Urban color

Simple shot of a colorful building in Philadelphia (near Pine Street I think). I like the fact that the building is colorful and out of focus while the razor wire is relatively colorless and in sharp focus.

It's also interesting that the white wall on the right lines up with the frame but that the buildings do not.

Feeding time

What you're seeing is a tarpon right before it rises out of the water to grab a bait fish from my friends hand. Tarpon can get to be huge fish so it strange to see them so close to the surface and basically being hand fed. This was taken at a 'tarpon farm' in the Florida keys where the fish get used to being fed by visitors.

Cd rainbow

Once again an unaltered photograph here, just a closeup of cd on my desk. I angled the light (from my desklamp) so that the rainbow effect was strongest. It's interesting that something so boring can display so much color.

Peace Lillies

This is an example of how great lighting makes a photo. These are some peace lilies with light from the setting sun.
The richness and clarity of the light illuminated both the inside and outside of the flowers and revealed even small details.
I like the angle in this photo because it reveals the shape of the petal and lets you see inside the bloom, which isn't usually visible.

Coconut at the beach

Just a simple coconut relaxing on the beach. I like the graphic quality of this photo, there just a few elements and colors.
The simplicity and smoothness of the sand and surf contrast with the detail and imperfections in the coconut. I figure if I ever move somewhere cold and dry I can put this photo up on the wall to remind me of the beach.

Face of money

Although it might not look normal, this photo wasn't altered or photoshopped at all. I held a ten dollar bill (the newer big face one) on top of a lamp so that the strong light would reveal both sides at once.
I shot in macro mode at a very close range which reveals a lot of the detail in the image including tiny red fibers embedded in the bill as a security feature (you will need to click on the photo to expand and see the detail).

Road to Sequoia

I took this photo at a scenic pullout on the way into Sequoia National Park. As you can see from the elevation difference it is quite a climb for the car. You start out below the cloud/fog layer and crest the mountains before you descend into the park.
I like this photo because there is so much depth and texture in each of the elements, especially the cracked road.

By the way, i've changed the colors of the site, let me know what you think.

Thanks.

Ladder and stairs

I took this photo outside of San Jose's new city hall. I like the fact that there are so many shadows and lines intersecting throughout the frame.
Also it seems funny to see a ladder next to a perfectly good set of stairs.

Football

In honor of football sunday, I figured I would post this macro of my football. You can really pick up the grain of the leather and the texture in the laces.
For lighting I just used a 40 watt desklight.

Sitting in the breeze

This is a picture of one of my cousins's daughters sitting and watching TV. The light on her face is from a dim light in the living room and a slight glow from the TV. Generally I don't like using flashes since they typically give an unnatural look to your images.
I also timed the photo so that the sheet in the background would be kicked up by the wind.

Coconuts

These coconuts were laid out in the sun so that they could dry and then be used for coconut oil.
I tried to break up the huge sea of coconuts by using a relatively shallow depth of field and by including the shadows of some trees into the frame.

Shells on a 2x4

I took this photo at a beach on one of the Florida Keys. The sun was setting so the tiny shells that attached themselves to the piece of scrap wood have a light pinkish tint to them.
I like this photo because it reinforces that nature always finds a way to survive.

Leaf Macro

I took this photo of a sunflower leaf mainly because the bright morning light shone through. If you expand the photo you can see the individual cell walls pretty clearly.
As with all of my macro photos I use the Nikon Coolpix 5400 in macro mode. The camera is great because it focuses even when the subject is literally touching the lens.

Sand, water, sky

I took this photo on a beach in India overloooking the bay.
I included the palm on the left side so that it breaks up the simple and distinct areas of the sky, water and sand.
This is probably one of my favorite beach photos as it presents all the elements of a perfect beach day without looking boring.

San Jose Illusion

I took this photo at the new San Jose City Hall building. Even knowing the layout of the place I find myself trying to figure out whether the different elements are inside the building or just reflections. I also like how the Mother and her daughter are just about to enter the light of the picture.
As always, click to enlarge.

Sunset

In this photo I used a very shallow depth of field so that the grass stalks are not even visible. This makes the tops appear to be floating in the air.
Also the sun and background is so blurred that it seems more like a painting than a photograph.

Ajay walking

This is a photo of my cousin, Ajay, walking through a building in India. The pieces of wood you see are actually used as scaffolding supports.
The fact that certain supports are in focus while Ajay is not throws off the perspective somewhat and acts as an illusion of depth.
You may be able to see make out the beach and the Indian ocean in the background as well.

Not a photo, part of registration

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 3216797

Seems like fun, It's a free tournament if you have a blog.

Grand Canyon

Whenever I am taking photographs of famous or well known places, I try to present it in a different way. In this case, I composed the shot with the twisted and leafless branches in dark shadows and placed the canyon in the background slightly out of focus.
My idea was to break up the view of the canyon so that the eye focuses on the details and the differing darknesses of the shadows. At the very least it's not a typical Grand Canyon shot.

Orange

I decided to do a little macro work (too lazy to go outside). So I peeled an orange, found some decent light on the window sill and shot away.
Macro or close-up photography is interesting because it forces you to stop and notice details in common things. Using a shallow depth of field also makes your eye focus on the detail and complexity in the frame.

Rolling Hills

To get the full effect of this photo click on it to blow it up larger
Then you should be able to see the wind power fans better and
may even recognize the black spots as cows. I took this in
California (I think a few hours south of San Francisco).

Dad

This is my Dad. I like the simplicity of this photo and the fact that the light is soft but still interesting.
I took this photo indoors and used black and white because the lighting made the colors rather bland.

Pacific Coast

I took this photo on the Pacific coast near the Point Loma lighthouse in San Diego.

I positioned the fence so that it leads to to the back of the frame and the ocean.

Ismail

This is my cousin's baby Ismail. I like this photo because it captures his happiness without being posed or planned. I used a pretty large aperature (1.8) so that some distracting elements in the background were completely blurred out.

Bridge

Here is...well you probably know what this is. But I like this photograph because it is so balanced. Every element seems placed correctly and the depth of field extends through the entire photo.

Like pretty much all the photos on this site, I used a Canon 20D for this shot.

Hops the Rabbit

This is a photograph of my pet/quasi child Hops. He is a brown and white lop earred rabbit who is about 3 years old.
This was taken from inside his cage in one of his quieter moments.

robyn test

Balloons

So this photo was taken during a street festival in Philadelphia. (Rittenhouse Square).
The balloons were part of an arch set up by over the street.
I sharpened the focus on the baloons so the photograph has a simple and peaceful look to it.

Woodpecker

This is another one of my favorite photographs, but not for the same reasons as the cheesesteak.

This was taken in Miami, Florida in a hotel courtyard. I was taking the picture to get the lines of the trees and the rock at the bottom in a "Zen-type" shot, the woodpecker just happened to poke it's head out when I took the photograph.

Cheesesteak

I figured I would start out my first post by combining two of the best things in the world, photography and the Philly cheesesteak

First blog message

So let's see if this works.
Hopefully I'll be able to add a photograph every day or so, we'll see how that goes.