Snow!!

Immediately after I purchased my macro lens I started looking for prime snowflakes for pictures. Up until today I had not been able to create anything worthwhile.

So many of the flakes start to melt before you can set the focus, even with multiple pictures blended together I was unable to get the full image in focus.

(these pictures look best when enlarged, so do yourself a favor and click on the image)

Out of the few that hadn't already melted, most were covered with bits of other flakes, resulting in a cool, but far from perfect image.

This next one is the closest I came to the perfect picture. Its still missing a small slice of focus near the center, but looks good enough for my first day.

My next image probably should have commanded the title of the post.

How often do you catch a building mid explosion?!?!

As you guessed, I never have. This is just a over done HDR image of a tree covered in snow. It was already fairly dark, so the longest exposure was over two seconds.


As for the expansion of this blogs mediums of art, I probably won't post anything except pictures, more pictures, and highly photo-shopped pictures. Its been nearly a dozen years since I have been happy with a drawing, painting, or sculpture. Sometimes I feel like photography is just a cheater's way into the art world, but if I'm cheating, might as well do it right. :)

Digital painting

Nelson has been pushing me for art other than photography. So, here's something that I threw together a while ago.

Besides photography, history and steam locomotive restoration, I also draw. Of course, my skills are limited as I have never taken a single formal art class. Everything I know, I taught myself or learned from books. Thus, I have quite a bit of room for improvement.

This drawing, which I call "Desert Pinnacles", was sketched out in about ten minutes. I then scanned it, keyed out the white on Photoshop, and began to color it. This was my first try at "real" painting; my past Photoshop works were simple coloring projects with a whole lot of filters to enhance the effect. This one was done on a single layer (minus the foreground drawing, and the sky for ease of painting the clouds) and only two brushes, with no filters, blend modes, or other "crutches" that I have relied on in the past.

If you want to check out some more of my non-photography works, please take a look at my DeviantArt page: Silverwolves Forever. Be warned, though: While I don't have anything inappropriate, I draw some pretty strange things, or so some of my friends tell me...

Enjoy,

Josh

A Change in Course

This post is one I am making to officially open this blog to forms of art other than photography. Although this was started specifically as a photography oriented blog, I think that the inclusion of other types of art would be beneficial. It will most likely still be focused on photos, but I really think that it should be open to work in all mediums. To open up this new path, I decided to do a post on one of my other hobbies, ceramics. I only have a picture of one of my pots, but as I make more I'll post some of the better ones on here.

Here's to a new website,
Nelson

This is a small pot I made in my ceramics class during my senior year.

Macro!

Everyone in my dorm thinks I'm crazy. If not crazy then at least a little strange. I literally went room to room asking people if they had any insects, spiders, or invertebrates in general (bugs) so I could photograph them. Last night I finally got my first decent shots. It was just a little box elder bug, nothing too out of the ordinary, but it looks so much cooler at 40X magnification. Because of poor lighting, We used a flashlight to spotlight this little fellow while he crawled around the basement floor. I was down there on hand and knees following him around trying to get a decent shot. Here's two of my favorites.

^ that one was a composite of two shots, while this one is a composite of six. Take note that my camera has a depth of field of only a millimeter while at this zoom.

I've never had a good close up look at an insect's eye before, its crazy just how red these are. Notice the secondary set of eyes behind the first. Those eyes are "simple eyes" in that they are not compound, they mostly notice motion. This might be easier to see if you click on the image to enlarge it.

I also got an interesting shot of the moon the other night, its fairly low quality, but an interesting concept. I'll improve the execution and show a better image later.

Notice the detail in the dark part of the moon, which is usually not visible at all. This is a composite of two shots, one that is a 5 second long exposure, and another that was relatively short.

If your interested, I have a video of an ant we found, the video is rather poor, with no editing completed, but I think it's worth taking a peek at.


I stabilized the video, so that's why the image is moving all over the place.

By the way, Adobe sent me my serial numbers today! CS5 for $40!

Cemeteries

Cemeteries are one of the most peaceful places to be. It is easy to find solace when wandering through, especially at night. (you probably assume I speak in jest, but there is a special quality that's hard to define) Last night, a friend and I spent a few minutes wandering through around midnight, here's the result:

These were long exposure shots, between 30 seconds and a minute each, all at full aperture.

It was quite cold and windy, and I managed to ignore the six opportunities for a jacket, so the trip didn't last long.

Expect more cemetery pictures in the future.

A Simple Comparison

All the previous pictures I have posted are unedited, partially because of my laziness, but I decided to do a little editing of a few pictures you've seen previously. It's not that I don't enjoy Photoshop, but I like to try to do most of the work with the camera. There's no best, I just like to do it that way. There are, however a lot of improvements that can be may by simply adjust saturation, light, and hue and the like. Here I've posted some of the sunset pictures again so you can see the difference, not much, but they're definitely better.

Enjoy and compare,
Nelson

Original.

A simple light and saturation adjustment.

