KPBS Fame

Angela Carone from KPBS' These Days e-mailed me this past weekend to see if they could feature one of my photos on their blog, Culture Lust, today. This is awesome for a million reasons:

• Duh, it's my photography (though I have to admit that when I see my pic among the others, mine clearly seems to be the least artistic).
• It's my co-worker's band, The Midwinters
  
• These Days is all too familiar to someone who rarely changes the radio dial from the NPR/KPBS station.
• It was randomly found on Flickr. I'm still amazed how great and well-respected flickr has turned out to be in the larger publishing world.

Kind of weird that all that time of unemployment actually yielded a semi-competent talent because lately I've rarely been tooling around in my own hobby for me. I'm actually in demand for others. The only problem is that I can't bring myself to charge because they're friends (I have a ring of people who yell at me for this, but dude...don't mix friends and business) I'm in serious need of a pimp that will take care of my bidness for me.

Capture Cincinnati Photo Contest

I entered this last year with little hope of getting published because I hardly have any photos of my hometown...at least since the digital age. That, of course, was a sad realization so when we were back this past summer, I went on a mission to remedy that and lo and behold, this contest is going on again.

Sign up, check out my latest batch of the 'nati and vote!

For the Flickr-ites

Shameless self-promotion alert: I entered a photo into the Lonely Planet Publications pool on Flickr and have made it to the final cut of voting. You can help me win a guidebook and possible publication by voting for my photo in 3 easy steps:

1. Click here to see my photo in the running (make sure you're signed in as well).
2. Copy and paste this code in the comments section at the bottom of the page:
   

   <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/lonelyplanetpublications/ "> This photo makes me want to travel and gets my vote in the Lonely Planet Publications group's Beach challenge</a>

3. Click "Post Comment" to vote.

Loads of Ireland pics coming soon...

Featured in a Museum

Why do I love flickr? Because things like this happen: Two of my photos were selected for presentation in a digital slideshow at the San Diego Natural History Museum. It's for their next exhibit, Water: A California Story, opening July 19, 2008. As to be expected, the photos are history related:

• Swell Crashing into OB Pier--back in December there were some gnarley waves that rolled in.
• Old Mission Dam--Mission Trails Regional Park can tell you more about the history than I can.

I mean, wow. I made it to a museum. I'm officially immortalized...unless their computer crashes.

I've Been Cheating on You

When I haven't been here, I've been writing posts for Garrett Photography (where I intern). Anyway I wrote a post yesterday that felt a little more Kellinahandbasket but sweet-i-fied for a different crowd. It feels unfair not to link to it so here's the round-up of all the posts you've missed out on:

• Online Weight Management
• Ramey & Gabe - This is the other part of my day. I color corrected these photos.
• Relevant Reads: What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage - Don't get too excited about that title. I'm just pointing people to an article.
• Kelly & Anthony
• Vendor Spotlight: Jenna @ The Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) - Cool to interview people around town. This post makes me aggravated with Wordpress since Jenna's picture is shoved up against the text. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix that. Wordpress - 1. Kell - 0.
• Board & Brew
• Alyssa & Blake - More color correction. And I'll take credit. I posted it even though it says Garrett did.
• WPPI 2008 Craziness - I didn't do anything with this post but these are the guys I work with...who ditched me for Vegas.
• Wedding Mapper
• Ramey & Gabe's Engagement Session - another color correction job.

Sometimes people get excited and think that I took those pictures and I didn't. That's the handiwork of Garrett and Jason who are pretty freakin' talented. I rough edit their stuff (meaning I go through the thousands of pictures from the event and start deleting the obvious throw-aways, and it's a hard job because they take such great pictures. It also helps that seemingly the most flawless specimens of the human race flock to them. Anway. I'm going to point you to my other posts in a more timely manner. Or not. I'm not good at making promises.

Circa 1890

This is my great-great grandmother.

Har.

Photojojo pointed me to this Japanese application that turns your photos into these old-timey photos. It's as simple as uploading a photo and clicking the blue button underneath your choice. Et voila.

Unfortunately these expressions did not look old worldly enough to make the cut, but give you an idea of the "before" quality:

I Can Has a Vote?

