The World We Have - BCP

QUOTE:

"Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I'm going to take tomorrow." - Imogen Cunningham

Endless opportunities lie in the future. Your best photo has NOT been taken yet. Maybe your favorite, but only so far. Never tell yourself you can't get better. That will be your demise. 

I've been thinking of the dull scenery of winter trees, and the lack of color. I realized that you don't always have to have the "perfect" ingredients to take a picture. After all, you make the picture, it doesn't make itself. 

You have to craft the picture, and use the ingredients you have. Maybe make the picture a different style. Not all pictures have to be "cheery" or "happy." Some can be labeled "dreary" or "sad" and still be very good pictures. 

I want to make the best of the opportunities I have for the moment, and not wait for what looks perfect, because I will never find it. We need to use the world we have to take photos for today.

On to the pictures:

This was taken in super macro, and manual. I like playing around with my camera, and seeing what I can do with it. In this photo, I was trying to create a feeling of flow, with the viewers' gaze drifting to the right. I love shooting macro and getting the small details in the picture. This has not been edited.

We have had quite a few pretty skies, and I have been trying to shoot manual during these sunsets. I like to get a lot of the clouds as well when I take pictures, because they are an important part of what makes a pretty sky. This photo has not been edited.

I hope you like my pictures. :) I have been trying to take more pictures. I'm running out of quality pictures from the past, so I have to keep my production up. I have quite a few more pictures waiting to be posted, so be on the look out for those. 

Many of my pictures will be regularly uploaded on my Facebook page, so be sure to check them out there if you can. On Facebook, I will be using the hashtag #bcp for Brett Cole ♦ Photography. That way, people can easily find my pictures.

I think I have done a pretty good job of blogging on a weekly basis, but please comment and tell me what you think. I need suggestions on how to make my blog better. If you want me to blog with more pictures, I can probably do that. Basically, I am having trouble knowing what people want from my blog, so please help me out here. ;)

I have been contacted by a great photographer, Jacob Gonzalez, and I would like to give him a shoutout. He is a great photographer, so check him out. You can find him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacobGonzalezPhotography?fref=ts

That is about all I have for now, but stay tuned to my photography page on Facebook. Photos are coming. :) The next shot from my first shoot is below. Thanks again for reading.

- Brett Cole ♦ Photography

Find and Contact Brett Cole ♦ Photography:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brettdcolephotography?ref=hl
Website: http://deanmail099.wix.com/brettcolephotography
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/brettcolephotography
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100589357@N08/  
Email:  deanmail099@gmail.com

Photography At Its Best: Shooting Manual - BCP

* Before I got started with this week's post, I thought I should explain something. As a photographer, I shoot mostly landscapes, but I can shoot portrait as well, and enjoy doing it. *

-BCP-

QUOTE:

"You don't take a photograph, you make it." - Ansel Adams

This is a great quote. To be a good photographer, you need to be aware of what makes a good photo, and know how to capture it the right way and the right time. 

That being said, I've been taking a little deeper look into manual photography (thanks to a little inspiration, ;) you know who you are...) and have been using it to take most of my pictures. We have had quite a few pretty sunsets recently, and I got some great shots. :) 

When shooting in manual, I believe it is important to experiment. At the start, you don't have to know exactly what the shutter-speed is, what aperture means, or how ISO is used. At the first. To start out, you need to experiment with each of these features. You need to discover for yourself what they make the pictures look like. If you don't know the denotation of the word, it's fine, as long as you learn how it affects your photographs.

I don't want to make people think that knowing what these things mean is optional. Only when you start out, does what I'm saying apply. It's how you start. Then you can learn the depth of each aspect. Every great photographer knows how they affect the picture you take.

I've been doing some 'experimenting' myself, and I've been learning even more of how to craft my photos. It really helps, and I have learned a great deal about how to factor these aspects the right way to make my photos look good. Photography is an outlet for your imagination. You need to use it in the best way possible.

Here are the photos for this blog:

This photo was taken through the trees, manual mode, and I thought it turned out pretty good with the blue sky and brilliant sun. It has not been edited. I tried to hide the rays on this one. Experimenting with different ways and types of photography is one of my favorite parts of being a photographer.

This is just one of many beautiful sunsets we have had in the past few weeks. Once again taken on manual mode, this one has not been edited. I really like the varied display of colors portrayed on this one.

Well, I think the pictures are pretty good, but I *MIGHT* be biased! ;) Life has been good, and I've been taking even MORE pictures, which I think is great. With my external hard drive, I have plenty of space (1 TB) to put my photos, edited or not. The space is very nice when you take a lot of pictures, edit them, and then have large files. I can't shoot RAW with my little digital camera, so they aren't as big as many people's, but I know the feeling of a slow computer, and most of that would be dedicated to my extensive photography collection. :)

I have received great inspiration to take more photographs from multiple people, and from quotes. I want to give a special thanks to everyone that has inspired me and helped me. I have also signed up to receive weekly newsletters from Digital Photography School, to help give inspiration and tips about photography. :)

I also want to explain my photography a little more. I know this is going to be a big blog post, but I hope everyone reads it and enjoys it. :) I take a lot of pictures, and I use manual mode for a lot of things, but I have been guilty of being an auto reliant. I am trying to change that, because I know that if I get a DSLR soon (I want to), I will be needing to shoot manual to use the full potential of the camera. Right now, the camera I use is a Fujifilm Finepix S1000fd with 12x optical zoom and 10.0 mega pixels. It works pretty well right now, but tends to make the pictures grainy. It has worked great, though, so I'm glad that I was privileged to get it for a cheap price.

