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preachin'
A few weeks ago I preached at worship in my church community, the First Congregational Church of Oakland. Just in case you want to listen, you can hear the streaming version here. You can also download the mp3 here.
First Congo Oakland is a radically different church than you've probably experienced before. Think progressive theology meeting radical welcome and charismatic worship. If you're ever in Oakland on Sunday morning, I hope you'll stop by and visit.
back from Seattle
Seattle was great. I spent as much time as I could taking busses out to different neighborhoods, walking around downtown, and visiting art galleries and museums. There was a particularly nice selection of photography at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, and it was free admission thanks to the Boeing Corporation. The first night we had dinner with Robin's friend from high school who she looked up on Facebook. On day two, I contacted a photographer, Doug Plummer, whose blog I've read for the past year or so. He graciously took the time to have lunch with me and I absorbed all the advice I could over a plate of Pad Thai.
After Robin's conference, we rented a car and drove out around the Olympic Peninsula where we spent a couple nights camping. The Hoh Rain Forest was amazing (this area has the only temperate rain forest in North America), and I always enjoy a drive up the Pacific Coast. If I were to do it all again, I'd love to stay longer; it was our first time in Washington and the Seattle area. Pictures will be coming over the next few weeks.
I've put up some of the pictures from our Desolation Wilderness backpacking trip in July. You can see them here.
There's nothing like sledding in July!
(Thanks to Webb, who's Therm-a-rest pad suffered at least one puncture on this afternoon.)
And finally, a note: this blog will be moving to my own website in the near future. The content will shift to mostly photography information, but I'll be sure to also include the occasional update about what's going on with me. I'm beginning the process of coming out with my identity as a fine art photographer--a plan that is somewhat open ended, but looks to yield some exciting possibilities.
After Robin's conference, we rented a car and drove out around the Olympic Peninsula where we spent a couple nights camping. The Hoh Rain Forest was amazing (this area has the only temperate rain forest in North America), and I always enjoy a drive up the Pacific Coast. If I were to do it all again, I'd love to stay longer; it was our first time in Washington and the Seattle area. Pictures will be coming over the next few weeks.
I've put up some of the pictures from our Desolation Wilderness backpacking trip in July. You can see them here.
There's nothing like sledding in July!
(Thanks to Webb, who's Therm-a-rest pad suffered at least one puncture on this afternoon.)
And finally, a note: this blog will be moving to my own website in the near future. The content will shift to mostly photography information, but I'll be sure to also include the occasional update about what's going on with me. I'm beginning the process of coming out with my identity as a fine art photographer--a plan that is somewhat open ended, but looks to yield some exciting possibilities.
oakland at night
A couple weeks ago, I was out with some friends hoping to test blending/layering multiple exposures for long exposure night photography. We drove up to Tilden Regional Park hoping for a good view at Inspiration Point, but it was cold, windy, and very foggy. Not such good weather for star trails.
We decided to head down to Lake Merritt instead and ended up doing some urban night photography. What a surprise! Some of the images turned out very well.
You can also see Robin's and Jane's photos from the same evening.
I'm off to Seattle for a week; hopefully there will be much time for shooting! It will be our last trip away for the summer (the last trip for quite awhile for me, since I'll be working all the way through August and into September next year).
We decided to head down to Lake Merritt instead and ended up doing some urban night photography. What a surprise! Some of the images turned out very well.
You can also see Robin's and Jane's photos from the same evening.
I'm off to Seattle for a week; hopefully there will be much time for shooting! It will be our last trip away for the summer (the last trip for quite awhile for me, since I'll be working all the way through August and into September next year).
lighting 102 first assignment
As I mentioned earlier, I've been following along with the Lighting 102 class on Strobist.
The first assignment was deceptively simple--shoot a kitchen utensil using the lighting style of your choice.
David (the author of the blog) has taken particular care in teaching about specular highlights on reflective surfaces. The key teaching point is that reflective objects actually show you a reflection of the lighting source itself, not just the light that is thrown at them. This seems obvious at first, but once you start realizing the implications, you really see how much control you can have over what the light looks like.
The image above was created by reflecting two flashes with different colored gels off different sides of my apartment walls and ceiling. Each blade is a different color because it reflects what it sees from either side of the apartment, each side lit with different colors.
You can see other entries for the assignment here. One of my favorites showing this same concept is here.
Here's the setup shot (and our messy apartment)
The first assignment was deceptively simple--shoot a kitchen utensil using the lighting style of your choice.
