Indoors - 52 Week Project

This week's theme is indoors! I decided to feature a collection of cats who are (or were) adoptable through Tri County Humane Society.

Chloe was a total sweetheart! I loved how she curled her paws up for tummy rubs! As of this posting she has been adopted!

This beautiful grey kitty is Dash, a total character! He too has been adopted!

Last but not least is the lovely Mr. Tan Man, who although come across as shy, loves his belly rubs and is very much a sweetheart! His coloring reminded me of a cottontail rabbit!

If you're looking to add a new cat or dog friend to your family, stop by Tri County Humane Society today! Next up visit Candid K Nines, Windsor Ontario pet photographer. 

Nerdism...

Yes, I can be a bit of a nerdy geek sometimes. My current guilty nerdism?

Dungeons and Dragons. 

Oh yes, that fantasy role playing game featuring paladins, orcs, elves, (and others!) and rolling dice to defeat mythological creatures and cast spells, stereotypically played for hours in a dark basement, occasionally enhanced with pre-recorded sound effects.

Granted the sessions I've played haven't had sound effects unless provided by the players, and none have been played in a basement as none of the players has a basement to play in! Instead we meet at in the living room of a players house and conduct our campaigns assembled on assorted chairs.

Thus far I've played a couple of characters - a druid Kitsune, a druid Ifrit, and a modern day super smart techie with a love of explosives which is super handy during the zombie campaign being run. (Which is meaningless to non players...)

Campaigns are the storyline that are being run. I'm still sort of lost on some of the numbers and how things work (AC and CMB?!?!) and its suprising how much math is involved with the game!

But nonetheless, its a fun activity to partake in. Because, basically its like being involved in an interactive story with other players! And who doesn't love a good choose your adventure story?

This girl does!

PS Also I'm prepping to run my own campaign as a Dungeon Master (as known as the lord master of all the things in the game). Be afraid... be very afraid!

Rural - 52 Week Project

The opposite of urban is rural! This week's 52 week project theme was rural. Luckily there are plenty of rural places around my area. I snagged Icey and Bender and headed out.

Where are we headed?

First stop was a newly thawed field with remnants of cornstalks in it. It also had some really nice thick goopy mud to walk through!

 From the field we meandered around looking for another rural spot. A quaint stand of trees made for the perfect backdrop for Bender.

I swung by the lake to see the condition of the ice (still lots of ice!) and had Icey do some modeling. She was great, minus that she wanted to go farther onto the ice than I was comfortable with. So I caught her and had her work her modeling angles on the dock!

 Next up visit Pup & Co Pet Photography in Brisbane to see how Lynn interpreted rural!

Urban - 52 Week Project

This week's theme for the 52 Week Project was Urban! Luckily the weather warmed up for the weekend, but I didn't get a chance to go shooting until Tuesday. There was a bitter breeze (is spring ever going to stay? Also its currently snowing as I write this...) but Icey and Axle were troopers as we adventured around town.

There was a new area I had scouted, but the stair leading down to the spot were glazed over with ice. Pretty, but I wasn't going to risk a tumble down them! So instead Icey modeled by the big steel doors.

With the wind being bitter, I wasn't too keen on wandering in search of the perfect place so the dogs and I did slow drive bys and quick stops for shots. An awesome blue railing and wedged between the garbage and recycling worked really well for an urban feel. 

Axle and I traveled down my favorite alley in St. Cloud and discovered some new graffiti. 

Across from the new graffiti is a really strange mural that Axle always looks really good in front of! 

I enjoyed adventuring around in the urban areas (minus that I would have liked to trade the cold for warmer temperatures). Next up visit the wonderful Cynthia Wood of Georgian Bay Studios for her take on the theme urban!

Action - 52 Week Project

The temperatures warmed up just a touch so that Axle and Icey could show off some of their action moves! They are master ball catches and often can be acrobatic when then catch them. Plus they have some pretty epic ball faces!

 Next up some sunny action shots from Pavlina Sanborn Photography, Saint Augustine FL!

Fred & Molly

Fred, the golden retriever, and Molly, the spring spaniel, met me on a drizzly day for a super sneaky session that was a surprise for their dad! We started the adventure in old downtown St. Cloud.

The very little, energetic Molly rocked her pictures in the alley. Fred on the other hand, was more content to pant and lounge in front of the red florist wall.

We bundled up and headed out to Sand Prairie Wildlife Management Area for shots of the pair together as well as some shots of Molly running through the tall grass. 

The rain persisted and then decided to downpour, but luckily we had wrapped up the session moments prior!

Freelensing - A Creative New Way to Shoot!

Once upon a time, there was a Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens. In an unfortunate accident it encountered a fall and face plant upon the floor. No real damage could be seen, minus that the barrel of the lens was slightly separated and said lens had decided it wanted to be a tilt-shift lens! Eek (but actually kind of cool...)

Another 17-50mm f2.8 lens, also made by Tamron, was purchased as the replacement. Not needing to use the "shifted" lens, I did a google search on making a tilt-shift lens (actual tilt-shift lenses are SPENDY!) Lots of diy projects that explained how one could create a tilt-shift lens, though most didn't touch on the idea of a zoom tilt-shift.

Sifting through the google results I stumbled across something I had never heard of. Freelensing. What the heck is freelensing? Basically it was ripping the rear mount off of a prime lens (once again zooms were vaguely touched on) and using the lens freely in front of the camera to capture an image with tilt-shift like characteristics. A Photographer's Guide to Freelensing, The Poor Man's Tilt Shift Lens by Jay Cassario was super insightful on how to create a freelens. (Props to him for buying and destroying a new 50mm f1.8 lens!)

So I gave it a try. First unscrewed the rear metal mounting element. And found the screw drive for the auto focus system (heehee, cool! Yes I'm a camera nerd.) I felt a little bad ripping the rear element off to expose the brains of the lens as it still auto focused "fine", but the results from freelensing have been worth it!

(The pictured lens isn't my 17-50mm f2.8 - the above lens is a 28mm f2.8)

I haven't had much play time with the freelenses yet (dang cold weather!) but that hasn't stopped me from creating a solid collection of freelenses. I've got a 17-50mm, 3 50mm f1.8s, a 50mm f2, a 55mm f1.7 and a 28mm f2.8! This might be an addiction... Also if you have any old lenses.... haha!

The results thus far have been super neato. There are natural light leaks are interesting, lights drop off in an eerie manner, and focusing is a whole different beast!

I managed to snag some freelensing images in Florida :) Yes it was really that nice out!

And some from here in the cold state of Minnesota :) (believe these were all taken with the 17-50mm)

I can't wait to explore this new way of capturing images this coming spring!