Water Colors by Canon

The weather hasn’t been all that nice this past week so I really didn’t get to take my camera out to the Parks much. Instead I took the Canon EOS 40D to the sink, grabbed a blue plastic plate and had some fun taking photos of water drops…

Once I got what I thought was by best one I applied a bunch of different hues as you can see above.

After that I got a little greedy and wanted to see what else my Canon could capture around the house…

As you can see, even on a rainy day, a little water, a few props, and a splash of color can lead to some fun photos.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sean

Mascots and Pepe the Free Range Pinata

Mascots: those sometime beloved, sometimes creepy characters used for product endorsements to push everything from auto insurance to burgers.

In the beloved catagory I think most would say the Gecko is a relatively benign character, cute but not over the top, non-threatening and quite proper with it’s slightly British accent. Probably the biggest reason for it’s success is the clever word play with company name. Insurance is just another one of those things we pay for. It’s a living expense, but who would you rather get it from, a huge iconic corporate logo where you’re just a number, or a company mascot that’s not above having a little fun with it’s own name. I think in most cases the Gecko wins because oddly enough it humanizes an utterly inhuman product.

On the other end of the spectrum we’ve got the creepy catagory, all I’m gonna say is nightmare inducing big plastic headed King. This non-speaking character is ominous with it’s creepy smile and placed in “stalker” type scenarios that remind one of the Clown for Stephen King’s “It”.  I think this company is searching for another hook as we’re starting to see a variety of different themes in commercials. All I can say is ditch the King and start over. When was the last time you saw your competitior’s clown mascot in a commercial?

Somwhere in the middle there’s a cheeky garden gnome, a cheetah that’s trying to come off as uber hip, and finally my personal entry into the mascot fray: Pepe the Free Range Pinata…

Pepe is colorful, non-threatening, has a politcally correct past, and as you can see from the photos is up for traveling, visiting the park and other historic places. Pepe’s adventures might even find his way into a children’s book series if properly persuaded…

Book 1: Pepe the Free Range Pinata details how Pepe was born free in the Southwest United States and is befriended by Louise who takes him all over the country.

Book 2: Pepe visits the Lighthouse when Louise goes to Ohio to visit her family and learns all about lighthouses.

Book 3: Pepe and Louise visit the Park and learn all about nature and different plants at the park from Ranger Dan.

And so on, and so on…

Wow, all of that to post a few photos

Thanks for stopping by,

 

Sean

Trying to find time…

The last two weeks have been an absolute nightmare. Things have gotten so crazy and I’ve found myself with very little time to do anything besides work at the computer.

Needless to say, I haven’t been able to get out and spend any amount of time taking photos with my Olympus SP-560UZ but I hope to remedy that this weekend.

There has been an upside to the debacle that has been the last two weeks, it’s given me some time to find a nice site called Imagekind that will allow folks to purchase greeting cards and various size prints of some of my photos along with frames and matting so they look like “proper” art.

I opted to sign up for the free account to try them out which provides 1 album for 24 photos or 200MB of space depending on the size of your images. So far I’ve only managed to upload a few photos, which can be found here.

Considering the limited amount of time I have today, I think I’ll re-post me previous photo compilation and see if I can actually get out for a few more this evening. (Click thumbnail to enlarge.)

Many thanks to those who’ve stopped by and taken a look at the photos posted here. I hope you get the chance to swing buy again. If you like any of the photos you see on this site please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Sell your photos online
Buy my art at Imagekind!

Green Theme Photos…

It seems there’s been a lot of interest lately in all things “green”.  I decided that I would make an effort to take a few “green” themed photos a couple of times a week as part of my regular hobby. The Olympus SP-560UZ makes this pretty easy with a ton of creative shooting options. My efforts to date can be seen below.(Click thumbnails to enlarge.) 

These are hopefully the first of many “green” themed photos to appear on this site and if anyone would like to make a suggestion for future green photos I’d be more than happy to give it a “shot”. (Pun intended )

Many thanks to those who’ve stopped by and taken a look at the photos posted here. I hope you get the chance to swing buy again. If you like any of the photos you see on this site please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Sell your photos online

Random photo from this weekend…

Just as things were finally starting to settle back down, life got crazy again and truth be told I really only had the opportunity to snap 3 or 4 pictures with the Olympus SP-560UZ. My best shot from this weekend is posted below.

I was on my way home from the gas station when I saw this flash of yellow breaking up an otherwise grey/white scene. Upon further inspection I saw the sunflowers peeping over the top of the privacy fence of a used car lot and grabbed the camera.

(Click thumbnail to enlarge.)

Many thanks to those who’ve stopped by and taken a look at the photos posted here this weekend. I hope you get the chance to swing buy again. That’s about all I really have time for today. If you like any of the photos you see on this site please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Friday Fun Picture Post

Thought I’d head into the weekend with a little humor and post up this shot titled “Ooops”. I took it the other day while having some fun with the Olympus SP-560UZ.  I guess the “No Parking” sign was meant for someone else (Click thumbnail to enlarge.)

Many thanks to those who’ve stopped by and taken a look at the photos posted here. I hope you all have a fun and safe weekend.

That’s about all I really have time for tonight. If you like any of the photos you see on this site please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Sold my first photo !!!

After the last couple of days of looking at stock photos and realizing that I really wasn’t taking a lot of that type of photo, imagine my surprise today when I checked my account and realized that I’d sold my first image. (Click thumbnail to enlarge.)