David (the author of the blog) has taken particular care in teaching about specular highlights on reflective surfaces. The key teaching point is that reflective objects actually show you a reflection of the lighting source itself, not just the light that is thrown at them. This seems obvious at first, but once you start realizing the implications, you really see how much control you can have over what the light looks like.
The image above was created by reflecting two flashes with different colored gels off different sides of my apartment walls and ceiling. Each blade is a different color because it reflects what it sees from either side of the apartment, each side lit with different colors.
You can see other entries for the assignment here. One of my favorites showing this same concept is here.
Here's the setup shot (and our messy apartment)
hiroshi sugimoto
Photography has been many things, but it's always been tied to art. Many of its early innovators were classically trained artists, although it has sometimes struggled for full acceptance in the art world. There are a few photographers out there today working as much as artists as they are photographers, who are able to take the process and art of photography beyond its more practical applications like advertising products and documenting events toward representing an esoteric experience of reality.
One of those photographer-artists is Hiroshi Sugimoto, who has an amazing retrospective exhibit that's currently at the de Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. I loved it. It's not just a bunch a photographs hanging on white walls--it's an experience that takes you into Sugimoto's head and how he sees as an artist. It's amazing. I'm both inspired by his work--taking such simple ideas and making magnificent art--as well as frustrated that my creative ideas aren't half as brilliant (lots of room for growth!)
Here's the info on the de Young exhibit
Sugimoto's website
(it contains many of the same captions as in the exhibit, but fewer photographs)
A series of podcasts featuring presentations/interviews with Sugimoto.
If you're in the Bay Area, go see it! The exhibit continues through September 23, 2007.
One of those photographer-artists is Hiroshi Sugimoto, who has an amazing retrospective exhibit that's currently at the de Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. I loved it. It's not just a bunch a photographs hanging on white walls--it's an experience that takes you into Sugimoto's head and how he sees as an artist. It's amazing. I'm both inspired by his work--taking such simple ideas and making magnificent art--as well as frustrated that my creative ideas aren't half as brilliant (lots of room for growth!)
Here's the info on the de Young exhibit
Sugimoto's website
(it contains many of the same captions as in the exhibit, but fewer photographs)
A series of podcasts featuring presentations/interviews with Sugimoto.
If you're in the Bay Area, go see it! The exhibit continues through September 23, 2007.
making prints
We're back from Desolation Wilderness. As always, it is good to be back home but I also miss the simplicity of backpacking--living on a minimum of material goods and having little on my agenda other than enjoying being outside and making photographs.
After returning from the wilderness, there was an order of prints waiting for me. It was a visually delicious experience to open the box and tack them up on the 4 foot bulletin board I recently installed in the living room.
Something beautiful happens when one's experience behind the camera is transformed into a material work of art. Finally, after the click of the shutter is shaped and coaxed into a fine art print, I can separate myself enough from the experience I had while taking the picture and look at the resulting artwork to consider it on its own merits. Up until this stage, it is difficult not to be awash in the memory of taking the image, rather than actually looking at the image as it is in this moment.
Also, based on this experience, I can highly recommend Adorama's printing services. They are reasonably priced and the quality is excellent. I'm especially loving the black and white images printed on Ilford Black and White paper. I wish I could post them here, but then they'd be electronic images once again!
If anyone out there is interested in purchasing prints of any of the pictures you see, here's my current process, until I get a website set up later this summer:
After returning from the wilderness, there was an order of prints waiting for me. It was a visually delicious experience to open the box and tack them up on the 4 foot bulletin board I recently installed in the living room.
Something beautiful happens when one's experience behind the camera is transformed into a material work of art. Finally, after the click of the shutter is shaped and coaxed into a fine art print, I can separate myself enough from the experience I had while taking the picture and look at the resulting artwork to consider it on its own merits. Up until this stage, it is difficult not to be awash in the memory of taking the image, rather than actually looking at the image as it is in this moment.
Also, based on this experience, I can highly recommend Adorama's printing services. They are reasonably priced and the quality is excellent. I'm especially loving the black and white images printed on Ilford Black and White paper. I wish I could post them here, but then they'd be electronic images once again!
If anyone out there is interested in purchasing prints of any of the pictures you see, here's my current process, until I get a website set up later this summer:
- Browse my Flickr images here: aneyeintheworld on Flickr
- Write down the title of the image that looks like this "GMK_YYYYMMDD_1234"
- Submit a comment by clicking on "comments" at the bottom of this post (this just allows an easy way to communicate with me; it will not be published)
- In the comment, include: your name, mailing address, email address, the title of the image you want, and what size (8 x 10" or 11 x 14")
- Be sure to include your email address in the comment, otherwise I won't be able to get in touch with you
- I will email you with payment instructions and get the print out to you within three weeks. Currently I except Paypal, personal checks, and money orders.
