House Fire

These pictures were taken in a neighborhood close to my parents' home in Illinois.  A house recently partially burned down and I stopped by to take some pictures.  I had never seen the affects of a house fire up close and the damage that results is really quite humbling.  It's really hard to believe how a lifetime of possessions can go up in flames in a matter of minutes.  Thankfully no one was hurt in this fire.  Here's a couple pictures.  What really blew my mind is what wasn't damaged.  I found the toy lawn mower exactly where it is in the picture below.  There was also an intact Nike box in the house and plenty of freeze pops in the freezer.

A Lesson on Exposure and Lens Flare

As I learn to take specific types of photos and develop my skills, I'd like to take as many opportunities as I can to explain to others how I accomplished a certain look.  I like this photo not because it looks great (I think you'll agree that it's nothing special) but because it was a major success for me in learning a couple new skills.  First, I was trying to purposefully create lens flare.

Lens flare isn't usually referred to as a good thing but when you control it and use it as part of the overall intent of the image it can work wonders.  I won't dig into what causes lens flare but if you're interested you can check out this link from wikipedia.  Ever taken a picture of some friends in the middle of the day with the sun right behind them?  I bet most of those pictures had big bright circles right over your friends' faces that totally ruined the picture.  That's lens flare.  

We can use the same example to discuss the other teaching lesson in this picture.  With that afternoon, backlit shot of your friends, did they often show up as nothing but a dark silhouette?  The reason is that your camera usually takes into account the entire scene to determine how bright it needs to be.  When so much of the scene is filled with the bright mid-day sun, your friends are going to be significantly underexposed.  The result, silhouettes.  

Sophie's Portrait

I recently purchased a used 85mm f/1.4 and I'm super excited about it!  The first day I got it I took my parents' Springer Spaniel, Sophie out for a couple pictures in the yard.  It amazes me that at f/1.4 Sophie's eyes are completely in focus and even the tip of her nose is slightly out of focus.  It's really cool how the grass in the background is completely blurry too.  Needless to say I'm really excited about the possibilities this lens gives me and I'm really looking forward to gaining more experience with it.  Here's the result from 45 seconds in the yard with Sophie.

Oh, and to touch on actual terminology, the effect of the blurry background is referred to as bokeh.  I'm sure I'll touch more on it later in a separate post.  The Nikon 85mm f/1.4 is known as one of the best bokeh-producing lenses Nikon has ever made.  

In Motion

This picture really sums up a lot of what Chicago is to me - tall buildings and people, cars and trains in motion.  Welcome to the Windy City.

Millennium Park, Chicago

I absolutely love Chicago.  It was so fun growing up less than an hour away.  Millennium Park is a relatively new site in the city but I'd say it's easily the most visited.  I spent about an hour in around the park taking pictures.  Here's a couple of my favorites, not because I think they're fantastic shots, but more because they're unique.  Everyone is going to take a million pictures of their reflection in the bean.  I was hoping to get something different.  

I really like the shapes and form going on in this picture.  I like how the shape of the skyscraper in the middle of the picture seems to follow the same shape of the metal supports in the outdoor amphitheater.  

Bath Time!

My sister and brother-in-law came over to my parent's house last night with their three kids.  When bath time came, the kids were really excited to use my parents jacuzzi tub.  As my youngest nephew would say, it was time for the booty dance!  Here's a couple pictures of him enjoying or possibly contemplating his bath.  

Wrigs Yawnin'

Caught one of my cats, Wrigley (Go CUBS!), yawning under the kitchen table.