The Amphiteater at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington VA
I made these shots on a visit to Arlington National Cemetery my family and I made a couple months back. My grandfather, a Buffalo Soldier and World War II Veteran, is buried there so it has a special meaning for all of us. It’s also where Kennedy is buried, with the Eternal Flame burning atop a hill that overlooks the DC skyline.
If you’ve never been out there I highly recommend it. It is one of the most serene, well-kept places I’ve ever been — a fitting final resting place for those who dedicated their lives in service to our country. I’ve got a backlog of photos that I’ve processed but not posted recently, I’ll do my best to post some more in the coming weeks.
Graffiti-covered building at 5Pointz in Long Island City
My girlfriend and I went out to Long Island City a couple weekends ago, and decided to stop by 5Pointz before heading over to PS1. 5Pointz is an old, abandoned building covered in graffiti from wall to wall. Fortunately, I had my camera with me and was able to snap a few shots in the short time we were there. It rained the night before, and the water accumulated in some of the former loading dock ramps helped create some dope reflections.
There’s a part of me that wishes I could create some type of large-scale art with only cans of spray paint or prints/stencils, but I’ll stick to cameras and computers for now. If you haven’t seen the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, add it to your Netflix queue and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
I’m definitely going to make a few more trips out to 5Pointz before it starts getting cold. Not only am I just scratching the surface with these three shots, it’s the type of place that never looks the same from day-to-day.
My girlfriend and I went to Highline Park a couple weeks back for a stargazing event they have every Tuesday night and to check out the new section of the park that just recently opened. The last time I was up there it was the dead of winter with an icy breeze blowing in from the Hudson, so the warm summer air was a much welcomed change.
I know the color looks pretty crazy but this one’s actually pretty true to life–the underpass is lit by blacklights, giving everything a neon purplish glow. I used three separate shots to make this image–each with a long enough exposure to blur the pedestrians who were walking through, but not erase them completely–further emphasizing the unique color and expansive nature of the underpass. The neon chairs sitting under the blacklights helped to break up the purple a little bit and add an extra splash of color to the otherwise monochromatic scene.
I’ve been trying out a new piece of software called HDR Darkroom made by Everimaging recently and have been pleasantly surprised by the results I’ve been able to achieve. It’s similar to Photomatix Pro, allowing you to combine multiple exposures, tweaking light levels, brightness, contrast, and color balance before producing the final image. I loaded the same three shots into HDR Darkroom and Photomatix Pro, tinkered with the various of sliders on each, hit the Process button and chose a winner. In this case, HDR Darkroom came out on top.
I hope to do a more extensive review of the software in the next couple weeks, in addition to their higher-end product, HDR Photo Pro, which looks like it has even more features. For now, check out their website and download the Trial version of the software to try it yourself.
I’ve got some other shots that I really liked from that same evening, I’ll see if I can post a couple more before the end of the month.
Street art & graffiti on the wall in Manhattan's Alphabet City
There’s a Department of Homeland Security campaign called “If You See Something, Say Something“ that’s all about being on the lookout for suspicious activity and reporting it to the authorities. It’s hard to get on the subway or bus in NYC without seeing one. A street artist had their own (hilarious) take on the message and plastered these posters all around the city as well.
In general I’m a fan of parodies, and thought this was hilarious the first time I saw it. I like the randomness of this shot, with the graffiti, semi-removed posters, and stickers and the variety of colors caught my eye as I was walking past. The ‘Crazy Mary’ sticker with the cell phone barcode was the icing on the cake.
Hopefully I’ll get a chance to shoot this coming weekend…I’m trying to find a good spot to get some firework photos on the Fourth. Have a great holiday!
As revolutionary as the D7000 has been in my photography world, it has also opened the doors to a completely new world–HD video. I’m still just learning how to use the feature, and have shot very little footage thus far, but just having the option is a huge game changer. My old Sony point-and-shoot had video capabilities, but the quality was nothing like what the D7000 is able to capture.
This is just a quick sample video I shot the other day when I was down at the skatepark at Venice Beach. I thought the silhouettes of the skaters and the boat sailing by in the background made for a pretty cool scene so I flipped the Live View switch and hit record. I’m scheduled to shoot some material for my company’s website in the next week or so so I’m trying to master my technique before it’s time for that. I also need to get the new version of Final Cut so I can go in and color correct, straighten and edit the footage–this is straight out of the camera (including the audio, which was captured by the internal mic).
The camera has full-time autofocus but the internal mic (and Sennheiser MKE400 I bought yesterday) are too sensitive and pick up the sound of the motor working to focus the lens, so I’ve decided to manually focus for the majority of my videos.
I hope you enjoy the new Videos section of the site, and look forward to posting more content in the future as I continue to figure this whole moving picture thing out. It’s definitely new territory for me so hopefully you’ll be able to follow the progression as I continue to experiment and improve my skills. Too bad I don’t have a second D7000…then I could shoot HDR video as well!