The above photo that sold today was shot at Veteran’s Park the morning after a storm blew threw. I thought I might get lucky and capture a few cool pictures. Things were pretty hectic at the time and just getting out to the park and taking pictures provided a fair bit of relief.

This photo on the other hand is an actual attempt at a stock photo and was the more difficult of the two to acquire. Took about 20 trial and error shots to get the end result. (Click thumbnail to enlarge.)

 

I think I’ve decided to follow the shoot first and consider the audience later approach as it would seem that I can actually sell this type of photo and enjoy taking them far more.

That’s about all I really have time for today. If you like any of the photos you see on this site please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

4 Picture Post

Things are finally settling down a bit and with the few minutes I have this evening thought I’d try and sneak in a 4 Picture Post…

Over the past week, while things have been quite hectic, I’ve found myself grabbing the Olympus SP-560UZ to carry with me on the off chance I’d be able to snap a photo or two and I’m happy to report tonight that thankfully, I have.

Tonight’s pictures come from an excursion I made to the county seat this weekend. (Click thumbnails to enlarge.)

That’s about all I really have time for today. If you like any of the photos you see on this site please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Random Shot of the Day…

Things have been very busy today and with the limited time I have I decided to post a “Random Shot of the day” Enjoy. (Click thumbnail for larger image.)

And for something a little different, I’ve decided to add the photo infomation as well…

Camera : OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP SP560UZ
F Number : 3.2
ISO Speed : 125
Exposure Program : Creative (Slow speed)
Exposure Mode : Auto
Exposure Compensation : 0
Metering Mode : Multi-segment
Focal Length : 6.4 mm
White Balance : Auto
Date/Time Original : 2008:08:02 04:43:46
Software : Version 1.1
Components Configuration : YCbCr
Compression : JPEG (old-style)
Orientation : Horizontal (normal)
Exif Version : 0221

That’s about all I really have time for today. If you like any of the photos you see on this site please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Veteran’s Park early morning…

Snuck out early this morning with the Olympus SP-560UZ to Veteran’s Park just after sunrise, before the day started to get too crazy. It was a windy, slightly chilly morning after a storm the night before. The combination of wind, sun, clouds, and the park made for some nice pictures. Hope you enjoy. (Click thumbnails to enlarge.)

That’s about all I really have time for today. If you like any of the photos you see here please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Weekend Wrap Up…

It’s been about 2 weeks since I acquired the Olympus SP-560UZ digital camera and with the next couple of weeks looking hectic at best it seemed like a good time to for a “summary” post.

In regards to the camera, I’ve enjoyed all the additional features Olympus has packed into this camera. The 18x optical zoom is outstanding and at 8 Mega Pixels you’re bound to get some pretty amazing shots.  With a 1 GB XD memory card you can save nearly 500 of those shots with a resolution of 3264 x 2448. It took a little time to figure out which scene modes work best with which light, but over all my initial experience has been satisfying.

It may be a week or two before I get a chance to post again so I figured I’d post my eight favorite shots to date as a testament to the quality of the camera and the fun you can have with it. So without further adieu I present my eight favorite photos since starting my hobby, hope you enjoy… (Click thumbnails for larger image.)

That’s about all I really have time for tonight. I hope to sneak a post or two in this week, but it might be the weekend or next week before I get to again. If you like any of the photos you see here please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Friday Picture Post…

Today was kind of a crazy day at the office and I’m glad to be home. I did manage to explore our office building a bit during and lunch and snap a few more pictures. Here’s today’s photo’s… (Click thumbnails to enlarge.)

 

That’s about all I really have time for tonight. If you like any of the photos you see here please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Home Office Fun…

I was doing some work out of my home office this evening and decided to take a break and have a little fun. The results can be seen below. (Click thumbnails to enlarge.)

That’s about all I really have time for tonight, back to the ol’ grindstone. If you like any of the photos you see here please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Photos at home…

A friend of mine gave me a bit of advice when I told him that I was going take up photography as a hobby.

He said, “If you’re serious about about taking up photography, no matter what, take at least one picture a day.”

As family health issues have kept me close to home this past week, I’m trying to follow his advice and take a few photographs every day around the house to continue familiarizing myself with the new Olympus camera and rediscover my creative side.

So without further adieu I present tonight’s photos… (Click thumbnails to enlarge.)

That’s about all I really have time for tonight. I’ll keep posting additional photos as I become more familiar with the Olympus and attempt to develope a little better skill with different lighting scenarios, objects in motion, and artistic effects, or feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Hobby takes a hit…

Well,

2 days into my new found hobby a family emergency has brought things to a screeching halt. I’ve not really had any time to acquire new images, but thought I’d take a few of the free moments I have this evening to finish posting the remainder of my photos from day 1 with the new camera.

In all I think ended up snapping around 130 pictures day one while playing with all the different settings, but only kept about half of them based on quality and personal preference. One item of note, I give the Olympus high marks for it’s ease of use and the 25 or so pre-defined picture modes it comes with.  For anyone new to digital cameras, I would recommend playing with all of your shooting modes to find which ones suite your tastes and fill the bill for the moment or subject matter you are trying to capture.

Now then, onto the remaining samples of day 1 photos… (Click thumbnails to enlarge.)

That’s about all I really have time for right now. I’ll try to post some additional photos from day two forward as time permits, or feel free to visit my album over at Shutterpoint.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh