So as I mentioned a few posts back I have been sorting and re-sorting and filing and categorizing all of my old files.  Something that was long overdue and greatly needed…  One thing that I found while comes through the files was thin image above.  Granted it looked nothing like this when I started because back then I was all about experimenting and tweaking Settings and White Balances and when I looked at this shot when I got back to the computer IT SUCKED!!  It was a drab mess of a white balance that was set so cold that the whole image was a lovely shade of purple  So back when I first saw this image I said forget it, and it has sat for the better part of 4 years on a hard drive taking up space.  Now 2012 roles around and I am sitting at my desk and I see a file that says Lessons Learned..  A file that I started a long time ago with images that were pretty much the bottom of the barrel, I screwed something up somewhere, or I was temporarily insane at the time of shooting.  But, I kept this file around so I could look back and see where I have been and what mistakes I had made so that I wouldn’t repeat them again.

Long story short I come across this images and think to myself:  This was shot in RAW I can change whatever White Balance I want!!  Ok, before the jabs come out with the “DUH josh you could have done that back in ’08″ I was younger and not so level headed (or at least that is going to be my excuse at this point)

So long story even shorter.  I dropped this into Lightroom 3, adjusted the White Balance to something I liked.  Even then the color image just didn’t work for me so I went with my favorite tool of choice Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2.0 and went to town on this image.  A few sliders here and there a touch of structure and BAM!  an image that I though was at the bottom of the barrel is no one of my favorites and is already sitting on my wall in a nice 24×36 frame.

So lesson with all of this rambling?  Keep your images, hard drives are cheap and you never now what you will find when you go browsing…

Well it has been all too quite around here on the blog and I thought I would swing in to give an update on things.  Lately things have been a bit rough.  An illness I have has slowed me down greatly and made it difficult to do much of anything at this point, but I keep pressing through it where I can to keep the sanity.  So to keep my sanity I get to go outside for brief stents of time and photograph the amazing animals you see up above.  These are all rescues saved by Marley’s Mutts Dog Rescue up where I live.  And you may have noticed they have branched out into rescuing horses as well.  I am doing what I can to help out here and there but capturing the images of these guys really is something that keeps the spirits up.  The Gift of Giving Gallery that was posted in December has been doing really great at raising money to help buy supplies for the rescue to keep things moving forward.  Many images have been added along with 2 whole new collections of some of the dogs that have been rescued along with the horses.  So if you get a chance got take a look, and if you need a print snag one from there  All the proceeds are going to help the efforts.

Hope everyone is having a great new year so far

Hey Everyone,

With the holidays approaching and inevitable question of what do I get for [Insert Name Here] lingering in the air, a thought came to me as I was sitting in my office with the newest furry member of the family Wiggles laying at my feet.  In the past months I have started helping out a great dog rescue in the town I live in.  The organization is called Marley’s Mutts I have blogged about it a few times before (it is where we were lucky enough to find Wiggles), and the place has become near and dear to my heart.  My good friend Zach Skow ( @ZachSkow ) who runs Marley’s Mutts has done amazing things to help wayward dogs find a second chance in new homes. And then I came up with an idea.  A photo gallery to help out called a Gift of Giving.  I have put together this gallery where prints can be purchased for that special someone and  100% of all the proceeds from the sales of the prints will go to help out the dogs in need like the 4 you see up above.

The gallery has a wide collection of images and more images will be added in the upcoming days.  You can follow me and Zach on twitter to get updates when new images are put into the galleries.  Also, if there is an image that you have seen in the past on my blog that isn’t in the gallery email me using the contact tab above and let me know what the image was and the date it was posted and I will see if I can get it added for you.

I have placed a permanent tab in the top navigation of the blog that can take you directly to the gallery.

Please spread the word about this and while you get a gift for that special someone, give another gift of a second chance for man’s best friend at the same time.

Head over to Marley’s Mutts Adoptable Dogs Page to see some of the dogs you would be helping out…

Thank you and Merry Christmas to everyone…

Hey Everyone, well I am dong something a bit out of my norm and I am asking for your help in helping out a buddy of mine who runs a great organization called Marley’s Mutts.  It is a dog rescue that takes in any breed (size is no problem) and takes care of them until they can find a new home for man’s best friends, who may have lost their way. 

Marley’s Mutts was selected in a competition by Dr. Marty Becker as one of the top 50 in the final round to potentially receive a 1st place prize of $20,000 to help out the winning organization.  You will need to have a Facebook account to enter the contest so please give it a go and vote for Marley’s Mutts.  I know these folks would appreciate the time and effort that you would put into vote and I know the all the dogs would appreciate it as well.

I appreciate the work the Marley’s Mutts crew does because, I was lucky enough to find our family’s newest (furry addition) Wiggles there and as you can she from the photo above she’s content hanging out with us.  

So please take 2 minutes and click on the Dr. Marty Becker link above and vote for Marley’s Mutts and help out a great casue that has found over 300+ dogs new home in just the last few years .  With your help there can be many more happy endings.

So if you see this on the twitter feed please re-tweet it and get the word out. 

Thanks

Josh

Enjoy

 

Lost in Texas Hill Country with an iPhone by Josh Bradley | Make Your Own Book

Drop me some feedback in the comments and let me know what you think. For now the book is for sale over on my Blurb bookstore site.

I would like to take one more opportunity to thank my good friend Jeff Lynch for allowing me to come out this year and experience these wonderful locations.

I tell you what a great time it was this past week going to all these places and meeting new folks and helping them find their vision in photography…

Music used with permission from http://stockmusicboutique.com

As most of folks are aware I have been lucky enough to get to come out to Texas and get to work with Jeff Lynch on the Texas Landscape Safari this past few days.  On the first day of shooting I grabbed my iPhone and was just playing around a bit to see what I could snap.  After a few shots I came up with an idea. And the cover of it sits above.  Everywhere we went in Hill County I was snapping away with my iPhone along with my other cameras creating a photo documentary of the journeys we were taking as we drove through the state.  After rounding out the count on the 3 days of shooting I ended up with over 100 images all captured using my iPhone and I decided to make it into a photo book.  If I play my cards right the book will be ready for purchase on Monday of next week.

So this project had a couple of things going for it.  It got me thinking in a different perspective and it also got me to finally make a photo book…

I will drop an updated post once the book goes live…

On the way back up the hill I found this old swing and snapped one more shot before the light was gone…