D63: A Closed Mind is Open to Nothing

I've recently covered a few midnight-releases of various video games, mainly because I was a donor for their giveaway prizes.

I'll be completely honest. I don't like 90% of the "gamer" community that I have met. They have been comprised of people with poor hygiene and severely lacking social skills. I'm a pretty open & accepting person, but for some reason I can't stand this crowd.

The other 10% are your standard jocks & husbands. Normal guys, normal lives, just normal.

Needless to say, I'm not very apt to strike up a conversation with a stranger at one of these events. I find it amusing, and just a little sad, that the employees had to spray the entire store with air freshener halfway through the evening.

I was there and let me tell you, it was absolutely necessary.

A customer asked me what type of lens I was using, and I felt a slight annoyance as I replied. I assumed that he didn't really know anything about cameras, and he drifted away after that.

Later that evening he came back by, asking about my development process with my images. We started talking and it turns out he runs one of the local photo labs. We had a 20 minute conversation that was very rewarding. In fact, I hope that we can collaborate on future photo projects.

All of this was possible when I discarded my snooty attitude and opened my mind.

I still don't like most gamers, though.

Manual: Page 61 - Choosing Custom Image Optimization Options
Same junk as the last few days. I really need to set aside an entire day to play with these settings. Maybe they do have a little merit after all.

Images: Dawn Davis
The Davis' shoot some awesome weddings. Check 'em out.


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D62: Pay It Forward

I recently started a blog for the business side of my photography, separate from this blog. With no budget for advertising, I decided to try something new. Some friends of mine just had a baby, and I just bought a new 50mm lens. I've never shot newborn pics before, so I offered to do the job for free to gain some experience.

The images turned out better than I had hoped, and the parents were thrilled. They wrote about it on their facebook page and included a link to my blog. As you can see, the views to my page skyrocketed overnight. I've already had some people show interest in future bookings, so this might just work out!

Manual: Page 60 - Controlling Vividness: Saturation
I might play with these settings a bit, but I've never had any problems.

Images: Melanie Alvarez
Melanie does primarily family portraits. I really like some of them.


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D61: Fluffy Goodness

Marshmallows are one of the best creations in the sugar world.

Smores, anyone?


Manual: Page 59 - Suiting Colors to a Workflow: Color Mode
Hmmm... I was completely unaware of this.

Images: Gabriel Ryan
Gabriel does pj-style wedding photography. I really like his work. the end.


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D60: What Will They Inherit?

Most of us have heard the old phrase "kids have it too easy these days...", but I worry that this phrase may be loosing its relevance.

As we are all too aware in today's world, the "Golden Age" of America is long gone. We, as Americans, have gotten ourselves into a pickle. Too many people learned to live on credit, instead of living within their means. My grandmother always talks about the fact that there were no credit cards when she started a family. If you wanted something you worked for it, you didn't put in on a credit card and pay 23% interest.

For many, the future seems very uncertain right now. When we finally pull out of our current recession, it will be interesting to see if we learn from our mistakes.

Manual: Page 56 - Optimizing Images
I've never changed this setting, and I'm thinking an experiment is in order to determine the differences.

Images: Jeff Lewis
I really like Jeff's night cityscapes, as I've never been good at these. I don't think we have the best settings for these types of shots where I live, but I'm determined to make it work. Someday.


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D59: I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?

A sunset that I was about to miss. Sorry, I don't own an apricot tree.


Manual: Page 50 - Fine-Tuning White Balance
I need to spend more time with white balance. Eighty percent of my post processing is white balance corrections.

Images: Jean Labelle
I specifically looked through some amazing images Jean did of a special little girl. She had terminal cancer, and not much time left. Jean captured this little girl's beauty in a way that I'm sure her parents will cherish for the rest of their lives.

It's got me thinking about doing something along the same lines here in my community.


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D58: Follow the Light

Look at all that refrigerated goodness, just waiting for someone to come by and take it home.

I realize there hasn't been that much quality content in the text of my posts this week. There just hasn't been that much quality content in my head.

Manual: Page 75 - Exposure
Sometimes I don't pay enough attention to metering. Maybe that will be my assignment for tomorrow.

Images: Mike Colon
I really like Mike's PJ work in Brazil, but I had a hell of a time viewing his website. I've come across a few flash sites that seem to have issues. Weird.


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D57: Finding Your Focus

I was walking around downtown tonight looking for ideas to shoot. While I was waiting for some cars to pass by, this "tunnel" down the sidewalks came into focus. I would have never noticed it if I hadn't taken a minute to just chill out and look around.

I need to remember that a little more sometimes when I'm shooting. If you don't see what you want to shoot, just give it a minute and see what happens.

Manual: Page 74 - Manual Focus
I don't spend much time with manual focus, but I think I should get to know it a little better.

Images: Marilyn Sanchez
Marilyn does some amazing boudoir work. She really blends classy with tastefull.


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