ASHDR Photography Blog

Rings

2013-02-09T18:00:37Z

A standard wedding photography shot is a close-up of the wedding rings. Usually the rings are placed with the flower bouquet or with some other prop related to the couple or the venue. I've seen this done with wine corks which is a great way to help tell the story with a vineyard as the venue. I decided to try my own version of this shot. Getting the the wedding band on the right to remain propped up in the desired position was difficult. The cork it was resting on wanted to just roll away. I positioned another cork perpendicular to it in order to keep it in position. I think the shot turned out nicely.

Pre-Dawn Golden Gate Passage

2013-01-04T18:00:59Z

As I was hunting around for objects to rest my camera on in lieu of the tripod I'd forgotten to pack, (See previous post) I noticed a container ship heading into the bay. I knew that it would be hard to capture in the early morning light. I finally found a wooden recycling box on the edge of the lookout area that had a decent vantage point. Meanwhile, the area was really starting to fill up with photographers eager to catch the sunrise over the bay. Some had vintage cameras or an assortment of fancy gear. All had tripods and I was envious... But, with the camera resting on the box and steadied by my hand, I clicked away several "brackets" of shots to merge using HDR techniques. Here is the final compsition.

Golden Rays Through the Gate

2013-01-02T18:00:15Z

We took a trip down to the San Francisco bay area for Christmas this year. We stayed North of the City in the small but charming town of Petaluma. The last full day of the trip, we got up very early and decided to take the 30-45 minute drive down to a lookout area on the Northwest side of the Golden Gate bridge for sunrise. I somehow managed to forget to pack my tripod for this trip which I seriously regret. It didn't stop me from taking photos, but did limit what I was able to do. I had to find solid objects I could rest and stabilize the camera on for longer exposures. Even then, it was a challenge. I did come away with two shots I really like. The first one, posted here, is a little after sunrise. We had started back down the hill after shooting some wider shots from higher up. I noticed the way the sun's rays were shining through the North tower of the bridge and we stopped to snap a few more pictures. I believe I was resting the camera on a park bench for this shot. I'll post the second photo later this week!

Overcast Senior Portrait

2012-11-19T18:00:10Z

I had the pleasure of working with a very nice young lady over the weekend on her senior pictures. We shot at Monteith park and downtown Albany. We managed to avoid the rain. It was very cloudy though, which is great for diffusing light. That helps avoid harsh shadows and lights the subject more evenly. This is my favorite of the shoot. The color version is nice too, but I really like the black and white. It was shot with a very wide aperture for a nice blurred background and a reflector held just off camera to the lower right to fill in some light on her face.

Selective Color

2012-09-29T17:01:02Z

Last week, I did a senior portrait shoot for a young man. I had shown him the finished color shots as well as several I also picked to create black and white versions of. The client asked if I could do some of the shots with only him in color and the background in black and white. I agreed that would work well for several of the photos. I ended up doing a few of these "selective color" versions. As you can see in the shot below, having a colorful subject while everything else around him is in shades of gray really makes him pop. It can really help with a more distracting background, which wasn't the case here though.

Italian Chili

2012-09-13T17:00:43Z

At the Benton County Sheriff Foundation's Chili cook-off, one of the competitors had an Italian theme. I wonder if it's what they ate on all those spaghetti westerns? Here's one of the chefs posing for a quick portrait.

Aerial Photography

2012-09-10T16:16:54Z

I took photos for the Benton County Sheriff Foundation's Chili Cook-Off yesterday at the Benton County fairgrounds. I had a good time and enjoyed some good food. I had an opportunity to go up in a small, open cabin helicopter that they were offering rides in for donations. I have my pilot's license but I've only flown in closed cabin, fixed wing aircraft. So, this was a new experience for me. It was great for taking photos because I didn't have to shoot through any extra glass or plastic that could cloud up or distort the image. I'll post more shots here and on Flikr later in the week, but here's a shot I took of Oregon State University's Reser stadium. This was just a day after they upset the Wisconsin Badgers at home, 10-7.

Thirsty Sculpture

2012-08-31T17:00:40Z

I was shooting a volunteer appreciation event for the Corvallis Fall Festival in Central Park last week. The ballerina sculpture had acquired something new since last I'd seen her. Someone hung a canteen from her left hand. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to grab a few shots of it.