To edit my photos, I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4, the best software I have tried. I have used Adobe Photoshop CS6, Gimp, Pixlr Editor, and others, but none of them had the white balance and precision retouching abilities that I liked as much as Lightroom. I'm glad that I have been able to use this program, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quality photo editing software.

To extend the disclaimer at the beginning of this post, I want to say that I am looking for more portrait photography jobs. If you know someone who needs a photo shoot of them and/or their family, feel free to contact me at deanmail099@gmail.com. 

The weather has been pretty nice the past week, with no snow... no snow is the only con. But, every phase of weather has a pro and a con. The pro of the pretty weather as of now is sports. Ultimate Frisbee is one of my top three sports by now, and I love playing it whenever I get the chance. :) Around here, we only play with pro discs, sponsored by the AUDL (American United Disc League) and Brodie Smith. 

School is great, even if I don't particularly like science right now. :) English is going great, and we are doing a lot of writing; that's always exciting! In Publications, we are doing a lot of work on the Yearbook, and the pages are starting to look really good. In P.E., (Physical Education or Gym) we have been doing some fitness. We are doing that for the rest of this week, but contrary to popular 8th grader beliefs, I actually like what we are doing in gym. 

We are running the bleachers, doing squats, and working out. I have really wanted to get myself in better physical shape, and I think I will be by the end of this semester. We do weights, running, and stretches. I've really enjoyed it, and I can't wait for the Frisbee unit! ;) 

That is about all that I have for this post. I have finally gotten permission from my clients to post the best of the pictures from their photo shoot, so I will post one picture every week. They will be under the blog post at the very end. Enjoy! :)

- Brett Cole ♦ Photography

Find and Contact Brett Cole ♦ Photography:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brettdcolephotography?ref=hl
Website: http://deanmail099.wix.com/brettcolephotography
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/brettcolephotography
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100589357@N08/  
Email:  deanmail099@gmail.com

Winter Wonders!

QUOTE:

"Photography is an important part of my life." - Conrad Hall

Ditto, Conrad. I love photography, and it is important to me! :)

Oh, how I love winter! As Alex says, "Snow, snowsnow, snowsnowsnowsnowsnowsnow!" Haha, "Snow Day" in Adventures in Odyssey is great! :) Speaking of snow days, we have had plenty of them this winter! I love the snow, and it just so happens that is makes perfect photo opportunities. And I try to take advantage of them when I can. :) So, I have some pictures! :) I already posted one of these pictures on my photography page on Facebook, but hopefully you'll want to see them here. (And read the blog) ;) 

This is a picture I took of the ice, during the ice storm we had. It was a great opportunity to get some shots, and I was able to get a few. Most were blurry, though, due to the below freezing, bone-chilling, wind biting temperature (weather).

This was taken in manual, and I'll be the first to say it didn't turn out as I would have liked it to. But, we're always learning, right? I figure no one reads my blog anyway, so who cares? Haha just kidding. I know a few do, but it doesn't hurt to see some mess ups, does it? In this one, I was trying to capture the feel of a person walking towards the sunset int he snow. I hope it worked. :)

That's the pictures I have, so I hope you enjoyed them. I've been enjoying winter (I always do). I was especially glad that I got so many days off of school, AND when I learned that we won't have to go to school in June to make up all those fun days. :) Snow is great for many things, I guess that's why I like it. Snowball wars, snow forts, sledding, skiing (never done it, but sounds fun), game nights with my family, toasty covers at night, and just the cliche things to do in the snow and in the house while the turbulent winter winds blow about. (I think a little of my love of writing surfaced there... haha) I've been enjoying going back to school though... imagine that! Ha! I guess I like to see my friends again. :) Maybe you guys have had some fun this winter! Leave your experiences in the comments if you want. I love winter stories. :) Thank you for reading (If you got this far...) and I hope you enjoy what I do. :D

- Brett Cole ♦ Photography

Find and Contact Brett Cole ♦ Photography:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brettdcolephotography?ref=hl
Website: http://deanmail099.wix.com/brettcolephotography
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/brettcolephotography
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100589357@N08/  
Email:  deanmail099@gmail.com

A Look Into Macro Photography

QUOTE:

"What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time." 

