Day 25 - Such Amazing Eyes

Not sure I can say anything that her eyes don't say better... so beautiful.

Black and white and cropping was done in Photoshop.

G

Day 24 - 1972

I really dig the timelessness of black and white. In so many cases it removes the ability to date a photo just by looking at it. Was this shot taken in 1972 or earlier today? How can you not love that.

Day 23 - The Escape Attempt

I used Photoshop to crop this shot a little and convert it to black and white. I love how hard she is trying to get through the gate, not really understanding that she has absolutely no chance due to the piece of wood holding the gate closed at the top.

Day 22 - Surprise... More Texture

This one had to be cropped down, as the original had way too much blur to it. This is a definite improvement... at least to me.

Day 21

I definitely prefer the previous Maple Leaves shot over this one, however I kind of like the darker leaves and the way they form a frame around the lighter section. I just wish that frame was a little thinner.

Day 20 - More Texture

More texture... I have no idea what my fascination is with texture but I love it. I can stare at it for hours. I really like this shot but if I could change one thing about it I would have opened closed the aperture down a little to increase the area of focus. But I can still stare at it for hours.

Day 19

I took this shot in my backyard shooting up from the ground through the leaves... not much more to say then that really.

Day 18

Today is just a picture I took of my friend Kevin. Kevin just simply makes faces at the right moment to make me laugh.

Day 17 The Check

One last shot from Evan's Ride. Taking this shot made me actually feel like an "Official" photographer for the first time... not really sure why, but it did. I was also still dry and warm at the time. Once again that is Evan in the middle with his Dad receiving a check from the local fire department for funds that they raised on their behalf.

Day 16

Another shot from Evan's Ride. This time of the cutting of the ribbon to start the charity ride. I believe I called this one "Go" but I could be wrong. That is Evan, himself in the blue rain poncho with his Dad as they prepared to start the ride.

Day 15

I took this shot at a charity event called Evan's Ride. Evan's Ride raises money for Autism Ontario. I call the shot "The Start." Despite some miserable weather conditions, the riders were all in great spirits. Unfortunately at this point my lens was getting pretty wet.

Day 14

This next shot is of Jerome Godboo performing at Bluesaganza. This night was the first time I have ever had the opportunity to shoot musicians live as they performed. I have tons to learn about it but it was pretty cool.

Photoshop was once again used for cropping purposes.

Day 13

Sigh... working nights is definitely not conducive to doing this blog everyday... barely get a chance to even pick up my camera.

Anyway here is a shot that I took a week or so ago at Bluesaganza in St Catharine's, Ontario. The shot is of Chuck Jackson of the Downchild Blues Band. I call it "Blues Man" for some pretty obvious reasons and because I am not at all creative when I name these things.

I used photoshop to lighten the picture a touch and crop it, as well as for converting it to black and white.

Haven't Forgotten

I know I am supposed to be posting daily but due to some circumstances I have been pretty much exhausted lately... I will get caught up in the next few days though. Promise.

G

Day 12... late again

To be honest, portraits were really something that I was very much against doing when I first started photography. I was for the most part classifying portraits as those cheesy head shots used by celebrities and those terrible family pictures that everyone gets dragged out for by their mothers. Once I took a course with an instructor by the name of Archie Hood, I really found myself enjoying trying to find interesting ways to shoot your model. Now I see them as an interesting way to try and bring out a piece of who your subject is, and that is fun.

G

Day 11

More flowers... sigh... but it is accomplishing what I want which is to get me out and shooting. I can't decide if I like this shot or not. I call this shot... "More F'n Flowers"

Rule 2 - Minimal or no Photoshop in the pictures and any changes must be acknowledged as part of the post... from this point on. Earlier uses of Photoshop were for cropping and changing to black and white only.

G

Day 10, 1 Day Late

"Trillium" I took this shot in the later evening, as the sun was starting to set. I shot it on this occasion without flash, as every time I tried with I seemed to just blow out the white of the flower. I am not really a big fan of flowers despite already posting two different photos of flowers. The truth is that I want to make sure I stay active with my camera, so at this point I am shooting anything in front of me.

Oh yeah, I figured I should start posting some of the rules I use on this blog. So...

Rule 1 - No old photos. Everything for the most part on this blog has to be a new photo. I am not going to get any better if I just cop out and post my old good photos.