Adobe and Panoramas

Just a couple of weeks ago I caved and purchased Adobe photoshop elements and premiere elements 10. There was a 50% off sale, and my trial period on CS5 was quickly running out. Shortly after the money left my account, a new sale surfaced, quite the extreme one. The education version of CS5 is already 65% off the regular version, this sale was 80% off the education version. I immediately tried to purchase, only to find out the next day that the promo code (and banners on the site, and customer service telling me the price) was all just a technical error. I still am working with adobe, hoping to recieve my serial numbers for only $40.

One of my favorite type of pictures is Panoramas, lakes, mountains, islands, anything I can try to shoot I will. My favorite one yet is of the Logan temple with the Wellsville mountains as a background.

Here's a link to the full size image on my deviant art page.

This image was taken right after sunrise, the mist was still clinging to the base of the mountains, making the Temple look so serene and apart from the word. Let me know your thoughts on the image :)


One more panorama for now, this is one of my older ones.

This one was taken on Ensign Peak nearing sunset. The pollution (read: inversion) is readily apparent over Salt Lake City. Again, If you want the full image here's a link. You can download any of the images on my deviantart page in full resolution if if you wish. I don't mind people using my images, I just would like credit if you do.

Moss and Photoshop

So, for those who may be following this blog, I was just invited to contribute!

I'm up at USU for this last semester before my mission studying mechanical engineering. I really enjoy photography, but am still miles away from being a professional. Most of my shots will be either nature or abstract macro. I find it very difficult to capture people. There is something special about nature, from the majestic mountains to the insignificant insect.

Do you remember as a kid being able to step through the smallest of barriers, cross a stream, jump a log, or turn a corner and suddenly seem in a whole new world, able to be alone, to play and imagine without restraint?

The world is different past those barriers, it was just how we imagined it. We could be heroes, kings, queens, scholars. The world was ripe for the plucking.

The ability to see the world in our own way is something we all need to recapture.

That shot was taken in the redwood forest, its some new trees growing off a fallen giant. I hope some of my intros aren't too much for the photo, I just want to help convey what was going on in my mind.

Occasionally I will post pictures that have been more than highly photoshopped, this happens mostly because I failed at capturing my idea, but still needed to get the image out of my head.

This shot is a faked refraction shot, to do this I took some macro shots of water's surface tension and compiled them into a bubble, then inserted the tree. I do have some awesome refraction shots I'm saving for later, but this is the best I could do at the time.

Of Longboards and Sunsets

I'm not often able to take very good pictures of people, so this one made me pretty happy.

One of my other hobbies besides photography is rock climbing, but I often don't get to go because I cant find anyone to belay me. Last week, however, I was able to get a freind to come and belay me on Thursday and Friday, if we worked on his long boarding movie while we were up there. Long story short, we did some pretty sweet climbs, and afterwards I took some pictures, so here they are.

In the words of my rock climbing brethren,
Rock on! (and, of course, enjoy the pictures);
Nelson

Macro of some grass with the sunset in the background.

A shot of the sunset over one of the islands in the Great Salt Lake.

Olympic Heritage

The 2002 Winter Olympics were an exciting part of Utah's history. So much went on during that event, but one aspect that is little known was the Olympic Train.

Yes, call me a nerd, but this is another train post. In 2002, Union Pacific Railroad painted two locomotives - numbers 2001 and 2002 - in a striking purple paint scheme just for the Olympics. Surprisingly, ten years later, both of them are still in the Olympic paint, although a little dirty.

For the 10th anniversary, and to support Salt Lake City's celebration of the ten years that have elapsed, UP brought the 2001 and 2002 together again in Utah. The 2002 went on display at the Salt Lake City Frontrunner station, while the 2001 arrived unceremoniously at the Utah State Railroad Museum last week.

I thought this was interesting - somebody wrote the year on the platform in blue chalk. If the 2002 were there it would be a remarkable coincidence and fitting for a ten year anniversary.

I stopped by and took some pictures. Inspired by Nelson's unique style of close-ups, I decided to try some of my own. I could have done this on any locomotive and I'm kicking myself for not trying these shots sooner on a more handy locomotive (like any one of the hundreds of yellow UP locomotives I see almost every day).

Front coupler. Federal Law requires that couplers NEVER get painted, so all kinds of funky rust patterns occur.

The 2001 stayed for only five days, and was pulled out by a switching crew as quietly as they dropped it off. In fact, the museum staff didn't even know it was there until I told them, and didn't find out when it was gone until I did the same.

A close-up of one of the "ditch lights"

Enjoy,

Josh

Smithsonian Butte...

...or somewhere close by.

The site where we camped was, in past years, the unofficial city dump for Rockville and the surrounding towns.

Washington County is amazing in the winter. It's amazing any time of the year, especially when you venture into Zion National Park, but winter, well, I'll say that's my favorite time to be there.

A view up the road to Smithsonian Butte, on the first day of our arrival. A light smattering of clouds in the evening sky, but no hint of the fury to come.

