[YJD]

Thanks for the book reference, I'm sure that will help me a lot!

[skinja]

There have been a lot of good suggestions here and I hope one of these ideals unlocks your creativity.

I'm not sure what you like to shoot, or how old your kids are, how far a long your wife is. all things to consider.

If it were me, and I know it's not. But I have also had periods where I just am not enthused about my photo ops, I like to jump in my car and drive an hour or so, in any direction, on any road, at almost anytime of day, yes light is important but not critical (long exposures). In your case a direction East or West may be in order. On my last trip threw your area I missed shooting the sand dunes by about an hour, but you also have two mountain ranges in either direction. Some times just a nice Sunday drive will help bring a new prospective to your local scenery.

Google maps has helped me a lot, but I love shooting landscape.

The dunes, that is on my to do list, and you may here from me in the next six months or so because I might need a guide.

Anyway just my 2 cents.

I hope this was some help.

John

[audiobomber]

This is a great thread.

OP, if a daily self-portrait is too onerous (it would be for most people), how about weekly? Anyone should be able to manage that, but creating interest is still a tall order.

- Do you have any animals? They're easy targets.

- Spend a week with a single lens on your camera, only shoot with it. Next week, another lens. Or shoot at one focal length for a week if you only have zooms. Shoot black & white for a week.

- Do you have a macro lens? A macro mini-studio is something I'll be trying. There was a cool shot of someone's homebrew studio on this board somewhere (a couple of flashes and a frame with a sheet over it?).

- A fisheye lens is a lot of fun. You can shoot almost anything with a normal lens then do some fishy versions. The 10-17 is especially good for adding variety with its various focal lengths.

- Wildlife photography is a rush. It taps into your limbic area's hunting instinct, but no creatures get hurt.

I love shooting farms and barns. If I lived in a rural area I'd try various compositions of all the ones within driving distance. Maybe there's some other type of architecture that interests you?

[YJD]

Skinja,

My kids are 4 and 2 and my wife is 3 month pregnant (and not filling very good).

I like landscape too, but I'm a bit bored of what my landscape looks like.
The sand dunes are great but you really need to avoid a day with wind because it gets no fun for you or your camera (only have a k100ds). The way to know there is no wind is to make sure the snow is gone from the mountains.

Mountains are great but the vegetation isn't great, at least it's always the same (fir tree).

I agree with the fact that I need to travel more, and stop complaining. The nice thing is I'll be in Dallas for a week in November, so I'll get to shoot something different!

Yes, I got a lot of idea now, just need to get one or two and work with it!

Let me know when you'll come around here.

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Last edited by YJD; 10-27-2009 at 01:38 PM.

[YJD]

Audiobomber,

I love the idea of focal lens, I will use that. Also the idea of taking pictures by colors and also try to find letters around me and print the alphabet in a book.

I don't have fish eye, it's way to expensive for me for now.
Macro, I have my Raynox and I could do some, need to find the right subject for it because during winter, I only have spider for insects!

Animals I have none, but we should get a cat soon and a dog (for the kids) next summer.

Wild life could be nice too, I got a few here.

[tpeace]

I see you are in Alamosa. Have you tried shooting over at the Sand Dunes?

Sand Dunes Pentax Day, April 2008


You are so lucky! I would kill to have this in my backyard. Beautiful setting and challenging light conditions. Lots of things you can try over there... Sunsets, Full moon night shooting, snow storms, mid-day high contrast, kids playing, desolate landscapes, Mule deer at base of dunes. etc. (I've heard some bison wander onto the dunes rarely, but I've never seen them. In season, the hotel outside the park's entrance has humming bird feeders which I remember were extremely active at dusk.

The Zapata Falls are also near you and there's a mountain top lake up at the end of a 5 mile trail somewhere near there. (Trailhead is on access road to Zapata Falls.)

Regards,
-tom

[YJD]

Nice shot of the sand dunes tom.

Sand dunes are nice, and I have taken a few pictures.
There is a lot to try but they look the same to me... I guess when you leave in a place for sometime, you don't see as much beauty in it, just the everyday thing!

I did go to Zapata falls but that was before I bought my DSLR, need to go back I guess. Never heard about the lake, I'll put that on my list!

[skinja]

Skinja,

My kids are 4 and 2 and my wife is 3 month pregnant (and not filling very good).

I like landscape too, but I'm a bit bored of what my landscape looks like.
The sand dunes are great but you really need to avoid a day with wind because it gets no fun for you or your camera (only have a k100ds). The way to know there is no wind is to make sure the snow is gone from the mountains.

