I AM PLEASING, SOFT, AND RELAXING!!!

Well, I’ve been a bit busy at work, so I didn’t have time to update the blog, let me just say that I went down to DC to catch the Cherry Blossoms again, and the streets were closed and I missed the sunrise… So once again, I failed this year…

Luckily, like last year, there’s a beautiful Cherry Tree in my house, so I took a couple of pictures of if instead.

Also, I went down to Florida (I know, what a surprise), and spent time with my sisters, but more importantly, with grandpa (who I hadn’t seen in two years), I need to spent more time with the old man, as (and this is gonna sound worse than I intend to), he has more days behind than ahead (see what I meant?).

Also, I spent some time playing with strobes, and teaching Patty how to use them (we’ll wait for her to edit her pictures, in the meantime, the ones I took)

And well, now to the title and first image, last week TWiP discussed one of my images, I’m attaching the image again, and the video here

(The critique starts at 56 minutes, or you can follow this LINK)

A million thanks to Frederick, Ron, and Valerie. Also to TWiP in general, been listening to that show for a while, and even on slow weeks, the show is a blast. To prove that I listened to Valerie and Ron, I edited the picture and here’s the result.

and to proved I listened to Frederick too

Couldn’t find a model, Frederick, but I drew one…

Thank you very much for reading go follow TWiP (and the hosts), and have a nice weekend

I figure I share a little bit of the Tidal Basin shoot experiences.

 


The night before I set everything up on my big camera bag (it is a lot easier to distribute the weight comfortably on the big backpack comparing with the smaller one when it is completely loaded), and went to bed…

4:30 AM – Alarm rings, I turned it off and stretched…

5:30 AM – I actually wake up, curse the gods of alarms, and the scientist (for not yet given me a time manipulation field) equally, and start getting ready.

The original plan called for a 5 o’clock arrival to DC, I was going to park at Union Station, get a coffee, perhaps a pastry, and then take a cab to the Tidal Basin area… Instead, I arrived to DC at 6 AM, parked in Ohio Drive (you’re not supposed to do that until 8 AM), and ran to the Tidal Basin area (with a total lack of caffeine in my system) to meet with Kevin (seriously, check this guy’s HDR work).

Then off course, I ran into a bit of problems with my chosen focal length (I recently mentioned that I only carry the 50 and a 85mm now… well, what I forgot to mention was this)

my 50 took a fall

So I was left with the 85mm as my primary lens… not the best of options.
Anyway, I took a ton of pictures, I borrowed Kevin’s 17-40 and made some more panos, and life was good.



I decided that I was gonna go back, and hopefully the blossoms would be out, Kevin went today and said that there were some, but hopefully tomorrow would be better (it will be the last time I go out this season), and I’m bringing this puppy with me.



So testing for review, and perhaps future purchase… we will see.

Please check Kevin’s site for more pictures, also, Gilmar Smith started a blog (if you haven’t seen her shots… go do that now… fine, HERE), subscribe, and I am really waiting for her to start posting lighting diagrams and tutorials… it is very promising.

Here are some more pictures from the weekend.






Thank you very much for reading,

Andres Trujillo
Photographer

Writing is hard

 

 

Well, I’ve been absent for a bit, in my defense, I didn’t have much to write about (I’ve gone to Florida, Florida has come here, I had a couple of snow storms, and I’m getting good at grappling again).

This past weekend I met with Kevin (his HDR work is AMAZING), and we took some pictures of the Tidal Basin at sunrise, I’m happy (ish) with my shots, but I’m waiting for Kevin to publish his and frustrate the heck out of me.

I'm long overdue for a review of Fundy Software's suite, I switched computers and I'll admit that I haven't fully used the software since I got it. Also, I got a couple of toys for my lighting (an umbrella style octa, and a Cheetah Stand tri-flash bracket) that I will too review (as soon as I get a subject in front of my camera).

In the meantime, here are a few more pics:

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

What a week

So I’ve been out of the count for a better part of a week, due to some hamstring related back pain… needless to say, I didn’t do squad this weekend, sometimes my body REALLY sucks.



Anyway, as I mentioned, I pretty much got rid of my zoom lenses, and I only carry two primes in my bag, the 50mm 1.8 (nifty fifty), and my new baby, the 85mm 1.8.

