Strobist fun!

What's Strobist you ask? Check out this site for all the info on what a strobist actually is. I've learned a lot about lighting from there and have been applying it to my work. This past Sunday a group of us photographers from the Denver/Colorado Springs area got together and had a Strobist model shoot. We had a blast and I got some really nice shots to add to my portfolio.

If you read up on the site you will see that it focuses on using small camera flashes off camera for lighting. I cheated a little and brought a studio light with me. I can do the same thing with a small flash and I do use them at weddings, but for a situation like this with shot after shot it's hard to beat the recycling time of a studio light. You can also burn out a small flash if you over work it too hard. I can't afford to have a flash down right now so didn't use them. This was a play day for me. Here are a few shots that I took during the day and I have more on my Flickr page if you'd like to see them. I also have a profile over on ModelMayhem with these and other pictures I've done. My Mayhem number is #54609 if you want to check it out.

At the Broadmoor

Had a fun time tonight doing a kind of combo Christmas/Engagement shoot with Liz and Justin. We went up to the Broadmoor Hotel on the West side of town. It's a really nice 5 star hotel. If you've never been there it's worth the drive just to walk around a little.

I got there a little early to scout the area looking for places to shoot. There was already another photographer ahead of me doing a shoot with some cute little kids for a Christmas card in front of this tree. Saw a couple of others doing shoots around the grounds also. Seems to be a popular place. Everybody was really nice to us also which made it even more enjoyable.



I have a slide show posted on my site with the rest of the photos from this shoot. If you want to take a peek check out this link. Justin and Liz I hope you enjoy the show!

LUMU

Taking it to the next level.

One of the techniques I've been working on is off camera lighting. It really adds another dimension to my photography. One of the sites that I have learned a lot from is called Strobist. It's a site dedicated to small off camera flashes. If you want to learn off camera lighting it's an excellent place to start.

I think you get to a point though where it helps to have someone actually show you some of the techniques applied in the real world. Along this end I've just signed up for LUMU. LUMU is what's called a light it up meetup. We're going to meet up with other photographers and models and share lighting techniques. This is going to take place in Rifle, Colorado at Rifle Falls State Park. Hopefully the weather is going to cooperate with us. I'm sure it's still going to be chilly but I'm looking forward to learning and growing as a photographer. Check back mid March to see pictures from the Meetup.

Miracles Do Happen

My brother finally came out to visit me here in Colorado Springs. This is my third time living out here. I do believe he had a good time though since he is planning on coming out here again next summer. We went and did a lot of the tourist sites around the area. Here's a visual guide to what all we hit.

This is in the middle of town at Palmer Park. We took my dog Chester to run around some and then stopped at the overlook to get a good view of the city.



The next place we hit was the Broadmoor. It's in the foothills on the West side of town. A really nice old hotel. Takes a few buck if you want a room.












This is one of the lights in the hallways. I'm glad no one came along while we were taking these. They would have thought we were crazy lying on the floor to get this shot.



Here's me working my camera.



And here's the shot I got.





Mark with his pony!



This is a series of sculptors sitting in someones front yard. I actually met him a while back before he passed away. These things are huge and made out of steel. They move and spin when the wind is blowing. If you want to see them they are near the entrance to Seven Falls.



After the sculptors we headed up to Helen Hunt Falls next which is located in North Cheyenne Canyon Park. You can see it was a little chilly up there.





This was on our way up Pikes Peak. We took the highway up. They had trucks hauling up gravel for road maintenance. You don't want to get in the way of one of these while they are coming down. You'd think they were in the road race they hold up there each year.



The roads near the top are steep and exposed. If you have a fear of heights you probably won't enjoy this section too much!





At the top.







It's almost like another world up here.



If you want to go up the mountain there are two other ways besides driving. One is the Cog Railway.



The other way is on foot. I've done this trail a few times and it isn't too bad. Took me about 8 hours to get to the top taking my time and stopping at the cabin at Barr Camp. Unless you want to spend all day hiking it's best to arrange for someone to pick you up at the top or arrange for passage down on the train, if they have room. I've hiked down the mountain also but that's hard on the knees!

Downtown Colorado Springs

Here's a picture from the second hike I went on yesterday. Since Chester couldn't go on the first one, no dogs allowed, I went on two hikes yesterday. This second one was up on Section 16 off of Lower Gold Camp road. Took this with my 100mm macro lens and used Photoshop to blur the top and bottom of the picture to give it a toy model look. Fun stuff. You'll want to click on the picture to get a bigger view of it.

I Love Weekends

The weather was beautiful today so I went for another walk in Fountain Creek Park. I'm sure you can guess by now that it isn't too far from my house. Maybe a ten minute drive tops. Didn't make it out there as early as I wanted to but the light was still nice. With the wedding season basically over it's nice to know I'll have my weekends free to goof off now! Time to do some photography just for me. Here's some sights along the way today. Hope you enjoy them.

Went for a walk with the 100mm Macro Today

Took a walk today after work down at Fountain Creek Park in the Nature Conservancy area that they have. No dogs so Chester had to sit this one out. Just as well since he's a royal pain when I'm trying to shoot. He tends to trample anything I point the camera at. Here are a few along the way today. Still some color here but it won't last too much longer. While a 100mm macro isn't the lens of choice to do landscape shots it really is a sharp lens with nice color and contrast so I wanted to give it a try. If you click on a picture it opens up larger. Enjoy.