59/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/2000, f/2.20, 50mm, Av

Nice weather = neat sheet, camping chair and book for Riley. He came tromping around the garage looking for paraphernalia to use on the deck while the girls were planting seeds on this late winter springish day.

He's a resourceful dude.

58/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/200, f/3.20, 50mm, Av, flash

Again, another uninspired day. We were late to an appointment so I didn't grab my camera. I did take some shots at the Children's Museum in Factoria with my BB, but I haven't even looked at those. I figured I'd make a token effort with some stuff in the house so I put a stack of photography books onto a bookshelf and started snapping.

I have been obsessed with reading technique books, Photoshop books, lighting books, photography blogs and all that sort of stuff. Then I go look at what I shoot and see that there is so much learn and apply and improve upon and it's sort of daunting.

I had a thought recently that I guess it's similar to when I picked up my first bass in the summer of 7th grade. Of course, I was just a kid. Good and bad, I suppose. I didn't know what I was getting into, and I didn't know where I was supposed to be. My music teacher let me borrow a Fender Jazz bass for the summer, told me the notes of the strings (EADG) and the relation of the frets (each fret is a 1/2 step) and I took it from there. I taught myself how to play by watching others and wearing out tapes of stuff I can't even remember, but mainly Rush. Exit... Stage Left, anyone?

As I got older, I was so into wanting to impress people. Look at me! I wanted to just be on stage and play music and jump around and have people enjoy it. I think with that, I've been successful to a certain extent. People enjoy my bands' music and my performances and I'll always love that.

I've played bass now for 25 years or something insane like that and been playing out in Seattle for 10+ years and it's become second nature. These days, like last night, for example, when I play, I have a few goals, the least of which is to impress anyone anymore. One is to play well individually and as a band. Another is to enjoy myself and let that come across when I play. I think I accomplished both those goals last night, but it can be hard sometimes, especially when there are not many people around.

Anyway, with regards to photography, I feel like I did when I first started playing bass. I have basic knowledge on how to use the instrument (camera), but no real grasp of it. I can take rudimentary pictures, but still have yet to turn those pictures into pictures that blow people away.

Now I have this old DSLR and, finally, after having read the manual, I have an idea on how to use it beyond simply centering the subject and pressing the shutter. I'm looking my environments, my surroundings and people and thinking, how would that look on camera? And then when I shoot it and look at it later, sometimes it's, "meh," but other times it's, "did I do that? Wow!" And those moments are pretty darn cool.

It's a learning process and it can be daunting, but man, is it fun. I wonder how my photography will be in 25 years?

57/365

 

Picture info: ISO 400, 1/160, f/1.80, 50mm, Av

Not much of a picture today... but the day's not over! I may not be home in time to post a picture for today as I have a show in Tacoma. We go last, so I know I won't be back, unless I email it, BlackBerry style.

Anyway, this is a shot of my new LCD. The old one was getting some burn in and, well, I wanted a wide screen. I spent a lot of time today working in PS Elements and updating Flickr some. The boy in the picture is a friend's son and he's playing with a new birthday toy he got a few weeks ago.

In the meantime, I'll have some good music shots tonight, and I hope you'll check out my flickr pages.

56/365

 

Picture info: ISO 800, 1/1000, f/2.50, 50mm, Av

I was in the house all day today. I took the kids and dog for a walk later, but there was nothing picture worthy outside (I've done the neighborhood to death!).

Haley takes Chinese at school. It's really basic, not like the 2 hours (on a Saturday!) that I took from approximately age 6 until I could drive. Anyway, her new teacher gave a bunch of stuff, including this paper mouse. I thought he was cool.

On a side note: something smells like gasoline in this house. It's weird.

55/365

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/200, f/4.50, 50mm, M

I took Mom to her dentist in Downtown Renton today. Right by Sam's Club and City Hall. After dropping her off, I hit A&W for a root beer and stayed for a burger. From there, I went back to the parking lot of the dentist, but decided to take a little jaunt as Mom wasn't done yet.

