B&W Tuesday

Las Vegas Nevada 2012

B&W Tuesday

Miami Florida 2012

Black and White Tuesday

Neon Boneyard - Las Vegas Nevada

Black and White Tuesday

I'm a big advocate of personal photography projects. They force you to engage, create and improve as a photographer. I have a few small projects that are on-going but wanted to try something that I could share on my blog on a weekly basis. I've noticed that my friend Ann Torrence is doing Black and White Tuesday on her blog. I've been getting into shooting more and more personal work in Black and White and thought this would be a good project for me to start as well. Be sure to check back on Tuesday's for fresh Black and White photo.

Crazy Summer and Film Shooter

This has been one of the craziest summers for me in a long time. With a family vacation, family reunion, church activity and a few other events my June and July have been pretty busy.

In this time however I've acquired a film camera. I have several oldies but I wanted one that I could use with my current Canon lenses. After doing a little research I settled with a Canon Elan 7N. I've shot one roll of Fuji film from the clearance aisle at Walmart and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the results.

The biggest reason for this purchase was to spend less time in front of the computer and more time shooting. I work on a computer all day for my day job, the last thing I want to do is to spend my evenings on it doing post processing work on my images shot with my digital cameras. I've even resorted to taking JPG's only with my Fuji X100. It does such a great job with jpg's that I don't have a need to do any post processing. The second reason for the change is to force me to slow down. Digital seems to be getting easier and frankly boring sometimes. I love how shooting film forces you to slow down and consider every shot before pressing the shutter button. Will I ever ditch digital? No, I love my Canon 5D MarkII and Fuji X100 and will probably upgrade to the Mark III soon. But I'm going to continue to shoot film more and more. I've heard a lot of good things about the Leica M cameras. I'd love to get my hands on a M6 or M7 to try out for a few days.

I've included few images taken at my dad's place in Rexburg Idaho. Shot in the harsh middle of the afternoon sun on the cheap fuji film.

I've got a small project that I will be starting next week. I have to give credit to a good friend for the idea that I will be talking more about next week.

Leading Lines

Hands and Feet

 



Oh what I'd give to be ten again.  The only thing in your day that causes stress is deciding who to call to hang out with.  My daughter and her friend found some chalk and had fun creating art.

'51 Chevy

 

Courtney - Portraits

 



It was time to update my daughters photos from last year.  I wanted to do something different than what I've done in the past so I took the opportunity to make some time when we were visiting my parents in Idaho.  My father no longer farms but still has some land and equipment.  There is an old grain mill on some property of his that I thought would make for some great images.  The first image in this series is my favorite from the building.  It took the longest to setup but is what I had pre-visualized when I picked this place.  I'm using a mix of natural light and light from a speedlight.  I gelled a speedlight (cto) and hid it in the lamp next to the chair and triggered it wirelessly.  The room was pretty dark so I had to bump my ISO quite high to let in the ambient that I wanted and to also allow for an acceptable shutter speed.

The last two images were taken at some nearby sand dunes.  I used a 22' beauty dish with an AlienBee 1600 and a vagabond mini battery pack.  The battery pack has turned out to be a great investment, especially when paired with the beauty dish.  The battery lasted about 45 minutes and ran out of power just as I had finished with my last image for the night.  I really enjoy off camera flash especially at sunset.  - enjoy

 

Street Photography

Something I always come across when reading photography books is a discussion about ways to grow as a photographer. A common theme I run into if you want to grow and become a better photographer is to get out of your comfort zone .  I've experienced this a few times lately and thought I'd share my most recent experience.

Shaun Nelson and I did a little street photography in downtown Salt Lake City one afternoon.  I have to say that this definitely took me out of my comfort zone.  I've seen quite a few street photographer who can get some amazing photographs but I felt like I wasn't able to get anything good.  After about an hour I packed up and headed home not feeling comfortable with what I had and quite frankly didn't care to do any more street photography again.  Shaun mentioned that the first time is a little uncomfortable and to try it again.  I took his advise and hit the streets again.  I have to say I didn't feel as uncomfortable but still a little awkward.  I included a few of my favorite shots.  I don't anticipate me becoming a street photographer anytime soon but when the occasion arises I will be able to apply the things I learned from this adventure to the next one.

Project[52] - fifty two (it's a wrap)

 



Well, this is the final post in my Project[52] project that I started 52 weeks ago. The idea was to post a photo each week that was taken during that week. I'm happy to report that I was able to do that for all 52 weeks. I don't know how people can take on a 365 project where they post daily, it's a big commitment that I'm not sure I would be able to do.

I have a few things in the works for this year for a new project but will be continuing to post to this blog as regular as I can.  I appreciate all the comments. I'm a big believer in personal projects and will continue to do them to keep the creative juices flowing.

Update: I just noticed this post did not auto publish, it should have posted two weeks ago.  

Man's Best Friend

Warp Speed

My neighbors go all out on decorating their homes with Christmas lights so last night I setup the tripod in the back seat of my car to capture this image.  A 30 second exposure at 25mph with a ton of lights makes for some interesting light trails.

Note to self: "get that windshield replaced!"

Fuji X100 Self Portrait

Ship's Wake

Great Salt Lake Reserve

I live just a couple of miles away from this reserve.  Just beyond the grass is where the Great Salt Lake starts.  My kids love coming out here for walks and to enjoy the views.  Now that the summer heat is winding down I plan on spending more time out here.

Reflection

Evening Commute

 

I wanted to try out a few long exposures while I was testing the Fuji X100 recently.  If I had my normal camera with it's zoom lens I would probably have shot through the fencing to avoid it but since I was forced to use a fixed lens I had no choice for this shot and have to say I"m very happy with the results.

 

 

Famous Last Words

New and improved ScottoSmith.com

I'm excited today to announce the redesign of ScottoSmith.com.  It's been in the works for a while and I'm excited to finally flip the switch today. As you can see it incorporates my blog, client galleries and is flexible enough for me to share personal projects.  I thought it would be fitting to start off with a fresh profile picture as well.  This will probably be the one and only profile picture of me I post for quite a while.  I really don't enjoy being on the other end of the lens.

Big thanks to Joe over at SmugDesigns for his help with the Client Galleries section.