Portrait & Family Photography - Jacob Vorpahl

Welcome to the One Bright Spot blog!

Jacob Vorpahl — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:22:51 +0000

Thanks for stumbling across my blog and welcome if you're a new reader. My name is Jacob and this is my photography/personal/soap box/anything-it-needs-to-be blog, with a heavy emphasis on all things photography. Stick around for awhile and see if anything piques your interest. You can navigate around using the menus on the right side of the site.

Also, I'm currently engaged in a 365 photo project, where I take a picture a day for an entire year (read more about it here). So if you see anything with a '365' in the title, that's what it's for. And since it's a new photo every single day, you never quite know what you're going to get.

So, I decided to make this video…

Jacob Vorpahl — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:27:54 +0000

... and, well, I'll just let it speak for itself:

365/77 – f8 in the rain

Portait & Family Photography | Jacob Vorpahl - OneBrightSpot.com — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:21:03 +0000

I got a litle brave (and stupid) on my last day testing out my new 35mm prime. Rain started to drop down in sheets and puddles were forming everywhere. A lull came and I decided I was going to go out and try to catch a photo of some water droplets...with no covering over my lens, camera, or anything else. This resulted in me basically getting soaked as I hunched over and used my body to cover the camera and lens. That worked until the rain started going again and the water bouncing back up FROM the ground became so fierce it began coating my gear, and no photo situation is worse the risk that brings. However, I did get at least one cool photo. I had to put the lens at f8 because I needed serious DOF since I couldn't look through the viewfinder.

Click HERE to continue reading and to see today's 365 photo.

365/76 – Abstract Photo Time

Portait & Family Photography | Jacob Vorpahl - OneBrightSpot.com — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:20:33 +0000

I got back from drill and I needed a photo. I literally walked around the house taking pictures of everything trying to find some new way to look at everything. These are the days when I don't want to do a 365, just randomly taking pictures of things. One picture did stick out, and it was one I intentionally tried to be abstract with, and that's today's photo.

Click here to continue reading to see today;s 365 photo.

365/75 – You Get Out, You Go In

Portait & Family Photography | Jacob Vorpahl - OneBrightSpot.com — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:20:13 +0000

Whenever a Marine gets out at our unit we have a tradition of throwing them in the pond we have nearby. This past drill Cpl Wronkowski had the pleasure of getting wet. Congratulations are in order, and good luck on your future endeavors.

Click here to continue reading and to see today's 365 photo.

365/74 – Muffins

Portait & Family Photography | Jacob Vorpahl - OneBrightSpot.com — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:19:38 +0000

Long story short: long day at drill, got home around 11:00 and my wife was making muffins for her sunday school class the next morning. The photo tells what happened next. I figured I'd try and play with the DOF a little on this 35mm prime "just because".

Click here to continue reading to see today's 365 photo.

365/73 – A closer look at the scalp

Portait & Family Photography | Jacob Vorpahl - OneBrightSpot.com — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:19:32 +0000

My friend Nick's hair is always spiked. It was a bit more spikey today than usual and my friend Matt remarked at how weird it was to see so much of his scalp. I decided a close in look would make for an interesting picture and it actually did. I had to get to drill in the evening so this served as my 365 photo for the day.

Click HERE to continue reading and see today's 365 photo.

365/72 – Uniform Inspection

Portait & Family Photography | Jacob Vorpahl - OneBrightSpot.com — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:18:57 +0000

It's drill weekend again and this month they're inspecting us in our "Service Charlies", which is our green trousers with short sleeved khaki shirt. My time in the Marine Corps is almost up, so this is probably the last time I'll wear this particular uniform. I'd say there's a bit of nostalgia here but I really hate uniform inspections, as I assume everyone else does too, with the exception of the person doing the inspecting

Click HERE to continue reading and to see today's 365 photo.

365/71 – High School Love

Portait & Family Photography | Jacob Vorpahl - OneBrightSpot.com — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:18:41 +0000

Tonight was church for our youth group and during my first day testing out my new Nikon 35mm 1.8, I figured I'd test out the DOF and view on some locker graffiti.

Click HERE to continue reading to see todays 365 photo.

365 Week 11 theme: Use only my new 35mm prime

Jacob Vorpahl — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:39:34 +0000

This weeks theme comes from a new purchase I've made recently. A fellow photo enthusiast purchased a lens for a trip and decided that, once they got back they didn't want it any longer. We talked about it for a bit and I decided I'd try and test it out to see if I wanted it (I eventually bought it) and this was the week's photos that I took while testing it. The lens in question is the Nikon 35mm 1.8 prime and I got it for a price that overcame my concerns about never really using that focal length.

For those that have no idea what a prime lens is, it is a lens that does not zoom. It has one fixed length and that's it. Any zooming that needs to take place will come with you working your feet as you move closer or further away from your subject. The tradeoff is usually the image quality is better and you can get 'faster' lens (i.e. works better in low light because of larger apertures) with primes. I don't know the science/engineering as to why that is, I just know it is.

Anyhow, I'm writing this post in a quasi-present/past tense because as I write this, that week just ended. I'm behind on my 365 posts, but, have no fear, they will all be going up today if you're reading on June 17, 2010 so you'll be able to see my results right away. I should note this was a drill weekend and those always present difficulties with finding time to take photos.