Photopia

Provodenciales

2012-12-03T15:51:00.001-08:00

(As always click images to view larger!)

After much deliberation and procrastination to choose a spot for our next vacation, Andrea and I settled on the island of Provodenciales in the Turks and Caicos. Determined to relax after our initial booking was dashed by the likes of the superstorm, which nipped both us and the island, we set off for a week in the sun, the water, and a calmer mindset.

The area of the island we stayed at was known as "Grace Bay" (seen below), which is known for snorkeling, and beautiful beaches. Something I enjoyed was a lack of obnoxious water-sports in the area. There were no jetskis or tubing to be seen, and only farther off off deep sea fishing vessels (less than a mile off shore is a 7000 foot drop off) and some para-sailing boats dotted the area.

Our resort features the Bight Reef (camera left) in which I spent probably several hours a day snorkeling, and using the new HDHero2 camera to video and snapshot wildlife in the ocean. (It's as fun as it sounds).

Since the trade winds often blow through the area, the ocean didn't often cooperate for that glassy/foggy look I wanted to capture in full daylight. The shot below was taken as it was getting quite dark, and was about a 7 second exposure if I recall correctly.

Our very first afternoon snorkeling on Sunday we spotted this fellow munching on sea grass next to the reef. While he was a bit weary of me diving down to say hello, he swam slow enough for me to trail nearby and take what is probably my favorite shot of the whole trip. I managed to see this guy on 3 different days of the trip, always in the same area. Not something I will soon forget.

On an excursion recommended by the locals and dear friends of ours who just honeymooned here a month ago we went to "iguana island", which is a deserted little paradise with large lizards running about in the shady areas. This is also the same day I swam in the 7000 foot drop off when our boat stopped there, and was called back in after asking the guys next to me if he "sees that little white thing circling down there?" Our captain said that was, in all likelyhood, a large shark. Other expliots included diving for conch, eating said conch in a fresh ceviche', and snorkeling the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world.

On one of our many walks along the beach, we spotted this fine gent patrolling about 15 feet off shore. I instantly dropped all my stuff and powered up the camera (which rarely left my wrist), while tripping over myself getting my flippers and mask on.

During my excited entry into the water, I dropped my sunglasses into the sand, which were promptly washed out to sea before my ever patient and doting wife came to collect my scatted belongings.

With a tremendous amount of luck I was able to don my mask and recover said shades after Andrea pointed in the general vicinity of where I sprawled my belongings. This was, of course, after I blamed her for losing them...I love you hunny.....

The little guy above the ray is a Jack, surfing on his slipstream.

A pair of pelicans made the area near our resort home. Often resting in the conifers near the water, they would use a long bow over the water as a launch pad for their aerial assaults on the marine world.

I dove down to get a better look at the barrier reef. A fellow snorkeler made for a rather unique photo.

Since quick showers became a regularity later in the week, rainbows became a common sight from our beachfront. After many, many failed exposures, this one came out well enough to keep and work on at home. ...Rainbows are a bitch to shoot...Edit - Reminding self to tone down saturation on this one.

I am not going to lie, this starfish is deader than a doornail, but Andrea found it, and I think it made for a great composition. :)

That woman was eagle-eyes all week, spotting all kinds of stuff this way and that. I was especially impressed with her ability to spot the camouflaged fishes among the sand and rocks several times.

The beach-bum herself. <3>

James and Niru

2012-11-16T15:55:00.001-08:00

One of my lifelong friends was married over the weekend. James wed Niru in a fantastic celebration of culture and love, and probably one of the most memorable events I've ever seen or been a part of. Not only did I get to see two great people unite, they threw one heck of a party. With old and new friends abound, DJ Raj spun the hits and the dance floor barely stopped rocking.

I also may go my whole life without dancing and singing someone parade-style into their wedding ceremony for a solid 20 minutes. Did I mention he was on a mighty steed? No? Well he was, observing us honoring him in traditional indian fashion - white people dancing dances they just learned.

Congratulations guys, love you both.

Now, the photos...

Prior to the wedding, I was asked to photograph a gathering at the house of the parents of the bride.
The idea behind this was to capture the women getting their henna applied by the skilled artists they had on hand. Of course, I tried to simply document what was going on around me as well.

