Iris

Basically, today's post is the promised follow up from earlier. The focus on the iris.

Eye Study

I know its a little late, but I came in late last night and everyone was asleep, so I couldn't very well around and snap photos, especially because of the light. My parents hate it when I turn on the lights to take photos when they are sleeping. So I put it off until I had time today, which was about now. I've been playing Axis and Allies all day... and last night. Not something I've got the complete hang of yet.

Anyway, this is an eye study. The idea came form a book cover, The Host I believe. I caught sight of it at Boarders yesterday. Initially, I was going to go for an iris shot, but decided that this would be the appropriate precursor. Basically, I took the photo after many attempts at achieving good focus, then I dodged the face, my favorite part being the removal of eyebrows, and then I burned the eye lashes a little.

The final product made me step back a little. I had no idea that my eyes looked like that. Taking them out of context has that effect. It is also quite eerie, which was an expected effect. Have you ever noticed that in movies and photos. ect, that eyes are always used? Interesting that something so human cause be so unsettling.

Graffiti

Not that the straight on photo of myself hasn't been done already, but I thought I'd take a different approach to it. Originally, this photo was a pose with my latest favorite prop, the padded chair in the dining room. But I cut out most of the pose and decided on using the brush tool to mess around a bit.

Anaranjado

I can't believe I just posted that...

Yesterday's News

So this is the discarded photo from yesterday. My goal in this photo was to set my profile against a uniformly dark background and see what happens. It was of course, taken in my favorite spot of the dining room corner.

From The Basement Again

So this isn't a new photo today. It's actually from yesterday and I stumbled upon it as I was pulling today's photos from the memory card. What struck me about this one was the texture on the block wall and the power fo the silhouette. As it turns out, I really like silhouettes. I appreciate the drama they bring to the picture and I don't believe their use in this project has been exhausted.

Without

Oh yeah... I Cook.

Oh Yeah... I Cook.

What started out as looking for something easy for dinner turned into Kielbasa over sauerkraut baked in apples and Riesling. Looking at this photo I realize I should have taken a better pic of the food, but I was so hungry when this was done I didn't want to wait. Plus I burned my hand on the dish, so I was in pain.

Linear


I have no idea what to say about this photo. I like the colors, blue, green and red and I like the horizontal groove its got going on. Nothing exceptional, but I'm totally out of ideas today.

Life

Life

Two

Two


Something struck me as I was working on this entry, I have done very few experiments with tools outside of the camera to create pictures. Which largely inspired this creation. It reminds me a bit of when I did a self-portrait in graphite and chose to frame it in an unusual manner, mainly to draw attention to it amongst the sea of entries. I received some harsh criticism from my professors for it, but it was worth it. Live and learn. Anyway, this particular framing is much different than the self portrait in graphite, the inspiration came from thoughts on how symmetrical faces are largely regarded as attractive. Initially I intended to create such an image, but decided on simply dividing it with black lines to cause the viewer to consider each side separately.

The Strangers

The Strangers



I've been looking for an excuse to overexpose but every time I do it with one photo focused on me, it doesn't look right. So I used Julia to help me out. This would be the last day we have in each others company before the long summer, and much like the previous break times together I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of her in various poses and styles. It's a good way to take someone in, at least for me.

Personally, I really like the effects that overexposure can have on feminine faces. Which explains my hesitance to use the effect on myself. The flowers we just an interesting prop that I picked up to create connections between us, but as I neared my desired photo I knew that they would work effectively overexposed.

Flower Power?

Flower Power?



So I'm not sure what this photo means, but I knew that it made sense in terms of visualization. I've had this idea brewing for a few days now, but I never had the heart to cut the flower from one of the real plants in the vase so instead I used a fake one. I figured flowers were radially symmetrical so it was logical to use the symmetrical cabinet as the ultimate background, which would play off my own symmetry being between the two. I desaturated everything but the flower because it seemed as if everything was drawn to the flower's radial symmetry, why not encourage it a little?

Silhouette

Silhouette



THe sunset tonight was really quite cool. For a bit, the sun rays were shooting over Huron, Ohio and reflecting on the low lying clouds. Against the dark sky it created a fantastic show of orange and dark blue. Unfortunately, I was out getting ice cream for Julia and my brothers nad had to rush on back home. Never the less it inspired me to go out for today's picture.

I spent some time out at the beach to the west of my house and snapped the photos. In the distance you can see a couple who were enjoying the same sunset. The lake photographed quite nice as well. The waves closest to me seem to have a smooth roll to them and after getting the self-portrait I spent some time messing around with shutter speeds and the waves. Quite a few neat pictures came of it but nothing too extraordinary.

My ability with a camera, I think, is improving. A lot of my excursions outdoors for my self portrait have provided me with a few opportunities to experiment with photography and the camera. I believe my ability is benefiting from all this practice.

Two Brothers

Two Brothers


This picture is an outtake from my brother Eddie's confirmation. I was his sponsor, which explains why I'm dressed up. The photo struck me out of the 30 or so from the confirmation service because of its out of pose nature. If I recall correctly, we had just finished taking out photos outdoors and Eddie was glad to be done. He yanked that tie off as fast as he could. I remember those days, about young to the end o high school. The tie was like the stranglehold of authority and life, as if it might cut off oxygen at any moment. The sooner you got it off, the better. As for me, I like dressing up. I look sharp.

Self Portrait with Tennis Racket and Chandelier

Self Portrait with Tennis Racket and Chandelier



This was an accident. I took a few photos in an effort to get the shadows cast from the racket to glide across my face, but this one struck me as interesting and worth pursuing over what I got.

