Trip to Alabama

My fiance landed a job as a coach in Mobile, AL, so I am going to help drive her drive there from Missoula.  We are going to spend some time in Yellowstone, visit a friend in Cody, WY, stop off in Denver, CO, and go through the Ozark National Forest before arriving in Mobile.  We will be camping and hiking along the way and I will, of course, be snapping pictures.  You can follow our progress on the G.P.S. tab on the Odd Angle Photography Website.

Treed Dog

Treed Dog

Several weeks before this photo was taken, around the same time that I got my new canon 6D, I made a promise to myself: I would never again say "$*%&, I wish I had my camera!"  Ever since that day, no matter how ridiculous I may look, I always have my camera on me.  Having my camera on me doesn't do much good, however, if I am driving a car and focused on the road, so I walk, or bike if I am in a hurry, to most places within a few miles of my apartment or the University of Montana campus (where I currently work).  Walking is the best method because you have a lot of opportunities to notice things that can otherwise be easily missed.  As I mention in the "about me" section of this website, I am an assistant wrestling coach at Hellgate High School so I was walking from campus to the high school, meandering through the nice neighborhood that lay in-between them.  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed this dog perched in a tree and immediately swung out my camera.  All the while, I thought to myself, "there is no way that that dog is going to stay there long enough for me to get a picture."  To my great fortune, the dog was fixated on the branch above it.  I approached the fenced-in yard tenderly, so as not to scare the dog from its perch.  It noticed me, and we gazed at each other for several seconds. Then, the dog returned its machine-like focus back to the branch.  It was then that I realized that the dog had trapped a squirrel, and they were now engaged in backyard Mexican stand-off with one another.  The dog refused to leave its perch; the squirrel refused to leave its branch; and I took as many photos from as many different angles as I could without trespassing.

As I decided to press on to the high school the dog and squirrel remained in deadlock.  For all I know they could still be there to this day, both refusing to yield.  I will have to go walk by that house again and check.  Being out of place or acting strangely is a matter of perspective.  Though somewhat unusual to me, this dog didn't seem to think that what it was doing was anything but necessary. I guess I feel the same way about toting around my camera, lenses, and tripod all the time: unusual to some but necessary for me.

-Patrick

Blog Schedule

Disclosure:  I am low on sleep.  I am announcing a blogging schedule... now.  Barring nuclear fallout, the zombie apocalypse, a Firefly marathon, or severe physical or mental incapacitation I plan on writing one scheduled article per week, most likely to be published on Mondays.  Here is the general format:


Week 1: Story time - I will tell you about the events surrounding some of the photos featured on my site.  You will get the scoop on how I ended up where I was when I took the photo, why I decided to take it, how badly I needed to use the restroom while I was waiting for the exposure to finish, and any other overly personal details that you may or may not have wanted to know about that photograph.  Curious about any of my photos?  Ask and I will be happy to explain.

Week 2: Featured artist - These articles will highlight other artists that I like and, sometimes, know personally.  These talented individuals may be photographers, painters, crafters, sculptors, or even bloggers (I think there is probably an art to this blogging thing). Are you an artist?  Do you want to be featured?  If so, introduce yourself!

Week 3: Technical discussion - I will discuss some of the technical aspects of photography to the best of my abilities.  Topics will span such subjects as the behavior of light, the mechanics of a camera, the chemistry of film, the settings required to achieve certain effects, and much more.  Do you have a specific question about technique?  If so, ask and even if I don't know the answer right away, I will do whatever it takes to figure it out.

Week 4: To wrap up the month, I will talk (type) about some of the camera gear that is out there and what I think of it.  Topics may be narrow or broad but will definitely land somewhere in the realm of camera gear and accessories, or lighting equipment.  If you haven't picked up on the pattern yet, this is where I ask if you have any suggestions for topics that you would like covered.  Don't be afraid to e-mail me, I promise that I am not mean, I don't bite, and I even REPLY to emails that are sent to me .



So that is it!  Not to say that I won't occasionally throw an unscheduled blog in here or there, but you can dependably check in once a week and see some new content.  But don't forget to look at photos too; this is a photography site, after all.

-Patrick

Prologue

 

Behold!  The inspiration for my color scheme!

It has been a busy week trying to pave the roads of my "e-infrastructure".  Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Google+ accounts have been made, domain names registered, and web pages created.

What set this all in motion was a stroke of luck.  Several weeks ago I approached a manager in the University of Montana bookstore with a request to sell some of my prints of the campus and nearby wildernesses.  I had entirely expected to be rejected on the spot but, to my surprise, he told me to bring in some photos to show him.  I spent the next week or so studying the prints for sale in the bookstore, noting the subject matter, printing material, and prices.  I also shot a few more photos specifically to cater to the genre of products that seem to sell well.  However, I paid just as much attention to the kinds of things that were NOT represented in the bookstore, such as certain photographic or processing techniques, subjects, or... odd angles.  So that is what I aim to do with photographs:  I want to show you something that you have seen before but from a different perspective.  "Odd Angle" is more than a name, it is a philosophy.

I think I will sign out for now; I have a lot more social networking to get to.  Be sure to check out Odd Angle photography on facebook, twitter, flickr, and all those other social networking tools, all of which can be found in one central location: www.oddanglephotography.com

ciao
-Patrick