While the area we occupied was lit well enough, a larger and larger crowd accumulating presented its challenges, to find the angles and compete with ever changing shadow conditions with my limited setup.

Being relatively uninspired lately in my photographic endeavors, I think this latest body of work is enough to whet my appetite to get back into the swing of things with much more regularity. Looking forward to, of course, vacation redux after Hurricane Sandy waged it's war on my relaxation.

Salvaged shots

2012-05-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

The photo meetup group that I attend at time announced a "Steampunk" shoot coming up. I decided it was high time I dust off my lenses, and finally get to shooting again. Unfortunately, there were significant pitfalls with this shoot.

The models were an hour late, cutting into the overall time we had. The location was not as promised (It had mentioned large window light availability), and the 3 areas set up had woefully inadequate lighting. It was far from ideal, but I managed to scrape together some shots worth posting.

At the very least, this whet my appetite for my favorite hobby again. Hopefully I'll get active out there again soon.

Trustworthy

2012-03-31T09:25:00.004-07:00

Home and not feeling well. I decided to make the best of it by just doing a social commentary-inspired self portrait given what I am reading in the news. I don't really have an opinion on the matter, but I think this Martin case re-raises extremely interesting and ongoing questions about our society.

I also managed to break one of my lights in the kit during this, albeit learned a decent amount in the process about some portraiture lighting.

A moment of zen

2011-12-18T17:33:00.000-08:00

The holidays always bring a certain amount of festive kind of stress, and the first in-law family gathering of the season had its moments.

For a fairly laid-back 29 year old, I felt myself in the rare situation of feeling a bit overwhelmed and over-stimulated. Children crawling over me and opening gifts, fragmented conversations in a confined space, combined with my strategic seating choice between everyone else and the food, was a stark contrast from just a few moments earlier.

Seeing the coming social storm, and just wanting some fresh air, I "borrowed" my wife away from the crowd to snag some photos in the quickly fading light. As she sat in the quiet cold, a pair of swans and several ducks made a beeline to us from perhaps a half mile away. Knowing better than I, Andrea got some bread to throw to our new fowl-friends to share.

Soon enough, we were back inside celebrating the season. However, it's times like this that remind me how often I overlook the tranquility of escaping to the outdoors once and a while.

Engaging in fun

2011-10-24T17:45:00.000-07:00

In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage; catching it was acceptance. Little did my friend Johanna know, she was to take part in this centuries old tradition on the day of her engagement.

Jay, her boyfriend and a good friend of mine, had worked in the tossing and catching of apples into their everyday routine as they had a relaxing day on Martha's Vineyard. When he finally brought her to her favorite beach and got down on one knee with the ring, he informed her she had already said yes...several times.

Upon hearing of their engagement, not only did I think Jay's tactic was clever, I was ecstatic for the couple, having known both of them since high school. When I was asked if I could do engagement photos for them, I was honored, and excited. They're great, fun people who are so clearly in love. As I hang out with them regularly, I knew they'd be a fun shoot.

When Jo told me they planned on having the shoot at an apple orchard, I had high hopes. The sun shone, the air was unseasonably warm, and the sky blue. They brought some props, and their good humor and fun.

Here's some of my favorite shots of some of my favorite people.

Congratulations, you two.

:)

Martin-Gramajo Wedding

2011-10-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

How much can someone mean to you? While photographing the wonderful people at the Martin-Gramajo wedding, Laura and Justin showed everyone around them just what that can mean...

If means enough that you'll never forget.

It means you can make a promise to someone.

That you would walk in their shoes.

If you have something...

You would share.

If you were apart...

Then you make it count when you're together.

There were plenty of people at this wedding. Yet, so often I could tell that for much of their celebration, it was just the two of them, lost in the moment.

It was an absolute pleasure to be part of their day. Laura, probably the most laid back bride I've ever know, made life easy on me. I couldn't help but be laughing anytime I was within 10 feet of Justin. You could tell they were having fun.

Congratulations to Laura and Justin. I hope you both have a long and happy life together.

