afternoon coffee

Things I don't like about this photo: it's slightly out of focus, and would have benefited from being a little less zoomed-in.

Things I like about this photo: the out-of-focus background, and the diagonal lines of Jimmy's forehead, nose, and coffee mug.

radio silence

You'd think that getting a new zoom lens for Christmas would make me take more photos, but strangely enough I've taken not a one since I got back to college.  One of the biggest reasons is probably that I like photographing plants most, and it's been cold and dreary for the most part.  But, no excuses!  I'm pushing myself to take more pictures starting today, and challenging myself to find good photographs...yes, even indoors.

Photo taken while studying for a Religion final in the stacks of my favorite library.

double take

Photos of UVa's rotunda reflecting in the flood on the Lawn, taken with a friend's Canon Rebel XSi. Truly ghostly with the light coming off the low clouds--I was walking home from a friend's and had to stop and stare at the reflection for a while.

Click to enlarge.

the golden hour

My favorite time of day (and time to take pictures) is what I call 'the golden hour'. It's just before sunset when the light is a perfect syrupy yellow. And it lasts nowhere near an hour--the best part of it will last maybe 25 minutes if you have a relatively flat horizon.

It probably doesn't make "good" photos in the sense of artistic colors (of the kind that Ken Rockwell chases), since the images invariably turn out saturated in gold. But I love the bright shock of yellow-orange in these pictures, and the fact that they remind me of being outside during the sunset.

Photo taken of a church in Yuma, Arizona, where I just attended a friend's wedding.

bodhisattva

new camera

Experimenting with my new Nikon D40.