Young Adults helping another Young Adult

D200

Each day we hear about all the bad things that kids do and get into, and most of us remember some of the things we shouldn’t have done in the past. Today, my son Christopher had his physical therapy session. I was inspired to see two young men helping outdoors in 90+ heat and not getting paid. These two young men are helping another young man have a better life.

Night Portrait at Peace Pagoda

Panasonic DMC-G1, Lumix 20mm f1.7

I thought that the base of the pagoda would make an interesting location for a portrait so I asked Gail to pose there for me.

--Warren

Gail at Victoria Bakery

Nikon D100, Nikkor 50mm f1.8d

Natural, ambient window light is always a good source of lighting for a portrait.

--Warren

July Project: Otakon 2010

It's that time of year again in Baltimore, when waves of young people arrive at the Convention Center in amazing costumes for Otakon

I brought my Big Gun camera with me today so that I could try for some interesting shots during lunch. Here's my best one - a lucky grab shot that seems as if it were perfectly composed!

This one is almost straight out of the camera with just a tiny bit of fill light in Picassa. It looks pretty good in B&W as well, but I'll wait til I get home and use Channel Mixer in Photoshop to do it right.

July Project - Abu the Flutemaker

Here's my new friend Abu, playing a saxophone-like contraption that he makes out of plastic pipe and fittings. Now here's what I find amazing - it sounds pretty good - at least when he plays it.

Abu is a street entertainer, licensed by the city of Baltimore. Besides his music, he has a bright and happy personality. While we were with him, he gave me and another admirer each a straw, then proceeded to teach us how to "play" it, including showing us several ways to get various sounds out of it.

Abu entertains at the nearby Medical Center Plaza each Tuesday; I'll try to catch him for some more photos in the coming weeks.

Two Months' Projects in One

Panasonic DMC-G1, Lumix 14-45mm

Does anyone remember Cousin It from the Addams Family? :)

--Warren

Gail at a Rocky Beach

Panasonic DMC-G1, Lumix 20mm f1.7

I forgot to note the name of this rocky beach. We found it somewhere between San Francisco and Morrow Bay off of Highway 1.

Gail was exploring the area where a creek empties into the ocean. The moss growing on the rocks in the stream caught my eye.

--Warren

Doing the Portraits.. on my phone! crazy.

I went to an Andy Warhol exhibit a few weeks ago at the Seattle Art Museum and, although I had heard of him before and read a little about his works and his life, I found the museum experience somehow SO MUCH more engaging. Since my visit, I have been on a makeshift Warhol Warpath.... He really liked the photo-booths at theme parks because it softened people's skin with so little effort. He was all about minimal effort with this and his silkscreens - repetition was simple, and the technology was easy. And I found out that there is an app on the iPhone called IncrediBooth which gives you this same experience (even minus the $4 per shoot!). I was playing around with it and another one called Diptic (reiterating our March 2010 diptych/triptych project with a new aspect) which allowed for a whole lot of "little effort" fun... and still working on this month's project --Portraits! So yes, there is a 'decreased quality of photo' due to the phone's camera but it is all part of the fun that Warhol inspires (in my mind anyway :). Enough caution notices now.... Here they are:

Portrait

At the beach, thought this was a cute one.. It reminds me of a squirrel.

Soldiers at Work in Arlington

D200 18mm

The Guards of the Unkown Soldiers at Arlington.  The marks on the ground are from the guards marching in almost the exact place every 20 seconds, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Men at Work

D200

While at Arlington most people see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldiers. We had the opportunity to watch the detail perform the lowering of the flag.