This time tomorrow...

By this time tomorrow, and hopefully sooner, I will have launched my website! I have owned the domain for over a year now, but did very little with the site. Turns out hosting is required. Who knew!?!? Everybody but me it seems. ;)

I am officially launching The 2 Of Us Photo with my own URL, brand new logo and my own branding. I am so excited to see where this takes me and The 2 Of Us Photo. My next blog will be with the link to my new site!

I love a good star trail.  This one is different then the rest though.  This one seems more circular.  I guess it has something to do with the 35mm which does not have distortion like the 14mm.  It takes doing something different to learn something.  I also like the processing on this one.

Currently I am in the planning states of my calendar for 2014 and I think the topic will be astrophotography.  I posted this suggestion on Facebook and only my sister chimed in saying YES.  For me to do this, I guess it will be a leap of faith and not necessaraly a public opinion.  That is quite alright with me.  As an artist I will do what I want to do anyway.  Often times, I take something that is a personal favorite and it turns out to not be so popular.  On the other hand, I have some shots that are not my favorite at all and folks seem to love it.  I will never understand my eye vs others.  :)  But, I am an artist, so I will move on as such.  Other then that, have a great day and blessings!

O Say Can You See

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays and I think that has a lot to do with the challenge of photographing fireworks. Perhaps I really do not look at it as a challenge, but for some it is. A challenge and a bit of luck mixed in there too. I took perhaps 150 photos, just me and my cable remote clicking away as the display danced in front of me. An outstanding performance of pyrotechnics for all of us to enjoy every 4th of July. Every time I clicked the shutter, I hoped I had the right exposure for that blast or all of my settings were spot on. Each and every explosion in the display of fireworks is different from the next and that gives the photographer a bit of a challenge not knowing how the image will turn out. What you get on film is nothing like what you see with your own eyes, that's forsure!

So, out of the 150 images I captured from last nights display, I really liked a small handful. Three of which, I have been sharing between Facebook, Flickr and various publications in the local area. Hopefully at least one will be published. The one here is perhaps my favorite. I posted three on Facebook and this one turned out to be the most popular of the three. That being said, I thought it was the right one to blog! So, I hope you enjoyed the 4th of July and I hope you enjoy this image. God bless the United States of America!

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

The2ofusphoto, the start

That one photo...

This image was taken at a new point in time of my photography career. This is baby J and I was not just his photographer, but his nanny too. His mommy thought it was so great that I was both because he became my test subject often. New lens? Let me shoot baby J! (We all know what I mean by shoot? Right?)

Anyway, there always becomes a point in time when you go from one point to another. This photo was my pivotal point. Even though it's not my best, it is still my favorite. It speaks to me. My husband did the post processing on this photo and this became the point where I went from ME to The2OfUsPhoto. It was that eye opening moment where I learned we make a great team.

Stars and more stars!

Lets see if I remember how to blog. I know, it has been a LONG while. I am sure I can come up with a thousand excuses, but lets just leave it at that, and welcome back me!

Over the past month or two, I have done a few star trails and really, that is all the shooting I have been doing. I hope to go back out to catch a sunset sometime soon, but for now, my back yard is a lot closer to me then the ocean. I set up a couple of nights ago, and I wanted to make sure I had some foreground details, and not just the hill behind my house. So, I set up on the lower deck, where there are a couple of trees, and this is what I came up with. Not too shabby. Just looking forward to the day when I can really go all out, to the desert or perhaps even further south, where I can get the Southern Cross! Some day, I would like to visit an old friend in Hawaii, he says they can see the Southern Cross from where they live.

One of the reasons why I wanted to share this with you, is because I wanted to share a link. You see, for the past year and a half that I have been shooting these star trails, I have been using an OLD program, that had its last update in 2005! Whats worse, is that it is a program that is not MAC friendly! I always had to blow the dust off of my old PC laptop, just for the stacking part of the process. About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I took a class, offered by Oceanside Photo and Telescope, for star trails. I really did not learn too much on the HOW to take them, I have been doing this for more then a year. But I did learn about a new program for processing these, which included a MAC friendly version! OH HAPPY DAY! Not only do I get to leave my PC in the dust where it belongs, but the program takes a fraction of the time as the old program! Best part of all, its freeware!

http://www.markus-enzweiler.de/software/software.html

There is a link for you. They even have Flickr page for folks to show off their final images. I am more then happy to show off what this program has done for me!

Please, enjoy!

Neptune's Garden

So, I was going through a few of my most recent images on Flickr and saw this one. It's from the same night as the image before this one, but as I really got a chance to take a look, I realized it needed it's own post on my blog. I just love the movement of the water and the light of the sky. Even the two images are from the same night, they are still so different. This one from before the sunsets and the other one, after the sun sets. Different colors and different water movement, different rocks and different light.

It brings me to a very interesting revelation. I saw another photographer shooting on this sunset. He was SO focused on the rocks in this image. Later, I came across the same photographer on Flickr, who got the most amazing image of these same rocks. For a large amount of time, this photographer, Max, was photographing these rocks, only these rocks. Dodging the waves and back in for the next shot. For a while, I wanted him to move, because I wanted to get some shots there, but then I realized something. He was out for one image, one only! After seeing that image, I could finally understand why. It was all about that one perfect shot, and it was perfect! I keep moving around, trying for many shots. I want to be able to come back to Flickr with many useable shots, not just one. I learned something from Max, I learned it's OK to have one amazing shot. Just one would be a success!

Will I change my style over this lesson? Probably not. But eventually, I might have as much patience as my new friend Max, I hope!

Seeing as how I am having trouble sleeping tonight, I thought I would take this time to blog, because its been about 200 years between blogs these days.

I was so lucky to have a chance to go to La Jolla last week. While there, I captured one of my most favorite sunsets. Was it the most beautiful? No, but it was the most photogenic! Let me explain what I mean. When I go out to the beach for a sunset, there are 3 things I am looking for:

1) Clouds, truly and really, a must.

2) High surf, When all else fails, this provides great splashes on the rocks.

3) High tide, once again, can give you a great splash even if the surf is small.

If I have two of the three, usually I am happy. Even if there is no clouds on hand, I can still get some nice wave action. (However, notice that clouds are at the top of my list.) For those of you who have my 2011 calendar, you probably noticed that ALL of the images have clouds. No mater what time of day the image was taken. To those of you who do not have my 2011 calendar, why not? :) Just kidding, having some fun with you.

Well, last Tuesday, when I ventured to La Jolla with my 6 year old boy, I had ALL THREE! Clouds, high tide and not just high surf, La Jolla was actually on a surf advisory! YA! I was so excited when I saw the surf report. Of course, as I was shooting away, a nice, and large, wave came and made my dry clothing all wet, but thats ok. Little M was not hit by the wave, nor was my gear, so I was totally OK with that. I will say however, that I did have to carry a wet blanket to the car. The wave to the right, on this image, was the one that got me, and another photographer shooting next to me. It does not look huge, but at this point, my feet were already about half a foot in water from the wave that just hit. It was like a wave on top of a wave, very cool if you ask me!

I sure do hope you enjoy the image, and I look forward to making it back to La Jolla, the place that holds my heart. At least for photography.