Saturday, March 24, 2012

Spring Thoughts

    There is something to be said about the sights, smells and feeling of the sun warming your soul during spring. It is the fresh air and and unfettered feeling of being able to comfortably walk outside with out a coat on anymore. The environment becomes alive with the sounds of song birds singing and chirping. The contrasting beautiful green pushing up from the ground amongst the brown decaying grass sends a vibrant rejuvenating sight to my eyes.

   I look for this year to bring a lot of different things in life with many new adventures. This year I have the great honor of photographing two weddings with amazing couples. With that there are plans to shoot some engagement photos as well. The season change means it will be a great time to get out and start doing outdoor portraits again.  It is going to be a lot of fun working with the couples and getting to know them while capturing photos of their love for each other.

 
   I will leave you with some spring foliage photos from around the yard.

Canon 30D with 50mm f/1.8

Lilac bush - Canon 30D with 50mm f/1.8


Elm Tree - Canon 30D with 50mm f/1.8
 I was out practicing shooting with my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens to play with the beautiful Bokeh and it's macro focusing abilities. When I came home Friday afternoon I had to act capture some photos before it became too dark.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Shooting With Film

     Over a month ago my great friend Mike asked if I would want his 35mm Nikon SLR. I was excited he was willing to give me his Nikon N50 with two lenses and some film. I promised to use it and was excited at how much fun it is to use. Not only is the camera body light and responsive the lenses are great. One is a Nikon 35-80mm and the other is the Nikon 80-240mm, both really good lenses that are easy to carry around.

    There is something about taking a photograph and not being able to "chimp" and check out the photographs right after to see how it turned out or decided to try something different and shoot again. Shooting with film will train you to make each photograph count. This can force you better execute your photograph by taking the time to think everything through that you are doing before you press that shutter button.

    I grew up shooting film and the only camera I ever had where I could instantly see the results of my work was by using a Polaroid camera. Sure I could see each picture after I took it, but Polaroid film packs are not cheap. I still had to be careful with each picture I took, otherwise I'd be begging my parents for more film.

    So if you get the urge to shoot an older camera I encourage you to do so now. I am not sure how much longer we will be able to ever take film to the store to get developed, or how many mail in photo labs will be around in the next 10 years to develop your film. But use this time to get out and shoot your film cameras and take your time to think about each photo before you take it. Make it count. I guarantee it will help cut down on the bad photos you later take with a digital camera, and you will come home after being out photographing with some extra space on a memory card.

    Then when you get your film developed you will actually purchase some prints, even if they are 4x6. How many of you take thousands of digital photos and have a fraction of what you shoot not printed because you can just look at the photos on your computer?

    Here are just some examples of some of the film I had developed recently testing the camera's capabilities out. I had them developed and scanned to a CD at the store.

Car windshield after rainfall.  Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 80-240mm Copyright Raymond Starin 2012
                              Aspen.  Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 35-80mm  Copyright Raymond Starin 2012
Picasso exploring the yard. Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 35-80mm Copyright Raymond Starin 2012


Spring flowers. Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 35-80mm Copyright Raymond Starin 2012



Thank you Mike, I can't thank you enough. You are one amazing friend!