This past summer I went on tour with my friends' band Jerusalem. We went up to Cornerstone festival in Bushnell, Illinois. Needless to say since I got home all i have wanted was to be back on the road again. We were gone for 3 weeks and every single day was better than the day before, until we started our journey home. This shot was of my friend Cory when we were hanging out at the campsite I was staying at. Cory and I had been friends for years and years before finally meeting. Cyber buddies! I hadn't talked to him in months and all of a sudden someone walked up to me and asked if my name was Seth. It was a very pleasant surprise. Can't wait for next year! The next shot was taken somewhere in Oklahoma in the middle of nowhere, where we ran out of gas.. perfect timing though, right? Not a single person stopped to assist us but that was fine with me because I got to get a cool long exposure of the sunset and headlights streaming by. Something beautiful coming out of something bad. It happens more often than you think, you just have to look for it :)

 

Playing around with the Canon 24mm f/3.5 tilt shift

I rented the Canon 24mm f/3.5 tilt shift for a photoshoot last week so I drove out to cypress to learn how to use it on my dear friend Hailey. It was difficult to get the hang of but after a week of having it I was finally able to learn the ropes. The way a tilt shift lens works is the elements (glass) inside the lens barrel are "floating." There is a knob which allows the lens to tilt 8.5 degrees up and down allowing you to move the focus plane lower or higher in the frame. The lens is a button you can press allowing the lens to rotate means vertical tilts can now be horizontal shifts, making the focus plane now move vertical (top to bottom) in the frame.  There is one more knob which is the shift option. This knob allows the lens to actually move up and down 12 degrees each way resulting in being able to actually change the perspective from where the photo is taking. You can make it appear that you are standing higher than you actually are or kneeling on the ground before your subject when you may be 5 feet above your subject. As cool this feature was, I rarely used it. Just like on the tilt, you can rotate and shift and make it seem like the photo was taken at an angle. I loved using this lens quite a bit!

I went on a walk by my apartment on the first couple days I had the lens on the south side of 59. Found this incredible peaceful walkway between two streets in a very old victorian neighborhood. The air was so still and quiet. An older couple was walking their dog and I waited for them to pass before snapping this. After I took I just sat there enjoying the stillness. These were the moments I used to take for granted. It was nice to experience it again.