Been a While

So, I was thinking about how long its been since my last post. Its been too long. I got caught up with school and rugby, now it just seems like everything is piling up as usual. I finally got a minute to relax, take a breather and upload some pictures. This isnt everything Ive done in the past few weeks, but its my better stuff. Most of it you probably have already seen if you voted for the capturerochester contest. I have a few from DC again that I will post soon. Enjoy.

So, Its been a while since my last post. I thought the summer would give me lots of time to go out and take pictures. Truth be told, it has. However, Ive spent a lot of time with friends and going out sailing -- I trust my ability to sail, but too much risk of getting salt water on my camera. The pictures I do have are just what ive been able to take in the past month. None of these were really planned, just spur of the moment.

This post has the photos I took while I was home for a few days in Rochester. I went out to dinner at the lake with my friends Bryan, Mike, and Kyrstin. We were there in the evening, which just happens to be my favorite time to take pictures! I also took a hike in the Seneca park area and found some waterfalls, so I worked on the feathering look of water. I also got to work on natural lighting in the forest where there are a lot of different highlights and shadows that need to be taken into consideration. This past month my photography knowledge has grown and Ive learned a from experience. I hope it keeps getting better and better!

A cool little garden in the basket of an old bicycle.

Sunset at the lake. I was with my friend Bryan who helped me out with this shot.

The tangled branches of the tree against a bright blue sky.

Another shot of sunset with the branches hanging across the water

Someone decided to go out to dinner in their Ferrari. What an amazing machine.

My friend Mike posing with my new car.

Nortons falls in the Seneca Park area. I recommend taking a hike to see them, they are very nice. Unfortunately I made a rookie mistake and my battery ran out before I could get all the shots I wanted, but it gives me an excuse to go back.

Trying to catch the droplet. This is a lot harder than you would think. Ill keep practicing and next time ill bring my lucky rabbits for this purpose.

Getting that soft feathery look with a longer shutter speed and some ND filters. I read up on this technique and had pretty good turnouts for my first time.

This picture is just catching the water as it is coming off the falls. I was trying to show the motion and speed of the water. I think it worked.

A mix between a still photo of water and the feathering to make water look soft. I think that it makes the water look like its going really fast down the falls.

Some Beach Somewhere

As you can imagine, I spent a lot of time of the beach. We did a lot of surfing and laying around. I got some great sunset shots and pictures of the great beach scenes. I wish I could just be on the beach all the time, it was amazing. The sayings are true, California beaches are something else!

A seagull just hanging around posing for me.

A palm tree at night. I was messing around with white balance and metering.

An absolutely great beach beer! Bryan is gonna love this one. If you havent tried Landshark, I recommend it!

The sea spray on the Jetty was cool to look at. I was doing some work on exposure time and white balance, got some great photos like this.

A nice look at the jetty on our sunset walk. I really wish I had a good wide angle lens for this one.

Figured I should go ahead and be cliche and take a picture with me in the sunset!

A fisherman was catching some dinner off the jetty.

Some splashing water on the rocks of the jetty. I got caught in the middle of one and got soaked!

These next two are my attempts at working with the graduated ND filters. I think they turned out nice.

Not really the beach, but a nice picture of a friends sailboat.

An awesome sand castle that was built. I got a lot of pictures of it, but I think this one really takes the cake.

Sunsets in California are absolutely beautiful. I got a lot of shots this particular evening and got some experience with shutter speed, metering, and white balance.

Inspiration.

Kites flying around at the beach looked real good against the crisp blue sky.

The San Diego Zoo

Our group also took a trip to arguably the nations best zoo. The San Diego Zoo is amazing. They have so many exhibits and many new ones were under construction when we were there. I took so many pictures, it was hard to narrow it down. Here are some of my favorites from our trip to the zoo.

The gorilla was not very active, but he sure did look fierce.

I didn't even notice the gator in the water at first, but then I saw those eyes.

The monkey just chilling out having a snack.

I think the zebra had the best hair of any animal!

The polar bears were a crowd favorite! I really enjoyed seeing them.

The Gazelles were out being very active. They were running around and playing all throughout their habitat.

I've always loved elephants. The zoo just built a brand new elephant exhibit which looked great!

A deadly rattlesnake.

The camels were very curious animals. I dont know how they deal with all that fur in the heat.

The koala's were loved by everyone. They are cute animals, but their claws were FIERCE!!

Going to Sea World

Well, its been a while since my last post- a lot has happened! I spent the last month in San Diego doing some training with the Academy. I got a lot of free time too, so I tried to make the most of it at the beach and at the local attractions. The first one we went to was Sea World. My friends and I had a blast being kids all over again! I recommend it to anyone.

SHAMU!!!

The Beluga whale. They are such beautiful animals!

A little boy admiring a bird. Thought the idea for this picture was nice.

The Penguins. Im sure my brother will like this one.

A Dolphin with an incredible vertical leap. Watching "Dolly" jump was fascinating.

The Dolphin Park

Our seagull friend

The whole gang at the beginning of the day.

Blue Angels

Every year during graduation week here at the academy the Blue Angels come and do an air show over the Severn River. This year I brought along my camera and managed to take some pretty decent shots. It was really hard to choose my favorites, each one is pretty different and just as spectacular. So, here are quite a few from the exhibition.