So far I’ve been really happy with the new lens, the biggest issue is getting used to the focal length, not being able to zoom to adjust the frame and composition (I have to zoom with my legs). But that’s only until I get used to it, other than that, I freaking love the lens.

        


In other news, Apple banned the 500px app recently, due to boobies (I’m sure there’s a more mature way to say this, but this pretty much sums the extend of the problem). Don’t get me wrong, I understand that you do not want to promote porn in your apps (so lets ignore this, and this, and perhaps this too), but even though there are nudes in 500px, they were more artistic than racy (some exceptions, but as a general rule). I have never gone to 500px or Flickr for racy pictures, or for boobies, I go for art. If I want racy pictures within an app, I’ll use Tumblr (where you get racy pictures whether you want to or not), or if I am specifically looking for it, I’ll use this

unless they decide to block it too

500px has a “safe” filter applied to every account by default (Hell, you can’t upload a picture without specifying if it is safe or not), you have to go in and turn it off (however, it is up to the photographer to categorize a picture as “safe” or “not safe” so I will admit that it isn’t perfect), so this “protecting” the innocent sensibilities of the users seem out of place, this is just a case of not understanding the app enough before making a decision, and it is a shortcoming on Apple’s  side (the app has been reinstated in the app store [today], with an NC-17 rating and a “report” button, however, there were several other apps using 500px API available in the app store during this time… Are you fucking kidding me Apple?).

Anyway, in other news, Flickr new updated app… I’ve been burned before by Flickr, so it is hard for me to say this, I-LOVE-IT

hey, Apple, I did a search for “boobies” in the Flickr app, guess what I found?... BOOBIES (not shown here), and not even the classy type, noooo, I found among other shots, cell phone self shots of boobies…. I’m a child, I know that.

Anyway, the app looks amazing (it actually looks better than the website), and it shows as a very nice step on the right direction… I do have one request, they need to make an app for the iPad… that’s it, other than that, I’m very happy.

Oh well, I guess that’s my rant for the day, here are some pictures:

 



 

 


 










Thank you very much for reading

The love of discovery (also, heads up, I curse on this one)

Miranda 35mm camera with three lenses, Canon AE-1, and Polaroid. My three classics

I love my two 35mm cameras, I just LOOOOOVE them. And I like that as many pictures as I take, I tend to wait a while before developing the film, I love rediscovering/remembering and bringing up the memories of the thought process that went into taking a particular frame. It is like Christmas morning when I open that pack of pictures. Full disclosure, I enjoyed this feeling before, but I wasn’t able to put it into words (be it because I wasn’t aware I was doing it, or didn’t have the words for it), but I’ve been reading and watching “People Pictures” by Chris Orwig, and he explains this feeling/phenomena in a more eloquent way that I could ever do.

At the moment, I do not have access to my scanner, but believe me, the new pictures are better than this picture

Anyway, I’ll try to not rant too much today about my (lack of) mental health (that’s an uphill battle that just likes to keep getting interesting), instead I’ll rant about Flickr.


For a while now I’ve been very vocal (in my circles) about my hatred of Flickr (Flickr is dead to me), fuckers took my pictures hostage (I hate you Flickr), and unless I renew my account (Flickr, you’re an asshole), I won’t be able to see them again (I will punch Flickr in the roof of its mouth)… this was, to say the least, a bit annoying for me (“what’s that? I only have a limited upload amount per month? I can live with that… what’s this? I can’t see my old pictures?... I WILL WAIT FOR FLICKR TO TAKE HUMAN FORM AND KILL IT!!!!). That, summed to the number of firings done by Yahoo on their Flickr department (and their shitty UI, I mean, really? It is 2012 Flickr, why do you look like a geocities website? Also, your mobile site SUCKS and your momma is fat), made me very vocal against Flickr (as many of my photographer friends can attest… also, die, Flickr, die) and made me see Flickr as a big dumb dying beast (what I’m trying to say is “Fuck Flickr”), but there seems to be light at the end of the fuckery tunnel (GIVE BACK MY IMAGES, YOU ASSHATS).
As many might already know, Marissa Mayer got wooed and took over Yahoo as the new CEO, and as soon as that happened, thousands of photographers took to the internet to plead for a revamping of Flickr. I was one of them, and I will put my money where my mouth is, I will soon renew my Flickr account (if only to get my pictures back…. Fucking assholes), and I will start posting there again. I am, however, not leaving 500px, as they already rock and I will purchase an account with them too (but, as I’ve been doing now, I will only post a limited number of pictures there).


