"The party is ru-eeend"

Well I haven't had a chance to go shoot all week - a combination of terrible winter weather and being busy - but with a 50 degree Saturday happening before my eyes, I couldn't pass up the chance to shoot. I ended up getting a tip from a friend about a great place to photograph in the Indianapolis area, Holliday Park. My girlfriend decided to accompany me and we both had a blast exploring around the various sculptures, trails, and gardens. I absolutely cannot wait for spring and/or fall at this place, I have got to imagine that nothing but beautiful pictures will come from this park.

FYI - The random sculpture in the middle of the park is titled "the Races of Man," by Elmer Taflinger. Originally the façade of the St. Paul building in New York City, the sculptures made their way to Indianapolis after the building was torn down in 1950. Stay parked after the jump.

Through the Fire & Fog

Well, my original intent for the MLK day weekend was to take a trip through a wooded area on Ball State campus that is used by the university as a tool for the biology and NREM students. After taking the trip to the (gated) woods and finding them to be closed (yes, closed) I ended up taking some shots in a nearby quad and then heading to a local power plant. This day also happened to be rather foggy, which turned out to be an interesting obstacle as well as enhancement for many of the photos. Get educated after the jump.

Frozen in Park

Well, since returning back to college I have been dying to get out and take some shots around campus. I will get around to this soon, but in the meanwhile I decided to quench my photography thirst by playing around in a nearby parking garage at night. The intention of this shoot was essentially to begin to learn the basics of XSi at night, which I thought should be easy. Ha. With the lack of tripod, 8 degree weather, 10-15 mph wind chill, and a deficiency of knowledge in low-light photography, it turned out miserably. Seeing as there were only 17 photos taken in total,  I considered only 3 to barely scrape by as passable.

There was also an extremely feeble attempt at HDR photography tonight, which, in low-light and without a tripod also failed miserably.  That is to be left to another day, preferably one where I can feel my fingers.

I keep telling myself that I’m only three weeks into this and that adjusting aperture, my eye, ISO settings, shutter-speed, etc. will all be second nature in no time, right? Right?? Check out my progress after the jump.

So Begins a Beach Redux...

The thought of photographing a desolate boardwalk with years of history behind it should entice any budding photographer, right? One could understand how I couldn't resist the invitation of this in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, only a quick jaunt from my home. The only problem with this idea is that as of the beginning of 2010, the boardwalk is under a complete rehaul...essentially meaning that it does not exist as of right now. Slight problem, but this gave me the task of searching for new and interesting shots of the boardwalk construction as well as the beach itself.

Side note: After today I have realized that I am obsessed with black and white shots as well as shots of objects that tend to fade toward a horizon line. Therefore, the shoot at the beach gave me a goal to try and find some other shots that were not only focused on these two types of shots. Go eastern after the jump.

Much Ado About Nothing: Chop Suey Edition

Welcome the melting pot of novice photographs from the first few weeks of my experiment with a dSLR. I hope one is able to look back on these within six months (hopefully) and take note of obviously positive changes. Without further ado, I welcome the recipe to an amateur photography stew. Get a helping of stew after the jump.