As I walked around, I saw a cool old Maverick, white, then walked around some more and saw a cool Jeep Cherokee, grey-green with moss, and then, POW. I whimpered and crossed the street and found this little TR6 hidden in a back driveway.

I ninja walked up to these two Toyota 4-Runners and snapped a few pix. I moved in closer, but I liked this shot the best. Maybe if I had the 18-55, I'd have some better body shots, but the 50 did well for this one. I boosted the red and pulled out a lot of the rest of the color via Elements.

54/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/800, f/4.00, 50mm, Av

I shot this off of Airport Way and Lander today in Seattle. I've driven by the sign a bunch and finally stopped. I punched up the lettering a little and tried to straighten the building's windows out and failed miserably. I also cropped it to fit 1920 x 1080, which is my new LCD's resolution.

Lately I feel like I'm in a photo rut. Time to get out and shoot some stuff, I guess.

53/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/200, f/2.80, 50mm, flash, Av

Marci got some super cool new shoes today. Pumas! I loved the colors so I grabbed one and put it in my ghetto DIY lightbox, dialed up the speedlite and, blam, took a few pictures.

52/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/250, f/4.00, 70mm, Av

I had my 70-210mm lens on today as it was super sunny. That lens works best in bright light. We were out with Bella delivering Girl Scout cookies when the aforementioned dog yawned. I picked up the camera and this is what I got.

51/365

 

Picture info: ISO 200, 1/30, f/1.80, 50mm, Av

Our friend's dog, Annie dot Calm. Time to go watch the short track speed skating final!

50/365

I will post a picture in the early a.m. of day 51. I shot a friend's family today and didn't do any P365 shots. I am heading to a gig, though, so I will technically have shots done on day 50, but I won't get back until day 51.

Make sense?

So, stay tuned...

And, I'm back. Here's your damn picture:

 

Picture info: ISO 1600, 1/40, f/1.80, 50mm, Av

Not a super great picture, but the reason I'm late with my picture today. I would've posted a picture of my friend's shoot, but I don't have permission (1), and that would be too easy (2). Plus, there were way too many good ones to choose from. I'm excited about those!

Tonight's gig at the Skylark was decent. It was the first time the Lund Bros. have played out this year, and first time out since October of 09! That's a long drought for us. As usual, I hope more gigs are in the future, but it's kind of up to me to book them.

I did take some shots of the other band but this was the easiest one to put up at 12:57am. It's late, but cut a bro some slack, wouldja?

49/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/20, f/1.80, 50mm, Av

Totally uninspired today due to unrelated events. Will do better tomorrow. I liked the tags Haley put on each person's box (Riley's, Haley's and Dad's).

48/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/160, f/3.20, 50mm, Av

Some friends have asked me to do a photo shoot this Friday of them and their kids. I heard Friday is supposed to be sunny so I took Hay out back into the bright yard to try some lighting shots. I've been doing some reading over the past few weeks and tried to see what I could come up with.

Obviously, direct sunlight was a mess. Dark shadows in the eye sockets and under the nose. Squinting on her face. Not usable, really.

For this picture, she stood on a rock with her back to the sun. It was bright enough out to not need any auxiliary lighting, but now that I'm thinking about it, maybe a white/silver reflector to bounce some light back into her face a little.

Anyway, I liked the halo around her hair, though there are some strands that are tinted red right at her part that I didn't try to fix (don't know how!)

I also did some layer work in Photoshop Elements. She had some Thin Mints at lunch and there were remnants under her bottom lip. Plus she still had some sleep in her eyes (re: eye boogers). I applied a trick with desaturating the photo and running a high-pass filter over it (technique cribbed from the Strobist site). I also dodged (lightened) her eyes a little. Here's the before shot:

 

Maybe next time I'll get a hairstylist prior to shooting. :)

47/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/500, f/8, 50mm, Av

Once again, I was down at the Rainier Brewery doing music shots. It was nice and bright out so I took a walk along Airport Way S. to shoot some pix. There were some large puddles along the way and I decided to get the sun and a telephone pole in the mix.