Portraits Updated: Finally!

2011-09-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

Quick update:

My slow updated to my portfolio site continues. I've been absolutely devastatingly busy at work lately, so this has had to take a backseat for a while. I'm quite happy with the section's update as it stands. I've worked in some favorites from shoots in the past, new material, and new people. It's all spliced in throughout the section.

Next project: Landscape section. Hopefully it won't take multiple months again.

New section

Beaumont-Caldeira Wedding

2011-08-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

Who says 13 and 1/2 hours of work in a day can't be fun? Kerry and Tony's wedding in late June was an absolute blast to photograph. Bride, groom, wedding party, and all the relatives were all so great to work with on what turned out to be a wonderful wedding day for the newly married couple.

Things certainly got interesting at times with limousines pouring out smoke, a ceremony snuck into the sunshine between downpours, and small children napping in the middle of the dance floor.

The Day kicked off hanging out with the girls. Makeup, hair, excited/nervous chatter, all that good stuff.

I bounced from the main room to their alternate readying room to capture some dress and finer details before the women were really ready to get photographed.

A few points during the day I could see nerves kicking in. Good nerves, wanting a perfect day kind of nerves. Just another set of emotions in the cornucopia of feelings being experienced by the group.

So, the girls' limo may or may not have been spouting smoke for the majority of the ride, after our driver missed becoming part of a multi-car accident. Regardless, we got the shots we wanted in the shortened amount of time we had before the ceremony began.

It was certainly a different challenge photographing a ceremony from across a pond. I wasn't aware the couple would be on a bridge, which I would not be able to shoot from at the same time. Long focal lengths saved the day.

It was so obvious how happy Kerry and Tony were once the pressure was lifted and the ceremony had gone off without a hitch. Relaxed and ecstatic, they started to look forward to the party ahead.

As you can see the light and weather cooperated for the ceremony and after-shots.

Such a great group of bridesmaids. Accommodating, cooperative, and encouraging when they saw I was wearing down a bit at the end of the day. (That camera gets heavy after 10+ hours). I'm looking forward to seeing many of them again in September at my next wedding coverage.

Kerry and Tony, cheers to your new marriage, I hope you're always as happy as I saw you were on that day.

Boston Models

2011-08-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

I had the very fortunate experience today to find myself in the Boston public gardens surrounded by nice people who all share a passion that I do. It was the first meet-up with a new portrait photo-group I have joined, and it was a great first experience.

Twenty five photographers attended, joined by 5 or so models, and a makeup artist. We had the run of a decent chunk of the public gardens before the number of people became interesting to work with.

As the models finished with makeup photographers branched off in small groups and moved into different locations. We had a rotation to split time shooting and holding reflectors for others. There was only slight jostling for position, and most of it was simply inadvertent shot-crossing trying to get a new angle. People were very nice, and models were receptive to ideas photogs would suggest now and then.

I would certainly say I was young for the photographer contingent, if not the youngest. I was much closer in average age to the models. I hope I am still shooting when I'm the age of some of the group's members. I know I can only improve, and if or when I mirror the experience of some (45 years), I look forward to seeing how I've developed by then.

I took far too many shots to share, so here at my favorite dozen or so:

Some of these will probably find their way into my portrait portfolio in this ongoing overhaul. I'm always open to suggestions on what you think is best. :)

Portfolio Overhaul

2011-08-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

Time to clean the cobwebs out of the portfolio. My tastes change with new and adapted styles and techniques both shooting and processing. It seems silly to have a static group of images represent my best or favorite works, if the criteria I used to judge them is always changing.

(New Home Page)

Therefore, in the spirit of that, I'm updating the "expressionist" portion of my site first.

These photos used to represent my continuing...journey... in finding out the different things my camera and software were capable of. I would show the "best" of my attempts at striking color, composition, or subjects slightly out of my own ordinary.

My newest additions take this portfolio section in a new direction. The direction I chose for my latest "expressionist" photos, tell a story, make a statement, or (hopefully) invoke some feeling.

Several of these photos are personally important to me and, I feel, have the rare ability to convey the emotions felt by the photographer to the viewer.