Double Vision

Double Vision



So when I set out to do this photo, I knew that the double paned windows would give an unusual reflection... I just didn't think it would be this weird. But I kind of like it, mainly because of the grain and the horizontal lines. It all kind of emanates a dissolution of cohesion and I dig it.

No Money

No Money



Yes, I own a piggy bank. I bought it in Spain and on the reverse it reads: "You went to Grenada and only brought me this?" So I figured using the piggy bank as an expression of my poorness would work out for the best.

The Grass is Always Greener...

The Grass is Always Greener...

Daily Ritual

Daily Ritual

Facial Foliage

Facial Foliage

Just looking for a good reason to utilize that twisting plant out in the garden.

No Wake

No Wake



So I took a walk around the area shores today and took this picture around the Huron lighthouse. I saw it and it struck me as typical to take a picture against. It's like a scene from that 80's teen movie, No Wake.

High Voltage

High Voltage


Ah... long day today. Need sleep...

Basically I'm trying to branch out into different realms of creativity. The works of Sugimoto have opened my eyes to new possibilities from behind the lens. So I'm trying to apply a little of what I've seen.

Couple Under the Overcast

Couple Under the Overcast


So the inspiration for this comes form a number of places. First off, I was searching through some photography for inspiration and came across the works of Hiroshi Sugimoto.

http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/seascape.html

His depictions of the sea motivated me to go out to my beach and see what I could find. Julia is also with me, so that was the other half of my inspiration. Too many pictures of me are single figured and I was glad to change it up a bit. Personally I like the composition quite a bit. I'm striving to keep composition at the forefront of my mind when I take the pictures, as opposed to cropping them later on. This picture is the composition is as it was when I took it, which makes me believe that I'm improving.

Revolutions

Revolutions


So I initially started out by taking the pictures of me interacting with the cage and the decorations inside of it. But I was faced with a high shutter speed and taking a normal photo wasn't going to work out. So you work with what you've got, right?

Get in Close

Get in Close



So yeah, its another close up. I like the highlights around my eye in the skin and there's some great blacks in the iris. My eyebrows look a little... fuzzy.

Brickpile

Brickpile


Wait, Cinco de Mayo is today, you say? No. I'm pretty sure... oh... dang. So yeah, I guess I'll leave it as is. Partially cause I don't want to do the whole switcheroo. But also partially because it's indicative of my scatterbrain.

Anyway, this is the picture taken on the fourth, switched out because it was the fifth, and then actually posted on the fifth because when I thought it was the fifth it was actually the fourth.

Basically, I was looking around the house for outdoors things that I had previously left unnoticed throughout the winter. Then I found that old brickpile in the back of our house. What I liked best about it was the crack across the rows of bricks. It just boggled mind to think that the crack could be continuous across the separate bricks. It must have been a single event that cracked them... maybe. I'm not a physicist.

Cinco

Cinco


So I spent some time outside taking pictures and I had a good one picked out, so I filled out the date and I realized it was Cinco de Mayo. Not that I'm Mexican or anything... I'm American and that gives me the ability/right to steal a holiday from a culture and celebrate anyways.

The only Mexican thing in our house is a neon Corona sign in my brother's room... my younger brother of nine years. Yeah, he's got Mike's hard lemonade lights around his window as well. You see, the restaurant is closing this summer and we're leasing out to a Thai restaurant. Which means we need to get out crap out of there so they can get theirs in. Amongst other things, our crap consisted of neon lights from the bar. So Eddie swiped them and put them up in his room. I don't think its a sign of early alcoholism as it is a fascination with putting commercial objects where they don't usually go.

Onward

Onward



My obligation to today's picture of the day almost slipped from my mind again. So this one was taken in a bit of a rush, but I think I made some good calls despite the moment. Initially I intended to make this a horizontal photograph, I suspect I was influenced by the couch and its horizontal nature. But upon viewing I decided on vertical and severely cropped it.

I'm not to happy with the background though. The couch doesn't seem to photograph well and i think it gave my face a yellow tone. Compare my hand and my face, not the same. Perhaps it it were either white or black...

Composition in White and Blue

Composition in White and Blue


Basically, this was an experiment. I wanted to find something by overexposing that I liked and could work with. It was a chance that I was wearing this shirt when I took the photo as well. This photo is one of three taken randomly. The first of two were pretty lame and this one looked like it might have the most potential, but I wasn't sold. So I cropped it as I saw fit and left it as a tiny image on my desktop to look at and judge as the day went by. I kept noticing it out of the corner of my eye when on my compy and was struck by the the overexposed whiteness and the blue of my shirt. So I deemed it likeable and worth posting.

The Blues and Grays

The Blues and Grays


Right, so it just occurred to me that blues and grays is also a reference to Civil War uniforms. All I really wanted to do was describe the colors, or rather the lack of.

So obviously I took the camera to the beach but sadly, the weather had turned cold and the sky gray. But I tried to make an intersting composition anyway. Even if it cost me the dryness of my shoes. What I like about it, and I just realized it now, was the reflection in the sandy water. That's somethign I was totally ignorant of during the shoot. perhaps in the full sing of summer I will work with it again when I can get wet and not worry about freezing.

Anyway, I like the composition. I just wish I could get some color in there. I keep thinking about the photo with the tree... Northwest, and how much I liked the color of pink and blue with the short depth of field. I think that often I go out with the intent of finding something and often not. Perhaps my eyes need work.