Looking Back on 2007 and My Photo Journey

I woke up on this eve of the new year(after a long night of rain, rain, rain yesterday) and when I looked out the window and discovered a blue sky with a few puffy clouds here and there.

In my world a blue sky is a great day for photography. What's funny to me is that this year I started to describe my days as "good sky days" or "bad sky days" because without "good sky days" landscape or outdoor photography goes very badly for me. "Bad sky days" are white or gray skies that reek havoc on landscape photos or anything involving the sky. Blown out skies are the result and after a year I haven't figured out a way to solve that problem.

2007 was a good year photography-wise for me. I started out the year with the decision to really concentrate on photography. I really stuck to that and became addicted.

I started this years photo obsession with a visit to my friend Lee's place in New York City and he took me all around for hours and hours and I took tons of photos.

I came home and started messing with them all in Photoshop and had a great time learning and working with them...





Then my sister and decided that we would start to go on photo excursions on the weekends and we really stuck to that idea. We mostly went out on Sundays and we'd decide where to go each week ahead of time.

I started shooting with a Canon Powershot A620 and it's a really great point and shoot camera. You can't beat learning on something that takes great photos like that camera.

We visited tons of farms and barns, the beach, Princeton University and other places with great architecture, local small towns with lots of character, tons of churches, some scenic overlooks, historic sites around New Jersey, lighthouses, boardwalks, amusement parks, rivers, canals and lakes, and I visited a local park that I pass on my way home from work a million times and a number of cemeteries! Anything and everything!







It took me a while to let myself go the DSLR route but I finally gave into my fears and went for it. I don't know why I was so nervous to go for it...maybe it was the cost bu I tormented myself for months deciding what I wanted to do. After a little urging from my friends and my sister I went for it. My sister and I went to B&H Photo and I picked out the Nikon D80 with the 18-135 kit lens. The camera arrived 5/15 and the excitement ensued shortly thereafter!



My personal photo journeys went on and on throughout the rest of the year...Parades, the Aquarium, Philly & the New York skyline, upstate NY, vacation in the Bahamas, family functions, portrait sessions of friends and their kids, the moon, industrial and Rural areas of New Jersey, work functions, Dog Agility competitions, countless sunsets, Meeting the New Jersey Devils, Fall foliage trips, Horse racing, and on and on. Tens of thousands of photos this year alone!

It's been a great year...I only wish I started blogging when I started this journey so I could have tracked the entire journey!

Visit my website and enjoy the year's photo journey along with me: http://www.jenweaverphotography.com/

LIGHTS! Camera! Great Subjects!

Lighting seemed to be a big theme for me on Friday's visit to Princeton. I noticed it as I was editing the photos. I thought I'd dedicate today's blog post to it.

I love this old campus and the architecture...the fine details in things like lighting, doors, decorative details blow me away!















To view more of my HDR or Tonemapped Photography click here: http://jenweaverphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/3868580/1/238418792

PRINCETON II - At the Cathedral on Campus

Firstly I needed to share this because it's so me!



Today I spent another couple hours walking around Princeton University taking multiple exposures of the campus as well as the beautiful church on the campus which became my favorite part of the day for photos.

A few hightlights from today's visit to Princeton University. I stopped in the huge church on campus and got some wonderful HDR shots:



















To view more of my HDR or Tonemapped Photography click here: http://jenweaverphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/3868580/1/238418792

Working on July....

That's right...I was working on photos from July of this year! I'm determined to clear out this backlog of photos since the weather prediction for the next 3 days is RAIN!

Kite flying over Liberty State Park:



My sister and I visited Weehawken, NJ and Liberty State Park to capture the NYC skyline. I edited a ton of skyline shots from Weehawken back in July but there were many that I didn't get to. Here are some from Liberty State Park that I worked on today.

The view from Liberty State Park.












The view of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty from Liberty State Park:



CRR of New Jersey:

CRR of NJ is located within Liberty State Park. It's an old train station which was converted into Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty ticket office.










A couple others from today's editing:

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

My family Christmas:

What would a photographer be without their camera during the holidays...well it wouldn't be me!

These are my favorites from Christmas day. I shot them with the SB800 flash (mostly) pointed straight at the ceiling. What a great light it creates in the room when you bounce the flash!!


I love this one of my Mom:



My Cousin (he loves to make this face for photos):



My Aunt:



My Aunt & my Cousin (her son):



My Mom and the "gravy" (yeah, we're Italian...we call tomato sauce "gravy"):



My hubby & his Dad:



One of my favorites of the day... My Grandpa who we got to smile/laugh.
The pic of him I took before this one...looked like quite the grumpy gramps.



My Brother-in-law and his Fiancé:



And of course...every year I make the family pose for a group shot (thank goodness for a tripod and a remote shutter release!):



And then when everyone cleared out I asked my husband to let me take a couple of us "since the tripod was already set up!" :D I love that my dog joined in the shot!!

Christmas Spirit/Lighting Essentials/Backdrop Compresson Poles

Wow this website is filled with great information:

Lighting Essentials:
http://www.lighting-essentials.com/

Also, another DIY treat for those who want to save money on a diffuser:
http://www.diyphotography.net/just-fab-s-turkey-pan-beauty-dish


DIY Studio Lighting - The Strip Light That Won't Strip You

http://www.diyphotography.net/the-strip-light-that-wont-strip-you


A link to 150 great blogs abput photograohy

http://chasejarvis.com/blog/2007/11/150-of-your-favorite-blogs-and-my-new.html

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST - This just may be the answer to my backdrop hanging woes! A compression pole from the Home Depot! Watch the video on this site to see how wonderful this invention is for us DIY photographers!

PHOTO STUDIO COMPRESSION POLE

http://www.diyphotography.net/photo-studio-compression-pole

After you watch the video in the one above and you get the idea - THEN CHECK OUT THIS POST - THIS may be the answer for me! I'd prefer to not have to put the one above together and this one also lets you place it on a diagonal.

"THIRD HAND" Lighting Pole

http://www.diyphotography.net/home-studio-third-hand-lighting-pole

So, it looks like I might be purchasing a set of these soon:

http://astore.amazon.com/diyphotography-20/detail/B000067S12/105-0886295-3838818

In the Christmas spirit here are couple Christmas tree ornament macros I just edited from yesterday:

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas from My husband and I:



My table is all set up for Christmas day tomorrow... :)






A few of my favorite decorations:







My mom gave me these salt & pepper shakers for my Birthday Saturday...I love snowmen and these are too cute.




Can you tell I adore snowmen??

And this is my tree: