I have been avoiding this for quite some time, but one of the exercises was to take a self portrait you would share with others. I set up the tripod and shot some pics in the backyard today. Now, I'm not exactly the poster child for all things happy and joyful, but, I'm also not quite as severe as this top picture makes me look. I do have a more melancholy personality, however, and I think this comes across in the photographs. I spent quite a bit of time post processing these, and while I am not completely satisfied with these, I don't hate them either. If I wait for the perfect set, I will never post any of them, so, maybe they will be better next time.
I used my tripod, remote shutter control, and the f1.8/50mm prime.
I kind of like how many portraits look in black and white, so I experimented with converting a few of them and included one in the batch. Let me know what you think.
Friday, June 22, 2007
My first self portraits
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Drywall Repair Project
I needed to do a little home repair and I decided to use my camera to document the project. See, there is this tiny little hole in my wall. Now, I know one of you smart-alecks is asking how I got this hole in my wall. It has nothing to do with my daughters fighting with each other, for the NINTH time in just 3 hours. It also has nothing to do with them completely ignoring my repeated requests for them to stop and my desire to find a new way to get their attention. The fact that the hole is approximately the same size as my hand when placed flat against the wall is entirely coincidental (honest!). So, how did the hole get there? I see no need to sully this blog entry with such petty details.
Moving on with the project. The first thing I did was look behind the wall for electrical connections. As it turns out, there is a light switch on the opposite wall of the part I need to cut out. If you ever perform any similar type of repair, please remember to check for electrical connections. As you can see in this first picture, I drew lines showing the part I plan to remove. I am removing a section quite a bit larger than the actual hole because the patch I bought at the store is 2 ft. square. By removing a piece that is 2 ft. high, I only need to make one cut to get a replacement piece that is the correct size.
I used a RotoZip tool to remove the old drywall. A manual push saw could have been used also, but the RotoZip makes this part of the project very quick and easy.
Next I put two pieces of wood behind the old drywall at the top and bottom of the enlarged hole. I secured those in place by using drywall screws. The new piece of drywall will be secured to these pieces of wood. In retrospect, I should have put a third piece of wood in the middle and secured the new drywall there also, as the new drywall bowed out slightly. In order to make the pieces of wood more visible, I drew X's on them and used a piece of chalk to color them green. That is just to make them easier to see in the photograph.
Once the new piece of drywall was cut, I secured it to the wood with drywall screws. Now, you may notice that I actually had to use two pieces of drywall to patch this hole. That is because the master craftsman (me, of course) measured wrong and I cut the new piece too narrow. So, I had to cut two pieces that would fit instead.
This photograph came out blurry because I had to switch to manual focus. There was not enough contrast to for the autofocus to work. What I should have done was stop down the aperture for more depth of field to work with. Unfortunately, I could not go back and reshoot because the repair was completed already.
The final step is to use drywall mud to fill in the screw holes, and then tape the seams and mud them. I used fiberglass mesh tape which is sticky on one side and I was careful not to overlap the tape anywhere. This last photograph shows the final repair waiting for the last coat of mud. All that is left now is to sand the mud when it is dry, prime the wall, and paint to match.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Ethics in photography - When should we not take the picture?
Someone thought this was unusual enough to call an ambulance, however, so when the paramedics stopped a block away, I grabbed the camera and went to investigate. I was not surprised they were working on the same man I had seen and decided to see what kind of photographs I could get.
Taking candid photographs of people I don't know in a public setting is still something I am getting used to. I had to do a fair amount of research to figure out where the legal lines were so I could decide when I could and could not take photographs. From a legal standpoint I found I can pretty much photograph anything in public as long as I don't plan to use it commercially (such as in advertising). However, taking legal photographs is not always the same as taking ethical photographs. There is a time not to take a photograph and this entry has more to do with whether a photograph is ethical rather than legal.
For instance, I had no ethical qualms about photographing this scene as the paramedics were already onsite and treating the victim. Had I come across a car accident where people needed help and no ambulance had been called, I would have to be crazy to pull out the camera and start taking photographs. But if help was already there, and the people were being treated, I would probably begin taking photographs. "Why?", you ask? Because it is news worthy. When I open a newspaper and I see photographs of an accident from yesterday, I feel the photograph adds to the story and is therefore important. I don't even think to ask if the photographer who took the photograph should have done it or not?
Now, this is the first opportunity I have had to take this kind of photograph so I forgot to do some important things. I probably could have turned this into a news story if I had remembered to speak to the people and get the specifics about what happened and who the people were. It has been difficult for me to get over the shyness of taking photographs of strangers and speaking to them in a tense situation is even more difficult, so I am taking this in steps. The first step is to get used to taking the "hard" photographs. Next time I hope I can work up the courage to speak to those involved.
Touring Westport
I am taking a class, "Kansas City History", which is very interesting. Each week we meet in a different part of Kansas City for a walking tour of the topic we are currently studying. This week we toured Westport which was the community that preceded Kansas City, and was eventually enveloped as Kansas City grew. This community has preserved much of its history and older buildings. Westport has also become a very eclectic and unusual area in terms of culture. It is very "artsy" by day and a party town by night. Much of it is run down, and there are areas where spray painting signs on garage doors are tolerated (although I love the message).
Other parts have been restored and are very nice looking. There is an entire section of older houses that were purchased by a local mortgage company and instead of tearing them down, he had them restored and now leases them to different companies. He used period colors which are loud and bright and I think they look fantastic.
We also toured the Kansas City Vietnam Memorial which is in Westport. There is a very nice fountain and a wall with the names of all the Kansas City soldiers who died in Vietnam. However, there is also a little monument set off to the side that kind of summed it all up for me.
It was a very enjoyable and educational tour and this is one of the best classes I have had. I look forward to next week and the photographic opportunities this class presents.
