Freedom Comes With a Price

Filling up my gas tank: $43.00
Emission test: $25.00
Renewing my car registration: $139.00
Renewing my driver's license: $25.00
Renewing my insurance for the next six months: $655
Making my car payment: $130
Having my own car: Priceless


Sadly, all these things fall in the same month for me to do.....guess I didn't plan that out very well. Oh well, I love Blue Steel with all my heart. She is my key to freedom :) So I guess I can pay to keep her going. In case you didn't read about when I bought her, click HERE and you can read all about it :) 

A Glimpse of the Past

Guess what. I love black and white photography. Obviously I like color photography as well, but I love old black and white photos. Old photos are like time machines that allow us to see what life was like back then, which I am fascinated by. Removing color turns the attention to the lighting, shapes,and composition which are sometimes overlooked when there are colors involved. Here are some of my favorite photographs in one of my photo books called The Photographers Eye by John Szarkowski. These photos are examples of why I am so passionate about photography. 

JACQUES HENRI LARTIGUE: Beach at Villerville, 1908

(My favorite part about this is the boat on the left)

WILLIAM SMITH: View across Chain Bridge, Washington, D.C., c. 1863. The Library of Congress

CLARENCE JOHN LAUGHLIN: The Fierce-Eyed Building, 1938

HARRY CALLAHAN: Detroit, 1943

MATTHEW B. BRADY or staff: Conspirator Payne, 1865. The Library of Congress

BILL BRANDT: No. 43 from Perspective of Nudes, 1957

MANUEL ALVAREZ BRAVO: Eating Place, c. 1940

GARRY WINOGRAND: Untitled, 1963

"There is a terrible truthfulness about photography. The ordinary academician gets hold of a pretty model, paints her as well as he can, calls her Juliet, and puts a nice verse from Shakespeare underneath, and the picture is admired beyond measure. The photographer finds the same pretty girl, he dresses her up and photographs her, and calls her Juliet, but somehow it is no good--it is still Miss Wilkins, the model. It is too true to be Juliet."

                                                            -George Bernard Shaw

MAX BURCHARTZ: Eye of Lotte, 1930. Otto Steinert, Essen, Germany

RICHARD AVEDON: Ezra Pound, 1958. Made for Harper's Bazaar

ROBERT FRANK: Parade, Hoboken, New Jersey, 1955, from The Americans

CHARLES NEGRE: Henry Le Secq at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, 1851. Calotype. 

ELLIOT ERWITT: Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach, 1962

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON: Children Playing in Ruins, Seville, Spain, 1933

JACQUES HENRI LARTIGUE: Glider Constructed by Maurice Lartigue, Chateau Rouzat, 1909

EDWARD STEICHEN: Sunday Papers: West 86th Street, New York, c. 1922

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I am in LOVE with Spanish Fork. After growing up there for 9 years, I can't wait for more. I spent about 4 hours there today and loved it. My sister Tara played her softball game and I took a bunch of pictures while I watched the game with Britt and her adorable baby. Then we went and ate at Barry's, which was a super cute little restaurant. Then Tara and I went down memory lane and went to all the places we used to go to all the time when we lived there. It was awesome. I love it there. I took about 250 pictures and put them all on Facebook, but here are some of my favorites. I accidentally had the time stamp setting on when I took a bunch of these and didn't realize it until halfway through the day so some of these have stupid time and date stamps, but I was able to crop some of them out. 

The Day I Got My Tripod

I am a little obsessed with night photography. Ok not a little. A lot. I have never been able to try it myself before because I didn't have a tripod, and tripods are kinda necessary for night photos. So, guess what I did. That's right Captain Obvious, I bought a tripod. It is already in my top five favorite as well as most useful purchases. Here are a bunch of pics I took, all in my backyard. Some of them were taken before today, but only these first few. All these pictures were shot using a Nikon D3000. 

Ready....set.....front flip!!!

This is my FAVORITE!

I kept having problems with the pictures turning out reddish...as I'm sure you noticed. I kept adjusting the white balance and it didn't seem to do anything....hopefully I can figure out how to fix it with the camera settings so I don't have to fix all of them later in photoshop. Also the lights all look like bursts. Kinda cool but hopefully I can figure out how to fix that too. Anyway, first attempt at night photography almost a success :)