Prints come in two sizes: 8 x 10" prints are $25 and 11 x 14" prints are $45.
All prints are printed to my exact specifications on archival matte paper, then hand signed and numbered. Each print will have a small white border around the edge, so the image size is slightly smaller than the total print size. The copyright symbol you see on the web images is not present on prints.
Thanks for your support!
All prints are printed to my exact specifications on archival matte paper, then hand signed and numbered. Each print will have a small white border around the edge, so the image size is slightly smaller than the total print size. The copyright symbol you see on the web images is not present on prints.
Thanks for your support!
off to the wilderness
Well, first off, I want to say thank goodness that all the loud bangs I've been hearing these past two days are firecrackers and not gunfire. For a few moments last night, I thought there was a gang war going on a few blocks away. Such is how one thinks when living in Oakland, even if this is usually a pretty safe neighborhood.
We're off to Desolation Wilderness for a week's stay. Thankfully the recent wildfire near South Lake Tahoe missed it, but not by much. We hiked through here on our way around Lake Tahoe in 2005, and it was beautiful, so I'm really glad to be going back and taking it at a slower pace.
While you're waiting for me to come back and update this (well I guess no one's holding their breath), here are a few pictures from my 5 day backpacking trip to Ventana Wilderness by Big Sur.
I hope you're having a good summer!
editing your blogger template with CSS
If you've ever tried to customize your blogger page template, you might have run into something called CSS, or "cascading style sheets." I don't know very much about these, although now I know more than I when I first started this blog.
I want to point you to a video tutorial on CSS, at Sitepoint. When I first tried to tweak the look of my blog (widening the main text column and the header, for example), I just used a whole lot of trial and error as I edited the template. I wish I would have seen this video first, it would have gone much more quickly.
It runs about 17 minutes, and if you want the additional videos in the series, you have to pay, but the first one is free. It's a great overview, explaining both the "why" and the "how" of CSS, nice and slowly. You definitely need a very basic understanding of web coding in html if this is going to be useful to you, however.
CSS Video Tutorial
There's also an overview video of AJAX here, the technology behind most of the fancy web applications that keep popping up.
I want to point you to a video tutorial on CSS, at Sitepoint. When I first tried to tweak the look of my blog (widening the main text column and the header, for example), I just used a whole lot of trial and error as I edited the template. I wish I would have seen this video first, it would have gone much more quickly.
It runs about 17 minutes, and if you want the additional videos in the series, you have to pay, but the first one is free. It's a great overview, explaining both the "why" and the "how" of CSS, nice and slowly. You definitely need a very basic understanding of web coding in html if this is going to be useful to you, however.
CSS Video Tutorial
There's also an overview video of AJAX here, the technology behind most of the fancy web applications that keep popping up.
the lives of others
Just a quick plug for a great movie I saw last week, The Lives of Others (Leben der Anderen, Das). It seems more and more seldom that a high quality movie makes into the mainstream distribution channels, particularly for non-English language films--what a nice surprise. Great directing, acting, cinematography, set design, and an excellent story, it's all there (well, unless you're really into the CGI graphics; there aren't any of those).
Also, if you live in or around Oaktown (a.k.a Oakland) and haven't visited the Parkway Speakeasy Theater yet, find something that's showing you want to see and go there. Who wouldn't want to eat pizza and beer while sitting on a comfy couch at the movie theater? (They also have some very nice sandwiches and wines if you prefer that scene).
It's a "second run" theater, so you won't find the latest and greatest just released movies, but you can't beet the atmosphere, and I always love the chance to support a quirky locally owned and operated business.
Parkway Theaters link (now in El Cerrito too!)
What's Playing
Also, if you live in or around Oaktown (a.k.a Oakland) and haven't visited the Parkway Speakeasy Theater yet, find something that's showing you want to see and go there. Who wouldn't want to eat pizza and beer while sitting on a comfy couch at the movie theater? (They also have some very nice sandwiches and wines if you prefer that scene).
It's a "second run" theater, so you won't find the latest and greatest just released movies, but you can't beet the atmosphere, and I always love the chance to support a quirky locally owned and operated business.
Parkway Theaters link (now in El Cerrito too!)
What's Playing
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