I have honestly never tried very man conceptual photographs. i have not set up man and planned for the idea. However, I want to push myself and plan on doing much more of that.  I figured starting with this simple idea would get the ball rolling.

I want to start creating my photographs more than just finding them in the world.  I will still be taking very man photographs that do not need total creation, but hopefully I can get more precise expressions of my ideas into my art.

So a few days ago, I got bored. I took a while to take some self portraits. I started experimenting with motion and slow shutter speeds.  These are all single shot photographs with shutter speeds of about 30 seconds.  Both individuals in the photographs are me. There also more motion experiments with a scarf which I will hopefully post tomorrow.

Here is the rest of the series of what I am calling “disconnect”:

If I make this more of a series, they will all be in black and white probably. I really like the story it tells.

Thanksgiving is past and Black Friday is almost over. I actually hate the consumerism of Black Friday. So today, my mom and I spent the day cleaning out the garage and donating things to Goodwill.

I took a bunch of photographs a few days ago while playing with motion and self portraits. I have been experimenting with textures as well.  I will be posting those in the next few days.  This photograph is of course using textures and I used a slow shutter speed so the photo is extra soft.

We found some old cameras out in the garage today, and I of course kept them.  I love them.

After all that work though, I am utterly exhausted.  Tomorrow we go to get the Christmas tree and decorate the house.  Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures.

So, this is a self-portrait that I happen to really like.

I haven’t uploaded any new photos in a few days. I have not really had the opportunity to take many. It has been so cold and rainy out.

I do however want to start trying some new things in Photoshop with textures and things. I might be re-editing some of my photos just for fun.

My addiction to deviantART has grown fatal.  I spend way too much time on there.  I have realized that I reallyreallyreally want to a pro account.  I also want one for Flickr. However that costs $50 that I do not have.  Next $50 that I get, is going towards those two things.  I love them both oh so much. However I still want to keep my Fotki account because of the great price on prints. Those prices are just amazing.

Well, I have come to the realization that I am a Pro-Am.  This term means professional-amateur. Apparently in the world of art, people use the term to refer to anyone who takes there hobby to the extreme.  That would be me. I am not a professional because I do not turn a profit. However, I take my photography very serious and try to learn to the best of my abilities.

On another note, I want to start making icons. I have no idea what they will be used for, but I want to make them. It will be fun.

I have now finished updating my deviantART account.  I now will be working on my Artician portfolio and taking more photographs.  I will also be trying to get everything ready for UGA.  This year is almost over and it is going way too fast.

I am just so excited right now that I might possibly explode while I am typing this. I get to attend the Rockettes tonight at the Fox Theatre.  I simply cannot wait.  I sure hope they let me take pictures.

As far as black and white week go, I have not taken any pictures.  I will hopefully get some tonight while I am out and about in the city.

I currently have an obsession with weeds.  I am also really getting into this whole deviantART thing. It’s a great site to get connected with other photographers and find inspiration. Everyone is very encouraging and not stuck up like on many photography websites I have been to. I hate snobs.

Because I am totally broke this year, I will not be buying Christmas presents for people. I have instead decided to put together photobooks and let people order them if they want. Think of it as a discount.  While I was out with the family today, I saw people already doing their Christmas shopping.  The consumerism around holidays has always driven me crazy. This year, I want my holidays to be calm and enjoyable.  No holiday bustle for me.

On another note, have I ever mentioned in this blog how much I love black and white photography. Well I do.  For the next week, I am going to only take black and white photography.  Let’s see what happens.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love going through all of my photographs on the computer, and post-processing can be a blast. I really wish it didn’t take 10 hours every time I did it.  I don’t know how I am going to take a photograph and post it every day for a year.  It just takes me so long to go through them all. I did finish the photographs from the photo-walk.  It turns out there were not too many of those.  However, I do have this one of my brother. I also have a ton of photographs I took yesterday.  Since it is Friday, I am going to post two photographs today.  So here is my favorite from yesterday.

How’s that for popular art. Yes, I have painted leaves in my yard.  The cable guys decided it would be a good idea to run spray paint lines through our yard.  They just happened to make me some colorful leaves and excellent photography subjects. I just could not get enough of these. So, expect more rainbow leaves.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, I will be awfully busy. I will also have tons of opportunities to take new photographs. I always get excited at this time of year.  The world of photography is just as exciting around the holidays as the real world is.

With a new year approaching quickly I want to make plans for my photography.  I will be moving to Athens and hoping to get a job.  I am really praying that God provides me with the opportunity to be a photographer’s assistant or to work in a photography studio.  I will also be starting a photography challenge of my own at the beginning of the year.  I want to embark on the 365 project.  This will be extremely difficult for me, because I hate to be in pictures. I prefer to be behind the camera, not in front of it.  Hopefully this will push my photography to a new level.  I also want to take a still-life that goes along with the self-portrait each day. Until then, I will just keep practicing and get in the habit of taking photographs every day.

The photograph is not from the photo-walk I went on with my brother. I am going to be uploading those today. Here goes about 10 hours of work.

So I am often confused about the consensus on camera flare. Some of my favorite photographs, like this one, include camera flare. However, I always read that photographers are trying to reduce flair.  Then I remembered that photography is an art and not a science.  Just like noise in a photograph can be an artistic element or a deterrence, so can flair from the light.

So if you are trying for that perfect flair that complements your photograph instead of distracting from it, how do you get it? Because this one was caused by accident, I can only guess how it was achieved.  This photograph was taken in the late morning near 11:00 am.  The sun was actually behind the tree, but high enough to not cause a silhouette.

I am just glad that I was fortunate to have such a great photograph.

I did go on a photography-walk with my little brother today.  Unfortunately here in rainforest, GA it was of course not very dry outside.  I am so uptight about my camera, that I did have a hard time taking it out on the walk.  Hopefully I will be posting one of those photographs tomorrow.