me and the bridge for the final class day

our last photo class homework assignment was to create a series of images about something that we love.  i adore new york and two of my absolute favorite places in new york are poets walk (aka the mall) in central park and the brooklyn bridge.  since i used poets walk for homework assignment number 4, i bet you can't guess what i chose as my subject for the final series...come on, one guess...
 

i chose the brooklyn bridge on a gorgeous sunshine filled blue sky evening.  the problem that i encountered was that it became quite difficult to compose my photos how i wanted them because the bridge was swarming with tourists.  this was not unexpected but i was disappointed that i didn't do exactly what i wanted.  maybe it's a blessing in disguise so that i can go back again to really get the shots i had composed in my head.
 

behold, i give you the 'me and the bridge' photography series.
 

we had to present our series at class.  my teacher told me i did a 'great job'.  woot woot.  i'm totally biased but i thought that my series was the most cohesive of the rest of my fellow classmates.  it had the same subject and color tone.
 

our last class we spent outdoors practicing our panning technique and learning how to use the built-in flash for those moments when it is absolutely necessary.  it was really funny to practice our panning.  we found a large gap between cars because of a fire hydrant so the 8 of us literally lined up shoulder-to-shoulder on this small stretch of road on 2nd avenue.  our teacher jumped up on the hydrant and would yell "biker, biker, biker" to alert us that a person was about to ride by our camera line up on a bicycle.  then she would jump off the fire hydrant and run in front of us along the street.  we laughed a lot and enjoyed the strange looks we got by people as we would start looking to our right and follow them to the left.

this is our teacher Patricia running back and forth so we can get "the shot"

captured using the focus panning technique

 

 

i must say one of the best compliments i have ever received happened while i was chatting with teacher patricia and owner francisco at the end of the very last class.  i've mentioned before that my camera is quite limited because it is over 4 years old.  so we were chatting about which model i should consider grabbing next.  then patricia told me that i take stunning photographs with a lesser camera than the others.  she was very impressed with my abilities when using a camera that wasn't as "high tech" as the others.  i love being praised for something that i have created.
 

i'm sad that there are no more classes for me in the photography realm right now.  my time and funds need to be focused in another direction.  maybe in a few years, after i upgrade my camera, i'll find my way back to photo uno for some more instruction.  because in a few years i'll have mastered shooting only in manual mode and will need some new challenges.

week 4 homework

so i realized that i only had wednesday night to do my photo class homework.  eeekkk.  i trekked my tripod to work that morning because i wanted to take some shots in central park at dusk.  below are my favorites. 

also a big plug for the greatest visiting teacher ever who left work and found me in the park so we could have our "visit" and she could be my model.  the church is true!

poet's walk

betheseda fountain (notice the silky water effect)

my favorite

week 3 homework

loving my photography class.  especially because i feel like i control the camera rather than it controlling me.   yippee!

 

my homework from week 3:

 

i highly recommend photo uno photography school for increasing your skills as a photographer. now trying to determine which course to take next...i'm thinking their "iPhone Photography".  taking this class now means that my photos from the european vacation 2013 with joani and flex are going to be exquisite!  stay tuned.

cherry blossoms 2013

rolled down to washington dc for a little cherry blossom viewing the first weekend of april.  we ended up missing "peak" bloom by like 2 days but it was still absolutely gorgeous.  and with my trusty new skills learned from my photography class i've been attending for two hours every thursday night i was ready to take some snap shots of the nation's capitol in bloom.

why did i wait so long?

i have wanted to take a photography class since i got my pretty SLR camera over four years ago.  i have been able to fake good pictures and think i have decent composition but couldn't utilize the true photographic skill of shooting only in manual, aperture or shutter mode.  i really wanted to be able to use these functions rather than rely on the pretty icons on the mode dial for night, landscape and action shots.  so finally after checking with my friend yelp.com i found a school that had a 6 week course for those such as me who wanted to embrace their inner amateur, but wanting to be professional, photographer.  

my first class was last saturday.  i LOVED it.  soaked up all of the information like a sponge and was probably one of the more engaged of the 9 students in the class.  had so much fun that now i kick myself that i didn't do this earlier.  what was i waiting for?  it makes me happy and wasn't going to break the bank.

can't wait for session two where we learn about aperture.  gotta go do my homework to prepare.  i have homework and i love it!

ode to helping hands and yellow vests

Hurricane Sandy Helping Hands from Joshua Brown on Vimeo.

this video shows the efforts made by some of my family (looking at you gooch), neighbors and strangers in the rockaways after the devasting superstorm sandy blew through area.  it reminds me of something my grandma jewel and then my mother always said "many hands make light work". 

a city in light and dark

a photojournalist named iwan baan with the new yorker magazine was able to snag a helicopter with enough gasoline located in a hanger with no electricity to take some amazing shots of a city left in both the dark and the light.  the images are really beautiful and almost chilling at the same time.  (here's a link to more photos from his late night flight over the city)

photo by Iwan Baan for The New Yorker
(click for a larger view)

this place is my home and to see so many living in the dark was heart wrenching and humbling, especially as i sat in my home with power, hot water, heat and gas to cook.  i was truly amazed at the sheer number of people ready, willing and able to help our fellow new yorkers who were suffering in the dark.  the red cross literally had to turn away volunteers and donations because they didn't have the man power to sort the huge inventory of coats, blankets, clothes and shoes.  the hardest part was the locations that needed these items the most were still inhabitable or unable to be accessed because of the sheer destruction of our landscape.  

i'm not one to push my beliefs or agenda on anyone, but if you are able to donate to the red cross's efforts to help those who have lost everything, i urge you to do so.  please help any way that you can.  the website is www.redcross.org.

photo timeline of my summer

childhood BFF and her hubby bishop d - the smiles are because bishop d won the Newsies lottery right before

my beautiful inside and out cousin jess, her new hubby and the tarheel loving B family

point a camera at me and i'll do something silly - evidence picture #1

evidence picture #2

evidence picture #3

me and my joani

my brother flex and macaroni

me and my macaroni

going for a walk with two 3 year olds - serious entertainment

my sister in law sunshine

hanging with my awesome friend PhD and her beautiful offspring

getty villa with pacific ocean in background

new york philharmonic in the park with fireworks at the end

and now you're caught up to what i've been up to this summer.  love time with my family.  didn't love getting sick day of my flight home.  did enjoy being three short rows behind Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife on my rescheduled flight.  love local grocery store for putting haagen daas on sale.