Alex's Senior Pictures

I haven't posted anything in a very long time...not since October.  I have taken plenty of photographs between now and then, but have been so busy with architecture school, that I haven't set aside the time to post any of my photography shoots.

This is my little brother Alex.  He's a senior at Lone Peak High School, and just before the rain came yesterday, I took him out and shot him.  With limited time, and with only a 1GB memory card on hand (less than 50 photos), I was able to come away with some keepers.  I applied different filters to a few of them, so yes, you are seeing double, and no, you're not drunk.

Enjoy!

Salt Flats

I recently traveled to the Bonneville Salt Flats with my architecture studio class.  For the project we were doing, we needed to study the incredible space that is out there, and design a motel that would be situated just off the road.  This would be a place where guests would come for an evening, for a chance to contemplate the horizon and the environment.

An interesting concept.  I really like my motel design too.  

Here are some photos I took whilst roaming the flats.  I really love the shots I got.  One was a 360-degree panorama, but due to the size, I was unable to upload it.  These are better as far as colors go anyway.  

Enjoy!

HDR Photography

I had an assignment to take some HDR photographs around Salt Lake City, and I decided to try and see what happened when I took them during sunset, and after dusk.  All of these were taken around that time at night, and the Utah State Capitol building photograph is the only one of this set that was taken while the sun was still up.

In order to get the overexposed photographs of the Brigham Young statue, for example, I had to leave my shutter open for 15 seconds.  There is pretty minimal blurring in the plants, and I was surprised, since the wind decided to blow only after I released the shutter...

My professor swears by Photomatix, saying that it does a much better job at producing HDR photographs than Photoshop does.  I wholeheartedly disagree, and I have refrained from posting the versions produced by Photomatix, because I find them embarrassing.  Sure, some of my HDR photographs don't look like a scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but had no intention of sending LSD addicts over the edge with my photographs.  I did blow the colors out in a few of them, so my professor would be happy, and posted a few here.  

In my opinion, HDR photography has its place, but it's more of a novelty, and should be used with discretion.  You can make stunning photographs, and accurately portray what the human eye can see in a way that cameras normally cannot.

I hope you enjoyed, and I think I'll post more HDR photographs in the future, if I find some cool things to take photos of.

Samurai Bridger

I loved this picture of Bridger that I took at the Salt Flats a week or two ago.  Yeah, I kinda revved up the colors and and the saturation, but it adds some cool feeling to it.  Lemme know what you think!

Inspirational Faces

These are the women that currently belong to the Lifting Hearts Foundation.  Each and every one is either a breast cancer survivor, or is currently battling this disease.  My own mother got breast cancer back in 2008, and was able to beat it, thankfully.  Since then, she has reached out to other women who are suffering from cancer, and tried to lend a helping hand to everyone in need.  She and the friends she made during her own journey to recovery started this group in order to help women who have battled this disease find friends with common experiences, and provide mentors to those who are currently fighting for their lives.

I was asked to provide group and individual shots for the families of the women who belong to the Lifting Hearts Foundation, during their recent barbecue, and I was happy to help.  These are just the headshots of each of the women, and a few group shots.  

Please help to spread the word about the Lifting Hearts Foundation, and tell any women that you know who are currently suffering from breast cancer.  The blog can be found here.

The Chauhan Family Returns!

Due to the astounding volume of page views the Chauhan family received after posting the first set, I have decided to post one more group of photos from their session.  These ones are some of my very favorites, and I just couldn't resist turning it into two separate posts.  I hope you all enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them...but I sincerely doubt it!  ;)


(The other set of photos from this session can be found here.)