I liked how the four lines echo a bass guitar. But that's just me... :)

46/365

 

Picture info: ISO 200, 1/2500, f/7.10, 50mm, Av

I hit up Kelsey Creek Farm today in Bellevue to scout some locations for a photoshoot to happen on Friday (weather permitting!). I've been to this place countless times, but never with a camera and never with a purpose to look for things and places to shoot.

I liked how these two barns echoed each other. With the vertical shot, you miss the curvature of the white barn in the back, but I wanted the sky above to be empty, instead of dominated by buildings. (Though on second look, I think the other shot looks good as well. The sky is bluer.)

  

Picture info: ISO 200, 1/4000, f/7.10, 50mm, Av

Anyway, I tried shooting from the other side of the white barn, looking into the sun, but I couldn't figure out the settings to get the sky to display, as well as the side of the barn. The way I shot, either the sky was overexposed with the barn showing, or the sky looked good with the barn in silhouette. I know there's a way, but my brain couldn't get it today.

45/365

 

Picture info: ISO 200, 1/250, f/5.60, 50mm, Av

Marci stepped out to get a latte and some beans. Bella pined for her return. I shot this as I saw Bella see Marci on her way back. Haley rolled down her window and I snapped and hoped for the best. I would've preferred a smaller f/stop so Marci was more in focus, but this will do.

Happy Valentine's Day!

44/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/320, f/1.80, 50mm, Av

Happy Chinese New Year! We were invited to Haley's friend's house to celebrate CNY. They have a homemade lion's head and train and the kids paraded around the cul-de-sac. It was pretty darn cool. Riley is the middle of this lion, though you can't see him.

43/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/200, f/1.80, 50mm, Av, flash

Yes, boys and girls, another guitar shot. This time, it's acoustic. It's Yakup again, as he asked me to take some more shots. I liked this one. The weather sucked today anyway, so everything I shot was indoors.

42/365

 

Picture info: ISO 400, 1/200, f/3.50, 18mm, Av, flash

I had the chance to stop by a former co-worker's shop today. My friend Ian owns Twinline Motorcycles in Seattle and I'd been itching to head over to take some pictures. I had a morning gig at the Rainier Brewery recording studio, so afterward, I headed to Twinline, where I was able to catch up with Ian and then have free reign to shoot in his shop.

The room where these motorcycles were in was kind of dark, but I had my trusty flash with me so I snapped a few. I thought about going with a tight shot of a speedo or engine or something, but I wanted to get the flavor of the shop in the picture. Plus, I love the orange sign in the background.

Unfortunately, I know not a thing about motorcycles, but I do know I think these bikes, or "cafe racers", as they're called, are beautiful works of art. I'll plan on stopping by again in the near future.

41/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/200, f/1.80, 50mm, Av, flash

Another kid picture. I'll try harder tomorrow but today was rainy and a run-errands-with-Mom kind of day. I decided to put the flash on the camera and shoot the kids and their Valentine's Day stuff. As it turns out, the other picture I was going to post was also of Riley, but with a Valentine card in his hand. I just liked how this picture turned out, with him almost popping out of the screen. I didn't directly flash him, but bounced it off a white bookshelf to my right.

Both Hay and Rye have been doing these weird dances to our keyboard's pre-programmed songs. They have been hamming it up for me and I've been trying to get some practice shooting pictures. I should be able to get some non-in-home shots tomorrow.

40/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/500, f/3.20, 50mm, Av

I spent some time with Riley at Magnuson Park today off of Sand Point Way and took some super cute pictures of him, but I decided to save those for his blog. So, instead you get this.

It's the 40th day of the year! And for my 40th picture of the year, something completely profound and meaningful!

Actually, no. But it is a huge pet peeve of mine. Here's a tip:

SONS = more than one son. As in, "I have 2 SONS."
SON'S = it belongs to the son. As in, "My SON'S license plate frame is a complete disgrace to me, but since it was a gift, I have to use it."

Here are some more tips:

YOUR = belonging to you. As in, "How was YOUR day?" Or, "Is YOUR cat still sick?"
YOU'RE = a combination of the words YOU and ARE. As in, "YOU'RE (YOU + ARE) the best friend I've ever had." Or, "YOU'RE (YOU + ARE) sure you don't want any?"

