2. This was a bit of an unexpected shot. I had been taking shots of various people hanging around the arena when I caught a glimpse of this guy chatting on his cell phone. I didn’t really pay much attention to the shot until I viewed it on my computer. Before that, it was just another random shot. This one told an interesting story though. Here is a guy who is a professional cowboy that is on an amazing horse that is trained to get the attention of a bull and force him back into the pen. These bulls often out-weigh this horse by 1,000 lbs. This is the kind of work that was done before the automobile and the horse was the primary means of transportation. Here is someone I consider old school cowboy using modern day technology. Just an interesting contrast and something to ponder over when discussing modern day living.
3. In the sport of bull riding, there is very little required equipment. The most important item one needs in the sport is a good pair of boots. A pair that is comfortable, has a solid heal and a lip on the back for a set of spurs to rest. At the end of the spurs are rowels. The funny looking circular things keep your feet from sliding. If your feet slide back, your face goes forward and that’s a bad thing. These rowels are dull and checked by official to make sure they are dull. A bulls skin is 11 times thicker than a humans so these little buggers cause no harm or pain to the animals. I like this shot because it shows what a typical boot and spur looks like. It is a good discussion piece when talking about bull riding.
4. I chose this image for this final portfolio because I like a good shot of animals eyes. When I see an image of a wild animal that is looking directly into the lens, I can just sit there and stare at it for hours. I want to know their thoughts. This particular image caught me off guard. I love dogs. More than likely they are my favorite animals; so honest and happy. This dog is one of my mothers and my least favorite. There are very few dogs I dislike and this is one of them. To me these eyes are almost of a different species of animal, a wolf or bear maybe. The right eye tells the story. The shape gives it that peering; almost ready to attack look.
5. Here was another shot I just took at random. These peony flowers are in bloom for such a short time, I was lucky to get this shot. I really felt as though I hit the depth of field just right. The clarity of the flower with the drops of water on the peddles was as good a shot of flora as I could possibly as for. These are amazing plants really. They often live 75 to 100 years; occasionally longer. What will the many years of blooms from this plant see in its lifetime?
6. I think the Peony flower is a better picture but this is a close second. My favorite color is yellow so I simply had to have something yellow in this portfolio. I do not know what typ of flowers these are; something fairly common I believe. When I take pictures of flowers or anyone else taking pictures of flowers or plants, I find depth of field is very important. It is a portrait shot of a plant. If everything was in focus, this picture wouldn’t be here. It would be junk. The intricate details of these flowers stick out because of the focus and the brilliant yellow is allowed to radiate.
7. This is a conversation piece. There isn’t anything fancy about the image but it does have something to say. What I like the most about this picture is the little white sticker in the corner of the album cover reading “2.00”. I love the sound of vinyl. Two bucks for a record is ok with me. My daughter bought this album and sat it in front of a photograph taken of a play she recently performed in, “Alice”, as in Alice in Wonderland. Go figure it is covered up by Arlo’s “Alice”, Alice’s restaurant.
8. Don Quixote de la Mancha and his squire Sancho Panza, a story everyone should read. This particular copy of the early 17 th century novel was likely printed over a hundred years ago. It is a book that is so magnificent to look at besides reading. It is leather bound and filled with exquisite illustrations. It is very large and heavy. There is no date, in English or Latin which is puzzling. I always want to know when books are printed. I like this photo, not just because it reminds me of a great novel but how the image fades into focus then out around the “Dore” spot. Along that line, you can see the details of the binding and the fine gold leaf paint. They don’t make them like the used to.
9. I made three renditions of this image and had a difficult time choosing between two of them. This one, the obvious winner. This is a centerpiece that stands on a sterling silver plate. I thought about clipping out the candle holders but I really like them. I may work with this image a bit more because there are many areas that could be improved upon. I like how the subject turned out though. To me it looks very much hand drawn, just as it would be in a child's book about fairy tales. Working with photoshop is a new experience for me so I had some fun in week 7 creating pictures such as this that I never had attempted before.
10. Here is a beautiful vase that was just sitting in the window sill, glowing with the natural sun light. I decided to drop it into photoshop and play around with it a bit. There was a setting in there called “fresco” and I thought it worked perfectly for this image. This image was one I manipulated a bit more and used in my weekly portfolio for week 7. I like both versions but this original version I find more like a painting. The other one is to over done to look as though it was hand painted but this one does not; to me at least. The vibrant colors of this vase makes it so enjoyable for my eyes to settle on. The reflection is subtle but affective.
11. I thought I would wrap it up with the photo I like the most. This image I cropped a little bit to enhance the three subjects, the bull, the bull rider and the bull fighter (the guy who is there to protect the rider after he falls off). The bull is showing his incredible strength while the bull rider is recovering from being bucked off. The bull fighter is in the background watching with great focus, trying to determine what his next move should be. I added a sepia filter to this shot as well. I found it gave it a more timeless look to it. This image was taken from a series of quick shots. I had about 10 snaps of this ride from start to finish. The final shot, being this one, tells the story.
