Untouched Beach

I drove to the middle of no where today to a road with no boundaries. Hills rolled by by me and there wasn't a single sole in sight. I gathered my 8 rolls of 120 film and my Kodak Duaflex camera and started to walk west. 11.2 miles i walked until i reached the ocean. I climbed down almost vertical cliff to a protected cove with no foot prints, no beer bottles, no cigarette butts, no evidence that anyone has ever been there.

I sat there with my feet planted in the sand observing how beautiful nature is without the presence of humans. Everything was where it was supposed to be. Untouched shells in the sand, unbroken sand dollars and perfectly smooth sand.

Life was near perfect. Alone on a beach with a camera in hand and the sound of crashing waves.

I left without leaving any evidence I was there, and made my way back to the horrible place I call civilization.

It's a real shame no one can just get away forever.

10.2 miles

This morning i left my house around 6:30 to set out on a 8 miles hike.  My plan was to drive to point reyes and hike tomales point trail, a 4 miles hike.  i hiked the trail that i had planned to hike, i just decided to go all the way to the very point north point of point reyes.  

i arrived at the parking lot around 7:15 and started out.  I had about 40 pounds of gear on my back.  camera equipment, food, all that stuff.  it took me nearly 3 hours just to hike 4 miles to the end of the trail.  i decided that i wanted to push myself harder and hike 2 more miles to the very tip of point reyes.  the trail no longer exists and it's just walking through thick push and sand, really difficult to do.  

I finally arrived at the tip and was amazed.  i took the self portrait at the point of point reyes.  I snapped a few other photos along the way, but i only like a few, one posted above.  

the views there, were breathtaking, absolutely amazing.  i saw hundreds of elk, 2 snakes, dozens of mountain lion tracks, and only 3 people. i would really like to stay out there for sunset, but because its summer, the sun doesn't set until 9 ish.  driving back home would suck!

anywho.  the whole hike was a thrill.  10.2 miles by myself, jobless, and not caring about anything else in the world.  a great little vacation.  

there are a few more photos on my flickr from the hike. check those out.

peace.

Oh jesus, what is going on.

oh boy. i really just haven't had anytime for this at all.  i've been stuck working 39 hour weeks at quiznos, shooting concerts left and right, and falling far far behind in editing photos.  but there is a lot of good happening in a very short amount of time. read on to learn more. :)

so. first off, 39 hour weeks at quiznos.  that is a lot. sorry but standing on your feet for almost 8 hours each day, serving the bitchiest customers known to man, and just having a shitty job really drains you.  but good news.  i no longer have to work those 39 hour weeks.  today was my last day at a quiznos.  i probably will never go back to one unless i absolutely need a job until i find a better one. 

with quiznos out of the way, i plan to be assisting a truly amazing photographer in santa rosa.  she shoots weddings, and my god, i am just blown away.  seriously, i didn't even think i was possible to capture a candid moment like that.  i am very very excited to start working for her, and learn how to become successful is photography.  

i wont be attending college anytime soon, it's just way to expensive and i would rather learn the things i would learn in college on my own.  having something taught to me, just doesn't work out as well as it does for others. i learn better on my own. 

any who. now that i am semi jobless, tomorrow, i will be hiking about 10 miles through Point Reyes in search on new light.  aka, awesome photos.  I was planning on driving down highway 1 to santa cruz for a day or two, just to relax, clear my head, and start new, butttttt with gas being so expensive, and me being broke, that just wont work out. 

anyways, that's whats up with my life.  

i do have many many new photos on my flickr. 

but i will be posting once i come back from my hike. 

