One of the benefits of Michelle's dentistry is that she purchased a digital SLR camera. While she had used it for photographing teeth, she hadn't used it much for photography fun. So she had the great idea to go learn how to use it better and take advantage of it. So we have done a couple trips exclusively purposed for using the camera. We decided to share a few of our favorites here. This first one is on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica; Michelle is using the SLR to capture a picture of the lights on the trees. This photograph is the launching point for our photoblog entry.
Our first trip out was Labor Day where we went to Chinatown, Olvera Street, and Union Station.
One of the effects we were anxious to try out was to make the object in the foreground in focus and the background out of focus. We learned that you need to zoom in on the subject and then focus the camera. The result - a lot of super close-up shots of our faces! But check out that left eye...smokin!
Michelle was so excited about this feature! Just look at how happy and crazy she is about it! Here we are at Chinatown, and experimenting with some post-production effects in GIMP. I like how the out of focus background and yellowish color emphasize the wildness of Michelle's joy over this photo shoot. And of being photographed pretty close up.
I (Michelle) knew we were going to be zooming in on things, but I didn't know that we were going to be zooming in on me! I hadn't even done my hair! Matt was lucky enough to capture my thoughts on it in the above photo.
Chinatown was fun to photograph, with lots of interesting architecture and of course the ubiquitous red paper lanterns. It was also fun when it was time for me to take my turn behind the camera and take some close-ups of Matt.
Crazy woman! I didn't mind offering up my innocuous mug for the sake of art though. She took a handful of really good close ups as well. I am still trying to decide what underlying feeling my visage was emoting. Satisfaction, perhaps? Longing for my turn again behind the lens...
Yes Matt eventually got his turn behind the camera, and this time I found something to hide behind - paper parasols! I grabbed my sunglasses, grabbed a parasol, and hid. Matt coaxed my head out from the parasol to take this shot!
Over time, Michelle did more relaxed. This is her loving life! Isn't she beautiful? Chinatown was a lot of fun, and like Michelle said, very pretty and photographable, especially if you like reds and golds. But we coulnd't stay there for foreve
r...We strolled down Cesar Chavez Blvd to an old street called Olvera Street. It is from the early days of Los Angeles but is now home to street vendors and Mexican restaurants; the sound of mariachis fills the air. Here I am strolling down the street. Note the messy bun that Matt gave me because I wasn't liking my hair. Great messy bun Matt!
I am happy in Olvera Street! And Michelle did a great job taking this photograph, look at how sharp the image of me is, and how blurry Olvera Street purses are! Soooo good! But can you also tell that I am beginning to get hungry? This was labor day afternoon, and we had a loaf of french bread and some brie and fruit in my backpack, but not yet in my stomach.
After Olvera Street we ventured over to Union Station. Union Station has great art deco architecture and is in a lot of movies. The photos we took here we played around with depicting motion. Check out Matt's handiwork capturing the people walking behind me.
We went again to take photos a few days later at night time, 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. While this photo isn't particularly interesting, it does capture what was a funny moment for us--do you see that belly dancer in the middle of the photograph? Virtually no one was paying her any mind, while people were flocking around break dancers, singers, and even bible preachers nearby. Sorry dancer lady...3rd Street was really pretty and fun too. It was a little chilly of a night by September Southern California standards, so people wore jackets and the like. That combined with the lit trees makes this look like a Christmas scene to me, California style.
Our goal for this trip was to try out the camera in the nighttime. We knew that night shooting would be a little more difficult in that the lens needs to stay open longer to take in light - meaning, move a little and it gets super blurry. We were able to take advantage of this to capture motion. Check out Matt strolling outside of the cafe. Pretty sweet!
And thus ends our photoblog! We took almost 500 photographs, but are subjecting you to only a few of them. We are excited to try out more of these and become experts! In other news, wedding planning continues and is going pretty well actually. Almost there! Just over one month left. Maybe next entry we will impart some of our advice to the newly engaged,. advice coming from those right the midst of the experience!
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