Going Green? iPhone Photography

OlivesPorsche-20120215-IMG_0394-EditHere are a couple photos taken in Las Vegas, both in the same evening.  The design in both appealed to me, plus who would not like these greens??

The iPhone is a little irritating to a serious photographer.  The iPhone takes some wonderful photos in a much easier manner than carrying around a large DSLR camera with interchangeable lenses.  Now days, most photos do not go past the sharing on the Internet phase, so the resolution and ability to enlarge and print does not come into play.  It also helps prove the best camera is the one you have with you, and the iPhone or any such Smart Phone camera is certainly always by our side.

Pie Town Artwork IPhone Photography

Pie Town, New MexicoThis picture sums up a trip to Pie Town, New Mexico.  Why get traditional pies when you can get Red or Green Chile?  Sometimes it is more spicy than at other times, but always good.  The contrast between the unkempt picnic table and the smooth ice cream was inviting to photograph.  This is an old photograph that I never got around to putting on the blog…..

Guaymas Soccer

Guyamus Soccer

Guaymas Soccer

Driving in Guaymas, Mexico searching for elusive photo opportunities, I came across this neighborhood soccer game. I guess they would call it football. Talk about feeling out of place…. I am carrying more in photography gear than any of these people make in a year or more, I would think.  I have always had the utmost respect for real travel photographers such as Mitchell Kanashkevich. Doing a simple shot like this magnifies that respect. One does not capture the feeling of people by a quick drive-by photo, it takes time, getting to know them, being invited into their home and world…. Here is a drive-by view of eager, happy kids enjoying a Sunday afternoon game.  This would be brutal in the summer heat…..

Post Processing of a Photo

ORIGINAL Vision of the Scene

ORIGINAL  Scene

The final version of this beach photo totally changed from my original vision.  The brilliant orange sunset lit up the beach in a way no photographer could pass by.  The sky was bright orange as was the reflection in the wet sand.  However, in working with the photograph, the contrast appeared to be tooooo great.  Also, one might wonder what was making the sand so bright and simply think it was an over-saturated photo.  The entire reason for me capturing this photo now seemed to be a problem, so the bright sand was cropped out below.
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Best of Show in Nogal, New Mexico

Panorama Point Rainbow

Panorama Point Rainbow

I am happy to say this photo just won Best of Show at the Dry Gulch Gallery photo contest in Nogal, NM.  I won $1,000 for this first place prize. Yipeee!  This photo was not totally just luck.  The off and on rains of the day made this a high probability spot.  I also hiked up a bit specifically to include the curvy dirt road in the photo.

Failed Photo Attempt

Aspen Trunks

Aspen Trunks

Sometime I’ll become all wrapped up in a particular scene and with nobody to pull me away, I will get way too involved in a not so special scene.  The way these three aspen tree trunks fanned apart symmetrically with the other aspen trunks in the background seemed really special.  I even returned to the same spot later in different light.  Upon working on the photo days later I am now not so sure….  I think it may only be blog worthy…… if that.  What do you think?

New Mexico Magazine Winning Portfolio

New Mexico Magazine

New Mexico Magazine

I was very proud when I learned I had won the 12th annual New Mexico Magazine Photography contest.  As the article states, this was a goal of mine for several years.

Here is the article from the February 2013 New Mexico Magazine for the 2012 contest I won.

By studying the past winners, I could see that they were not after the typical or famous iconic images from the state.  They seemed to like photos that were beautiful, interesting and would not necessarily be associated with New Mexico.  In the February 2013 New Mexico Magazine they had room for only five of the submitted images.  Unlike past years, the judges did not meet in a room and look at each portfolio at a time.  Instead, this year the judges looked at the images separately, rated them and then points by photographer were summed up.   Here are all ten images submitted, the winning portfolio.

Sandia Peaks at Sunset, New Mexico

 

Checkin-In-RT66

 

Ventana Arch

Reflected Light

 

Loops

Loops

 

White Sands Cottonwood

Whitesands Cottonwood

 

 

Aspen Gold

 

Blue Fiesta

 

Gold in the Gorge

Gold in the Gourge

 

El Malpais Pool

El Malpais Pool

 

Chamisa Breeze

Chamisa Breeze

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harold Hall, Grand Prize Winner New Mexico Magazine

Red-NM-Mag--2013-01-19-at-6.21I am very happy to announce that I won the 2013 New Mexico Magazine annual Photography Contest. This is something I have worked to win for the past several years. Here is a link to the article which appeared in the February issue. I sent the magazine two photos of me for this layout, one with a hat and one without. I guess they thought the hat was more western and a better fit.

http://www.nmmagazine.com/article/?aid=79167#.UTtRPxntA8g

Sandia Mountains – Timing is Everything (Part Two)

Here is a sequence of photos taken on a single winter evening at the foothills of the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque, New Mexico, showing the fleeting light of a sunset after a dusting of snow.  Often, the primary difference between a good photograph and a great one is the presence of unique light.  To increase the possibilities of getting great light, photographers often go out before sunrise and at sunset.  The soft, horizontal light in the evening is often called the golden hour.  This light allows the photographer to capture a scene that is more evenly illuminated without the harsh contrast of bright sun and dark shadows that are present during most of the day.  FYI, the sunset glow photo was captured with a 300mm lens.

Sandia Mountains, Before Sunset

Sandia Mountains, Before Sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more photos….

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Antelope Canyon, “Our Lady of the Canyon” photo background

AZ02-good-Our-Lady-of-the-Canyon-

“Our Lady of the Canyon” photograph, in my Arizona Portfolio, was taken in Antelope Canyon, a small sandstone canyon carved by wind and water erosion over millions of years, located on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona. This photo recently won 2nd place out of thousands of entries at the Hubbard Museum Fall Photo Contest in New Mexico.  This location is known as a “slot” canyon and may only be three feet across when viewed from above, but is over 100 feet from the rim to the natural floor.

Reflected light bounces off of the canyon walls, resulting in tones from bright gold near the most intense light, to soft blues where the light is more diffused.  At high noon shafts of sunlight pierce through the openings at the canyon top to the floor below.  Wind blowing the sand into the canyon illuminates these sunbeams.  Most often one simply sees a beautiful ray of light.  But as captured in this fine art photograph, a figure of a woman wearing a headscarf and outstretched arms is very visible in the fourth photo of this sequence, “Our Lady of the Canyon.”  In the actual photograph, if you look closely, you can see the streaks of sand falling.  Long exposures and a tripod are required to capture the light in this canyon.  Below are the photographs that led up to this once-in-a-lifetime image.

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