Expose for the Shadows

Get Out....Climb!

2012-05-26T17:36:00.001-07:00

Capturing Friends

2012-05-26T17:25:00.002-07:00

Trip to Portlandia

2012-04-12T11:09:00.001-07:00

Here is some of the standout photos from my trip to "Portlandia" last week. I had a great time in Portland, I could see myself living there sometime in the future. Portland is also a great place to take photos because it is always overcast and the colors are so true since the sun is not around to wash them out. At the end you will find some black and white photos that Portland also is great city for! Enjoy the photos!

These are the black and whites from the trip and they reminded me of how much i miss having a dark room and my little Pentax 35mm camera. I used to love working in the dark room at Western Carolina University after going out and taking multiple rolls of film worth of pictures without having the luxury of looking down at a instant playback screen to see if the shot came out how i wanted it to, you just had to have the confidence in your skills and knowledge of photography that the photos were going to come out great! That very confidence was very important though, because if your pictures did not come out then that probably meant you were not going to have anything for your weekly critique...and that would not be a good thing. However, it would be better not to have anything for a critique, than to have crappy pictures hanging on the wall...because then you are just begging for "constructive criticism" or "public humiliation", guess it depends on how tough your skin was.

Nautical

2012-03-31T12:10:00.000-07:00

These photos are a collection from my adventures around Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands National Park. There are some color and black and whites mixed in here. Enjoy!!

Snowy California???

2012-03-31T10:34:00.001-07:00

While visiting my friends Dave and Leigh that live in Lake Hughes, CA I had the chance to experience snow in in the desert! This was a great opportunity to take a cold morning hike and get in some great shots of the California landscape covered with a dusting of white bliss clinging to different desert features like fresh butter-cream frosting clinging to gluten filled goodness at your local bakery! Hope you enjoy the photos below! I start it off with a self-portrait...

Set Ever so Slowly

2012-01-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a little bit of what I get to see everyday on my way back from work or a day at the beach. These are some of the most beautiful sunsets that I have ever experienced. I have tried my best to capture these moments in a way that you too may hear the waves crashing on the shore. Enjoy!

Smooth like LAX

2012-01-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

Arriving back at LAX from my visit back to see family for the holidays in North Carolina I found myself waiting outside on the next bus that was headed to Santa Barbara. This wait was going to be about an hour and sitting there amongst the perfume of exhaust and the cars and buses zooming by only to hurry up and wait. As I sat there in a daze and went somewhat mindless and numb from either the exhaust fumes or the never ending parade of cars I decided it was time to try and capture this moment through my lens. I knew this would help pass the time and these are some of the photos that came from that. I hope you enjoy!

Change + Distance = Learning

2011-08-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

I am sorry that it has been so long since I have posted anything....I have been on a wild and crazy ride. A ride that has relocated me form a small town in Western North Carolina (population: 5,000) to Santa Barbara, CA (population: 90,000). This has been quite the change for me and has been an experience that I will never forget!
This journey has totally taken me out of my comfort zone and thrown me in to a life that feels like it is moving at a thousand miles a minute, but oh how I have enjoyed it thus far. There have been times of happiness and times of sadness, as you could imagine, leaving everyone and everything that you have ever know behind to go to a place where you have no place to live or know no one.
Well, enough about me and my story! The first part of my adventure consisted of my friend Jeff and I taking off from Bryson City, NC on a long ride to the west coast! The ride was great! I got to see so much of the country and get a lot more driving experience. Here are some of the photos that I took all along the way! (with iPhone) I hope you enjoy them....but remember that the photos will never do first hand experience any justice.

The last photo I took of home before I left....bittersweet

This is the view from my friends Dave and Leigh's house that is located in central Cali....looks somewhat similar to the mountains of NC!

The Grand Canyon! This place is amazing! I hope that I get to spend more time here in the future...

A beautiful sunset over the canyon, it was a great evening

Another shot!

One more!

The Bridge across from the Hoover Dam!

Dam that is a long way down!

My first west coast sunset! That is a good memory!

This is East Beach....my second home you could say. I play beach volleyball here usually everyday after work and is where I have met most of the people I know here in Santa Barbara. This sunset was just the other night, and is the most colorful sunset I have seen here!

This is a photo from the first hike that I went on in Santa Barbara/Montecito! Out on the horizon are the Channel Islands! I plan on making it out there very soon. You could actually see where I live if the picture was bigger.

I hope that you have enjoyed these pictures!

Light, Fight, or Flight

2011-05-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

Taking pictures at nighttime is one of my favorite settings. I love to take on the challenge of finding the right aperture and shutter speed to get exactly what you want out of the photos. Set your aperture for your subject distance, but keep in mind that at night if you use F22 or above your shutter speed will most likely have to be on "B" and you will have to close the shutter yourself. Another hint when shooting at night is that if you shutter speed is 1/60th of a second or slower then you should have a tripod, and if you have a tripod you should also have a cable release. This will eliminate any chance of blur or fuzziness in you pictures, making them very crisp and clean.

If anyone ever has any question on technique on how to take a particular shot in a particular setting just send me a question! I will do my best to answer it! Thank you all for reading!

Contra!

2011-05-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post but there has been a lot going on. Graduation from Western Carolina University and job hunting can take up a grand deal of time! So as part of the post graduation celebration we went to a Contra dance in Asheville, NC. If you have never been to one you must go and try it out at least once. There is such a wide array of colorful and vibrant people that it can make you appreciate many different things about where you are from. I wanted to capture Contra in these photos and I believe I did that successfully, there is constant moving and spinning in Contra dances, vibrant colors, and happy people. I hope you enjoy these photos!

Eye Sore or Eye Candy?

2011-04-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

Some people may consider the junk that lays around behind houses and on random property's throughout Western North Carolina to be an eye sore. However, I see this "junk" as it is usually termed to be a great subject when it comes to taking photographs. There are various layers of history that make up these photographs, and each one of the pieces of "junk" has served a purpose at some point in time. There are many muted tones and colors that have deteriorated over the years in each of these pictures. One of the most exciting things for me when taking these shots is combining the right lighting, aperture, shutter speed, and white balance to bring the colors back to life! I hope you enjoy these! Thanks for looking!

Just a Little Different

2011-04-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few more example of what I love to do! Thank you for taking a look!

Versatility Allows For Creativity

2011-04-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

These next photos are from my fashion collection. This is one of my favorite photo shoots! A great model can really help make the photo shoot great! Liz Nance has an awesome personality and can convey a lot of passion through her expressions. People as a subject are one of the most difficult, there are so many different variables that come in to play when trying to capture a persons thoughts and feelings. Especially when the are in one of their must unnatural situations, in front of a camera and stranger(that leaves most people thinking they are in a state of vulnerability). The majority of people hate getting their picture and helping the person overcome that is a key element to capturing an amazing photograph. Being versatile can help you break down barriers and capitalize on the moment!

Here is a taste of is what to come next post! (one of my favorites)

A passion in the making

2011-03-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

I do not consider myself a wedding photographer exclusively. however I do enjoy capturing the memories of non-traditional weddings. One of the most gratifying things in photography is to be able to capture someone's most memorable moments in a matter of a few hours. The weight of of perfectly capturing these memories is on your shoulders, this moment will never happen again with the same passion. My passion has become capturing "passion" in photos.

In the Early Light......

2011-02-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

Just to get us started here is a sampling of early Ben King photography

Some black and white.........

And a little color too.....