Inspired by I Can Has Cheezburger and its latest stream of emo pictures, I was at Laguna Beach yesterday and came upon this "viewing machine" looking oh so sad.

So I had to take a shot and turn it into a LOL pic. 'bout time I did one of these, anyway. So give it a little clicky click and rate it! Perhaps one day I'll reach LOL fame.

LSF Editorial Shoot

Meet the founder, CEO, owner, big cheese, and boss of LSF Editorial, Lauri. A couple weeks back we did some head shots so she would have something nice to put on her Web site's profile to show potential clients that she was the rare combination of being both writerly AND someone with good hygiene. I can vouch for that, too, since she's one of my dear friends in San Diego. She showers AT LEAST once a week. Anyway I think we accomplished that goal.

Interesting side note is that Lauri had told me prior to taking any pictures that she had a "bad side" and preferred shots only on the left side of her face. That black and white picture? That's her bad side. I mean, I know your knee-jerk reaction was probably OH MY GOD! WHO IS THAT CRETIN?! But the lesson here is take pictures of people's supposed bad sides. It may turn out to be a pick. Here's her good side just to allay the shock that you may have experienced from that first picture.

And lastly, a second part of the project was to produce some images that convey writing, editing, the whole she-bang to also integrate into her website. It's still sort of a project in progress, but I quite like this image. I might even frame this one for my own keeping.

Random Associations

Yesterday I hit up THE Dog Beach in OB for some more pooch shoots, which is always good for the soul. Who knows why, but this dog reminds me of Helena Christensen in Chris Isaack's video, Wicked Game. I think it's the hair. And because another dog was trying like crazy to hump her.

Picture of Patience

We just learned the "proper" way to make black and white photos in class using calculations in Photoshop. Though many would argue this is too dark, I'm a big fan of contrast-y black and whites or a more burned out look.

Plus it was about time that we documented Ryan's beard.

For all the friends farther east, try not to take it too hard that Ryan's wearing a short sleeve shirt outside at the end of January.

The Web Has Spoken...

And it wants more baby animals.

After the recent feature on Yahoo! You Witness News Photos, I found out one of my photos was hand-picked on The Kitten Channel back in November. On one hand I wish it was something that reflected my wicked photography skills, but hey. I'll take the plug. So will the Cat Adoption Service of San Diego!

"Winter" Storm's a-comin!

I went over to Ocean Beach to get some shots of the swell happening from the approaching storm (thanks for the tip, Lauri). This wins cutest picture of the day, but this gives you a better idea of the size of the waves coming in. Totally tubular.

Update: Hey! Hey! Look whose photo made it into Yahoo's You Witness News Photos! Odd that they didn't tell me that they accepted my submission, but go on over and click on that "recommend" button!

A Lesson in Filters

Though my photography class is still frustratingly hands-off and non-visual (dude...at least throw some slides in if you're just going to lecture), it feels good to produce some tangible and visual results which I'll share.

Outside of contact sheets, these were the first prints I actually made and the key lesson here was to use 3 different filters in the enlarger to produce 3 prints of the same photograph. The end result is varying degrees of contrast.
#0 Filter
20 second exposure on the enlarger







#2 Filter
18 second exposure on the enlarger







#5 Filter
25 second exposure on the enlarger

So it's easy enough to see the difference the filter makes, but this also became a lesson in margins and focusing. The assignment asked for 6x9 photos on 8x10 paper. I don't know if the easels were just crap or what, but if you look close enough, the margins are all off and to top it off the #5 isn't completely in focus (click on it; you'll see)...things that could be possibly helped by the presence of an instructor. This is what winds up sidetracking me in the darkroom for 4 hours because if these things are off, you have to reprint it...and this is where digital has me spoiled because the amount of time it takes to see if you did that adjustment correctly is just insanely long compared to using a slide rule in photoshop. Grr.

Intro to Black and White Photography: Day 1

Making friends with the enlarger. I forget what the head dude called this type of image. I swear he said a pictogram, but that's not right. This is what's called a photogram. Gives you a basic idea of how light from the enlarger works with photographic paper.

