Thursday, August 29, 2013

07/24/13 Wind Farm & Self-portraits

A day of photography at a local wind farm outside Camp Grove, IL 

Last month, I enjoyed a day of photography at a local wind farm in rural-Stark County, IL outside Camp Grove, IL. It's one of my favorite spots to photograph since it's very open and quiet. Usually, I have this place all to myself which is always enjoyable. I stopped at this location during the early morning hours and also in the evening as well to get better lighting conditions for photography purposes of course. I also used some down-time on this day to try some self-portraits with my tripod as I had some creative ideas. I'm sure in the future I'll be doing shoots at this location and a few others where I spend a great deal of time year after year. Shooting self-portraits are really difficult with a high-end DSLR on a tripod I learned fairly quickly on this day. The art of getting yourself in the correct position even using a self-timer is a tough task without another person there to help out. A lot of crappy photos you'll come across at first which leads you to not being able to resist the temptation of hitting the trash button on the camera. It's not about the quantity of photos in this case, but the quality though. You'll get several photos that you won't be happy with, but patience is the key. At some point you will get the photo you envision though. It may only be one or two, but that's far better then none. I've added photos from the wind farm and some self-portraits of myself as well below:

One of the shots I ended up quite happy with during
the early morning hours...
Sunflowers, a sure sign it's summer!
A cool perspective!
Rusted bridge, wind farm, and the moon...
Early morning low sun-angle is great for photography!
A shot going uphill of the wind farm...
My turn at a few self-portraits!
The sun-angle really cooperated here!
Myself along-side my other DSLR (Canon T3i)...
I had this clever idea to do a "action-shot" in terms of myself
taking a photo with my Canon T3i while my
Canon 7D captures the "moment"
I can easily say this is one of my best self-portraits
I've ever taken without a doubt!
A cool shot here with the bridge casting its own shadow (left)...
Another perspective...
The deep blue sky providing a nice backdrop for this "eye-popping" 
reddish rusted bridge!
Another view...
The late-evening sun-angle providing another great shot!
Playing around with the sun just before sunset...
Another awesome shot...if you look close you can see
dandelion seed heads glistening in the grass!
"Walking off into the sunset"

That will wrap up this post. I've been quite busy with photography especially last month shooting summer photos around the area and I'll be posting those in the near future. I've also been in the process of moving to a larger apartment in Peoria, IL over the last two weeks. It has taken up much of my free time to say the least. Moving sucks, right up until the point when it's all over with! I'm just about all settled in to my new place however. Shortly, I'll be gearing up for fall photos over the next couple of months as typical for myself as we progress toward autumn. Stay tuned.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

07/17/13 New Pet: Taser

Taser: my mom and dad's new addition to the family
enjoying himself in my hometown of Kewanee, IL 

Over the last month, I've been quite busy with photography on my down-time. I've been busy shooting many summer photos around the local-area and I'll post those at a later date. Anyway, on a trip back to my hometown I was surprised with a new kitten to photograph last month at my parent's house. My parent's adopted him last month. His name is Taser and he is quite a playful kitten. He definitely reminds me of when I adopted my very own kitten a few years ago. Thunder, is all grown-up now though! Over the last few weeks I've stopped-in a couple times to see this lil' guy and do some "pet photography" for my folks. I've added a handful of photos of Taser below:

A photogenic kitten indeed!
Attempting "hide-n-seek"...
Taser, next to his favorite toy (pet goat) that he loves
to sink his claws into...
Probably wondering why this enormous
camera is pointed at him...
A goofy kitten!
Action shot...when those eyes get big, look out!
He decided to do a lil' head pose here or something...
Any cat loves to play at a young age!
All that's needed in this caption is: Aww...
Love this shot! "A window full of possibilities"
More goofing off...
A cute lil' kitten!
Deep in-thought!
A personal favorite!
Relaxing...
A cute stare goin' on here!
Yikes, back up!! The camera is about to get attacked!
Another adorable shot!
My favorite!
One fun and energetic kitten!

That's all for now. I'll be updating soon with a couple more posts from this past month in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.