- John Berger

Greetings! :) Photography is indeed easy to shape. It needs light and time, and a camera. That's about it. It's primary materials are in nature. In this blog post, I want to take a look at macro photography. Macro, in short, basically means close-up. For an example, here is my first picture, an older one:

This picture was taken in a while back. It was in one of my first posts to this blog. But take a look at the picture. I got close to the object (flower) and took the picture, focusing on the object in a short distance. I really liked the water drops that were covering the flowers, as this photo was taken right after a rain shower.

So, you see that macro photographs are taken close to the object, or subject, of the picture. Macro photography is useful for taking pictures of small objects and, in effect, magnifying them. Take a look at this picture:

In this photo, I wanted to focus on the button and where it buttons. By taking it macro-style, I practically magnified it, and put it in focus. This photo was fun to take, it was taken a while back, and I have posted a black and white version of it on the blog before. 

I really enjoy macro photography, so a lot of my photos will probably incorporate macro in some way, shape, or form. ;)

It's really been winter lately! Temperatures down below zero Fahrenheit! Brrr! We've been on our Christmas break, but the today we got school off again because of inclement weather (snow, ice, cold temperatures, bad road conditions). They almost always say due to inclement weather, but I've noticed, once you get multiple days in a row, they quit saying "due to inclement weather." It changes to simply "School closed X day, X month." :D I find it amusing! I'm going to get some shots of the awesome wintry weather today, and a few of them should be on my next blog post! :) 

On a side note, I haven't gotten permission to share the photos from my debut photography session, but when I do, they'll be included as a bonus photo in my future blog posts. They'll probably be posted at a rate of one per blog post, so it will take a few weeks to get the best ones. :) I can't wait to get future jobs, because it's great!

That's all I have for this post. As always, thanks for taking the time to read. Until next time, I'm signing off.

- Brett Cole ♦ Photography

Find and Contact Brett Cole ♦ Photography:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brettdcolephotography?ref=hl
Website: http://deanmail099.wix.com/brettcolephotography
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/brettcolephotography
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100589357@N08/  
Email:  deanmail099@gmail.com

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(Before I got started, I just had to say it! ;) 2014 awaits. Seize it)

QUOTE:

"Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still." - Dorothea Lange

That is one of my favorite photography quotes, and it's very true. I've been thinking about photography more and more, and decided that I should start up blogging again. After all, it's a new year, and I can have a new beginning in blogging, right? I plan to do things a little differently. I am hoping to blog once a week, posting one or two pictures in the blog, and making it more of an actual blog. So, I guess I'll start out with the pictures.

Okay, so this is one of my favorite shots I've gotten so far. It's a stunning sunset in Missouri (we have quite a few of those it seems) and I was shooting on "sunset" mode for this shot. I took it, straightened it (didn't have my tripod at this point), and added a few edits. Taking this photo and running it through so basic editing, I was able to get more of the true feeling that I felt when I got this picture. The sun was beautiful, and with the tree and barbed wire in the forefront, it was a perfect photo opportunity.

Some people have asked me why I edit photos. This is my answer for them. When you take a picture with a camera, you don't get what you really see. My camera isn't all that good in the first place, so editing my photos makes them look better, and more realistic. I try to edit the pictures to fit what I really see or want to see. My opinion, I'm sure, isn't the same as everyone else, but that is my stand on the subject. Now then, next picture.

I've realized that I take a lot of pictures, but I mostly use the "Auto" setting. For this photo, I decided to try my hand at manual photography, and I think it turned out well. I wanted something that would pop, and get attention. I decided to use macro, and get this fescue in focus, but blur the background. This was a very amazing breakthrough, as I've had trouble accomplishing that aspect of photography in the past. I really like this picture as well.

Well, there you have it. Two pictures on the new year blog post. I am going to change the look of my blog as well, as you may now see. :) I've been having a lot of fun this Christmas time, and into the new year. I'll have some winter pictures on my next post, which will probably be sometime next week. 

Photography-wise, there has been a pretty big thing that happened since I last blogged. I got my first photography job, and had my first shoot. It was very fun, and from what I've heard from my "clients" (feels funny saying that ;) I had a real job!), they really liked the photos I took for them. That was exciting and encouraging, and I'm glad I was able to have that experience. I also got a tripod for my birthday, and it's really nice. It helps to steady my hands to make the pictures clear. 

I've been trying to take more pictures, and explore manual photography. I am learning how to make a picture look good without a device doing all the work. It's been fun and yet challenging. We had an ice storm, and I was able to get some pictures of the icicles. Winter is a great time to get photographs, and I got a few.

Also, I would like to request feedback on what I should do with my blog. More pictures, more blogging, more photography stuff, or whatever you want me to incorporate with this. I hope this will be a good experience for me. Please feel free leave comments or contact me personally with your thoughts about my redesigned blog. Thanks! ;) That's all I have, so thanks for reading. :)

- Brett Cole ♦ Photography

Find and Contact Brett Cole ♦ Photography:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brettdcolephotography?ref=hl
Website: http://deanmail099.wix.com/brettcolephotography
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/brettcolephotography
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100589357@N08/ 
Email:  deanmail099@gmail.com