You'll notice all of them but one are in B&W. I subscribe to the oft stated opinion that sometimes color can be distracting, and I'd rather have people concentrate on substance, rather than style for much of this section.

Feel free to view them on the site, or check them out below:

/

Stuff I forgot about

2011-08-01T14:56:00.001-07:00

Every now and then I just take photos that I forget all about. Some of them I revisit and really take a liking to. I wonder what was going through my mind when I just uploaded them and did nothing. Most of these aren't even flagged as picks to be backed up or anything.
A new selection my entries for this blog will occasionally be posting the photos that I've forgotten.

Like this one:

"Chicago Oz"

I'm feeling back in the game. Hopefully I'll be posting on the regular from now on.

East Africa: Top Shots

2011-06-12T15:51:00.000-07:00

(Cue dramatic intro)

It's hard to pinpoint where to begin.

Visiting east Africa was one of the least relaxing vacations I've ever taken. This was largely due to the almost impossible task of trying to soak up every experience to its maximum potential. I don't think one can really prepare themselves for the beauty and melancholy they will encounter in this place.

Emotions ran from the highs of sheer joy, to the soberness of heartbreak, or primal with fear. Sleep was an even rarer commodity than usual. Excitement, jet-lag, climate, and diet all contributed to this.

The chaotic streets of Nairobi greeted us with a swallowing embrace. Congestion, population and a budding infrastructure create a dizzying sense of constant movement, almost in agitation of itself.

Traffic can't keep up with construction, and the "laws" of the road are governed by the average driver's sense of patience.

Fires burn by the side of the road, trash blows in the wind by the endless passers-by on foot, or the countless loitering in the midst of nowhere and everyone.

Then it all stops. The bustle of the city's countless markets and shops and people start to fade into the countryside. The land grows hostile in a matter of miles, and any hope of sustaining the comforts of civilization is lost.

This is the place we sought. Pervading silence in the endless fields of grass and trees.

Here is a link to a small piece of it though my eyes: Enjoy.

Back to basics: The Portrait Session

2011-03-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to shoot portraits for a wonderful client this weekend, Helen, who simply wanted professional-grade photos of herself. In a real no-frills way, I think the session was highly successful. This shoot reaffirmed that I love even the most basic forms of photography: the black and white portrait.

Helen indicated that she liked black and white shots, which often do not make up the bulk of my work, as much as I like them. I think one of my old photography professors often referred to them as a crutch for those who couldn't shoot in color well. As much as I don't agree with that, I think it still resonates from time to time.

I tried to keep the B&W mindset during the session, and played off the surroundings of her home as well as my available lighting to ensure some of those shots would come out well.

100% non-pro-tip: An $8 halogen work-light at 250 watts does wonders as a fill-light when using a 1 flash setup. I diffused and bounced the flash as necessary, and put the halogen through an umbrella when needed. $8 well spent.

Helen and I worked through the concept of each pose on the fly, and while insisting she never modeled before, managed to preemptively correct for almost every suggestion I was going to bring up with her own simple and natural adjustments. This made my life that much easier, and I could focus on the mechanics.

Hopefully now with the weather turning more towards the favorable kind in terms of outdoor shooting, I'll be out and about snapping more portraits within the spring scenery. Fingers crossed that's sooner rather than later.

A clear night

2011-03-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting for the skies to clear so I could play around with the length of the 70-200mm lens on the moon. I wasn't expecting crystal clear detail, but I hoped for some kind of shot of earth's celestial partner that looked like more than a glowing golfball in space.

The moon also happens to be just about full if not actually 100% out tonight. Which is why I was especially disappointed that i forgot to take my shots when there were no clouds in the sky. After dinner and a movie, I glanced out the window to see the familiar glow of light pollution against the clouds. I saw the moon peeking through and decided to give thing a try anyhow.

Turns out, the clouds add a lot to a shot that I was pleasantly surprised with.

I still need to discover all the ins and outs of this lens before really putting it to the test in Africa. So far though, I am very pleased using it for purposes it wasn't even truly intended.

