Monday, October 31, 2011

Pedernales Falls State Park

This last weekend, Carolyn, Catherine and myself went for a hike at Pedernales Falls State Park. It is only about a 30-45 minute drive from downtown Austin and despite the lack of rain in central Texas, it was quite a site to see. Without the usual water rapidly coming down the river, it exposes these massive rocks that would normally just be peaking out of the surface of the water. I managed to get a few good shots while out at Pedernales Falls and hopefully I am able to go on more hikes in the coming weeks, especially since Texas has decided to finally have temperature below 85 degrees for once.


Pedernales Falls Again, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.


Pedernales Falls Panoramic, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Time Lapse Camera

Not quite sure if you remember my Time Lapse project from way back when, but I ran into quite a few problems with my equipment. Firstly, putting the strain of taking thousands of photos with my DSLR with the only purpose to be importing it into a video was starting to get costly. It actually cause my 40D to Error 99 on me a few times. Today, however, I stumbled upon a camera that would help get rid of all of those problems!

It is a Digital Time Lapse Camera, from PhotoJojo. Go check it out:
http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/time-lapse-camera/

For $150 and being water proof it is quite nice! It even gives you a few different choices on how often to take the pictures and then saves it all in a video for you!

It is a nice alternative to taking quick and easy time lapse movies, but I think I would miss the creative control when it comes down to editing the final JPEGs to get my own personal look and feel into the project. Since I am not that much of a After Effects guru, I think I will just settle for the rare occasions that I use my DSLR for this.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Night at Panama City Pier

While I was on my trip to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis take off for the final time, we stopped in Panama City for a couple days. One of the nights, I went down to the beach with my family around 10:00pm and snapped a few shots of the pier that was there. This shot is one of my favorites from the trip and I even have a black and white version of this same shot that I really like just as much. Maybe I will post it at some time in the future.


Night at Panama City Pier, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Atlantis Says Goodbye

Have not posted in a while, mostly because my flickr Pro account ran out and I am afraid of loosing all my photos. Anyway, I had to upload a picture from my trip to see Atlantis take off. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.


Atlantis Says Goodbye, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Learned Alpha Spotter 62

I am a sucker for destroying the rule of thirds in photography. That is all.


Learned Alpha Spotter 62, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Teddy via Argus C3

I am not sure if I have mentioned it yet, but I received a new camera from eBay. The camera that I am talking about is an Argus C3. Before I received the Argus I had no knowledge of what it was capable of or just how much of a cult following it really had. So the day I received it, I bought a couple rolls of film to pop in and start snapping. Lets just say a good 99% of the shots either did not turn out at all or were so blurry from camera shake that it was near impossible to make them out. The only one that came out well enough for me to show was this one of Teddy.

Since the last roll finished, I took apart the camera, cleaned the lens and viewfinders and also found out I had been shooting on Bulb mode the entire time I have been using this camera. That would explain all the camera shake on the photographs. So hopefully the next couple rolls will come out better now that this has been fixed.


Teddy via Argus C3, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Battle at F-Stop Ridge

I just found it and had to share it with everybody. Great video.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

The Ordinance of James

Well, as some may know, this weekend I went to Austin to attend the wedding of my life-long cousin Brandon and his new wife Lindsay. The wedding took place just outside of Austin, at a little western styled town, specifically for events such as this. Anyway, back to the reason you peek at my blog in the first place, the photos of the weekend! Well, I am sad to say this shot is the only one I took all weekend, at least with my DSLR. Granted I had my camera at my side for a majority of the weekend, the desire to shoot was rarely there. I think I just wanted to enjoy the wedding and just take it all in, except for when I first arrived for the rehearsal.

When I first arrive to the wedding site, I was greeted by this old pickup truck. I think old rusty beat up cars are some of the most fun objects to photograph and I had been wanting to do an HDR of one for a while. Alas, as I was setting up this shot, I was shocked to find that I had forgotten my tripod mounting plate. If you have ever shot HDR photos, then you know that a tripod is a must. I gave it my best hand-held shot, but in the end it just wasn't sharp enough with all three shots. So i went ahead and used the middle ground shot to create my HDR. I think it turned out quite nicely, but now I wish I would have taken more while I was there.

P.S. I would like to thank my friend Matt for helping me name this photograph as well. THANKS MATT!


