Frame Five

Meet yours truly.

I have a 430ex flash I use with my 20d, but, have never really used it for anything other than straight on, flat light shots with a lightshpere. I wanted to try something different. So, I bought a piece of white foamcore, set it to my left side and with camera on my tripod in the portrait position I bounced the flash off the foamcore about two feet to my left. It took me about a gazillion tries to get myself centered in the frame the way I wanted. I finally did and after much messing around in PS this is the result.

I'm not sure if the left side of my face is too bright or not. It's not blown out on my screen, but is "almost there" and fear it may be on others (I use a spyder2 for callibration).

Anyhow, it's been cold here and I haven't been out much with the camera. I figured I qualified for a "People" in "People, Places and Things of Central Iowa", so, this is what you're getting this week. :)

Canon 20d, Canon EF-S 60mm macro 2.8, shot manual - 1/250 - f/8 - 430ex E-TTL

Frame Four

While out and about today I came across a group of West Des Moines Firefighters training for cold water rescue. I was snapping away and a Firefighter who'd already been in the water came over and asked me if I was with the paper (heh, first time I've been asked that). I told him no, that photography was just a hobby. I then asked him about the wet suits they were using and if they still got chilled while using them. He said they were quite warm and only became cold after long periods of time in the water. In fact, he was sweating around his neck when he took his suit off just a few minutes earlier.

I'm glad I turned down the road I did and came across some of our bravest training for what could someday save a life. I had no idea that's what I'd find when I walked out the door. I'm glad I did.

Canon 20d - Tamron 28-75 2.8 - 75mm at f5.6 100iso

Until next frame...

Frame Three

Picture, if you will, an average guy or gal sitting here, holding a piece of white board with a message written on it. What would it say? Something like this... "It's too damn cold to be sitting here having my photograph taken!" ...and they'd be right.

This shot was taken at a park in Des Moines called Water Works. It's along the Raccoon River and is where the Des Moines water treatment plant is located. On a nice day there probably would have been someone sitting here reading a book or just taking in the sun. Not this day, though. When I shot this the temperature was hovering at about 0 degrees (fahrenheit) with a wind chill of about -22 and I was the only fool, errr, person in sight. After a fairly mild December, we're finally having a bit of "normal" Iowa winter weather. I don't normally mind the cold, unless the wind is blowing and the wind chill is at -22 degrees. Then it sucketh, royally. :)

Canon 20D - Sigma 70-300 APO DG - 100iso - shot at 100mm - 1/400th @ f/8

Frame Two

Meet Brett and Tamara, soon to be newly-weds and two of the nicest people I know. I met Brett in 1982 when he answered an add I placed looking for a bassist for a band. You can learn more about Brett, here. He's quite the creative guy.

I took this shot at dinner a few nights ago. Just a casual, spur of the moment thing using a wall for a back ground and my 430ex with a lightsphere for lighting. It was a wonderful dinner. Brett's mentioned to me many times what a great cook Tamara is. He's wasn't kidding. Good food, good friends. Can't ask for much more than that.

Canon 20d set to manual - shutter 1/200 - f/4.5 - iso400 - Canon EF-S 60mm macro - 430EX ETTL - Lightsphere

Frame One

I've been telling myself I'd do something like this for a long time. Can you say "procrastination"? I wrote the book on the subject. I've been into photography since taking classes in high school, where I learned the basics of black and white photography. I always enjoyed my time in the darkroom. It was always very relaxing, rather "zen" like, to me. That was a long time ago, though, with quite a few inactive years between then and now.

A little over a year ago I came across a site called DPChallenge (my user name there is error99) that rekindled that "photo bug" inside me. Since then, I've been dabbling in photography again (more off than on for various reasons) and now feel it's time to shift from neutral to drive. If all goes as planned I will be posting at least one photo a week that I'm not too embarrassed to put my name on. Who knows where this ride will take me? I hope to learn a lot. Not only about photography, but also, about myself.

The photo above is the door to the only remaining building that was once Fort Des Moines. It's no more than a cabin sitting in the parking lot of the Iowa Cubs ball field. I guess that's the door I'm walking through to start this project. If you choose to walk through that door with me and keep an eye on the "goings on" around here, I hope you enjoy the ride as well. :)

Until the next frame,

Kelly Steele