No Matter the Time of Day!!

So the other day I was inspired to just grab the camera and go. No in particular reason. Just a an urge to shoot. No plan, no idea, nothing.. I saw a sign from the bus that said Historic Railroad District of Santa Rosa, Ca.,a cup of Coffee at A'Roma Roasters grabbed the walking map, and went to town. I was hoping to capture the essence of the area, but I was pretty much stumped when I got there. The Round Barn was really cool and inspiring, however; the shots that I got weren't anything I liked. I plan to go back there when there are some nice clouds in the sky, and change my angle a little bit. Then Sappington (our digital photography teacher) the following Monday states what I learned over the weekend: "you should be shooting a location more then once". Made perfect sense. I've always had that idea about "I'm going to go back and shoot that place again", but I never get around to it. This time I'm ready to return and see what I can come up with.

I ended up at Luther Burbank Garden across from Juliard Park in down town Santa Rosa shooting the fountain there. Here are the shots from there.

So this is the waterfall just before sunset. I felt the sun going down, then all of a sudden the stars seemed to align, and the lighting conditions were just perfect. Nice warm afternoon tones, a little breeze.. I think the weather really prompted me to notice the moment, and the way the light was coming of off everything. It was the first time that I was hit with this feeling and had my Camera. I actually felt that I was in the "zone" of an artistic burst.


People generally tell you to not listen to music but just sit and be a part of your environment, to take it all in, and observe what is going on with the light or the scene our trying to photograph. I didn't do any of that. I was just walking through the garden looking at flowers (or lack there of) when it happened.

This type of day helped re-enforce "time of day" shooting. Early mornings are going to look way different then late afternoons. Just the same as sunny days are going to be completely different from cloudy days.

So I guess the moral of the story is shoot shoot shoot no matter what time of day. If you get the urge to shoot. Then go Shoot!! Right now.. Go Shoot (or finish this installment first :D)!!

There is a common theme in my photographs lately, and I've noticed that I'm shooting into the sun a lot. Rule of thumb is to have the sun at your back whenever your out photographing. At least use it to the left of the right of your subject, but I'm drawn to shoot directly at it. Stopping down the lens to f/22 and going to town. Getting a nice lens flair, burst, and contrast between high lights and shadows.

Continue Reading