Junkyard

My roommate recently bought a used car, but he wanted to get a few parts for it. He decided to take a trip to the junkyard, and I tagged along just to take a few pictures. It was kind of interesting just looking at all of the old cars, trying to picture what had happened.

Some cars looked like they had collided with a telephone pole, with the front part of the car completely twisted and deformed. Others looked like someone had died in them (okay, so some of the deployed airbags could have come from people hacking at the dashboard, stripping it for parts---it was still eerie though). One car looked like it had bullet holes through the windshield.

I just thought it was interesting, since it was only the second junkyard I've ever been to. This one was organized into rows, and you could look up on their online database which car model you're looking for. The only other junkyard I've been to was back in Georgia, and there was no organization whatsoever. That junkyard only had dirt roads that always seemed muddy, and cars were stacked one on top of the other and off to the side---anywhere there was room, really. And the "database" was the owner, who just knew which cars were on his lot, and he had a pretty good idea of what parts were still available. If you called on a slow day, he'd even strip out the parts you needed for the chance of earning a tip.

And my roommate decided to dress like a hobo for the occasion, which meant wearing 3D glasses just for the heck of it.

I just found the junkyard to be both unsettling and fascinating. It was interesting to see people finding a mini treasure trove of parts that they needed, but on another level, it almost feels like legalized grave robbing (not that I would know what grave robbing feels like...although we did stumble upon an old slave graveyard out in the woods in Georgia. One of the graves was open, and we could see a skeleton inside. We kept daring each other to climb in--nobody did, but it still makes for a random icebreaker in a conversation to throw that out there).

Lighting Class

So I just got back from a creative lighting workshop at Pictureline, and it was a blast. The workshop was led by Paul Van Allen, a Nikon rep who travels the country, teaching people how to use their Nikon gear. I was never a fan of flash photography, simply because I always felt that it was too harsh, washing out details and looking unnatural--well after tonight, I have completely changed my mind. Paul taught us how to set our cameras to trigger wireless flashes, and then we actually got hands on experience going to different stations. Each of the pictures below were ones that I took, but they are all based on lighting set-ups and compositions that Paul has displayed on his flickr account. The only exception was the water drop--that was taken with a camera that was already set up on a tripod (I believe that camera was a D300s), and I just had to put my memory card in. I still had to time the picture just right though. Anyway, here are the pictures--

The paint brush was clamped to a wooden dowel, with a bucket of lime green paint underneath. Right before taking the picture, you simply lift the bucket up to the brush to get the angle, and then time the shot to get a nice drip. I missed getting a drop of paint suspended in the air, but I still thought it was pretty cool.

Gumballs

Everyone was trying to get a perfectly suspended drop of water, but the line at this station was starting to get backed up. So I settled for this shot instead--I kind of like how the water is glassy smooth instead of rippling the way you normally see with shots of water droplets.

We all loved this station. And once you know how to do it, all sorts of possibilities just start to open up--I'm going to have a lot of fun with this stuff...

Sugar House - Time Lapse

I shot this video in Sugar House Park this past Thursday. I wanted to try and take advantage of the cloudy skies for some flat lighting. Anyway, I'm just getting a feel for the video on my new camera--I'm pretty impressed with it so far, and I'm looking forward to working on some different projects throughout these upcoming weeks (and try something outside of Sugar House Park). Feel free to leave your comments.

Sugar House Park - Winter from Jon on Vimeo.

Shoreline Trail

I was finally able to upload another time lapse test--this is from Shoreline Trail at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. And I apologize for the flicker...shooting a high contrast scene like that can cause some very tiny fluctuation in shutter speed with so many pictures, which produces a flicker when you play them back like this. Let me know what you think--

Shoreline Trail - time Lapse from Jon on Vimeo.

Valley

I went out yesterday afternoon to try and do some more time lapse experiments. I started heading up Emigration Canyon, but then I saw Shoreline Trail and decided to just walk up there. It was really muddy, but there were a lot of people still jogging on the trail. I thought everything looked great in-camera, and I didn't realize that you could get so much flicker while shooting time lapse--I'm still trying to read up on how to prevent that in the future.

Anyway, I'll post the time lapse test once it's finished uploading, but in the meantime, here's a picture I took while I was heading back down the trail. The temperature dropped a good 25 degrees or so once the sun went down, and I was in a bit of a rush to get back to my car. But I saw this tree with Salt Lake City behind it, and I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a quick picture. Luckily my camera was still on my tripod, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to set anything up since my hands were completely numb from the cold. Enjoy.

Time Lapse Test

Well the job hunt is still on-going, but I'm hoping something will come up soon. I've been applying and turning in resumes, and I've had a couple of interviews. Some of the places weren't hiring immediately though and won't be making a decision until the 2nd week in February. I'm not just sitting around waiting for them to call me back, but it would be nice to least know for sure...

In other news, I've been having a lot of fun with my new camera. Just recently I did some time lapse tests, and I tried to post the video here, but I don't know if it will load right or not. It was just of some geese down in Sugar House Park. I set my camera up to take a picture every three seconds, and then decided to play it back at eight frames a second. So nothing spectacular going on, just a few things moving in and out of the frame, but I'm still learning how to do it. Let me know what you guys think (or better yet, leave suggestions of something you would like to see done in time lapse...). And the clip should be able to play full-screen, but if not, click on the "vimeo" button.

Sugar House - Time Lapse from Jon on Vimeo.

New York --> Utah

Talk about a hectic semester. After looking at my situation there in New York, I came to the decision that I had to move back to Utah once I finished my master's program. I decided this in the last week or so of November...and I finished my classes in December. So the last month was extremely chaotic, trying to balance school, work, and moving. I was also in the middle of applying to Ph.D. programs. On top of that, I started dating someone in the first part of December, and I was trying to find a way to spend time with her with everything else that was going on.

Anyway, I survived. And I hope I never have to pull another all-nighter ever again...Things got so rushed near the end that I had to pull four all-nighters back-to-back (I do NOT recommend this by any means). But it's over and done now. I've moved back to Utah, and I'm just waiting to hear back from the various Ph.D. programs (I'm looking for work in the meantime). At least I have time now to actually take some pictures and update my blog.

A passenger leaving the subway at Columbus Circle. I think it's interesting how this picture came out. I didn't have a tripod with me, so I had my camera propped up on a railing. I wanted to try and isolate a single person right as they were heading up the stairs. Even though this was at the end of the workday, to me it seems as if this man is just getting ready to face the city again.

Columbus Circle again.

Right by my parent's house. I was just testing out my new camera. If I could take the picture again, I would have tried to frame out all of the houses and the fence. But whatever--I didn't want to go tromping through someone's yard just to get closer.

Again, just testing out my new camera. I really like the amount of detail it can pick up (if you zoom in, you can see all of the paint flecks and pits on the hydrant's surface)

This is literally right in front of my new house in Salt Lake City. Sure, there have been countless images of trees silhouetted against a sunset--I just haven't done any myself :)

And yesterday I went up to Red Butte Gardens just above the University of Utah. It was interesting how the garden was still fun to walk around in, even though everything was brown and decaying.

Red Butte Gardens again

Last one from Red Butte Gardens. I'll have to head back in the spring/summer, when everything is in bloom. There was just something appealing about a dead garden--

Anyway, leave a comment and let me know what you think. I should be able to keep this more up to date without an insane amount of deadlines--