Portugal

So my hard drive crashed, but I had a couple albums up on facebook, so I do still have a portion of my photos, but I think I'm going to lose some picture quality on the ones that I can recover. Anyhow, I was in Portugal with my soccer team in August of 2007, here are a few of the many pictures I took while over there:

I'm in class right now in the library, and bored, so I decided that this is an opportune time to write on my blog. My current problem: my hard drive crashed, and I don't think I'll be able to recover any of my music, or pictures, awesome. Plus I'm gonna need to send my computer away to have a new hard drive installed, and it's all a big pain.
On a better note, I'll be in Sevilla next semester. But I need to turn in all my forms and such, and I have no idea when the deadline is. Plus I need to get a student visa, but I need to have my plane tickets before I have a meeting with the spanish consulate in Boston. On top of all that I have projects coming up that are due, it's kind of overwhelming.
I'm excited to work on my final for photography though. I'm going to try to tell a story with photographs, and a short explanation for each picture too. I got some ideas swimming around in my head for a story, so we'll see. I just need enlarge some of my portraits for two weeks from now, and I do like how a few of them came out. Peace

For this post, I'm comparing the photo by Ansel Adams, and the one taken by Thomas Joshua Cooper, as posted on the class blog. The Ansel Adams photo is taken from a distance, and is a distinct picture of a waterfall seemingly deep in the woods. I do like how the trees frame the side of the photo too. It's a very serene, very natural shot. You see and understand exactly what Ansel was trying to capture. The T.J. Cooper shot, however, is somewhat different. The photo is of a mist, but it is hard to make out exactly what it is. The bottom of the picture seems to be some cables that the mist reveals, and the sides seem to be framed by some rock. The shot is taken from a short distance too, and that adds to the ambiguity.

So I'm at the library looking through some of the photography books this fine institution has to offer us, and I found one that I really like. I also was able to find it online, so this is it. It was taken by Alan Ross in 1989. This is a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, which appears to be free of cars and pedestrians, but as I read along, I found that "a neutral-density filter [over the lense, not one used when developing] was used to 'erase' the traffic...[and] allowed an exposure time of several seconds". Instead of using a longer exposure time to capture motion, Alan Ross uses it to erase motion... and that's why he's a professional. But also, this seems to give a subtle blurring effect to the water below in some spots (like where the sun is reflecting), but the waves appear to be clearly defined in other spots (like to the sides of the sun's reflection). Or maybe it all is slightly blurred, and I have failing eyes.

Aside from the great use of the technical features in this photo, it is also aesthetically pleasing. This picture also presents contradicting feelings. This seemingly abandoned bridge looks to disappear into the center of the fog. The fog gives a mysterious feel, and adds to the desolate feeling of the abandoned bridge. On the contrary, the fact that this is a midday shot, and the sun is shining bright gives the photo an uplifting feeling.

I totally forgot about the photos I have on my hard drive. I took them with my cybershot, but they are pictures nontheless. Here's one of many, take it in.

Coheed & Cambria

Here's another post. I did this awhile ago too. There's a lot of detail around the treeline, so that took a little while, but it came out well.
I'm hoping to get some of my photos up soon. Next week I will have some photos enlarged and I will be able to post them, so have patience.
One of my first three rolls I shot for the previous class didn't come out, almost all of the shots were well over exposed. I tried to capture motion midday, and it did not turn out; lesson learned. It sucks because I was looking forward to seeing the results. The shots were definitely of award winning qulaity too. Maybe next roll.
-Austin

Last night, the gallery hosted a photography event. From the show, my favorite picture was the one taken at the natural bridge state park. It was of running water, but time had elapsed in the picture. This produced an interesting effect, in that it made the water falling down the rocks look as if it were a sort of blanket that was laid down. I like the way it came out