Vote for My Photo!

Kelly Cowan submitted this photo and wants your support! It's up for a vote (from people like you) as a part of the Capture Cincinnati book project from The Enquirer & C-Change. So click on the thumbnail to view the full-size photo and vote for their photo if you think it should be in the book. Don't worry, if you don't like it we won't tell.

Lomo Clouds

The sensor needs cleaning but I lomo-ed a series of pictures taken on the flight back home and find myself fascinated with these shots on the bright sides of the clouds. Like little cities, they are...and it really seems like you could just peacefully fall into one and be comfortably cradled.

Anyway. I followed a tutorial over on Kingyo Senbei.

Milking the Summer for All It's Worth

It's almost been a month since the trip to the Caribbean, but it's still fresh in my mind. Since then I've caught the beach bug and have been to the San Diego beaches every day this week (except one). The craziest part of that is that I hadn't been in the Pacific since we moved here until now...after body surfing, snorkeling, and boogie boarding this week (Thanks Lauri!) I'm addicted.

Check out the vacation photos here!

Moo

Finally. I found something cool AND productive to do with all that photography over on my Flickr account. Introducing, Moo. This London based company lets you directly access your photo account (which eliminates the hassle of uploading), select and crop your picks, and then print them on cards half the size of your average business card; complete with all the info you wish to include on the back. I just received my pack (within four days!) and people, they are NICE. Thick. Awesomely unique. And affordable. They use recycled material, but be forewarned that the satiny finish doesn't agree with most pens in the event you want to include some spur-of-the-moment extra info on it. Thin Sharpies do the trick, I've found.

Moo currently only works with Flickr, Fotolog, Bebo, or Habbo but I suspect they'll expand. I've been cutting slits into the card stock I use for sending thank yous to my potential employers to hold the card (much like the example in their blog); we'll see if that touch helps me out any...I've been going through the interviewing gauntlet more recently.

2007 Predictions for Kellinahandbasket

I'm sensing that Kellinahandbasket might have a little more focus this year. I've posted links in the past concerning Web 2.0 applications, but man-oh-man do I have a slew of recommendations for the Kellinahandbasket readers out there. (And by the way, when you click on that link and read "O'Reilly Media," it's not Bill)

You're probably already using quite a few like Flickr, YouTube, or any one of the hundreds of social networking sites like MySpace (I still don't understand how *that* one got so popular), but have you been to any of these lately?

If you've got an itch to travel soon and your dates are flexible, hit Farecast. This site "predicts" the best times to travel, giving you approximate prices for the days you want to travel as well as a graph to illustrate the dates around it and flights to choose from. Or head over to Kayak.com and buy your ticket. Kayak is another mash-up site that searches flights from 120+ Web sites. Based on my cross-checking, it's a great site *except* for their "flexible dates" option. Travelocity still kills them on that.

Too bad I didn't find Wishlistr for you in time for the holidays. Be wed no more to just the amazon wishlist. Wishlistr lets you select your items from all Web sites!

And if you've been trying to figure out where to go to build your Web site with little hassle, the Google Page Creator in the Google Apps for your Domain is ridiculously easy (preview the under construction Kellinahandbasket desperately trying to find a job) not to mention that Google Apps,

lets you offer private-labeled email [kell@kellinahandbasket.com], instant messaging and calendar accounts to all of your users, so they can share ideas and work more effectively. These services are all unified by the start page, a unique, dynamic page where your users can preview their inboxes and calendars, browse content and links that you choose, search the web, and further customize the page to their liking. You can also design and publish web pages for your domain.

It's all free* and everything is hosted by Google. No hardware or software required.

All free except for $10/year to register a domain if you don't already have one. The dynamic start page seems useful if you're a small business with employees, but I doubt any of you will be signing up for your @kellinahandbasket.com email accounts soon.

I'll leave you with those for now.

Otherwise there have been tons of photoshop tutorials creeping up since the new release of CS3. Web 2.0 and photoshop focus in 2007? This just might be Kellinahandbasket 2.0.

Tiny Heidi

Tilt-shift effect created using Receding Hairline's tutorial. Click on the pic for the best view.