Balloon Disappointment

2012-08-29T17:00:25Z

The Albany Art and Air Festival is a big event every August that kicks off with early morning hot air balloon launches. The festival lasts three days, Friday though Sunday, and this year it happened to be my birthday weekend. We planned a camping trip to the coast so we were unable to attend much of the festivities. However, we got up at the crack of dawn on Friday morning to catch the balloon liftoff before heading out on our camping adventure. Dozens of balloons and support teams, plus hundreds of spectators covered the field at Timber-Linn Park. The first balloon to go up would carry a US flag into the air. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and due to winds that were slightly outside of the safety envelope, none of the balloons were able to take off that morning. They continued to fill the first balloon and monitor the winds right up until the decision was made to stay on the ground. The crowd began to disperse. We were certainly disappointed that we could not come back the following day, but there's always next year. I took this shot shortly before leaving. I sympathized with the young lady's expression.

Furniture Share BBQ and Auction

2012-08-20T17:00:10Z

I went to Tyee Winery south of Corvallis Saturday evening for a Furniture Share fundraising event. It was a Texas Style BBQ and Hoedown with a live and slient auction. There was some live music, a magician and other entertainment for the whole family, plus the food and adult beverages of course. Linn County commissioner, Will Tucker, acted as auctioneer for the live portion of the auction. Here's a shot I grabbed. More pics available on Facebook and Flickr!

Dog Days of Summer

2012-08-13T17:01:08Z

I did some volunteer work for SafeHaven Humane Society over the weekend. They had their annual "Dog Days of Summer" event downtown in front of the courthouse. There was a fairly large turnout. One activity is the 5k walk. Before it kicked off, everyone who wanted to participate posed on the steps of the courthouse with their dogs for one big group picture. I took a tighter shot with a longer lens, but I wasn't able to capture the very edges of the group or much of the surroundings. I switched to the wide angle and snapped a few shots.

Mud Bath

2012-08-03T17:00:46Z

After the kinetic sculptures finish their runs through the mud bog (see previous post), spectators are invited to play in the mud. Some parent's actually dare to let their kids coat themselves in a thick layer of brown muck that will certainly not come out of any clothing. I'm sure it's quite fun for the children as long as they don't mind being hosed down afterward. I didn't want to stick around at this location for very long because I knew the race would be continuing in the river and I wanted to get down to the river exit before the first participants arrived. But, I couldn't leave without grabbing at least a few shots. This youngster seemed quite happy to be covered in mud all the way up to his neck.

The Mud Bog

2012-08-01T17:00:17Z

One of the stages in the da Vinci Days kinetic sculpture race is the infamous mud bog. At Crystal Lake Park in Corvallis, they create a deep, muddy mess for the racers to drive through before getting hosed off and entering the river for the next stage. Some never make it out (on their own at least). Most breezed through the long stretch of mud, only to get hung up trying to exit the course and climb back out to dry land. For human powered machines this is quite a work out, I'm sure. This pair of shots are of one of my favorite sculptures. In the second photo, the team is taking a quick pause to plan their attack after stalling out in that last crucial moment. I believe they were eventually successful at making the corner, up and out of the mud without outside assistance. Others were not so lucky.

Kinetic Sculpture Parade

2012-07-30T17:00:20Z

On the second day of da Vinci Days, Saturday, the kinetic sculpture participants put on a short parade near the festival site. As the sculptures came back into the corral area, spectators converged to check out the contraptions up close and talk to the drivers. There was a fair amount of theatricality and fun to be had. This gentlemen was one of the racers and he wasn't shy about posing in his costume for the cameras and crowd.

Canine Frisbee

2012-07-26T17:01:00Z

One of the events at da Vinci Days last weekend was canine frisbee. Saturday morning, I was there to take pictures and enjoyed watching as well. It drew quite a crowd and several people ended up with a dog in their lap while it chased after a frisbee that ventured slightly out of bounds. As I was focusing on a dog running toward me and preparing to capture the moment it ripped the frisbee from the air, I suddenly realized that the dog wasn't stopping. I looked up just as the frisbee bounced off my leg. I didn't get any good shots of that round, but I did get this shot of one of the dogs leaping for a mid-air catch with some of the spectators watching in the distance.