Mountains are great but the vegetation isn't great, at least it's always the same (fir tree).

I agree with the fact that I need to travel more, and stop complaining. The nice thing is I'll be in Dallas for a week in November, so I'll get to shoot something different!

Yes, I got a lot of idea now, just need to get one or two and work with it!

Let me know when you'll come around here.

I wish the best for your wife hopefully she is over morning sickness soon. Oh do I remember those days.

Here is a link to a guy you may or may not know. I had the opportunity to here him speak a couple of weeks ago and he really opened my mind (now I just need to apply). Now keep in mind he travels to some incredible locations but the context to what he says never changes. It's not as much about what you have to shoot but when you choose to do it, and how you chose to frame it. Two of the things that really set home for me is, when am I shooting, the light makes all of the difference and to look for that picture with in the picture. So check out his work, watch his video. Don't worry about where he is at, try to see where your at in a different light. Art Wolfe | blog.artwolfe.com I looked threw some of your photos and you do have some very nice ones, so don't take anything I am saying in a the negative, just the opposite.

Jimbo a site member is also taking to heart what Art said here is a post of what his thoughts are. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/77514-landscape-picture-within-picture.html

Anyway enough of my ramblings I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think.

John

[YJD]

Thanks!

I will look that video later on, and thanks for the info.

I've seen Jimbo's work, and he does a really good job... I'm not there yet!

[Eruditass]

Critique/Assignments:
photoSIG » Main
fredmiranda.com
photocamel.com
photoforum.com
dpreview.com

[Sew-Classic]

Audiobomber,

Macro, I have my Raynox and I could do some, need to find the right subject for it because during winter, I only have spider for insects!

Hah- every week or so, buy a $5 or $10 bouquet of flowers for the wife. Take macro shots of those. Play with various lighting effects, composition, ect..

You can expand your photographic skills AND win brownie points with the Mrs....

I just got a DCR-250 and played with it yesterday for the first time. This is the LAST snap dragon of the season from my yard.



And, I second the idea of looking for old structures and barns.

[YJD]

Thanks Skinja! I watch the video and it was really interesting.

I also ordered the book, just have to wait that it get there.

I love the flowers idea, so will my wife... though I might get sick of taking pictures of flowers every week as well as barns (though we don't have that much old barns, they are all in use). But I will keep those 2 ideas in mind!

[RioRico]

Some photo projects:

- Shoot only straight up, or straight down, with various lenses.
- Run into a bar, snap some shots, run away. Repeat as needed.
- Ask passers-by on the street to pose for you, clothed or not.
- Shoot your shadow, your feet, your hand, in various locales.
- Steal a lawn gnome or blowup doll; shoot it as you travel afar.
- Make and use pinhole cameras, digital or with various films.
- Try ray-o-grams, scanned objects, other non-camera imagery.
- Do detailed complete macro photos of all of yourself or a pal.
- Photograph every post office in your home state or province.
- Stalk theme parks, observatories, mortuaries, whorehouses, etc.

Really, this stuff ain't too hard to think up.

[Fixcinater]

Thanks Skinja! I watch the video and it was really interesting.

I also ordered the book, just have to wait that it get there.

I love the flowers idea, so will my wife... though I might get sick of taking pictures of flowers every week as well as barns (though we don't have that much old barns, they are all in use). But I will keep those 2 ideas in mind!

It sounds to me like you just need to decide to open your mind about what is there, rather than worrying so much about what you DON'T have access to.

I live in San Diego, CA and I love pictures of clouds. So...I'm out of luck except for about 3 months a year. Guess what...I don't have many pictures of clouds from very many different days, but the days that we do have good clouds, I try to shoot as much as possible.

You can make neat pictures out of ANYTHING, you just need to try a whole bunch of stuff and not restrict your thinking.

[Steve Beswick]

I often suffer from photographers block as well. Sometimes you just need to put the camera down for a few days.

However, if your frustration is caused by composition issues, I (or rather my college photo professor) have one piece of advice: get closer. A LOT closer.

For an example, lets say you are going to photograph your wife. Why do her shoulders need to be in the Photo? Take a shot where nothing but her head is in the frame. Then take one where her head fills the frame. Don't worry about cutting her ears off, they will still be there when you put the camera down. For the next frame, take a photo of only half of her face. Next, try a photo of just one of her eyes.

For this technique to work with most people you will probably need a fairly long lens, somewhere in the neighborhood of 135mm, otherwise your model might get too uncomfortable. Also you will never get the eye shot with a 50mm unless its a macro.