Aaron Barker’s Photoblog

Somehow on Saturday I got to looking at my flickr favorites list.  One shot stood out to me that I had favorited forever ago with a desire to recreate one day.  It was a close up of some toothpicks that had an almost flower like feel to them.

It had been a while since broke out my gear and way longer since I had done any macro work.  So I got to playing with some toothpicks as well as one of those pin board toys that has hundreds of pins

Both of the subjects presented unique challenges.  It took quite a while to get the toothpicks lined up correctly to be able to get them to rotate and get the feel that I wanted.  I had to keep sticking in additional toothpicks into gaps, some would fall out when they wouldn’t have pressure on them (think jenga), shadows had to be correctly positioned to give separation, etc etc.

The pin board was very reflective so there was a lot of moving around of lights to get a good reflection and shadow relationship, changing the intensity of the lights (used two, one left, one right), making sure all the pins were down, getting them to be lined up correctly with the camera (with such a strong pattern its easy to tell when they aren’t right), etc .

The results are by no means gallery material, but they were a fun first stab at macro in the studio.  I’m glad I favorited that image so many years ago and finally got around to trying to recreate it.  There are many more that I am anxious to try in the future.  While I think it’s good to be your own photographer and not copy others, it doesn’t hurt to try and recreate things every now and then for education sake

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Canon 40D, EFS 28-135 IS, 1/30, f/5, 65mm, ISO 800

If I posted all the pictures I take of my kids, the blog would be over run with them.  But for some reason this one just grabbed me when I started editing it.

This was taken in a small cubby hole at the Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove, UT.  It was a bit overcast and this was under the main structure so it was quite dark. The 800 ISO gives the photo a great grain but Daniel’s face still looks like a porcelain doll as my wife says.

Somewhere I learned how to use gradient tool to add the nice dark edges which I really think adds to it, and draws the attention in.

I guess I shouldn’t be so afraid to post the pictures of family that I take.  That is a huge part of my photography right now and those photos are definitely worth being shared as well.

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Canon 40D, Sigma 10-20mm 1:4-5.6 EX DC HSM, 1/250, f/11, 16 mm, ISO 100

So I got a request the other day through my LDS Temple Photography site asking if I had any plans to add Oquirrh Mountain Temple to my list of photos.  I had been meaning to get up there forever to take some pics but just never had.  But it so happens that my work was moving to a mile away or so, and so I took the opportunity to run over for a quick photo shoot with the temple.

I got several great shots, and since I have had so little activity here lately maybe I’ll post a few of them.  I went in the morning and then made a return trip that evening to get some dusk/night shots.

This is also my first shot with my new wide angle lens.  I definitely wouldn’t have gotten the shots I wanted without it.  It’s a great addition to my bag.

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A project that I have worked on for the last year at work has finally launched.  The Welfare Operations Training site.

When creating the site I wanted to use the iconic Welfare Square grain silos located next to I-15 in Utah as a recognizable banner on the front page.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find any good photos of the silos in the library of approved media.  So I decided to go take the picture myself

Here it is in place on the front page of the site.

We also needed a photo of a computer in our “How to Use the Site” section and again, none of the images I had access to would work as I wanted a white computer (not the norm) that wouldn’t stand out so much.  So I went to the home studio on my white seamless paper, and did a little photoshoot with my own computer hardware.

The LCD is actually a black Dell 2001FP that I did some fairly heavy Photoshopping on to make white/grey.

So while they are my photos, they were taken on the company dime (I signed over full rights to them).  But it’s still cool to have my work out on an official site of the church.

I am grateful I had the skills and equipment to get the photos I wanted.

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Made the annual visit to Provo High School to view the fireworks at the Stadium of Fire.

While waiting for the show to begin I was checking my twitter feed and saw Scott Jarvie mention his firework photo tips from 2008.  One of the tips was that he uses his telephoto to zoom in on shapes.  I didn’t exactly follow his advice, but it did make me zoom in in general to get more details then the “big picture” type view I have done in the past.  I definitely liked the different look it gave me.

