage wires weren't everywhere, but what are you gonna do? It is a zoo after all.

Put the camera on the tripod, set the timer and ran to join my family on the bench. Not a bad way to spend the possible last day at home. I should be leaving tomorrow for Ft. Leonard Wood for two months of schooling. If I end up going I'll be leaving you all for a while...two months. My camera will be with me, but my computer will not. I use a custom built desktop, so, not hauling that down. Thank you for checking out my blog thus far. Trust me when I say that there is lots more to come. 

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Creepy Old House

Original Photo*

This is an abandoned house off of Highway 41. I've passed this place so many times, finally, about an hour and a half ago, I drove out to it and took some photos. Haunted? Not sure. Didn't go in. Most of the windows were smashed out...not to mention all the doors I saw were wide open. The grass...weeds were easily three feet tall. When I first arrived I wasn't entirely sure if anyone lived here or not. You never know. I half expected to get shot or stabbed by a hobo or something. I did managed to get eaten alive by mosquito's. I'm itchy as hell right now; not fun. Anyway, I hope you like the photo. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

I WON THIRD PLACE!!!

I WON THIRD PLACE!!! The Fox Cities Magazine recently held a photo contest for all NE photographers making less than 50% of their income from photography, soooooo that would be me. I spent about four hours at this park thinking of different ways to shoot the sailboats. Finally I came up with the idea of taking a photo of me reflecting on "Another Day" (as this photo is entitled) and it won me third place! My image will be in their August issue, along with the other winners.

My sons first half birthday!!!

Happy six month birthday Eli! It's no secret my National Guard Unit is set to deploy this Fall. Got a call a few days ago. I'm leaving much sooner than we originally anticipated...by that I mean Monday. I'll be headed to Ft.Leonard Wood for two months of training. From there I'll come home for about three weeks then leave again, that time for a year. Anyway, due to my leaving we decided to throw Eli a six month birthday.
                                                                                                                 

Some damn good cake.

If you can manage to look past how I appear to be dumping water on myself you'll notice the foggy tree picture hanging on the wall. That's a photo I took several years ago in front of the EAA museum on an awesomely foggy day. I created this photo because I thought it was cool that this person liked my picture enough to spend a good chunk of cash to have it professionally framed. To my knowledge this is the first large print of mine to have that done to. What's the deal with the "clone" water prank? Had I of shot this without three of me distracting you I feel it wouldn't have been as interesting of a photo to check out. How did I do it? This photo is comprised of four different shots. One of each of me and one of the water coming from the bucket. I shot the water picture outside...but perhaps we'll not tell my mother-in-law that and let her think I dumped water all over her living room; after all, that's her house (haha!). I did my best to blend the water photo. It's ok, but like everything in life there's always room for improvement. Everything has a slight blur to it on purpose to draw your eye to the foggy tree picture which, as I'm sure you've noticed, is in focus. Hope you like the photo. If you are interested in decorating your walls with a photo, or two, of mine feel free to contact me. Thank you for checking out my blog!!! alex@dreammachinefilms.net

Originals:

                                                                           

                    

                                                                              

I had to act



So there I was, lying in bed minding my own business. From the outside you'd say I looked pretty comfortable. Gaze deeper, past my skull and into my brain, and you'd see that I was racing at a thousand miles an hour. I was trying to think of cool locations to shoot when the severe weather comes in tomorrow. That's when it hit me. I had been to the train track bridge before, during the day, but it always seemed to be missing something. Turns out it was just the opposite. The shot had too much light. I needed to go at night. So about an hour ago I went. I rose from bed, threw on my clothes and out the door I went. I used a tripod, 15 seconds of open shutter, ISO 100 and f4 aperture. For the shadow figure I simply walked very slowly while balancing on the rail. I did not edit this photo aside from adding the logo.

Digging up old goods

I was digging around my pictures folder when I came across this photo. I shot this through a glass display box inside the poorly lit (photographically speaking) Ripley's believe it or not. Tons of neat stuff in there.

Good Morning...even though it's 12:30

I can't help but ask myself, as I sit here in front of the computer, what image do I want to capture/create today? So many possibilities; endless really. I need coffee. I think I'll make some. In the mean time here's something to think about. What kind of photos would you take during a zombie outbreak? Bonus points to whoever creates such an image and posts it.

More of my favorites. Which one(s) is yours?