G

Day 9... 2 Days Late

I am not sure why but I have always been fascinated by texture. I love the way old cracked and peeling paint looks on a wooden door or wall. Wish I could tell you why... I call this picture "Worn" because I don't have another name for it.

G

Day 8 - Bounce

OK, so we got motion again for the second time since "Catch" on day 1. I love shooting action, but truthfully I am not very good at it and need to practice it a lot more. As much as I like this fun shot it illustrates a couple of areas where I need improvement. The first being the action shots in general, as it is her face is not quite as sharp as I would like it to be. The aperture is not set correctly for the shot I was taking... so basically I need to think faster on the fly. The second issue is that the flash and I do not get along when I am shooting outside... in this case I should have used some flash but didn't as I didn't want to over do it and I think the picture suffers for it. Damn light... always pissing me off.

G

Day 7 - Blue

Honestly there is nothing really special about a windmill... at least not to me. The reason I posted this picture is because of the sky. This is a good example of a mistake that I make a lot. I don't remember the sky being this blue, and it is not because I have a bad memory. It's because I can get so focused on the subject of a photo that I sometimes forget to take everything in as I am shooting. Just a habit that I need to concentrate on more in order to break it.

That being said, I think if I crop this photo tighter around the top of the windmill, I will like it a lot more.

G

Day 6 - Tunnel Vision

I really like this picture... sure there is a gorgeous little girl in the middle of it but aside from that... I love that the tunnel takes on a metallic reflective look about halfway down and that the landscape outside the tunnel is reflected in it. I also like the trail of stones leading up from the bottom and that you can see a little snail on the wall of the tunnel , I didn't even know he was there until I was looking at cropping the pic... which I decided against, at least for the moment.

By the way, if you have read Day 1's post and are thinking... this guy is fucked, this makes no sense at all, it is cool... it does make sense to me, and at the time that was all that mattered.

G

Day 5

OK now I am caught up. Today is a picture I call "Black and White Boy," and your right I am incredibly gifted when naming my photos. I love black and white though and kids are always tough to shoot, so all and all I really like the contemplation in this photo.

G

Day 4

I knew I would miss a day eventually, but I was hoping I could go more than 4 days before I did. Either way here is a shot I took today to make up for it. Just a pair of geese but I really like the color of the water and the reflection of the lead goose in the water.

Day 3

No idea why... but I really dig this statue.

Day 2

I really like the idea of a quote to go with the picture... but today I am just too lazy so here it is. I am not really a flower guy but I saw them in the backyard and figured that spring looked to finally be dragging its ass out of bed. I kinda like how this turned out with the flowers to the sides in focus and the ones in the middle not so much.

G

Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop.

My wife has been telling me for months to start a blog where I post a new photograph every day for a full year and for months I have agreed with her and yet still haven't done it. Until now.




The quote that I used for this post's title is why.



By the way, the quote is from Usman B. Asif. Who is Usman B. Asif? Fucked if I know, I tried googling him/her to find out and all I could find is this quote and the overly detailed description"Usman B. Asif is a famous person."




Back to the quote, I have seen it interpreted to mean things like "the fear of failing is what drives you on or motivates you" personally I think that is bullshit thought up by people afraid to admit what it really means. On one hand fear is good as it keeps you from doing stupid things like playing in traffic or singing karaoke, but on the other hand fear is what creates most if not all of our negative thoughts. Fear is what has kept me from doing so many things that I should have done, sometimes justifiably but in most cases, not. Fear is why this blog did not start months ago. What if no one looks? What if everyone hates my photos? What if people say I suck? What if I DO suck? and so on... I am pretty sure this is why I rarely post to Flickr as well. It is fear that has generated these negative thoughts, so obviously the fear of failure hasn't motivated jack... in fact it has done the exact opposite... until now.




So I guess the question is why now? There is a reason and I know it... but at the moment I really do not feel like typing it as I rambled on quite a bit over this stupid quote... and the elusive Usman B. Asif enough already.




Actually I really like the quote... so for now lets just say I shoot in digital, so there really isn't any need for a darkroom and I have decided to close it down.




Maybe another time I will get into how and why this blog is up and running, what the name means, and what motivates me, not to mention the rules of the blog, but who knows... the truth is that the blog is supposed to be about photos.

I call the picture at the top "Catch."


G