Things That Inspire Me

February flew by! So I had several ideas of posts I could do about things that inspire me, but today after I picked up my boys from daycare I realized exactly what was inspiring me at this very moment--my kids :) Any other time I'd be scolding myself for taking the easy way out and once again adding pictures of my kids on my photography blog. Today, however, I had my camera out while the boys were playing in the yard and Emerson basically demanded that I let him try. Needless to say I didn't get the camera back until we went back inside with the promise of looking at the pictures on the computer. I'm always amazed by these guys, and it never gets old. I really enjoy getting to share my passion for photography with my students, but sharing it with my boys takes it to another level :) Below is one of Emerson's pictures from today.
And here is a short video clip from our photo shoot. Check it out--he holds the camera properly, manages to reach the shutter release button, looks through the viewfinder, and then checks his shot afterwards! Ansel gives it a shot too.

Gate 6

Big Sur Fence

Yes, I know this is kind of cheating... I haven't been to Big Sur since 2008. But I thought I'd work with some of the photos I took back then and see what I could do with them. I feel like I've learned a lot in Photoshop since then. I hope I didn't go overboard on the contrast here--

pictures always seem to look a bit darker when I look at them someplace other than my laptop. If you ever get the chance to drive up the coast I would highly recommend it.

February Brag Post - Ruben Tinajero

Talk about perfect timing--Only about a week left in February (and therefore time for my Brag Post) and Ruben Tinajero goes and kicks butt in a DP Challenge! Definitely brag-worthy : )

Ruben has been impressing everybody with his work all year long. What can I say? His photography is just plain awesome. When he comes into class every day it seems like he's always got something new--new pictues he wants me to look at, a new camera or lens he's thinking about buying, or a new technique he's perfected. It's become something I look forward to each day : ) It challenges me to stay up-to-date and informed. One of my favorites among Ruben's work is his Homelessness Documentary Part I and Part II. The photographs are amazing and the effort and guts that went into locating, approaching, and photographing the high desert's homeless are commendable. More recently I liked his photo of the Disney Concert Hall.

Just the other day Ruben entered his first DP Challenge. The contest theme was Leading Lines and Ruben's photo of the aqueduct and star trails placed 9th out of 119 entries! Here's a direct link to his photo in the contest.

**So Proud!!**

The Leap - Help Me Choose

All four of us went out to shoot some more silhouettes tonight--it's way more fun that way. People driving by must have thought we were crazy. Run, jump, check the shot, back around, run, jump again, check... It was worth the workout, though, because while I am no dancer these are just the shots I had envisioned. Here's the problem--I can't decide. Yes, I could re-shoot, and I may still do that, but the sunset tonight was stunning. Blog readers: your input is requested. Which one is "the shot"?

#1. Got a lot of height on this jump.

#2. Stepping on the sun... kind of cool.

#3. My personal favorite, but just couldn't get that foot above the horizon! I love the shape.

It's not called VANOVERBEKE PHOTOGRAPHY for nothing. Let me introduce my team. While it was my vision, Dustin actually took the three shots above. That's what I call teamwork! Emerson and Ansel were there to cheer us on (which they actually did--I'm not usually the jumping around type. I think they were impressed.) They also enjoyed searching for rocks, sticks, and coyote poop.

Sycamore Canyon Silhouette

Since I just assigned all of my students to take a silhouette, I thought it'd only be fair if I took some myself. There were definitely a few hurdles to get over to get this shot. The first big challenge was getting up above all the houses and trees. Dustin suggested the Sycamore Canyon hiking trails--perfect! Unfortunately he was unable to join us, which made it quite a bit more challenging to shoot, since I had to try and keep the boys on the trail while taking pictures. The other obstacle was that we got rear-ended the other day and now our back hatch won't open--which means that our fancy jogging stroller with the big wheels (which is perfect for the trails) won't fit in the car. So, I had to push the regular old double stroller with it's tiny wheels up a very steep hill to get up high enough (and stupidly I was wearing my chucks instead of hiking boots... dumb, dumb, dumb!) If you're wondering about the tilt it's because I had to shoot from the ground to get the boys above the horizon, so I wasn't able to use my viewfinder.

Long story short, students: If I can manage to take a silhouette, so can you.

1/800th sec. f/8 ISO 200 (wish I'd have dropped it down to 100) 18-55mm lens Slight blue curves adjustment and levels.

An Ode to No One

I wanted to play around with off camera flash. For this shot Dustin had the SB600 with a mini-softbox perched on his knees as he played (I'm so lucky that he's always such a good sport.) I added a little fill with my pop-up flash set really low (like 1/128th or something around there.)

ISO 100 1/200th sec. f/3.5 85mm lens