Jim Child Photography

Tarantula.  Never experienced this little gal in the wild before last night.  While photographing a sunset storm I almost stepped on her. What a beautiful lady.  After some research it was obvious that this spider is a female.  The female has a larger abdomen than the male.  The male tarantula has thinner legs.   Tarantulas supposedly are very popular as pets.  She is very docile and easy to handle.  Last night it was too dark to photograph her so I…..I…sacrificed my 32 oz. Dr. Pepper for a temporary home for my new friend.   Before I confined her to the cup we had a bonding period.  At first she was pretty anxious.  But soon she was all over me and exploring my hands and arms.  The tarantula is softer then they look.

We soon became friends and I promised her I would return her to the same spot on my return back to phoenix.  Today up in Chino Valley I let her out and she ran all over.  Like a vacation I guess.  She did a lot of exploring.  And I did a lot of photography.  It was a blast.

Light.

Photography is the recording of  light.  Physical light.  It’s what photography is all about.   The basis for every snap shot.  Light creates mood, ambiance, and realism to a photograph.  Without it there is no texture, shape, or color.  Without light there is nothing.

Everyday, light reveals the details and colors in the photograph above.  Due to the angle of the light the textures are real.  The imperfections in the steel are revealed.  The light fall off gives depth to this photograph.  As simple as this shot is, light makes it interesting and tells a story of manmade objects that have weathered and aged.

I  am blessed that I can see light.  And maybe even better is that I can record objects and subjects that reflect light.  Definitely a passion of mine.

Have you ever looked close at an old corn stalk?

I guess some portion or maybe all the corn fields I have been driving by this summer are for feed or even ethanol.  Either way I had to stop and look close at the textures and shapes created by this harvest.  Peeking out in this pic is a portion of a cob.  I decided to use it to my photographic advantage and process the photo black and white.  Then I erased back from the lower layer the colors of the cob.  A little corny?………:-)

It’s definitely Fall in Twinn Falls.

First let me say that it’s christmas here in my world.  Yesterday before leaving for Twinn Falls I found a large package on my doorstep.  The return postage was California.  Is it?  Could it be?  Yes my D3 had been shipped back.  Home.  In my waiting hands.  Then my whole world falls apart. Three of 5 projects at work fell apart in a 24 hour period.  Extremes in every aspect of the construction process are being tested.  Emotions all over the place.  And no time to photograph.  The D3 sits and waits.  Tonight I had to sneak away and  fire off a few frames.

Twinn Falls has to be mostly agriculture. Miles of corn and more miles of sweet potatoes.  The wind was at about 20 mph.  The tops of the stalks reflect the wind.  But the dry stalks stand firm.  Shot with the D3, 24-70 f/2.8 lens at f16.  In  post I ran the shot through Topaz filter to get the watercolor effect.

Yes it’s two weeks late.  And it was my idea for the assignment.  Sunset Silouette is/was the assignment.  Honestly I have never found or taken a shot I liked.  If you know me my passion is wildlife.  Wildlife needed to be in this assignment.  The last two posts have been of my Heron friends.  They are still around and fun to photograph.  Most of the time very shy.  This is a very simple exposure (shot in aperture priority).  To get the deep shadows i dropped the EV to -1.3.  The meter did a great job to average the scene (without my compensation).    In post I cropped to a 3/5 ratio and let Nik Silver  Efex Pro do the Black and White mastering.