Day 24: Photoventure #2

Time for another Photoventure! This time it was around my house. I also only used my 35mm f/1.8 to challenge myself to move instead of zooming. I decided to go exploring in some of the woods I haven't been in before. I found a nice stream which I followed for most of the time. I managed to get through it all with only one wet shoe, there where many close calls but I managed to get out before falling in.
Enough talking... here are the pictures!

I started off when I noticed a bush by the pond was blossoming so i decided to take some close ups like I did a few days ago.

I got a nice close up of one of the blossoms. f/1.8 seems to be a bit too much as the back of the bloom starts to melt into the background.

I found this big chunk of quartz laying in a swampy area with some other rocks. It really stood out and caught my attention so I decided to take a few pictures of it.

I liked the moss growing on it, the greens and whites go together well.

Here is part of the stream I was following. It's not a great shoot but I couldn't seem to get what I was seeing, something that I need to work on some more.

I really like this shot! I don't know what it is but I just really like it. Its a little waterfall like thing going down the stream.

The stream got wide at this point with lots of mossy rocks, they kind of look like little islands in the stream.

There was a fallen tree going across the river so I look a picture through it. I tried focusing on the river and on the tree. The tree version came out mush better.

There was a tree root going across the stream causing a little water fall, I liked the look of it with the tree right next to it.

When I returned home I found this guy trying to climb the bird feeder. Amazingly he didn't run away and I got a pretty good picture of him seeing I only had my 35mm.

That is the end of another Photoventure! I had a good time exploring my woods and taking some pictures. Now for other news! I found this website called Trello, it's a site where you make lists. Its very good for organizing so I decided to make a board for the business. Although It doesn't exist yet It's helping me keep my ideas and things organised.

Day 16: Flowers!

I noticed that our pear tree had blossoms on it and thought this would be the perfect time to take some pictures. I was able to get some great pictures that I wouldn't be able to get with first lens. So here they are!







I'm still watching videos to learn some more lightroom. There is just so much that program can do! I also started reading Stobist, it's a blog about lighting. Now I want to get some basic lighting equipment.
Well that is it for the photography update today. But I also found this poem thingy that I like... Here it is!

     Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
     Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
     Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
     Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
     Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
     Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
     Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
     And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
     Strive to be happy.

Day 13: New Lenses!

I bought two new lenses on eBay last week! I lucked out and won them both for about $100 less than they cost new! It would cost about $500 for them both and I got them for $300! The first lens is a AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED and the other is a AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8. I picked the 55-200mm because I wanted to be able to zoom some more than I could with my kit lens. There have been many missed opportunities just because I couldn't get close enough. The 35mm is a good lens to improve your skills, it forces you to move instead of zooming. It also has a low f-stop you you can get some nice bokeh. 

35mm - Here is a simple shot of a rock wall. I took this to test the lens out, it was used so I wanted to make sure it was working right, everything came out sharp and clear!

35mm - Here is a shot of a birdhouse. I took this to test out the depth of field at f/1.8, Bird house is nice and sharp while background is smooth and out of focus

35mm - I thought this would be a nice shot with the water and rock wall. Grass got over exposed because it was very bright out but the wall was very shaded. Other than the grass the shot came out nice.

35mm - A simple shot of the brook by out house. No reason for it other than I thought it would be a nice shot.

55-200mm- One of the girls from my youth group. Shes way too photogenic, probably going to be a model some day.

55-200mm- Another girl from the group. Something weird happened with the lighting here, Can't seem to figure out what?

55-200mm- Another girl from the group. Easily captured her swinging while staying sharp and no blur.

I may have a photoventure tomorrow! If not sometime next week. I also have some photo shoots set up in the next couple weeks. Other than that my next step is learning to use Adobe Lightroom better. I have the basics down but their is still alto to learn!

Day 8: Photoventure #1

Wait... What? You just said that you are on day 10? Why are you posting this as day 8 of the challenge?
Well here is your answer. The blog didn't exist till now and I felt like sharing the first Photoventure.
Now you're probably wondering, What is a Photoventure?, Well it's a thing I came up with to help improve my photography. I pick a location and then I go out, this time with Amy, and I take pictures. The best way to improve your photography is to take more pictures, so that is exactly what I am doing!

This Photoventure began in Lakeport on the Wow Trail. It was a cold and very windy day so that made things difficult and didn't get many pictures because of it. Now lets move on the the pictures!


 
The first shot is of Amy on a bridge that goes over the trail and train track. It took a lot of work to get the power lines out of the picture. We wanted the building out of the picture but couldn't find a good way to do it. Anyways it came out pretty good.


As we went down the trail, we found a clearing that went down to the water. For some reason i liked the look of the pebbles on the little beach so i took a picture of the water washing over them.


While looking for some pictures to take I decided to get a candid picture of Amy taking a picture. The bags kind of bug me but hey what can you do about it.


I noticed some chipmunks running around in the clearing and tried to get a picture, which was hard because I didn't have a telephoto lens. I like the shot anyways, just something nice about it.


Later that day we got to a train bridge. I went down below next to the water and took a picture of Amy looking over. I like the look of her hair in the wind, she will probably yell at me for posting this.... I love you!


The bridge had this middle set of track like things. I'm not sure what they are used for but I thought it made a pretty good picture.


Here is another shot of the rails from above. The overcast sky gave the picture a weird look but I changed it to B&W and it turned it into a nice shot.


We decided to walk across the bridge that had big gaps so that you could fall to your watery death if you missed a step! It wasn't really that bad still a bit scary, luckily there were no trains running.


When we returned home, we decided to play with my gerbils. I decided to try out my new 55-200mm lens that decided to get here AFTER we went on the Photoventure, you lucked out this time chipmunks!

Anyways that is the end of the first Photoventure. I hope to do another one soon, just need to pick another location and have a free day. Until then, more reading and watching videos so I can learn some new skills for next time.

40 Days

40 days... you can do a lot in 40 days. A few weeks ago, Air1 started their 40 days of service, a project where they want people to help in their community or in any way they can for 40 days to try to make a difference somehow. I thought this concept was interesting but didn't really think of it beyond that. At the time, I was trying to figure what I was going to do as far as a job. I didn't get the job I was hoping to get and really had nowhere to go from there. So I started looking into hobbies and starting a business or just about anything I am interested in. I decided to look at Reddit for some help and motivation. While on my search through sub-reddits I found the 40 Day Challenge. The point of it was to try to accomplish something in 40 days. So that got me thinking again about the 40 days to do something. I finally came up that I would try to get a job, start a business, or at least have a plan for what I am going to do with work in 40 days. 

It is now day 10 of the challenge. I have pretty much given up on the computer field. I would hate to waste the degree I got in Computer Science but I just can see myself doing that now. So I moved on to my next hobby, Photography. I started looking into starting a business and the skills you need. Well I found I have a lot of room to improve. But I’m not letting that hold me back, I picked up a photography book and have been watching a series on portfolio critiques. 

My next step is to continue learning and to find the type of photography I like. I'm not much of a people person so I would think portraits are out of the picture, get it... out of the picture.... anyways my that is my current challenge. If photography doesn't work out then I don't know where I go from here. I still have 30 days to find out so let’s see where this takes me!

Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to the Mind of Kimball!
This will be my blog to dump anything I find interesting, keep up to date with people, do some fun things, and help keep me motivated. I will be posting some "real" posts soon but I felt like I should make an introduction to this blog!