Forced Inspiration

2011-03-12T06:49:00.000-08:00

Every now and again I enter the Boston.com "RAW" competition. It is a monthly themed contest where different guest judges view the entries submitted and award modest prizes for the winners. Whenever I enter, I always make the 1st large cut, but then fall short of placing in the top 10. My entry is usually accompanied by my fellow aspiring shooting buddy Pravin.

The contest both fun and frustrating at the same time. I often enjoy the themes they come up with for us to shoot (anything from weather, to abstract, to portraiture and landscapes), and will often try new ideas to come up with a shot to enter. However, judging photography is so subjective, I'm often left wondering how my shot, or other shots I feel are much stronger are left out of the winner's circle. Obviously I'm bias, but it just opens the window to try, try again.

This month's theme is "The human form". We often don't get much of a description beyond that, as what's the point of rigid entry guidelines when you're talking about art?

I tried looking through my archives, as when this contest was announced, I was not yet in the best shape to produce anything due to my health. I found nothing worth even submitting for a "phoned-in" entry. Looking back, I don't know why I even bothered doing that, since I'm always much happier producing something new, and honing skills etc, etc.

Luckily, my wife/muse is always the willing model, so after some trial and error, I conceptualized a new shot, and just executed it to the point of my liking this morning. Here are the results of this new effort:

See if you can spot the little "hint of Dan" in the photo. It shouldn't be too difficult.

I'm fairly pleased with the outcome. We'll see if this ends up being the contest submission for this month, or if some other idea takes hold...

2011-03-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

and here I told him "You can't just run away from your problems".

Acquired!

2011-03-03T18:34:00.000-08:00

Life gets in the way of updating again. But oh my, have things been happening...

Namely things like a major client contract. Who isn't not these guys:

:)

Oh and for good measure, lets add one of these to my bag of tricks:

Going to be really active again soon. Feeling good about it.

Luck and patience

2011-01-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

Around lunchtime today I decided to strike out into the snow to try to capture some wildlife pics. I brought my macro lens with me, and little else, hoping not to accidentally ruin any extra gear.

I descended down through the knee-deep snow towards the nearby pond where many ducks hang out year-round. Once I got close, I painstakingly made my way down the steep, snow covered banks of the water as to not disturb the flock.

I took off my lens cap and tried framing a few shots of the mallards resting in slushy ice.... As it turns out, brownish-grey ducks on a white background look about as interesting as one might imagine. I got up and left soon after.

On my way back towards home, I was keenly aware of many birds chirping away in the trees above me. As I saw one that got close enough for an interesting photo, I actually snapped off a frame that had serious potential, and then went to check the result:

"NO CF CARD"

...As the curse words poured from my mouth in an endless fountain of frustration, I most likely managed to scare off any remaining animals nearby. I didn't even think to check within the inner reaches of my pack to check where I usually keep a spare memory card. I was done for now. Defeated, I made my way home.

I headed inside to warm up and commiserate with Andrea, who always reassures me that I'll get the shot next time. This turned out to be incredibly ironic, as after I informed her of my folly, I then said "I would have killed for a shot of a male cardinal or something"

Andrea, who happened to be standing next to our backyard sliding glass door, then immediately says "Oh look, there he is now!" as a gorgeous bright-red cardinal landed on our back fence....

I sprinted into action, re-gathering all the winter gear that I just took off, as additional curse words were exclaimed. Andrea gave me some bread to throw out in front of me as I took up a position, lying low in the snow, partially shielded by some bushes where the birds were fluttering about. I stayed there perhaps 20 minutes as the snow fell around me, barely moving.

Here are my favorite results:

The elusive cardinal:

Female Dark-Eyed Junco

Cardinal returns. Hide and Seek.

A Wachusett-area relic

2011-01-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

For those who grew up in the Wachusett area, you may remember the semi-famous stone church. This building is all that remains of the old town of West Boylston Ma. With the creation of the Wachusett reservoir, engineers flooded the old downtown.

In 1897, the Nashua River above the town of Clinton was impounded by the Wachusett Dam. Six and 1/2 square miles were flooded in the towns of Boylston, West Boylston, Clinton and Sterling. The church now sits just feet from the reservoir that engulfed everything else around it.

