Change + Distance = Learning

      I am sorry that it has been so long since I have posted anything....I have been on a wild and crazy ride. A ride that has relocated me form a small town in Western North Carolina (population: 5,000) to Santa Barbara, CA (population: 90,000). This has been quite the change for me and has been an experience that I will never forget!
 This journey has totally taken me out of my comfort zone and thrown me in to a life that feels like it is moving at a thousand miles a minute, but oh how I have enjoyed it thus far. There have been times of happiness and times of sadness, as you could imagine, leaving everyone and everything that you have ever know behind to go to a place where you have no place to live or know no one.
      Well, enough about me and my story! The first part of my adventure consisted of my friend Jeff and I taking off from Bryson City, NC on a long ride to the west coast! The ride was great! I got to see so much of the country and get a lot more driving experience. Here are some of the photos that I took all along the way! (with iPhone) I hope you enjoy them....but remember that the photos will never do first hand experience any justice.

The last photo I took of home before I left....bittersweet

This is the view from my friends Dave and Leigh's house that is located in central Cali....looks somewhat similar to the mountains of NC!

 

The Grand Canyon! This place is amazing! I hope that I get to spend more time here in the future...

A beautiful sunset over the canyon, it was a great evening

Another shot!

 One more!

The Bridge across from the Hoover Dam!

Dam that is a long way down!

 

My first west coast sunset! That is a  good memory!

   

This is East Beach....my second home you could say. I play beach volleyball here usually everyday after work and is where I have met most of the people I know here in Santa Barbara. This sunset was just the other night, and is the most colorful sunset I have seen here!

This is a photo from the first hike that I went on in Santa Barbara/Montecito! Out on the horizon are the Channel Islands! I plan on making it out there very soon. You could actually see where I live if the picture was bigger. 

I hope that you have enjoyed these pictures!

Light, Fight, or Flight

Taking pictures at nighttime is one of my favorite settings. I love to take on the challenge of finding the right aperture and shutter speed to get exactly what you want out of the photos. Set your aperture for your subject distance, but keep in mind that at night if you use F22 or above your shutter speed will most likely have to be on "B" and you will have to close the shutter yourself. Another hint when shooting at night is that if you shutter speed is 1/60th of a second or slower then you should have a tripod, and if you have a tripod you should also have a cable release. This will eliminate any chance of blur or fuzziness in you pictures, making them very crisp and clean.

 If anyone ever has any question on technique on how to take a particular shot in a particular setting just send me a question! I will do my best to answer it! Thank you all for reading!

Contra!

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post but there has been a lot going on. Graduation from Western Carolina University and job hunting can take up a grand deal of time!  So as part of the post graduation celebration we went to a Contra dance in Asheville, NC. If you have never been to one you must go and try it out at least once. There is such a wide array of colorful and vibrant people that it can make you appreciate many different things about where you are from. I wanted to capture Contra in these photos and I believe I did that successfully, there is constant moving and spinning in Contra dances, vibrant colors, and happy people. I hope you enjoy these photos!

Eye Sore or Eye Candy?

 Some people may consider the junk that lays around behind houses and on random property's throughout Western North Carolina to be an eye sore. However, I see this "junk" as it is usually termed to be a great subject when it comes to taking photographs. There are various layers of history that make up these photographs, and each one of the pieces of "junk" has served a purpose at some point in time. There are many muted tones and colors that have deteriorated over the years in each of these pictures. One of the most exciting things for me when taking these shots is combining the right lighting, aperture, shutter speed, and white balance to bring the colors back to life! I hope you enjoy these! Thanks for looking!

Just a Little Different

Here are just a few more example of what I love to do! Thank you for taking a look!