Baby gorilla

Since we just ended a class and are starting a new one tonight, I didn't have any lighting assignments for this week.  Instead, I've been back to editing my photos from Africa and have been working primarily on the shots of the gorillas we trekked to see in the rain forests of Rwanda.  One of my favorite sights was this tiny (6 weeks old or so) gorilla baby looking up at me.  To get a feel for how small she was and how big her mother is, check out mom's fingers in the upper left hand side of the image.  Such a precious bundle....hopefully increasing the numbers of this remarkable, but very endangered, species.

Lady with earring

Another assignment for my lighting class.  This is the last class in the intermediate course, and I've decided to stick it with it another 6 weeks for the advanced course.  I took the first class hoping I'd learn to use my nifty flash attachment, but so far we haven't even talked about flash.  He promises in the final class we'll finally learn about it.

Our final assignment was to create a photo (or series of photos) that bring together the body of work we've done in the past two classes.  We were also asked to choose an adjective to evoke a certain feeling.  The choices were "scary" "lighthearted" "emptiness" "desire" and "strength".

Here is one of the shots of a series I'm hoping to get done by Tuesday.  I've ruled out "scary" and "lighthearted" but haven't decided whether I'll head toward "emptiness", "desire" or even possibly "strength"....

One thing I've decided is a self-portrait with studio lighting (and no assistants) is pure torture.  I took over 100 shots yesterday and today and only have 5 that work at all.  Not my favorite assignment.  If I decide to do more portraits, I'm finding a model!

Still life in morning sunlight

This week our lighting assignment was to photograph a subject using a combination of ambient light and "built" lighting.  I did the assignment yesterday afternoon using this subject and lighting the dark corner to balance with the existing light in my dining room.  This morning I went in to clean up and saw the lovely natural light coming through the windows and casting prisms throughout the room through the crystals of the chandelier.  I decided to take a quick shot with this lovely light (but no "built" aka "studio" light).  I liked this shot better than any I took yesterday and I liked the color better than the black and white.  I edited it with a great deal of clarity and saturation, so it took on a "painterly" quality that seems to fit the subject.

New lighting assignment

The assignment for my lighting class this week was using "cutters".  Cutters allow the photographer to establish different lighting zones in the image so that you can light each one separately.  In this image I'm using one cutter to block the light from my background, and another one to cast a window shadow on the background.  I used my key light to highlight the still life.  Another light was used through the window cutter to light the background, and a third light was used to create the reflections on the necklace.

The idea for this photo is a late night after a dressy party out.  The moon is casting a shadow on the wall behind the clutter of cast off shoes, jewelry and a left over rose.  I'm not over the moon about the image, but I loved doing the assignment!

Key West sunset

Since Key West is known for it's beautiful sunsets (and crazy crowds cheering them on), I thought this would be a good post from our trip.  We bought a new camera and after taking it on this trip I'm impressed with the sharpness and good low light capabilities it has.

New camera.....old subject

We bought a new point and shoot camera for Valentine's Day and played around with it yesterday.  It's a Fujifilm X10 and so far it's been a pretty impressive little camera.  Just took a few shots around the house for a test drive and since it's been a very long time since I've posted a photo of one of my cats, I thought this one of Hobbes deserved a post.  Not a great image, but I'm heading out to Key West for a few days and am not taking my laptop, so I don't know if I'll have another chance to post this week.  Hopefully next week I'll have some nice shots from our trip.

White anemone

This is the color version of the photo I'll probably use for my next lighting class.  I was attempting to use fairly soft light, but in this version of the photo, I amped up the contrast a little bit.  I particularly liked the patina on the julep cup.