The Ordinance of James, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Lake Travis Panoramic

Just got back from Lake Travis today and I am exhausted. This panoramic is over 19MB so click on the full version and check it out in the original size. More pictures will be coming very soon, but definitely not tonight. Now I will go sleep...


Lake Travis Panoramic, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Half Self-Portrait

I have been wanting to shoot portraits a lot lately, but have not really had any models to take pictures of. So I decided to set up in my backyard and take this one you see here. I really have been wanting to try this dramatic half face lit shot, you might have seen lighting like this before, but to me it reminds me of the original Mighty Ducks movie. You know, when they print the picture of Coach Bombay and his coach from when he was a kid in the local paper? Oh, you don't...well go watch it on Netflix then.

Even though this picture makes me look dark and depressed, I promise I am not. I just thought this turned out to be a good shot and wanted to see what comments I got about it. I do wish my eyes were a little more sharp, but that is really hard to accomplish when I focus on a stick before I stand there.


Half Self-Portrait, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Steel Flower

Well here it is, the first (kinda) shot from the film I ordered from the Impossible Project. It is of a steel flower that is just out front of my grandmothers house. I tried to frame it up as best as I could, but it was quite odd using the viewfinder in the Spectra. The reason I said 'kinda' about it being my first photo is, as you can see with the two behind it, it is not the only one I took. The first two where complete failures. The film did not exit the camera properly and because of this, the chemicals on the film smeared taking the image along with it.

I must say once this shot was finished developing I was quite happy to see something appear from nowhere. It has been almost ten years since I have seen a Polaroid used and if the film was not so expensive, I could see my self getting addicted to this camera quite easily.


Steel Flower, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Polaroid Spectra

I just recently got my hands on an oldie, but goodie. A Polaroid Spectra. While I was still in grad school, I had heard rumors of a company reproducing the classic instant film of the Polaroid. At the time I thought that was pretty cool, but really thought nothing else of it since I did not have a Polaroid to use. Well, on Monday, my grandmother let me borrow this fine piece of classic photography so I could see if the rumor were true. Today, I received a package, inside of it was one box of PZ 600 from The Impossible Project. They are currently reproducing the classic film to be used in these models and I can not wait to use it. I will be sure to post all of the photos I can as soon as I get them scanned in.


Polaroid Spectra, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.


Another thing I want to talk about is a question some people have asked me in the past, do I listen to music while photographing? The answer is kind of tricky. If it is sports or portraiture, the definite answer is no. It would become a barrier that I would need to get around in order to produce good photographs. However, if I am just walking around or doing still life photography of course I do. I find it helps keep things fun. One song in particular I want to share with everybody is by Sunset. Go ahead and have a listen below. Golden Reverie is a song that always seems to get me calm, it kind of says "Hey, slow down and just enjoy life." So sit back and give it a listen, see what you think.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Louisiana Visit

Very recently I traveled to Homer, Louisiana with Catherine and her sister to visit their grandparents. Having never been to the state for any reason besides a weekend trip to a casino or just passing through on the way to Florida, I was not really sure what to expect. Well, except for the many stories I have heard from Catherine.

I of course ventured with my camera at my side, safely packed away in my new ThinkTank side bag. I will have to go into more detail of that new purchase at a later date. I thought I would share with you, a few of my favorite photographs of the few days I spent there and try to tell you an experience I had surrounding that particular one.

The first picture is something I have been wanting to try ever since I received the Canon 2x Extender for Christmas, but have yet to have a chance around my house. At Catherine's grandparents they have a small bird feeder, just outside the back door. This made for a great spot to catch birds without scaring them away. I never considered myself much of a birdwatcher, but with a 400mm lens at the end of my 40D it is hard not to be.


Louisiana Visit, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.


Catherine's grandma love's cats, I can not even tell you how many different cats I saw this weekend. This one in particular is named Bootsie and is one of the few that I could actually remember the name of, well other than Big Guy. They really enjoy getting to walk around the back yard and chase the birds away when I find a Blue Jay or Cardinal within my sites. Other than that, they seemed very shy and avoided me for the most part of the trip.


Bootsie, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.


