Red Rock Canyon was my home for the weekend.  A far cry from Sin City.

Wow, this place is gorgeous! Who knew?! Probably everyone. Well, I finally made my way to the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert (among a few others) and am just a bit late to the party. Beauty at every turn. (And just a little dry. Word to the wise…moisturize.)

Sometimes the most fun shoots are just spontaneous.  Shauna, in addition to being a PhD, a hip-hop lover, and an Under Armor-sponsored health and fitness expert, is a good friend of mine.  We went up to San Francisco looking for some cool art to shoot in front of and we found it on Bryant Street.  Shauna spent two hours exhausting herself so that I could take a few pics.  Along the way, we befriended the FedEx guy, got advice from a stranger who insisted that I had no idea what I was doing, and were encouraged to “F*** Ansel; be the Malcolm X of photography!”  Uhh….I’ll do my best?  Thanks for being a great sport, Shauna.  And for doing your best to make the rest of us look like slackers.  Knowing how sore you were the next day somehow makes me feel like I got a little exercise by association.  If only it could be so easy.

Recently, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Hong Kong for a photoshoot! My first international assignment! My hosts’ hospitality was incredible. I loved every second. And as if that wasn’t enough, I also had a chance to explore the city a bit with my camera. I can’t think of anything more perfect than being able to combine travel and photography. For me, a week of shooting in Hong Kong, mixing business with pleasure, is pretty close to the absolute ideal way to spend my time. Here are some of the highlights.

Maybe toasting a bagel & opening yogurt doesn’t count as babysitting…but if its always this much fun, sign me up for every Saturday.  I love spending time with these guys.  And it had been way too long.  Heather and Ace, thank you so much for having me over to hang out with the clan.  I’m definitely looking forward to the next time!

Photographing former classmates is one of the coolest ways to keep up with friends.  Lindsay and Tom invited me over for a little breakfast and some fun photo time.  Of course I got to meet the two newest additions to the family and here are some of my favorites from our visit. Thanks for a great day, you two!

I cant say enough about how incredible this city is.  Click here for the full set of images.

I recently had a chance to do one of my favorite things in the world: I went to a new location with just my camera, my ipod, no crowds, and plenty of time. That location was the rooftop of a 14 story building in downtown LA. And here is what I saw.

To celebrate the holiday, I decided to shoot today entirely using a technique that I’d never tried: freelensing.  It’s basically shooting without the lens physically attached to the camera.  Instead, the lens is held close to the lens mount, tilted, manually focused, and, in my case, prayed over…all in hopes of getting something interesting.  The effect is somewhat similar to what can be done with a tilt shift lens: the focal plane can be manipulated all over the frame (and even back and forth in the Z-dimension) depending on how the lens is held and focused.  So far I would describe the technique as “impossible.”  But I did like a few images from today, including a couple of rare shots of my sister.  All images were taken with a 50mm lens wide open at f/1.4.

I love this image, because its CRAZY to shoot at f/1.4, from this close, and have both her chin AND her eyelashes in focus.  Awesome.

This image was actually taken the “normal” way, with the lens attached.  But I always love images of my niece, so it somehow found it way into this post ]]> http://photorious.com/christmas-freelensing/feed/ 1 http://photorious.com/old-friends-are-the-best-kind/ http://photorious.com/old-friends-are-the-best-kind/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:50:29 +0000 Dana http://photorious.com/?p=4705 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

20 years since Jon Theodore and I have seen one another.  Since we were classmates at Gilman School in Baltimore.  In the meantime, he’s become an acclaimed drummer, first for The Mars Volta, now with One Day As A Lion, a collaboration with Zack de la Rocha (click here to check out “Wild International”, one of my favorite ODAAL songs).  After his most recent tour, we were able to catch up in the Haight.  Good times!

Some of what I captured during my very first trip to New Orleans.

Obligatory Karate Break

Even before they were the Doroguskers, I loved the Doroguskers!  I think this year’s holiday shoot may have been even more fun for me than for them.  Either way, we ALL loved the result.

The Heywoods invited me to spend another great Sunday in the Park to celebrate Mekonen’s first year.  In addition to being a champ in front to the camera, he is clearly adorable AND stylish.  Thanks to Sean and Kuleni for another fantastic day.

After sharing an office with Donna throughout her pregnancy, I was so excited to finally get to meet the adorable Alden.  He clearly loves the camera, and it loves him right back.

Demet, Jason, and Ela were the very first to be featured on Photorious. After more than 2.5 years we FINALLY had a reunion, and they had added a 4th, baby Niya! Congratulations, guys, and thanks so much for sharing your Saturday morning with me.

…sittin’ in a tree. Literally. I’ve wanted to take a portrait set inside of a hollowed out tree for a while. This weekend, thanks to a trip down to Big Basin (and a VERY patient subject), I got my chance. Although we spent about 3 hours in the park, we probably walked oh, maybe a mile. The rest of the time was spent looking for perfect pictures and trying to capture them. My kind of hike.

It’s been two long years since I’ve seen Leila (here are the pictures from our last visit).  Since then, she’s come into a new little brother, Cole!  He is just about the most laid back little boy I’ve ever met.  I had another great morning goofing around in the backyard with the family, and here are some of my favorites from the day.

Digital Camera magazine published another of my images this month.  It’s an image taken from my last big vacation.  We went snowboarding (Serene skied…poor thing) in Zermatt, Switzerland.  What a fantastic trip.  If you want to relive it as much as I do, click here to see my full post from the trip.

Spending time with Amanda, Paul, and their two sons wasn’t just a great time on a beautiful day. It was also a high school reunion! Amanda and I went to brother and sister high schools, and we had seen one another exactly once in the last 20 years (even though we’ve lived within 30 miles of one another for most of that time). Thanks to Paul and Amanda for introducing us to their two adorable boys and for their wonderful hospitality.

Wow. I just received a digital spread of one of my images that was included in Journey magazine last fall. The image was taken near Ocean Beach in San Francisco and ran in the Sept/Oct edition of the Journey, a AAA travel magazine. I didn’t anticipate how exciting it would be to see 1) a full page and 2) a published image of the place where I live, but what a rush!!! The original image can be found in the “Where” section of my website, Dana’s Eye Photography. Thanks to Lija M. for making it possible.