What is a Trace??

Ok, so another adventure here in Mississippi took me along what is known as the Natchez Trace.  Basically it is a trail that runs for over 400 miles running through Alabama and Tennessee as an old road to travel back and forth near the Mississippi river.  The French called it a trace (AKA trail) because of the foot path tracing along.  And believe it or not you can still walk most of it if you want to.  I went on a road trip along the trace for a portion and then walked a bit of it to just to see what it was like to just cruise toward the Mississippi delta on foot.

One portion that I walked a a very interesting story to it.  When i walked up on it I saw 13 headstones right in line with the path.  I got up to a trail marker to find that there were 13 unknown Confederate soldiers that had been buried right there on the trail.  The bad part about it as I kept reading, was the fact that according to history, no one knew how they got there, where they were going, how the died, or for that matter who buried them there.  It was somethings that was lost to the ravages of time I suppose.

A bit further down the road I came across a set of 8 Native American burial mounds ( there are 2 or 3 other areas like this along the trace).  A storm started to come in so the sky went gray and a haze started setting over the field, so I touched it up in post… I got here way too late for fall color but from what the locals were telling me walking hte trace during fall color can be an amazing experience, so I will have to come back soon.

Captured with 1D Mark IIN 70-200f2.8 on Lexar digital film.

Hello is this blog on???

So I have been getting emails, comments on my Facebook page, and so on saying I need to BLOG MORE!!!!!  And they are right I do need to blog more, and believe me i want to.  Some times I just don’t have anything interesting to say and I don’t want to subject you to the ramblings of a photographer…  But I have been out in Mississippi for the last 5 days and have been getting to shoot a bit here and there.  I have got to go to a few places that have been really neat to visit, one was the Ames Plantation, which is a working plantation that the University of Tennessee uses for research.  A lot of the old buildings from the 1800’s are still standing and it made for some fun shooting.

Above is what was left of an old tack room, that is just about done for.

These two where of the school house that was on the property.  Inside it had a single pot-belly stove to keep the place warm in the winter months and held about 16 desks.  It had all kinds of details to shoot so I picked some of my favorites.

Out behind the Blacksmith shop I found a pair of old milling stones with soe of the grooves still intact.  According to what I was this one was actually in use for some time in the late 1800’s and then just tossed aside.

At one of the old quarters on the property I found this hand made chair with a woven leather seat.

Captured with 1D Mark IIN 17-40f4 on Lexar digital film.

Post processing done with NIK Color Efex 3.0 and Silver Efex

Yes, I am still here…

Hey Everyone,

Well I know it has been almost a month and a half since I blogged and for that I apologize but for personal reasons it just could not be helped.  If I could have I would have but there was not any way possible.  But, now i am slowly getting back in the saddle and getting back behind the camera.  Since I was feeling a bit rusty I decided just to take a stroll around the yard and see what I could find string about after the first couple of rains in my home town.  So I figure to start out light and get back into it I would slap on my Canon 100f2.8 and have some fun doing some hand held macro work.  This would build the hand hold technique back up and give me small targets that I did not have to chase around.   So here is what I found…

These were all shot in the yard, just having a good time.  I found some cool mushrooms growing out front and a very cool seed pod hanging from a tree.  I finished them in post with Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Silver Efex.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Just Playing Around

There is something cool about hanging out in old barns with old stuff that I just love.  You are surrounded by history everywhere you turn, and there is always something interesting to shoot.  These came from a ranch just outside of my hometown.  The folks that own the place are great people and have an amazing collection.

Captured with 1D MarkIIN 50f1.8 on Lexar digital film

Enjoying Black and White

So I was feeling like playing with some B&W after m venture into the worl of Color Efex the other and decided ot play a bit with Silver Efex Pro.  It is funny before this plug-in came along I didn’t do much B&W conversion, but now with the ease of use of Silver Efex I find myself going to B&W more than ever.  This anothter shot from Quaking Aspens.  It is really kind of creepy how the point where the branch was connected to the trunk of the tree almost apears to be an eye.  I figured it being close to Halloween this would be a good theme photo.

Just more having fun with Silver Efex.  This image was finshed in about 10 seconds.  Speed, it is a good thing…  And finally

This was a shot from English Camp on San Juan Islands.  I have had it in my “what to do with” file for a while and after some playing around I finally figured out what to do with it.  So a touch of Sepia toning, a Structure slider, a couple of Control Points, a burned edge or 4 and I have my finished image.  Total time to create 30 seconds.

