February 15, 2014:  Learning my DSLR with my friend David at Samuel P. Taylor State Park (Marin County, CA)

All images copyrighted Casondra Sobieralski.  Please contact for use permissions: cmsobieralski@hotmail.com




David has volunteered to be my photography coach.  ;)  We took our cameras out to the redwoods on a slightly rainy Saturday afternoon because the redwoods are the best place to be on a misty day.  

He would give me little exercises like, "See that rope dangling from that footbridge?  Get the rope in sharp focus and the rest blurred."  Ooo!  At the waterfall, "Get the water in soft focus, but everything around it crisp."  "Er, how do I do that?"  "Figure it out!"

Here are some samples of my first day trying the manual controls of my new DSLR.  Yes I know I'm not ready for a National Geo Fulbright, but slowly slowly!

[click on small images for large detailed images.]

 Little ferns...

Third time was the charm on my rope assignment!  Click for larger image to even SEE the rope...

I am very proud of this photo technically for day 2 out with my camera!

Note the soft water and the crisp stuff around it, as per my assignment.  :)

OK, a little over exposed in the weather soup, but nice composition, eh?

Can't you FEEL the moss?  Definitely more data than my Powershot camera.

"Tree Tryptic"

David!

Rain drops on crab grass.

I like this one-- all the juicy textures.  (One to click for big image.)

Spooky cabin.

Thank you David!  It takes a true friend to get soaked in the redwoods with you for art. :)

February 10, 2014: Orange County, CA

A few photos from my explorations while Alex was at work on Monday... 

Fun architecture for and am/pm mini-market, eh?  Saddleback Mountains in the distance.

February 9, 2014: Orange County, CA

My Pittsburgh high school amigo, Alex, moved from Palo Alto to Orange County this past summer.  I went down to SoCal to visit for his birthday/housewarming weekend. 

This was also my first weekend with my NEW DSLR!  Opted for the Canon EOS 70D, first DSLR with autofocus for video.  I was lazy and shot everything on auto settings so Alex didn't have to be constantly waiting for me to figure out where all the buttons gizmos and gadgets are for everything!  Kevin is saintly patient with this sort of thing because his dad was a photographer and used to take Kevin on shoots with him.  My friend David is also patient because he is a photographer.  My dad is very patient because he likes to nurture my photo habit.  But I don't expect most people to be that patient.  ;)

Goal for day 1 was just to get used to the shape and feel of the camera in my hands.

Alex's new digs in Lake Forest.  As you can ascertain, I am the supreme underachiever of my high school peer group.  Ha ha!  But they don't mind.  They tell me they live vicariously through my gutsy free spirit.   :)

The view from Alex's front yard.  Yes, Alex, I know we need to go shopping for food for a dinner party tonight and one tomorrow night, BUT WE MUST GO TO THAT MOUNTAIN! (Behind those palms.) It's calling my soul.

 Alex conceding to take me to the Saddleback/Santa Ana Mountains, where he had never been himself.

Houses nestled on a plateau.

Houses nestled in a Saddleback valley.

Groovy dome home.

We found the start of a 14 mile trail head starting at a nature preserve run by Cal State Fullerton.   This was in a tiny outback town called Modjeska, named after a nineteenth century actor and women's right's activist from Krakow.  Yes, Orange County fits a lot of its stereotypes, but it also has little pockets of unexpected treasures!  This one is 20 minutes from Alex's new place.

With dinner guests arriving at 7, though, we only had about 2 hours to play, so we intend to go back and trail run the whole thing next visit. 

Freaky winding stairs to nowhere built into the hillside.  Ancient WPA project???

Lightening demise of a tree...

Thanks for indulging my soul!  I would be very happy to be one of the 30-40 (adult) mountain lions living in this range.  

Hot and dry and minimal pollen torture, just the way I like it. 

Now let's go make a feast!

Oh, but we needed a few kitchen items from the old apartment. While Alex was rifling for mixing bowls and such, I was drawn to the sunset on this palm tree.  Good night sun!

December 22, 2013:  Hayward Shoreline and Solstice Sharing at Home with Kevin

More attempts to capture sunset lighting that left me salivating for a DSLR!  (See last post.)

There are strong pros (beauty, filmic quality, good for very controlled shots like interviews) and cons (sound, workflow, not good for spontaneous shots that require a lot of refocusing) to using DSLRs for video, though, and I also have to upgrade my video camera (Canon GL2, still DV).   I do not have funds for both (really I don't have funds for even one, ha ha), so what to do...

I spent over an hour on the phone with B&H in NYC this past Sunday, and given my uses and my skill level, we narrowed my search to two choices:  a Canon 7D DSLR or a Canon XF100 HD camera.  (They estimate I'll have about 5 more years before I have to straddle myself with 4K headaches, since so few consumers have anything to watch 4K on, and most cannot perceive the difference.)

Dad, however, nearly sold me on the Pentax K3.  --until I started reading about the enhanced video features on the newer Canon *70*D.  But it has a more "plastic-y" body than the 7D.

If anyone has feedback on any of these cameras, do shoot me an email!  One thing I learned from B&H is, a full sensor DSLR is NOT the way to go for video because the aspect ratio will be off.  Who knew?!?  This is good news, because the next sensor size down means lower cost camera body.  :)

Hayward Shoreline as the sun set, 1 day after Solstice:

I made these pants for Kevin as one of his gifts!  :)

The fabric is from Australia.  I found it at a speciality quilt shop in Niles, California in Fremont.  Those are snakes squiggling among the hypnotic didgeridoo  dots.  We like our slithery serpent friends!

SOLSTICE HAIKU

Hitting the bottom of

the pool, we make our way back

towards the light.

December 17, 2013: Alameda Marsh at Sunset with Kevin

Sunsets are where I am really feeling the limits of my camera, a Powershot SX230HS.  I have manual controls, but it just does not have a big enough sensor to capture the range and sensitivities of color that I see around me.  I have had 2 years with this wonderful little camera;  it is so light and easy to take on hikes and travel with, I can hook it on my fanny pack when I go biking, it has a great zoom and does very well in low light.   (I bought it for the mosques and cave churches of Turkey and was very happy with the results.  I even got reasonable shots in Carlesbad Caverns, which is quite dark.) 

But after 6 months of not allowing myself to shoot anything on any auto setting,

 I might be ready to graduate to a DSLR!  :)

December 14, 2013: Lake Chabot, by Myself

A few nice shots at the Magic Hour and as the sun went down...