Happy Valentine's Day

Enjoy your Valentine's Day this weekend.  Hope you spend it with someone you love.

Textures

I played around with adding texture to a photo.  I had some textures filed away to try on a cold, quiet weekend.

Grungy paper texture

The original print                                                              

The original print + grungy paper + handcrafted watermark.

I like the warmth and urban edge it added to the photo.

On another quiet weekend, I'll try some vintage film texture.  Fun!

Poster Shots

Lauren wanted a poster for for a blank spot on her wall. So, we went downtown to shoot some pictures and brought Spencer along.

The finished poster. (Trying to make it artsy).

Some kids were skateboarding around us. Spencer watched a bit while Lauren got bored.

I love the this picture.



This one makes me laugh. I asked her to lean back and they laughed when she squished him.

They stopped laughing for this one.  Cute.

It was so cold outside. She put her cold hand to his face and he just grinned.

Last one.  Time to go because I was cold and my hands started to shake!

For all the pictures, click here

Bella's Bacon

Bella is my niece, Chanel's, dog. Dogs don't pose for pictures, but I read a photography tip: 
if you hold up bacon, a dog will stop and look at it for a moment. It works!

Lani held up a doggie bacon strip and Bella stopped and looked up briefly to snap a shot.





Now that I think about it, if someone held up a piece of bacon to me, I'd stop and look, too!

Storyboards

In a recent post by Digital Photography School, last week's assignment was about storyboards.  They suggested checking out Big Huge Labs for their online product, Mosaic Maker, to make quick web-sized storyboards (you'll need to purchase a pass for a high resolution print). 

I thought I'd try the storyboard to highlight a subject or theme on some of my photos. It was easy!  Just plug in your shots.  This was the "1+3 right with shadow" layout.

Here's one of Lauren's Winter Formal (although I couldn't figure out how to edit to include her shoes in the shot) .

My friend, Elizabeth, and our visit downtown.

Then, I tried "Candy Apples" in a line.  Cool.  Try it with some of your own pictures.

Downtown Fresno

Elizabeth and I went downtown to find some places to shoot pictures. I couldn't find any spots that matched the pictures I've seen, but we had fun anyway. We met at Central Fish to look around and have lunch. Then found the Fresno Arch, a loading dock, and a quiet place by the railroad with a final stop at Starbucks.

Parking lot sign

Vibrant colors on the mural

Beautiful painting of a fish

I liked this blowfish (aka pufferfish). That's exactly how I looked after Thanksgiving!

More underwater scenes

This is the second floor of a two-story building behind the Central Fish parking lot

We sat at a lunch table facing the now-closed Komoto's Department Store (part of the old Kamikawa Brothers/Asia Hotel building at the corner of G and Kern Streets). When I moved to Fresno, I bought a small rice cooker there from Kaori Komoto (now deceased).

This cute little boy was so friendly. He would smile at us in-between bites of his lunch. 

He played with his hashi (chopsticks) and polished off his ramen.

Elizabeth and I split this single order of fish and chips. Yummm.

This is an iconic gateway - the Fresno Archway on Van Ness Avenue.

Close-up of the Fresno Archway

I took a self-portrait of myself (took a few tries to get myself AND the archway in the shot.  I think I need longer arms!)

Behind the Fresno Archway is a graffiti-covered building. I shot Elizabeth taking pictures of these flowers.

I took pictures of Elizabeth making self-portraits.

I found a loading dock and asked Elizabeth to model

This was my favorite picture of Elizabeth on the loading dock (just having fun and kicking up her legs).

This was a quiet section of the railroad track.

Last stop before heading home. First, it's time for fancy holiday-flavored coffee break at the downtown Starbucks (next to the Convention Center).

To view all the pictures, click here