Copy right?

I can remember studying art at Baker University. It was the era of angst for many people. Too bad, I might have a better time now! I can picture myself strolling through campus like I was the Big man. Everyone did at that time. Had I realized what was ahead of me I would have had more fun.

The most essential lesson my instructors taught was on ownership. I own a house. I own a car. And any image I compose I own. Wether it is a painting, drawing or photograph. That is my entitlement as an artist. So if you want a copy you pay me for it. As an artist I am not attached to this copyright though. I love taking photographs but I am part of the new generation of photographers who shares images everywhere. I want to make a name for myself not bankrupt my subjects. My goal in life has always been to help spread joy and cheer. If I wanted to roll in money I would have chosen careers worth more. Instead I went into rewarding jobs like photography, painting and teaching elementary students.

From now on I am going to be adding more prevalent logos to my work so that the word can be spread out better. I realized this was one thing I should do to spread my word out more! Look for logos on all future work this way people will remember the name.

Boom, Boom, Boom

This summer I challenged myself to take photographs during a fireworks festival. The loud boom, the flash of lights and some form of skyline to set the location. This is by no means an easy maneuver to accomplish. Every camera now includes a setting for fireworks nowadays. The camera basically changes to a wide open aperture and as low a shutter speed as possible. Any nudge or shake will make the image blurry.

It doesn't always work though. My family was shooting off photos this fourth and there was a very particular image my sister-in-law Jenna wanted. She sat on the driveway and wanted kids back lit by fireworks. Her camera wouldn't set correctly for fireworks and the kids. They were squirming, moving around and just plain kids! One of my nieces was crying off and on as they exploded. She struggled with sitting. After sitting on her father's laps we finally got it set up. To take an image like this you need a stable location, set your shutter speed to 1/60 of a second or slower and your aperture as big as it can get. Normally f/4.5 helps but if you can open it more to f/1.8 is better. Here's the version from my phone. It has a lot less controls but it gives you an idea of her goal.