Layne's Lunch

There are no Photoshop tricks on this one. Just a quick balance of the colors. This speaks for itself. Six brave men memorialized in a quiet corner of the park. How many people even know? Now, I do, and you do. Here are the links to their stories: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervyn_S._Bennion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Hall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_T._Sakato http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_F._Valdez http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Edward_Wahlen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Miles_Thacker

On my way up to Memory Grove Park today I saw this flower, snapped a photo and kept walking. I thought it would be kind of interesting with a b&w background. Nothing special, just me playing around in PS4. It turned out to be kind of an interesting image.

One of my favorite lunch time walks is to go up City Creek canyon through Memory Grove Park. It is amazing how you can go from the noise of downtown to the serenity in the canyon in just a few minutes. Memory Grove park is beautiful memorial to all of the fallen heroes from Utah. My first attempt at capturing the park's memorials is this photo of the World War I memorial. In the center of the columns is a monument that lists the names of all the fallen soldiers. The engraving on the plaque reads: 1914 - 1918 IN GRATEFUL REMEMBERENCE OF THE HEROIC SONS OF UTAH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE WORLD WAR * * * THIS MONUMENT ERECTED A.D. 1932 . Let us never forget.

I just finished reading The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D Companion. This book was well worth the money. The manual that comes with the book is fine for starters, but it only tells what the buttons on the do, not how to use the buttons to create great pictures. This book takes you through the basics of using the camera as well as the basics of photography. I highly recommend it to anyone who buys the XSi. Considering how much the camera cost it is a small price to pay to really learn how to use the camera.

Yesterday at lunch I went up to Heber C. Kimball's grave site and took a picture of the monument. The light is a bit of a challenge for me because the bright noon sun. I couldn't get any of the clouds to cooperate so I ended up taking a picture looking to the East. After a bit of work in Photoshop I was able to tone down the harsh lighting and bring out some of the details hidden in the shadows. I also removed a few power lines that were distracting. I don't think this is a great picture, but it was a good exercise for me and I learned some new things in PS4.

Tonight we went over to the neighbor's pond with the young men and did a little frog hunting. There were lots of frogs so the hunting was easy. However, our frog hunting skills needed some improvement, so no frog legs for dinner tonight (not that I would eat any of them anyway). The best hunting was with my camera. This was a lucky shot. I have no idea how I got the sun to do that. Maybe someone can explain it to me. Aug 27th Edit: I took the photo into Bridge and did a +/- 2 stop adjustment to the photo. Then I gave the 3 photos to a friend who had Photomatix. He merged them and did a couple of minor adjustments. It greatly improved the photo.

I know this building is over photographed, but I couldn't resist. This morning on my way in to work I walked past the temple. Even after seeing it almost every day I still am amazed at its beauty. I pulled my camera out of the bag and took a few shots with the intent to experiment with white balance. My white balance experiment didn't work out so well, so I took the photo and played around with the perspective crop in Photoshop. All I did was make the sides of the temple parallel with the sides of the picture. It gives it an interesting look. Almost like it is shorter that normal. No matter what perspective, the building is still a work of art.

Old barn wood seems to beg me for a photograph. This old shed is less than a mile from my house, and I never noticed it. As we left for our walk this afternoon I decided to grab my camera. I'm glad I did because having a camera opens up your eyes to new photographic possibilities. There is nothing special about this old shed except the story that the weathered wood tells.

I couldn't resist. I had to post one more picture of last night's sunset. It was simply amazing! It is a bit unnerving to stand under these monsters. The buzzing sound says to me that my brain cells are being slowly fried. I liked how the parallel power lines disappear over the horizon. The only thing I did to this photo was turn up the saturation a bit and turn down the white balance. This really brought the orange color of the sunset out.

Today I took a walk during lunch up to Brigham Young's grave site. In the park is a statue of Brigham Young reading the Book of Mormon to a girl and a boy. The girl is holding his pocket watch. I tried to get a good picture of the entire statue, but the light and the shadows were a challenge above my photo skills. So, I walked away with only this good picture.

I have to admit that I do find beauty in power line towers. The symmetry, structure, and height all catch my eye. However, when you live near them, they become obnoxious. On my way home tonight I saw this sunset developing, so I grabbed my camera and drove away from the homes. These three towers were right in the way of a beautiful sunset. So, I shot them. Then I went under the power lines to the west and took some more pictures. After I got home and downloaded the pictures I realized that the sunset was really boring all by itself. The towers added interest to the photo.

Today during my lunch hour I took a walk with my camera. In one hour I took over 80 photos. The main thing that I learned is that I have a lot to learn about my camera. By the time I was done cutting out the worthless photos I only had about a dozen left. Even some of those photos are not that great. On my way back to work I paused and caught this shot. I thought the sun reflection in the window above the flag flying in the breeze was kind of cool.

I rode my bike by this old dilapidated double wide this morning. The thing that caught my eye was the purple flowers that contrast with the old blue trailer. Later in the day I went back to get a picture of it. I don't think I captured the contrast that I was looking for. I needed a ladder to get up a few more feet. Here it is for you to give your opinion.

My new camera arrived yesterday. It is a Canon XSi. Nice! This shot is of an old barn that is just up the road from my house. It was an easy shot to get from the road. I'll have to admit that I think old barns are kind of cool.

Today is a red letter day. I just ordered my Canon XSI from Amazon.com. I also picked up a UV filter, an extra battery and an 8GB card. It should be here in a couple of days. I will be using the kit lens (18-55) for a while until I can get the money for a longer lens. My next purchase will be an external hard drive for my computer since my internal drive is about full and I also want to purchase Photomatix so that I can mess around with HDR. I am in a photo club at work. We organized a scavenger hunt. Basically each person goes out during their lunch hour and takes a photograph of a specific item. We then bring them back and during our meetings we compare and discuss the photos. There is one assignment each week. The first assignment is to take a picture of the statue at Brigham Young's grave site. Stand by for some photos.

Here is another shot of the shack at Rosey's Mine.

We hiked up to Rosey's mine above Porcupine Dam. This old shack sits just below the mine. The only camera I had with me was my wife's Canon A1000IS. The texture in the wood really caught my eye. I need to go back up there with a good camera and get some better shots of this old shack.