Mare Island Photo Walk

This past Saturday, Oct 13, was the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk.  I've been wanting to go on a photo walk for quite some time, so was very excited to get the opportunity.

I joined a photowalk in Vallejo, CA at Mare Island.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Island)

Going into the walk I was well aware of my lack of experience and overall knowledge of photography.  My hardware pales in comparison to everyone else there.  I have a lot of the know-how, but because I haven't been practicing it long, it's not right on the top of my head.  My vision is the one thing I know I really need to work on.  I do OK, see some of the same cool photos other photographers see, but something gets lost in translation between my mind's eye and the camera's lens.  And that's where practice comes in.  And lastly, my post-processing skills still need to be developed. Trying to learn how to get the software to do what I see in my head - and honestly that would be a lot easier if I were capturing what I see in my head better.

At any rate - here is my first real venture into the world of Photo Walks and architecture-type photography.































The rest of the photos can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/biochemtine/sets/72157631775643377/with/8088282642/

Random Photo Walk Through Town

I've been reading through a book about editing photos with a purpose and was inspired to go take photos to later edit.  (Vision and Voice.....)

So I grabbed the camera and walked through downtown Pleasanton.  I was struggling being inspired.  A couple things caught my attention, but didn't see in real life what I saw in my head.  Nothing was really stellar.  I saw a little dirt path that followed a local creek.  I followed the path and saw some interesting things (let's just say it's not a place I'd visit after dark).  I took probably 30-40 photos.  Still don't think there was anything spectacular.  I've had better inspiration and taken better photos.  But I had something to work with at least.

There are a few that were pretty good.  I played with them a lot in Lightroom (I'm still learning how to use the program and how to edit and find my voice in my photos).  I took what was a dreary day with dirt and dormant plant (they're not dead ... just dormant) and made it look a little cheerier greener.

I liked the still water followed by the flowing water. 

I loved the reflection of the ivy here.  That's 100% real ... I just enhanced the green leaves.

The path to anywhere .... it disappears into the trees and you don't know where it goes until you follow it..