The Rites...

...of fall.

Fall...that wonderful time when the leaves begin to change their colors, the morning air takes on a cool crisp feeling and the baseball diamonds go into hibernation as the gridirons come to life with the sounds of victory...and defeat.

Stars and Stripes...

...Forever

LINK

Texture from ~Brenda-Starr~

Profile...

...on White

Circular diffuser used as a backdrop, lit from behind with an Olympus FL-36 with a Sunpak 422d at camera right.
 Freckles on nose included at no extra charge.

"Let's do the..."

"...Time Warp again.."

The reason I even wanted a "Real" camera a few years ago was to take portraits of my friends and loved ones.  Flowers, animals and landscapes just didn't do it for me, never have.  It was always youth sports and portraits that inspired me and drove my interest and enjoyment.  And for the preceding few years I was content and satisfied, expanding my abilities with each portrait or each athletic event I shot.  I was able to learn something new with each portrait and more importantly I was able to make people happy with the resulting images.

Unfortunately, due to life changes (changes in latitudes, changes in attitude?), I have not shot a single portrait in 9 months.  And I miss it.  The sudden inspiration, the satisfaction of creating an image that you want to proudly show to others...the hopefully capturing the essence of the subject.  Those are the things that drove me.

So what have I been doing to keep that desire alive?  I've been reading and rereading books on lighting and posing, trying to keep things fresh in my mind and also I've been reviewing past portraits, critiquing them, telling myself what I would have done differently, what different post processing steps I would have done. I am my own harshest critic, this I know, but I strive to push myself and to evolve as a photographer.

I'll spare you my self critique of the above image, just know that I like it and it represents some firsts for me.  It was one of the first times I ever went on location (a hill overlooking the local elementary school) and an attempt to combine sunlight with off camera flash.  Before this I had tried to always use shade to overcome the sunlight but this time I had embraced the sun and attempted to slightly overpower it.

I was quite happy with this image two years ago and I am still happy with it today.

Taken in Aug 2008, E-510, 40-150mm with FL-36 via sync cable.