All images captured with 1D Mark IIN 17-40f4 on Lexar digital film

Fun With Filters

OK so I have been getting emails saying I don’t blog nearly enough and that I need to kick things is gear.  So to that end here is something for your reading enjoyment.  Below is a pair of images (Before and After).  I have been playing around with Color Efex 3.1 to see how far I can push it before I take an image beyond the limits of what I still consider an image.  At the same time I have been playing with Color Efex using smart filters.  You may ask why, and I say why not?  It is there, try it out and see what it does.  So here is the before image of a shot I took on Sunday up in the Sierras.  The sun just broke over the mountains and blasted some light into the aspens.

This is a straight shot from the RAW file no edits or anything.  I decided to try out this new technique that I have been playing around with since San Juan, and thought it might work here.  After looking at the full size version of this, I think this technique is almost read for prime time.  So after a conversion to a Smart Object I dove into Color Efex 3.1, and had some fun, and this is what I came up with.

If you can imagine it, this effect used 3 filters, and no I’m no going to tell you which ones; otherwise, you wouldn’t learn anything.  I will give you a hint.  They are in the book.  Two of the filters create the overall effect and the last is just a fine tuner.  That is why I used the Smart Objects in this case.  If something isn’t right when I get done creating the effect, then I can go back in by double click whatever effect I need to adjust.  From there I can make minor adjustments to each filter separately without have to go through the process of deleting a layer and creating a new one.  If you think you can figure out which filters are used drop me an email and I’ll let you know.

Image captured with 1D Mark IIN 17-40f4 on Lexar digital film

Changes in the wind

Well,  first off thank you to everyone for the emails saying how much they liked the book.  I am really glad readers are enjoying it and finding it a useful tool to help further their imaginations and their photography.

With all the goings on as of late things have been crazy, time to keep with all the worlds revolving moments, time to spend with family, and time for enjoying the wonders of the world through photography.  To that end I have had to sit back and take a perspective on things.  Time is a commodity that some take for granted and yet others always seem to need more of.  I find myself needing some more time to explore the world around me out there through my view finder.

So to that end Moose has unleashed me into the world of photography to make it of it what I will.  So I am no longer Josh - (Moose’s assistant), but Josh Bradley the photographer who was taught by one of the best of in the business, Moose Peterson.

You may be wondering why I have the shot above posted for this blog.  The simple answer is that this is one of the first photos I ever took while I was out with Moose.  I still reember the day I shot it.  It was -17 degrees outside with a wind chill factor making it even colder.  I had my camera batteries tucked under my arm to keep the from freezing, I could barely feel my fingers and toes, and I was loving every minute of it!!!!  It is funny when you look back at a photograph you took a while back, becasue it can bring back little details you may have forgotten.

So stay tuned, there is a world of change coming.

Out of the gates

Well,  Thanks to some very eager fans of the long awaited book I have been informed that it is on its way.  Amazon started sending out package confirmations about 2 hours ago, and I did some checking around and have found out that the Barnes and Noble and the Borders have already sold out locally.  Thanks again to everyone who has ordered the book.  Drop me an email and let me know what you think…

Where does time go??

Well,

I have barely recovered from the last DLWS event and things just keep moving forward.  I was without and aircard this week on the island which left me with no way to blog, which I don’t recommend.  Anyhow, I thought I would pot some shots from last week.  There were finished using some of the techniques that are in the upcoming book and some new ones I just began developing (you can also see the technique on Laurie’s blog).

It was a great week and I will post up some more images soon.

Rockin’ the House

So tonight was the after hours party with Big Electric Cat at the House of Blues here at Photoshop World.  The band was off the hook last night and as always I was taking way too many shots.   I was up ’til 2 am sorting them all and I’m just now getting to blog this.  So I will let the pictures tell the story.

And if there was one photo to tell you how the night went it would have to be this one of Tony cutting loose on the guitar.

One thing about last night was that I got to shoot with the D700 from Nikon with a 24-70f2.8, and I have to say that is a rock solid system that performed outstanding all night long.

All images shot with Nikon D700 24-70f2.8 on Lexar digital film