Here the stone structure sits, an abandoned skeleton of its former self. The building is far from forgotten though. On Christmas day, when my wife and I took a brief reprieve from the holiday hubbub to visit the site, we encountered at least eight other groups and families stopping by the church for no clear reason we could determine.

Not deterred by the horde of roosting pigeons above us, Andrea gladly served as my model as I experimented with lighting and composition inside the hollow structure.

I have to say, the area around the church is very peaceful. The church is surrounded by water on 3 sides, with fairly picturesque alpine and deciduous forest lining the shores of the water. It's also on a less than high-traffic road through a fairly sleepy section of West Boylston. I find there are less and less places like this that I find, and I hope that it remains standing for many more generations to stop by, if not for historical sake, but to just escape it all for a bit.

Holiday Baby!

2010-12-22T16:36:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist quickly posting my favorite shot of a little guy I met this past weekend. I made the hike to Reading where my friend Stacey dwells whereupon I was introduced to the following character:

His name is Mason. He's about afraid of me and my camera as dogs are of bones, and is quite possibly the cutest little ham I've photographed ever...Well besides my newphews. Ok I am bias, sue me. :)

The couple who's responsible for my new main man Mason, was super nice and I was pleased as Stace reported they were happy with the body of shots I sent their way.

That's all for now. Possible interesting stuff coming up, I've got some ideas over my little Christmas vacation...Stay tuned.

2010 Alaska Photo Contest Finalist

2010-12-14T16:09:00.000-08:00

Today I learned that I was a finalist in a large photo competition that Alaska's tourism site holds. I knew that the competition was being judged around now, so I took a look to see what what up.

I don't enter many competitions, so this is encouraging. Better luck next time though :)

Here's the photo that placed:

Here is the winner and finalists:
http://www.alaskatravel.com/photo-contest/

Introductions are in order.

2010-12-07T15:58:00.000-08:00

The holidays are usually a very busy time of year for me and, well, probably most everyone. This business can adversely effect my photography, and thus the ol' photoblog.

Fear not readers, I have decided that I needed a co-host to this blog in order to keep up with regular postings. Without further adieu, I give you the new contributor/photographer to Hypengyophobia: "Ace"

Since Ace is too small to use a keyboard without treating it like a game of hopscotch, I will be taking most of the responsibilities for the text-related portions of his content. Ace was kind enough to get himself from the airport (above) over to my house where he will be staying/vacationing and seeing the sights and wonders Massachusetts and beyond has to offer.

He got off to quick start once he arrived. Whipping out his Canon .005D camera and hitting all the local tourist traps:

Ace took a keen interest in the local wildlife. I cautioned him about the inherent dangers of this, but he insisted on sneaking up to snap a few pics:

I quickly found that my small and plastic friend had a knack for getting himself into trouble:

Things got a bit heated between us after this incident. I am going to have to set some ground rules about where his is allowed to venture during his stay:

Anyways. That's all for now. I will still be attempting to progress through my normal experiments and traditional photography, but be on the lookout for further updates from Ace, as he continues to explore and discover.

Stacking Photos: You're doing it wrong.

2010-12-02T15:39:00.001-08:00

So...North Conway was great. I went up for a weekend getaway with Andrea and the pup. (The hotel we stayed at was wacky, awesome, and allowed pets. Good times.)

I also was hoping to utilize northern NH's darker skies to try more star-trail type shots in a more astronomically-brilliant kind of setting.
That didn't work out so much...But I continued to screw around with new methods. Mostly to no avail. I did come up with the below shot. Which, in all of it's unrealistic glory, still looks kind of neat.

More experimenting soon. I will get this right, I swear. :)

Time lapse and stacking

2010-11-23T17:36:00.000-08:00

Night Photography Attempt #2 - Quickie Post

Tried the stacking technique on a night exposure. about 150 frames over 20 minutes, stacked. Time-lapse of the frames is linked below the pic.

I need more practice, but this is my 2nd attempt at this kind of night exposure, and 1st attempt stacking. Bear with me :)

Recommended viewing of photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34578262@N05/5202556717/

Time Lapse: (try Flickr link for better viewing)

flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34578262@N05/5202553485/