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During a recent family vacation to southern California to attend a family reunion, I thought I would beef up the selection on my LDS Temple Photography site and take pictures of the temples along the way.  Sometimes it would just have to be at the time we were passing by them, and so the lighting wasn’t the best, but something is better then nothing I guess.

The temples we visited were:

1. St George Utah
2. Las Vegas Nevada
3. Los Angeles California
4. Newport Beach California
5. Redlands California

It was interesting to see temples from various eras.  St George being one of the originals.  Los Angeles being from the 1950’s.  Las Vegas from when there was kind of a “lots of spires” wave going on. Newport Beach and Redlands from the “mini” temple category.

We first visited Los Angeles at the worst part of the day with stark lighting from straight above (the “passiny by” reference from above).  After a visit to the beach, I steered the family back for a second visit just at dusk and was pleased to get my favorite temple shot of the vacation (above).

The one I was the most surprised by was Newport Beach.  The grounds were just gorgeous.  Rivaling Temple Square in my opinion.  Sadly there was a heavy smog that morning so it has a nice grey sky to backdrop it.

Of all the places I expected to have nice fluffy white clouds in the background… the desert of Las Vegas was not it.  Just as we turned the corner where you can see Las Vegas for the first time there was this rain storm pounding the whole valley (yeah, crazy).  It hadn’t yet made it to the eastern edge where the temple was and by the time I got there the leading clouds were in the background.  It was perfect.

It’s very difficult to get a good shot of the whole temple.  It now has many mature trees on a smallish lot.  Most of the pictures I saw online were from when the palm trees were brand new.

Redlands is a bit special for my family as it is the temple a city away from where my mom grew up, and where most of my extended family currently resides.  I love the palm trees that surround it and act as natural spires.

Last and certainly not least, is St George.  Again a family favorite as some great-great-great-great-grandfather helped to build it and apparently has a hand print in one of the upper window wells.  It’s odd how the little casual shot you can take on the way into the grounds can end up your favorite, over the ones you walk around forever to find “just the right angle”.  It sure was nice of that tree to grow as a natural frame like that.  A touch cheesy maybe, but you gotta have one of those every now and then

Many thanks to my family for putting up with my little side trips.  It was cool to visit 5 temples in 5 days, and it made for a memorable portion of our trip.

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Monday night I went to the Provo Freedom Festival flag retirement ceremony.  I have attended this many times over the years, and appreciate the reverence the American flag is given during it.  For any who may not know, burning the flag is the proper way to dispose of a flag when “it is no longer a fitting emblem for display” (US Flag Code Section 176)

At first glance a photo like the above may conjure up the opposite feelings then it is intended.  Usually you see the flag being burned in protest of the USA and the images are fairly offensive.  But when you think about it, where would you want this flag that you hold dear to end up? Crumpled up in a pile of smelly garbage?  That thought just doesn’t sit right.  The fiery end to the flag conjures up images of a Viking funeral (and sadly a few scenes from Star Wars) where the fiery end of individuals is seen as showing great respect.

I love seeing the Boy Scouts assisting in the ceremony.  I was able to assist in one when I was a boy scout and remember it giving me a greater respect and sense of patriotism.

Each time after placing a flag onto the fire (they had dozens to retire) the scouts that carried it would stand and salute for a few moments.

Full Flag Retirement Ceremony set on Flickr

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Canon 40D, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, 1/800, f/6.3, 200 mm, ISO 100

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to go out and take some pics (the broken glass situation was naturally a fluke). So it was great to get out and take some pics at the Hill AFB Air Show.

I missed a few cool things while taking my son around to see some stuff, but that is also where I was doing my best work (being a Dad). I did get to see plenty of fun things though, and it was well worth the long drive, sunburns, and traffic to get out.

Hill Air Force Base Air Show 2009 Full set

More favs:

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Canon 40D, EF 100mm f/9 Macro, 1/400, f/4, 100 mm, ISO 100

When moving something the other day, some glass slid off a shelf and shattered on the driveway. Naturally before we cleaned it up I had to have some fun with it

Broken Glass set

Here’s a higher level view of the destruction.

and a few other favs

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