Ravencrest Chalet

College.

It’s quickly approaching and my plans are finally coming together. I’ve been thinking a lot about what to do for college because it will define what happens in the rest of my life. In thinking about that I’ve been sort of freaking out about it. I’m freaking out because I dont even know what I want to do yet. I have so many options, architect, engineer, banker, photographer, musician.. the list goes on and on and really one of the most important things of my life is my Faith and Jesus Christ. I know that I owe all that I am to him and I want to put him first and foremost in my life but, I dont want to narrow my horizon of futute oppertunities by only going to a cemenary school. So, I’m stuck. But then there’s Ravencrest Chalet. Ravencrest is a really special school, located in the moutnians of Estes Park Colorado it is beautiful. This is where im going next year…

just a short hike away, this is magic lake

So, I think you can see where my choice of college comes into this photography site. It’s unbelievably gorgeous and I will be taking so many pictures. On my flickr page over there >>> you can see the shots I took while I was there for just a few days visiting. I took some pans just because I wanted my family to see how gorgeous the place was. So look foreword to more pictures of this beautiful place in the future.

Photoshoot

My lovely mother is an interior designer. And she just did a house that she needs some pictures of to put in a local magazine. Thats where I come in! This Monday I go on my first real photo shoot for cash. You cant beat it. I haven’t ever really taken pictures of furniture or houses or anything but I’m still really excited. If you have any tips feel free to let me know! I’ll be doing some research this weekend! very excited.

EDITING!

First of all happy 4th everyone!!

Today I finally had some free time and got some editing done. I worked on my Toy Car set, It’s turning out nicely, and I also got some older photos edited. Everything is on flickr so get looking! And my stream is just to the right of this post so no excuses!

Just for the record, I use Adobe Lightroom 2 to edit my pictures and I absolutely love it. Lightroom offers exactly what a photographer needs, nothing more and nothing less. It’s just so sweet. I cant say enough good things about it. I know that photoshop is the holy grail of photo editing but I really enjoy working in Lightroom. its easy to use, unlike photoshop, because its totally dedicated to professional photographers, not photographers, visual designers, website designers, etc. so yeah. its great.

Porsche Turbo

Porsche Turbo, originally uploaded by Matt_Del_Rocco.

My first photo from my Toy Car series. much more to come. i have a lot of cars! haha. so stay tuned!

Toy Cars

On Monday the Sr. High at my church did a service project at a house in a nearby neighborhood. The former residents were evicted because they failed to make payments and they left the house a wreck. It was a sad story really. No, I didn’t take a bunch of awesome pictures while there (I was working hard! ha) but while cleaning out the attic my friends and I found some treasures!

A great hanging chair, Brittany Spears memorabilia, cassette tapes, and I found a bunch of little matchbox toy cars. They were all beat up from years of play but I was so attracted to them. They were all different colors and shapes and body stiles. So, I took them home with me.

I’m going to shoot these cars (as in photographs, obviously). Toy cars have always inspired me. As a kid I never really played with them a whole lot; I didn’t have tracks, or cases, or a collection. But I always loved them. When I would get a toy car I’d just look at it. I think it’s so cool to this day how the details are so true to the real cars. So I’m going to try to capture this childhood interest in photographs.

I’m really excited about this shoot (which I’ll probably end up ding later today). I’m excited to work on the angles and light sources, and light positions, and backgrounds, and exposure times. I’ve looked up some photos on Flickr of toy cars and I have some ideas of my own. I’ll post some pictures on my Flickr as soon as I finish shooting and editing. stay tuned!

FOR SALE!

Okay, so I know its been way too long since I wrote on here and I’m sorry! but what I’m talking about today is definately worth a post. I have some very exciting news…

So, my mom is a professional interior decorator and stager for houses to be put on the market and with that job she puts artwork up in homes and sells the artwork to the homeowners and she said it would be a good idea for me to take pictures that would go along with the color schemes of the room so that I could sell my photos and she would have some really great artwork in the rooms. Are you hearing that?! I’m going to SELL my PHOTOGRAPHS! That basically makes me a professional photographer. Haha okay well maybe not that far, but still its every real photographers dream to not only get their work out to viewers eyes but also to get some cash for it. So needless to say im excited.

I’ll take landscapes at Jax beach and of the city and of the river and I’ll do still lifes of things that will go with the houses. It’s perfect for me because I love to take pictures and I love doing local things that bring the viewer to that spot (shown by my 150+ facebook albums haha) and I like being inspired and the rooms will help that for me. I’m just so excited!

As far as an update on my darkroom goes, I’ve been working my butt off at the YMCA lifeguarding to get enough cashola for the chemicals and i think this next paycheck will cover the costs! so i SHOULD have my darkroom up and running by next post.

Lots of exciting stuff going on for me! Thanks for the read and comments, shares, etc. are appreciated! the picture will probably be my first sale! get excited!!

Random interestingness

So I know that this is reminding people of Flickr but this is something i’ve been doing to get the creative juices flowing and to keep practicing photography every day.

You all have the little point and shoot cameras i’m sure. Maybe thats all you have. Well I think they’re great. I’ve been carrying one in my car with me and on my person sometimes wherever I go and just taking pictures of what I see. Not only have I just be able to catch some fun and interesting shots of me and my friends, I’m learning to look through my viewfinder at the outside world.

One of my heroes in photography is Ansel Adams. He was quoted saying;

“Simply look with perceptive eyes at the world about you, and trust to your own reactions and convictions. Ask yourself: ‘Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream? Can I visualize a print – my own personal statement of what I feel and want to convey – from the subject before me?’ – Ansel Adams

This is what I’m trying to emulate while I’m just playing around with my point and shoot. Granted, most of the shots are throw aways with little or no artistic value. But what it’s helping me to do is tell a story with my pictures. Maybe  take a picture of me and my friends at a shaved ice stand and I capture an embrace or an expression that i wouldn’t have been able to catch if the camera wasn’t in my hand. Or I’m just hanging out in my car and see a street that looks really cool so I snap a picture. It’s things like that that gave me the idea to do this. And I’m liking it. So, I just thought I’d pass that word out to you who read this. Try it if you’re not already. It’ll help you home in your skills of looking through the lens at the world.