Originals*

This image, above, I shot during a drill weekend in my hotel room. I had the idea to make myself dead and have my ghost staring at my lifeless body thinking "huh, now what?" Basically I set the camera up on a tripod, "gently" placed the lamp on the floor, tossed around the contents of the room as if a struggle or something took place, measured the light and had my roommate push the button. I took two photos, one of me dead and one of me as a ghost. Later in photoshop I stacked the images and erased certain parts of the top image. Because the camera never moved I was able to lower the opacity of the top image (me as a ghost) and erase the areas around the ghost me. The end result was me appearing to be transparent. I did some other editting to add the "look" the image has. This type image (me dead with my ghost visible) is the first in a series of similar shots I'll be doing. Stay tuned.

This is my son, Elijah. For this shot I attached a large plush blanket to a backdrop stand and set up a single soft box to the upper left side of him. You have to be on your toes with children, especially babies. Eli never stopped moving...and I never stopped shooting. Trial and error, the best teacher.

My family and I waited for nearly two hours at this park for everything to be just right. I feel like the majority of people think photography is a quick "point and shoot" and move on type thing. It's not. Amazing images are generally achieved by finding that awesome location, composing the shot and waiting for the perfect lighting conditions. Occasionally you'll come across everything at the right time, but please understand this isn't always the case. Patience. Also, I entered this shot in a local photo contest. The winners will be announced in their August magazine issue. I'll let you know.

I try to always always ALWAYS have my camera on me. I was visiting friends with my wife when one of them carried out this tiny puppy. The first thing that came to mind was "holy crap I'll get my camera." A few shots later I asked for a coffee cup and the shot I wanted came "into focus"...so to speak. The point is, you never know when an opportunity will come your way. Be ready for it.

Here's another one of my favorite wedding shots. For this I asked the couple to go in for a kiss slooowwwllyyyy. Later in photoshop I added the dreamy effect.

This shot sat in my pictures file for nearly six months before I did anything with it. I took this in Virginia Beach during the day. I "turned on the lights" in photoshop. With the lights off I felt the image was missing something. Not super amazing or anything but it's my first pier shot. Just because the photo has been taken doesn't mean your creativity with it ends. Photoshop or any editting software can push the envelope with some stuff; though you don't always have to use it. Like any tool, sometimes it's appropriate, sometimes it's not.

I got the idea for this one from a photography magazine. I used black felt for the background and a single stick of incense for the smoke. I colored it in photoshop with a rainbow gradient layer style. Photo magazines are great places to get ideas. You should always seek to learn something new or try a technique in a different way. Who knows what it could lead to?

Here I am in Florida...in the middle of nowhere...conducting training for Iraq in the middle of the woods, lol. I handed off the camera to a friend and instructed them how to compose the image I wanted. Later in photoshop I removed my face. Something different. This was awhile ago. I returned from Iraq in spring 2010. I'm currently a SGT in my unit.

Fast forward to Iraq and we find ourselves inside the "victory over America" palace. Note how it's been bombed. Victory over America my ass. I had some awesome opportunities to photograph the inside of this place. A tripod and a long shutter speed made this image possible. Even if your out shooting during the day, you never know when you'll step inside somewhere you might need a tripod to get that tack sharp shot.

Rewind to before Iraq. I took this when my wife and I were traveling through the Guadalupe Mountains on our way to the Carlsbad Caverns. Man meets nature...or mountian...whichever.

There's an old building downtown that I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph it's basement. There's was some neat stuff down there, such as these pipes.

Interesting story behind this photo. I shot this through a dirty truck window (I was the passenger) while going around a turn during a snow storm. Man did I ever get lucky.

Towards the end of my deployment in Iraq...and also close to Christmas...I shot elevan photos, cut and arranged them to create this "star wars" style movie poster of my squad. I had a print made for each of them for Christmas. I'm the guy on the left above the top truck (RG-33 MRAP) with the sunglasses.

Here's another shot from the basement of that old building. I used my speedlite, camera mounted, to light this (same with the other one).

This wedding photo has to be by far one of my favorites. The entire image is completely candid. I believe that a camera does three things. One, you capture an image with it. Two, you create an image. Three, you record video. Some may argue that even after an image as been composed with posed subjects that you still have to "capture" it by taking the photo. I'm approching this argument with the thought that, like the above image, a captured shot is a candid and a created shot is just that. Either way, I love this picture.

Hello for the first time.

So here I sit, face to face with my computer. Several days ago I came up with the idea of starting a blog...mainly so I have a place to post all the pictures I take that don't seem to fit in anywhere on my website, www.dreammachinefilms.net. I love photography, plan and simple. Landscape, portrait, abstract, wedding, all of it. Photography is great in that there is always more to learn. I don't care how old you are or how long you've been a photographer, you will never learn all there is to learn. If you decide to follow my blog I hope you enjoy my photos and posts. To kick stat this thing I'm going to post some of my favorite photos I've taken through the years along with whatever I feel like writing about them. Enjoy!