New gear and new editing

     Yesterday I decided to break in my new camera/laptop backpack I, uh, bought myself for christmas, lol! I went out walking on some of the trails back behind my apartment toward the end of the day. The trail I walked

 

Christmas… Arizona style

     Naturally as I was in Phoenix visiting family, I had to take a bunch of photos of my niece. And of course she resisted this. So I bribed her… of course.

 

Practice.

     Since I don’t have anyone to model for me, I’ve still been practicing taking portraits through self-portraiture. I had some time the other day, so I went at it again. I was playing around with background and light – now, I mostly use natural lighting since I don’t have any fancy gear and haven’t gotten around to home brewing any gear. Funny enough, the photo I liked the most was the very first one I took:

 

Laughlin, Nv

     So in my last post I talked about the fact that my parents and I took a weekend trip to Laughlin, Nevada. While we were there they had a bunch of classic car shows going on – typically just in parking lots. Now, if you know me, you know I’m not much of a car person. I can’t tell you jack shit about the specs of any kind of car – hell, I don’t even know what gas mileage my car I drive everyday gets. I can’t talk engines or even change a tire, but what I can do is appreciate the aesthetic beauty of cars – especially the classic cars. I found that I prefer cars from the 40′s and earlier, though I didn’t mind cars from the 50′s either. My goal in taking the photos of these classic cars was about trying to find interesting angles to capture the lines of the cars. I can’t tell you anything about the cars themselves (I know, how awful of me), but I can at least show you, hopefully, pretty photos!

 

Oatman, Arizona

     My parents and I took a quick weekend trip to Laughlin (after they realized Las Vegas was waaaaay too expensive). Naturally the day after we got there we had to take a trip that took us back into the Arizona border, haha! My grandmother and my co-worker had recommended we go visit this old mining town in the sparse, craggy mountains of Oatman, Arizona.