:D enjoy. 

i have not posted in a long long while.  may 4th i believe.  a lot has been going on too, too much for me to sit down and write.  

i haven't gone out and taken photos in a few weeks.  today was the first time, and it was great. a real refreshment.  i dragged my friend masen to an unknown beach with me and explored.  most of it was intense rock climbing to escape the the crashing of the waves.  it was fun.  took the photo above. the end.

i think that i've hit a road block in my photography, yet again.  i've just had no motivation to go out there and shoot everyday like i used too.  i still take photos almost everyday, i just don't even uploading or view them.  i hope this passes soon. :/

So it's been a while since i've had time or something to blog about.  but now i have tons to write about.  

few days ago i decided to spend some money and buy a 107 inch seamless background.  a seamless background for those who don't know is just a large thick piece of paper rolled up on a big tube.  you hang it high on tripods or a stand and when it rest on the ground it creates a seamless background. no creases from a folded point.  it's awesome.

anyways, with tabi's light set i've been playing around with it a lot and i am just amazed by how cool it is.  before, for a background i would just use a wrinkled sheet, and i would have to blow out the background with a flash to remove the wrinkles.  with the paper as the paper as the background i can finally take a decent portrait and have it look professional.  i'm very happy.

i haven't experimented with full body shots, i haven't been able to produce anything i like yet, but using the seamless background as just a paper background for portraits has had awesome results.  

if you are ever thinking about purchasing one, DO IT! you wont be disappointed.  

though, the price for one does put a dent in your wallet unless you build your stand instead of spending 189.99 on one. 

i purchased two $50 high end flash stands.  i then went to Home Depot and for $7.35 i got a 10 1.5 inch PVC pipe and various turns and bends.  i constructed my own stand saving myself about $100. 

i have a few more photos on my flickr, so definitely check that out. 

view flickr

A little duaflex 2 action baby!

OH MY GOSH, ok ok ok, so!  

I got a Kodak Duaflex 2 a while ago, but never really used it, just had it because.  Anyways, i load a reel of modified 120 colored film in the camera and go shooting.  When these were developed i was in awe at what i was seeing.  only 4 photos out of 16 came out, which was alright, first roll was expected to fail miserably, but god it didn't at all.  

The first two images above are from the roll of film. something about the square crop and the dirty lens just makes the photo so interesting.  i could easily duplicate this effect in photoshop but there is just something about shooting with a medium format camera that is just so cool.  sorry, right now i am so happy with this project! 

Anywho, because it cost me $13.65 to buy and have the roll developed i decided that i needed to create a layer and action in photoshop to duplicate this effect.  I started by created a tube that lead from my macro lens of my rebel xti to the view finder on the kodak duaflex.  this is called 'through the viewfinder, ttv'.  i faced the duaflex to a white wall and took an over exposed image on my digital slr.  i took this photo to duplicate the look of what you would get from shooting film.  i could of just easily just cropped a regular image and added a border around it, but no, this way way cooler.  

after taking a photo through the view finder to capture the unique border the camera gives and the dirty lens i cleaned it up in photoshop.  the last image shown is an image i took last month out in napa, ca.  to get it to look like it was shot through a duaflex 2 camera i cropped it to a square, messed with the colors of the image to give it that older film look.  i then took the image i got from the view finder and adjusted the blending mode to have it become transparent. 

Surprisingly, it worked really well. no one seems to know the difference, well... until now. WOO!

if you are interested in using the layer for your own projects, send me an email at photo@ryanjay.com. i can hook you up.

i love you all.

view flickr

At night.

So every night i am at my laptop either editing photos, talking to people on ichat, or doing this, a blog.  the past few nights while chatting and editing were slow i would look down at my keyboard and notice the detail in my hands.  my dry skin brought out the best detail in fingers and the blood pumped veins were bursting through my skin.  i thought about trying to take a photo, but was skeptical because of the lighting conditions and the fact that the shutter would have to be longer than 5 seconds.  there is no way i could stay still for 5 seconds, i have ADHD people. come on now.

Bored got a hold of me last night and i decided to try it.  i positioned my camera above my laptop and set the correct exposure.  i was in shock when i found out i had to sit there, perfectly still for 13 seconds. though surprisingly i was able to do it.  the first dozen or shots didn't come out at all. horrible. but right as i was about to give up i decided to try once more and this is what i got. 

editing was, well.. editing. :)  few level adjustments, burn and dodge, USM, and a slight desaturation.  

Hope you like it

view flickr

view new website!!!