In The Still Of The Night…
“What Do You See?”
Some people see a storm,
through a path much forlorn,
while Others see a light,
a solution burning bright.
Some see a journey,
Justification affirming,
Others abyssal dark.
Odds oh so stark.
Points of view much contrasted.
emotions vast yet contracted.
What matters is not what you see or don’t.
What matters is if you know there’s both.
Camera: Canon Powershot G9
In The Still Of The Night…
“As Some Doors Open, Others Close.”
A force of nature you can’t oppose.
Doors create the path you chose.
Some open roads, straight and true.
Some burn bridges all the way through.
Always making ways unending,
Ever twisting, ever turning.
So many choices, so many ways,
Almost equal your life in days.
Not making choices can be as bad,
as wasting the good ones you could have had.
For when some doors open, others close.
A force of nature you can’t oppose.
~Self~
Do you wonder where you would be if you didn’t make the choices you did up to this point?
If you were given the choices you said “no” to back then, would you say “yes” this time around?
It amazes me when I realize how incredibly different my life would be if I had said “no” to some decisions, and “yes” to others.
Decisions that seemed so simple at the time would either open or close doors in my life; completely altering the roads I would take years, even decades from now.
Though it is nice to reminisce and wonder about what might have been, I don’t regret the decisions I have made in the past.
They’re what shaped my life into what it is today, and have helped me become the person I am.
I have met people I would not have met; made friends I would never have known.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way =D
In The Still Of The Night…
“A Lonely Heart Beats”
Whether or not the gauntlet falls,
the preparations are made by all.
For in due time comes a sound of thunder,
and the best laid plans are torn asunder.
Choices are made, feelings hurt,
testing one’s own self worth.
Some take months, others years,
through sadness, heartache, pain and tears.
They wait and wait, their hearts askew
For the day to come when born anew.
~Self~
I like to think that everyone has gone through moments from the past that signify a turning point in their lives.
Seeing that single light, alone against the darkness…it made me think somewhat of the things I went through in order to get this far photographically and as an artist.
Hence the title, name, and the poem (which is something I originally wrote also!)
Hope you guys like!!!
-Marc
Camera: 5D Mark I
Lens: 50mm f/1.2 at 1.2
Shutter: 1/10
Fashion Shoot: Vicky
My friend Christopher and I scouted out and shot a more fashion-oriented style shoot this past weekend. We scouted out the location/s on Saturday and proceeded to shoot on Sunday. As half of the shoot was experimentation we definitely got to have fun and play.
Bodies: Nikon D3 & Canon 5D Mark I
Lenses:
Some results:
And after showing her grace, the wind knocked it out of her =P
It started getting dark not too long after we finished shooting on the train tracks, so we found an alley and decided to experiment;
(Off Cam Lighting at Night!!!) =D
We snuck around and found another really neat location. From there we worked more on some off-camera flash =D:
It was totally awesome shooting with my friend Chris and our model Vicky. We need to definitely do this again!!!
Let me know what you guys think!!!!
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A Nikon, A Canon, and A Dream.
My photography career really started with not one, but two cameras:
1. A Nikon N75 and a 28-75mm lens. The camera was 35mm film and I had no idea what I was doing.
2. A Canon SD300 Elph “point and hoot”. Yes I called it a point and hoot.
From the beginning I started shooting whatever I could find. I was going to college at the time at UIC, so the urban environment was perfect for me to photograph a vast variety of things. From plants to animals to buildings, nothing was safe. A perfect environment for a budding photographer to explore and learn.
Wildlife in Chicago…
Watchdog
I passed by this little guy every day for a semester when I was going to school at UIC. He was always at the same spot, lounging at the window, so it became pretty traditional that I would stop by and watch him for a minute or so.
One day I brought my N75 with me and saw him. Instead of lounging at the window, he stood up and stared at me. It looked like an interesting pose so I focused on him, looked for the correct exposure and clicked away.
One of my favorite pictures to this day, not many people know that it’s also one of my first images ever taken.
Stitch
My cat Stitch =)
I was still new to photography, so didn’t know exactly where to focus with my father’s 50mm 1.4 while Stitch was holding still.
So before you ask…no, his earhairs were not the subject of my focus….
Urbanology
Aside from portraits of the local fauna, my style of photography extended out to scenery and scenic pictures as well.
I happened to be walking back home to my apartment at UIC one day when I looked up and saw this photo:
UIC
I had my SD300 with me at the time and was starting to experiment with digital. While I thought a photo of this would look nice, when I took the picture, something wasn’t adding up. The image wasn’t looking right.
I changed the settings, fiddled with the controls, tried this and tried that. Nothing seemed help me convey what I was seeing in front of me.
Until I tried it in Black and White.
When you discover the purpose and forcefulness of Black and White as a medium to convey your vision to your audience, a whole new door opens to your mind and senses.
Being so used to color for photography, we are forced to renew our senses when looking at black and white imagery; we look at the tone and the bare essentials now and see the image for what it is rather than be distracted and be possibly misled by colors.
UIC At Night
Encouraged by this, I started experimenting with anything and everything that I saw. Which led to this image:
“Smokey Mountain”
Since I was so close to the Sears tower and had a good view of the building in a parking lot near me, I decided to have a go at night photography.
Set at f/11 or f/15, for an exposure of 11-15 seconds, this was my very first real cityscape photo that I ever took.
When I looked through my old photos for this entry I found myself reminiscing a lot and absolutely loving it. It has helped me keep up with this blog and this blog in turn has definitely helped with my writing-a skill that I haven’t really utilized in full force since my college days.
Altogether though, and with luck, this blog will be further encouragment to me to look for more images and tell the stories behind them.
Lazy Afternoon