Catherine's cousin is a flower farmer. She has a Masters degree in Horticulture and one of the most amazing flower gardens I have ever seen, even though she claims it wasn't at its best. This is one of two photographs from this garden I decided to share, mostly because I love the lines and the bokeh that are shown. The only thing this garden seemed to be missing is a patch of Blue Bonnets. When you don't see just a few of those in a flower garden in the spring, you know your not in Texas anymore.


A Bokeh of Flowers, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.


This one feature of Catherine's grandmas backyard was one I have seen in many yards, but this time it was different. Since I don't have a fancy fish eye lens, I didn't have a fun way to capture just how big and wonderful her yard was. Putting the 70-200mm lens with the 2x Extender on my camera, I stood as far back as I could and snapped a few photos. Can you find me in there?


The Backyard, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.


During our trip, the girls gave me the grand tour of downtown Homer. They enjoyed joking about how it only took 20 minutes to see the whole town, including a stop at the Sonic for drinks. They told me that a bypass was just built before downtown and that has caused many of the shops here to close down due to lack of traffic. I didn't take to many photos downtown, but this is one I found to be entertaining.


1920 Waffle House, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.


The second of two photographs from Catherine's cousins flower garden. I enjoy taking these kind of photographs the most because it's different. It shows you a vantage point of something that you normally don't get to see. Overall it is probably my favorite photograph of the trip.


Bug Eyes View, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.


Only two more photographs, are you tired yet? I will go ahead and wrap this up for you since they are both flower shots. Really not a whole lot to say about these other than these are just a couple of the many wonderful flowers Catherine's grandma has planted in her yard. I was very impressed with how much work she must put it to keep them all so neat and beautiful.


A Flower, pink this time, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.



Flowers are hard to name, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.


Well, thats the end. Quite a few pictures in one post, by far the most I have ever done. I have a couple of big projects that I am working on, each involve quite a bit of web coding and I hope that I will be able to share the results with you soon!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Coconut Cream Pie

During my most recent trip to Austin, which happened to fall just after my brothers birthday, Catherine baked him a pie to celebrate it. It just so happened to be his favorite pie in the whole world, a coconut cream pie. This was interesting to him for the main reason that he had never had a cream topping on it before, just a meringue topping. I think it came off as a huge success, especially since we decided to double the ingredients for the whipped topping!

I have been trying to convince Catherine that she should start her own food/cooking blog, I think it would be a fun way to share all of the great treats that she makes for me! But until that happens, I just wanted to share with you the results with a couple of my favorite photos that I took of the finished pie.


Coconut Cream Pie #1, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.



Coconut Cream Pie #2, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.


Just in case you are curious, the recipe is based on one that can be found here:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Coconut-Cream-Pie-107115 Enjoy!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

CO 2011

Just recently had a photo shoot with Jake. We wanted to get a few shots on the football field, but it was taken by...well European football. So we went after a few photos in the hall of the school and got some pretty good shots. Not a whole lot to this shot, just an off camera Canon 430EX with a shoot through umbrella just about 3 feet in front of him to his right.


CO 2011, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Under the Capital

On my most recent trip to Austin, my sisters Challenger baseball team was recognized at the Texas House of Representatives. While there we got a tour, which I am sure for the kids, was quite fun. For me, it was really just trying to find a chance to lay down my tripod and snap a few photos before we had to move on to a new location.

I managed to get a few good photos and this one was on my "must take" list that I had in my head. In all the visits to the capital I have had, I have never been in the expansions underground. I thought it was an awesome chance to try for an HDR Panoramic and I think it came out pretty nice. A little bit of color fringing, but thats what happens with a stock lens when you push the f-stop up.


Under the Capital, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Moon

I just recently acquired a 2x magnifier for my camera and of course one of the first things I wanted to take shots of was the moon. Well it seemed like it took forever to find a decent night with little to no cloud cover and a just about full moon. I snapped a few shots just to see what I could come up with and this was one of my favorites. Not quites as close of a shot I thought I would get, but still amazing all the same.

What I found even more amazing was being able to see the moon move. When I would switch my camera to view on the LCD screen, for focusing, I noticed that the moon was actually rolling across the screen. Zooming into the LCD you can see it even more clearly, it doesn't seem like much but at the time it felt really cool.

Next on the list for the 2x extender is to take it out for some action shots, preferably surfing. I will be sure to post those when they happen!

Canon 70-200mm + 2x Extender = 400mm at f/ 5.6 | ISO 500


The Moon, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.