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

Short and sweet

Well, I’m back.

Not much new since last I wrote, I did the Kelby Photowalk (met some great photographers in it), I won a Camera Dojo contest (a million thanks to Fundy Software’s Andrew Funderburg, and Kerry Garrison from Camera Dojo, I will be writing a review in the near future), I’ve been spending a lot of time in Florida, and spent Christmas with Pat (love you, thanks for reminding me to write, now it is your turn… no pressure), and she got me a Canon 7D (she inherited my Canon 50D), got rid of my 70-300 and replaced it with a Canon 85mm (I LOVE THAT LENS, again, million thanks to Pat), got a new roommate who got me back on the mat (Brazilian Jiujitsu FTW).

 

I will write a little bit more of this past year and changes during the week, hopefully.

 

Update

Well, on a crazy month, I have done everything I’ve been saying (for years), I would never do… I went back to Flickr (mostly to be able to get my old images back), I switched to iPhone and I may be soon purchasing an iPad (this move was forced by several separate issues, principally, the apparent suicide of all my Android based gadgets… do not worry, I still maintain that Apple is evil, I do miss certain things about Android [oh widgets, how I miss thee], but I can’t argue that the iOS platform is far more stable), and I forgot I had a blog (again)… in my defense, I haven’t done much lately.

I did do a shoot for Soapbox Gypsy (the website isn’t done yet, but you can see some of the images HERE), that came as a direct result of shooting an event at work (one of the owners of Soapbox Gypsy is a coworker of mine). It took two meetings, but I am quite happy with the result of them (as I hope Soapbox Gypsy is happy with the results too).

Two flashes blowing the white seamless, a softbox (an umbrella on the first shoot), and JJ's crotch...
My first production shot, I'll do better next time

I also put a new portfolio for review (HERE), and I sent it to a photographer I really admire for review (if/when he reviews it, I’ll post a link to the review). Other than that, it has been a pretty quiet couple of months. Hopefully it will get better pretty soon, but in the meantime, I will continue taking some pictures and hopefully uploading to Flickr and here.
In the meantime, here are some of the latest pics:

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