I'm sorry!

Yeah... I've been really busy and slacking on the blog.  Everyday I want to update, but have no new content.  I haven't even had time for the paper... which really bums me out!  Here is another old sentimental fave.  Day after my 21st b day.  First brew bought in the United States.  A very good buddy of mine and I posted up on a lifeguard tower at Morrow Bay by San Luis Obispo.  It was super chill till the beach patrol told us to scram.

Summer Lovin'

Don't give up on me yet. Keep it real.

Portland Style Photo Walk

Yeah it's been a while.  My bad.

By Portland style, I mean take pictures of urban objects, contrast the crap out of them, add a Biggie Smalls amount of vignetting, and post them on my blog.  OK. OK. I'm sorry to all my Portland friends.  No hard feelings.  Anyways, I figured it had been too long since I busted the camera out so I rang Ham and we went on a lil walk.  I had full intentions of getting my Portland on.  I'll spare you misery of the contrasty shots of "Lost Cat" signs and smashed Starbucks cups covered in mud on the side of the road.  Here are some others:
I hadn't used my 50-200mm in a long time. So it got some time on the camera...till the sun went down and it was way too slow.
Here is a photo of a native Ashlander in it's natural environment.  AKA lazy toolbag with a large mustache getting no exercise on his Segway.  I've conveniently added vignetting to bring out the douchie-ness.
50mm at 1.7 under a railroad car.
....
OK.  Thats enough sarcasm and judgment for the day.  I'll leave ya'll with Zumiez-colored mini cameras and come back with some real photos.

Miles Davis Cool

I signed up to take a portrait of a wrestler for the paper today.  That was a mistake.  Although he was very helpful and patient, nothing seemed to work out.  Add portraiture to the list of things to work on. 

On a cooler note, a good friend of mine got a new pet.  I was privileged enough to take a handful of shots of it.  It has no name yet but let me tell you, this thing was COOL... like Miles Davis cool.

Shot with my Pentax SMC-A 50mm at f/1.7

P.S. uh oh, its Friday night!

Vintage Pixels

It was school city today and there was no time for cameras.  Here are some old skool shots to fill some space.  This was one of the the "end of the year" shots from last year.  I've got another idea brewing for this year....

So what if I darkened the skies... 
Here is an all time favorite.  Geologic from Blue Scholars in Washington summer '08.

Vegan Shoot

I shot a vegan documentary screening this evening.  I have no clever or entertaining shots whatsoever...BUT I did find it slightly comical when I realized my camera has a small "In-N-Out" burger sticker on the side.  When I got home I realized my tripod has large "In-N-Out" stickers all over one of the legs.  They probably hate me.  I'm still going to eat meat... and love it!
Daaaang that some noise! And look at that banding!  Shot with a SLVR.

TWS Photo Issue

Life Class 101

Q: snowboarding + photography = ________

A: awesome

383 bounce of ceiling.

Crater Lake Winter 09

Saturday, Randall and I left a little later than anticipated to go to Crater Lake.  Due to the lame little warm spell we are having this winter, the drive was quick and easy.  The Lake was quite awesome as expected.  We slept in the Subaru in the parking lot and it was great... minus the consistent snoring.  I did not take enough pictures this trip... lesson learned.

Our living quarters for the night.
Randall's sick Yashica... venturing into the past with some (big) film.

We attempted to take star trails over the lake.  Our running shoe clad feet were cold and thanks to Pentax I had to hold the button down on the IR remote to keep the shutter open.  Those geniuses at Pentax can take notes from the Nikon crew and fix that little blunder.  My shot sucked.  I need a wired release. Lame.

Take more pics.

Bring snowshoes.

Buy wired release.

Great trip though.

Assignment No.2 (more)

To finish up the Outdoor Program shoot, I did the ski/snowboard tuning stand.  Pretty standard stuff.  BUT I did realize while thinking a little I decided that I really dislike model photography.  Yeah the models are cute (well..most of them) but, just not my thing.  Portraiture is fine with me... but not modeling.  Everyone looks like they are trying too hard...

dirty PP job... I was a sucker for the turnout though

Assignment No. 2

So last night I went to the school pool to shoot a kayak roll session.  I had heard about a underwater window that might be fun to shoot through.  Sure enough, I was shown into a room that stated "restricted access" on the door, climbed over a chain, down a metal latter, and into the dark.  My phone was the only light and it was PITCH black down there.  I had taken off my shoes and rolled up my jeans because someone said there was water down there.  Sure enough there was about 1" to 2" of some unknown liquid/rocks/mud/rat bones?/nastiness on the ground as I went around a dark corner.  Sure enough there was a portal to shoot through.  It was so humid down there my 50mm fogged up a lot.  In the end, all I could get was this:

For the first time, I felt like I was actually heading in the direction of photography I wanted.  That little sense of adventure kicked in and it was siiiiick.  Plus, there was a Coors Light cap down there meaning somebody had been down there getting crunk.  

Back above water I was shooting with my new 383 Super for the first time.  I struggled, but managed and got some good practice.  Nevertheless, I was not impressed with the shots I got that night.

Assignment No. 1

My first assignment for the paper (and in general!) was to shoot a sushi resaurant called Kobe.  I walked in and talked to the manager and she was extremely accomodating and really hooked me up with ideas and content to shoot.  Afterwards, I was even able to enjoy a little of the prepared food/drink. ;)  My manual focus 50mm was a real handicap and this assignment pushed my camera to its limits.  I needed the practice.  This was an overall good experience.

"Slim Jim" the sushi maker.

Sake steamed clams were DEE-lish.

This is me entering the blog world.

Everyone who is anyone has a blog... no, I'm just kidding.