Downtown Photography

I finally got off my lazy ass and went and took some pictures! Amazing!

So I went to downtown Valpo just to see what it offered in terms of photographic elements. Prepare yourselves for a lot of pictures, because this is going to be a big-un.

(These were all taken on my Nikon D7000 with a 35mm f/1.8G lens.)

First off I went to Designer Deserts, because it is a fun bakery with lots of cakes and cupcakes and such. My girlfriend had the great idea to start there, and I went from there.

 A couple similar shots, I just didn't know which I liked best.

Then I headed around the corner to Silcott Shoes, a store with great brick walls and great uses of leather and fabric.

 I like the tones and textures that this one suggests, even though it is in black and white. In retrospect, I should have used my cameras built in digital level to get that bottom part flat, but oh well.

 I found that tag ironic.

 More shoes, but these are girl shoes. This shot was a bit overexposed.

I might go back to this store sometime and actually buy some of the shoes. They all look really nice, and they are very reasonably priced, even less than you can get the equivalent at WalMart or Target, if I'm not mistaken. (I'll obviously be buying men's shoes.)

 This one actually didn't use any photoshop at all. I really like the sort of more subdued colors and tones in this one. I am very happy with how this turned out.

 I couldn't decide which of these two I liked best. I think that I like the one on the right, but it would have been much better if I could have had a model sitting on the couch.


After this I headed out and just sort of wandered around a bit outside.

 This is a picture of the Porter County Courthouse, in black and white, of course.

 Awesome old Porsche. This guy was cool enough to let me take his picture.

I stepped into a knitting shop, also, and found whole walls of pure color.

Back outside.

 And back outside. I found another awesome, old, red car, though I don't actually know who made this one. The badge on the front said "MG"

 There is this great mural on the side of one of the buildings in downtown. I kind of want to get a picture with a few people walking in front of it.

 And last but not least, selective coloring of a back alley. I had to crop it like this because there was an annoying UPS truck parked right out of the frame on the right side. What do you all think about it? I think it could be just as good if the whole thing was still just in black and white.

EDIT: I have now decided that selective coloring is the worst thing in the world and I shall never do it again.

So that was a really fun excursion, though there were some things that I could have gotten better if I had had someone else with me, either as a model or as a fellow photographer. Also, all of the business owners were more than happy to let me come into their shops and take pictures. It made me feel pretty good about some of the people in Valpo.

I absolutely LOVE my D7000. As you could see above it could get some awesome bokeh shots, but then some amazing clarity (like in this last picture). And yes, I do know that that has a lot to do with the lens that I am using, but the whole experience was great!

So that was my excursion for the day. I came back home afterwards and uploaded the pictures, did a little bit of editing, and made myself chicken and rice for dinner.

Sorry that I haven't gotten those Lego pictures edited yet, it is next on my list of things to do.

And that's all for now!

Kevin


TV: Game of Thrones
Movie: Prometheus (excited for it)
Music: The National
Game: Minecraft, Sins of a Solar Empire
Food: Chicken and Rice!

And now I am not homeless anymore!

Now I finally have a place with my own room, i.e. I am moved into my summer housing now! So I am feeling a bit more confident about the summer now.

I haven't updated in a while because at the house that I have been staying at for the past 5 days didn't have an internet connection. But now I do, so I can.

That being said, I start work full time tomorrow. Woo hoo, working from 7:00 am until 3:30 pm. 8 hour day, so I'll be making about 90-100 dollars a day, which is much better than the 67 or so that I made last summer. So that'll be great for having a little extra spending money this summer. I am kind of excited, but kind of nervous about actually starting to work full time for a real company, not just my university. I want to succeed, and I will work towards that (especially because I have to re-make the money I spent on my D7000.) I hope that this job will be a good stepping stone up to a better engineering job after I graduate.

Speaking of graduating, now that this years seniors have graduated, I am now officially a Senior in College! IT seems odd to me, like seems usual when something has to do with time. As I have said I still feel like I should be in high school or elementary school. I don't know. Where I am right now feels real, and I have a lot of good memories from this time in my life, but it doesn't seem right yet. I am almost out there on my own, just one more year before I am thrown into the real world. But it doesn't seem right.

Anyways, I bought my 3rd copy of Sins of a Solar Empire yesterday. I works on max graphics even on my netbook! I bought it on steam because it was half off, and my other copies were installed with discs, but my netbook doesn't have a disc drive. It is still one of my favorite games, and the sequel is coming out soon! Yay!

Now I am kind of moving stuff around in my room, getting it set up for when I get a desk and a real bed thing. Im probably going to have my brother's TV in my room so I can play Xbox in there, but I could have it in the back room with the other 2 TVs in the house. And I can have it with my Gamecube. Best thing ever.

I got a few pictures lately, but I haven't really gotten my camera out, since I have been in limbo.

So I've only really a couple good pictures recently:

Little ugly baby bird. But it was kind of cute.

Well, that's all I've got. Until Next time,

Kevin


TV: Game of Thrones
Movie: Limitless
Music: Gotye, The National
Game: Sins of a Solar Empire
Food: Burger King... ugh...

And now I am homeless...

At least for a few days. I can't move into my summer housing until the 21st of May, so I am crashing on the floor of one of my friends houses for 5 days. That'll be... interesting. I foresee lots of time just kind of hanging out at the Student Union on campus (since I can get internet) and roaming around with my camera.

Sorry, no pictures this time, as my desktop is all packed up, and I don;t want to get out my backup harddrive to post a couple pictures.

The last few days has been consistent of way too much moving and packing and getting freshmen's stuff and packing my storage unit and unpacking it and repacking it so that more stuff will fit. I think that everything that needs to be is in my storage unit now, though.

As seems the norm, I still don't feel like it is summer. Still being on campus doesn't help, either. I am kind of... sad, even that the semester is over, if only because I will miss the people who are usually here, and I will miss the hubbub of campus life. I also am kind of nervous about actually living on my own this summer, and working full time at an actual job, not just doing research (like I did last summer). I'm also not looking forward to the next few days, as I am basically a displaced person, and I will literally have nothing to do. Thank goodness I get to work for 4 hours tomorrow, at least. I'll probably go try to find an interesting place in town to take pictures (though that'll be a stretch, Valpo is boring as hell).

Now I am sitting in the Union Cafe eating a sandwich and typing away on my netbook. Campus seems too... quiet. It kind of reminds me of last summer, when I was stuck here as well. I am kind of regretting staying here for the summer, but I guess that I've got to do what I've got to do, employment wise. I am going to be getting paid pretty well here, and it'll be a great boost to my resume. It just means that I am away from Colorado again.

I don't think that I would want to work here, at least not in Indiana or Illinois. They are too boring for my taste. I want Mountains and plains and grand landscape, none of which is featured here. For someone who lived his entire life before college in view of some mountains (Cascades or Rockies), it is still disconcerting to not have that comforting presence there, always telling you which way is west.

This post is turning out to be longer than I anticipated, lots of words, and no pictures. I think that is boring, so I guess I'll try to scrounge up a picture or two:

If you know me, you will have seen these before, but I don't think that I have posted them here before. Therefore, here you go. I am particularly proud of the bokeh on this picture.

And that's all, I think. I will be working a lot this summer, so don;t expect too much from me. 

Oh, one last thing: My roommate and I are looking to make a couple short films this summer with out DSLR's movie modes, and if any of you have some ideas, let me know.

Later,

Kevin

TV: Top Gear

Movie: Nada

Game: Minecraft

Music: Gotye

Food: sammich