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.

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).

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)