Daffodils

This weeks post comes to you from my newly built desktop studio. My wife brought home some vibrantly yellow daffodils a couple days ago and wanted to photograph them. So with a little ingenuity, I put together a cool fairly cheap to make little setup. I don't think you can really tell this wasn't taken in a full studio environment.

Now my next project, to put together a food photography kit. My instructor showed his in class monday and its a great idea. Its basically a large box filled with super cheap placemats, silverware, plates, fake flowers, etc. Everything you need to create the appearance of a high end plate of food in just a couple minutes.

Dale Chihuly

I know what this looks like, but it isn't. You aren't looking some horrible tentacled creature from the deeps here to devour us all. Or maybe thats a little too melodramatic to assume? This is actually a Dale Chihuly glass chandelier from Sacramento's EPA building. Dale Chihuly is a world famous glass blower. He's well known for his sculptures which, in my opinion, are not particularly attractive. I guess I don't get it. Still, it might not be attractive, but it is interesting.

To get this I ended up laying on my back with my camera in the elevator lobby of a government building. Thankfully the building closed about three hours before hand, so I didn't get a lot of strange looks. I like the way the light shines through the tendrils while leaving the center dark. I think its reminiscent of the Egg from aliens or some lovecraftian creation. Like I said, interesting.

Spring Skies

According to my teacher, April and May are the only time of the year you get clouds like this. I don't know if that's true, but since he's usually pretty on the ball I thought I'd better get out there and shoot. The only problem is time, I don't have any. So I decided to start taking my camera with me when I walk the dog. I live near a creek and some fields, so I there are things to photograph.

All in all I'm quite pleased with my first walk. True to form, the clouds were wonderfully cooperative and the field was thick and lush and full of wildflowers. That oak tree is actually one I used to climb when I was younger. I actually live around the corner from the park my friends and I used to hang out in when we had nowhere better to be.

I wish the building on the right wasn't there, the original photo had a much bigger field of view, but the blah post office ruined the mood if I left it in. So you get a hint of it at the edge, and hopefully it doesn't steal too much of the attention from that beautiful oak.

Also for those of you who are interested, this shot is another for my series of pathways.