Not only do you escape the heat, but you are hit with beauty you wouldn't otherwise see. Being situated where it is, its climate is much warmer than the rest of Utah, and the foliage is as vivid and bright as spring. The only downside is the speed at which the weather changes.

A similar view, but about 20 hours later. The clouds darkened the landscape considerably, providing an ominous aura that hinted to the impending fury.

When we arrived in Rockville, the weather was sunny, cloudless, but cool. It was only going to get colder. Our intent of this trip was to visit the ghost town of Grafton, and when we woke up the next morning, it was cloudy with a slight misty drizzle dropping from the heavens. It was also much colder. The rain quickly turned to snow, and the red and green landscape turned monochromatic.

The road to Rockville. Snow has a magical quality that transforms landscapes. It also tends to cause vehicles to slip, which is what prompted me to jump out and take this picture.

That night the storm dumped several inches of snow, and the temperatures dropped below freezing. We stayed warm in our Kifaru teepee (with help from the wood-burning stove), but upon waking found our vehicle to be encrusted with ice and completely frozen solid. Funnily enough, the only things we had to pry the doors open were our pocketknives and a spatula.

Enjoy, and be thankful for cooking utensils,

Josh

25th Street

Here's a more recent photo shoots I've done, this one down at Historic 25th Street in Ogden, and a few places near it. I always enjoy going there and seeing the restaurant and old style shops, so I decided it would make a great place to do a photo shoot. also of interest, there are many ghost signs to be found along 25th street, but those will go in another post. Perhaps not up to par with my last post, but they're still ok shots.

Cheers,
Nelson

Moab Trip

Of course I had to take a few picture of delicate arch.

These are some photos from a biking trip I took in Moab this summer. I had a 12 MP Nikon Coolpix then (my favorite camera, due to the fact that I won it from a math competition), so the pictures aren't as high quality, but they're still pretty good shots. It was a three day trip, so there's more pictures in this post, but I think they're all post worthy. Besides the pictures, the trip was a blast, especialy while we tackled the black diamond trail on Wednesday. I'm pretty sure the picture with the purple flowers (asters, I think) is from that trip. I was really glad to post these because most of my other post feel so cold, but this one reminds me of how hot it was. Unfortunately, all the sand from this trip killed my camera just a week after I got it.

Enjoy the warmth,
Nelson

These flowers wern't too common, but they were definitely my favorite.

This shot gives you a good idea of how the sand got everywhere.

I may have lied, these sunflowers are awesome,I think it's a toss-up of these and the orange flowers.

Yep, I'm pretty sure these were near the end of the Poison Spider trail.

One of the rock cairns marking the trail towards Delicate Arch.

 

Recreating the Past

This was my first and only (so far) photo shoot. In my work with the North Ogden Historical Museum, I came across a story that intrigued me, and I wanted to retell it in film. Surprisingly, the museum staff agreed to help me and arranged for about 20 antique fruit crates and a large quantity of vintage fruit baskets for the production.

This one was an "accident" - I didn't really compose it, but it turned out nicely.

The Utah State Railroad Museum loaned the use of freight trucks and their 1951-built Wilson Car Lines refrigerator cars, and one Saturday morning in December we began filming. My brother and a friend of mine, Candice, both agreed to provide the theater skills.

A view out of the open door. The lighting was perfect that day.

For an all-volunteer effort, it turned out great. Now, over a year later, I still have not completed the actual post-production editing, because even with all that good footage I don't have any way to tie it together. That, and just plain laziness on my part.

The labels were reconstructed from half of an original that was in the collection of the NOHM. A good carload of North Ogden fruit bound for the east.

Special thanks should go to Holly Fuller, the North Ogden Historical Museum, the Utah State Railroad Museum, Steve Jones, David Wagstaff, and, of course, Candice and my brother. Without them these would never have happened.

This picture won second place in the "people" category of the 2011 Hostlers Model Railroad Festival photography contest. those crates are from the Ben Lomond Packing Company.

If I can get the cooperation of the museum board, I might be able to arrange for another photo shoot in the future. Other museums do it, so I figure why not?

Enjoy,

Josh

The Railyards

A picture's worth a thousand words, and all these are worth a thousand rockets.

Not to steal any of Josh's thunder, I decided to take a trip down to the ol' Union Station and take a few pictures. In school I did a few photo shoots there, and I really like the setting there. This time I tried to focus less on the trains themselves and took more pictures of the surrounding elements and the like. I inevitably took a few pictures of the burned out rail car in the back as it is always a point on interest to me. I've got to say, this little Olympus 14mp point and shoot is doing a great job, mostly due to the super-macro setting and the 12.5x optical zoom. I've only had it for a few weeks and I already have hundreds of great pictures from it.

Enjoy the pics,
Nelson

Here's the burnt out rail car, there was some dust on the lens and it really shows up in the shot.

The top of one of the old 55 gallon drums.

These wheels are huge, there almost as tall as I am.