In other news, Johnny “Jet” D. just bought his first DSLR, so I will be giving him classes on shooting, lighting, and post processing… because I guess I’m the more capable of us two to give him those classes, because by no means is because I’m qualify to be teaching anything (“And here little Johnny, here’s how you fly by the sit of your pants/pull out something out of your ass”). We have a photoshoot this weekend with a model, and I’ve been creating lighting diagrams and coming with ideas for locations… but I’m so very aware that when it comes to lighting, form follows function. I can plan all I want, but chances are that I will have to tweak my plans to adjust for different environmental issues (the pain of not shooting in a controlled setting… AKA studio), but I’m pretty confident that we all be happy with the results.

I know it is a repeat, but this is still one of my favorite images of the year

OK, a lil’ bit of an unrelated rant… My cell phone carrier is charging me more to upgrade my phone (and thus, stay with them for at least another 2 years), than to terminate my contract. So I will pay less money to cancel, switch, and get a new phone, than to stay with the company I’ve been for the past 5 years… how does punishing loyalty makes any sense? I hate Apple, but I will end up with a brand new iPhone 4…. Why? Because as much as I love Android (and I do), it seems like the manufacturers are more concerned with outdoing each other than to go after the iPhone, there’s no standard, so an app that might work on my phone model, might not work on yours (and vice versa) (I’ll give you an example, I have an LG phone, I have Skype installed in it, it took Skype 1 year to release an update where it will recognize the front facing camera on my phone…. then they released a new update, and now the camera works at random intervals), until they get their shit together and standardize a little bit better (or until next time I switch carriers), I will go with Apple’s iPhone, because as much as I hate them (oh boy, do I), if I put an app on their platform, it will work as advertise… also, T-Mobile, I hold you now in the same regard as I used to hold Flickr (and again, is because customer service).

I don’t think I can be honest to myself regarding my work, I’m too close and too attached to it, so I will be sending my portfolio to a photographer I admire for a critique… I think it is time I get a honest, raw, and blunt review of my work, will post more details once I put the portfolio together and send it out for review… and once I stop crying, I will post the review.

Thank you for making it this far, will post more soon

Defining One Self

Many things define me artistically, many more inspire me… do they define me as an individual? I do not know, I know that I am a product of many years of trial and error, big mistakes shrouded in good intentions, I’ve won… I most certainly lost… And I’ll win again… It is a cycle. At the end of the day, I just don’t want to be defined by no one else, just me and my camera/laptop/paper and pencil/guitar.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, I took a short vacation and stayed on the District side, I needed to decompress and dedicate myself to my photography. The plan was to come up with a whole new portfolio (particularly for my street photography), but I came up short in that. I did however accomplish so much in other areas, it was worth it.



I’ve never really been on Alexandria, and I spent two days taking pictures of Old Town, particularly the water front, and I came up with a lot of pictures of birds… which wasn’t what I intended originally to shoot, but I am happy with the results. I also got to rent and test the 70-200 F/4 from Canon, and I got to say, I freaking love that lens, I wish it had a little more reach, but I love the results even at the far end of the zoom.



Got to reconnect with some old friends…







And made a new friend for life…


but mostly, birds…

Evil Eye FTW

     

This is how I feel about your "art"

Many, many thanks to Pat (for putting up with me for the better part of a week), BorrowLenses (for making lens rentals so easy and helping me when I had troubles with FedEx), Rob, OJ (for being the best old people, and friends I know).

And retaking the original idea at the beginning of the post… Do not… I repeat, DO NOT, let anybody else vision define you, you (me, we, everybody) are unique, celebrate that.

I did not create this, but to the person who did "FUCKING THANK YOU"

Thanks for reading, here are some more images I took.

Ukulele Punk... I WANT

    




     









     

BOOM... Headshot... I know, that was of terrible taste... Still

     

Very bad quality... but that is "Finding Nemo" right there

     














Thanks