ITS = belonging to it. As in, "That car just got ITS windows blown out."
IT'S = a combination of the words IT and IS. As in, "IT'S (IT + IS) freakin' cold out here!"

I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

39/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/1250, f/2.80, 50mm, Av

Someone told me they liked the pictures with people or kids in them better than the ones without. Most times, I'd agree, but to me, it's too easy to simply follow my kids around and snap photos of them. Plus, I think you'd get bored of seeing Haley and Riley all the time.

Today, we walked to school to pick Haley up. What you don't see in this picture is my left arm stretched to the max, trying to hold Bella back and still, so I could snap this picture.

I love Riley in his badass Scooby-Doo sunglasses. I love Riley's classmate hiding behind his other classmate. And I love Marci, KC and Haley bringing up the rear with Layla in the stroller.

Plus, as an added bonus? Everything is in focus. Sweet!

38/365

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/4000, f/1.80, 50mm, Av

I took this from the driver's seat, reaching over the passenger's seat, out the window, blind. This giant blue gorilla was at a car dealership and this pretty much signifies the best picture I took all day. 

Yes, the others are that boring. Happy Super Bowl.

37/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/500, f/1.80, 50mm, Av

After the night we had tonight, I wanted to post a picture of the day we had today. The family and I met some of Haley's friends at the Burke Museum on the UW campus. There was a rocks & geology event for the Girl Scouts so we went to check that out.

Unfortunately, cameras aren't allowed in the museum in order to "protect" their exhibits. Even so, I took some pictures (but not of exhibits!) inside, but none of them were super fabulous. Plus, our evening was pretty frustrating due to a 7 year old's tired outbursts, so it's the feet of that 7 year old that you see here.

Her friend Erin was next to her, but scooted out of frame before I could get the shot. I would've liked to have had a slower shutter so I could get Hay's legs in motion a little, but I'm pretty sure you can picture them swinging in your mind.

36/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/1250, f/1.80, 50mm, Av

If it didn't hit 60 degrees today, it was pretty close. I had to take this shot several times. At first, I had the thermometer nice and clear, but when I got it in the computer, I saw that there were lots of clouds in the background. After a few more tries, I realized I wanted less clouds and more sky. This one had what I wanted, but I punched the color in the sky up a little.

I'd like to think our sky was really that blue.

35/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/40, f/8, 40mm, Av

Kind of a lousy photo day. At least for non-human/canine subjects. This shot was taken from underneath the stairs adjacent to a local chocolate place, Sweet Decadence. The building itself is quite bland and boring so I was at a loss as to what to shoot. I looked up from my seat and thought the lines might be interesting.

Or maybe not.

I thought it looked like an Escher painting, only with a sprinkler thrown in for good measure.

34/365

 

Picture info: ISO 1600, 1/125, f/6.30, 38mm, Av

In a hurry tonight as I have to be in Ballard shortly for a sound check. Shot a bunch today. This isn't necessarily the best, but I thought it was cute. Given to me (and my friends) by a pal's mom. We all hung out at his/her house and she was like our den mother.

33/365

Picture info: ISO 200, 1/125, f/5.60, 52mm, Av

Look! It's nature!

I took a quick jaunt into the Coal Creek Trail by the Tiger Mountain trailhead. My mom and I walked it last summer when we first got Bella and I had a few minutes to kill between errands this morning. I shot it with my kit lens, the 18-55, because it is wider when zoomed out. I think I'm going to try using that a little more, instead of always going with the 50mm.

32/365

 

Picture info: ISO 800, .60, f/3.20, 50mm, Tv, flash

Yup. Another music shot. I took only a handful of shots today. Some were of our friend's baby, Layla, who just got new earrings! Since I'm not going to post her here, I needed more pix. Luckily I had one more rehearsal tonight before our show on Wednesday and I brought the camera, flash and played with some rear shutter sync!

I told Yakup to just play his guitar. He has a beautiful Telecaster and I snapped with the flash bounced to my left. If you're in Ballard on Wednesday, come on out to the Tractor and hear his band (with your truly on bass) as he releases his new CD.